#and equally shocked when the entire boring fight scene was just a vision | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lemontwst · 4 years ago

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crossing the line. ❤️ ace x m!reader

⟶ 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦: in which ace runs his mouth and then gets his cheeks clapped by an mc with immense big dick energy.

❥ 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔: ace trappola x m!reader

❥ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡: 4.2k

⟶ 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠: non-con to dub-con, revenge/hate sex, mentions of voyeurism, public sex, enemies to lovers, mc has magical devices he definitely should not be having, grim is not present in this particular scene.

“You don’t even know about the Great Seven?—”

His malicious voice bounces around your skull like thunder, drowning out the rest of the world like you've suddenly plunged into deep, cold water.

“Are you that ignorant?"

Tranquil rage licks at your insides, your stomach twists with nausea and your hands twitch with the impulse to wrap around his neck.

“Maybe you should go back to kindergarden before thinking of coming to this school.”

Don't punch him. You dig half-moons in your palms, inhaling a deep, shaky breath. Your muscles tighten from the strain of holding yourself back, from resisting the urge to punch this idiot's face in and drag him across the boulevard by the hair. Your heart thump thump thumps against your ribcage like it wants to jump out of you. Don't punch him.

"Aww I'm sorry, did I offend you?" The redhead's features morph into an expression of cheap remorse. His hands clutch his chest like he's so heartbroken, then the joke is over and that obnoxious smirk curves his lips once more, "—just kidding. Why don't you go cry about it to your mom? You won't last long in this place if you can’t stand up for yourself.”

Your reach into your pocket and your fingers brush against one of the slips of paper Crowley gave you before you parted. Paralyzers, he called them. They look pretty useless to you — just a bunch of small, fragile talismans cut from some yellowed paper, but according to Crowley, these things can subdue weaker magical beings for a limited amount of time. The headmaster gave them to you predicting that you would end up in less than savory situations, being the only ordinary human in a school full of wizards, shapeshifters and God knows what else.

“The immobilizing effect will last for about ten minutes,” Crowley had mused as he handed you the talismans, “Do try to escape the situation before the time runs out, would you? It would reflect poorly on our beloved school if one of our students were to die, after all.”

Escape. You snort, your eyes slowly appraising the other student who is still mouthing off. This place still doesn’t know you’re not one to go down without a fight. You’d much rather cling to the monster that’s tearing you apart, digging your teeth in its flesh even as you bleed out all over the pavement than turn tail and run. The carrion on your skin is a hard enough shield, the rot that stains your soul a powerful balm that turns the sting of your wounds into repugnant adrenaline.

"...Anyways, unlike you I actually have classes to attend to," The redhead throws you one last condescending smirk before turning around and giving you a half-assed wave, "Have fun cleaning the halls, janito—"

The words catch in his throat as you stick the Paralyzer to his vulnerable back, grabbing him by the hair and throwing him not so gently behind the obnoxiously large statues and out of the open street.

The student rolls a few times across the grassy side of the road, almost crashing into the flowerbeds that fence the statues off, then he finally lands on his back, coughing and spluttering more from the shock of the sudden fall than actual pain.

He quickly tries to hoist himself up, but his arms and legs feel boneless and he falls back down, eyes wide and panicked as a jolt of electricity runs him from head to toe. He tries to get up again, but it seems like the more he struggles, the weaker he becomes. The talisman saps every ounce of his energy in a matter of seconds, leaving him unable to do anything more than lay there, eyes to the sky as he tries to catch his breath.

"What—the fuck—did you do?!" He snaps, his crimson eyes filling with hate when you slowly enter his field of vision, blocking out the sunlight and hovering over him with disinterest written all over your handsome face.

His temples throb with the strain of his thoughts traveling at supersonic speed, his head hurts like he just slammed it against a wall, and the cold look in your eyes makes his stomach twist into tight knots in what he stubbornly decides to be fear—even as his skin starts to heat up like he's been sunburnt the longer you look down at him.

"Oh, you know…" You casually put one foot on his stomach and lean in, ignoring the long, pained gasp that scratches his throat raw, "Just thought I'd teach a cockroach in my path a little lesson. I was thinking of letting you go quietly, but all your whining really got on my fucking nerves." You step off of him and he twitches and coughs, trying and failing to curl into himself for some sort of comfort.

"...Ha...so what, are you just gonna beat me up?" He says, smirking through the pain as if he's used to it. You don't doubt it—his mouth has probably gotten him in trouble plenty of times before—but simply hitting him would be so boring. You kneel between his legs, spreading them apart with ease and his smirk falls, "Hey—what are you doing, you idiot?! Get off me!" You ignore him as he tries to squirm out of your grasp.

"Since you act like a little bitch..." You take his shoes off without untying them and throw them somewhere behind you, then you unbuckle his pants and do the same thing, slightly annoyed with the way he whines and struggles—as if he has any chance of wrestling you off when his body is about as responsive as jello, "I'm going to fuck you like one."

The redhead's breath stutters and he stops moving, looking at you like you just escaped the nearest psych ward, but the sudden flash of crimson that lights up his face and the subtle way his eyes fall to your crotch before quickly focusing back on your face betray just a smudge of confused desire—he's probably seen something like this in porn and he’s relieving it in his mind.

"W-we're in public, you bastard! Are—are you insane?! Get away from—" His brain slams on the brakes and his head empties like it's hyperspace.

A shocked gasp leaves his lips when you bring your index finger to the front of his boxers, lazily drawing a circle over the growing hardness beneath. His stomach clenches, ripples of pleasure seemingly falling from where you're touching him to pool in his belly like molten lava.

His breathing picks up the pace, loud and humid in his ears as his eyes stay on your hand like you've hypnotized him, "...H-hey, s-stop that—this isn't fucking funny—"

"Says you." You hum, stopping your slow circling on his now visible erection to finger the elastic band of his boxers. The intimate touch makes his muscles clench and his head fils with air, "I find the way you're sprawled on the grass with no pants on absolutely hilarious." He makes a sound between a shriek and a gasp when your fingers grab his cock and pull it out of his underwear.

This isn't happening. He looks at his cock standing out in the open with a horrified look on his face.

It's not happening—it's a dream—the thought of other students walking the boulevard and seeing him there, behind the statue of the Queen of Hearts, his erection out and his body unable to move makes bile pool in his mouth—and his dick throb, but he doesn’t have time to consider his fucked up reaction because you suddenly blow on his glans and his entire body spasms, his head hits the grass and his eyes find the clear, blue sky once again. He briefly registers the feeling of his underwear sliding off his legs. This isn't happening.

You ignore his useless protests and start unbuttoning his shirt, tugging it off his shoulders roughly but not quite taking it off -- the contrast of his pale, heaving chest and his flushed face as he lies helpless in front of you with his dick out almost makes you forget how irritated you are with him. Almost. But just because he’s cute doesn’t mean you’re not going to make him pay for daring to talk to you like you’re a piece of garbage on the side of the road.

You envelop his hard shaft with your hand and start pumping, slowly, letting him feel the soft texture of your palm and ignoring his pleas for you to wait. With every stroke his sensitivity increases, the thought of being caught flies away as if someone just blew in his skull and the redhead can only claw at the ground and pull at the grass with jerking fingers as a sweet voice starts spilling out of him.

It's just broken gasps at first, confused, scared and excited in equal measure—and then the world loses focus and it's full blown moans, little sighs that grow in volume the more you manhandle him. His shaft and your fingers become slick with precum and the movements become easier and smoother, the tingles in his crotch fly up his spine and he has to remind himself that this is wrong to keep himself from bucking up into your hand.

Stubborn as he is, he almost succeeds in resisting you. But you know just how to break him, allowing yourself a few seconds to listen to his cute moans while you wet your fingers, saliva dripping down your wrist as you methodically suck on the appendages as if they were the hard, leaking dick in your hand.

When you decide your fingers are wet enough, you bring them down to his ass and spread his cheeks to find that tight hole no one has ever touched before.

His entire body jolts when you start circling it, the sensation completely knew and so unexpected that he momentarily comes back to reality. "Wait—not there!" He tries to raise his head but his willpower leaves him when your middle finger draws a deep semi-circle around the rim.

It feels so fucking weird, he jerks his head this and that way as he tries to focus on the hand on his cock and the finger prodding at his hole at the same time. It's tingly and intense and he doesn't want it, his hot asshole parts under your push, welcoming you in a cavern of velvet, and the gasp that leaves him is the loudest one yet.

"Relax, you little moron." You stretch him carefully, briefly wondering if he's going to come from your handjob before you even have the time to reach his prostate. He's so fucking tight, unused, pure and yet vulgar as he moans and twitches under your skilled hands.

You insert another finger in and his voice turns high-pitched, then you brush against that little button inside his ass—barely, just the ghost of a touch—and he falls off the edge, convulsing like he's been electrocuted and cumming all over himself.

His semen lands on his chest and jacket and as he slowly comes down from cloud nine, eyes glazed and drool on his chin, he briefly wonders how the fuck he's going to go back to his dorm with cum on his uniform. Then he feels you crawl on top of him and that thought too seems to dissolve into thin air.

No one can blame him for being unable to think, unable to act and, somewhere in the deepest recess of his mind, unwilling to move when you start stroking his sensitive dick again, your hair tickling his chin. He can feel how warm your body is and how nice you smell now that you're so close. If you weren't such a fucking demon it would almost feel nice.

"What's your name?" You exhale next to his ear and he shivers, feeling sick to his stomach when he realizes it's because he wants your lips on him.

"A-Ace…" He mutters, tilting his head away from you as much as he can. The white expanse of his neck is right there and you place a few slow, open-mouthed kisses on his vulnerable skin. Ace's heart does a fucking pirouette, little sparks of pleasure run down his abdomen and he lets out a soft moan, one he wishes he could stuff back in his mouth as soon as he hears it.

He feels the sudden urge to cling to you as he lets you kiss him everywhere. He wonders how it would feel to have your mouth draw a line from his collarbones to his stomach before you take his cock in your mouth and the thought alone makes his entire body tremble with need, little gasps leaving him as you lick the curve of his jaw and then blow on it.

"Ace." You growl his name against his skin and the vibration threatens to destroy the rickety dam that keeps his sanity in place. You're doing something unforgivable to him, fuck, Ace knows it and he hates you for it, but the way you say his name makes him so fucking glad to be born, glad to be lying in the grass like a slut with his pants discarded somewhere and your hand slowly stroking his cock.

"Fuck—don't say it like t-that…" He practically wheezes, squeezing his eyes shut as he focuses on the scorching waves of pleasure that pulse through his abdomen when you chuckle against his skin. This feels so fucking nice, one of his hands reaches down to grab your wrist while you continue to stroke him and he absentmindedly caresses your hand as you pump his cock.

He curses loudly as he takes in the hard curve of your knuckles and the wetness of your fingers. Your touch is different than what he's used to, rough but with a regular rhythm that pushes him closer and closer to his orgasm with every flick of your hand. You lazily nibble at his jaw and he suddenly finds himself overrun by the universally irresistible urge to come. Fuck, he's gonna come so hard in a hand that's not his own—

"S-so—sensitive—fuck, gonna cum all over your fingers—" His other hand grabs your shoulder in a way that almost feels too romantic given the situation, but Ace doesn't give a damn. The only thing that matters right now is your hand jacking him off and the trail of stars that dances behind his eyelids as you shatter his galaxy.

So close—so close—his moans become loud and shameless as he bucks up into you, ignoring how useless his body still feels because right now he really fucking needs to come again.

The muscles in his abdomen tighten, hot white pleasure flashes in front of his eyes and Ace is so fucking ready when he arches his back, but instead of feeling relief, a tidal wave of frustration and disappointment crashes into his electrified body and his loud voice trails off in a pained whine as you suddenly take your hand off his dick, denying him the sweet mercy of orgasmic bliss.

The disparity between what he’s feeling and what he expected to feel is so vast it takes him a minute to realize what happened, the dam in his head breaks and he’s left gasping and sobbing and twitching, hands flying and grasping at the grass beneath him as he struggles to catch his breath.

