#and I’ll smash him with a big ol hammer

[obstinaterixatrix]

a little ambiguous, the li is with other women exclusively so far but imo doesn’t really express romantic/sexual attraction to any of them (definitely framed in more of a ‘he knows what to say to get people smitten and gets companionship out of it’ way than a mutual relationship way) and the mc is trying to find a girl to date but is extremely hung up over the li and has been since childhood. I think in this case it’s one of the ‘They Only Have Genuine Attraction To Each Other’ romantic fantasy rather than a work that has… established thoughts on each character’s orientation.

I’d agree in the social sense, in that I feel like polyam stuff is a lot more spoken about in western cultures, but I definitely don’t have enough knowledge on non western polyam scenes to actually back that up. on the other hand, I feel like the prioritization of monogamy feels kind of the same across the board, but I haven’t been into western media lately so I don’t have anything specific to back that up. well, I haven’t seen any western media with polyam endgame, but I have read 3 bls and a yuri oneshot. excluding harem/reverse haram for every category. I feel like there’s been a lot of yuri harem lately.

reading a bl where the mc is extremely monogamous and the li is in a lot of casual open relationships but 1) it’s framed by the mc as ‘cheating’ and I can’t tell if it’s an overall narrative thing or just a character thing yet, BUT since the endgame is certainly going to be a monogamous relationship between mc and li, it doesn’t really feel like the author’s going to really hit on the actual nuance of cheating as a betrayal of trust vs open relationships meaning informed consent between all parties (the girls in the manga seem chill with it) UNLESS the trajectory of the narrative is to make this distinction clear and remove the barrier to mc & li’s relationship, but even if that were the case it inherently reinforces the dominant narrative of monogamous relationships as inherently more valuable and endgame which frames polyamory/open relationships as inferior/temporary. 2) even though there seems to be informed consent with the li’s open relationships, I do feel like he talks a lot about his female partners doing things for him so he’s kind of a leech, he kind of sucks

[fieldsofwriting]

You don’t have to do it alone.

Summary: Based off this request. The farmer doesn’t know the meaning of a break- and everyone else in town starts to see that they need a break.

Warnings: General depictions of exhaustion and slight injuries

When you answered the call for a Farmer in Mistria, you didn’t think it be like this. You were constantly busy, running around the water your crops, clear your farm, help repair a bridge, general store, mill, streets, and more. But everyone here, they were so kind. They were so nice. You couldn’t help it, you had to help. You had to do it. Even if you didn’t want too.

And that’s how you ended up with Ryis today. He needed help fixing up some of the fencing around Mistria, so hammer in hand you two were cranking it out. But you couldn’t help but slow as more time wore on, the ache in your muscles starting to become more and more apparent. The sun beating down on your back, you could feel it just sucking the life out of you. And by the time you noticed the trajectory of the hammer- it was too late to move your hand. The tool slammed into your hand with a mighty wack- your might wack.

“Shit! Y/N, are you okay?” Ryis calls, rushing forward and kneeling down to take your hand and look it over. “It’s gonna been to be iced. But the swelling shouldn’t be too bad.” He smiles up at you gratefully.

You give him a weak smile back, trying to ignore the throbbing. “Ah, it should be fine. I’ll have Valen check it out later. Let’s finish these fences.” You nod at him. Ryis frowns, watching as you pick up the hammer again. He wants to protest, it looked pretty nasty…but if you’re fine…?

He sighs, but kept a watchful eye on you. Making sure there was no other mishaps. And as you were walking home, Reina saw you.

“Y/N!” She calls, rushing over. “Hey! I was wondering if you have any veggies for a soup I wanna try making!” She asks, ever so cheerie.

“Uh, yeah. I think so.” You nod, giving her a smile.

“Sweet! You wanna help me make it?” She asks, linking her arm through yours. Walking down to your farm with you.

In truth. No. No you did not. But here she was looking at you with those big ole eyes, and sweet smile. You couldn’t say no to her! Even if you just wanted to melt into bed. “Sure thing.” You say.

And so, you got her the crops she needed. And she chopped. You stirred the pot, that was until you put your hand down- hissing in pain as you looked at the opposite hand from what you just smashed with a hammer.

“Oh!” Reina gasps, quickly setting down her knife before taking you to the sink and rinising your hand under cold water. “Are you alright? Do you need Valen?”

You shake your head, “No, no. I’ll be okay.” You brush off her concern. “Just scared me more than anything.” You give her a smile to help ease the worries. Reina frowns, she wanted to make sure you were okay… but if you said you were fine…

And so, after leaving the Inn after some delicious soup, you headed up to the forge. You needed to fix a chip in your axe- as annoying as it was. You had already worked yourself to the bone, why not a little more?

As you approached the forge, March took you in. You looked wrecked, exhausting and he can see where you have a bandage on your hand from the burn, one of your fingernails starting to bruise. “No.” He says quickly, grabbing your axe.

“What- March stop I need to fix it!” You protest trying to grab it back from him.

“No, you need to go home and take a fucking nap. You look exhausted and the others might be dumb enough to ignore it but if you go near molten metal there is no way you’d walk out of here with your stupid cherrie smile.” He snaps at you, looking at the axe and frowning. “A chip this small isn’t worth your life.”

You blink. Was March- did he actually care? But before you can continue to protest, he looks behind him. “Yo, Ryis! Take Y/N home and do not let them leave.” He says shoving you toward him.

Ryis awkwardly catches your shoulders, frowning at March’s roughness. “You okay?”

And finally, you let out a defeated sigh. Leaning into Ryis, “I need a nap.”

Ryis chuckles, patting your back. “Okay, come on.” He says gently, helping you back home. The whole time he was surprisingly gentle. “Feel better in the morning yeah?”

You give him a sleepy smile. “Yeah.”

A/N: I’m so sorry this took me so long!! I kept trying to get it done but then I started working on an animation and i forgot 😔 but I hope you enjoyed!!

[latin-dr-robotnik]

Sonic’s memento collection (SonAmy prompt)

Prompt suggested by @itsnicky13​! It’s been a while since I last picked up and expanded on something that wasn’t... well... tsundere Sonic, and I think this one is a very nice and cute idea to work with! 

Prompt goes: what if Sonic dropped the bracelet Amy made for him to wear back in the Sonic X episode “The Last Resort”, and he struggled to tell her how he kept it after all this time, since she always thought the bracelet was lost.

I personally got a lot more excited by the first part of the idea, but I hope you still enjoy it regardless!

“Wait, is that...?” Amy was ready to throw herself back to the battle, but the sight of it stopped her right on her tracks, as she slowly approached the sand covered thing... 

“What, Amy? What?” Sonic wasn’t having the time of his life, struggling to fight against the snake-like Aqua Bots that were playing around with his biggest weakness: the sea. He kept running from the beach to the docks and back, yet the bots were untouched, unloading their high-pressure water cannons on him and starting to close up the distance for a quick grab at the wet hedgehog.

Amy reached for the now clearly visible bracelet, feeling a strong mix of emotions as she recalled her memories of the one she once made exclusively for him...

“Oh my... did you really keep it all this time?”

“Amy, we’re in the middle of a battle if you haven’t noticed!”

One Aqua Bot managed to grab Sonic’s legs at the dock, while another was racing towards his left arm, with the hedgehog struggling to break free.

“I can’t believe it, after so long...” Amy murmured, “I thought it was lost... but how...?”

“Amy! A little help over here? Amy!”

“Oh? Yeah, right, the robots.” She quickly snapped back to reality, running towards Sonic at the dock, and throwing her hammer at the Aqua Bots like it was a big, deadly boomerang. 

She smashed all of them with one swift throw.

“Aaaaaand... they’re gone.”

“Geez, girl, what took you so long?” Sonic sat down on the dock, shaking his wet quills. “What were you talking about back there?”

Amy sat next to him, staring at the entire Diamond City Bay. She played with her fingers for a bit, still processing what she just found out.

“Sonic, did you really keep it all this time?”

“The what, Amy?”

“My bracelet, you fool!” Amy snapped at him for a moment, before pulling out the old bracelet and quietly reflecting on it. “The one I made for you... you just dropped it during the battle.”

“Ah? Oh! That thing!” Sonic grabbed the bracelet from Amy’s hands, then checked if it was still in one piece. “I must’ve dropped it when the Aqua Bot just poured that big shot of water on me, ha ha!”

“I though it was lost, gone forever... how did you get it back?”

“Uhh... I...” Sonic hesitated for a bit.

“Yeah...?”

He tried to look away from the pink hedgehog looking straight at him with so many questions in her mind. He never actually told her what happened to that bracelet, and now he didn’t know how to explain it.

“I, well... found it... and fixed it... and... stored it back in my collection for a while...”

“OHMYGOSH!” Amy immediately jumped out of emotion, gasping and holding her hands to her chest. “Do you actually have a collection?!”

“Oh, shoot...” Sonic quickly realized his mistake, as Amy’s mind ran wild with the thought of him having lots more things from her than she actually imagined.

“And what does it look like?” Amy asked, following shortly with a rapid streak of more questions. “What cool stuff do you have there? Does anyone else know about it? Why didn’t you tell me before?!”

“Well, I guess I ran straight into this one...” Sonic thought, as he finally accepted it was time to let her enter his life just a little more. 

“Alright, I’ll show you.” He let out, defeated.

“Yayyyy!” Amy happily grabbed Sonic’s arm, pulling him up and holding his hands. “C’mon, let’s not waste any more time!”

“Just hold on tight.”

And so, Sonic and a very enthusiastic Amy blasted away from the beach. On the way to Sonic’s secret collection, he kept thinking about it, letting out a couple more details about it to Amy as he carried her on his arms.

“You know... I always had a room at Tails’ place, since that’s where I end up crashing after a long adventure together.” Sonic commented. “For a while, the room was pretty empty, only having the bare essentials for me to chill around, but as I ran across the world, time and space...”

“You started collecting mementos?”

“That’s right. Nobody actually knows about it, so... take it as you will.”

Amy felt very touched by that last bit. “Aww, am I the first person to ever visit your collection? That’s so kind of you!” 

She hugged Sonic just a little more tightly, closing her eyes and letting out a little tease. “But at the same time, you should’ve told your girlfriend about it earlier, boy!”

“And now you are pushing your luck.”

She didn’t see it, but Sonic blushed just a little at that comment.

After a running for a while, they reached Tails’ workshop at the Mystic Ruins, their main base. Sonic dropped Amy off at the entrance and quickly ran a lap around the place, realizing Tails wasn’t home. They entered the place from a main door located at the opposite side to where the Tornado’s hangar is, and walked through Tails’ living room. From there, upstairs was the fox’s bedroom, and downstairs was Sonic’s basement.

Sonic’s room was a cozy, well kept and well lit place. Posters of movies and advertisements were found on each wall, with only a couple of shelves holding comic books and videogames in between the myriad of colorful imagery. Behind a particularly large Chao in Space Episode VII poster was a hidden door, leading to an even smaller side-room with nothing but shelves holding all sorts of mementos from Sonic’s past adventures. The room was just big enough to fit both of them walking around with relative ease.

“Alright, here it is. Sonic’s collection.” Sonic introduced Amy with a surprisingly chill attitude, as if he secretly wanted someone to ever visit the place.

Amy was speechless. She took a moment to look around, and then started looking at a shelf on her left, completely ignoring the lonely chest sitting just at the right of the door.

“Wow, you really have everything in here!” Amy exclaimed with excitement. “Hey, that’s the bracelet from that guy... Chip was it, right?”

“Yup.”

“You know...” she reflected, “I was there for you when you spent most of your days trying to help him figure out his identity, right?”

“Well, I always stand for my friends, you know that.”

“Yet you didn’t even show up on time for our date...” Amy was still pretty dissapointed at how things turned out back then. She left the bracelet on the shelf, and then shifted her attention to a jar holding a pretty bright purple sustance in it. 

“I wonder what is this stuff... hey Sonic, what’s in the jar?”

Sonic was standing in front of a shelf on the right side of the room, seemingly looking for something in particular, but he turned around to look at what Amy was holding.

“That? It’s the weird jelly-like chemical from the Chemical Plant” He told her, then shifted his tone to a more protective one. “I wouldn’t touch it if I were you.”

“Okay.” Amy followed Sonic’s warning and returned the jar to its place, then she did a slow lap around the room. “You really have made yourself a little personal museum down here, Sonic!”

That’s when she saw the lonely chest, peaking her curiosity.

“And what’s inside this chest?”

Sonic quickly looked at her, then turned away, visibly nervous.

“Uhh, Amy, I wouldn’t open it...”

It was a little too late to convince Amy Rose of all people not to look at something that already caught her attention. She slowly unlocked the old-looking chest, and her eyes widened at the discovery of what was inside.

“Hold on a second, I recognize this stuff...” Amy picked a very well preserved rose. “Isn’t this one the first rose I gave you... way back in Little Planet?” She gasped. “Oh my gosh, it is!”

“Oh, no...” he thought, knowing his biggest secret was finally uncovered.

“And this photo...” Amy chuckled a bit, “oh, you sneaky... you never told me we had a photo entering Twinkle Park!”

He scratched the back of his head and nervously smiled. “Yeah, well... that wasn’t our greatest moment...”

