#and just like with the electric wall.. sora's just out of reach

[cherrythepuppet]

Hydroelectric Dam

TW: Gun violence, killing, general violennce

Stone and Dante: ZeddyZi

Sora (Bonus: Kip): @small-world-au

Gram and Scribble: Me

FALL

Dante and Gram on a mountain trail where They approach a sign welcoming them to Ramshackle City “Ramshackle city. Means we're close to outskirts, right?” Gram asked “Shouldn't be more than a few miles” Dante shrugged

“You ready to see your family?” Gram chuckled as they continue down the trail “I'm just ready to get there” Dante sighed “You nervous?” “I don't know what I'm feeling” The road washes out ahead

“So much for this road” Gram groaned “You just follow the river, it'll lead us straight to their place. C'mon” Dante replied while They drop down towards the river and follow it downstream “What happened between you three?” Gram questioned

“What do you mean?” Dante looked back “You, Sora, and Stone… you're not together, so clearly something went down” Gram said “Oh- We just had a bit of a disagreement, that's all” Dante told him

“Ah, here we go… so what was it about?” “Stone saw the world one way, I saw it the other”

“And that's why he joined the Fireflies?” Gram asked “Yeah, your friend Vinnie promised him hope. That kept him busy for a while, but just like Stone, he eventually quit that too” Dante muttered

“What about Sora?” “Well… Sora stuck with him through it all, I dont have anything against that” “How was it, the last time you saw them?”

“I believe Stone’s last words to me were, I don't ever want to see your goddamn face again” Dante said “Jeez. But he's gonna help us?” Gram replied “I suppose we're gonna find out” Dante shrugged

The pair come to a large hydroelectric power plant spanning the river “Whoa… what's that?” “That right there is a hydroelectric power plant” Dante explained “Wha… A… hydra who?” Gram blinked

“It, uh… it uses the river's movement and, uh, turns it into electricity” “How's it do that?” “Look, I know what it is, I don't know how it does it” They ascend a staircase leading to the dam, Dante turns a crank wheel that rotates half of a platform from out of the water

“Well, that gets us halfway. If we get the other one up-” Gram was cut off by Dante jumping into the water “Okay then” Dante dives underwater and frees a wooden pallet wedged in a submerged structure, bringing it to the surface

He goes to push the pallet to Gram “All right, Gram, I need you to-” “I know, step on the fucking pallet” Gram jumps on the pallet and Dante ferries him to the other side, Gram cranks the wheel, raising the other side of the platform, forming a bridge

Dante climbs out of the water and starts crossing it, He crosses as Gram waits on the other side then raises his hand for a high-five which Dante laughs at slightly and gives Gram a high-five

They climb their way up to the outer walls of the power plan “Aughh, I'm so hungry” Gram groaned “I know, I am too” Dante sighed “All right, next squirrel I see, I'm totally shooting it” Gram said

“Let's get past this place, then we can scrounge up some food” Dante chuckled “Well, if I starve, you're responsible” Gram joked while They reach the main entrance to the plant but They notice the road leading out is blocked by a big gate

“Uh… should we head in?” Gram asked “Ah, ain't no way around. Gonna have to cut through the plant” Dante goes to open the entrance but as He attempts to nudge open the gates when suddenly, armed guards atop the dam's walls aim their weapons down at Dante and Gram

“Don't even think about reaching for your weapon!” A young woman exclaimed while Gram draws his pistol “Tell the kid to drop theirs. Now!” She demanded “Gram, do as the lady says” Dante said

Gram slowly put his pistol on the ground then raised his hands “Please tell me you're lost” The woman grumbled “We didn't know the place was occupied. We're just trying to make our way through” Dante explained

“Through to where?” The woman asked before being cut off “They're all right” A voice said opening the gate “Wha- you know these people?” the woman asked “I know him” The voice stepped out of the gate

“He's my step-father”

“Sora?” Dante asked and Sora quickly hugged Dante “How you doin', kiddo?” Dante asked as the woman and another person walk out of the gate “Let me look at you” Dante Pulls away and looks at the second person “You got fucking old” Stone laughed

“Easy- it's gonna happen to you too” Dante replied as the woman walks beside Stone and Sora, still holding her rifle “This is Scribble, She guards the gate” Stone said “Ma'am. Thanks for not blowing my head off” Dante joked

“Would've been embarrassing, considering you're basically my grandpa” the woman, Scribble, scoffed as Dante paused looking over to Sora and Stone “We found when she was eleven” Stone explained

Sora looked over to Gram and smiled “Gram, right?” He asked and Gram nodded “What brings you through here?” Sora replied “Uh… it's kind of a long story” Gram mumbled “Why don't we bring 'em inside?” Stone suggested

“Yeah. You hungry?” Sora looked back over to Gram “Starving” Gram said, Sora leads them into the dam as Stone closes the gate behind them while Inside, Scribble gestures to the other guards to lower their weapons

“False alarm. They're friendlies!” Scribble called out “We've been dealing with raids. A lot of bandits in this area” She added looking over to Dante and putting her rifle on her back “It's been quiet for a few days” Stone shrugged

“What the hell are you doin' here? I thought I'd find you in the outskirts” Dante asked “Been trying to bring the plant back to life, We had it working before, but one of the turbines went south” Stone explained

“We have electricity, Dante… Well- had but We'll get it running again” Sora smiled, Sora opens a door and leads them into the building before a voice was heard over Sora’s radio “Yeah, go ahead” Sora said

“We're in the control room. Steve's about to start it back up. Do you wanna come check it out?”

Sora looked over to Stone “I'd rather eat with Gram” He mumbled and Stone nodded “It's my turn anyway. I'll go” Stone replied “I'll come with you” Dante added then turned to Gram “Go with Sora and put some food in you” He added

Gram hesitated but nodded “C'mon, Gram. Let's give the boys some space” Sora and Gram begin walking away and Sora says over his radio “I'm sending Stone over. Stand by” “Ill watch the gate” Scribble cleared her throat

“Keep your radio on” Stone told her “Dad! I know!” Scribble groaned while Stone leads Dante away into another room, a respite area with bunk beds “Uh… I got something for you. Last year I went back to the bar, Most of your stuff was long gone. Most of it”

Stone went over to a bag on a crate and then pulled out an old faded photo and handed it to Dante whos eyes went wide seeing a photo of him and Cinnamon when he first adopted her “It's a little faded but it still looks pretty good” Stone muttered

Dante stared at it and shook his head handing it back while avoiding looking at the photo “I'm good…” He grumbled “You sure? I mean-” “I said I'm good” Stone nodded and put the photo away

“Stone, I… I need to talk to you. Privately” Dante sighed “Yeah, okay. Let me just check on my guys real quick” Stone said leading Dante up a set of stairs and back outside, now at the top of the dam

They walk to the control room and Outside of the dam's control room lies a dog, Kip, chewing on a tennis ball and Dante bends down to pet him “Hey, buddy” Dante chuckled “That's Kip. Not much of a guard dog, but he's good to have around” Stone smiled

Dante stops petting Kip and the two enter the control room, where two workers are looking over schematics for the turbine while Another sits at the control panel “These two geniuses are gonna bring this plant back to life”

“We think we got it this time” “You don't believe us? I bet you a million bucks it works” “Sure. Make it two” “Ah, we're almost ready. They just need to finish putting the shield back on” “No rush”

Dante and Stone walk into the generator room and look on as a group of workers begin to place the shield back on to the turbine

“To the left! Watch it!” “Okay, that's good. Lower it. Slowly!” “All right… that's good” “Stone's here. We good to go?” “Gimme… one second…. Okay, good to go!” “You ready?” “Go ahead. Hit it” “Here we go”

The turbine starts turning and the electricity comes back on before Sounds of applause and cheering erupt in the room “Somebody get on the horn and give Sora the good news” Stone exclaimed

Stone then turned to Dante “All right, Dante. Let's go talk” He said as The two enter an office on the other side of the room, Dante shuts the door behind them as Stone stares outside from the window

“That's quite the crew you got there” Dante mumbled “They're good men. This place gives them a second chance. It gives us all a second chance… So why'd you leave the Zone?” Stone got straight to the point

“I've been on quite the adventure, Stone” Dante replied leaning against the wall while Stone turned around “I reckon it's got something to do with that boy” Stone replied “Oh, it's got everything to do with that boy” Dante said

“Well, go on then…”

Dante leaned forward and sighed “He's immune” He told Stone who was confused for a second “Immune to what?” Stone paused then laughed “Oh, c'mon” He chuckled “I've seen him breathe enough spores to take down a dozen men and nothing. I wouldn't have believed it neither, but I can show you” Dante shrugged

“I'll bite. Why bring him here?” Stone asked “I was supposed to deliver him to the Fireflies… The way I figure they're your old frineds, you finish the job, you collect the whole damn payment” Dante suggested

Stone tensed up “I haven't seen a Firefly in years” He muttered “But you know where they are. Now I'm not asking for much, Stone” Dante sighed “What makes you think I'd do this for you?” Stone scoffed

“This isn't for me, Stone. This is for your damn cause” “My cause is my family now. You ain't talking about some walk in the park here” “Jesus, boy… Have Sora get some of your friends to do it” “They got families too”

“Stone, I need this” Dante sighed “You want some gear? Sure. But I ain't taking that boy off your hands” Stone told him “This is how you gonna repay me, huh?” Dante grumbled “Repay you?” Stone glared

“For all those goddamn years I took care of us” Dante replied “Took care? That's what you call it? Sora’s got nothing but nightmares from those years!” Stone exclaimed “You two survived because of me!” Dante shouted

“It wasn't worth it” Stone said pushing past Dante to the door but Dante grabbed his arm to stop him “I bring you the cure for mankind and you wanna act like that?” Dante muttered as Stone sntached his arm away

“We ain't back in the Zone. You lay your hands on me again, it won't end well for you” Stone warned while Dante scowls when suddenly, the dam's alarm goes off in the background “What the hell is that?” Dante asked

“We're under attack!” Stone told him grabbing his rifle and glancing out the window “You still remember how to kill, right?” Stone addded exiting the room with Dante following, They rush out into the heat of combat as workers shoot at oncoming bandits

The brothers, along with the dam workers, clear out the bandits in the generator room then They push up to the control room and kill the last bandit in the area, The group begin running towards the bridge just as Sora radios in

“Stone! Bandits, they're breaking into the building!” Sora yelled over the radio “Can you get out of there?!” Stone asked “No, we're trapped” Sora replied “We're gonna come to you, just stay-” Stone was cut off

“They're here. Gram, hide!” Sora exclaimed “Sora?!” Stone yelled but the signal cut out while They arrive to the bridge, where another group of bandits come rushing out from the other side. As Stone's group advances on the bridge, more dam workers show up to assist

They eliminate all of the bandits on the bridge “We gotta get to the boys!” Stone said running into the main building, taking up positions on the upper level. Below them are several bandits raiding the cafeteria

Sora and Gram are held up behind the kitchen inside, defending themselves and Dante quickly shot the remaining bandits then ran into the kitchen “Stone?” Sora called out “Sora!” Stone sighed out relief

“I'm all right! The kid's with me!” Sora replied coming out from behind the kitchen, Stone runs to him while Dante races to Gram “Gram!” Dante exclaimed “Dante. Oh, man… They were coming in from every direction!” Gram said

“Then Sora was like, We gotta run! And so we dove over these tables and this huge guy blasts in with his shotgun-” “Slow down, slow down, slow down. Listen-” “And then-” “Hey, hey, are you hurt?”

Gram shook his head and Dante chuckled slightly, Stone looked overr to the two of them then back at Sora “I need to talk to you…” He mumbled

-

“Absolutely not. You tell him to go find somebody else” “Sora, I can't have this hanging over my head” “Do you have any idea how many men we lost here today?” while Sora and Stone argued, Gram walked up to Dante

“Does that have anything to do with me?” Gram asked “We'll talk about it later” Dante muttered “Did he tell you where the lab is?” “We'll talk about it later” Later… Right” Gram scoffed turning around and storming off

ante goes to say his name, but refrains “It takes one. One fuck up! One fuck up and then I turn into one of those widows. Okay?” Sora shouted “I have to do this. I don't know what else to say” Stone sighed

Sora shook his head then turned to Dante “If anything- anything- at all happens to him. It's on you!” Sora told Dante who nodded before Sora storms off in the opposite direction “I'll take that boy of yours to the Fireflies. You don't have to worry about it” Stone said

“It's best this way…” Dante sighed “Well, maybe some real good will come of this-” Stone was cut off “I need to talk to Gram” Dante muttered, Suddenly Stone’s radio chimes in and Stone listens in

Dante looked away and Stone groaned “That boy of yours, He took one of our horses and rode off” Stone grumbled “Damn it. Which way?” Dante asked “C’mon… Let’s go find out” Stone replied…

Prev / Next

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Down the Tunnel: Part 2.

So we can really contact Kaede like this?

It’s a big “if” at this point, but I have faith in Sora. If we shoot her inside the lab using the tunnel I open, she can hold open the barrier and establish contact.

Still, I want you to be aware of two things, Sora. Remember, once you go in-

Yeah, yeah, I’m not coming back out. You already reminded me like...4 times.

Just making sure. I’m not trying to deter you from this or anything.

You won’t...

The other thing that I wanted to make you aware of is that even if you get inside the barrier, it’ll take a tremendous amount of energy to keep it open.

While I have no doubt this will work, I also have no doubt we can only use this system sparingly. 

My tenacity’s better than you think. I’m sure I can manage.

I’m just saying. Don’t take this lightly.

...

Yoruko...I have to do this.

I-I know...I trust you Sora.

*Everyone gathers around Rantaro, as he becomes hyperfocused and starts typing into his laptop.

Alright...I’m preparing to open the tunnel.

*VVRRRRRRRRGGHH!*

!!?

*Everyone who can see the laptop screen inside the confines of the laptop sees a large sparking blue wormhole-looking item appear inside.

So...it’s actually a tunnel then?

Not a necessary visual spectacle. Just one I thought I’d add to make it easier to understand.

...Hm...

Careful RaRa...That doesn’t look comfy...

...

...?

*Sora cautiously steps forward and reaches a hand out to touch the portal.

FEEYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAGGH!!

*She recoils and starts jittering as if receiving a horrible electric shock.

SORAAAAH!

Ah!? Are you alright!?

*As Yoruko, Tenko and everyone else starts to panic, Sora turns around with a smirk on her face.

Heh...Gotcha...~

Oh you little-! That a prank!?

That...That was NOT funny...!

My bad, my bad! Just trying to lighten the atmosphere is all.

In all seriousness, I’m ready to shoot down this sucker. Don’t worry Saihara. I’ll find your girlfriend, even if it kills me.

Poor choice of words Sora. I don’t want you to die as much as anyone else does.

Can we please stop bringing up the thought of Sora dying!? I just got it out of my head!

If this goes wrong, we’ll remember you as a hero, Sora the Observer.

*Kuripa faux salutes.

Good luck, my non-organic friend.

Don’t worry. I got this!

But one more thing...My name is Sora Kabuya! Don’t you forget it!

...!?