"—What the fuck?!" He basically screams, looking at you with teary eyes and a face that screams betrayal, "W-why did you s-stop?! I told you I was close!" His chest heaves and he looks almost possessed when his own hand reaches for his abused, throbbing cock, fully intent on finishing the job one way or another.

You stop him before his fingertips even reach the shaft, meeting no resistance when you pin his hand back against the grass.

Ace glares at you but it's feeble and pathetic, the last remains of his rejection completely snuffed out by the shock of being denied an orgasm for the first time in his life. He doesn't look proud and hateful anymore; he’s now just a brat naked from the waist down, this close to crying because he didn’t get fucked the way he wanted.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I thought you wanted me to stop? Did you change your mind, Ace?” The voice that whispered his name almost lovingly in his ears now drips with venom, almost as if you’re imitating the way he talked to you just a handful of minutes earlier.

Ace flinches, his heart sinks and he looks fucking crushed as he takes in your cold expression. You’re not going to stop, are you—? Not now that he actually wants you to touch him—?

“No...that’s not—I didn’t—” He splutters, flushing up to his ears when he realizes he doesn’t even know what he wants to say. Do you want him to beg? Because at this point Ace doesn’t really care enough to even object to that. He just wants you back on top of him. He wants to feel your warmth and have your scent fill his head while you bring him to his release again.

“Dont...be like that...come on,” He groans, letting his head fall to the ground. His dick hurts. His back hurts. Fuck, everything hurts, even his heart for some fucking reason. He doesn't like it when you look at him like you hate him. If anything he should be the one looking at you like that, not the other way around.

"Y-you want me to beg? Is that it?" Ace scoffs and weakly spreads his legs, leaving his cum-stained self complete exposed to your scrutiny. He has the decency to look embarrassed, but when his glazed eyes slowly go from your face to the tent in your pants, what you see in them is not disdain or shame, but pure, unbridled lust.

"You'll beg without me having to ask for it." Ace follows your hand as it goes to your belt, and when you unbuckle it, the soft, erotic click makes his body tremble and his heart flutter.

It's not like he wants to see it—his eyes stay on your crotch as you slowly pull your pants down, revealing the black underwear beneath.

Are you—are you going to pull it out? Out here where everyone can see?—Ace momentarily forgets that he's had his dick out in public for more than it's considered appropriate in every fucking country across the world. Every one of his thoughts comes to an abrupt halt, like he's suffered a concussion.

Except he hasn't, he's just drooling in his mouth at the thought of your cock.

"You don't get to come again, I told you you're going to be fucked like the little bitch you are." You finally pull your dick out, hissing when the air hits your feverish skin and Ace thinks he’s going to spontaneously combust.

The rush of heat that flares beneath his skin is unlike anything he’s ever felt and his slow mind has trouble comprehending whether he suddenly feels on fire because he can see your erection right in front of him or because of the sound you just made. Both. It’s probably both.

“Is that right…” He probably sounds as dazed as he feels—his breath catches in his throat when you lean down again, hovering over him but not quite touching him, the ghost of your breath on his lips threatening to turn him delirious.

You teasingly drag your wet erection across his stomach and Ace moans, his eyes falling shut when your dicks touch. He grinds up against you without thinking and suddenly his body is weightless and he's on the verge of coming all over himself. It feels like every nerve he has is experiencing its own little earthquake, the sound that leaves your lips makes his mind fall apart at the seams and the only thing he can say is a long, desperate "Fuuuck."

His eyes flutter open and he finds you smirking down at him; the sight is so surprising and so beautiful that Ace’s heart lodges straight in his throat.

"Turn around and raise your ass." You chuckle and he goes redder than his hair, but ultimately doesn't protest, waiting for you to give him some space before complying.

The sleeves of his uniform are completely ruined at his point, wet with dew and mud and grass as he pulls himself up on his elbows and gives you an expectant look from over his shoulder.

What he doesn't expect is to feel your thick fingers push into him again. He almost falls face first into the dirt as he gasps, waist shaking as he's once again wrecked by the feeling of his rim being teased.

You stretch him more insistently then before, the saliva and cum on your fingers aiding you in your preparations. You try to avoid his prostate, because Ace is already shaking like a leaf and you know how close he is to his climax, but your redhead seems to have had enough of being edged and insistently grinds back into your fingers until you touch that sweet spot inside him that makes his dick leak precum like a faucet.

He's still not used to it however, and the shock of such an intense stimulation makes his elbows give out as he falls unceremoniously on his face. But he doesn't seem to care, cheek pressed against the grass and eyes squeezed shut as he experiences having his prostate massaged for the first time.

Fuck, he’s sure his legs are going to give out soon too. If just your fingers feel this good, what’s going to happen when you stick your dick in—? Is he going to lose his mind—? Somewhere along the line he seems to have completely forgotten that he's outside in broad daylight with his ass in the air. But even if someone were to see him getting fucked like a slut, would it really be so bad—?

"Hold on tight, stupid," You take your fingers out and he whines softly, sounding surprisingly disappointed for someone who has never had their ass played with before, "I'm gonna make sure you can never come just from touching yourself ever again."

You line your hard cock against his opening and Ace shivers from both anticipation and fear. You’re so big—is—is this gonna hurt? I mean, after everything you've done to him this should be a walk in the park, right—?

It isn't.

You slowly push your dick inside and Ace's first instinct is to scream.

His mind shatters into oblivion as he takes in the feeling of your thick cock stretching him like he's a fucktoy. But this is still nothing, you haven't done anything yet and he's already broken. You pull your hips back and thrust into him hard, your dick scrapes against his prostate and Ace falls into a state of euphoric delirium.

He was made for this, he thinks. Born with the sole purpose of being your slut, ass up and legs spread as he invites you to plow him harder, to mess up his head until your cock is the only thing he can think about.

And he doesn't even know your name, Ace realizes as his body bounces back and forth against the grass with the force of your thrusts, his tongue lolls out and he tries his best to match your movements with his exhausted body, his hole squeezing your dick like it doesn't want to ever let go.

"Fuuuck—can we do this like…..every day from no—ah!—now on?!" He'll let you do anything you want if you promise to keep fucking him like he's your girlfriend. On his bed in front of his roommates, in class, on the headmaster's desk, anywhere you want him, Ace will be a good bitch for you.

In response to his nonsense you griiind into him and the explosive pleasure that flashes in front of his vision is almost seismic, devastating like nothing he's ever experienced as he breaks and cries and cums all over the grass, eyes rolling back when you roughly grab his hair and thrust a few more times before painting his insides white with your own release.

You make sure to fill him to the brim and Ace doesn't pull away. Instead he remains obediently glued to your crotch as the feeling of hot semen running down his legs completely obliterates his sanity.

Your nasty temper placated for the time being, you pull out in one swift motion and let his boneless body fall to the ground.

Ace groans and curses you under his breath, then he very slowly rolls onto his back, still dazed by the fact that you just came inside him.

If he thought everything hurt before, now he thinks he might actually need to pay a visit to the nurse's office. The effects of the Paralyzer have worn off by now but he's so fucking tired—he startles out of his drunk reverie when something like a curtain falls on his head.

Except it's not a curtain, but his pants. He takes them off his face and gives you a weak glare as you adjust your belt.

"Wear a skirt next time," You throw him a smirk over your shoulder and Ace hates the way his heart quivers, "Like a good girl."

You barely have the time to dodge the shoe that comes hurtling towards your head, Ace quickly reaching for the other shoe when you start running back towards the school building.

"Fuck you!—"

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland scenarios #twisted wonderland imagines #ace trappola #ace trappola x reader #citrus #scenario #m!reader

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gunnerpalace · 5 years ago

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hey there! so i used to be a huge fan of bleach, and loved ichiruki, and i was reminded of them today but i haven't been involved with the fandom since the series ended. however, i've heard of different variations of why the series ended/ships happened the way they did, and was wondering if you knew or could direct to me a post that explains that? i apologize if i'm bringing up bitter feelings, but i've always been curious if bleach's ending was a big FU from kubo or if he always intended rr/ih

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post that really goes over it structurally in that kind of way (from a shipping perspective). I’ll get back to what you actually asked me after some asides, because it’s not so simple to just analyze the ships in a vacuum.

I’ve had my own post about why the ending was a fuck you moment, thematically, because it failed to resolve any of the themes and momentum of the series in a way that would be appropriate (either internally or in the context of the supposed genre of shounen.)

I would also say that the ending was a fuck you moment in terms of lore, backstory, and mystery, because all of the historical and political dimensions (i.e., things involving the Soul King and Great Houses) were unceremoniously shuffled off to Can’t Fear Your Own World. Not that any of those things were ever brought up properly in the manga to begin with; the proper and natural time for that would’ve been at the conclusion of the Soul Society arc, when Ichigo and co. spent a week there, which we saw none of. So I would say that everything in CFYOW is basically retconned bullshit hung off prior convenient plot hooks, and that the same was true of TYBW and LSS/TLA/Xcution as well. There may have been some notes and forethought, but it’s about as “valid” as Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert’s Dune works are compared to the original Frank Herbert ones; it’s second-hand, at best.

(This is setting aside that Bleach was clearly made up as it went along. For example: Noriaki literally admitted that he didn’t know who had killed Aizen in Soul Society until he realized that Aizen not being dead was the most shocking answer; the clear baiting and abandonment of Kisuke as the villain hinted at through various means such as his unclear and later retconned reasons for being exiled, and so on. Bleach was very much a J. J. Abrams-style mystery box work that was made as it went with, at best, rough notes, which is why its themes and focus change, for the worse. I also have a post about why it stopped being special, which is part of a running series I intend to write on how to rewrite it to fix and preserve that)

The best recent thing to compare it to is, really, HBO’s adaptation of Game of Thrones, wherein D. B. Weiss and David Benioff openly admitted to removing or deemphasizing story elements, and ignoring themes in adapting the work. The difference is that Bleach was not being adapted from anything; it degraded due to its own creator not understanding what he had created.

(To put it very simply, because this would be the point of Hyperchlorate Part II and would take a whole post to explain: the ending of the Soul Society arc did not properly establish and flesh out Soul Society as a place with a history, space, and purpose. Instead, the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs decided to be a thematic inversion and deconstruction of the Karakura and Soul Society arcs. This again had an ending that did not establish or flesh anything out after Aizen’s defeat, with an even greater diffusion of focus onto ancillary characters. The Xcution arc tripled down on this by addressing something entirely new and retconned in, only to abandon it midway through in favor of going back to invoking Soul Society. And Thousand-Year Blood War took all of these problems to 11. tl;dr: Noriaki tried themes, people hated it, and so he just shoved in more and more dumb sword fights between people nobody cared about, half of whom hadn’t previously existed.)

So, let’s get back to your question. Let’s talk about ships. I’ve clicked a lot of keys and spilled a lot of ink on this subject over the years, but I no longer particularly feel like searching my own archives (really ought to go back through and organize them better) beyond this post and my own follow-up to it about the chronology of IR interactions, so I’m just going to repeat myself.

First, let’s say that Bleach was not ever a manga about ships.

I’m not disavowing that what Rukia and Ichigo had was special. That was called out multiple times through the focus of the art, the dialogue, and by the characters themselves. (Directly by, for example, Orihime’s outright statement to the effect in Soul Society, and her later jealousy regarding it. Indirectly by, say, Uryuu’s acknowledgement that him saving Rukia first would piss Ichigo off. In fact, the biggest indirect indicator doesn’t even involve Ichigo and Rukia; Shunsui asks Chad why he’s there and Chad says he wants to save Rukia, Shunsui calls bullshit that two months isn’t enough time to risk your life for that, and Chad agrees and says he’s there because Ichigo wants to do it. Shunsui moves on, but his argument is left hanging: why was two months enough for Ichigo? Because, as Orihime will later say out loud, Rukia is special.)

What I’m saying is that that was never the focus. It was explicitly constructed that way.