She turned back to him with a big ol’ smile. “I think you never told me because it’s clearly showing YOU chasing after ME! Hee hee!”

“Ha ha. Very funny.” He sarcastically let out, then looked away, once again trying to hide his blushing.

“Oh! And here’s the letter I wrote you when you went off to that weird interstellar amusement park! ...the letter you never replied to.”

Sonic started to feel a little unconfortable with Amy looking at that chest for so long, and so he tried to shift away her attention, possibly even away from the room.

“You know, there’s other interesting stuff to see here, not just from y-you...”

“Hush. I can’t believe you actually have a chest with our memories, Sonic!” Amy kept digging, “had I known about it earlier, I would’ve sent you more stuff!”

“Ah, well, now you know about it, so...” Sonic tried to convince her again, “what do you say we get out of here now? I’m kinda starving now...”

Amy dropped everything and looked at him. “Hmm, did I hear someone asking me out for some ice cream?” She smiled. “Let’s go then!”

They both left the room and Tails’ place. On their way to the ice cream shop.  Sonic let out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, I’m glad we got out of there...”

"Why, though?” Amy curiously replied.

“Well, let’s just say some things are best left unseen.”

“Okay...” she winked at him, “that just means I’ll spend the night checking on it!”

Sonic awkwardly chuckled, as she happily leaned on his shoulder.

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

[You can check more amazing prompts, oneshots and headcanons over at my Special Content section!]

[mega-pvp]

me and my sister went to my grandmas to help her set up her christmas tree (don’t worry we socially distanced and stuff) and she was gonna make lobster for us so we were excited but then she’s like “come over here and see the lobster” and we come over and see this very alive massive fuvking lobster

then she’s like “his name is Larry :D” and had as hold him up for a picture and then she cooked him as we decorated the tree which made me sad since I just held him and now he was dying

but then she’s like “ok I need to go crack the shell” and she grabs a hammer, goes into the garage, and for about five minutes we just hear her smashing in the shell of this dead lobster in the garage before coming i. with a big ol smile and giving it to us

then she took out the liver amd stomach and showed them to us and showed us how they work (showing us the three pathways in the stomach) before we ate

I’ll miss Larry but I mean he tasted good

plus as we ate she pulled out the biography she’s been writing and read a passage about how when she was younger she thought baby’s came out of the mothers nipples

so yeah hows all of your days

[franstastic-ideas]

UT Papyrus seems to have a love/hate relationship with Toby Fox (the Annoying Dog) because he tends to sabotage him. How do the other Papyri feel about their respective Tobys?

Underfell Papyrus loathes his universe’s dog just as much as his Undertale counterpart. I mean he really wants rid of that dog, ever since it ripped a big ‘ol hole in the bum of his pants - he’s just like Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove when it comes to their interactions.

“FIRST, I’LL TRANSFORM THE DOG INTO A FLEA - A HARMLESS LITTLE FLEA! FROM THERE, I’LL PLACE THE DOG-FLEA IN A BOX, MAIL THE BOX TO MYSELF, AND THEN I’LL... SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!!!”

Underswap Papyrus has a far more relaxed relationship with the dog from his universe, since I headcanon that the Annoying Dog has become the Helpful Dog. He’ll scratch him behind the ears and give him pets, especially whenever he fetches the newspaper or does a good job with helping the human.

Swapfell Papyrus, well, he’s a friend to basically all living beings. Even if that living being despises him. The dog of his world seems to like him to a certain degree, but even if he didn’t and tried to chew and rip his bony arms right off his body, Papyrus would still act friendly towards him.

[shewhowantsmouseears]

The Little Peach, Chapter 6

Notes: Big thanks to my awesome editor Drucilla!

Not much to say here, except that I love Panchito forever and always. With that, Momotaro has gathered the dog, the monkey, and the pheasant - time for the real adventure to begin!

Summary: As the Oni King watches over his pawns, Mickey needs a teacher just in time for a master who never had a student.

With food and friends with him, Mickey felt even more confident on the way to the Princess and the Lucky Hammer. They had left the small town far behind them, and now walked on a dirt road underneath the hot, unforgiving sun. The heat was relentless, and there were no trees nearby to shade them. Mickey made an effort to distract his allies by weaving them tales of his glorious father and his battles against the deadly Oni. Maurice ate up every word, even applauding at grand victories, but Marsupilami was less than impressed, continuously toying with the end of his long tail.

“...and with that,” Mickey finished, trying to mime the battle out and not fall off of Pluto's head, “he sliced off the Oni's horn without breaking a sweat! Humiliated, the Oni fled the countryside, unable to ever show it's face again. Oh, he vowed revenge against my father, but not once did the great sir Donald ever flinch! 'If you ever come back', he declared with his head held high, 'I'll be here, ready to repeat history!'”

Maurice clapped again and again, sounding off a few pleased grunts and Pluto's tail wagged back and forth, quietly yipping his own happiness. Marsupilami rolled his eyes at the animal applause, while Mickey flashed a prideful grin, arms crossed. “A-huh! My old man's pretty great, ain't he? And when I get the Lucky Hammer, I'm going to be just like him! There won't be an Oni that can stand up to me.”

“Listen, kid,” Marsupilami began, trying to keep the droll out of his voice, “Not that the last... seven straight hours of you yammering about your dad haven't been great...but don't you think you're setting your standards kind of out of reach?” A brief pause. “And for once, I don't mean your height.”

Mickey blinked rapidly, confused right away. “What do you mean?”

“Having a goal is fine. Having a reasonable one is even better. Having a sane one is best of all. Take me and Maurice here,” he jabbed a thumb to his friend, who had decided to pass the time by picking his teeth clean, “Our main goal is to survive. That's it. And that's easily done by the end of the day. But you? You've got...” he counted off his fingers, “Make it to the capitol, see the Princess, convince the Princess to let you use the Lucky Hammer, hope that it's not a fairy tale and it actually does make you taller,cross your fingers your folks aren't mad at you for vanishing, and then become as good a samurai as your father was. Add in all the Oni we might run into as you come and go, and boy oh boy, you've got a mile long list of impossible things in a row.”

Having never actually discussed this plan with anyone else, Mickey was astonished to hear that, yes, it did seem like a lot of odds would have to work in his favor to make it all work. He thought about this, tilting his head as he mulled it over. “I wouldn't say they're impossible,” he decided. “Just difficult. And I don't plan on giving up on any of them.”

“I didn't say you had to give up...” Marsupilami then quickly muttered under his breath, “Retreating, however, I would fully endorse.” Maurice nudged his ribs, making Marsupilami speak normally again. “I'm just saying not planning on giving up is not really a plan. I'm sure on the way to the capitol you can think of some grand speech to knock the princess' socks off, if she doesn't take one look at you and burst into pity tears...”

“Gee, thanks.”

“... but if your end goal is to be as good a samurai as your father was, you have to actually learn how to use a sword. Me and Maurice are grateful that you got him freed, but not every enemy you face is going to have something easily fixed. You're going to have to learn how to fight.”

Mickey was forced to concede that his sharp-tongued ally had a point. His enemy last time had technically been a rock, and before that, rope. Donald had been taught proper swordsmanship by his own father, and Mickey could only guess how to handle a blade based on exaggerated stories. If he wanted to carry on the family tradition and protect those he cared about, he needed to learn what he was doing – he needed a teacher.

“But where am I going to find someone to teach me?” Mickey asked out loud. “We can't go wasting time searching in every single village, or I'll never make it to the Lucky Hammer.”

“Not to mention finding someone who wouldn't give up at the sight of you,” Marsupilami felt his opinion was needed.

“Again, thanks.”

What to do, what to do? Maurice cupped his chin and tilted his head in thought, as did Marsupilami, as did Mickey, as did Pluto, who almost accidentally dropped Mickey off his head again. The heat was making it especially hard to think, and it felt as if their brains were going to get as sweaty as their bodies. They all let out a mutual “Hmmm”, which, after hearing an odd sound far off ahead, turned into a mutual “Hmmm?”

The noise turned out to be hoofbeats, belonging to one very tired horse that had four Oni riding atop it, and the poor horse was doing everything in its power to kick them off. Three of the Oni were huge, muscular brutes with beagle-faced snouts and dark hoods sitting on their necks. The fourth one was also beagle-shaped and hooded, but was also very puny, lacked any muscles, and was forced to hang onto the horse's tail if he wanted to keep on riding. The Oni sitting at the very front spotted Mickey and his companions, and pulled on the reins as tight as he could. “I found our next target, brothers!”

Marsupilami began to back up, as did Maurice. “Who's up for a good ol' retreating lesson?”

“Samurai never retreat from a battle!” Mickey declared, standing proud as he whipped out his needle-blade, Pluto dipping his head low as he growled menacingly.

“I'm not a samurai! So retreat I shall!” But the attempt was thwarted when the horse began to buck heavily in a desperate plot to rid itself of its unwanted riders, and the smallest beagle went flying and smacked into Marsupilami's head. Both of them hit the ground, but the bitty beagle was first to his feet.

“Nobody moves!” The smallest of the four Oni declared, smashing his fist into an empty palm, as if he hadn't just been through an embarrassing ordeal and could still pull off being intimidating. “This is a robbery!”

“This is a headache.” Marsupilami groaned, needing Maurice to pick him up.

“Are you sure about this, Bigtime?” asked the second Oni on the horse, poking his head over his brother's shoulder. “They don't look like they've got anything valuable on 'em. Just a little boy and his pets.” Maurice snickered about Marsupilami being deemed a pet, and Marsupilami himself considered using his long tail as a noose.

“C'mon, brothers, we're on a robbery high!” Bigtime, the smallest it seemed, implored. “We managed to get that horse with no sweat!”

“Isn't that 'cause the guy we stole it from was asleep?” asked the third Oni on the horse.

“It still counts! Burger, Bankjob, Bouncer, help me round them up! We'll steal from them until there's nothing left!” Bigtime then swung his fist forward, and  Marsupilami barely dodged in time – but in a frantic effort to run away, he wound up tripping over his own tail and getting caught up in it.

Bouncer and Bankjob jumped off the horse to join the fray – Maurice lifted his arms to clobber Bouncer with his fists clenched tightly together, but Bouncer head-butted his stomach hard enough to send the giant gorilla wheezing. Bankjob lifted Pluto up by his tail, and was rewarded with a huge sharp bite to his forearm. He howled and dropped the pup, and Mickey leaped from Pluto's head, running up Bankjob's arm, sword at the ready – but unsure where to cut, and now with Marsupilami's doubting words in his heads, how to even move. “Get away from my friends, you-”

Bankjob merely flicked his finger at Mickey, and Mickey yelped as he soared off Bankjob's arm. Maurice caught him in his hands, and Mickey uttered a winded “Thanks, pal.” Now they were surrounded by the Oni all around, with no means of escape, at least not without a violent end. Mickey stood up in Maurice's palms, aching but still determined, both hands on the sewing needle. “I'm not giving up without a fight! There has to be something we can do!”

Bigtime laughed wickedly, taking sadistic pleasure in Mickey's hopes. “Types like you are a real riot, little boy! You think just saying 'I won't give up' is going to earn you any favors in this world?”

“It earned my favor.”

“Shut up, Bankjob!”

Bankjob temporarily stopped his menacing. “I didn't say anything, Bigtime.”

“Me neither,” said Bouncer.

“Wasn't me,” Burger shrugged atop the horse.

That left the sudden stranger standing in the midst of all the Beagles – which startled them so much they all jumped in different directions. Everyone had been so absorbed in the clobber-fest that they hadn't noticed the skinny young man who had casually strolled up on the road, watching the mess unfold. He lifted his wide-brimmed circular straw hat, revealing a smiling red rooster who waved cheerfully at those he just surprised. His plainclothes were dusty with faint traces of mud, but what stood out to Mickey was the long, dark scabbard hanging loosely off his belt – and the elegant handle sticking out, a thick ivory design that teased the presence of a unique blade.

“Hey, isn't that the guy we stole this horse from?” Burger asked, tilting his head so he could see better – and falling off the horse completely.

“Correct you are,” said the stranger, tilting his hat courteously. “There I was, taking a rest from my endless and weary journey, only to find my dear Martinez vanished. I was very concerned I would never see my partner again, but not ten miles did I find you all hear making all this noise. You have my thanks for not adding more unnecessary miles to my journey.”

“You're welcome,” said Burger, which earned him a slap upside the head from all three of his brothers.

“I was thinking of merely taking my horse and resuming my quest,” said the stranger, fingers beginning to tap on the hilt of his sword. “But to hear such fierce determination in the face of danger... I was inspired! Why, a boy like him is someone we should all strive to be.”

“And you're gunna strive to be beaten if you don't stop with all that fancy yammering!” Bigtime barked, pointing directly at the rooster. “Bang his beak shut, bros!”

Mickey was horrified! “Hey, three against one?! That's not fair!” he tried to run forward to lend his assistance -

Only to find it unnecessary. The rooster stepped forward once, and then pulled out his sword so quickly that the hilt slammed into Bouncer's jaw, toppling him backwards. In another step, one swipe of his blade had laid a heavy gash across Bankjob's chest – not enough to cause an eruption of blood, but more than enough to make him keel over in pain, clutching himself. Bouncer held his swollen mouth, and with his free fist, moved with Burger to try and pummel the newcomer – not once did the rooster stop smiling as he leaned back and forth, dodging the punches in time so that the two beagles wound up knocking each other out.