Alright, you ready?

Yes, I’m ready!

Alright...Aaaaaand...UPLOAD.

*FWOOOOMM!!*

WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAAHAHAAAAAAAAGGHH!!!

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!? Hah!? HAAGH!?

*Sora is shot like a rocket through the tunnel. Lights flash around her as she hurtles at light-speed through the system, until...

BAGH!?

*She bursts out into what looks like a traquil see of pixelated clouds, floating in a space of nothing.

Huh...It’s...prettier than I thought it would be...!

Right...Now to find Kaede...!

...

...Ngh...

*Kaede has taken refuge inside a supply closet in the lab, fit with a mop and bucket, and not much else.

...I don’t even have a photo to put on the mop...or anything to prop it up with...

*She takes her phone out of her pocket and looks at it. It is currently 6% battery.

I’ll be out soon...then I’ll have no way of contacting outside...Not that I could...

*She stands up, her hand shaking from despair and frustration.

UUAAGH! DAMN IT ALL!

*She throws the phone at the wall.

OUCH!

Ouch!?

*SMACK!*

DAAGHCK!

*At hearing her phone suddenly make a strange noise, she turns around, only for the phone to bounce off the wall and smack her in the face.

AAGH! Ooogh...Huh?

See that!? That’s karma, you ungrateful bitch!

What the-!?

*She scrambles over and grabs her phone.

SORA!? What are YOU doing here!?

Just thought I’d pop in with some snacks and tea I brought from Toconoco.

I’m here to help you, silly! Or at least I was until you THREW ME AT A WALL!

But how did you-!?

You can thank your friend Rantaro for that one.

I see...

Wait, but my phone is on low...battery?

*Kaede goes check her battery, only to see it slowly rising.

Oh, don’t worry about that. The phone doesn’t run out of battery so long as I’m inside it.

That’s...helpful!

But...why ARE you inside my phone?

I think it’s better if I show you...Just sit tight.

*Sora disappears from the phone screen.

...

*Kaede waits for a few minutes, until all of a sudden, her phone begins to ring with a FaceTime call.

!!!??

*She quickly answers it.

Hello!?

KAEDE!?

SHUICHI!

Well, look who’s still in one piece~!

*Kaede sees the faces of Rantaro and Shuichi on the other side of her phone screen, her face lighting up with joy and hope.

Kaede, you ok!? You not hurt, right?

Kaede!

You seem to be alright...A little tired maybe?

How are you holding up?

You better be alive, bestie!

Guys...

*Kaede wipes a happy tear from her eyes before responding.

I’m fine actually. In fact, it’s been pretty quiet in here. Haven’t encountered any real danger so far.

I’m nervous paranoid and sad more than anything.

Heh...That’s some valuable honesty.

Listen to me Akamatsu. We’re continuing to study the doors, and we’ve at least figured out what it is we’re dealing with. Unfortunately there’s no-

*CLICK!*

Whuh!? HUH!?

*GASP!* Haaah...

*Everyone’s faces suddenly disappear from the screen, and Sora’s returns.

Sora!? What happened!?

Sorry, sorry, this is tougher than I thought! Just give me a second to stretch!

*Sora indeed stretches, then vanishes again. Once she does, Kyoko’s face returns.

Kaede?

Hey, I’m back! Sorry, something happened with Sora.

Is she alright!?

I...think? She told me she needed a second to stretch.

That makes sense. She’s basically using all her energy to keep the blockade open.

In that case, we don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this short.

Ando has been freed of his brainwashing and has confirmed that there isn’t any way currently that you can open the lab from the inside. As for these doors, they appear to be completely impenetrable for the most part.

Cool...sounds like my options are fairly limited here.

Indeed. But now that we have Ando and several other people arriving to assist us, we’ll find a way out soon. Just hold out in there until we can.

Sora can hold open the communications blockade to allow us to talk to you for short periods of time, Kaede. Plus, now that I’ve shot her inside the lab, she’s stuck in there with you, so at least you’ll have some familiar company.

Really? And...she knew that going in, right?

It was her idea actually. 

She was pretty serious about wanting to help. Even at her wife’s behest.

Please keep her safe Kaede.

I will...It’s the least I owe her.

And Shuichi? Are you alright? To be honest, you look a little worse for wear as well.

Yeah I...I’ve been stressed.

We’re working on getting you out of there Akamatsu, but if you plan on exploring anywhere for a way out yourself, be careful. Just because you haven’t encountered any danger, doesn’t mean you won’t.

We’ll work on things out here, and you see if you can get something in there. Maybe you should find whatever AI is jamming the communications and smash it to bits to give Sora some rest.

I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks Kuripa. And don’t worry Shuichi, I’m ok. 

Now that I have Sora, I feel better than ever.

Good...That cheers me up a bit.

This is a bit of a groaner but...I love you Kaede. Don’t die in there.

Wouldn’t dream of it.

We should probably hang up now to give Sora a rest, but we’ll contact each other as soon as any developments pop up.

Alright, I’m gonna trust you. Hang tight everyone!

Same to you!

*The call ends suddenly.

Uuugh...I do not have the physical body strength to do that for long...

Actually...I don’t have a physical body period...

Sora...I...You sacrificed your freedom to help me...?

Hey now, let’s not get cheesy. 

You’re my pal. If you’re in trouble, I want to help you. And given that I’m the only person with the power to do so, well...Why wouldn’t I?

And you know what? I think I know where to start. 

Where?

Getting you to take a damn shower.

Wait, there’s a shower in here?

*Sora displays the lab map on Kaede’s screen.

Down the hallway, left, then right.

Awesome!

*Kaede secures her phone and weapon, then cautiously leaves the lab to head to the shower.

[flyonmylovee]

I can’t let her down again

[namparktae]

Park Jimin

𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫ᵖʲᵐ

You walked up to the door of your best friend Sora's house, knocking lightly against the hard wood. You'd texted her a few minutes before you arrived, but you had no answer. The door swang open to reveal Sora's older brother, Jimin.

Jimin looked gorgeous in a pair of tight dark black jeans and a crisp black tshirt, he always had been immensely attractive. You had a small crush on him growing up but Sora never knew of it, neither did he. The only issue was that you had warmed to Jimin alot, having friendly banter and him being protective over you. Sora and Jimin aren't close, they bicker a lot and usually they both try and get you to defend one another so you try to please them both.

"Sora's not here, she went to the library a couple hours ago." He spoke out, looking you directly in the eyes. "You can still come in though, I've made lunch if you want some." He took a step back as you shut the door and lead you into the kitchen. "Sora said she wasn't busy today? That's why I came over." You explained to him and he just shrugged, you sat at the table as he brought over the food and the two of you ate together.

After eating, You both ended up in his room watching a movie together. His hand suddenly ran against your thigh as you was huddled next to him, you looked up into his eyes in dismay as his lips landed on yours. Instantly you kissed him back as he forced his tongue into your mouth while you cupped his face.

Pulling away, you left your mouth open in shock as he chuckled. "Y/n you think I didn't know about that crush you have on me huh?" He questioned you. Stunned, you replied. "W-What do you mean?"

"Oh come on y/n, I see the way you look at me and the way you act around me. The only problem is you're too oblivious to see that the feelings are mutual."

With the sentence spilling from his lips you closed the space between you and kissed him passion, tugging at his loose tshirt as he pulled it off, revealing his carved abs and well built chest. His hands traveled up your thighs as he reached your clothed core, pushing his fingers past the fabric and running them through your wet slits. "Baby's already wet for me, hm?" He said with a twinkle in his eye.

He pushed you off him as he laid you on his bed, stripping you of your underwear and spreading your legs for you. You let out a loud moan as his swollen lips sucked harshly on your clit, his tongue lapped up your juices as your hands ran through his dark hair and you tugged on it gently. Two of his fingers entered your core, pleasuring you as they curled inside you as his pace quickened at the sound of your moans. "J-Jimin, that feels so good... Ohh- I-I'm so close." You clenched around his fingers as he continued to flick his tongue across your sensitive bud, accidentally grazing his front tooth against the skin as he began sucking again, sending electricity through your veins.

The vibrations of his moans against your clit sent you to see stars as you felt yourself release the tightness in your stomach. Jimin happlily lapped all your juices onto his tongue, craving your taste and he loved the way you layed on his bed, looking all fucked out for him. He carried on licking your folds while you bucked your hips into his mouth, riding out your high he gently kissed the inside of your thigh.

"Did you enjoy that baby?" He said muffled against the skin on the inside of your leg. You nodded and hid your face shyly. "Don't get all shy around me now. Come here." He commanded as he tugged your hand away from your face and rubbed it against his hard bulge. Your eyes widened as you felt how hard he was, so you wrapped your arms around his neck and positioned yourself to sit on his lap, grinding your core on his clothed member. "Let me help you with that." You breathed out against his neck as you harshly sucked a dark spot above his collar bone.

You climbed off him and got on your knees ready to unbuckle his belt. "No chance, y/n. Stand up and turn around for me." He spoke out. You obeyed in slight confusion, you were now bent over the bed looking over your shoulder at him. He'd removed his belt and his jeans were thrown on the floor, before you knew it his member was running through your wet slits and rubbing against your clit. "This is all about you, y/n. I'm gonna show you how it really feels to cum now my angel."

Slamming into your core, your walls instantly clenched around him as each of his thrusts got harder and harder. A handful of your hair was gripped in his hand as he tugged at it while his other hand was held at your hip, his fingertips digging into your skin. You let out a small scream as you begged for him. "Jimin, h-harder ... f-fuck!" You yelped as a large slap landed against your ass cheek.

He rubbed the patch of skin that was now a deep red to soothe you and he lent down to kiss your shoulder blade as his shaft become coated in your juices. "You feel so good y/n. You take me so well baby." He left out a hot breath against your skin as your own breath hitched at his words, you managed to let out a loud moan as his pace picked up again and Jimin let out a smug laugh to himself.

Jimin kept repeatedly hitting your g-spot, you were on the verge of your second orgasm and it felt as though your skin was burning at his slightest touch. "I'm gonna cum y/n... keep going baby, just like that. You're such a good girl for me." He praised you as his thrusts got slower, you felt his warm liquid spurt into you, the knot in your stomach unraveling as you both released together with eachothers name spilling from your mouths.

He pulled you in for a deep kiss as you layed on the bed, now fully clothed and cuddled up together. "How long have you known?" You questioned him as you pulled away from his lips. "Since always. You're not very discreet, angel." He smirked at you as your mouth gaped open and he kissed your forehead.

You two were too engrossed in your own conversation as you didn't pay attention to the front door unlocking. Jimin turned to you with big eyes as he began to speak. "Y/n I wanna be with you but what do we tell Sora?" He held your hand tight as you opened your mouth to speak before you got interrupted.

"Tell me what?"

Sora's home. Time for the explanation.

1.1k words

Oopsie🙈 Awh look at chim🥰😊

Masterlist

Wattpad- Namparktae for more one shots ↓

[kamenriderlogik27]

Kamen Rider headcanons part 1: Saber meets Ex-Aid!

I've been thinking about this for a while. Not sure why my brain chose Ex-Aid though. Just kinda happened. hehe. It took me a lot longer to write than I was hoping 'cause I ended up getting writer's block somewhere near the end, and didn't entirely know how to end it. Not much action either since I can't write action scenes, but hopefully ya'll will like it!

- It was a bright, sunny day with no sign of megido activity. Touma and Mei were traveling to Tokyo due to Touma having a book reading scheduled at Seito University Hospital. Rintaro, intrigued by the idea of finally being able to visit a grand medical institution, decided to tag along under the guise that it'd be better for him to go as backup just in case something happened.

- Upon arrival, the trio run into Ogami and his son, Sora. Who the latter is scheduled an annual check up at the hospital and was following a nurse.

- After hearing about Touma's book reading, Sora begged Ogami to let him stay so he could join them. Ogami gave no hesitation in giving his son permission to stay after his check up. This actually played in Ogami's favor 'cause he had something to do down the street (probably to get bakery sweets for his son and wife or something.) So he asked Rintaro and Mei to help Sora with his check up, and left before hearing their response.

- A bit dumbfounded but not surprised, Mei quickly told Touma to check in at the front so a nurse could escort him to set up, then she and Rintaro both took Sora's hands and followed the (surprisingly patient) nurse to their assigned hospital room.

- On their way to the room, the nurse quickly stopped near a scale, asked Sora to take off his shoes and started taking his height and weight measurements. Mei had to stop Rintaro from taking off his second shoe (he already had the first one off) as he thought that they all had to get their measurements taken.

- As they waited for the doctor to come, Mei and Sora talked and played while Rintaro took his time looking around the room at all the different equipment and posters with fascinated eyes.

- It wasn't long a wait. However, as the doctor opened the door to enter, he accidentally (somehow) tripped and face planted the floor.

- *Que overly shocked and confused Mei face and sounds, and an unimpressed Sora*

- Rintaro was the only one who asked if the doctor was ok and if he needed help. This caused the doctor to inwardly blush in shame a bit.

- The doctor (if you couldn't tell by now) is Hojo Emu, as said by the patient nurse who sighed "Not again, Emu...."

- Sora took a quick liking to doctor Emu as he was really nice and tried to make the check up feel like a game. However, Emu was a bit shocked to say the least when he tried to bond with Sora over video games and Sora said that he likes reading more. (score one for Touma!)

- As the check up went on, Emu ended up having to juggle with doing his job as well as try to answer the many questions that Rintaro had. (i.e. Is that a stethoscope?! How clear are you able to hear a heartbeat with it? May I perhaps try it out myself? Do doctors really keep a jar of tongue depressors at their desk? That's amazing! you can also use a stethoscope to hear a person's breathing pattern? etc.)

- After the check up, Emu told Mei and Rintaro that Sora was in extraordinary health, especially for such a young child. (score one for the best Kamen Rider dad!)

- Since Emu had no more scheduled appointments for the next hour or two, he and nurse Asuna both ended up escorting the three to the book reading. They were also really curious as to who this 'Touma' person was that Sora and Mei talked excitedly about.

- The book reading was held in a wide open area outside in the courtyard, right next to a huge wall made of windows. Touma had brought a total of 10 picture books to read to his audience; which consisted of mainly hospitalized children, and Sora sitting in the front row.

- Emu and nurse Asuna were both, to say the least, really impressed with Touma's reading skills and interactions with the children. To them, it almost seemed as if Touma was truly taking them on a magic carpet ride or journeying through the decade a jungle.

- Emu mumbled something about looking up Touma's books one of these days, which Mei over heard of course, giving her the opportunity of handing him Touma's business card which had the bookstore's phone number and address printed on the back.

- Just as Touma is about to finish his last book, screams are heard coming from nearby and Mei's white book starts glowing. Nurse Asuna is the only one that notices the book however since Emu is already running towards the chaos, Rintaro and Touma hot on his heels. Nurse Asuna has so many questions, but Mei just awkwardly smiles and runs to Sora so they can help the children and other patients back inside.