How do I know? The Grand Fisher fight. The Grand Fisher fight is emotionally charged, bringing up both Ichigo and Rukia’s greatest traumas, and is their one real moment of not understanding each other for a time. It was a triumphant moment that made them truly glad to know one another, and you can see it in their reactions afterward (Rukia thanking Ichigo for not dying, Ichigo asking Rukia if he can keep being a Shinigami). There was a lot to unpack there, and you can see it in the way they look at each other.

What happened immediately after the Grand Fisher fight? Noriaki skipped a whole month. We go from June 18th of 2001 to July 17th of 2001. He deliberately skipped all of the emotional impact of that event, and Rukia being around for Ichigo’s 16th birthday. Just never happened. We never hear about it. Wasn’t his focus as a writer.

Now, I’m convinced that was because he was scared of what he had on his hands. He wasn’t willing to commit to either a couple’s battle shoujo or a shounen with male and female seemingly-heterosexual co-equal deuteragonists who clearly had a strong emotional bond. More specifically, he wasn’t willing to make Rukia a centerpiece of the manga despite having designed her first, having made her the moral and philosophical core of his manga, and having based Ichigo entirely around completing and complementing her. But hey, that’s just my opinion, right? Except it kept happening.

From the Grand Fisher fight onward, the name of the game in the manga, structurally, became keeping Ichigo and Rukia apart.

The moment she was taken back to Soul Society, her prominence dropped. We got emotionally charged scenes of them regardless. Right at the conclusion, after yet another emotionally heavy set of Ichigo and Rukia interactions, we again skip almost a month, from the end of the first week in August of 2001 to September 1, 2001. (Due to some completely unnecessary timey-wimey bullshit with the Precipice World.)

In the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs, they have roughly a day together over the course of three months. What happens after every meeting? They’re shuffled apart and split up, and we cut away. This time, for over a year!

Ichigo and Rukia again have a very emotionally charged meeting in the Xcution arc. And what happens at the end of that arc? We skip ahead another month to TYBW. (Xcution ended sometime in May of 2003, TYBW starts June 11, 2003.)

And in TYBW, Rukia and Ichigo barely meet up at all. Indeed, the focus is scarcely upon them.

In CFYOW, neither of them even appear, let alone have any relevance to the plot.

The implication, in my opinion, is pretty obvious: Noriaki was deathly afraid of dealing with the outcomes of their interactions, and that ultimately became him being deathly afraid of allowing them to interact at all to begin with. Why? Well, as I said in one of the last linked posts:

As an author, sometimes you will find your characters will do things you didn’t anticipate or plan for, and you’ve got two choices: you can go with the flow and do what’s natural and deal, or you can fight it and try and impose your vision anyway.

He refused to let his art take the direction it needed to go in.

Now, some people might say he got bored of them, or of having them together. I say that’s bullshit. And the reason I say is down to three things:

He didn’t ignore them, he did his best to keep them apart. I outlined this above.

He did not emphasize anything or anyone else instead. His focus was all over the place. While, admittedly, Ichigo’s prominence also declined, so did everyone else’s.

It would have served him well to focus on their interactions to expand his universe and explore its lore. The things that were detailed in the databooks and CFYOW could’ve been presented naturally and easily if they were together. But that came with a cost of shifting the focus. A cost he refused to pay.

Let’s talk more about (2) and (3) now.

Regarding (2), Chad and Orihime are inextricably linked in Bleach, because they essentially have the same relationship to Ichigo. “But Orihime loves Ichigo, and Chad is his no-homo bro!” someone proclaims. So what? They’re presented as equal and parallel at every step.

They both gain their powers at approximately the same time.

We are told they gained their powers due to the Hogyouku (in Rukia at the time) interpreting their wishes (and no one else’s, such as Tatsuki, Keigo, or Mizuiro), meaning they probably had the same strength of desire.

They both go to Soul Society “for Ichigo.”

They both utterly fail against Yammy and Ulquiorra.

They both spend most of the Hueco Mundo arc doing nothing.

They are both featured prominently in the Xcution arc, and both fail to see through Tsukishima’s powers despite their love for Ichigo. (Meanwhile, Byakuya coolly tries to murder someone who he thinks is his mentor, in Ichigo’s name.)

They both get sidelined in Hueco Mundo with Kisuke in TYBW, doing little to nothing.

They both are utterly ineffectual in the final fight in TYBW.

They are often portrayed together, they are often as effective as one another, and they are equally as developed in their relationship to Ichigo going forward, which is to say: not at all. The loss of focus on IR did not come with an attendant rise of focus on IH, any more than it did with the sudden rise of IchiChad. Nothing was built in IR’s place. There was no emotional or human content which filled its gap.

This is where the IH ending coming “out of nowhere” stems from: it indeed came out of nowhere, because Ichigo was never shown to have any interest in Orihime in all this time, nor an especially close relationship with her. He never hangs out with Chad or shows a bond with him either. He never hangs out with anyone, in fact. (Indeed, “friends” in Bleach do not do any of the things that friends actually do in real life. Nor do parents. You might say that interpersonal relationships and communication largely don’t exist in Bleach. But that’s its whole own topic.)

I would honestly say that more time and emphasis was given on Ichigo’s pseudo-surrogate mother relationship with Ikumi than was spent on him interacting with Orihime. (I would say Noriaki has serious hangups about relationships of any kind, be they romantic, familial, or friendly, and also has some severe hangups regarding mothers and fathers, but that is also its whole own topic.)

Regarding (3), Noriaki apparently wanted this big, Game of Thrones-style world with a long history and political machinations and so on. This is the whole point of TYBW and CFYOW. Trouble is, early Bleach was successful because of its small-scale intimacy. So how do you go from one to the other? You have to lay the foundations at every step. And Noriaki steadfastly refused to do so at every step. Having Ichigo and Rukia interact, and focusing on Rukia while Ichigo was sidelined without powers, would’ve permitted that organically. Indeed, if RR was the endgame, it would have given time to establish that, were it his desire. (Because Rukia never showed any interest in Renji, and frankly Renji always seemed way more preoccupied with Byakuya.) It didn’t serve his goals, but he did it anyway.

It’s much simpler to say he lost focus, and that he started to hate the manga as a whole. Why else would you have Mayuri fighting a giant hand when that achieved nothing, and Kenpachi fighting Thor when that achieved nothing? It became empty. Hollow, you might say.

But that takes us back to the question you posed: where did the ships come from? Nowhere. IH, RR, and fucking TatsuKeigo weren’t established anywhere. They just appeared. Why?

Well, why did every single character wind up doing the exact opposite of their intended and stated goals in the end?

Why did Soul Society revert to its previous attitude and rebuild the Sokyouku?

Why did nothing get resolved?

Why did nothing change?

Why was it all revealed to have been completely and utterly pointless?

In my view, it’s because that ending was a giant fuck you to the readership and Shueisha. There is no other way to interpret an author pulling a 180° and completely nullifying their characters’ arcs, and their work’s themes. Aizen’s little speech at the end is the cherry on top. I read it as Noriaki saying that he’s showing “courage” in telling us all to fuck off.

As to why? That’s an open question. His relationship with Shueisha was contentious, so maybe he was mad at them. (They gave him a deadline once he was dragging his feet, and reclassified Bleach as a joke manga.) His readership was on the decline after the Soul Society arc ended, so maybe he was mad at the audience. I don’t know. I also don’t really care. What I am convinced of is he decided to blow up his franchise and to not leave a single stone unturned when he did so.

That’s where that “ending” comes from, which is why despite it featuring IH and RR, both are thoroughly unsatisfying and without setup: it was the only way to piss absolutely everyone off, including people who wanted that outcome.

In a way, it was his greatest success since the early days of the manga.

Anyway, this was messy, but it’s not a simple topic to address. The tl;dr is that Bleach was a trainwreck from the very beginning that only succeeded on the merits of its characters, and that Noriaki deliberately avoided the promise it had to be something unique and grand. The ships are just a part of that, and cannot be understood in isolation from it.

#Asks #Bleach

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thdorkmagnet · 4 years ago

Text

A Perilous Journey (Star is Anna AU Part 2)

Summary: A series of one-shots and multi-chapters proving why Star Butterfly should be considered a Disney Princess, as Star and company take over the roles of all your favorite Disney Princess characters! (Starco inevitable)

Check out my other stuff on Fanfiction!

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. Frozen belongs to Disney. All rights go to their respective owners.

Part 1

Meteora let out a slow sigh, her breath fogged in the cold mountain air, but she didn't shiver despite the low temperature, the cold had never bothered her anyways. As she climbed higher and higher up the mountaintop, a trail of footprints left in the crystal white slow, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had just entered into a hidden world previously untouched by man, a kingdom of lone isolation and solitude. Guess that makes me the queen, Meteora thought bitterly to herself.

But this was honestly the least of her worries, much more depressing and guilty thoughts hovering around in her head, refusing to let her relax or feel at peace. Not that she had ever felt peace in a long time.

She ran her hands up and down her arms, but not of desperate need to stay warm, but out of guilt as every horrible decision she had made came crashing down on her at once. How could she have been so stupid? How, after all these years, had she allowed her powers to be shown? She had been so careful to hide them, locking herself away and letting no one in, even her own sister... and yet the moment she had left the safety of her boring, suffocating room look what had happened. Every fear she had ever had came true, she had let her emotions get the better of her and it had ruined everything. Just like it had all those years ago.

The air around her seemed to only grow colder as her mind flashed back to that day...

…

For about as long as Meteora could remember she had been alone.

Okay well that was a bit of an exaggeration, since for several years of her young life she had had Star. During that time, her younger sister and her were practically inseparable, spending almost every second together playing and having a great time. Meteora had so, so many great memories of their time together and part of her so wished that she could have her bouncy, energetic sister back.

It was around this time Meteora discovered her ice powers and if Star had been enthusiastic before, now she was completely spellbound by her sister. Meteora could recall the look of pure joy shimmering in her sister's innocent eyes whenever she would freeze some object or make it rain down snow from the ceiling. And the pride Meteora would feel every time Star squealed in delight over something she did was immeasurable.

But all that changed one fateful night.

It started pretty much the same as any night with Star wanting to play. Meteora was in a peaceful, soothing dream when a soft whisper cut through the quiet of the night. “Meteora? Meteora, wake up?”

Meteora smiled but didn't show any other indication of being awake. She felt a small form crawl up onto the bed, before poking her cheek, “Wake up, Meteora I want to play.”

Meteora peeked open an eye, saying softly to her, “Star it's the middle of the night, go to sleep.”

Star's cheeks puffed up in the cutest way as she argued in a small whine, “But the skies awake...” She pointed over to their window where the aurora borealis was shining in the distance. “And I'm awake, so we have to play!”

“Star, go back to bed,” Meteora scolded, picking up her pillow and hitting her little sister with it, causing the blond to fall off the bed and land on her butt. Meteora laid back down but before she could even get comfortable, Star was back now sitting on top of her, giggling incessantly. Meteora felt a small hand trying to pry her eyes open and she held back another smile. Soon the girl found herself staring into Star's eager blue as her younger sister whispered, “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

Meteora finally let her smile slip, she couldn't argue with that. It was Star's code for asking her to use her powers and Meteora never said no to an opportunity to impress her little sis.

The two ran downstairs to the empty ballroom, giggling and whispering under their breath the whole way, being careful not to wake their parents or any of the staff. But the thrill of possibly getting caught had both of them giddy. Once they were in the massive room, Star began impatiently saying, “Do the magic! Do the magic!” shaking her sister's arm and hopping up and down on the balls of her feet.

“Okay, check this out,” Meteora said, forming a small snowball in her hand. Star leaned closer and watched entranced as her big sis blew onto the cold sphere, making it shine with bright blue magic. Meteora then threw the magic-infused snowball into the air, where it burst just before hitting the ceiling. A gentle snowfall soon began, tiny shimmering snowflakes sprinkling down from above. Star squealed in delight and ran around the room excitedly, sticking her tongue out to try and catch the falling snow. All the while Meteora just looked on with pride.

The two had a blast playing in the magic-made snow, ice skating across the ballroom floors, having a snowball fight which Star easily won (sure Meteora was magic but she couldn't beat the arm on that girl!) and, of course, building a snowman together... as well as an entire army of snow creatures since Star insisted the snowman not be alone.