All of this took less than thirty seconds, and the rooster had even begun to hum quietly, as if he was out for a pleasant walk. Bigtime gawked at how easily his brothers were taken down. “You... Okay, I didn't want to do this – mostly because I didn't realize I'd need it as an option – but you asked for it!” he reached into his robes and pulled out a farmer's sickle, no doubt another petty theft reward. “I'll cut you in half, then thirds, then... whatever comes after the number three!”

“Four,” the rooster answered, “Which, by happy coincidence, is how many footsteps I will need to take for this to be over.” He then held his sword in both hands, and used his left foot to move ahead. “One...”

Bigtime ran forward, brandishing his makeshift weapon with a mighty roar - “Two.” the rooster stepped to his right, and the sword cut into the Oni's left hand, “Three,” now he stepped to his left, making the same mark on the right hand, with both cuts so painful that Bigtime dropped the sickle - “Four!” Bigtime covered his face with his hands, expecting his nose to be sliced off – and didn't expect that the fourth step was a huge kick between the thighs. Mickey and his friends winced in slight sympathy as the last Beagle collapsed, joining his brothers in a pile of defeat.

Mickey was in awe, his eyes glittering like new starlight. “That...that was amazing!” It was the first time he'd seen real skilled swordplay in front of his very own eyes, instead of relayed in stories past. The real thing was much more exciting, much more breathtaking, much more inspiring! His heart was beating wildly, and he jumped off of Maurice's hands to take his usual place atop Pluto. “You took them out without breaking a sweat! We're in your debt, sir!”

“Keep in mind,” Marsupilami added, having mostly been faking how tied up he was so he could keep out of danger, “That if we didn't have anything for them to steal for us, we certainly don't have anything to repay you with.”

The rooster cocked his head, and then laughed high and loud, returning his sword to his scabbard. “Ah, what an interesting group I've come across today! I need no thanks, for I consider it part of my training! Instead, I wish to thank you. Had they not run into you, they might have gotten away with Martinez.” He fondly stroked his horse's man, and the horse whinnied its thanks as well. The rooster then cleared his throat, and made a grand, sweeping bow so low he almost knocked off his hat. “I am Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González the Third.”

Marsupilami snorted, and then whispered a joke to Maurice, “If we keep getting buddies with longer and longer names, the next guy will have one that lasts to the next page.” He then drew himself up, wanting his introduction next. “I am  - HAVING MY PRIVATE SPACE INVADED!”

Panchito had, without any warning or hint, gone right up to Marsupilami and given him a yank on his tail in order to twirl him around – as he did this, he took out a single green feather from within his robes, and declared, “Not him.” He then dropped the dizzy monkey man and proceeded to spin Maurice around with one mighty push, doing the same check-over. “Not him either.” Pluto backed up, not wanting to be made into a pirouetting pup, but when Panchito looked him and Mickey over, he merely shook his head. “And both of you are two small to have been him.”

Didn't that just raise millions of questions? “Him?” Mickey asked, while Maurice and Marsupilami leaned on each other for support. “Who's him? And what are you checking us for?”

Panchito sighed, twirling the thin green feather in his hands. “That is a long and shameful story, my friend.”

“But you'll power through and tell us anyway,” Marsupilami deadpanned as he tried to keep his stomach's insides where they belonged.

“In my homeland,” Panchito began, “My family owns a dojo that spans back many years. Decade after decade, we trained the finest fighters, and the most skilled swordsmen. I am the heir to the dojo, but in my youth, I arrogantly believed this made me better than everyone else – that I was born to be better! Instead of teaching new students as I was supposed to, I challenged them in battle constantly, and mocked them when they lost. My pride was so great that I tried to challenge everyone who even so much as glanced in my direction. I believed no one could ever defeat me, and because of that, I had the right to bully everyone. If someone didn't like my attitude, I could always defeat them with one twist of my sword. I was an arrogant tyrant, one who fed off glory...then, several years ago, the Oni came to our village.”

“We were one of the earliest villages to be attacked when the new Oni King took his throne. But the Oni that came to our village said we could live in peace, so long as we surrendered to them. I saw an opportunity for a fight, and I challenged them, ignoring the pleas of my people. I cared more for my bloodlust than their safety, and... I got my tail handed to me. Several times. I kept getting up, and they kept putting me down. I refused to surrender, even when my bones were broken and my eyes were blinded by blood and dust. The Oni grew angry at my insistence, and even though they had offered peace, they decided I was worth the kill. My people must have thought the same, and I cannot blame them – not one of them came to my aide, perhaps thinking that if I was gone, so would all the troubles I brought.”

“Just when it seemed like I was done for... one lone samurai took down the Oni that had me by the throat. No one knew who he was, or where he came from. The Oni demanded to know why he was helping me, when he didn't even belong to the village. All he said was... 'When I see a nice face in trouble, I can't help myself.' Then, without another word, he took down each Oni, one by one, until they ran for the hills and left our village alone. I was blown away – saving my life, a complete stranger, all for one silly reason? At first, instead of feeling grateful, I was insulted. I could barely see him, but I still made a swipe for him, and I said... 'You have no idea who I am! I don't need your help or your pity! Why did you think me worth saving'? And while I couldn't make out his face... I somehow knew he was smiling when he replied...”

If that's how you feel, why don't you make yourself a life worth saving?

Panchito inhaled deeply, then exhaled just as strongly. “That one sentence...completely changed me. What was my life worth? Had it any value or meaning? Being the strongest was no meaning at all... you grow weak when you are old, and you will always find someone who can use their strength better than you can. So there I was, without point or purpose. Why bother waking up in the morning or letting myself breathe the same air as everyone else? Thus, within that moment, I resolved to do just as he said...I would make myself a life worth saving – by repaying him for saving it! I vowed to follow him to the ends of the earth to be his loyal follower, his steadfast attendant, and show him proper gratitude for saving my life. Because of that battle, I don't know what he looks like, or even his name...all I have is this single feather.”

“And you couldn't tell with one look we weren't a match?” Marsupilami huffed. “Are you just that desperate or just that dumb?”

As usual, Marsupilami went ignored. “And when I find him, I will declare... 'Sir! I am Panchito  Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González the Third!'” He banged once on his chest, back straight and proud, face serious and fiery! “I have come to you to learn your ways and repay my debt! If it takes me the rest of my life, I will obey your every command, and make sure your fight was not in vain! Do me the honor of becoming my sensei!” Then, with one breath, Panchito relapsed into his carefree attitude, and turned around. “Well, goodbye.”

“Goodbye?!” Mickey repeated in shock, urging Pluto to go after him. “After all that, goodbye?”

“Did I not just explain my quest?” Panchito asked as he took a hold of Martinez' reins. “Nice as you all are, I can't abandon my journey any longer for chitchat.”

“But I could really use your help!” Mickey implored, hopping off of Pluto's head to climb up Panchito's arm. “I want to be a samurai just like my father, a noble warrior who can protect anyone! I'm headed to the capitol so I can use the Lucky Hammer and become normal-sized, but that won't mean squat if I still can't use a sword! Someone like you could teach me a whole lot!”

Panchito raised an eyebrow, intrigued but not wholly sold just yet. “I never managed to teach anyone at the dojo...and I'm not sure how I could begin training someone with your... unusual problem.”

“I'm beggin' you!” Mickey pleaded, now at Panchito's shoulders, his hands together tightly. “I want to help people, and make my father proud! I can't do either as I am! I'll do anything if it means I can make my own life have worth too!”

Panchito cupped his beak, mulling it over back and forth, but considering the smile he was wearing, it was clear he'd long since made his choice. “Hmmm... The capitol is one of the places I haven't searched yet. Very well! We shall combine our goals... you, what is your name?”

Mickey bowed deeply, making sure to keep his balance so he wouldn't fall off Panchito's shoulder. “I'm Mickey! These are my friends, Pluto, Marsupilami and Maurice! We're on a quest of our own, to get the Lucky Hammer so I can become a normal-sized person and bring honor to my family!”

“I'd say they've got plenty to start with, given they have such a courageous young man!” Panchito climbed atop his horse, growing more excited with every passing second. “Then from this day onward, small Mickey, you will be my kouhai, and I will be your senpai! I'll teach you everything I know, and we will have a bond stronger than our steel swords! You have my loyalty until end of time! Onward!” he declared, though he only gave his horse a gentle nudging for a slow walk, “To the capitol, where you take destiny with your own two hands!”

“Sheesh,” Marsupilami muttered as he, Pluto and Maurice followed along. “If this guy could lay it on any thicker, we'd be drowning.” But he had to concede since Mickey now had a proper teacher, he had less to complain about in the way of goals. Maybe Mickey's steadfast confidence was rubbing off on him, little by little – not that Mickey could do anything big by big.

With the new companion keen to show Mickey the ins and outs of the blade, the expanded group continued forth to the capitol. Mickey took every lesson Panchito gave to heart, and practiced every single second he could, even when his body begged for a break. For the sake of his family who were trapped under the Oni's rule, and for his father who refused to acknowledge him, Mickey pushed past every pain and every ache, and though he felt no stronger for it, his determination grew more and more with every passing day.

No matter what it took, he would give his life meaning, and make his father grateful he had such a son. Why, it soon came to be that Mickey felt he would take on the Oni King himself, if that would earn Donald's favor.

Of course, like any sane person, he hoped it wouldn't actually come to that.

~*~

Nor was the Oni King eager for any dramatic confrontation anytime soon, not that he had any idea it was coming. He was far too focused on his own goals, and while he still had yet to locate the treasure he was seeking, he was sure it was only a matter of time. Patience was a difficult thing to master, yet he knew he had no choice but to command it. Still, if he could find a way to skip all the hard work and just cheat to get what he wanted, he would've grabbed that choice – like how he “cheated” to get the throne by offing off the former Oni King and his family.

He would have thought the same blood and scares would work on the mortals, especially the Emperor and the Princess, but who would've thought they were made of sterner stuff, and not so easily frightened? He didn't understand it, and he decided that when all of Japan was his to control, the Princess would be made to suffer the most, if only because she was such an annoyance, just like her father. Thinking of her now, in the dead of night, as he stood atop a rooftop and watched the sky, his blood boiled and he gnashed his teeth. Insipid brat! Who did she think she was, openly defying him?

Being “strong for her people”, bah! If she had any grain of intelligence, she'd save her own skin and hand over the Lucky Hammer. But no, she had to be just like the last Oni King... with that arrogant expression, that refusal to back down in the face of someone superior... No wonder he hated her so much. If things kept up this way, she'd meet the same fate, and he'd be glad to give it to her, even for all her lovely looks. It was the destiny of the weak to be ruled by the strong. Therefore, ruling all of Japan – and perhaps even what lay beyond – was his right.

While it was nice to fantasize about the future, he had to focus on the present, and the full moon allowed him to see what he was looking for. The numbers weren't growing as fast as he'd like, but it was better than nothing. He had to bide his time, until the Lucky Hammer was in his hands. Until then, his men would do all the hard work in conquering and capturing – why should the King have to do everything? They should be grateful he wasn't stomping on their heads and ripping them apart. Serving him was an honor.

Counting all the signals would take all night, but he didn't need to sleep much. In the hours of day, he could try to get away with a nap or two. Maybe then he'd think of a brilliant idea of how to get the Lucky Hammer. But until that new idea came up, he had to force himself to settle with his current one...

… becoming the Princess' husband.