- Once Emu gets to the source of the screams, he finds a huge, bug-like monster with a book on its chest attacking people with its long, blood-sucking spear. Emu gets confused at what he was looking at since the monster didn't look or seem like a bugster. Before he could observe further, Touma and Rintaro rushed past him, both putting on their drivers and shouting "Henshin!" before swinging out what seemed like swords and transforming.

- although super confused at these two new Riders, Emu decided to wait to ask questions and jumped into action himself by pulling out his gashats and gamedriver, wanting to transform into Kamen Rider Ex-aid level 2. However, upon further observation of the scene, he could see people kneeling/laying on the ground, groaning in agony and pain. He would have to rely on the strange Riders for the moment as Doctor Emu was needed, Genius Gamer M would have to wait.

- the two SOL Riders noticed the Doctor by now, with Rintaro gasping and trying to tell Emu to get away before he gets hurt. This attracted the megido's attention and it quickly brushed off the Rider's swords, jumped high into the air and aimed it's spear at the doctor who was now trying to help a poor old lady to stand up.

- Before it could hit the doctor though, a very large, heavy sword blocked it's path causing the megido to fall back, clutching it's spear-nose in pain. Emu looked at the huge sword in shock, before glancing at the wielder next to to. Which happened to be an untransformed man with a smirk on his face.

- "Ogami-san! Nice save!" Touma yelled with relief.

"Huh? OGAMI???" Emu said to himself, putting the pieces together "Eh??? Sora-kun's FATHER?!" Noticing that the man he saved was a doctor, due to Emu's white coat, Ogami-san understood what was going on and told Emu to keep doing what he was doing. "Don't worry, I've got your back!"

- While Emu depended on Ogami-san to protect him and the patients, the other Rider doctors had came to help. Kiriya was helping anyone that could still walk, Taiga and Nico were attending to those that couldn't, and Hiiro took the chance to look into and see if the bugster virus was related.

- The megido took account of the situation and, seeing as he could continue his job else where, started to fly away. But not before seeing a curious Sora staring right at him and deciding that "one more couldn't hurt." and dove down to the boy. But before it could pierce Sora's skin, a frantic Mei pushed him out of the way, getting pierced by the megido's spear in the process.

- I think ya'll can imagine the way Touma and, especially, Rintaro screamed Mei's name right at the moment. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

- The megido quickly flew away before the riders could reach them. But Rintaro quickly de-henshined and rushed to Mei's side, quickly, but as gently as possible, picking her up in his arms and checking to see if she was alright. On the outside she seemed fine, there wasn't even an open wound, but then an electric-like ripple coursed through her body and she gasped in pain. Hiiro was at their sides in an instant, using his Game Scope to assess the situation.

- Emu, who was checking to see if Sora was alright, quickly squatted next to Hiiro and furrowed his brows at the screen. there was a new type of Bugster running through Mei's body. In fact, everyone that was attacked by the megido had been infected.

- They took Mei back to the hospital (Rintaro carrying her with the excuse that it'd be faster for him to do it, when in fact he just didn't want anyone else to carry her.) and set her down in the Ex-aid HQ center (I know it's officially called something else, but I'm tired and have no time to look it up at the moment.)

- Now Emu's a bit overwhelmed 'cause there's a very sick Mei, 2 very worried riders asking questions, another rider who's also a bit worried but is also trying to calm his heart down after getting the scare of his life when Poppy suddenly costume changed next to him without warning, and everyone is just super confused about what the monster is. He literally has to yell "shut up!!!" for the room to quiet down enough so he can add "How about we just take turns asking questions, yeah?"

- and that's what they do, Emu starts by asking Touma and Rintaro what the monster is. So Rintaro quickly explains the SOL organization, swordsmen and the megido. Then Rintaro asks Emu what's happening to Mei and if she'll be ok. Emu, along with the other doctor Riders, started explaining Bugsters and the Game Disease. Emu explained that since they've been battling the virus for years now, and have advanced the treatment extraordinarily well that Emu is confident that they'll be able to heal Mei.

- Even though still worried, Rintaro and Touma visibly relax, the latter starting to think about the megido. He had a suspicion of what the megido could be and wanted to go back to the bookstore to check. Knowing it'd be a long drive back however, Ogami quickly pulled out his book-gate WRB and created a doorway that links the hospital to the Northern Base. Touma and Rintaro head through it without a second thought, shocking the doctor Riders.

- At the Northern Base, the duo find Daishinji who's been trying to track the megido for some time now. As they talk, Daishinji cuts off what he's saying halfway and adverts his eyes due to the doctor Riders suddenly appearing.

- Turns out that Parado had come back after playing games with some of the children in the hospital, saw the doctor Riders staring at a door that he'd never seen before. curious, he opened the door (despite Ogami yelling and Emu trying to stop him) which resulted in him and Emu getting sucked into the vortex-like path between the destinations. The other riders too as they either tried to save the duo or they got pulled in by others *cough!* Kiriya *cough!* trying to save themselves.

- The doctor Riders suddenly finding themselves to be in a library of sorts makes them shocked to say the least.

- By the time Ogami catches up, Rintaro is busy explaining that they're now at the North Pole while Touma has gone off back to his bookstore to look for a specific book.

- Emu had followed after Touma and was amazed by how homey and comfortable the bookstore felt and looked.

- As Emu looked around the bookstore (low-key spazzing about how cool the diorama was), Touma rummaged through a pile of books until he came across a book on insects. He skims through it and confirms that the bug-like megido is a mosquito, which is known to spread viruses like wildfire. Excited, the two go back and inform the others at the Northern Base of what they found.

- Everyone then spends the night doing what they can to help. Ogami found and dragged Ren out to help him look for the megido with Kiriya and Parado offering to help. Parado's involvement caused Nico to see this as a game, so she forced Taiga to help search as well. Hiiro went back to his other patients, checking in every now and then to see if the Bugster in Mei had grown.

- Touma and Rintaro also thought about searching, but then Emu and Poppy mentioned how the Bugster Virus reacts and grows via stress. What stresses Mei the most is 1. Touma not finishing his drafts on time and 2. not seeing her friends. So they decided to stay by her side with Rintaro watching over her, and Touma taking up the nearby desk so he can work on drafts for the next two+ months.

- Seeing Mei so pale and frail broke Rintaro's heart. She looked like a different person entirely, as if her warm smile had been stolen. Somewhat tired and worry clouding his mind, he started speaking his thoughts out loud, so loud that Touma could hear.

- "Why can't I do anything?" "What if we can't defeat the megido?" "What if we DO defeat the megido but can't defeat the virus?"

- Touma has to firmly tell Rintaro that they will save Mei, no matter what. He's so adamant about it that he ends up promising Rintaro that they'll both defeat both the Bugster and the megido.

- Emu, who was observing them from afar, takes note of their promise before heading up to the main office of the ward. There, a new face, Kento, is standing next to the window and gazing down at the trio.

- Alarmed, Emu asks who Kento is and how he got in. But Kento doesn't reply, and instead mentions how this wasn't supposed to happen, that this wasn't something he foresaw. He looks back at Emu before opening a black portal and disappearing through it.

- Sometime during the night, Hiiro checks in on Mei, and has a chat with Rintaro about her. He warns the swordsman about waiting and not taking action before leaving him to his thoughts.

- The next morning, Emu finds Touma and Rintaro both asleep. The latter hunched over the desk full of written drafts and the former upright in a chair with his hand clenching Mei's. Poppy, who had came in right behind him, loudly gasped in delight at the cute scene, causing the two Riders to wake up in alarm. Touma ended up falling from his chair while Rintaro awkwardly jumped with embarrassment after realizing he was holding Mei's hand, especially so tightly.

- Emu checks Mei's temperature and vitals. When she wakes up, he asks her how she feels which she groggily explains that she feels way better than when she was turned into the cat megido. Turns out that the boys staying with her and seeing that Touma got a lot of work done really did help in de-stressing her.

- Just then, they get a call from Ogami, informing them that the megido has been spotted. Quickly reassuring Mei that they'll defeat the Megido, the two left to aid Ogami.

-Them leaving however, caused Mei to grow worried and stressed. Resulting in the Bugster Virus inside of her to grow and finally form outside of her body. The form that the Bugster took, was of her Megido monster form, the cat megido. Which slashed at Emu and Poppy before fleeing from the hospital.

- Emu and the other doctor Riders chased after it, bumping into the SOL Riders on the way. This results in them fighting together AND having the SOL Riders react to seeing the doctor Riders transform for the first time.

- "eh?! you guys are Kamen Riders too?!" "What?! B-but! I thought that only SOL swordsmen can be called 'Kamen Riders'?! I have to ask Sophia-sama about this..." "Oi.... What's with the cartoon eyes...? and... is that HAIR?"

- They also run into more bugsters as well, so they break up into teams to fight them off. Touma and Emu vs the megido, Rintaro and Hiiro vs the cat megido bugster, Kiriya and Ogami vs. a megido bugster, and Taiga and Nico vs. another megido bugster and Ren and Parado vs Bugster mooks.

- After defeating them all, the one behind this mess reveals himself; Dan Kuroto with one of Zoous's Alter Ride Books. (possibly given to him by Storious)

-This leads to another huge battle between Kuroto (who fused with the alter ride book) and the Riders (plus Kento who'd been watching the whole thing), which ends with Kuroto being defeated and disappearing, and Mei with everyone else that caught the megido bugster virus to be fully cured.

- Mei reunites with Touma and Rintaro at the hospital, which Rintaro smiling to himself. (He now fully realizes his feelings for Mei and is planning on confessing soon.)

-Later on, Emu, Poppy and the other doctor Riders visit the Kamiyama bookstore, which results in an amusing event.

[vannahfanfics]

Dark Oceans Still Lead to You

Category: Hurt/Comfort, Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Characters: Kairi, Sora

Hello again, everyone! I’m here again with another story for @sokaiweek​! I decided to combine the Day 2 prompts, “I’ll Keep You Safe” and “Let Me Keep You Safe.” I hope you enjoy the story!

“Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me?” Kairi wailed into the abyss. She gripped the bars of her cage until her knuckles turned white, but no matter how much she tugged or pushed, they wouldn’t budge. Four walls of bars and a flat metal ceiling and floor; this was Kairi’s home, no larger than a small closet. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she continued to sob until her voice was hoarse and scratchy, but still, the only thing she saw beyond the bars of her cage was darkness. 

“Please,” she whispered brokenly, then slid down to her knees. “Please… I don’t want to be alone anymore…” 

Maybe it was her imagination, but it felt like her prison was growing smaller— or perhaps the endless abyss surrounding her was expanding, growing larger and larger to finally swallow her whole. Kairi shrunk in on herself, tucking her chin into her sternum while holding her legs with her arms, and screamed again into the void. 

“Please! Get me out of here!” 

“SORA!” 

Kairi awoke with a gasp. Her auburn hair stuck to her forehead, as a thin layer of perspiration covered every inch of her skin. She’d flung the sheets from herself in her anguish, so the warmth smothering her body quickly gave way to a cool flush as the wind pushed cold air down onto her. Her body was still humming from the nightmares, like her nerves were no more than exposed, sparking wires thrumming with electricity to leave her all tingly and high-strung. She forced herself to breathe in, then out, then in again until her tense muscle finally unwound. 

She melted into her mattress with a dismal sigh, the anxiety morphing into exhaustion. She reached up to rub her eyes with the heels of her palms, as if she could scrub the image of that cage and that darkness from her subconscious from the outside. How many days in a row had she had that same dream? She’d lost count, and each successive dream didn’t grow any less frightening. 

She rolled her head on her pillow, ignoring the swathes of auburn hair that slipped down into her face, to stare out the window. She watched the grey clouds drift across the moon through the gaps between her long hair; they looked like ships sailing across the indigo sea. 

The sea… She had the sudden desire to see it. 

She slipped out of bed, glancing at the alarm clock more out of habit than anything; though it was in the early hours of the morning, her desire to see the water and hear the waves sloshing upon the sand was too great. She slipped on her shoes and a light cardigan before trodding to the window, which she quietly lifted up. The breeze rushed in to rustle the papers at her desk and the curtains framing the window, and as she perched on her desk, she savored the wind tugging at her nightgown and playing with her hair. 

Carefully, Kairi lowered herself out of the window to the ground, and the wind waved goodbye as she stole away towards the docks. Normally she would stick to the shadows, but with her nightmare looming still on her mind, the darkness just seemed too crushing. She flitted through the patches of moonlight, and gradually, the melody of the ocean graced her ears. The gentle ebb and flow of the water spurred her on, and soon, she was full-on dashing across the cobblestone. 

She slowed down when the cobblestone gave way to salt-slicked wood. She tottered to the end of the dock to inhale the aroma of salt and seaweed and ocean spray. It calmed her immediately— well, mostly. The shadows still lurked around her, ever-shifting and ready to take her in their vicious claws. 

Just as the anxiety began to mount within her again, she heard someone tentatively call, “Kairi?” 

She looked over her shoulder to see Sora standing at the end of the dock. He was in his pajamas, too, with a hoodie thrown over his shirt so he could bury his pockets away from the early-morning chill. His eyebrows knitted together above his eyes, which reflected the indigo sheen of the night sky. He took a few tentative steps toward her, and then asked, “Are you all right? It’s pretty early in the morning…” 

“And yet you’re out here too,” she joked, to which he responded with a sheepish smile. She looked back to the sea, to the gentle slish-slosh of the waves. “I’m out here for the same reason you are, I guess. It’s hard to sleep.” 

“Yeah.” She didn’t turn when she heard the thunk-thunk-thunks of his boots against the wood, but she did edge to the side so he could join her at the end of the pier. “It’s just… hard to adjust.” He turned to her, cocking his head as he looked inquisitively at her. “What about you? Why can’t you sleep?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. It was a little embarrassing, honestly, admitting she was having these nightmares. But… Sora would never laugh at her. She fiddled with the hem of her nightgown before tentatively revealing, “I’ve been having nightmares…” 

“Nightmares?” 

“Yeah. From when I was held captive by the organization. I’m in a cage, surrounded by darkness… And no matter how much I scream, no one can hear me, no one comes to save me.” As she spoke, the tears flowed freely from her eyes once more. They dripped down her cheeks to coalesce on her chin, and after they beaded into little dewdrops, they fell down into the sloshing water below. “It’s… It’s so scary.” 

When Sora opened his arms to embrace her, she turned into him, nestling herself in his body. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tight, tight enough to hurt, but it felt really nice to be held. She buried her face into his clothes and breathed in deep, and Sora’s scent flooded her nose— salt spray and coconut and paopu fruit, the aroma of home. She melted against him, comforted by his touch and his scent and him. 

“I’m sorry, Kairi,” he whispered against her scalp, pressing his face down into her hair. He stroked her auburn tresses, not minding the kinks and knots from a night of restless sleep. “I’m sure you were really scared deep down even though you tried to be brave… I can’t imagine how frightening that must have been.” 

“It wasn’t as scary as the dreams,” she sniffled, trying to dislodge the tears clumping her lashes by repeatedly fluttering them. “I knew you would come to rescue me, Sora… But in the dreams, I call and call and call for you and it just gets darker.” She didn’t know why she was having these dreams. Her faith in Sora was unshakeable, or so she thought. Had she really been afraid that her Sora wouldn’t save her?