Finally, Meteora began making piles of snow for Star to jump onto, the little blond hopping from one pile to the next, each one slightly higher than the last, the girl determined to reach the ceiling. But her impatient speed was proving to be more than Meteora could handle, calling up to her sister to slow down but Star was too caught up in her own world to listen, simply shouting to her sister to make it higher with each new jump.

Suddenly, Meteora's foot slipped and she lost her balance, falling hard to the floor. The girl groaned and looked up in panic, just in time to see her sister leap off the tall snow pile with a cheer, oblivious to the danger that awaited her, just blindly trusting her sister would catch her. Meteora felt a cold fear rush through her veins as she helplessly reached out for her sister, screaming at the top of her lungs, “STAR!”

But what Meteora didn't realize was that in her moment of desperation her powers had activated as she sent a wave of blue magic hurtling toward her air-born sister. The wave hit Star directly in the head and the girl's eyes instantly closed, her body going limp. Star's unconscious body hit a snowpile a second later, rolling down the cold hill before sliding to a stop on the ice. Meteora's vision grew blurry as she stared at her sister's fallen body, looking tinier and weaker than the girl thought she had ever seen, and she gasped out, “No, Star!”

The older girl was at her sister's side in a second, holding her frail and cold body in her arms tears dripping down her face as she sobbed pitifully. “Star, wake up! Please wake up!” she screamed, shaking Star's body uselessly. Star's skin was bitterly cold to the touch, way too cold to be good for her, and Meteora watched in horror as a single stand of Star's golden hair turned bright white.

“Momma! Daddy!” Meteora screamed, clutching her sister close, rocking back and forth in a comforting motion. Not that it helped any.

A few seconds passed before the doors to the ballroom busted open, a startled Moon and River staring at the scene in shock, their mouths simultaneously dropping open. “Meteora, what happened?” Moon exclaimed worriedly, rushing over to her two daughters. Meteora didn't protest as her mom pulled Star from her grip.

“We were just playing, it was an accident, I swear,” the older girl chocked out, wiping tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

Moon didn't reply though, putting a hand to her daughter's forehead before gasping. She turned to her husband, saying in a fearful tone, “She's ice cold.”

River followed his wife's example, feeling his youngest daughter's forehead himself, his face now etched with concern. “What do we do, my love?”

Moon let out a shaky breath, trying to calm her racing heart and mind, before saying in a far-off tone, “I think I may know of a way.”

The family quickly departed from the castle, a sleigh carrying them swiftly out of the town and into the unknown woods. Meteora was on pins and needles the whole dreaded ride, sitting with her legs tucking up to her chest and casting worried glances at her little sister who was wrapped in a warm blanket in her mother's arms. Anxious thoughts floated through Meteora's head, praying that they made it to wherever they were going in time to save her sister, her negative thoughts leaving a trail of frost behind the sleigh.

It felt like years had passed when they finally made it to their destination, an empty glade. Meteora was beyond confused why her parents had brought them there of all places, which only grew as she watched her mother pleading to the empty night for help, explaining that their daughter was sick with magic. A few seconds passed before Meteora saw a flash of something in the shadows and jumped. Soon forms began emerging from the woods, tall, bizarre creatures that caused Meteora to gasp in surprise. “Monsters,” she muttered, looking around at the creatures in awe.

The Monsters all looked equally as confused as Meteora felt, gazing at the intruders to their home nervously, sharing hesitant glances with one another and keeping their distance. Finally a frog Monster stepped forward from the crowd, eying the queen and king up and down, his eyes pausing on Star and a sympathetic look crossed his face, his muscular form relaxing some as he realized they meant no harm. For a second Meteora thought she saw a small human boy peek his head around one of the frog's massive legs, but when she blinked he was gone and the girl just decided her eyes were playing tricks on her.

“Why have you come here?” the frog asked, his voice thick with an accent.

“My daughter is sick with magic, we need to speak to the witch of these woods,” Moon explained, holding Star a little closer to her chest. Meteora could hear whispering from the Monsters around her at that, but they kept whatever comments they had to themselves.

Buff Frog eyed Star one more time before nodding. He yelled over his shoulder, “Eclipsa! You have visitors!”

A few seconds passed, before the crowd of Monsters parted, letting the witch (Eclipsa, apparently) through and Meteora leaned forward to see her better. The woman had teal hair pulled back into a bun and wore an elegant purple dress, complete with hat and matching gloves, there was a peaceful nature to her, she seemed kind and compassionate if not a little mysterious and Meteora almost felt an instant connection to her. She was a witch, did she have powers like hers? Meteora was shocked to see two little girls on either side of the witch, both no older than Star, one with white hair, the other with dark hair.

When Eclipsa reached them, she smiled at them pleasantly before saying in a cheerful tone, “Well, this is quite the surprise! I'm quite used to people showing up at all hours of the night for my assistance, but I didn't expect the king and queen themselves to visit my humble home!” Eclipsa dropped into a polite curtsy, before her eyes landed on the small child held tightly in her mother's arms. She gasped, moving closer and cupping Star's cheek in her hand, saying in a sorrowful tone, “Oh, you poor child.”

Moon and River looked uncomfortable at the idea of this witch touching their child but said nothing, instead the king just said, “Yes, that's why we brought her here.”

“I'm so glad you did.” Eclipsa said before clicking her tongue. She looked up at the older royals before asking, “What happened to her?”

Moon and River didn't reply at first, going silent and sharing a look, not sure how to answer that without upsetting their other daughter. Meteora shifted uncomfortably on her feet as guilt tugged at her heartstrings. She looked down at her shaking hands before blurting, “It was me. I used my magic on here... by accident.”

Eclipsa looked down at Meteora with sympathy in her eyes and where the girl feared she would be reprimanded or blamed for her actions, the witch did no such thing, instead only stating, “Well these things do happen, I'm sure you meant her no harm.” And then to Meteora's greater surprise she even smiled at her, tight and constricted but still a smile nonetheless. But Eclipsa immediately turned her attention back to Star saying in a calm but masterful tone, “But now first things first, let's fix up this little darling.” She sounded so in control, like she had done this a million times before and Meteora could only watch dumbfounded as with a single wave of her hand, she freed her sister from Meteora's magic, a small glowing orb now floating in the air above Star's head. She watched even more astonished as Eclipsa went to work cycling through Star's memories, watching as precious moments they had shared were changed, every time Meteora had ever used her magic to impress or play with Star was changed to something more mediocre and finally the girl realized what Eclipsa was doing. She was erasing Star's memory of her magic.

Once the witch was done she gently held the orb over Star's head before it vanished back inside her sister's mind, Eclipsa putting a hand on the girl's forehead and brushing loose strands of hair out of her eyes. “There now, she should be fully recovered by morning.”

“We can't thank you enough, Eclipsa,” Moon said as her husband pulled Star from her arms hugging her close to his chest in relief. “I don't know what we would have done without you.”

“Oh I didn't do all that much,” Eclipsa replied modestly, waving a hand in the air. “I simply help out where I can. Just be thankful it was her head and not her heart, otherwise healing her would have been much... trickier.”

Meteora looked guilty down at her feet, waves of shame and regret washing over her, her heart aching painfully in her chest. Maybe she had accidentally used magic on herself, maybe that was why she felt so sick. She felt tears form at the corners of her eyes and she blinked them away quickly. Eclipsa must have noticed this, because her face softened as she bent down to Meteora's level putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Listen to me, Meteora, your power makes you special, never forget that,” Eclipsa said gently, her kind eyes looking deep into Meteora's wide magenta orbs. “Your gift can be a great blessing but it can also be a burden. You must learn to control your powers or fear will be your enemy. Do you understand?”

Meteora nodded, swallowing thickly. “Yes.”

“Good,” Eclipsa replied, giving her one more smile before standing up to full height. She returned her focus to Moon and River as she told them, “When your daughter awakes, she will have no memory of Meteora's magic. I've done all I can for now, what happens next is up to you. Now if you'll please excuse me.” With that Eclipsa bowed before turning and disappearing into the crowd of Monsters, the two little girls following quickly after her.

Meteora saw out of the corner of her eye the nervous look passed between her parents before they began to nervously mutter amongst each other. Meteora just stood their numbly, trying to fight back the overwhelming guilt still bubbling in her chest. “Mom, dad, am I... gonna hurt anyone again?” she finally asked, her voice trembling and her lip quivering against her will.

She saw her parents faces flash with fear before they hid it behind a determined mask. “Of course not, my dear,” River said quickly.

“We aren't going to let that happen,” Moon added, her features sharpening as her protective instincts took over. “We'll just have to be more careful from now on. Keep the gates locked, lower the staff number, minimum contact with anyone... even Star.” At this point her mother was mumbling to herself as if thinking over the necessary steps to keep her daughter safe.

Meteora's gaze slowly drifted down to her shaking hands, feeling bile in the back of her throat. These hands, her hands, had hurt Star, her own loving little sister. And accident or not it was still her fault Star had gotten hurt. And so at that moment Meteora swore to herself she would never let anything like that happen to her sister again. No matter what that meant.

No matter what she had to do.

…

More memories passed through Meteora's head from there, years of loneliness and anxiety as she locked herself away in her room, fighting back her powers, struggling to keep control. She tried to push all her emotions down, to not feel anything, concealing her abilities from the world. She started wearing gloves (the thicker the better) after she realized she would freeze anything she touched. And no matter how hard she tried she couldn't control her powers, with every day that passed they only seemed to get stronger.

The only contact she had from anyone during that time was her parents, who she made sure to keep at a distance, just in case. She never hugged them and if they tried to touch her she'd flinch away from them. Most of the time she would stand on the opposite side of her room and try her best to think warm thoughts, fearful of injuring her mom and dad like she had Star.

As for Star, herself, she was a whole different story.

Even though Meteora was burdened by her guilt, she relished the moments when her sister would knock on her door asking her to come and play, thinking of crazier and crazier ideas each time or asking why she was staying in her room so much. And even though Meteora would decline every invitation it made her heart feel a little lighter to hear her sister's voice. Sometimes she would even press herself up against the firm wood just so she could hear her sister better, the longing threatening to tear her heart in half. For a long time, Star stayed persistent and even though part of Meteora wished she'd give up, the other part of her wanted nothing more than to see her little sis again. But she resisted this urge, because she was doing this for Star. Because Star wasn't safe around her.

Finally, Star started knocking less and less, her pleas became more desperate and sad. Until eventually, they quit altogether. Her door went silent. She had given up on Meteora and honestly she didn't blame her sister one bit for it. She would have given up on her to. But it didn't make it hurt any less.

She remembered the day her parents told her they were going away on a trip for a few days and she had begged them to stay, fearful of being alone, of losing control without her parents there to help calm her down. She remembered her mom and dad reassuring her that everything would be okay before leaving her room for the very last time. She remembered the stabbing pain and sorrow when she was told that their ship had sunken in a storm, that there were no survivors. She remembered her room becoming coated in ice and snow as she wept in misery. But most of all she remembered the dull sound of knocking just on the other side of her door, no life or energy in the action. She listened as Star pleaded with her to come out of her room, her sorrowful tone the only comfort Meteora had left in this world. And what hurt most of all was that all Meteora could do was lean against the door and cry, as Star's own painful sobs attacked her ears.

The next few years were some of the loneliest Meteora had ever experienced, without her parents there any longer and Star no longer even attempting to reach out to her she had nothing and no one to depend on. She was completely alone now, fighting back her emotions and her fears and everything else all on her own. Until finally, she was old enough to become queen. She had stressed and worried for days about the ceremony, knowing she would have to take off her gloves in order to be anointed queen. But somehow she had pulled it off, able to keep her powers under control long enough to hold both scepter and orb as the priest finished his speech, although she seriously wished he would speak just a little bit faster! She had practically thrown the objects back down and ripped the gloves back on, feeling safe once more.