[ansu-gurleht]

ok dream journal time b/c that was a pretty cool one

so it was like, some kinda weird scifi/cyberpunk/western themed thing. at first it was like a tv show, but it later morphed into a video game.

there were three main characters. there was this tough country guy who was really experienced, and we just called him boss. there was this girl who earlier on was like a robot butler? but she was really a ghost in a robosuit. but then she became human again so idk. idr her name (or if she was given one) but i’ll call her aradia. and there was me, who was in this weird scifi world, somehow pulled out of my normal world. me and aradia were like, hired by boss to work in his dope-ass apartment, which was pretty big tbh. i think aradia had worked there for a while, but i think boss had just recently hired me b/c i’d just recently fell into this world. i was also kinda the comedic relief of the show/game, since i kept making stupid pop-culture references that flew over the rest of the cast’s heads.

early on in the dream sequence it was kinda like a tv show? it was really cool. idr all the details, but aradia got a call-back for a new job. it looked kinda like a hospital? but her boss was like a vampire, so idk....(worth noting that there were a lot of aliens and monsters in this. to the point that at this early stage my impression was something a la undertale, except obviously more adult and “edgier”)

anyways she accidentally got so excited when she got the call for an interview she forgot to get into her robosuit and just....left as a ghost. so she was just invisible but she had on her gloves and shoes and purse or whatever. it was funny, but funny as in laughtrack funny, though. so she ended up possessing some random patient/customer at the place for her interview.

but then she almost got the job, which entailed her vampire boss making her a vampire too, but she was like “uh wait can we do this another time” b/c it wasn’t her body and she didn’t want to force this random lady to be a vampire. idr what happened after that b/c the whole “aradia gets a vampire job” arc was kinda forgotten about.

anyways we got a cut to your typical “here’s a little hint at a villain” scene you always get. it was some dude who was in like, prison-stasis? his stasis-pod said his name was illinois (yeah....), and he was, uh. it was hard to say if he was ever human to begin with, or if he was actually some other species, but he was definitely really cyborg-y and augmented now.  but he got broke out (supposedly b/c of his gang or whatever) and killed all the guards. and left the scene on an edgy “she dies first” line, which either directly specified “she” was aradia, or it was heavily implied, i forget.

idr if it was ever elaborated on in the dream sequence or i just dont remember what it was, but aradia and illinois had History. something happened between them that ended up putting illinois in prison. like, he deserved it, he’s like a supervillain. but she was the one who put him there, probably betraying him somehow. they might have been an item as well? idk. i think it’s implied that whatever happened put aradia in a bad situation and boss hired her to help her out.

anyways me aradia and boss were at the swag hotel watching tv (aradia had inexplicably become human at this point) and we found out that illinois had broke out of prison and was on the loose. aradia started freaking out b/c she knew he was after her. it took a while for me and boss to calm her down but she explained (sorta) what was going on, enough for us to get ready at least. so boss was like “well, he’ll find out you’re here. so we’re gonna sit tight, arm up, and take him out on our own turf.”

so at the time apparently he only had 3 weapons: an assault rifle, which he gave to aradia, a pistol which he gave to me, and a big ol’ hammer he kept for himself. it’s worth noting that it’s around this time that the premise transitioned from tv show to video game. more specifically, the whole rest of the dream played out like a tutorial sequence.

so eventually illinois shows up, and me and aradia open fire. unfortunately my pistol did not have a lot of ammo. and he came to take me out first, b/c i guess i had better aim, or he couldn’t see aradia from where she was shooting. so he comes at me with some kind of melee weapon. this whole sequence was weird. he had so many different melee weapons. and there were quick time events i got really lucky with, where you can disarm him, take the weapon and injure him with it. idr all the weapons but there was like, a machete and a crowbar, i remember. anyways i got him low enough that boss came in with the finishing blow with his hammer.

as his taunting final line illinois said something like “there’s a tracker on me, my gang’s gonna come by to finish you off soon” and boss was like “whatever” and smashed his head in.

after that was a pretty long period of us Gearing Up For The Next Raid. somehow there were a lot more guns and ammo around the apartment, so we went scrounging and loading up. it felt very tutorial-y b/c i kept asking boss and aradia questions about shit. 

anyways we got pretty good and geared up, and were getting impatient so we started doing like, fashion? trying on random shit in boss’s closet for laughs. but then the gang showed up. but they were all kinda pussies, and were easily dispatched, or they ran away.

last thing i remember was me and aradia looting their shit, while boss was chilling on the couch watching tv. i found some weed, and also some fish? like live fish in ziploc bags. and also an eel, which was live, and also not in a ziploc bag, it was just in the lootbag, which had a lot of water in it also. me and aradia were afraid of the eel so we went to boss to ask him to deal with it. last thing i remember was him laughing at us for being scared of the eel

[tvvolips]

⛄️ :))))

⛄️ – our muses build a snowman together

‘i’ll soon be there with snow, i’ll wash my hair with snow, and with a spade of snow i’ll build a man made of snow’ 

jesse custer’s brow is knit in concentration as he watches the four figures sing about snow. he always looks like he’s tryin’ real hard to take a crap when he’s into a show, tulip thinks, but he’d never admit to liking some ‘pansy musical.’ she guesses she could leave him be to enjoy, but the eight-year-old’s thinkin’ on snowmen and suddenly, she’s elbowing him in the rib hard. “hey!” jesse grumbles sourly, shooting her a dirty look, “can’t you just sit still and watch?” tulip huffs, rolls her eyes, “why do we gotta watch some dumb movie ‘bout snow when we could be makin’ snowmen,” her gap-toothed grin is just as conspiring as her sly gaze, jesse crinkling his brow further since he’s still annoyed with her for elbowing him so hard. “c’mon, jesse, you really wanna watch a musical?” his eyes snap to hers, read the threat in her tone, and like clouds parting in a storm, his expression clears up, “well. . .’s not any snow ‘round to make no snowmen.” tulip purses her lips; he’s right. she glances towards john custer’s office, where she knows he’s doin’ some stupid crap at his desk, probably just hopin’ he’ll hear her curse so he can kick her out (much as she hates the grown-up, her time spent here is cherished something fierce. tulip would fight god himself to keep these memories). “we can figure somethin’ out,” she finally says with a confident nod. 

they start with anything and everything that’s white and powdery in the kitchen, quiet as deft little mice as they struggle to clump the mixture of sugar, flour, and baking soda into ball shapes. “try water,” tulip suggests, but it all just plain ‘ole melts when they add it. “dang, now we gotta clean it up,” jesse moans, but it’s quicker to clean with her. they’re real good partners like that, work real good together. 

next, they try ice from the freezer. they go outside ‘cos tulip finds a hammer in the closet and they know it won’t be quiet. tulip and jesse take turns at smashing ice cubes on a brick and gather a small pile of smashed ice, but it doesn’t clump into much, melts real fast too. 

tulip wipes her brow on her arm, huffing loudly as she squints her eyes, the kind of way she does when she’s thinking real hard. after a few moments, her eyes brighten, “hey jesse, you real fond of the clothes you’re wearing?” he frowns, glances down, “i guess not. . .” she grabs his arm with a sorta’ crazy grin, “c’mon, get ol dollor.” 

jesse brings out his rusted, embarrassing (it was given to them by one of the older couples who attended mass, meaning it was an old lady bike) old bike, named lovingly after one of the duke’s favorite horses. after jesse’s on and ready to go, tulip hops behind him on the banana seat, tossing her arms around his stomach like it’s nothing. still, jesse grins faintly to himself, really feels like the ‘ole duke himself with a pretty lady on the back’a his horse, and starts riding. “where’re we headed, ma’am?” he asks in the enunciated southern accent that makes tulip groan, “quincannon’s,” she replies, to which he gets a little too stiff over. last time jesse saw mr. quincannon, he was yelling up a storm at his daddy. man might do more than tan their hides if they do somethin’ bad, but jesse ain’t afraid of nothin’ (’cos tulip isn’t afraid of nothin’ either). 

when they arrive, jesse and tulip park his bike up alongside the locked gate leading to the pasture. for all the space in texas, it’s a small pasture. all the cows are tucked in tight together, but they don’t seem to mind too much, jesse thinks. still, when he glances over to tulip, he becomes a little nervous. her eyes are glazed over, mouth closed, but slack, like something’s really bothering her about the sight. he nudges his shoulder to hers, biting at his lower lip, “you good?” she doesn’t look at him or bump him back, just spits at the gate in front of them, “not right, keepin’ them like this. they didn’t ask for it. just ‘cos they’re all meat cows doesn’t mean they should get stuck together so tight they can’t move an’ then killed with their whole family,” he’s never seen tulip cry, but for some reason, she looks close to it now, and that makes jesse mad. real mad. “whatever your idea is, it can wait,” he says before, he glances around, spots a shed a few paces away. workers are sparse since it’s close to christmas, and they’ll have plenty of time before anyone notices anything’s wrong. 

tulip waits while jesse jogs over to the shed, taking a few moments before returning with a pair of clippers that tulip’s seen qm&p men use to hack off bull’s balls before. “here,” jesse hands them to her. tulip realizes what he’s intending for her to do, and suddenly, her heart feels light. he gets it, and even if he doesn’t, he’s trying to help anyway. she looks to the ground, smiling like a dang idiot, “thanks,” is all she says, and jesse looks real proud of himself. with all her might, tulip pulls the clippers in on the lock over the gate to pasture, falling on her ass when it breaks. once the lock’s off, tulip pulls the gate open, calls, “c’mon now, y’all are free to leave. get on outta here, real far away,” at first, nothing happens, but a soft-eyed steer takes a few steps out. she turns to tulip and jesse with a swing of her large head that makes both of them hesitate, afraid she’ll charge, but all’s she does it take a big sniff of both of them, uttering a soft grunt before ambling along out. soon enough, the others follow, ‘till a big ‘ole crowd of them, like the kinds cowboys would herd, are making their merry way from their death sentence. 

“c’mon!” tulip calls, running into the pasture, to which jesse grimaces, “that’s a bunch’a cow shit, tulip” he hollers after her, but she’s already digging her hands into it, “naw, it’s snow!” she replies. jesse doesn’t move an inch, nose wrinkled, he glances off, trying to seem real cool, but an impact to his chest makes him yelp. a huge, brown stain coats his chest, a dang smelly one, and tulip o’hare is grinning over at him triumphantly. “okay, well, i guess i gotta,” jesse sighs, running in after her. 

that evening, odin quincannon glanced at his cameras, turned away, frowned, glanced back, cleaned his glasses, and widened his eyes ‘till they bulged. his yell carried a good distance, and all he found left of his profits for the next month was a goddamn snowman made outta shit. 

“i didn’t even think no snow angel would work in all’a that, tulip!” “yeah. good think it’s break or we’d smell like shit the whole week in school an’ donnie’s gang would hound on us like we were bones,” “jesse custer, what is this?” both children froze as john custer moved in on them as they reached the steps to the church. “sir, uh—we...” jesse froze up like an ice cube. tulip knows he’s scared of his daddy. his daddy’s an asshole. beats his kid like he’s satan or somethin’. she’s quick, though, and she knows a girl’s gotta watch out for her guy. suddenly, tulip snivels, whips a cruddy hand against her face, “we was just out playin’ an’...them boys from school...they...sniff...they threw some cow shi—uh...cow deposits at me an’ jesse stood up for me, but we got in a big fight ‘bout it.” 

the elder custer stares at the o’hare girl like a hawk, expression cold. a few moments pass before he gives a sigh, “this true, jesse?” followed by an immediate, “yessir!” john furrows his brow a little, giving a nod, “hose is out back. don’t track into the church,” before he’s turning from them, trailing up the steps to the church. 

once he’s gone, tulip slings an arm around jesse’s shoulders, face so close her nose smudges against his cheek, “well, now, betcher real glad i was around t’save your butt from a hidin’, huh?” jesse cringes a little, ‘cos she’s a girl, but beneath the manure on his face, he’s red as saint nick’s nose, “yeah, i guess,” “we’re just even now, is all, ‘cos you just gave me the best dang christmas ever,” she kisses his sodden cheek before drawing away from him, giving him a small punch on the arm (’cos she’s gotta make sure he isn’t thinkin’ he’s special or nothin’ since she gave him a ‘lil kiss), and stretches her arms above her head, “anyway, last one to the hose has to scrub our shoes,” and, as always, she takes off before he has a chance to react. 

jesse puts up with it, though. anything for tulip o’hare. 

[eclissy]

Buried Under the Aching Tree 1/2

Back when I was a baby and still writing a lot of DF stuff and my Hero OC stand in, I had a whole side story just about Ty’s sword, it’s name, what the details on it meant and so forth. But then I got tired, busy, and the whole thing felt over the top but, it’s October now. I redid it to de-stress a bit (and fill in the rest of the plot outline since I didn’t finish it seven years ago either. God of course it took me seven years to almost finish something).

Tbh, I reworked it so much that it’s more about Ash and Artix now.

Summary: Ash learns about his friend’’s sword, a relic passed through a million hands but never through a family. That and what it’s like to be possessed by a single feeling.

Accustomed to the Hero’s little giveaways, Ash grabbed the hilt of Ty’s sword before she could plunge it into the farmer’s chest.

“He’s not a thief anymore!” Ash yelled, having to dig his heels into the ground to keep Ty’s sword from getting stuck between the farmer’s ribs. Ty let go to make sure Ash wouldn’t hurt himself and the boy stumbled back, sword in hand.  

The farmer in question was shivering so hard, his skin was likely to peel itself off and all Ty was doing was smiling. No smile lines around her eyes; just this mechanical lifting of the corner of her mouth.

Turning to Ash, that grin shrank into a sheepish bit lip and raised shoulders.

“Did it look like I was going to hurt him?” Ty asked, an eye half closed in a wince as though Ash’s yelp had physically hit her. “Oopsie, I was only trying to scare him. I promise!”

Typically, if you were intending on hurting someone, scaring them came with the package.

“Ty…” Ash stood back, fixing a scolding glare he didn’t really know how to make. He tried to think about his mom giving him a hard telling to when he drank milk straight out of the bucket.

Shrugging and turning her hands over, Ty’s expression loosened into a scowl and her eyes rolled, coming to rest on the farmer.

“Don’t you remember this jackhole?” Ty kept the language clean for Ash. “He broke into your camp, took your gold, and your clothes so you couldn’t leave your tent for days!”

“I mean yeah, you didn’t need to remind me but yeah…” Ash muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Nervously, the farmer stepped towards the young man. He was half hiding behind his pitchfork which made his heavily scarred brutish face much less menacing than the first time he had met Ash.

“Funds are low this season so I’m awful sorry, I can’t give the gold back to you right now. But, you know where the farm is. After Spring comes back round, I’ll return what I stole,” He removed his hat. “Again, I’m awful sorry I did that to you and I really am trying to turn over a new leaf.”

“Honestly, I’m not angry at all. I’m glad things went right for you.” Ash said, genuinely thrilled that the thief had changed for the better. “Don’t worry about the gold.”