“I’m sorry,” he said again, and his voice sounded so broken that it made her start crying all over again. He squeezed her even tighter than before and pressed his face so hard against her skull that she could feel the cartilage in his nose bruising her scalp. “I’m so sorry. You should have never gone through that in the first place, Kairi, never. I should have done more.” 

“Sora—” she tried to interject, but he shushed her with another squeeze.

“No, let me… Let me talk, please. I know I can’t take it back or do things differently… But I swear, Kairi, from now on, I’ll keep you safe. Let me keep you safe.” 

“Of course,” she sniffled, and she reached up to place her hands on his shoulder blades to return his crushing hug. He’d grown so much taller, so much broader; in the time they’d been apart, he’d really grown up into someone big and strong. Kairi and Sora both knew that she could handle herself, but at times she couldn’t… Sora would be there, Sora wanted to be there. 

It wasn’t until she felt the tears drip down onto her scalp that she realized he was crying, too. The tears threaded her auburn locks like diamonds, shining in the moonlight to form a glittering crown of water. “I trust you, Sora,” she choked out even as the happiness and relief threatened to close up her throat. “I know you’ll keep me safe.” 

He pulled away, leaving her feeling achy, but in a good way— it was a darn good hug. He kept his hands on the back of her neck, fingers playing in her tresses of hair, while he gazed at her with a soft look. It made Kairi melt all over again, that look he had like she was the most enchanting creature in all the worlds. 

“I’ll keep you safe,” he mouthed as his hand slid to her cheek, and she immediately leaned into his touch. His hand had roughened from his time wielding the Keyblade, but it was still soft, still welcoming, still cherishing. He loved her, and she loved him, she knew that then. 

She wasn’t sure who initiated it, but then they were kissing, his lips were smoothing over hers like they belonged there, and it was everything Kairi could have ever wanted and more. He kissed her like he could never kiss her again, like her lips were the sweetest candy he could ever have and he would never get enough. And Kairi loved being swept up in it, in him.  

When he pulled back, he cradled her face, unable to resist peppering her face in little butterfly kisses. She giggled at the feathery feeling of his lips brushing her skin and the amount of adoration behind each little peck. When he’d finally gotten his fill, he looked at her with pure reverence, and she smiled brightly at him. 

“Thanks, Sora. I needed that.” 

“I kinda needed it too,” he chuckled. He pulled her back into a hug again, a softer one but no less full of feeling. They should probably go home, but… Neither of them really wanted to. They just held each other and listened to the song of the ocean, the thing that connected them no matter how far apart they were. Even if there was an ocean of worlds in between, Sora would keep Kairi safe, and that’s all she needed. Even if the ocean was dark and cold, Kairi would swim toward him until she found the light again.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

[mimiplaysgames]

A Powerful Enough Dream (Ch. 10)

Pairing: Terra/Aqua (eventually) Rating: T Word Count: 6,286

Summary: It’s time to save Ven from Castle Oblivion

Read on AO3

A/N: Woooooow I really didn’t want to take this long to finish this, but you guys know what my mental health is like sometimes. I actually finished two other WIPs before this one, but I’m still not happy with those so I wrote this one out. Thank you all so much for your patience. I hope this was worth the wait. >.<

~*~*~*~*~

Oblivion, pt. 2

Ven, you let Aqua take you home.

No way. I wanna go with you guys.

You can’t. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. I don’t want you to get hurt.

--And what is this dangerous task, Terra? It doesn’t sound like what the Master told you to do. 

It might be a different route, but I’m fighting the darkness.

--I’m not so sure. I’ve been to the same worlds as you and I’ve seen what you’ve done. You shouldn’t put yourself so close to the darkness.

Listen to yourself, Aqua. Terra would never--

You mean you’ve been spying on me? Is that what he said to do? The Master’s orders?

--He was only…

I get it.

Terra!

Just stay put! I’m on my own now, all right?

--Terra, please! Listen! The Master has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just worried. 

You’re awful, Aqua.

~*~*~*~*~

She’s awful and she knows it. 

Terra stands there, his fingers curled into fists, hurt and bewilderment in the strict knit of his brows. Aqua used to tell herself that everything she’s done was for the greater good. Better for everyone, better for Terra, even if he didn’t know it. She knew he felt betrayed. Felt. Since there’s no time in the Realm of Darkness, Aqua hasn’t been able to count how many years it took her to realize that she’s actually betrayed her best friend, how long it took to tell the difference between the two.

“I was only trying to help,” he says.

This isn’t how it goes. Aqua swallows. “I know that-”

“Then why?”

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen. “The Master was only looking out for you.” That’s true, at least. He’s always had good intentions. 

Terra’s lip snarls. “Was he?”

She doesn’t know anymore. “I was confused and unsure, Terra. I’m so sorry.”

Why is she apologizing now when she already has? When Terra forgave her? 

But did he? That happened in a dream.

Terra scoffs as he looks away, a false smile pulled on his face before he shakes his head. “Sorry. You accused me of leading myself to the darkness. Is that what you really think of me? An idiot?”

“No…” Did she?

“You’ve blamed me for everything.”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t,” she whispers. Has she really? 

“You’re awful, Aqua,” Terra says. 

She knows it. Terra said it. And her heart wretches inside, vomiting an acid that burns her esophagus and is bubbling up, making her head light. 

“A curious memory,” a voice says. Xemnas stands behind her. He hums, his voice so deep it almost sounds like a growl. 

Terra is gone. 

She realizes where she is. Castle Oblivion. An image of Radiant Garden. “It’s false,” she spits.

“Are you certain?” He smiles and it comes slowly, like he takes care in easing into it. “The basic act of remembering is a basic act of storytelling. We take artistic license and smear it each and every time we take a nostalgic trip. You change the details depending on who you decide to recite it to.” He waves his arms open, dramatically drawing out his words. “Depending on your mood, or your motivation, or the meaning you want to take out of it, you alter things to fit a narrative in your head. Our memories are only ever reliable as the most recent story we told ourselves. Are you confident you’d be able to tell the difference?”

“I…” 

“Does this playact fit the story you want to tell about yourself?”

She blinks, trying to recall the exact words and in the order of how it happened. Ven was there that day. She’s sure of that. 

Right?

Xemnas sighs, eyeing the scene around him, bringing his gloved fingers to his lips. “I don’t have memory of this. But it was an interesting tale.”

Aqua inhales sharply and shakes herself out of her own damn stupor. “It doesn’t matter what you think.”

“I think whatever you saw is a reflection of yourself.” He strokes his hair out of his face. “Therefore, it’s true in its own way.”

“It isn’t!” She can’t believe so. She can’t think about it right now. Despite how much her wrist hurts, she charges at him, the Defender high and energized, loyal and at the ready.

He accepts her challenge with open arms and two swords of hot, red energy, barely floating out of her reach as though to coax her to follow him around. And she follows, because she’s an idiot. Master Aqua doesn’t know what she’s doing even when she thinks she does. Even when she believes in the words she says, or believes that attacking Xemnas is the right thing to do, because he is on Xehanort’s side and there’s no reason to stop flailing at him with the heaviest ice magic she can muster.

Aqua thrusts the Keyblade at him. Stupid move. She knows that. Then why is she making so many mistakes?

Xemnas catches it in between his blades, slicing them away to throw her off balance. She retaliates with a mutter under her breath. Waves of ice shards spew out in circles, stabbing in random patterns. Let’s see him block these.

He does a decent job dodging, but he’s distracted. That’s all she needs.

Aqua tracks the tip of the Defender against the floor. An ice path spits forward. She skates on them, picking up speed to ram directly into him, throwing him against the wall with a sickening thud. 

“How’s that for someone less than half your size?”

She inhales deeply, and with it comes magic and the excitement of dance. The anticipation to move and dazzle. She twirls and her Keyblade ignites, gathering energy with each turn she takes in place before it finally combusts in brilliant colors and spackles of white. 

Cutting through the beauty is a mess of black smog. “It was radiant,” Xemnas growls, pushing through with that sickness he calls a Nobody’s power, something that drains energy as if it were a black hole. 

The void sharpens up with electricity and collapses into millions of shards of its own light, fueled by a massive compression as if warping the air around it. Aqua backs off. It’s not a space she should breathe into. The false-light shoots outward with Xemnas’s command, stabbing in all directions. They’re hard to block. Hard to dodge. Hard to withstand a direct hit and Aqua takes them in the legs, the torso, the shoulders. Some stab her in the face. 

By the end, she’s the one splayed out on the floor, the Defender dissipating.

“A waste of my power when we could have had an amicable conversation,” Xemnas says, brushing off his sleeves. 

Aqua is sore all over. Her legs don’t want to pick her up.

Ragged breathing (hers) pounds in her ears, interrupted only by the echoes of his steps, tick-tacking up to her slowly, like he’s pretty sure she won’t get up. 

Aqua grunts while pressing her palms against the floor. Her good wrist shakes. Her bad one just won’t. 

“Back off!” 

Sora’s voice.

He’s coming for Xemnas from above, gripping his Keyblade with both hands high above his head as though he’s about to bat a ball and grovel it into the ground. When he makes contact with Xemnas’s back, slicing across, a white electric spark crackles outward, tossing him at a safe distance away from her body. 

All Aqua sees when Sora lands are the toes of giant yellow shoes. A warmth settles on her, ticklish and relaxing until it suddenly vanishes too soon. He really needs to work on his Cure spells. 

“Think you can handle him?” he asks her, already prepared to fight more. Xemnas picks himself up, brushing his hand on his face. “We can do it together.”

“It’s a waste of time,” she says. Xemnas and false memories and stupid speeches all at once. How many rooms did Sora go through to get here? How much has he lost already?

She sets her eyes on the exit: a gate that would have led to the alleys in the real Radiant Garden. They should go. Should they stay and finish this off?

(I can’t let Sora fight alone. I need to protect Ven from threats. Why am I not spending my time finding him?)

She ends it with, I have to shut myself up. “Can you distract him for me?”

“Sure?”

“Follow me as soon as I call for you,” she commands, marching straight to the door without a glance at the noise combusting behind her. Sora’s yelling with passion and excitement. Xemnas grunts with annoyance. Explosions rumble in between. 

She grips the handle and risks looking back. Sora is a good fighter, all improv and no hesitance, like a rocket with no homing device. He dodges attacks while tossing up mockery and teases (he might as well drop the Keyblade and stick his tongue out while gesturing with his fingers). Xemnas shows off fanciful and destructive magic that is both inefficient in aim and wide-reaching. So much of his hits are collateral damage.

Sora gets knocked onto his knees. She’s about to run to him when he bounces back, blocking another direct hit and redirecting it. 

He’s okay.

She should trust him.

“Focus, Aqua,” she chides herself. Regardless of how much fun Sora is having, he’s depending on her to move forward for everyone’s sakes. She thinks about nothing, she thinks about Ven. Sleeping in that throne all by himself. When she wakes him up, he’s going to pout and say, Did you forget about me or something? Aqua, you’re so mean.

You’re awful, Aqua.

She needs an empty, quiet room. The door responds, a little aha! moment that churns in her belly. She turns the knob. “Sora!”

He hesitates.

“Sora, come here!”

This time he follows, hustling to her side. “But-” He points at Xemnas charging at them, so fast that he’s floating, when she grabs Sora by the elbow and pulls him through with her. Like a vacuum, they get sucked inside. All remnants of destruction, crumbling brick, smokey air, and aftershocks are erased with the click of the doorknob into its latch. 

They land face first on cold tile in a simple white room.

Sora sighs, a little laugh escaping through his breath. She gets it, she’s relieved too.

“I will never look at Xemnas’s face the same way again,” he says, grunting when he hops onto his feet, shoulders rolling and neck stretching like he’s done a good workout. 

Aqua’s wrist still protests when she leans on it to get on her knees. She doesn’t let Sora see - she briskly stands like she’s still got pep to her step, her good hand gently clasped over it as she begins a Curaga to start the healing process. It prickles and kneads, sharp bubbles popping on the skin’s surface like slapping rubber to the skin.

“How did you find me?” Aqua asks. She has to. The castle is designed to disorient. It takes a tremendous bond to keep anyone inside together, and she figures Sora would rather stay close to Riku and the others. 

Sora blinks. “I’m not exactly sure. We got separated, picked off one by one. I took doors that my gut told me to choose.” He touches his chest and chuckles. “Or rather, my heart. I thought it’d lead me back to them.” Then he snorts. “You’re a lot easier to find than Riku, that’s for sure.”

That doesn’t make any much sense, and all Aqua says is, “You’re a good person, Sora.”

He lets his smile fall and cocks his head, a quiet Huh? slipping out. It takes him moments to respond. “You don’t think you are?”

“I don’t…” She’s about to say, deserve my Master’s rank. Something’s wrong. Her Light magic should have only taken a couple of seconds to heal, but it keeps going. When it’s finally complete, her wrist is still sore. Aqua presses her fingers to her temples to massage a headache that isn’t there. “I don’t sound like myself. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” His stretched smile shines again. “You’ve been through a lot. It’s normal.” 

“Normal?”

“I mean,” he shrugs a playful shoulder, “maybe a little weird, sure. If that’s what you want to hear.”

She scoffs, the tiniest grin wrestling its way onto her lips. “Maybe I am.”

“Did you know I once called Riku ‘stupid?’”

It’s her turn to snort. “He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d let you say that to him.”

“You’d be surprised.”

The snorting turns into a small giggle, something warm and toasty as though this room has never been cold.

“See?” Sora says. “A little laughter says a lot about you.”

Aqua massages her wrist one last time. “In what way?”

“That you survive what you went through,” he says slowly, “and still laugh? You’re stronger than you think.”

Aqua swallows. She’s once thought the same thing, but she’s tired now. So tired of being strong. 

As if taking her silence as cue, Sora glances around the empty room, that one simple door waiting for them. “So, what now?” 

“We get Ven.”

He’s super excited and it’s very endearing, like he’s about to witness an inexplicable magic trick. “How are we going to do that?”

Aqua leads the way. Ven. Finally. “Again, I will be the one to unlock the door.” 

He keeps to her heels like a puppy. Right now, on the other side of that door, she figures there’s nothing, a canvas in need of paint. When the castle takes a peek inside a person’s head to mirror what they want to see, it takes so much more. 

“Do you just… picture Ven in your head and voila?” Sora asks.

“Kind of.”

“And what else? What’s the secret?”

Aqua hums, fingers twiddling with each other. “A lot of focus and dedication.”

“That can’t be it. There’s gotta be more.”

“And quiet.”

“Oh, sorry.”

It’s Ven’s movement. His voice. A tight hug given or a toothy grin, from any moment of her choosing, so long as the memory is striking. Xemnas.

Why is she thinking of Xemnas?

When he said that memories are only as real as the stories we tell ourselves. Is that the same for memories so powerful, there’s no way they can be anything but untrue? 

He’s wrong. A memory as warm as the laughter she shared with Sora would do the spell right. 

Just before she replays the scene in her head, tears slowly prick at her eyes. Even after spending years knowing that she’s going to lose this memory, that she’s literally giving it up as an offering, she’s still trembling. Why is she so scared? 