And she had even gotten to see Star again for the first time in years, she got to stand next to her and talk to her and that was probably the happiest she had ever been in a long time. Until she went and screwed it up, upsetting Star and forcing her away again, the guilt eating away at Meteora's heart once again. She told herself she was doing this for her sister, that locking her away inside the castle was what was best for her. And then Star had suddenly appeared with Tom and claimed they were getting married and Meteora had lost it. Anger and frustration had overpowered her common sense as she and Star fought, her sister antagonizing her more and more until finally she had snapped... and lost control.

And in that moment, all Meteora could do was stare into the fearful crowd of onlookers in pure horror. Look into their frightened and stunned faces at what she had just done. And then her eyes locked with Star, she could see the confusion and doubt and worry written all over her face. Star sucked in a deep breath, a look of fear flashing through her eyes and Meteora felt sick. Tears flowed down her face as she reluctantly chocked out, “I'm sorry,” before she did the only thing she could think of. She ran. She did her best to ignore the world around her as she ran as far and as fast from the castle as she could, she ignored the wind whipping against her face, the tears streaking down her cheeks, the screams and cries of her people as she froze everything around her and the dull pang in her chest as a result. She ignored the frigid temperature as her powers again worked against her once more and she ignored the desperate voice of Star at her back. She just pushed that all out and ran. She froze the lake in her wake and ran into the nearest treeline and she didn't stop running until her home was a spec in the distance.

…

Meteora shivered as the memory faded from her mind, the dull ache in her chest almost suffocating. She had tried so hard to not lose control, to keep her powers under wraps, but she had failed and now everybody knew. It was all over.

That thought made Meteora pause, stopping in her tracks as she pondered that for a moment. Was it really over? After all the years of stressing and worrying and fearing the worst case scenario it had finally happened and now she had nothing more to fear. Star was safe so long as she was away and no one would find her up here in the mountains. She was free. Finally, truly free. From the guilt, from the worry, from everything. And for the first time in years, Meteora smiled as a long forgotten joy and peace fell over her and she let out a relaxed sigh, letting all the stress and anxiety that had built up in her go.

She quickly ripped off her only remaining glove, her cape, and her crown, letting them float away in the wind or fall to the ground forgotten as she began casting blasts of ice magic through the air, no longer caring about being seen, not having to hide this side of herself from everyone. Cause now there was no one around for her to hurt.

She let loose all her powers, seeing just what her magic could truly do. And as she cast spell after spell she began to laugh, hard and long, her bubbly tone echoing around the snow-capped hills. She stopped for a moment though, biting her lip as a new idea for a spell popped into her head, her mind just briefly flashing back to that night with Star, and before she knew what she was doing she was creating a snowman, waving a finger around in the air as a snowman magically formed in front of her. But she didn't stop there, creating snow creature after snow creature, the whole area around her soon covered in them and she laughed at the top of her lungs. She ran up the mountain, shouting in pure joy, feeling more free than she had in her life, until she reached the edge of a cliff. But even that wasn't going to stop Meteora. She was on a roll and nothing was going to stop her anymore.

So she simply threw her hands out in a burst of magic before the beginning part of a bridge appeared before her and as she stepped on it, the snow turned to ice and she didn't hesitate as she ran across the bridge, forming it as she went until she reached the next snow bank. She felt a rush of exhilaration, wanting to do something bigger and grander than ever when a new idea popped into her head. She smiled mischievously as a new idea came into her mind. She rubbed her hands together and muttered under her breath, “Oh this is gonna be good.”

And then she got right to work creating her greatest masterpiece yet, finally after all these years feeling like herself again.

…

Star and Marco rode in silence for a while. Close to an hour had passed without either saying a word, Star staring at the lights in the sky or casting occasional glances at the mountaintop, Marco just focusing on driving the sleigh. To Star it felt like they would never make it, every time she looked the mountain still seemed as impossibly far off as before and with every glance her spirits fell more and more, until she was practically sulking. She stayed tightly wrapped in the blanket but it still felt like all the warmth was leaving her body, her heart aching with loss and guilt for causing such a mess. Marco, however, was distracted by the single fact that he had a pretty girl sitting in the sleigh with him. He kept looking over at her, trying to ignore the way she was snuggled up against his side or the fact that his cheeks were hot enough to probably melt ice and instead tried to keep his focus on the path ahead. But it was a losing battle, Star's enchanting form easily more interesting than the snowy hills Nachos was crossing at a breakneck speed. Marco tried to think of something to say to the blond, hoping to strike up some kind of conversation to end the long stretch of silence but no words came to mind. Everything he thought to say only sounded stupid in his overly critical head and when he did try and work up the nerve to speak, he chickened out at the last second. Finally, though it was Star who broke the unending silence saying, "So have you ever been up the North mountain before?" Marco panicked, his tight throat refusing to work properly as he just stared blankly at the girl. Star turned to him in surprise, an eyebrow slowly raising and Marco shouted in his head, she asked you a question, quick say something, anything! "Uhhh y-yeah, so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding your sister," the boy stammered out nervously. "That's good," Star said in clear relief, looking much more like herself again, and Marco felt his body relax down some as he blurted out, "So why'd your sister run away anyways?" Star's smile quickly turned to a frown and Marco wanted to slap himself for upsetting her. You idiot, why'd you bring that up?! He yelled inside his head. "Y-You don't have to answer, I was just curious," the boy quickly added, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with his free hand. "No, it's okay," Star told him, though her voice was strained and tight as if she was holding back her emotions. The girl sucked in a breath, clearly trying to figure out the right way to put it. "You said something about you two getting into a fight," Marco helpfully supplied, trying to keep his curiosity to a minimum, even though he was burning with unanswered questions. The girl huffed angrily, before saying bitterly, "Yeah I got all mad because she said I couldn't marry Tom and then I pulled off her glove and the next thing I know shes shooting ice across the room!" The girl threw her hands in the air in exasperation. Clearly the girl was harboring some resentment toward her sister. "I mean I know I shouldn't have made her mad, but she was being impossible! She never thinks about what I want! I just wanted her to understand that!!" "Who's Tom?" Marco asked, unable to keep the slightest hint of disappointment out of his voice, though he wasn't sure why. "Hmm, oh he's a guy I met at the ceremony, we hung out for a while and then he asked to marry him and I said yes," the girl said absentmindedly, her thoughts on more pressing matters. "But then Meteora wouldn't give us her blessing because she said I couldn't marry a guy I just met and then I-" "Wait, you were gonna marry him after only knowing him a day?" Marco said in shock, unable to hide his disbelief. "Uhh, yeah, what's the big deal?" Star replied, raising an eyebrow at her companion. "Well I mean, no offense but don't you think maybe you're rushing things a bit," Marco said, trying to be careful of his wording so he wouldn't upset the blond royal. Star scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest before saying firmly, "No. I mean, I spent a whole day with him. I think I know if he's right for me or not." "But how much could really learn about him in a day?" Marco argued. "I know lots of stuff about him,” the blond replied confidently, before ticking each thing off on her fingers as she listed off the many facts about her fiance, “Like he's from the Southern Isles, he has 13 older brothers, his favorite animal is a bunny-” "Look, I know it's not my place but I just don't want to see you putting yourself in a bad situation," Marco told, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're a really nice girl, Star, and some guys take advantage of that." "Tom isn't like that," Star argued. "He's a really good guy." "Even if he is, don't you think maybe you should take a little more time to get to know the guy?” Marco suggested.

Star fumbled for an answer, stuttering as she said, “Wh-What, n-no way?! Tom is the first good thing that has happened to me in a long time and I'm not giving that up.”

Marco looked long and hard at Star for a minute, seeing the bitter loneliness in her eyes, before he asked hesitantly, “Are you sure this is really about Tom?”

Star froze, feeling her heart begin to hammer away in her chest and her mind come to a screeching halt. Her mouth opened but no words came out, as the boy's question rang around in her head for a while. But finally she got a hold of herself, shaking her head free of her stupor as she replied in a firm, annoyed tone, “L-Look none of that stuff matter, it's true love and that's all I need to know!”

“Okay, okay, I'm sorry,” the boy quickly said as it became obvious he had overstepped his bound. The two sat in silence for a minute, facing forward, unable to meet each other's eye, until finally Marco risked a glance over and saw the girl's face set in a sad frown. He sighed at the mess he had made, before adding in a quiet tone, “I'm not trying to upset you, Star. I just... didn't want you to make the same mistake I did.”

“What?” the blond royal said in surprise, looking over at her companion curiously.

“I thought I was in love with someone once, but it turned out I was just in love with the idea of her and well, we didn't work out. I just don't want to see that happen to you.”

Star was taken aback by the boy's words, the pain in his tone clear as day. It was obviously a painful memory for him. One he had shared willingly with her, when he didn't really have to. And suddenly, she felt a smile rise on her face, her cheeks warming against her will. Marco really was a nice guy. Sure Tom was the guy of her dreams, but there was something just so warm and inviting about the boy in red beside her that she couldn't help but want to be around him, his friendship somehow meaning more to her in that moment than anything else.

So she scooted closer, wrapping her arms around him in a warm hug. She felt him tense in her grip, before slowly relaxing and she laid her head on his shoulder, telling him, “I'm sorry that happened to you, Marco.”

“It's okay, it was a long time ago,” the boy said vaguely, his voice tight as if he was having trouble getting the words out and for some reason he would not tear his eyes away from the path before them. And if that wasn't strange, Star would swear his face was turning red but it might have been a trick of the lantern light.

Star finally removed her arms from the boy's frame, giving him an apologetic grin as she added, “And sorry for being such a pill a minute ago. I guess I'm just a little defensive.”

Marco shook his head. “No, it was my fault for upsetting you,” the boy replied with a warm smile that made Star's insides do flips, although she had no idea why. “Friends?” he offered.

“Friends,” Star agreed with a nod. And just like that the tense atmosphere in the sleigh vanished, leaving behind the same comfortable feeling as before, only this time that feeling felt even stronger, more energized, as if the air itself was filled with sparks of electricity, though Star couldn't quite explain it. And taking advantage of the friendly atmosphere, she cheerfully asked, “So how long till we reach the North Mountain?”

“We should be there by morning,” Marco responded, equally as enthusiastic. “So long as nothing goes wrong before then. These woods can be kinda dangerous.”

Star scoffed, waving a hand as if it was nothing, “Oh don't worry, Marco. I'm sure everything will work out fine.”

As if the universe itself was intent on proving the girl wrong a wolf suddenly appeared out of nowhere, taking advantage of their momentary distraction as it lunged at them, latching onto Marco's arm and pulling him off the sleigh. The boy let out a high-pitched scream as he clattered to the snow, the fast-moving sleigh pulling ahead of him in a second. Star, thinking quickly, grabbed a rope and threw it over to him shouting, “Marco, catch!”

The boy quickly grabbed on just as a pack of at least five wolves began to surround him. He felt the rope go taunt before he was dragged through the snow behind the sleigh. But the wolves were not going to lose their meal that easily, barking and growling as they chased after the teen, biting at him with their sharp teeth while he screamed and dodged them to the best of his ability, moving his legs out of the way as they tried to take bites out of them. “Star, help!” the boy screamed in panic, knowing he could only avoid the wolves' massive fangs for so long.

Star desperately looked around for some kind of idea to help her friend, quickly examining each item in the sleigh when her eyes fell on a large wool blanket. Her gaze then jumped to the lantern hanging on the side of the sleigh, providing a small beacon of light against the unrelenting darkness of the night. “Hang on, Marco! I got an idea!” she yelled over to him, before picking up the blanket and opening the small clasp on the lantern.

“Make it quick!” the boy yelled in reply, still avoiding the sharp fangs lunging at him, the wolves convinced they had their meal on the ropes... literally. It was only a matter of time before they had a tasty human to devour. The wolves all licked their lips at that thought, howling in unison as they all descended on the boy at once, knowing he couldn't dodge them all.

At that exact moment, Star held the now flaming blanket high above her head and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Hey wolves! Leave my friend alone!” Nobody had time to react as the blond threw the blazing blanket toward the unsuspecting wolves as hard as she could, shouting out in late warning, “Marco, duck!”