“Ash! Don’t let this guy off free!” Ty protested, more convinced that Warlic could drink a vat of melted wax and live than the farmer being completely reformed. “What he did was terrible! He needs to pay! When I found you, the crows were circling and it smelled like pee.“

“I know, I know!” Ash quickly cut her off. “But everything’s ok now. Look at that smile.”

The farmer smiled with all twelve of his green teeth.

“That’s a good guy!” It was okay, Ash hated going to the dentist too.

Brow creasing deeply, mirroring her scrunched grimace, Ty struggled to not break her arms crossing them so hard.

“If you say so.” Ty finally conceded, tilting her head to dodge the arrow shot at her.

For a stunned moment of silence, Ash gaped at Ty and the arrow stuck in the ground. He barely noticed the group of bandits doing the same thing.

Then, Ty began tapping her chin, examining the scruffy bandits that were slowly working their bravery back up. Brandishing some very pretty and very stolen axes and swords, the bandits were coming Ash and Ty’s way.

“Are these guys part of your old posse? Did they maybe come out here to rough you up for leaving?” Ty didn’t look at the man and see him nod. “Oh my god, you guys couldn’t have come at a better time,” She laughed, beginning to walk towards them unarmed. “When I’m done ripping your intestines out of your assholes and tying them together, they’re going straight into your mouths!”

Those bandits were shouting, half in a rage and half in true horror.

Ash didn’t approve of that wording but he was going to try helping first. Gripping Ty’s sword, Ash ran after the bandit that chickened out and was trying to get away.

“Stop!” Ash yelled, catching up to the fleeing bandit. He swung Ty’s sword and rolled on to the ground when it stayed stuck by his side. The blade had suddenly gotten incredibly heavy, squeezing Ash’s fingers white against the dirt. “Ow!”

Hearing Ash fumble, the bandit had returned, tapping his dagger on his palm.

“Huh,” He glanced towards where Ty was rearranging his fellow bandits’ faces some distance away between the trees. “We made it all the way into the woods. You think she can hear you scream over here?”

The point of the dagger flew towards Ash’s eye and gasping, Ash jumped up, lifting the sword with all of his might. It went over his head and he almost tumbled backwards from its weight but managed to keep his footing. The bandit didn’t hesitate making another stab at Ash’s belly.

Panicking, Ash blindly swung Ty’s sword and it smashed into the bandit’s rusty dagger, shattering into pieces.

“You little – AHG!” The bandit screamed, keeling over clutching his bleeding shin. Behind him, the farmer kept his pitch fork pointed at his once fellow thief.

Ash was busy staring at what was left of Ty’s beautiful sword scattered across the patchy ground to thank the farmer. He wanted to swallow the lump in his throat but it was too dry and any tiny movement made his stinging eyes hurt.

“Aw,” The bandit looked at him sympathetically. “It ain’t your fault.” Ash couldn’t hear him over the sound of footsteps coming up beside him.

“Huh,” Ty cast a wary gaze to the farmer though much softer than before. “I’m sad they passed out so quick. You doing okay here?”

“T-Ty…” His grip on the sword’s hilt shaking, Ash lifted his head to look at Ty who had noticed the shiny broken pieces of the sword her father had made for her. Her jaw hung open, hands held up in front of her chest. “I’m so--! I’m so so--!”

“Woah, Ash!” Ty clasped Ash’s shoulders, eyes all starry. “Did you break my sword? That’s so cool!”

The tears began to flow and Ty opened her mouth, shocked.

“Oh, no no no! You’re really cute when you cry!” Ty exclaimed, giving him a big hug. Ash’s tears were shooting out like bullets and Ty continued to pat his back. “Hey, you’re cuter when you’re happy so don’t worry! I’m not mad at all and this totally isn’t your fault.”

“I’ll bay de blacksmit.” Ash blubbered over Ty’s comforting, hugging her back.

“There’s already an appointment set up, I’ll just give Konnan a larger tip.”

Awkwardly, the farmer also began to pat Ash’s back. It earned him a thousand yard stare from Ty.

“Haha...I’ll go back to growing carrots.”

“Carrots? Ew,” Ty bit her tongue to keep herself from sticking it out. “No wonder you don’t have any gold.”

“Ty!” Ash exclaimed, starting to become and laugh a little at the situation.

Under Konnan’s hammer, the metal seemed to move on its own. The intricate embellishments of ivy and holly leaves that had been broken were weaving back together on the broad side of the blade. Ash stared in wonder, attributing it to magic.

Before Ash knew it, the sword was as good as new on the Smithy’s front counter.

“Don’t worry about the extra big tip. I don’t know, buy me some of Serenity’s scones tomorrow,” Konnan took off his gloves and attempted to wipe the soot off of his cheek, leaving a big streak. “I like working on your sword anyways. It makes me feel like I’m actually a master blacksmith.”

“You’re getting there fast,” Ty assured him, waiting for Ash to take his time looking at her sword before she sheathed it. “See Ash? Didn’t take any time at all.”

“That’s all thanks to the magic,” Konnan confirmed Ash’s theory. “I’m no mage but no sword can get fixed that fast. You need to tell me and Yulgar how this sword was forged. If all swords were like it…no wait, that’d put us out of a job.”

“Haha, I couldn’t let out the secret even if I tried. It’s an old antique my dad had remade,” Ty let her hand rest on the sword’s hilt. “We know a few of the stories it’s got under its belt but where it came from and who made it? Not sure and also not sure if that’s why it’s got the magic.”

“Oh well. I still would have liked to know. I’ve never seen this style of sword before,” Konnan rubbed his chin, smearing it with soot too. “And for such a well-made weapon, it has such a cutesy name. Fuukoo… Fuukoo shoes, or something,” He tapped the counter didn’t bring up the correct name. “I’ve got some other work to do so when that’s over, tell me a few of the stories.”

“Me too!” Ash jumped in, eager to hear what kind of heroic deeds pervious heroes had achieved with the enchanted sword. The young hero had only read about great swords with long histories in books. When he did see them, it was from afar with him jumping up and down in the hopes of catching a glimpse of it and its honored master pass through his village.

“No.” Ty said, flat out.

Konnan and Ash froze, though Konnan got back to moving a lot faster, evacuating the scene to busy himself by the tools in the back.

“Nah, that was a gut reaction,” Ty snaked her arm around Ash’s shoulder and lead him out of the shop. “I’ll tell you one while we walk back to my place.”

And she didn’t talk at all while they were in Falconreach. Ash tried to stammer a few things, a little flustered being hugged by the hero like that. Not to mention he had a kind of dumb grin; one that he couldn’t help make even when a few passerby definitely noticed the big ol tomato Ty was escorting out of time.

When they were on the well trekked path to the crossroads, Ty began to tell a tale.

“Long long ago, this sword fell into the hands of fledgling adventurer, who went from swinging sticks with his sister to leading a revolution in an empire wracked with civil war.” Ty started the story in a faux old lady voice to Ash’s amusement.

“The Emperor had already quashed the Empress and the Crown Prince’s rebellion. He had seemingly forgiven his wife and son for all transgressions but then, the Crown Prince died of illness. The Empress passed away of the same. Though he was grieving, the youngest son went to war before he began to suspect that his father had the Prince’s beloved brother and mother poisoned. He was, however, no war hero.”

“That adventurer was!” Ash cut in.

“And that adventurer started off strong, leading a small force of village folk against the Emperor’s men when they came to forcefully recruit them. His many string of victories brought him the Prince’s notice and he was honored with a sword from the royal treasury, a prize from a previous victory long passed. The Prince had stolen and put the weapon in better suited hands.”

Ash could picture it, the young man putting on armor that was shinier than any kind of gold or silver. He was kneeling in front of the crowned Prince on a wide grassy battlefield, knighted by the sword he would receive.

“On horseback, he drew his sword and pointed it at the sky as he charges into his first battle. An arrow strikes his horse’s leg and he skids over the dirt hard.”

The dream shattered and Ash was back on the path with Ty. She noticed his sinking glee but kept the same easy tone as she continued, holding her hands behind her back.

“That fall knocked the adventurer out and he was asleep as waves of his comrades died without his leadership. When he woke up in a panic, immediately rallying the army together, they kept dying because of his mistakes. As it seemed, the appointed champion knew his home woods best. These kinds of battles weren’t anything he’d ever prepared for before.”

Ash could picture that too. He thought of the same panic he had when Falconreach was on fire and his shouts were drowned out by the violence. Only, that hero must have had that fear magnified to a degree Ash couldn’t imagine anyone being able to think in.

“Luckily, the champion’s sister had come despite him asking her to stay behind where it was safe. She had fought beside him when the fight was on their turf and had snuck into the war camp to join him. Taking up a spear, she tied a banner to it and let the colours fly as she fought, grabbing her comrades’ attention and leading the battle to victory.”

Heart swelling, Ash was tossed back from the edge of a tragic end to the triumphant turn in the story.

“Saving the army and her brother was a story that gave the Crown Prince’s side morale. It swung the undecided to his side and the Prince decreed the two of them to be his champions. Together, they lead the armies until the army could only be led by one. That adventurer had no talent leading an army and one day, he disappeared.”

“What? Did he go back home?”

“In a sense, he did. All of a sudden, the Prince’s army was suffering losses and they had to retreat to the remaining champion’s home. They met her brother there in the flames he started. Jealous of his sister, the former champion had gone to the Emperor with all the information he needed to destroy the rebellion. He said as much when they reunited, having already killed his own parents to hurt his sister.”

As vivid as the bright sun that shone over Ash right now, the image in his head of the carnage was alight with fire.

The once bright and hopeful young boy was standing over his coughing sister. The heads of their friends and family were propped on stakes all around the village as it was demolished by fire and battle. In his gauntlets was the sword, more red than silver under the full moon.

‘You stole everything from me! I was the hero and you took it all away!’ Ash heard the boy’s voice when Ty quoted him.

“That was when his sword became heavy. Its weight pulled him down and it disappeared from under him, coming back when his sister plunged it into the back of his neck.”

She could have incapacitated him when the sword decided that she would be its new master. She could have taken him to face justice. In fact, she could have killed him so no one else would have been hurt.

Instead, she murdered him in cold blood, hooking the point under his skin, scraping it into his skull just for the sake of making him suffer. The sound of her brother’s messy death blocked out the chaos, veiling her in the only kind of joy she would ever feel again.

“After that, the rest of the battles were nothing special. What was special was how the remaining champion kept the head of her brother chained to her belt. With the sword, she mowed the Emperor’s army down with the vindictive forces who had too been enraged by the destruction of their previous lives. They were only the Crown Prince’s army in name. Once they made it to the Capital—“

The champion, alone with the Crown Prince, stormed the room where the man who ruined her life sat atop a great throne. To her horror, the Emperor stood with her sword held at his side. She found that her hands were empty and the Emperor spoke to her.

‘Do you know my story? The story of a boy with not a drop of blue blood? I stowed away on the pirate ship that destroyed the small fishing village where my family lived. Under the bloodied gold and silver was the sword I used to avenge my family. It slew hundreds of pirates, thousands of the worthless soldiers, and all of the idle nobles until the remaining bowed to me. But I wasn’t done. This sword stayed in my hands until all I knew was war. Country after country fell for no reason other than for the phantom slight I imagined they had committed against me. Even when I found a new family, they came to hate me and were taken by an enemy I couldn’t kill.”

The remaining Emperor’s Son had found out long before that his father had nothing to do with his mother and brother’s deaths. His war had been waged not for revenge but to save a country from a war mongering tyrant he loved dearly.

‘I could not raise my sword against my wife and son. I only waged war so a truly evil Emperor would not threaten the next Emperor’s reign with their shared blood. This sword could no longer be mine.’

The cursed sword reappeared in the champion’s grip, refusing to leave her hands when she tried to drop the horrid thing.

‘Promise me that when I die, you will do all that is within your power to sink the sword into the sea.’

Ash’s intense daydream ended as the silver blade rushed towards the Emperor and disappeared into his throat.

Blinded by the daylight, Ash shielded his eyes, distraught by how he had been absorbed into Ty’s story. The young hero, reminded of her presence and of their walk, staggered away from her and her cottage. In the midst of the daydream, he hadn’t noticed that they had already arrived.

“They couldn’t pry the sword out of the champion’s hands and she didn’t hesitate chopping them off. The new Emperor had it sunk in a sea that was so far away, it didn’t have a name yet,” Ty was finishing the story. “Probably would done it, promise or not. He was an honest and nice person. I’d say he would have thrown the sword away out of guilt.”

“He should have broken it!” Ash said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. How had he literally seen the scene in his head?

“Magic, remember? One of the reasons why the first champion started to get really good at fighting after he deserted was because of the sword,” Ty was treating the matter so nonchalantly that it was making Ash angry. “I brought it to the Smithy to fix it faster but if I had left it alone, the sword would have pieced itself back together on its own.”

And come back to Ty on its own.

“I could tell you some more stories,” Ty unsheathed the blade, holding it level. “There’s a bunch I know from before it met the first Champion and after it crawled out of the sea. This one was just one of my favorites.”

Ash shook his head, keeping his distance.

“Why would you have it? Why won’t you throw it away? That sword makes you obsessed with revenge!”

The moment that Ty took to think about her answer that was scarily short.

“I like it.” She put it simply.