She has other memories, she tells herself, just as precious to make up for it.

~*~*~*~*~

Ven wasn’t able to speak much when he first woke up. He’d learn a few words here and there, and would repeat them. For a child without a grip on language, he was so eager to let everyone know everything he felt.

And he really liked stars. 

That night, a thunderstorm blotted the sky, and there weren’t any to see.

Good thing Ven wasn’t afraid of thunder, and good thing Aqua and Terra stashed a tent for nights like these. Draped over Ven’s bed, Terra brought in custom-made wooden lampshades, where he carved out shapes of stars. Third edition - the first time he tried, on cardboard, was a messy affair and some stars turned out to be globs. Stars dotted the entire tent, spreading all over the bed and loitering their bodies. In Ven’s bedroom, they sat in the very sky. 

“Ven won’t let me read to him anymore,” Aqua said, watching Ven snatch the picture book she brought him. 

“You’re welcome,” said Ven. 

Terra chuckled. “He won’t let me either. He just wants to know how it ends.”

“It’s a happy one, I promise,” was Aqua’s desperate plea. He used to be so cute with how attached he was to her and how much he nudged to hear her speak. She even read recipes to him - so long as she spoke, Ven was amused. 

“You’re welcome,” said Ven.

Terra propped himself on his elbow, opening a bag of nuts. “Hungry, Ven?”

Ven, forgetting there was a book on his lap, splayed out his palm. He gestured with a kingly expectation that he’d be graced.

“You need to say, ‘Please,’” Terra said.

“You’re welcome.”

Terra gave Aqua a knowing smirk, a tall boy in a lanky body who told her that morning that he needed to grow muscles. His new Keyblade was too heavy for him, his swings too sluggish. He was worried about his future when she thought he shouldn’t be. He gathered a few peanuts with his fingers and gently placed them in Ven’s hand, watchful for spills. “Now you say, ‘Thank you.’”

“You’re welcome.” Ven snarfed them all down, cheeks bubbling full before he swallowed them in one gulp. He licked his fingers and pointed to a pitcher for water (You’re welcome). Aqua thought she’d never forget it. 

~*~*~*~*~

“Are you okay?”

“Hm?”

Aqua blinks at a fussing Sora, who has his hand on her shoulder with this terrible concern knotting his face. “Are you hurt?”

“No, why are you asking?”

Sora lets her go, his hand still hovering close. “You seemed really sad.”

Tears are indeed flowing down her face and Aqua wipes them off. Why they’re there, she doesn’t understand. There’s nothing to be upset about. Ven is on the other side of this door. That thought alone - Ven! - burns a hearth through her entire body, like snuggling in a blanket by a fireplace. She’s done it. She’s done something truly outstanding. 

“I’m not,” she laughs. “Everything’s going to be okay. He’s on the other side.”

He’s on the other side. Aqua twists the knob as fast as possible, pushing her way into another white room. With a throne. And a boy with blond hair, tucked into a seat two times his size in peaceful sleep.

“Ven,” she gasps. There’s nothing else in her mind. Just Ven.

“Roxas?” 

It’s like being dunked in cold water. What came out of Sora’s mouth, she has no damn idea. “Ventus,” she corrects.

But Sora has a strange look on his face, his hand clutching his stomach. “Huh?”

She doesn’t listen. She runs up to the throne, reaching out to shake him. “Ven?”

Stars, he looks the same in her memories, maybe less pudgy in the cheeks. But the more she studies him, the more a pit in her stomach grows. He looks peaceful from far away, but this close, he looks like he’ll never wake up despite being warm to her touch.

“Is it because I took so long?” she asks softly, as if speaking too loud would startle him out of a nightmare. “Is it because there was something I was missing? Should I have found your heart first?” She takes his face in both of her hands and brings his forehead to hers. This time, she really does want to cry. “I’m so sorry.”

Sora walks carefully up to the throne, hesitant to disturb the moment. “Aqua, I don’t feel so good.”

She finds him staring at Ven, like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Sora shakes his head. “It’s creepy.”

“Excuse me?”

A giant bang rattles the door behind them nearly out of its hinges. 

“What was that?” Sora whips around. It bangs again, dust spitting out. Spiney tendrils seep through the cracks. “Xemnas!”

Her first instinct is to stay. To fight anything that would threaten Ven’s body. Dammit. There’s still everyone else they have to find. And what if his body gets hurt in the chaos?

“We don’t have the time.” She swings Ven’s arms over her shoulders, hooking his legs over her arms as she takes on his entire weight onto her back. He’s heavy for someone who hasn’t eaten in years. 

“Do you need help?”

“If he breaks through-”

“Got it.”

This room is a dead end - the only way in is the only way out. The real treasure room of the castle, its finality a way of saying, You’ve made it! 

And so, Aqua has to make a new door. 

She struggles to pull out the Defender with Ven on her back, having to lift one shoulder up to keep him level so he doesn’t slack over.

The door bangs again, nearly rupturing apart.

With Sora on guard, Aqua glares at the wall as though to burn a hole through it. It should be less work than transforming the entire castle. The Master’s Defender, once called its Keeper, is a specific inheritance meant for the wielder to keep secrets - even ones he’s never heard of. The castle will deceive. The castle will do what it needs to protect. Aqua asks it to protect them with secrets it will never tell her. 

Thrusting the Keyblade forward, the outline of a keyhole sparkles on the surface of the wall, stretching into the shape of a door like all the others. Aqua makes sure to give this one a particular lock. 

“Sora!” 

This time, he doesn’t hesitate. He leans into her as if to keep Ven upright for her. “Just open the door for me. Make sure to lock it firmly behind us.”

He does so, throwing it wide to a tiny room, stretched long but narrow like a walk-in closet. Aqua hustles inside.

The door bangs one more time. It tears near the handle. Xemnas heaves when he pushes it open as though it’s the heaviest in the castle. He’s angry, annoyed, the last in the race, an also-ran. He’s so composed, so poised though, like a puppet that wears a mask to pretend to be human. 

And Sora has their sanctuary propped open, gaping.

“What’s wrong?”

Sora shakes himself out of a stupor, shutting her new door. It wipes Xemnas out of existence, like hand brushing the surface of a table, throwing all the mess onto the floor for a new start. Sora then watches it latch, as though expecting it to rattle.

“Xemnas won’t get through,” she says. “I made sure of it.”

He scratches his head, that brand of Sora-smile brightening up like normal. “Where are we?”

“In a safe room.” She bends her knees and gently lets her grip of Ven’s wrists go, letting him hit the wall behind her. It’s so narrow that she’s unable to stretch her legs when she sits besides him. “It’s only meant for our friends.”

“They’ll find us?” 

“As easily as they want to, yes.” When she watches Sora slump onto the wall opposite hers, his feet resting up against the other side, she shivers. He’s still reading the walls as if they have words painted on them even though they’re blank. “Are you sure you’re okay?” A worse thought creeps up to her. “Did you see things?”

Sora glances at Ven. “I did actually.” He chuckles. “Like that night when Destiny Islands went under. Kairi yelled at me when I missed dinner like it was just another night. She always had something to nag about.” He blinks. “Or was that my mom?”

“I should apologize,” Aqua says, lowering her gaze. “This should have only been my burden to bear.”

“No regrets here.” Something passes over his face like a cloud hovering over, and Sora presses a fist to his temple as if to think really hard. “Stained glass windows.” 

“Huh?”

“Mountains.” Sora scrunches his eyes as if shampoo had gotten in them. “This place used to be really pretty, right?”

Aqua drops her jaw. She stares at him really hard, but he breathes deeply, lost in his thoughts like a mannequin coming alive. Memory of this place should only live inside a handful of people. He isn’t supposed to know, and the castle couldn’t have shown him any of that.

“How-”

Their door unlocks itself, swinging wide open. Kairi limps inside with heavy breath. Riku is slumped over her shoulders, unconscious.

Sora acts like he’s just woken up. “What happened?” He gets up, taking Riku’s other arm so they could set him down. Riku doesn’t come across as a particularly large boy but he takes up so much space. Aqua has to drag Ven to make room before shifting onto her knees to read Riku’s energy - he’s alive. 

Kairi sniffs. “He took a direct hit for me.”

Sora pats her shoulder. “He would’ve done the same for me.” Though he’s not so confident.

“Don’t worry. He’s going to be okay,” Aqua says.

Kairi grimaces somewhere in the middle of being comforted and not quite believing that. Aqua starts a Cure spell. It takes its time, but whether that’s her failure or because Riku is in terrible condition, she can’t tell. 

“Is that…?”

Aqua spares a glance at Kairi, who has her fingers wiping her tear-stained face. “It is. Ven.”

“Is he not okay?”

Aqua swallows.

The door rattles like there’s a desperate person begging for someone to open it. Lea and Donald bicker when they come in (something about Getting pistol heavy and Donald responds with a Bah!), Goofy trailing behind them. They pile on top of everyone else, Lea opting to stay standing because there’s simply no room for him. 

He takes one look at Riku. And he smirks. “Some people always have to play the dark and brooding hero.” That don’t-give-too-much-of-a-care touch to his voice loses its power, however, the moment he sets his eyes on Ven. 

Aqua never expected they knew each other. 

“Roxas?” He hurries over, hopping over legs and feet like stepping rocks. 

Why do they bring that name up?! Aqua keeps an eye over her shoulder. Something about their reactions to Ven doesn’t sit right with her. Something about Lea’s expression - the wide eyes, the dropped hands, the gasp, the deadset desperation - marks it as more intense than Sora’s, who felt nauseous. 

Lea settles on his knees to take a close look. Aqua couldn’t have misinterpreted it: disappointment flashes across his face, and Lea stops a sharp inhale before letting it out slowly. “No, you’re Ventus.” When they lock eyes, he gets serious. “Listen, there’s other Organization members in the castle.” It makes every conscious person in the room pay attention. 

“Ha, let them try and fit in here!” Donald says, sticking his beak up to the state of the room. Goofy has a long shoe stuck on top of one of his webbed feet, giving Donald a scowl to last two entire nights.

“You don’t have to be so rude,” Sora says with a smirk. Playful or careful, it’s hard to differentiate with him. He winks at Aqua. “He’s only that way because of the King.”

The King and Terra lost in the Realm of Darkness. And Aqua’s stuck in a closet with an angry bird and beat up, tired, anxious fighters.

“Do we go back out?” Kairi meekly asks. “Downstairs instead of up?”

Aqua didn’t have to climb stairs to get here. Damn it. 

“We’ll make sure to stay together this time-” she starts to say when Lea interrupts her with a sharp No.

He’s holding his head like he’s got a headache. He fidgets, lost in thought as his eyes search this room though he’s not going to find much help here. There’s someone he obviously doesn’t want to cut across. “We’ll take a shortcut.”

“Excuse me?”

He stands up, leaning over Sora to splay his palm against the wall. “Is Xemnas here?”

Aqua purses her lips before she answers. “Yes.”

“If he’s this close, he’ll find out I used it. He always does.” From his hand slithers out tendrils of black smoke. From that grows a doorway. From the doorway, a glow that opens up a portal to somewhere else. “Straight to the exit.”

Aqua shakes her head. “I’m not going in there.”

“That’s dangerous!” Donald barks. Aqua is grateful she’s not the only one opposed.

“I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to use a Dark Corridor,” Goofy says. He is game and he is cheerful, letting Sora help him sling Riku over one of his shoulders. “Do ya think we’ll need a night-light?” 

Sora snickers in response. “It’s only a little cold. Nothing much to worry about.”

Aqua doesn’t know where to start. They’re all wrong. “But-”

Lea takes Ven onto his back. He has a much easier time, as though carrying a backpack, bobbing Ven’s weight to make sure he has a better grip. “Let’s go.” Then he glances at Aqua with a stern, almost distasteful look that tells her he means business. No jokes. No sarcasm. In words, Get your shit together.

He leads the way, Ven poofing out of existence the moment he passes through, asleep, oblivious of the world, unsafe and safe all at once. And Aqua stood there staring. Goofy follows next, his large steps striding so widely that Riku’s arms sway side to side. 

Aqua can feel that familiar chill, and it churns her stomach to think that it’s so close to her again. She doesn’t move. Even when Donald struts his way in, throwing a Humph! for good measure.

Even when Sora coaxes Kairi into it, telling her that it’s really no big deal. Just follow the others. Even when he smiles at Aqua and tells her, Come on. It’s a short trip.

She only nudges forward the moment Sora takes one last visible step into the void. She’s alone. She gasps. Summons her armor before dashing after them, metal footsteps clunking through a long, dark tunnel. It slithers around her, but she keeps her eyes ahead, following Sora and Kairi as they run straight to the other side. Don’t look at anything else. Don’t even think about it. Just follow them.

It is indeed a short run to the other side, a round light swallowing her when she crosses the border, leading her back outside to the barren wasteland that is Castle Oblivion’s patio. Aqua’s heart hammers away like she’s drunk too many stimulants for years. Like she’s too old for this. She’s gasping into her helmet, but she won’t dispel it just yet. Not when the others are here. 

Lea doesn’t stop. He marches straight to the gummi ship, its hangar left open for them, followed by a diligent Goofy. They have a room inside where they could tend to Riku’s wounds and make sure Ven is comfortable. 

Sora looks back. “You’ll fly on your own right?”

Aqua weakly nods and the others board the ship. 

Lea made it so easy to exit. Traversing the castle seemed like a nightmare that kept you asleep just to see it end. The gummi ship starts its engines, revving up and blowing air that kicks the dirt up. Aqua listens for Lea’s corridor to dissipate. Maybe all this noise is playing tricks with her mind because that bubbling sound that should signal its disappearance is going on for too long. Aqua turns around. Lea’s is gone alright, but another takes shape at the front entrance.

Vanitas bursts out of it to witness the gummi ship take off. 

Xemnas casually steps out, too. “Stand your ground,” he orders.

Vanitas does obey, though he’s trembling with so much fever that it looks like he’s fighting off a spell that kept him frozen. Fists curled up tight, stance wide like he’s about to charge ahead if only given the permission to do so. Aqua would have expected him to glance back as if to say, Are you stupid?

But he doesn’t look back. She can only imagine him grinding his teeth, muttering curses to himself. Whether he’s staring at her or the sky through his helmet, it doesn’t matter.

Aqua has the Defender at the edge of her fingertips, only needing to summon it. Xemnas stands there with his hands crossed behind him, watching as the ship leaves. 

A roar thunders through the area, making the ground shake. 

What looks like a dragon snakes through the sky. Compartmentalized into chunks that link together a long chain for a body, its purple and green and bears the Heartless symbol on its chest, just below its giant snout and metal fangs. It looks like a machine, something that can drill into a planet until it gets to its core. And then eats.

The weight of it. It’s like carrying a mountain on your shoulders. This thing is a cluster. A Heart of some world that died who knows how long ago, living again as a monster big enough to swallow a ship. 

Xemnas readies his energy sabers but Aqua doesn’t take the bait. She turns on her heel and runs.