The boy screamed in fear as he saw a blazing projectile heading right for him and ducked just in time to avoid being burned, the blanket sailing over his head and onto the unfortunate group of wolves, the impact sending all of them tumbling in the snow. The wolves were all left dizzy and disoriented as they stared at the retreating sleigh and their lost meal glumly. Finally after a minute of sulking, their leader reluctantly barked, 'Well, we'll get em next time, guys.'

'Wanna go howl at the moon until we feel better,' another wolf suggested.

The pack all barked their agreements before heading off to their favorite cliff for howling, not one of them realizing their tails were all on fire.

Star, meanwhile, was cheering her victory, pumping her hands in the air as she shouted in surprise, “Wow, that actually worked! I'm even better at this than I thought!”

“Star can you please pull me in?” Marco asked between chattering teeth, the snow starting to seep into his thick layer of clothes, leaving him shaky and cold. And the near-death experience was certainly not helping calm his noisy teeth down any.

“Oh right, I'm on it,” Star said while doing a cute little salute. She quickly grabbed the end of the rope and pulled her friend back over to the sleigh, grunting from the effort. Once he was close enough the boy pulled himself into his seat, sighing with relief as he rested his head against its back, the warmth of the lantern soothing to his cold body as he felt some heat return to his frozen limbs.

“Marco, you okay?” Star asked with concern, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The boy shrugged before replying, “Yeah, I'm good. Thanks to you.” He gave her a tired smile, before adding, “That was really quick thinking back there. I would have been a goner without you.”

Star grinned happily at that, her eyes almost glowing at the praise and the cute look had several of Marco's brain cells short circuit. He was so distracted in fact that it took him a second to realize that it was getting much warmer in the sleigh than it was supposed to be. But when the smell of smoke reached his nostrils, he swerved around, only to stare in horror as the entire back of his sleigh was on fire, the lantern Star had used to ignite the blanket laying haphazardly on the flammable wood.

“Oh no, my stuff!” the boy screamed in panic, looking around for something, anything that could save his supplies. He quickly shrugged off his coat and used it to try and put out the flames, beating it against the burning wood in hopes of somehow stopping his livelihood from going up in smoke.

Star could only watch as her companion worked on extinguishing the flames, biting her lip in concern, unsure what to do to help. Suddenly though she heard Nachos make an odd sound, one that almost seemed like some kind of warning and she looked over to see what was going on, only to feel her heart drop. The two had been so distracted with fighting off wolves and fire that neither of them had paid any attention to steering and now the sleigh was currently barreling toward a ravine. “Uh Marco, we have another problem,” the girl said nervously.

“What now?” the boy asked in exasperation as he looked up from his task.

“We're headed toward a cliff!” the girl responded, pointing over to the incoming danger and the boy followed her gaze and gasped in shock. The fire was quickly forgotten as he grabbed the reigns, trying to correct their course but there wasn't enough time.

“Jump Nachos!” Star shouted to the reindeer.

“Wait, we won't make it!” Marco screamed back.

“Yes we will, we can do this!” Star replied, determination in her voice as she leaned forward.

Marco quickly thought through their options in the few short seconds they had before coming to a decision. He sucked in a breath and wrapped an arm around Star's waist, pulling her close to him, causing her to blush. But he didn't notice as he whipped out a knife from his pocket, cutting the rope connecting Nachos to the sleigh before shouting, “Jump Nachos!” He then leaped forward, pulling Star along with him as the three sailed across the ravine, landing roughly on the other side as a flurry of snow was launched into the air.

For a moment or two, the three travelers just lay buried before the two teens sat up coughing and sputtering as they freed themselves from the snow pile, Nachos just grunting and shaking the snow off her thick fur. Star and Marco panted as they slowly crawled over to the edge of the cliff, looking down the ravine to see the damage done to the sleigh. It had luckily landed on a snowy cliffside and other than a few pieces broken off the wood frame from the fall, the sleigh was still mostly intact. Star grinned before telling her friend, “Well, at least the sleigh is alright, sure it'll take a bit of work to get it back up here but at least it's in one piece.”

Out of nowhere, the sleigh burst into flames, destroying it and everything inside it, in a matter of moments nothing left but charcoal and ash. Star shrank as she watched the sleigh burn feeling guilt eating away at her insides, especially as Marco groaned and shouted in despair, “My stuuufff!” He slammed his head against the ground, letting out muffled cries. “That was everything I own,” he sobbed unhappily.

Star bit her lip as she stared down at the destroyed sleigh, before sighing in defeat. She put a hand on the boy's shoulder before saying in a soft whisper, “I'm sorry about your sleigh, Marco. I-I'll have everything replaced when I get back.” She swallowed thickly, not really wanting to say this next part but she didn't really have any choice. She had caused him enough trouble for one day. “And... you don't have to go with me anymore. I can handle the rest on my own.” She stood up slowly, keeping her head bowed, her eyes covered up by her hair as she whispered quietly, “Sorry for all the trouble.”

The girl then slowly started to walk away, heading in the direction she hoped to be north, the trees blocking the view of the North Mountain at the moment. But she hadn't gotten very far when a voice called out to her, “Wait.” She turned to see Marco stand, giving her a determined look. “I can't let you go alone. I'm coming with you.”

Star's eyes widened in surprise, feeling her heart race at the mere idea of having Marco come with her as she said in joy, “Really?” But she quickly got a hold of herself as she added, “Oh Marco, you don't have to do that.”

“Yes I do,” the boy insisted. “A promise is a promise. I said I was gonna take you to your sister and a Diaz never breaks his word.” He put hand over his heart to demonstrate his resolve, causing Star to giggle a little.

But her grin vanished, rubbing a hand up and down her arm as she said regretfully, “But I ruined your stuff and I made a mess of everything.”

“Yeah,” the boy muttered, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “That was a... bit of a mess but I'm not mad at you. Not like it was your fault.”

“But that wouldn't have happened if you didn't come with me,” Star said, feeling tears form at the corners of her eyes.

Marco saw this and slowly walked over to her, placing both hands on her shoulders as he gave her a kind smile that sent her heart fluttering. “Hey, it was my choice to come with you, okay. I knew the risks and I still want to help. That is, if you'll let me.”

Star stared into his chocolate brown eyes for a moment, feeling a warmth slowly fill her chest, seeing the true resolve that lied behind them. He really did want to help her. Marco was a good guy and a great friend and she felt very thankful to have met someone like him. She felt Nachos nudge her with her nose, trying to convey her own affection for the princess and Star finally smiled, relief washing over her features. She wiped away the stray tears before saying brightly, “Okay then! I'd be happy to have you as my guide.” She then threw her arms around him in a tight hug, resting her head against his chest. “Thanks Marco,” she whispered gratefully.

Marco tensed in surprise at the hug before smiling down at the girl, wrapping his own arms around her slender frame, holding her close as he felt her warmth meld with his own. He chuckled a little before saying, “Your welcome, Star. What are friends for?”

When the two finally parted, bright grins on their faces and slight blushes on their cheeks, the blond royal asked her companion, “So what's the plan now?”

“Well we'll have to go on foot from here, it'll take a little longer but we should be there within a few days,” Marco told her.

“But what about your stuff, I thought we needed that to get up the mountain?” Star asked with slight concern.

The boy shrugged. “We'll just have to get by without it. Been a while since I really roughed it but we should be fine,” he said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, though his eyes conveyed some slight hesitation and concern.

“Well if anyone can get us there, it's you, Mr. Mountain Expert,” Star said, elbowing him playfully in the chest.

“Well I am an expert on many things,” the boy replied, puffing out his chest goofily before the two shared a long, hard laugh. But then the two heard a howl in the distance and clamped both of their mouths shut, covering them with their hands as they shared a fearful look.

“We should probably get moving before we end up as those wolves chew bones,” Marco commented, his voice now a soft whisper.

“Yeah. Totally, totally, totally,” Star replied in an equally quiet tone, her eyes wide with clear concern. But her cheerful demeanor quickly returned as she gave her companion a wink and said teasingly, “Then lead the way, Mr. Expert.”

The boy chuckled again before starting off in the direction of the mountain, his keen extincts helping him identify north almost instantly. Star followed along behind him, skipping with every step, while Nachos made up the rear watching the two kids with a knowing look. She had been with her master since he was a little kid and she had never seen him that happy in his life and the frequent looks that passed between the two had the reindeer excited. It was clear that the two were becoming close and although she didn't want to jump to any conclusions, she had a feeling she knew where this was going. But she would just have to wait to find out.

...

Morning came quickly enough, much to the three travelers' relief, since their long trek on foot would be much easier without the worry of being eaten alive by wolves or other nighttime predators. The group was now in the middle of some dense forest, which seemed to shine with otherworldly beauty as the freshly fallen snow made the whole place glow in the sunlight. The trees themselves were lined in white and the long vines that hung from them had turned to ice, creating thousands of frozen crystals for the group to walk through. Star and Marco gazed around in wonder, Star feeling like they had just entered into a page from a storybook. And Star briefly wondered if they were even allowed in there, like they were intruding on some hidden world, one no human was permitted into. A sudden sadness came over the girl, as she asked Marco softly, "'Do you think... Meteora had something to do with this?" Marco looked over to Star in surprise but, seeing the look in her eyes, he just gave her a sympathetic smile, opening his mouth to try and comfort her, only for a loud voice to blurt out over him, "Did you just say Meteora?!" The two teens jumped in surprise, immediately turning to try and spot the owner of the voice. "Who's there?" Marco asked, now on high alert, putting an arm up in front of Star to try and guard her from the unknown stranger. Star looked around in confusion trying to remember where she had heard that voice before, something about it oddly... familiar. And how did they know her sister's name? Star frowned, biting her lip, only to freeze as she heard a throat clear next to her. The blond's gaze slowly lowered, till she found herself staring at an odd looking snowman. It looked half finished for some reason, like whomever had made it had given up halfway, lacking either arms or a nose. While at the same time it was intricately detailed, features flawlessly crafted into its frosty form. But the weirdest thing of all was that it almost seemed to be... looking at her. And then, to Star's disbelief, the snowman smiled at her, saying pleasantly, "Hey there." Star screamed in panic, instinctively kicking the snowman's head and sending it flying. Marco, at the same time, turned at the sound of his companion's screams, and saw something white spiraling toward him. Without thinking, he reached out his hands and caught the object, giving Star a confused look. Was now really the time for a snowball fight? That was until he looked down and actually saw what he was holding, the smiling face of a living snowman causing his eyes to grow wide. "Wow that was a real close one, thanks for catching me-" the snowman began, only for Marco to scream, too. The boy in red dropped the head and stumbled back in fright, the snowman making a muffled oof as his face hit the snow. The two teens were still yelling as they watched the snowman's body beginning to stumble around looking for its missing head. "O-Okay no worries, I got it," the snowman head said in a confident tone, before trying to direct his body over to him, the two teens and reindeer watching the whole thing, startled. "U-Uh, over here. No, a little to your left. Yeah, just a little bit closer. That's it." Finally, the body reached its head, before immediately tripping over it and landing flat in the snow. Star and Marco shared disturbed expressions as they watched the poor snowman's body flip around in the snow, struggling to stand without arms. After a moment, Star took pity on the bizarre creature, and hesitantly approached it, Marco raising a hand up as if to weakly try and stop her. The blond didn't seem to notice him though as she just said softly, "Here, let me help." Star pulled the body into a sitting position, before lifting the head and plopping it onto its snowy shoulders. Marco watched the girl quizzically and nervously the whole time, biting his lip to keep from blurting out a pointless warning. The thing was weird, but far from dangerous. "Oh wow, thanks so much!" The snowman said pleasantly once his head was firmly reattached to his body. "Uh sure, no problem," Star said, trying to hide her awkwardness with a small smile. "Mr. Talking Snowman." "Oh you can call me Doop Doop the Snowman!" The snowy creature replied. Star's eyes widened as a spark of recognition went through her mind, a fuzzy memory tingling the back of her mind. "Wait, Doop Doop?" "U-Uh yeah, that's my name," Doop Doop replied in confusion. "That's right! I remember you!" Star exclaimed, a wide smile on her face at the forgotten memory. "You do?" Marco asked skeptically. "Yeah! Me and Meteora used to name all our snowmen Doop Doop when we were kids!" Star explained. "Oh hey! What a coincidence, that's what Meteora named me!" Doop Doop shouted. Star gasped. "Wait, she did?! That's awesome!" "Your sister can make sentient snowmen?" Marco asked and Star shrugged. "Apparently," the blond replied, sounding equally as surprised. "Buuutt who cares! This is great for us." She turned her attention to Doop Doop and asked, "Doop Doop, do you know where my sister is right now?" "Heck yeah, I do. She's up on the mountain in the ice castle," Doop Doop explained. "Ice castle?" Marco muttered under his breath. Star, however, squealed in joy, shouting over to her companion. "You here that Marco, we finally know she is!" Marco gave his friend a wain smile, only to suddenly realize something, asking the snowman, "Wait, if Meteora's on top of the mountain than how did you get all the way down here?" "Oh I was looking for my arms," Doop Doop explained. "Your arms?" The two teens said as one. "Yeah, they ran away from me again," Doop Doop explained. "Your arms... ran away," Marco said skeptically. "Uh huh, you haven't seen them around have you?" Doop Doop asked. Star and Marco shared a look, before shaking their heads. "Uhhh, no. Don't think so," Star replied, looking as confused as her companion. "Okay, well let me know if you do," the snowman continued, turning to walk away. "I better get looking for them again-" "Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait," Star called out to him putting a gloved hand on his shoulder. "We were actually hoping to get some help, since we're not sure where my sister is exactly." Doop Doop stared at them for a second before saying, "Yes you do, she's in the ice castle just like I told you," The snowman replied innocently. "And where is the ice castle?" Marco tried. "On top of the North Mountain!" Marco face-palmed, while Star said in the calmest tone she could, fighting back her own frustration, "What Marco means is we need someone to take us up there." Doop Doop just stared at her blankly. “Like a guide,” she added in a hinting tone. "Oh well, I hope you find someone soon!" Doop Doop said obliviously, shuffling slowly away from the two again.