Despite her behavior before; every single fight that Ash remembered how Ty had taken too far, he still couldn’t believe his ears.

“What?”

“What if after each war we have in Falconreach, Amityvale, the Sandsea, anywhere people we care about get hurt, the event ended and I was too tired to stand?” Ty asked. “What if the villains get away with it and hurt more of the people we care about? What if I let everyone in Falconreach stay hurt? What if I can’t bring them the justice they deserve? What if, what if, what if, right?” Ty tilted the blade and Ash could have sworn, the ivy and holly leaf markings swayed.

“This sword doesn’t make you obsessed with revenge. The people it chooses are already in love with revenge and it won’t let them forget it,” Ty gazed at the sword, as if at peace thanks to the idea it kept locked in her mind. “I have to make them pay.”

“That’s it,” Ash said, disgust clearing dripping from his voice. “Does saving people matter at that point? You’re in love with revenge because you want to make people suffer. Whether they did something bad or not doesn’t matter. You fight to protect the weak, to be a hero. Not to hurt people. You didn’t have to make people suffer! You do it because you like it.”

Ty lowered the sword, thinking of dropping it. Only thinking.

“You’re right, Ash. And I’m sorry,” Ty turned to him, a little less color in her cheeks. She smiled despite that. “I was just glad you can’t use the sword. And you deserve to know the reason why,” She turned to face her friend. “You’re a real hero, Ash.”

A beat passed, one where he tried to stop being mad. It was just that he was so disappointed and the heavy, foul mood grew over him like mold.

“I…Ty, I need to go.” He didn’t intend to say goodbye.

“I know.” Ty nodded, watching him walk back towards Falconreach.

Taking a detour was seriously unsafe when the sun was setting so low but Ash needed it. He didn’t think any monster would approach, hearing how heavy his stomping was.

In all honesty, he had no idea how to deal with being this kind of angry.

Ash tried comparing it with some other mishaps in the past, like when he dropped his sword on a noble’s foot and it cut the poor man. That was Ash’s own fault and he was angry at himself though.      

Perhaps it was an over exaggeration but he tried likening this to the anger that came from Falconreach being attacked yet again. Destroyed yet again. But, they were all villains. Not any of his friends.

None of Ash’s friends would make him feel this way.

“Argh,” Ash tugged at his hair, not noticing how the orange sky had gone pitch black. Only a sliver of the moon was out now. He kept walking, going nowhere near Falconreach and into parts of Surewood he didn’t recognize.

In fact, all these trees had no leaves. Kind of like in Doomwood actually.

“Since when did the grass get gray?” Ash did a bit of a hop, startled at the mist beginning to form over the forest floor as well. “I didn’t walk that far, did I?” The panic started up and Ash frantically scanned his surroundings for anything familiar or for anything out to attack him.

If this was Doomwood and not some random patch of Surewood that caught the flu, Ash figured he could take down half a zombie if he tried very hard.

In the corner of his eye, a familiar glint caught his attention and his stomach plummeted.

Blade stuck into the ground, covered in a bed of foliage was the silver sword.

Ash rushed to it, terrified at how it was out in the open. Anyone could get their hands on it and do their worst. Anyone was likely to be a necromancer, a vampire, oh gods was Drakath out here?

What about Ty?

“I can throw it away.” Ash thought out loud. An ocean couldn’t keep it trapped but it had to have taken time to escape. Ash could toss the thing into a bottomless pit, a gully, or feed it to something nasty. Then, he could go to Warlic or Artix and find a way to actually destroy the cursed sword.  

Shoulders squared in resolution, Ash trudged through the leaves. He went right up to the sword, took its gold hilt into his hand, and wrenched it from its resting place.

Blood gushed from the leaves, pulled up by the sword and splattered his shins.

Ash’s heart came to a hard stop before pounding against his ribs in sheer terror. Confused and horrified, Ash tore away at the ivy leaves, searching for anyone that could be hurt under there.

The bed was endless and the more he yanked away, the deeper it got and thorns began biting into his skin. Before he knew it, Ash had sunk into this pit, his head disappearing under the leaves.

On instinct, Ash slashed the sword through the greenery and it was as light as air. Blood pooled at his feet, draining from the vines he slashed, making the thorns glisten.

“My children were flayed,” An ivy vine wrapped around his ankle. “Who would avenge them if not I?”

“My brother accused my wife of witchcraft. She burned as I was hung,” Another voice invaded as Ash tried to cut the bindings only for his other foot to get swallowed into the gore, ankle deep. “Why was it that I had to crawl from my grave to right the wrong? Who would have avenged us otherwise?”

This was a dream. A very bad nightmare Ash was convinced he was having. He didn’t remember falling asleep but he must have and the story of that magic sword scared him so much that the thorns tearing through his armor felt real.

“A wretched King conquered my home when we showed kindness. All of my friends and family, their bones piled like trophies in the royal coffers,” A pair of hands accompanied this whisper, grabbing Ash’s hands as he attempted to remove his boot and escape. “They all had to die. All of his people. That was the only right way.”

“No!” Ash’s voice was shrill. “Let me go!” He couldn’t hear himself anymore. The couple of voices had grown to tens, to hundreds, to thousands of laughing mouths and reaching hands. The fingers that wrapped around his neck were made of steel; prosthetic limbs made for a veteran.

“Didn’t you think I had to? I had to! We have to!”

That voice was the same as the one he had imagined when Ty was telling him the story. Except, it wasn’t his imagination. The sword had long felt his mounting disappointment, and caught him in its will long before.

“Avenge their deaths.”

“For hurting me.”

“Humiliated me.”

“My future destroyed.”

Each reason was increasingly becoming frivolous; things that Ash couldn’t understand people taking lives over.

“I was the hero.” Another joined the cacophony and Ash could not escape its echo. “I wanted to be the hero. I worked so hard to be a hero. I’ve been dreaming of being a hero, a real knight for as long as I lived. She stole it from me.”

That sword fit in Ash’s hands all of a sudden. He held the sword as though it was the only thing keeping him alive. The nails digging into his lungs screamed for him to act and Ash jabbed the sword towards the source of that despicable laughter, imagining silver slicing through a neck.

“My Hero let me down.” Ash heard and it came from somewhere that was so close, it could have been inside him.

The sky was orange again, tinged with the sunset. Surewood was as green as ever and the only rotting deathly smell was stuck in the back of Ash’s nose.

Resting across his outstretched hands was his silver sword. What was left of all of the ghostly shouts was a single, wind-chime like query.

“Prithee, great champion, may I ask of you—” Ash closed his eyes and the whisper sank into his heart.

“Is revenge a science? Or is it an art?”

[coneygoil]

“Welcome to the Fallout”, part 2

Fandom: Wreck-It Ralph

Writer’s note: So...this story made a complete turnabout. I wrote part 2, but was having trouble with integrating what I wanted to do with the rest of the story. I changed the entire route of where this fic was going, and had to rewrite nearly all of this part. But that’s okay. I think it’s going to be an easier fic to work on now. Woooooo!

Part 1

Felix remained speechless. He wasn’t wrong when thinking this woman needed a friend. He never heard such a horrible circumstance. Why were games programmed to be so violent these days? 

The arm wrapped around his middle loosened, setting Felix back on his feet. He spun around to face his unexpected guest. “If you wanted to drop by, ma’am, you simply could of knocked on my door.”

“Sorry about that,” Calhoun mumbled an uncomfortable apology, “I was trying to keep my presence a secret.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“I need your help.”

“You do? How can I be of service to you, ma’am?”

Calhoun began to pace, rubbing a hand over her face as she did. She looked like a rabbit ready to bolt from a trap. “Hero’s Duty isn’t like other games. We don’t all happy-go-lucky skip off after work hours. We fight cy-bugs, but the thing about cy-bugs is they don’t know they’re in a game.”

Her piercing gaze zeroed in on him. Felix caught a glance at the way her fists shook, the action making him a little on edge. “All they know is eat, kill, multiple. Our work never ends. They keep coming and coming like a never-ending flow of death. But that’s not the worst of it.“

Calhoun ceased pacing. She closed her eyes bringing a knuckle to her mouth, taking in several deep breaths. Felix stayed rooted to the floor as she continued, “The programmers of Hero’s Duty thought it was a great idea to program me with the most tragic backstory. Every day I relive the nightmare that is my past. I’ve tried to not think about it, to ignore the images in my head, but they never stop coming.”

Felix remained speechless. He wasn’t wrong when thinking this woman needed a friend. He never heard such a horrible circumstance. Why were games programmed to be so violent these days? His heart went out to this woman, but he didn’t know what he could possibly do for her.

“How exactly do you reckon I can help you?”

Calhoun gestured to the tool hanging from his belt. “You said your hammer can fix anything.”

Felix raised a finger, chiming in, “Almost anything.” Then it hit him. “Sergeant Calhoun, if you want me to do what I think you want me to-“

The frustration was already evident on her features. “At least try to fix me.”

Felix had lived in a happy little bubble his whole life; the closest to seeing sadness was a fellow game being unplugged. The wounded look in her eyes tugged Felix’s heartstrings. This woman standing here was broken, and as a fixer, he was moved to do whatever he could to repair the brokenness.

He held up his golden hammer, the weight of the tool uncharacteristically heavy in his grasp. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that his hammer could fix shattered windows and smashed bricks, and could even heal physical abrasions, but emotional wounds programmed into code? He already knew the outcome.  

Calhoun bent to one knee, lifting her chin with dignity. “Fix me, Felix,” she uttered with such trust and surety in her voice that made Felix’s hand want to tremble.

He tapped her chest gently over her heart, but the familiar fixing jingle didn’t ring. “It didn’t work, ma’am.”

“Try tapping my head.” Felix cringed at the suggestion. “I’m not scared of a little tap on my noggin, Fix-It.”

Felix took a deep breath, taping the bell of the hammer as soft as he could against her blonde head. Nothing. His limbs fell to his sides. “I’m sorry, Miss Calhoun.”

The sergeant stayed bent on one knee for an extended moment, the hope depleting from her. She got to her feet, head bowed, and a far off look in her gaze. “It was a mistake coming here. I should of known better than to assume this would work.”

She made a beeline for the door, but Felix reached out, grabbing her hand. “Miss Calhoun, wait!” Felix’s heart went out to this woman. He didn’t know what was compelling him to want to help her, to fix the distress that ailed her. She was absolutely stunning in her HD glory, but there was more to Sergeant Calhoun than that; more than just helping out a pretty face. His hammer may not have fixed her, but he was determined to repair her brokenness or his name wasn’t Fix-It Felix Jr.

“Why don’t you stay the night?” The words flew out of his mouth, and Felix couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. “Maybe getting away from your game will help ease your mind.”

They mutually dropped the handhold. A beat of silence filled the room as both looked anywhere but at each other. Felix was beginning to worry that his offer was too forward, or Miss Calhoun would get the wrong idea. A tint of red colored his cheeks, adding more detail to his offer, “You can sleep in my bed, and I’ll take the couch. My bed may be a little short for you, but it’s cozier than the couch.”

He glanced up at her to find Calhoun nibbling on the inside of her lip, still mulling over the idea. “Okay,” she nodded, “But I don’t wanna put you out of your own bed, Fix-It.”

“It’s no problem, ma’am.”

Felix was confident that his plan would work, that Sergeant Calhoun would be as right as rain in the morning and he’d see her off with a smile. He was right as Calhoun sat down at his bar, Felix presenting her with a bountiful plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

“Why the feast?” she asked as Felix hopped up on the stool next her.

“I never get to cook a big breakfast since its only little ole’ me,” he shrugged, feeling his cheeks heat up, “Feel any better?”

Calhoun broke a piece of bacon off, crunching it in her mouth. She closed her eyes and Felix caught the way she savored the meal. “I do. This is the first night since being plugged in that I slept the entire night.”

“See? All you need was a restful night’s sleep.”

The two enjoyed the breakfast and the company. Felix sent Calhoun on her way, the cloaking device on her armor hiding her from any nosy neighbors. The relief in her eyes as she left made his chest swell, his task at fixing the brokenness had worked. But what Felix didn’t realize was that emotional healing took time, and Sergeant Calhoun would be a work in progress.

[thehelleniclunarwitch]

Oh To Be a Barton (Chapter Twelve)

Tagged: @justgrits

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

Emily stood alone in the Batcave. She had been planted in front of the large screens for the past several hours. The minute the news started rolling in on the battle raging on in New York, Emily couldn't take her eyes off of the screens. She had all of the news channels in front of her so she didn’t miss one piece of detail.

She had known better than to call her brother or Natasha, but she needed some kind of reassurance that her family was okay. Emily had seen the Hulk running around smashing the aliens to pieces. Seeing her dad running around eased some of the panic in her chest, but worrying about Clint and Natasha both may actually kill her.

Seeing Captain America alive and part of the team made her heart swell with pride. Coulson had sent her an email the minute they had found Steve, but to no surprise to him, Emily already knew. She had certain files in the Shields program flagged so whenever new information was added she would be notified as soon as it happened.

Emily didn't hear the door slam shut or the footsteps pounding down the stairs. Sighing, she leaned against the desk as she watched Thor toss his hammer at one of the flying jets. She cringed as she watched one of them slam into Iron Man.

“You shouldn't be torturing yourself by watching this shit.” Jason snarled behind her.