Vanitas conjures his Keyblade and follows her. She dodges one of his blasts that comes up behind her. Throws herself off the nearest cliff to thwart him off of her trail. He actually stops to gawk at how she summons Stormfall. She commands it to convert it into her glider so she has something solid to land on.

She takes flight, past the barrier that tries to pull her back to Castle Oblivion, but when she keeps momentum, it lets her go out into deep space. The gummi ship is traversing an area full of them, all of these destroyed worlds, all pieces of earth that Aqua can take a whole day exploring. The monster dragon is huge, weaving around abandoned rubble, its tail whipping into an asteroid and demolishing it into dust. 

Its nose follows the gummi ship closely, as though it’s sniffing. It bares teeth.

“Sora!”

How ridiculous of her - he can’t hear her from the ship. She dislodges the handles of her glider, turning them over so she’s holding a bow as tall as her. With it, she shoots shards of light against the dragon. 

The gummi ship bends into a tunnel inside a spinning asteroid - a wild, dangerous, stupid choice to make and she’ll have to lecture Sora about that later. It comes out of a different hole, now facing the dragon, joining the fight with torpedoes and laser beams. 

The attacks burst when it makes contact with its skin (more like an armor), but it doesn’t leave any scarring. It doesn’t slow it down. Its roar is mechanical, as though it’s coming out of a speaker, sleeking over a boulder so it could chomp the ship directly. 

Aqua grunts as she speeds up, coming up from underneath the dragon’s chin to knock its direction off-kilter. It misses the ship. Good, for now at least, since it swerves back so easily.

Whoever is maneuvering the ship (Aqua doesn’t know it’s Sora, but the way it jerks and gets cocky with taunting the dragon into following it reminds her so much of his fighting style) is making it tank around the perimeter, letting it get close to the dragon. If Sora wants to make a direct hit, he’s in a good position to do so. 

The dragon roars again. This time, a beam of energy bubbles in its throat, twice the size of the ship. Sora readies torpedoes and throws shots into its mouth. But it doesn’t faze the dragon either. 

They’re not going to survive this.

Sora understands. He dips below, the dragon tailing him with that beam still charging up for something catastrophic. Aqua tries zipping around its face, taking shots from her bow directly into its eyes, directly into its mouth in the hopes that it would combust its jaw open and stop the attack. Nothing happens. The dragon ignores her as though she’s just a fly bugging its face.

There’s one more option. Swooping high and higher, she swings over and looks down on the dragon. It opens its mouth wider as Sora barely pushes his speed. 

She charges down, the Master’s Defender in her hand while her other grips on her handlebars. This is an extreme choice to make, a silly little sword against a dragon the size of an entire world. But she’s never known Master Eraqus to ever fail her. To ever show weakness, even in that one night when he received a letter about someone who disappeared due to the darkness. He cried. He stood up. And told her this was why they did the work they did. Use the anger and desperation to drive her forward until the end. She’s desperate right now, and she yells into her helmet as she gathers speed. 

She cuts across the back of the dragon’s neck, where its definitive brain stem would have been. The dragon explodes - first from its mouth, light beams spurting out. Then in between each compartment that makes up the rest of its body, like volcanoes erupting, and tsunamis colliding, and earthquakes collapsing. 

Pieces of it fall through deep space, new asteroids joining the rest of the waste.

But that burst from its mouth hit the gummi ship, which is now smoking from its left wing. Aqua’s glider isn’t big enough to save them.

All she can do is follow the way it falls, to trail behind it when gravity makes it faster than she can possibly catch up to, and watch the way Sora wheels it around obstacles and debris as he tries to control it even though he can’t. 

Until it dives into a world that stands bright, a tall castle jutting out into a horizon. There’s a magic there that is protective. As though an invisible hand has grown out of its dirt, the gummi ship, with her friends inside, slows down, landing somewhere where the sunrise is just beginning.

[atomic-taco-muffin]

The Lost Princess Chapter 23

Warnings: same as the last chapter 

Rating: SFW

(I know I wrote about the different worlds in the last few chapters but I’m gonna skip them because I’m super lazy)

You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy proceeded forward over the bizarre terrain. As you four approached the swirling mist, a large dark orb fell from the sky, unclouding your vision. You four were attacked by a Behemoth Heartless and find yourselves in a wasteland of snow and crystal. Upon defeating the Behemoth, you four dropped into a Giant Crevasse filled with green web-like structures and crystals scattered throughout.

“I wonder where that Ansem feller went?” Goofy asked. 

“Dive into the most dangerous place and we’ll find him!” Donald said. At the bottom of the crevasse, you four found a portal to a sharply formed cave with a flaming pillar burning in the center. The four of you jumped into the enchanted flame and found yourselves in a long tiled hallway with a large Heartless insignia at the end of it. The four of you defeated the Heartless that appeared around you and a door opened in the wall, leading to a room with a mysterious device. On the panel of the device a message was written.

“Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.”

The four of you returned to the hallway and jumped into the dark portal in the wall. Returning to the stark cave, the pillar of flame had become a swirling hole in the floor. The four of you entered the hole and arrived in the Evil Grounds, where you four floated through the dark air. Beneath you four was a curved figure with two giant wings. As the four of you hovered closer to it, its glowing eyes opened and it spread its wings out, stretching up to its full height. The demon Chernabog crossed its arms and showered your four with its evil gaze. It stood in the caldera of a volcano, fire coursing through its veins. The four of you flew towards the beast’s head and began attacking It. It swiped a mighty claw at you four, tossing you away before hunching over. The four of you glided back to the demon and it raised its arms, roaring loudly as an enormous torrent of flames washed over you from the volcano, swirling voraciously around Chernabog. Donald sent a Blizzaga spell at the beast and it began to spew fire from its mouth. The four of you flew behind it and attacked its neck, dodging another wall of fire. It knocked you four away again and held out its arms, spinning them in the air. Spirits-like creatures appeared, dancing near the end of its fingers, and it sent them after your four. you castsed Aeroga on everyone while sending your dagger at the creatures as your four flew back into the fray, dodging the attacking creatures. After tussling with the dark demon, it roared and burst into a pillar of white hot flames, flapping its huge wings for a final time before sinking into the volcano and vanishing. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy floated down through the crater where you all found a white portal. The four of you entered it and found yourselves in a long tunnel filled with ruins. Dark vines lined the walls, a grove of round trees in one corner and stone debris in another. The four of you entered a second white portal and reached another corridor. Shadows of wicked trees covered the walls, their evil faces seemingly watching you four as you traversed the somewhat darker tunnel. An image of a small door was etched in the wall. The four of you entered another portal to another tunnel, the most hollow of all. The image of a castle was displayed on the wall, the entire cavern giving them an bleak feeling. The four of you reached a large room with a Heartless symbol placed in the wall. A Behemoth appeared, but you four defeated it and walked over to the symbol. A piece broke off and disappeared. The four of you defeated an almost endless horde of Heartless, with the pieces of the emblem deteriorating as you all battled. Soon, the emblem shined and revealed a hidden room. The four of you stepped into the sandy chamber, dust falling through holes in the walls. The four of you saw a large ornate door and something stirred in you and Sora’s memory.

“Huh?” the two of you asked. 

“What’s wrong?” Goofy asked. 

“Don’t you hear something? There!” you said. 

“I hear it too!” Sora said.

“Careful. This is the last haven you’ll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don’t be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light,” the voice said.

“I don’t hear anything,” Donald said. 

“Strange… That voice was so familiar. Maybe it’s just our imagination,” Sora said.

“Maybe you two better take a rest!” You and Sora stepped forward and the doors opened. From beyond, light streamed in and engulfs the room. you and Sora’s eyes opened to see a bright sandy beach where the clouds billowed in the sky. The waves lapped at the shore and you two stood there in disbelief.

“Is this… Is this the island?” you asked. 

“It must be,” Sora said. The four of you approached the Secret Place, when you four heard a voice dripping with darkness.

“This world has been connected,” Ansem said. The small island off the beach disappeared.

“What was that?” Goofy asked. 

“Tied to the darkness… Soon to be completely eclipsed,” Ansem said. The wooden area past the long bridge vanished into thin air.

“There is so very much to learn,” Ansem said. The ocean frothed and turned a dark violet color.

“You understand so little,” he said. The island started to rumble and quaked.

“A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing.” The island flashed and the sky ripped open, shattering the peaceful illusion. Beyond the gashing tears was a dark, mad world. The beach crumbled and lifted out of the water, revealing its rocky undergrowth as what once was a dock split in two. Ansem stood at the edge of the water, still in possession of Riku’s body. The four of you ran down to the beach where he stood motionless, staring out at the sea.

(A/N: this was my favorite part!)

“Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom this is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison,” Ansem said. He raised his arms, looking upward, the wind gusting through his hair and clothes.

“He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness,” he said. Ansem turned and Riku’s body melted away, revealing the true form of the man, the Heartless symbol emblazoned on his chest.

“Riku!” you and Sora said as you both reached out to him.

“Don’t bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different,” Ansem said as his voice amplified in volume and audacity as he continued.

“Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came,” he said. The four of you heard his voice behind you and whirled around as he spoke, having teleported. You and Sora jumped back.

“You see, darkness is the heart’s true essence,” Ansem said. 

“That’s not true! The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I’ve learned that deep down, there’s a light that never goes out!” you said. 

“(Y/N)’s right!” Sora said. Ansem rose into the air, crossing his arms. He stared down at you four through piercing orange eyes.

“So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!” he said. Behind him, darkness burst from his body, forming into a large black Heartless with long antennae. It’s teeth were bared, seemingly covered in thick constraints, while its torso formed an empty heart. Ansem laughed and the Heartless threw scythes of energy at them. You and Sora dodged them, rolling to the side as Ansem floated above you four. You and Sora moved in, striking the man.

“Come, Guardian!” Ansem said. The Heartless swooped in front of him, taking the blows from Sora’s Keyblade. Donald cast Thundaga and Graviga at Ansem, but the man just laughed at him. You threw your dagger at him but he tossed it away. You tried using your powers but they had no affect on him. Ansem floated down to you four and the Guardian swiped at them with a large hand. The fight continued until Ansem flew toward the large tree on the island, which started to rumble. The branches shook violently as the tree was rent asunder, splitting into a corrupt area of vine and sinew. Ansem waited inside with the Guardian. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran up to the area, but Donald and Goofy were blocked by a barrier. The island shook and the great black shape of Darkside rose from the floor, its wings stretching out behind it. You and Sora fought and defeated the giant Heartless, prompting Ansem to emerge from the shadows.

“Submit!” he said. The Guardian clawed at you and Sora, turning into energy and latching onto you two. Sora approached Ansem, who burst into a giant orb of energy, electricity crackling around it.

“Come. Open your heart…” Ansem said. The orb slammed into you and Sora, who fell back. You tried to strike Ansem, but the Guardian freezed you in place. Sora maintained his distance until the Guardian returned to Ansem’s side. Ansem shouted and the Guardian swung its arms, sending waves of energy at you and Sora, who rolled away from them. Ansem glowed with a bright aura and the room grew dark.

“My strength returns,” he said. The Guardian sunk into the ground and a pool of darkness appeared underneath you and Sora. The two of you looked down as the Guardian flew up at you two, knocking you two over. Sora dodged to his feet and jumps in the air and you did the same. You and Sora flew forward as the Guardian continued its assault. As soon as it returned to Ansem’s side, you and Sora whirled around and ran straight at the man, striking him with the Keyblade and dagger. Ansem tried to hide behind his Guardian, but you and Sora predicted this, and with a spinning motion, slams the Keyblade and the dagger into Ansem’s back. Ansem said nothing, and the world went black.

“Wha…?” you asked. Staring through darkness, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy floated in midair.

“Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds:” Ansem said. The four of you looked over and saw a torn rock through the blackness, where an immense white door stood closed.

“ Kingdom Hearts! Look as hard as you are able. You’ll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours,” Ansem said. The four of you looked down to see the colossal mass that was the World of Chaos, covered in muscle, bone, and sinew. At the top, Ansem hovered, connected by veins to the World of Chaos, as the Guardian grinned behind him, his giant claws hanging at his sides. Both of them had grown larger and Ansem, less human.

“Darkness conquers all worlds!” he said. With this sight having struck fear into your hearts, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy began to fall towards it, a portal appearing above the cage- like middle of the battleship. Donald and Goofy screamed as they plunged inside it, while you and Sora fell into the black abyss. Riku’s words appear in your head.

“Giving up already? Come on, you two. I thought you were stronger than that,” he said. This calms your minds and the two of you believed in yourselves again. The two of you believed that you can defeat Ansem. The two of you believed… And suddenly, you two shot back out of the darkness, flying up towards Ansem, and took out the Keyblade and dagger, an unwavering look upon your faces. Ansem stared at you two with red-orange eyes, haunting, pupil-less in form, as he held a double-edged pole sword in his hand. You and Sora flew forward, striking Ansem with the Keyblade and dagger.

“Turn to darkness!” Ansem said. He swung the pole sword around in wild circles, striking you and Sora in the side.

“All shall be extinguished,” he said. Orbs appeared around you and Sora, and before you two had a chance to duck, the two of you were hit by a cluster of lasers. You and Sora flew downward away from them, but also away from Ansem.

“Come forth,” Ansem said. Ansem swung his hand, summoning Bit Sniper Heartless, which flew after you and Sora, their bat-like wings flapping in the air. They try to sideswipe you two, but were met with the Keyblade and your dagger and disappeared. Dodging more lasers, the two of you healed each other and cast a barrier of air around you two, flying back to Ansem to finish this once and for all. To you and Sora’s surprise, he dispelled his sword and crossed his arms over his body. A large Heartless insignia appeared over him, blocking him from all attack. The portal over the cage reappeared and you two flew into it, finding yourselves in pitch black room. The two of you were confronted by a horde of Shadow Heartless, the only light coming from the Heartless emblem on the floor and their eerie glowing eyes. As you two destroyed the Shadows, a long thread appeared in the middle of the room, glowing with dark energy. Sora struck at the Room Core, which exploded, sending you and Sora back to the World of Chaos. The Guardian stared down at you two, though Ansem didn’t make a move. On the front of the living battleship, the fleshy artillery began to shoot homing beams of energy at you two and another portal appeared above you two in front of the Guardian. The artillery wiggle at the expellant force as you and Sora flew nearer to the portal. The two of you were nearly overwhelmed by the artillery and as you two closed in on the portal, the Guardian slammed his great claws forward, creating a roaring gust of wind, sending you and Sora toppling away. The two of you were again assaulted by laser-emitting orbs, but you two quickly dodged in midair and flew back to the artillery. After destroying the armaments, the two of you soared into the portal of darkness, finding yourselves in another dark room filled with Darkball Heartless.

“Sora! (Y/N)!” Goofy said. You and Sora found Goofy in the room as well and the three of you took down the Darkballs and the following Room Core. The three of you flew back into the World of Chaos, where the hugely-fanged Face at the front of the battleship opened its gaping maw, staring at you three through horrid yellow eyes. The three of you striked at the Face, which clenched its teeth, sending bolts of lightning at you three. It reared its head back as you three attacked and opened its mouth, sending an explosion of energy around you three while its eyes glow. Taking the final blow, it roared and its head fell limp, the mouth opening. Another portal of darkness appeared inside its jaw as more artillery appear on the front armaments of the battleship. You, Sora, and Goofy flew into the portal, reaching another dark room filled with Invisible Heartless.