Star's face fell, watching sadly as her one hope of finding Meteora walked away, Marco putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. But suddenly Doop Doop gasped, turning to them and exclaiming, "Oh hey, I just had a great idea, why don't I take you to her!" Marco face-palmed again, shaking his head in disbelief, while Star's face lit up with joy. "Really?!" she shouted. "Oh thank you so much!" She quickly ran over to hug the snowman, practically squealing with excitement as she lifted him off the ground. "Well sure, who knows maybe I can get her to make me new arms when we get there," Doop Doop said hopefully.

"Uhh, maybe," Star replied with a shrug, setting him carefully back down. "Then follow me! I know a shortcut up!" Doop Doop said shuffling away quickly and Star cheered, starting to follow after him. But she was stopped as Marco put a hand on her shoulder, asking, "Uhh, Star don't you think you're forgetting an obvious problem here?" "What's that?" The blond asked curiously, cocking her head naively to the side. "The fact that snow tends to melt in summer," Marco replied quietly, tilting his head in the snowman's direction. Star looked over in the direction the snowman had gone, muttering, "Ooohh." She thought about her response to that for a few seconds before finally shrugging, telling her friend, "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine. Who knows maybe my sister can make snow that doesn't melt or something?" "I don't know, Star. That seem like a pretty big 'if'," Marco pointed out. "Well, she can apparently make living snow so who knows what she can do," Star argued. "We don't!" Marco exclaimed in exasperation. "That's the whole problem!" "Hey where'd you guys go! We going to the ice castle or not?" Came Doop Doop's call. "Coming!" Star shouted back, before turning to her friend and saying, "Don't worry, Marco. I'm sure everything will work out fine." "That's what you said right before we got attacked by wolves," Marco responded but the girl was already walking away. She cupped a hand over her ear while walking backwards. "Hmm, what's that? I can't hear you from so far away," the blond said on a sing-song voice. Marco just let out a deep sigh, turning to his trusty reindeer with a tired look. "Why I am the only voice of reason around here, Nachos?" The reindeer nuzzled her head against his hand to let him know she understood and Marco gave her a quick pet on the head in response. "Marco, hurry up! We have to save summer!" came Star's scream and both Marco and Nachos smiled. This crazy blond was really starting to rub off on them. "What are we going to do with her?" The boy jokingly commented. Nachos however, just grunted knowingly. Her suspicions of his growing feelings becoming more and more apparent with every passing second. "Come on, girl, we better catch up to them before they get themselves in anymore trouble,” the boy said to his trusty stead.

And the two did just that, brushing past the hanging vines of crystallized ice, leaving the hidden world of the frozen forest to it's own devices, the only trace left behind being four pairs of footprints, all headed north.

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Star is a Disney Princess #Star is Anna #Starco

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choupetit · 6 years ago

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GOT Recap: Iron Throne

Airdate: 5/19/19 Season 8, Episode 6 (Finale)

Well, here we are, everybody! The Game of Thrones Finale has dropped and I for one was completely loving it. It was so riveting and they were totally able to justify Dany’s mad queen arc, plus, the way they tied up all the loose ends was truly spectacu ---oh for the love of god, I can’t do this anymore! Here’s the truth: The finale was GARBAGE! It was disappointing and boring and, honestly, we all deserved better. I know people say “You can’t please everybody.” I get that. But, dude, when the majority of people ain’t happy, you’ve done messed up.

That said, it’s dunzo and now we all can walk around dazed, like the survivors of King’s Landing, trying to make sense out of the madness. I suppose, in a way, I’m grateful that the previous episode was so god awful, because it really helped me prepare for a let down. So in that sense, expecations were met. Let’s remind ourselves how this series, as a whole, was truly a special thing…most of the time. It’s just too bad it had to end this way. This is by far my least fave episode to recap, but I can’t just let the final notes of the Song of Ice and Fire go unplayed, so here ya have it: My final GOT recap of “Iron Throne”:

Yo. The massacre of King’s Landing is over – or is it? Tyrion Lannister -clearly not considering his own life or survival- has decided to stick around and take a long walk through the charred human remains and toppled buildings. Jon Snow and Ser Davos follow him, equally stunned by the devastation. White ash covers everything. We see a handful of shell shocked survivors as Tyrion passes through the streets to make his way to the Red Keep. Jon tells him not to go in without backup, but Tyrion insits on going it alone. He gets into the castle and makes his way through the ruined map room and down the stairs to check on the secret passageway that he told his bro about. It’s all moody and sad…but also confusing, because we saw the ceiling collapse last episode and it didn’t seem like there would even be a basement left to go to. But maybe I’m just being a stickler for things that make actual sense. Tyrion finds a giant pile of rubble blocking a passageway. A hint of light peeks from the top and he manages to climb and pick his way past the blockage. Seems totally safe to me to disturb the unstable structure and debris.

On the other side, there is another huge pile of rubble and Tyrion spies Jaime Lannister’s golden hand peeking out of the rocks. Yeah, that’s right, the ceiling - and presumably entire structure - came crashing down on Jaime and Cersei Lannister last episode and yet here we are with body pieces barely covered. Tyrion clears away a few bricks and voila! He has excavated Jaime and Cersei – nestled close together. That whole thing is so…whatever. I mean, Tyrion seems pretty upset, but when you look at the surrounding scene you’re just like “So…if Jaime and Cersei had simply stepped a few feet to the right, they would’ve been fine?” It’s all kinda dumb, if I’m being honest. But Tyrion’s feelings are real, and he’s devastated to see his siblings dead in each other’s arms.

As Jon and Davos make their way through the city to the Red Keep, they come across Grey Worm with a handful of Lannister soldiers on their knees, about to be executed. Jon’s all “Whoa, man. The fight’s over, these dudes should be prisoners!” And Grey Worm is all “I’m following my queen’s orders to kill her enemies.” Jon wants to talk to his superior – aka Daenerys – and Grey Worm’s all “Cool, let me know how that works out.” He proceeds to cut the throats of each of the kneeling men. Yowzers, that is cold!

Meanwhile, Arya Stark walks up to the crowd of Dothraki who are hooting and celebrating outside the Red Keep. It’s nice to know that the symbolic white horse at the end of last episode was able to carry her a full two blocks and then disappear for his next Lyft fare in King’s Landing – it’s surge pricing right now, people.

The Unsullied stand at attention, lining the long stairway up to the Red Keep and Jon slowly walks up. Grey Worm is already there – dude, the Unsullied are FAST! Tyrion stands to the side. Drogon swoops overhead and lands in the courtyard and a few seconds later, Queen Daenerys Targaryen walks out to the top of the stairs to address her loyal Dothraki and Unsullied troops.

She speaks to the crowd in Dothraki and then High Valyrian and gives a super creepy Hitler-esque speech “Thanks for helping me liberate the city, y’all! You guys have been so supportive and we are not going to rest until we have liberated the entire WORLD from the shackles of life!!!” All of Dany’s supporters cheer. “Also, we are going to have a big potluck tomorrow to get to know our 27 surviving King’s Landing citizens! This is a reminder that I’m making my famous ambrosia salad flambée and I really don’t want anybody one-upping me, so please steer clear from any and all other pineapple dishes with cool whip, m’kay? It might just push me over the edge. You guys are the best! See you tomorrow at 3pm near the charred moms and toddlers where the garden used to be!” Jon and Tyrion don’t understand a word she said, but they’re pretty sure it ain’t good. Of course it’s not – ambrosia salad is not meant to be flambéed, it’s gonna be a disaster. But at this point, nothing Dany does would surprise me anymore.

Tyrion steps forward and stands next to Dany, who goes “You freed your brother, traitor.” And Tyrion goes “Yeah, but you just massacred a city, psycho, so there! Oh and btw, I don’t want to be your hand anymore.” He removes his pin and tosses it down the stairs – y’all that is a bigger burn than what Dany just did to all of King’s Landing! Daenerys’s guards escort him away. Frankly, I thought she would just barbecue him right then and there, so things are going better than expected.

Jon stares warily at Dany who coolly gazes back at him and marches into the interior of the Red Keep. I don’t get how anybody can believe this is a sound structure, but then again all the building code enforcers are likely buried under a pile of rubble.

Suddenly, Arya pops up next to Jon who is surprised to see her in King’s Landing. She tells him of her plan to kill Cersei, “but your queen got there first.” Jon is quick to remind her that Daenerys is everybody’s queen. Arya retorts “Tell that to Sansa.” She also warns Jon that now that Daenerys knows his secret lineage, she’ll probably kill him one of these days.

Shortly after, Jon pays a visit to Tyrion, whose makeshift prison cell is a room filled with off-season Pier 1 decorative vases. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. Tyrion attempts to turn Jon against Dany and gives him a whole spiel about how people with access to weapons of mass destruction and a penchant for mental instability somehow shouldn’t be allowed to be in power. Jon’s all “Meh, it’s not really my decision to make. I’m gonna focus on the things I can control – like the tightness of my man bun and the number of steps I’m clocking on my fitbit. Dude, this whole King’s Landing trip has got me up to 50K steps and it’s not even lunchtime!” “O-kay…but Dany really needs to be stopped.” There’s a bunch of bumbling convo about how Tyrion really did love and believe in Dany and how love clouds reason. Jon tells Tyrion “Love is the Death of Duty” and Tyrion is blown away by the poetic insight, then realizes it’s Jon saying it and goes “Did you just come up with that on your own?” “Nah, man. Maester Aemon said it to me once.” “Yeah, that makes more sense. Well, let me just take that gem, flip it and reverse it: Maybe sometimes Duty can be the Death of Love…just sayin’.” This wordplay is way too much for Jon to handle and he has to take a seat. Probably as a defense for the writers to take Dany down the path of crazyville, Tyrion points out all the cruel things Daenerys has done in her pursuit of the crown and he says she was cheered on and thus validated in feeling that she is right and good. When Jon tells him none of it matters now that the war is over, Tyrion goes “Is it though? She won’t stop till she’s the queen to everybody in this world – how is your family going to react to that? And do you really think that she won’t kill you, too, one day – the person with a better claim to the throne?” Finally, Tyrion tells Jon that he has to make a choice – and has to make it now. Visiting hours are over and Jon leaves, making no commitments either way. Just Jon being Jon, folks.