“It’s the only way I’m going to know what’s happening,” Emily replied.

“Your team has this under control,” Jason replied.

Emily looked over her shoulder and glared at him. “Does it look like they have this under control?” She angrily pointed at the news on the screens.

“You're just a girl who’s good with computers. It’s not like you’d be able to help anyways.” Jason pointed out.

Emily slammed her fists on top of the desks.

“You're not helping. If you’d like to keep your head attached to your body you better bug off.” Emily snarled.

Jason sighed. “I didn't mean,”

“If you hadn't meant to offend her you wouldn't have said anything at all.” Peter interrupted as he and Piper stormed down the stairs.

“Can I not get any damn privacy in this house?” Emily growled to herself.

Jason said nothing as he pushed past his siblings and hurried upstairs. Emily turned her back on Peter and Piper both.

“Jason’s right. You shouldn't be torturing yourself.” Peter said.

“He’s right, you know. I'm just a computer geek. My family is out there saving the world and where am I? Miles away hiding in a mansion like a scared little brat.” Emily replied.

“You’re just important to them as they are to you. They can't be out there fighting and worrying about you at the same time. They know that what you can do with computers is important. You’re just as needed as they are. Who cares if your skills are different? They know that you are in capable hands and that's why they are out there saving the rest of the world so you actually have a home to go back to.” Peter explained.

“I feel useless,” Emily admitted.

Piper walked behind the desk over to the wall full of training weapons. She pulled down two bo staffs and walked back over to Peter and Emily.

“Uh Piper, what are you doing?” Peter asked.

She tossed a staff at Emily who caught it before it slammed into her face.

“I’ll make you not feel so useless,” Piper stated before storming over to the practice mat.

“Is she serious?” Emily asked.

“Piper’s one amazing fighter and you know it. She’ll keep your mind off things all the while teaching you a thing or two.” Peter informed her.

Emily quickly pulled up her hair piling it on top of her head. She was dressed comfortably enough in her black leggings and Star Labs t-shirt. Piper stood in the middle of the mat waiting for her. Emily quickly went over to join her friend.

“Why do I have a feeling you’re not going to take it easy on me?” Emily asked.

Piper gave her a small smirk that Emily had almost missed before she slapped at Emily’s feet with her staff. Emily let out a small growl before she took a few steps back.

“You have a lot to learn grasshopper.” Piper said.

Emily narrowed her eyes before getting into position.

“What’s going on?” Dick asked as he and Tim came over to join Peter.

“Piper’s gonna teach Em a thing or two,” Peter replied.

The three boys pulled themselves up on the table to sit and watch the training.

“Piper’s going to kill her,” Tim said.

“When it comes to Emily she has self-control,” Peter stated.

“Aw, so Emily is like you. She’s a special case.” Tim said.

“Pretty much,” Peter answered.

“Plant your feet!” Dick shouted out at Emily.

Peter looked over at Dick.

“What are you two even doing down here?” Peter asked.

“We wanted to take Emily out to get her mind off of things, but this looks more entertaining,” Dick explained.

“Hmm.” Peter hummed.

The boy's attention returned to the mat when they heard the staff come into contact.

Several hours had passed. Jason had come back down into the Batcave. He joined his brothers and watched Piper continue her training with Emily.

Piper swiped at Emily’s legs, but Emily dove over the staff and slapped Piper in the back. Piper let a hiss as she whirled around with her own staff.

The boys had started taking wagers when the lights went off in the Batcave. Someone swore and you could hear the girls’ heavy breathing.

“What happened?” Emily asked, heaving.

“Could be the storm,” Tim suggested.

“No, Pops has huge generators to keep the Mansion afloat if the power ever goes out,” Dick explained.

“Maybe he didn't pay his bill,” Jason said.

“Idiot,” Emily muttered.

“Someone had to have cut the power.” Piper said.

“That would explain why the generators don't work,” Peter said in agreement.

“Well, can one of you geniuses get the power back on?” Emily said.

“Scared of the dark?” Jason sneered.

“More like the things that lurk in the dark,” Emily answered.

“Nothing is lurking in the dark around here,” Dick said.

“Who just touched my butt?” Peter asked.

“Nobody wants to touch your butt,” Tim replied.

“Well somebody just touched my butt,” Peter said.

“Yeah well, their hand will probably fall off,” Tim said.

Emily laughed.

“Don't laugh, Em! You’re supposed to be my friend.” Peter growled.

“Sorry, Petey,” Emily told him.

“Parker, did you just touch my butt to make a point?” Tim asked.

“I’m not that desperate for affection,” Peter replied.

“So we have a butt touching ghost?” Jason asked in disgust.

“Idiot,” Emily muttered again.

“Barton, do you have a problem with me?” Jason demanded to know.

“No, but you obviously have a problem with me.” Emily shot back.

“Jason has a problem with everyone,” Dick said as he turned on a lantern. “It's his way of letting you know he cares about you.”

“Shut it, Grayson,” Jason growled.

“Great, now that we have light let's go upstairs,” Emily said as she tossed down her staff.

Giggles filled the Batcave.

“Okay, that was creepy,” Emily commented. “Who just giggled?”

“Wade.” Peter and Piper answered.

“Um, who is Wade?” Emily asked.

The lights flickered back on and then a man in a black and red suit jumped down in front of her. Emily let out a startled scream and took a few steps backward.

“Good god!” Emily gasped, clutching her chest.

“That’s Wade,” Peter said.

“Wade, what’s with the theatrics?” Dick asked.

“You know I enjoy making a grand entrance.” Wade pointed out.

“You scared Emily and you were being creepy again,” Peter said.

“I didn't mean to scare her!” Wade exclaimed, clearly insulted.

“You know he did that just to be able to go around freely touching everyone on the butt,” Tim said.

Wade gave a look of disgust. “I only wanted to touch Peter’s butt. I only touched yours because I didn't realize that Peter had moved.” Wade explained.

“Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Emily asked.

“That’s Wade Wilson.” Tim introduced.

“Deadpool,” Emily said.

“Ha! So you have heard of me!” Wade grinned.

“I’ve seen your name come up on a few select files at Shields,” Emily answered.

“Then you know how dangerous I can be.” Wade taunted.

“I also know that you’re annoying as hell and people want to restitch your mouth shut,” Emily explained.

“His mouth does tend to get him in trouble,” Peter said.

“It does not!” Wade gasped.

“Can we stitch it close now? I think all of us can take him.” Jason asked.

“You know what? I don't have time for this. I let you distract me away from the battle long enough.” Emily said in annoyance.

The group watched her storm off the mats and back over to the computers. Peter sighed before he and Tim went over to join Emily at the desks.

“What has her panties in a bunch?” Wade asked.

“You know that big ole fight in New York?” Dick said.

“Yeah, what about it?” Wade replied.

“She has family in the middle of it,” Dick explained.

“Then why hasn't Bruce sent you guys in as cavalry?” Wade asked.

“Bruce has strict orders to not intervene. Something was mentioned of the government trying out a new team.” Dick told him.

“So why isn't she out there helping?” Wade asked.

“The girl is a computer geek,” Jason said.

“Lay off, Todd.” Piper hissed.

Wade went over to Emily and looped his arm around her neck to pull her in close.

“Come on Princess, cheer up!” Wade exclaimed.

“Princess?” Emily said, noting the nickname.

“You scream of only child syndrome and you look like you’re extremely spoiled. So that makes you my princess!” Wade grinned.

“Lord, give me the strength.” Emily sighed.

“Listen, you’ve been down here a while. Why don’t we all head up for dinner.” Peter suggested.

“I don't want to miss anything,” Emily said.

“Emily, have faith in your family. It will be okay for you to go and eat.” Tim said.

“Your family is going to want you to take care of yourself,” Dick added.

Emily sighed and then gave in. “Alright, fine.”

    Her new larger group of friends easily kept her distracted from the news. After they had eaten dinner, Wade got a board game going, which then turned into the children having a full out Nerf war. Dick teamed up with his brother Jason and Tim. Leaving Piper, Peter, and Emily on the opposite team. Wade wouldn’t pick a side and decided to be a lone wolf determined to take down the others. It didn’t take Wade long to take out Dick, Jason, and Tim. He easily took out Peter. Wade even acted out a dramatic death scene as he cried over Peter’s ‘dead’ body. With him distracted, Emily and Piper both shot Wade in the back. He was upset that his girls so easily took him out as he mourned, but he appreciated their tactic. Once the nerf war was finished, Dick got Emily to agree into going for a late night swim.

All of them headed out into the darkening sky. The storm had calmed and it was lightly sprinkling. Tim informed Emily that the pool was heated so she wouldn’t freeze out in the rain. Dick raced Peter down to the pool and the pair dove in head first. Jason rolled his eyes and slid into the water and began swimming around. Wade, gleefully did a cannonball in the deep end. Piper and Emily sat on the edge of the pool with their feet dangling in the water. They watched as the boys started a game of chicken.

It was by the time Emily was back in her bedroom for the night she had realized that she stayed away for so long. She eyed the television in her room and debated on whether to turn it on or not. Ignoring the tv, Emily sat on her bed and pulled out a book. It had been a long time since she had the time to actually indulge in a good book.

Emily had easily lost herself in the book. Hours passed by as she flipped through the pages losing herself within the story. It was a high pitched scream that tore her attention away from the book. She closed the book and listened carefully. When another scream echoed down the halls, Emily tossed the book to the side and raced out of her bedroom.

She knew that scream and she knew exactly what was happening. She had dealt with this before when they all lived at Shields. Emily hustled down the hall towards Piper’s room. Emily slid to a stop when Dick was tossed from the room. Tim followed right after. Jason came flying out of his own room just as Emily rushed into Piper’s bedroom.

“Piper, you have to calm down,” Peter said.

“Get out!” Piper shouted, backing away from him.

“Piper,” Emily said in a calm tone.

Her best friend looked up at her.

“Get out. Both of you. Now!” Piper shouted.

“You’re going Alpha,” Emily said, coming to stand next to Peter.

“And I’ll hurt you both if you don't leave.” Piper hissed.

“I never left you before and I won't do it now,” Emily said.

“Same. We’re here for you Piper.” Peter agreed.

Slowly, Peter and Emily were able to surround Piper and back her into her bed. The three of them fell onto the soft mattress. Acting quickly, both friends wrapped themselves around Piper and squeezed her in between the both of them.

Peter and Emily talked softly to Piper trying to fill the uneasy silence with calming words. Emily listened carefully as Piper’s heartbeat began to slow. Peter ran his hands through her hair as he told her of one of his misadventures as Spiderman.

Normally, Piper wasn't an affectionate person and not all of the time could Emily and Peter use this technique to calm her, but this time she hadn't gone full Alpha. Sometimes, they weren't so lucky and couldn't prevent Piper turning into Alpha. Those were the worst nights.

When Piper had fallen asleep, Peter and Emily unwrapped themselves from her. They sat on the edge of the bed for several more minutes to be sure that she would have a peaceful sleep. Peter stood first, then he pulled Emily off the bed. With watchful eyes, they backed out of the room and then carefully closed the door. Dick, Tim, and Jason were still out in the hall crowding around her door.

“She went down easy this time,” Peter said.

“We got lucky,” Emily added.

“How did you do that?” Dick asked.

“It's just a thing we’re good at,” Peter answered.

“She went down easy, but we’re going to want to keep an eye on her,” Emily said.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Peter nodded.

“So I’ll take the first shift.” Emily offered.

“You sure? You look exhausted.” Peter asked.

Emily waved him off. “I’m good. Just bring me an iPad and headphones.”

Peter pressed a kiss to her forehead and headed down to her bedroom to grab her things.

“You really do care about Piper, don’t you?” Dick asked.

“Was there ever any doubt?” Emily asked in return.

“No.” Dick and Tim answered.

“Yes,” Jason added.

Dick and Tim sighed. “Back off, Todd,” Dick said he and Tim turned in for the night.

Emily stood there alone in the halls with Jason.

“She’s been through a lot.” Jason suddenly said.

“I may not have been there from the beginning Jason, but I know. We’ve spent quite a bit of time together at Shields. Peter told me everything that has happened to her. Piper’s told me a few things, but we don't have to talk about that to bond. My past isn’t as traumatic like hers, but I have the past too, but that’s not what bonded us together.” Emily explained.

“You did good, kid,” Jason said.

Emily’s mouth fell open.

“Wake me if you need anything.” Jason quickly added and then rushed off to his room.

“Hope you appreciate that compliment. Jason never compliments anyone.” Peter said behind Emily

Emily turned towards Peter and took her headphones and iPad from her phone.

“Yeah, I figured,” Emily said.

“You sure you want to take the first shift?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got this. Go and get some sleep.” Emily said.

“Alright. Don’t hesitate to come and get me if anything happens.” Peter said.

“I won’t. Go get some sleep.” Emily said nudging him towards his bedroom.

Emily waited until Peter made it into his bedroom before she slid down the wall. Propping her iPad onto her knees, Emily plugged in her headphones and then pulled up her favorite playlist. As the music began to play, Emily relaxed her head and stared at Piper’s closed door.

Hours passed.

Emily didn’t move from her spot. Her playlist was only halfway through. She knew that she should go and wake Peter, but she was too worried to sleep. Moving her iPad, Emily stretched out her legs and rolled her shoulders to stretch out the muscles.