“Sora! (Y/N)! Goofy!” Donald said. The Invisibles spun around, sending orbs of darkness around the room. Donald ran toward your voices as the four of you fought off the countless horde. You and Sora destroyed the final Room Core and you all escaped the room through the portal. The four of you flew back out of the mouth of the Face, which brimmed with smoke and exploded, leaving a dark blue wound on the front of the World of Chaos. The barrier to the cage in the battleship’s center collapsed and the four of you flew inside the cage, where you all found the Main Core surrounded by artillery. The four of you attacked the Main Core as the artillery striked back.

“Give me strength!” you and Sora said. The two of you glowed with a golden aura, raising his Keyblade and your dagger into the air as three orbs descended to meet them. The two of you touchesd them with the Keyblade and dagger and they gathered, forming a three ringed orb. You and Sora jumped upside down, thrusting the Keyblade and the dagger into the flesh of the cage. The two of you spun around, holding the grip of the blades as a bright symbol appeared around you two. Beams erupted from the circles in the symbol and the orb above and the world was enveloped in light. The Main Core crackled with energy as the light faded. Energy caught its grip and it exploded. The Heartless Emblem above Ansem’s body shattered and Ansem slid forward, his silver hair trailing behind him. Straightening up, he crossed his hands and his pole sword reappears as he glared at you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“Let me at him!” Donald yelled.

“Come on!” Goofy said. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy combined efforts in your final assault against Ansem. As you four striked on him with all your might, Ansem raised his arms, his mind on one thing.

“Come…darkness!” he said. A huge orb of darkness formed in his hands and he shot it forward into the abyss, pointing his sword at it.

“Now…you weak-hearted fools…witness real power!” he said. An immense swirling black hole formed in the orb’s wake. Electricity hissed inside it and the void began shooting meteors of glowing energy at the four of you.

“Now show me what your precious light can do,” Ansem said. The four of you found yourselves drifting towards it uncontrollably, and pushed yourselves to fly away from it. Ansem grew tired of this and raised his arms, causing the void to explode.

“Still confused? Then perhaps this will enlighten you!” he said. Ansem’s sword vanished and he crossed his arms, sending several small translucent orbs into the air. They merged with the Guardian in various places, glowing darkly. Laser-emitting orbs returned as you and Sora felt your magic draining from you.

“Welcome the darkness into your heart,” Ansem said. The battle continued until the World of Chaos began to burst from the inside.

“Is this the answer? I can’t be…” Ansem said faintly. The Guardian roared as it imploded, the veins connecting Ansem to the battleship shook violently and he hung forward, dropping his sword. Ansem convulsed as the World of Chaos was enveloped by a glowing light. Forming a gigantic orb, it exploded, its energy scattering through the abyss. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared down at Ansem, who floated before them, twitching. The door to Kingdom Hearts waited behind him.

“It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness,” Ansem said. He whirled around, reaching out towards the door, gazing madly as a man possessed.

“Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…” he said. His hand trembled as he struggled to recite the words. The great door opened, tongues of darkness emanating from beyond its cold white stone. Ansem floated higher in the air, his robes billowing out behind him.

“Supreme darkness…” he said.

“You’re wrong. I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts… is light!” you said.

“She’s right!” Sora said. Without warning, a blinding light burst from beyond the door, causing Ansem to cover his eyes. It penetrated his being, sending his mind reeling.

“Light…” he said. He struggled to exist, frozen in place.

“But… Why…” he said. Light erupted from his body, sending crystals bursting from his chest. His arms were thrown apart as the light consumed everything. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy flew over to the door and landed on the white sand. The four of you raced over to the door.

“Come on!” Sora said. He planted his hands on one of the double doors and began to push, as you, Goofy, and Donald did the same with the other. Goofy peered through them and gasped.

“Stop staring and keep pushing!” Donald said. Donald looked through it as well, his eyes widening.

“Huh?!” he asked. In the dark realm beyond, Heartless converged by the thousands, pulsing with darkness and heading towards the door.

“The Heartless!?” Goofy and Donald asked. 

“Hurry!” you said. Sora continued to push, but the enormous door hardly budged.

“I can’t…” You let go of your side of the door and ran to help Sora. The two of you continued to push but it still wouldn’t budge. Suddenly, a hand appeared from beyond the door.

“Don’t give up!” Riku said. You and Sora looked up in amazement to see Riku.

“Come on, you two! Together, we can do it!” Riku said.

“Okay!” you and Sora said. The two of you continued pushing the door closed as Riku pulled from the other side. The door slowly began to close as stronger and stronger Heartless appeared in the dark realm.

“It’s hopeless!” Donald said. From the dark realm, the Darkside Heartless were destroyed by an unknown figure.

“Huh?” Donald and Goofy asked. Jumping into view with light shining behind him in the distance, his silhouette was unmistakable.

“Your Majesty!” Donald and Goofy said. King Mickey took out a Keyblade with golden blade and silver handle, raising it into the air.

“Now, Sora and (Y/N)! Let’s close this door for good!” he said.

“Close it, quick!” Donald said. 

“But...” you and Sora said. 

“Don’t worry. There will always be a door to the light,” Mickey said. 

“Sora, (Y/N), you can trust King Mickey,” Goofy said.

“Now! They’re coming!” Riku said as he whirled towards King Mickey. Mickey turned to look at you five.

“Donald, Goofy, thank you,” he said sincerely. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy pushed with all your might and the doors started to close. Just before you four did, Riku looked back at you and Sora.

“Take care of her,” he said. You and Sora nodded, the penitent face of Riku his final sight before the door shut. Sora leaped back and held the Keyblade into the air, light forming at its tip gathering energy. Mickey swung his Keyblade around, releasing magical dust, and raised it into the air. You raised your dagger in the air and used your magic to help Sora and Mickey. The door began to glow brightly and soon disappeared, revealing a long winding pathway behind it. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood still gazing into the void left in the door’s wake. Sora’s thoughts drifted to Riku and their life on the Destiny Islands. When they talked for hours on the dock. When they gazed out at the sea from the paopu tree. When they used to play fight or race along the beach, laughing at each other. When they met you. Life was a much simpler time then, before the Heartless. When it was just Sora, Riku, you and… you and Sora felt a presence behind him and turned, seeing Kairi at the edge of the world staring around in confusion. You and Sora ran towards her as fast as you can. Donald started to follow, but Goofy stopped him as a light appeared behind them. They stared off in you and Sora’s direction as the two of you ran toward the only thing on your minds. Kairi took a few steps backward, her shoes digging into the soft sand on the tiny piece of beach she appeared on. It seemed to be floating off the floating island into the abyss. Kairi looked up, her eyes catching you and Sora.

“Kairi!” you and Sora said as the two of you ran up to her. 

“Sora! (Y/N)!” she said. She stepped closer and the two worlds shook, separating from each other. Kairi shrieked as you and Sora caught her fall. The three of you stared into each other’s eyes.

“Kairi, remember what you said before? We’re always with you, too,” you said. As the world’s continued to drift apart, the three of you held hands, leaning forward to reach toward one another.

“We’ll come back to you. I promise!” Sora said. 

“I know you will!” Kairi said. your hands parted and Kairi drifted away from you and Sora, who reached out to her. She folded her hands together as the three of you continued to stare back, when a small point of light floated down into Kairi’s hands. She looked up and the sky was filled with tiny points of light, the essence of worlds. They floated down around the three of you as the Destiny Islands began to reassemble around Kairi. Trees burst through the ground as the wooden platforms at the beach reformed to the way they used to be. Kairi watched as the ocean rolled in. You and Sora smiled and called out to Kairi as the world barrier formed, finally separating the three of you. Kairi looked down to the water as the light around you and Sora fell back. She looked up suddenly as the light burst into shooting stars which flew into the sky, reclaiming their proper places. As the world’s were restored, Kairi’s face formed a small smile as she gazed at the beauty around her. Later, the sun and the clouds returned and the island returned to normal. A soft wind blew through the flora and seagulls flew in the air as Kairi walked toward the Secret Place. A ray of light shined through the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the many drawings on the walls. She walked through the cave, touching the rough rocky walls, fondly recalling the memories with her friends. She reached the furthest wall and knelt down, seeing a new drawing of you and Sora giving Kairi a paopu fruit. Emotion welled up inside her as an image of you and Sora drawing on the walls appeared before her. The two of you stared back at her and smiled, before disappearing. She held out a hand, smiling, and started to cry. She ended her time in the Secret Place by drawing her hand giving you and Sora a paopu fruit. 

Back in Disney Castle, Chip and Dale called to the attention of Daisy and Queen Minnie. They looked and saw Huey, Dewey, and Louie running through the courtyard trailed by a procession of walking broomsticks. In the Library of Hollow Bastion, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith conversed with each other. The door opened and Aerith looked over seeing Cid and Cloud. Aerith moved closer and she bent down to stare into Cloud’s eyes. Meanwhile, Pinocchio had become a real boy and he danced with glee as Geppetto laughed happily. In Agrabah, Jasmine and Aladdin shared a passionate kiss as Genie covered his and Abu’s eyes, but peeked anyway. On the Destiny Islands, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie ran along the beach as Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice returned to their respective worlds. Meanwhile, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked down a winding dirt road on an unknown world.

“Well, now what do we do?” Donald asked. Sora walked with his hands behind his head and you right next to him. 

“We’ve gotta find Riku and King Mickey,” he said. 

“Agreed,” you said. 

“But, uh, where do we start lookin’ for that there door to the light?” Goofy asked. The four of you stopped and sighed, bending towards the ground. You and Sora heard something up ahead and looked up, seeing Pluto walk in ahead of them, wagging his tail.

“Pluto?” Donald asked. Pluto looked over at you four.

“Hey, Pluto. Where have you been?” Goofy said. The four of you saw an envelope in his mouth.

“Huh?” Sora asked. 

“What is that?” you asked. 

“Hey!” Donald said.

“Gawrsh, that’s the king’s seal!” Goofy said. Pluto just blinked at the four of you.

“Hey, have you seen King Mickey?” Sora asked. Sora reached out a hand but Pluto started running forward down the road. Goofy looked over at Donald, who looked back, happily. You and Sora ran ahead and turned to them.

“Guys, let’s go!” Sora said.

“Yeah! Hurry up you slow pokes!” you said. The four of you raced after Pluto, Donald keeping his hat from flying off, and laughed together as the road winded ahead of them. Later that night, everyone was asleep in the grass except you and Sora. The two of you were looking at the stars while catching up with each other. 

“So, what worlds did you go to?” you asked.

“I went to so many! I went to Atlantica where I got turned into a merman,” he said. 

“Really?! I’m so jealous!” You and Sora giggled. 

“Oh! I also went to a Halloween world! There was ghosts, and skeletons. You should’ve been there!”

“I don’t think that I can handle ghosts and skeletons.” The two of you giggled again and went back to looking at the stars.

“Hey, from now on, I’m gonna protect you,” Sora said as he looked at you. 

“Promise?” you asked. 

“Cross my heart.” 

“Well, if you’re gonna protect me, it’s only fair that I do the same to you.”

“I guess we’re even then.” 

“Yeah. We should get some sleep. Good night.” 

“Night.” The two of you closed your eyes and fell asleep, but not before hearing Vanitas whisper something to you.

I’m so proud of you, sis. I know that you can defeat the darkness. You just gotta believe.

[you-know-like-the-bird]

The Day of Projectile Chairs

Alright so this is something I wrote quite a while ago. But thing is I never post it on tumblr (it’s on Ao3 tho), but since I wrote a companion piece for this I decided to send them out together. I’ll figure how to link the two, but until then they have the common tag ‘Days of Chaos’, since that’s the name of the series that these shots belong to. So if you’re looking for these shots, just search that tag in this blog’s search.

The Days Of Chaos are mainly centred around Quirkless!Izuku and his friendship with Mei and Shinsou. There aren’t any romantic elements in this yet, but as I keep on writing I might add them. After all, I did start these with Shindeku in mind.

Anyways! This is the first part, so I hope you enjoy!

Edit: Yooooooo I figured it out! Second part is here!

-

It's by pure chance that when the alarm rings out, Izuku is looking out the window.

"Alert! Alert! There has been a Level 5-"

But Izuku's not really listening, because at that exact moment, he sees a group of people startle into view. What that means is, one moment there was nothing, and then suddenly four people appeared out of thin air. The one walking in the middle, a pale looking man with straight black hair who has a hand touching two others and a fourth person gripping his elbow, looks up in panic as the school wide alarm starts blaring. His friend behind him shoves him roughly, and the man shakes his head, before they all disappear into thin air once again.

'A warping quirk? No... there's a shimmer in the air where the group had been standing, almost like a mirage. So maybe... maybe they're still there, just that I can't see them...'

And it's at that point that the blaring announcement finally registers in Izuku's brain, "-repeat, there has been a Level 5 security breach! All students are requested to reach their classrooms immediately!'

Which means that the group was probably villains.

Izuku's classmates mill about the classroom, talking to each other excitedly as they try to figure out what's going on. Multiple voices, all loud and outgoing, catch at the edge of Izuku's brain, but the words being said enter from one ear and slip right out the other as Izuku scrambles out of his seat. His classroom makes up one corner of the school building’s third floor, which means they have windows all along the side and back of the classroom. With the direction they had been walking in, there’s a chance that Izuku can catch sight of them from the back windows if they accidentally drop whatever quirk that is keeping them hidden again.

Izuku quickly opens the windows and leans out, looking to see if he can see the air shimmer around the corner. He can't, but then something else catches his attention, and he looks in the other direction to see someone walking with a humongous wooden box that seems to be filled with odd bit of machinery. On a closer look, he realizes that it's a girl, with cross-haired eyes and manic pink dreadlocks. She walks with a bounce in her step, and the box in her arms jingles happily with each step.

She's headed straight in the villain's direction.

For a moment, he considers calling out to her, but then reconsiders quickly, because he may be able to warn her, but the villains will hear him too.

Fuck.

During this time, a teacher had already entered the classroom and is trying to get the kids to settle down, so that she can properly explain the situation. Izuku barely registers this as he runs past her, citing some excuse about going to the bathroom, and books it.

-

Hitoshi had conveniently just finished his business in the washroom, when the alarms rang out. He stood stalk still in front of the sinks, hands still under a spray of water as the P.A system informs him that there's been a Level 5 breach in the school, and that he needs to get back to his classroom, immediately. He quickly dries his hands and exits the washroom to do just that, when a green blur shoots past him. He watches a boy skid around the corner, and in that split-second catches sight of his face and realizes that it's a classmate of his. He hasn't really talked to the boy, but from what he remembers, he's pretty sure the boy is just as antisocial as him, albeit probably for different reasons, if his constant nervous fidgeting was anything to go by.