Jon approaches the entrance to the throne room – Drogon is guarding it. The dragon stirs from a pile of ashes, gives Jon a once-over and deems him worthy to pass. Damn straight, ‘cause he’s a true Targaryen!

Meanwhile, Daenerys enters the throne room – or rather, what’s left of it. The roof has been blown off with several of the exterior walls missing and the floor is covered with so much ash, it looks like a blanket of snow. She stares at the Iron Throne - solitary in the open space -and walks toward it. At last, she reaches it and touches one of the swords. This throne has always been so far from her grasp – even in her vision from the House of the Undying she never did manage to touch it - this moment has been a long time coming.

She turns to see Jon Snow at the doorway and she tells him a boring story about her childhood and how she assumed the Iron Throne was this gigantic behemoth of a throne. Jon is just all “Hey, gurl…so…your soldiers are still slaughtering peeps in the street. That’s pretty effed.” Dany is all calm with crazy eyes saying things like “We can’t hide behind small mercies – sometimes you have to kill a whole bunch of innocent people to save an even bigger bunch of innocent people.” When Jon asks her if she’s actually seen all the children that she’s killed in the streets – children, women, men who had nothing to do with any of this, he insists that mercy has to be a part of the vision for a better world.

Dany’s just all “I’m a visionary – I get that it’s really hard for you to see the grand scheme here, since you know nothing, but just trust that I know what is good and right.” It’s a callback to the convo Jon had with Tyrion just five minutes ago. Jon asks “Well, what about everybody else who thinks they know what’s good and right?” Dany replies, slightly flippantly “They don’t get to choose.” She asks Jon to be a part of her awesome dream and of course he tells her “You’re my queen. You always will be.” They kiss and embrace.

Then, mid-hug, THWUMP! Jon plants a dagger into Daenerys’ chest. Dany didn’t see this coming and is flummoxed. She collapses and dies in Jon’s arms, a trickle of blood spills from her mouth as he lays her on the ground.

Sensing a disturbance in the Force of the Mother of Dragons, Drogon flies up to investigate. He sees him momma lifeless on the ground and gives her a few nudges with his nose “Wake up, mama!!!” It’s all kinda heartbreaking if you can forget the entire last half of the previous episode where Drogon and his mommy were burning up all of King’s Landing.

Drogon looks at the dagger in Dany’s chest and then at the Iron Throne and Jon. He breathes in deeply and you can see the fire near the back of his throat. Holy Moles, is he going to toast Jon and then we see Jon arise from the flames? Nope. He lets out a huge stream of fire…not on Jon, but on the throne. What?! Is Drogon a big dumdum for thinking the pointy throne killed his mom or is he such a genius that he understands the Iron Throne is a symbolism for power, the pursuit of which ultimately led to his mother’s demise? We’ll never know, but either way, I think we can all agree it’s a weird reaction coming from the dragon. But it looks cool, so I guess there’s that. Drogon melts the entire throne to the ground. Then he picks Daenerys up gently in his talon and takes off. Jon is completely unharmed and would ya look at that – no dead body! Thanks Drogon! Now Jon can be all “I dunno where Daenerys went…she said she was going out for some milk”, and nobody will be the wiser. #PerfectCrime

We get a close up of Tyrion’s face – he wakes up from his prison cell floor and guards take him to the old dragon arena. Judging by the length of his beard, several weeks have gone by. Grey Worm leads him to a semi-circle of seated noblemen and women. It’s pretty much all the noble families left in Westeros - about a dozen or so peeps: Yara Greyjoy, the new Dornish prince, Robin Arryn and his adviser, Ser Davos Seaworth, Ser Brienne of Tarth, Lord Gendry, Samwell Tarly, Edmure Tulley and a few faces we don’t recognize, plus the three Stark siblings: Bran, Arya and Sansa.

When Sansa asks where Jon is – he was supposed to be at this meeting - Grey Worm replies that he’s their prisoner and the Unsullied get to decide who earns a get out of jail pass to attend the Westerosi Nobles Summit. Hold the door, people!! Wait a second. First of all: Jon’s milk cover story didn’t work??? Also, are we supposed to assume that Grey Worm has just been hanging out twiddling his thumbs waiting for somebody to tell him what to do? Isn’t he second in command to Daenerys and thus the new person in charge? Wouldn’t Tyrion and Jon be dead already for their crimes? And who called everybody for this summit anyway? Ok, none of these questions will be answered, so let’s get back to the action:

The gist of the gathering is that all the nobles have to decide what to do next, since there isn’t a monarch to make any decisions for the realm. Tyrion, the prisoner, is the dude who gets to do all the talking and comes up with a plan where all the nobles should just get to vote on who should be king. Sam suggests they try a democracy and everybody yucks it up. Lame. Edmure Tulley tries to nominate himself and Sansa tells him to sit the eff down.

Then Tyrion goes on to suggest that the person with the best stories should get to be the ruler – because, ya know, it’s stories that unite people. And who has a better story than Bran Stark? Um…pretty much all the other perfectly qualified women in the half-circle. Sansa objects that Bran doesn’t want to be king and besides, he can’t have kids. But for Tyrion, this is a minor detail: Who better to rule than somebody who doesn’t want the power? And let’s just elect rulers rather than passing down the throne via birthright! From now on, all the nobles will get to vote for their next king or queen. When Tyrion asks Bran if he’s ok being the Big Kahuna, Bran with his super dead-in-the-eyes mug goes “Why do you think I came all this way.” HOLD THE DOOOOOOOR, people!!!! Are you saying Bran knew this WHOLE time that he was going to be king? Are you kidding me? Is this the dumbest thing ever? Do I now have to pick apart a gazillion instances that make this so messed up if Bran always knew where things were going? No. We’ll stop here.

Everybody votes for Bran except for Sansa who goes “I love you little bro, you’re gonna be awesome as king but I can’t support you because the North is going independent baby. We’re ruling ourselves!!!” And Bran just nods. Now everybody else feels like a total moron for not putting in any special requests for their regions when they voted “Aye” for Bran. Ha, suckers!

Finally, to conlude this extremely boring scene, Tyrion names Bran king and puts in a super offensive name in his official title: Bran the Broken, first of his name…yadda, yadda. Bran looks around at everybody super hurt and goes “You guys have been calling me that behind my back this whole time?!” To get back at him, Bran tells Tyrion he has to be hand of the king. Grey Worm is all “You can’t do that! He’s our prisoner!” And Bran’s all “I can do what I want cause I’m king! Nanny, nanny, boo, boo! Also, Tyrion messed up big time and now he has to dedicate the rest of his existence to fixing his mistakes.” Um, seems like a pretty cush job to me, frankly.

They also throw in that the Unsullied can take The Reach as their own land, since pretty much nobody in Westeros lives there anymore. It’s the equivalent of telling them they can have Nebraska, and guess what? Nobody wants it.

Next, Tyrion visits Jon, whose beard is also looking cray from all the weeks of growing it out. He gives him the news: The Unsullied wanted Jon dead and the Stark sisters wanted him released, so Bran hit a compromise wherein Jon has to go back to the Wall and live out the rest of his days there, just like a regular Night’s Watchman: No wifey, no kids, no lands. Jon’s all “Why the hell is there even still a wall?” –“Duh, because.”

We see a freshly groomed Jon walk through the docks of King’s Landing, accompanied by two dudes from the Night’s Watch. Grey Worm gives him the stinkeye from his ship – the Unsullied are heading to Naath. Hey, maybe Grey Worm can find himself another nice girl from there!

Jon says goodbye to his siblings/cousins. Sansa is now queen of the North, which is pretty much what she always wanted. She laments that they lost their king, though. When Jon tells Arya she can still visit him she’s all, “Nah.” She wants to explore the seas west of Westeros where the maps end – so basically, our girl is gonna hang out in Hawaii for the rest of her life, hopefully doing more Eat Pray Loving than colonizing.

Brienne of Tarth is seated with the big Knight-o-pedia book in front of her. She finds the entry for Jaime Lannister and adds on to it. She is sure to mention that he had the best sex of his life with her, in spite of his tiny cock. Or, ya know, she takes the high road and puts in something really nice about him dying while protecting his queen. Ugh, Brienne, why you always gotta be so good?

In the Red Keep, it’s time for the very first small council to convene. Tryion gets all the chairs ready just so, and then in walk Ser Davos, Samwell Tarly, and Lord Bronn of the Blackwater – he finally got Highgarden, btw. They exchange some banter which falls short.

Soon thereafter Ser Brienne of Tarth and Ser Podrick Payne (awww he got knighted, too) enter with King Bran. Bran notes they are still missing a few positions: boring, boring, and dullsville. Then he goes “Does anybody know what Drogon is up to?” He was last seen flying east and Bran excuses himself to do some Professor X-ing to see if he can find him. But of course, we don’t actually get to see Bran warg. The small council continues with the boring business of figuring out how to spend money on rebuilding King’s Landing and it all ends with Bronn gunning hard for new brothels. Ugh. Seriously.

At the Wall, Jon arrives to be reuinited with his good pal Tormund Giantsbane and also: the bestest direwolf of them all, Ghost! This time, Jon gives Ghost an affectionate cuddle.

We get a cross-cut of a bunch of dull scenes of Jon, Arya, and Sansa getting dressed and walking. Sansa is crowned Queen in the North, Arya sets sail on a ship with the Stark sigil and Jon walks out to the Castle Black courtyard.

In the final scene, Jon heads out on horseback with Ghost and Tormund and a slew of Wildlings returning to their home. Has he abandoned the Night’s Watch? Is he Lord Commander again and can do whatever the heck he wants? Is he finally a ranger and is just going out on a temporary jaunt with his pal Tormund? Who knows. But it’s worth noting that the series finishes in the exact same way as it started: Men leaving the wall to head North into Wildling territory. The end.

And there we have it: 8 years of Game of Thrones came to a lackluster end with the Starks all on top. I’m still processing the weirdness I feel about the show ending this way. Truly, watching the episode was so dull at times that I just wanted it to be over already. While this could have been a much worse end to the series, it certainly wasn��t satisfying. But after the bombshell they dropped in the penultimate episode with Daenerys going nuts, I guess this final episode of the series didn’t have anywhere else to go that would have made it much better.

There are gazillions of cool things that were introduced throughout the previous seasons which were rendered somewhat pointless in the end. I would have loved more exploration and explanation of the mythology and its origins: The Children of the Forest, the Three Eyed Raven, the Night King, the previous defeat of white walkers and how they came back, the Lord of Light, all the fire priestesses in Essos, where the dragon eggs came from, the faceless men, etc. Also, I guess Varys’ letters about Jon being Aegon Targaryen were never delivered – or peeps just didn’t care? [shrugs] Oh well?

I thought this past season would be bittersweet to watch, but it took such an unfortunate turn in storytelling that I just wanted the bad plotlines to end. Season 8 never did live up to the hype of fan theories that were swirling about for two years. Can we blame it for coming up short? Kinda and kinda not. All I know is that I feel oddly cheated by the final season. Taken as a whole, though, I still love the show. I was always blown away by the sweeping visuals, the epic battle scenes, the engaging complexity of the characters. The acting, sets, costumes and music were all amazing. And of course, there was the joy of ruminating over all the possibilities of what might come in the next episode, and discussing the show with my fellow fans. Very few series are as special and engaging as Game of Thrones and I’ll miss it for sure. It’s nice to know there may be some amount of redemption for the story, when George R. R. Martin finally releases the last two books. So I’m holding onto hope for a slightly more satisfying end to this saga. Thanks for joining me on my recap adventures each week! It’s been a fun ride. And now my ‘caps have ended. Sorry, but I had to.

#GOTrecaps #gameofthrones #GOT #Game of Thrones #GOTS8e6 #GOTFinale

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