Finally, around four, Peter came stumbling grumbling out of his bedroom. He glared at Emily before dropping down next to her. They both knew that he wanted to scold her, but he wouldn’t pick this as one of his battles with her. Instead, he grabbed the earbuds out of her right ear and put it into his own ear.

Seven thirty on the dot, Piper’s door swung open. She looked down to where both of her best friends were leaning against each other sleeping. Piper shook her head, patted them both on the top of their heads before heading downstairs for breakfast. The smell of bacon woke up Peter who in turn shook Emily awake.

“She’s already downstairs,” Peter said as they pulled the earbuds out.

“I figured she’d wake up first,” Emily said with a yawn.

“Come on, I smell breakfast,” Peter said, pulling Emily up to her feet.

Dick’s door opened. He banged on Tim’s and then Jason’s door before trailing after Peter and Emily downstairs. Bruce was already sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and the paper. Piper was kneeling on the chair piling food onto her plate. The rest of the teens found seats around the table and started to eat breakfast.

“Everyone sleep well?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah.” The teens mumbled.

“I see that Wade stopped by last night,” Bruce said.

“He didn’t break anything,” Dick said.

“No, but he does owe me a new wiring system. He put them back together with duct tape.” Bruce sighed.

Tim snickered.

“We’ll make sure he gets the message,” Peter said.

A loud ringing noise filled the house.

“Who could be visiting so early?” Bruce wondered.

“Sorry Mr. Pennyworth, but this is confidential news.” A familiar voice said.

Emily dropped her biscuit, pushed away from the table and hurried to the front of the house.  The other teens looked at Bruce, then at each other, before running after Emily. Emily came to a halt when she saw Fury standing in the doorway. She knew that look. That was the same look the police officers had all of those years ago when they came to tell them about her parents.

“Fury,” Emily whispered.

Fury hung his head.

Emily bit her bottom lip to keep from crying.

“Do you have a place where we could have a private conversation?” Fury asked Bruce.

“My office is just down the hall.” Bruce began.

“No,” Emily said coldly.

“Emily,” Bruce started.

“I can’t. I can’t wait for you to go through this lecture of how sorry you are. Just tell me. Tell me!” Emily roared.

“Come on Emily,” Bruce said.

Emily let the older man put his arm around her shoulders. He leads her and Fury down to his office. The second the door to his office was closed the teens hustled down the hall and crammed around the door so they could listen.

“Shh, shut up.” Jason snarled.

“Dick, move your ass.” Tim snapped.

“I can’t hear,” Peter growled.

“Move,” Dick said, pushing between Tim and Piper.

“Is it Clint?” Emily asked, her lip quivering.

“Your brother is a little banged up, but he’s okay.” Fury answered.

“Nat?” Emily said.

“With your brother and just fine.” Fury said.

“I-is it my dad?” Emily asked, holding her breath.

“No, Bruce is fine. He’s at the Shield's headquarters waiting for your return.” Fury answered.

“Then I don’t get it, who could have gotten hurt?” Bruce asked.

“Somebody wasn’t hurt.” Fury said sadly.

Emily’s heart stopped.

“Oh no. No. No. No.” Emily began to panic.

“I think Coulson would have wanted you to have these.” Fury said holding out the last remaining vintage Captain America cards.

Emily dropped to her knees.

“Emily!” Bruce exclaimed, kneeling down next to her.

She took the cards from Fury. Glancing down at them, she noticed how they were covered in his blood. A loud wail escaped from her before, she placed a hand over her mouth. Her body shook with her sobs. Bruce cursed next to her.

“Tell me this is some elaborate prank,” Emily begged of him.

Fury shook his head. “I was there when the med team called his time of death, Emily.”

Tears were streaming down her face and she hit her chest trying to force herself to breathe. When she finally did gasp for air, she yanked herself away from Bruce’s calming touch. She got to her feet and rushed Fury. The Director stood there and let the girl come over to him and began beating on his chest.

“This is all your fault!” Emily screamed.

“Emily! Emily!” Bruce yelled.

Fury shook his head at Bruce.

“Where were you?” Emily demanded to know.

“Emily. Enough.” Fury said, grabbing her wrists.

“He was a good man. It should have been you.” Emily sobbed.

Fury pulled on her hard. When her face planted into his chest he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Emily still struggled against him to continue hitting him, but he was too strong. Emily finally gave up and just sobbed into Fury. Bruce left Emily with Fury. He wasn’t surprised when he found all of his kids standing outside of his office. He glared at them and then pointed for them to go.

An hour later, Fury finally came out of the office with a tear stained face, Emily. She couldn’t even look at her friends. Bruce had Alfred go on up to her bedroom and grab her belongings. Fury thanked Bruce for taking care of Emily, but he’d be taking her back to her family. Dick and Tim both hugged Emily goodbye. Jason patted her on her back. Peter kissed her forehead. Piper took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Emily said nothing. She followed behind Fury out to the waiting car that would take them to the airport.

“When we get back to Shields I can take you to see him.” Fury said gently.

“I want to see my brother,” Emily replied coldly.

Fury sighed. “I’ll have it arranged.”

Emily felt like an empty shell. Everything went by in a blur. She couldn’t even remember arriving at the airport or boarding the plane. She said nothing and didn’t even move on the flight back to DC. The driver who picked them up was someone familiar, but Emily didn’t even bother to glance his way. She stared out the window as they drove through the city.

Bruce and Natasha were waiting for them when they pulled up in front of Shields. Emily didn’t hug them back or say a word to them. They followed behind her quietly as she followed Fury to the hospital wing. She barred every one from following her into her brother’s room.

Clint was sitting up in his bed. He was fully dressed and he gave Emily a small smile as she closed the door behind her. The pair stared at each other for several seconds before Emily finally pushed away from the door to sit on the edge of her brother’s bed.

“Emily?” Clint said.

“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” Emily asked.

Clint sighed. “I know he meant a lot to you, Em.”

Emily nodded. “You okay?”

“I’ll heal up just fine,” Clint answered.

“Wanna talk about it?” Emily asked him.

“Not today, but someday,” Clint replied.

“Okay,” Emily said.

Clint moved so he sat next to his sister. “There’s somewhere I want you and Bruce to go for a while before you two go off the grid,” Clint told her.

“Will it be safe?” Emily asked.

“It’s one of the safest places,” Clint told her.

“How do you know?” Emily asked him as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Because Fury has worked really hard over the past year to make sure that it stayed off Shield’s radar,” Clint explained.

“Are you coming?” Emily asked him.

“Natasha and I will be going with you for about a week to recoup, but we have other missions to get to,” Clint answered.

“How long will we have to stay there?” Emily asked.

“I’d like for you to stay on the farm for a year,” Clint said.

“You have a farm?” Emily asked him.

“You’ll like it. I promise.” Clint said.

Emily sighed. “When can we go?”

“Now,” Clint said.

The door opened. Natasha and Bruce were already waiting with their traveling backpacks. Clint spoke quietly with Fury. Fury glanced over at Emily who was leaning on Bruce as they waited for clearance to leave. He nodded at Clint giving them the clearance to escape for a week. Clint was going to personally fly them out to the farm. He had a small area where he could park the helicopter.

The farm was on the outskirts of DC out in the country. There were plenty of lands and the farmhouse was just exactly how Emily had imagined it. Battered and bruised, the four of them climbed up the stairs and into the house. Natasha gave Emily and Bruce a quick tour of the house. Bruce disappeared outside to one of the barns. There was work to do and Clint didn’t want to put it off any further. Natasha led Emily upstairs to the last bedroom in the hall.

“Clint said you’d love the view,” Natasha said, opening the door.

It was the master bedroom and it was completely empty except for the large wooden bed pushed up against the center of the wall. Emily dropped her bag down and looked around the room. Natasha came to wrap an arm around Emily and press a kiss to her cheek.

“You can decorate it however you want. Dinner should be done around seven. Just take it easy.” Natasha said and then left her alone.

Being alone was the last thing Emily wanted, but she didn’t really want to burden the others with her depressing feelings. Instead, Emily pushed her bag to the side and crawled into the middle of the bed and drifted off to sleep with tears still running down her cheeks.

[he-is-hurt-and-smol]

Avalon Protocol

I'm pretty new here. Just created this blog so. I'll fix it up and make it pretty soon, but take this I made last night. Third Person POV Another day, another alien invasion. The Avengers have assembled and we're currently kicking butt in good ol' New York. It seemed like they were going to win the fight, but as you know, if there's not a true fight, then the boss is coming. When they destroyed the first swarm of aliens, they thought they were done. They high fives each other and joked around, but then they looked up. It was like every child's dream mashed together, and that's terrifying. Anyways, Iron-Man looked up and looked at each of his team mates. "Well then folks, final stage. Boss fight." He commented, preparing for another fight. Captain America nodded in agreement. "''Tis indeed, my friend." Thor responded, preparing Mjonir. "Well then, shall we?" Black Widow asks. "HULK SMASH!" Hulk yells before jumping into the sky and punching a big alien in the face. "That's the spirit Hulk! AVENGERS, REASSEMBLE." Iron-Man yells out, also flying up to attack. Thor also joins him. Soon, the aliens were on the ground, and there were more of them than the last round. "Guys, if this keeps up we're going to-" "I know okay." Iron-Man cuts off Hawkeye. "Look, if there's this many evil alien things, then the queen has got to be here somewhere." Tony continues. "Yeah, and where do you think she is?" Thor asks smacking an alien with his hammer. "Or he." Captain says, blocking an attack. "Can't be sexist here." "Alright, whatever gender this thing is, we gotta find it, and fast." Hawkeye responds back, jumping out of the way of an attack. "Your right. Let me just-" Iron-Man is cut off by getting hit in the chest by an alien with a blaster. His systems fail momentarily, but long enough to make him plummet to the ground. "TONY!" Captain yells smacking an alien and running towards him. "I'm fine, just keep on fighting back!" Stark responds quickly, getting up. Captain hesitates, but nods and runs away from Iron-Man, re-entering the fight. "Sir, you are not fine. My system scan shows that your reactor has been damaged. To be more clear, your heart." Jarvis says to Tony. "How long do I have until my reactor deactivates." Tony asks flying back up into the sky. "There are no clear numbers, but not very long sir. Judging by how hard your suit impacted your reactor, and hour or so." Jarvis responds, somehow sounding grim. "I... I need more time." Tony says back, blasting an alien. "I'm sorry to say this, but you have no time." Jarvis says. Tony stays silent for a bit, and just floats in the sky before saying, "Activate Avalon Protocol." Jarvis pauses for a moment, "Are you sure sir?" Tony takes a deep breath in and out. "Yes. I am absolutely sure. This city.... No, the world is more important than me. If I don't do this... If I die without doing anything good in my life.... Then I failed." Tony concludes. "Very well. It was an honor, working for you." Jarvis responds, "Avalon Protocol, activated." "Jarvis, record this." Tony says. "As you wish." Jarvis says, recording. "Hey guys. As you can probably tell. I'm dead. Yeah, sorry I didn't warn you, but I didn't want to jeopardize the mission. I know my name has a lot of dirt on it. Like, Justin Bieber gets jealous of how many people hate me." Tony pauses to chuckle, "But... Through it all, you've stuck with me. All of you. I am truly thankful for that. I know I may seem like the rich, uncaring, playboy sometimes, but I had to be like that. I'm really sorry if I've ever hurt you. Except you, Clint. You suck. I'm just kidding! But serious. Thank you. For everything. Jarvis, stop recording." Jarvis stops recording. "Well, let's take down this ugly thing." Tony says grinning. After the fight, every laughs and smiles, glad that everything is finally over. "Way to go Tony!" Steve applauds Iron-Man, giving him a pat on the back. "Yeah, seriously. If you haven't figured out where the queen was, we would be toast." Natasha says, smiling at him. "Hey, Tony. Are you okay? Your kinda quiet." Bruce asks, looking at Iron-Man with concern. It's quiet for a bit, but then Jarvis speaks up. "I'm sorry to say this, but Tony Stark, is dead." Everyone gasps. "You're joking, right?" Clint asks, a look of panic on his face. "This isn't funny, Tony." Steve says, looking at Iron-Man sternly. "This is no joke." Jarvis responds. "Tony Stark has been dead for 2 hours now. I am sorry." The suit to Iron-Man opens up, and Tony Stark slumps out. Lifeless. "TONY!" Steve yells crouching down on the ground, holding his hand. "No no no. This can't be happening." Clint quietly says, looking at Tony in shock. Natasha, who also crouched down, looked at Tony. Speechless. Bruce, with tears and shock in his eyes, crouches down also and checks his pulse. With a shaky breath, he says, "He's.... Dead." Steve bursts out crying, holding onto Tony. "Tony. Please wake up. Please don't leave me here, please." He mumbles trying to wake his companion. "He recorded a message for you all. Would you like to view it?" Jarvis asks. "Yes." Natasha responds quickly. The video plays with Tony's last words. At Tony's funeral, the Avengers and other close companions of Tony gather around his coffin. Pepper holds the coffin sadly, wailing. Friends of hers had to drag her away so they could bury him. The coffin goes down into the dirt. Tony Stark was a brilliant man. Planing his future, and demise. Many called him a villain, but in truth, he was a man with an iron heart.