For a moment he wonders what could be so urgent that the boy risked crashing face first into a wall.

As he's about to continue his journey back, he hears an urgent voice coming from his classroom's hallway. Hitoshi inches closer and comes to carefully stands just around the corner, until the voice is clear enough to listen to, "-need someone to look over class 1-C because a kid just took off with a shady as fuck excuse and I am not getting in trouble with the principal for this Sora. You'd think kids at a hero school would be better at following safety protocols but no, and now I gotta hunt this kid down before the principal has my head-"

It takes all of five seconds for Hitoshi to make his decision, before he's running after the kid.

-

Izuku jumps down the stairs five at a time, sure he's going to trip and fall any second now but somehow managing to stay upright. He reaches the first floor and runs towards a separate staircase he knows is closer to where he saw the girl. He runs across an empty classroom but skids to a stop a few meters away and backtracks, because this classroom is the one one floor below his own, but more importantly, it'll give him the perfect vantage point to look and see if the villains have spotted the girl yet.

And to his dismay, they have.

"-must be one of the support brats. Listen girly, just pretend you never saw us, alright? We're hopefully not here to cause trouble."

"Oh but according to the school alarms I think you are!" The girl speaks cheerfully as the metal bits in her box jingle again, "What are you guys even here for at the main building? I thought the attack was at the U.S.J?"

A villain with spiky purple hair snorts, "As if we'd tell you. Sorry kiddo, but villains don't monologue in real life."

The girl just shrugs in faux disappointment, "Ah well, that's a shame. But hey, who cares what you're here for when you're gonna get caught anyways?"

'She's stalling' Izuku realizes with a little bit of awe, 'The security cameras have probably already seen these guys, and she knows that the heroes are going to get here soon.'

"What are you doing?"

Izuku shrieks and jumps a foot in the air from being startled. He quickly backs away from the window, which means that when the villains' heads snap up they don't see anything out of the ordinary.

The boy who snuck up on him, one that he recognizes from his class, stands back and let's Izuku catch his breath.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Izuku whisper shouts at the boy.

The boy shrugs, "Thought you'd heard me come in."

"What was that?!" The furious shout catches both their attentions, and they exchange a weary glance before creeping back up to the window. It's the guy with purple spikes who shouted this, and looking at the thin metal spikes covering his fist, Izuku realizes he must have activated his quirk. The pale looking guy, who Izuku suspects has the invisibility quirk that got the group this far, stays close to his teammates, hand hovering in the air and ready to touch them and activate his quirk. One woman with neon green flames for hair fiddles with the lighter in her hand, eyes frantically flickering around. Their last party member is hunched over the back-cafeteria door, and it looks like she's trying to get them in with the way she has her hand pressed against the computer pad. (Unbeknownst to everybody, this poor woman is literally trying to hack past the principal of U.A and she is, of course, failing miserably).

'Probably an electricity quirk of some sort, something that'll help her get past the computer pad but it clearly takes away her situational surroundings...'

"I said what the fuck was that?"

"I don't know!" The girl snaps back, much to the purple-spikes' guy's surprise. "I told you that the pros were coming, so are you really that surprised?"

The guy growls, "You..."

Izuku frantically pulls his classmate back from the window, "We need a plan."

"A- what? A plan?"

"Yes." Izuku hisses, "I don't think that girl actually knows how much time it'll take for the pros to get here, and anything can happen between then. We need to help her stall."

"We can't just step in! Those are villains, we could get hurt!" The guy argues back.

"And if we don't do something, she'll get hurt anyways. Come on, if you hadn't scared me, they wouldn't have been agitated in the first place."

His classmate clenches his jaw. Finally, he says, "Fine. What are we going to do?" 

 "-You don't know what you're fucking talking about-"

"Your gear is horrible! Haven't you ever met a decent illegal broker before, dumbass?!" 

 Izuku stares up at his classmate. "What's your quirk?"

The boy in front of him hisses, "What does my quirk have to do with-" 

 "Oi oi, fuck you! You haven't even spent a week in the support course, what the fuck do you know girly?!"

"A lot more that you apparently-" 

 "Your quirk, what is it?"

The boy seems to finally be giving into the pressure as the arguing from down below starts getting louder and more heated, "Brainwashing. I can put someone under my control if they verbally respond to a question."

Izuku nods slowly, "I can work with that."

-

Mei is getting ready to just about throw down the metaphorical gauntlet with how stupid this villain in front of her is, when all of a sudden, they hear a new voice join the fray.

"Ah, yes, Present-Mic sensei? Yeah, I'm- no- I'm actually near the cafeteria back door right now."

Mei and the three idiots in front of her quiet down as a boy with purple hair and eyebags so deep they make Mei want to take a nap comes around the corner with a phone pressed against his ear. He doesn't notice them yet, not immediately, and just continues talking on the phone. "Yes, I know I should be in my classroom, but it's not like I'm out here on purpose. Ah- yes- sorry sensei, it won't happen again."

And then he looks up. He stops abruptly, staring at the odd view Mei and the villains make, with the chick who was trying to get into the school still stuck at the computer pad (it's like she can't hear their commotion at all honestly, and Mei is starting to think it has something to do with her quirk). Its kinda pathetic, how long this woman has been trying and failing to unlock a simple back door, and Mei's half tempted to march up there and unlock it for a her.

The boy stares at them for a moment, before he says, "I-" he cuts himself off to lower the phone from his ear, "Are you guys villains?"

And the Pale Guy with the invisible quirk must be feeling extra dumb today because he says, "Yeah. Yeah we are." He immediately gets a swat on the arm from Fire Lady for that, but it's already too late, because the boy is back to talking to his phone. "Yupp. Villains. Back cafeteria door." There's a pause, before the boy says, "Alright, see you soon Present Mic."

And then he cuts the call.

"So... you guys come here often?"

And Fire Lady loses it, "That's it!" With the stress of getting caught already by two people and the irrefutable knowledge that backup was soon on its way to arrest them, Mei doesn't blame her.

The Pale Guy has other plans though, with how he reaches out towards Fire Lady, "No, wait-"

Surprisingly, Fire Lady stops, but they soon find out it's not because of Pale Guy. The kid with eyebags sighs tiredly, "Just one? Why? Alright then, knock out your teammate with the spikes for me, will you?"

Fire lady turns, a blank look in her eyes, and Spikes Guy takes a step back, "Wha- Haruhi?"

It's like Fire lady can't hear him, when she reaches for her hair and managed to pull a ball of fire away from it, which she subsequently chucks at Spikes. He scrambles back to avoid getting hit, and the game is on. Pale Guy reaches for the chick still trying to work the door and yanks her away from it, and it looks like she's just coming back online when she blinks and looks around confused, "What the fuck is going on?"

Pale Guy has already grabbed her forearm, and is trying to pull her away from the fight between Fire Lady and Spikes. "Come on! We gotta run!"

"On no you don't!"

And then a chair comes sailing through the air, and nails the poor man straight on the nose. Three sets of eyes turn to where the chair came from, Fire Lady and Spikes too busy playing a flammable version of tag and Pale Guy crumpled on the floor with two hands over his poor nose, to see a kid leaning out from one of the classroom windows, breathing heavily from where he just threw a piece of furniture at them. He scrambles away immediately, probably going to get another projectile, when Miss I'm-going-to-break-into-U.A-and-I'm-going-to-succeed-because-I-have-an-electricity-quirk hisses, "You fucking kids. I'll show you-"

She bends down and goes to press her hands flat on the ground, but Mei thinks quickly and fishes out the biggest piece of cobbled together metal and wires she can find in her box, and throws. Instead of hitting Electricity Girl though, it just painfully clips her shoulder and makes her stumble back, before conking Pale Guy straight on the head. It's about all the trauma his head can take and he passes out.

The Electricity Chick scowls at them, "You're dead." She slams her hands down, and another chair comes flying, but this time closer to Eyebags and Mei, and Chair kid shouts, "Jump on!"

And Mei has worked with electronics and people with electrical quirks enough times to somewhat know what's going happen already, because a surge of electricity comes cackling towards them along the ground. Mei jumps, hoping to land on the seat, but at the same time, Eyebags jumps over the back support, and they end up toppling into each other. It works out though, even if they do land in a heap on the ground, because Electricity Girl gets knocked out soon by, guess what?

A chair.

Mei and Eyebags look over to where Spikes is laying flat on the ground, a large bruise forming on his temple, as Fire Lady stands silently besides him.

Mei makes no move to get up from where she's sprawled across Eyebags' legs. "Well. That could have gone worse."

Chair kid gives her a thumbs up, before sinking out of view.

-

They're scolded, of course, almost gloriously so. (Mei finds out that Shinsou's whole call with 'Present Mic' was actually fake, since one; Shinsou doesn't even have his number and two: Present Mic was actually all the way at the U.S.J. All in all, it was a pretty ballsey move, but it did it's job of further scaring the villains). Even if they did manage to get those villains in the end, they shouldn't have been outside their classroom in the first place, and to avoid dangerous scenarios exactly like this, too. Chair kid, who Mei learns is named Izuku Midoriya, tries to defend himself by saying that he panicked when he caught sight of the villains heading in Mei's direction, but the teacher reprimanding them simply shakes their head and says he should've just called a teacher instead.

Which... fair.

Eyebags, or Shinsou Hitoshi, doesn't have an excuse at all, just that he got curious and had decided to follow Midoriya.

And Mei? Well, Mei was just the poor victim of a villain attack.

(She's also very disappointed, because she had a half-finished baby in that box that she was sure she could have used. Oh well, maybe next time, when there's no risk of it blowing up.)

"So… you guys are gen-ed?" Asks Mei as they walk to the infirmary room. They don't really have any injuries, except for Shinsou's scraped elbow from when Mei has toppled into him, but they're going to get checked up anyways for everyone's peace of mind.

"Yupp."

"Huh." Mei counts the tiles of the ceiling as she walks, "You two wanna get onto the hero course or something or...?"

Shinsou rubs the back of his neck and sighs harshly while Midoriya just looks blankly down at the floor.

"That would be ideal," Starts Shinsou, "but people aren't all that receptive towards a brainwashing quirk, not to mention, the Sports Festival is tailor made to cater to physical quirks most of the time."

Midoriya nods absently. "Yeah. Besides," he laughs harshly, "It's a fever dream for me, quirkless and all."

Both Shinsou and Mei look at him surprised, "You're quirkless?"

"Yupp."

The three of them are silent for a while, before Mei says, "Still managed to take those villains down though, so does it matter?"

And Midoriya looks up at her, surprised, with something like relief in the small smile he gives her. Shinsou laughs, "She's not wrong. That plan wasn't half bad back there, short-stack."

"I am not short-"

-

After a trip to Recovery Girl's room, the moment they step out, Mei says, "So, I was thinking..."

Shinsou raises an eyebrow at her, "Yeah?"

Mei smiles, all wide and wicked, "If you're really going to try for the hero course, you might want some support gear to boost that quirk of yours! It's not bad in itself, just that you're at a disadvantage if you can't use it before you get punched in the face."

Shinsou sullenly stuffs his hands into his pockets and scowls, "I know that-"

Midoriya cuts in before he can get very far with that though, "What are you saying Hatsume-chan?"

Mei gives them both a thumbs up, "Since you two helped me out today, I don't mind working on a bit of gear for you! I gotta make stuff for the Sports Festival anyways, but my babies will really shine if they're tailored perfectly for someone else and used by them! And you guys get a advantage over the hero kids! So, what do you say?!"

Midoriya looks surprised, "Even for me?"

"Yeah! You're even easier, since I can give you anything I want."

The way she says it sounds slightly ominous, but Shinsou and Midoriya exchange a glance, before Midoriya smiles warmly at her, "I think that sounds wonderful."

(And that was the day their friendship started, on the day of the Projectile Chairs.)

(Honestly though, with how long Shinsou and Midoriya pine after one another, Mei herself had started to consider throwing a chair at the two oblivious idiots.)

[black-quadrant]

I have been bestowed a joshriku gift fic, so it’s only natural I share the wealth.

warning: raunchy, raunchy porn. enjoy.

He's used to waking up in strange places. The life he chose chasing around a boy and a girl. High hopes and dreams both fabricated and desperate. It's not a lifestyle that allows for the creature comfort of familiarity. Still, here he is, sprawled out on his side, legs spread haphazardly and an arm flung over the side of an impossibly large couch. It's darker here than he imagined it would be. He shifted, rolling to his back as he stared up at the ceiling and his eyes adjusted. He never woke up slow and easy. He was asleep, or he was wide awake. The results of too much trauma? Probably. The fluorescent glow of lights shone like a halo behind black silhouettes of furniture. A dart board, rimmed in red, bright pink of tacky wall hanging words scrawled in cursive. Somewhere behind him, presumably the bar, was the warmth of low LEDs.

Dead God's Pad...what? What era had this guy even walked out of? Or died in he supposed. It was posh, and smelled too expensive for his taste. But it was a place to rest, one that was presumably safe, and with how exhausted he was from being thrown here out of a key portal he didn't know existed, he didn't really care. Why was he so tired though? Like a heavy weight that pressed in from all sides and clung---

"You're a noisy sleeper." The voice spoke from his left, a dark sunken spot nestled in the shadows. Joshua.

"How long was I out?"

"Does it mater," the blonde replied, the rustle of clothes and creak of a chair as he sat forward chin in hands as they rested on his knees. "Time is a loosely fitted construct here. It's not going to get you where you need any faster by counting the minutes. Or days," He added after a pause.

Riku didn't bother to sit up, this was as much of attention as Riku was going to get, the participation in a simple, quiet conversation. "You're quieter than usual." He pried, though he didn't really expect an answer. And for a moment, there was none. It made the room seem uncomfortably silent. This deep underground there wasn't the faint hustle and bustle of the streets. Just the low hum of electricity that made his ears ring.

Joshua sighed, and out of corner of his eye, if he tilted his head just a bit to the side, he could see the exhaustion in Joshua's face. It was something he covered up so well normally, and in all honesty if Riku wasn't so familiar with the look of long suffering torment, he wouldn't have even known it. "You're not the only one who sleeps restlessly."

"You don't sleep at all. Do you?" Riku asked, finally sitting up. Joshua had earned that much in this rare display of honesty.

"Not during game weeks, no. Not really ever, actually. I don't need to anyways. Sleeping is something to do when I'm suffering an incredible bout of boredom."

"So instead you stay awake and watch strange guys in their sleep?" He didn't sound miffed about it, there was no point in being angry. Joshua just laughed anyways, a sound that felt like the practice of social cues, not a genuine emotion.

"Oh Riku. You're not so strange to me. I know your kind. I hate it actually."

A thick brow of silver lifted curiously. Well that was an unexpected thing to hear from Joshua. "You're going to have to explain that to me more because I don't know where you're going saying something like that."

Joshua got up and made his way over to the couch to sit next to Riku, an arm sliding along the back of the couch so he could face Riku. He was surprised to actually see a genuine display of irritation on the tiny god's face. "I hate it because you remind me of many things I don't like about myself. I'm old enough now, Riku, that I've grown out of feeling things that were pointless for me to feel. You think that you hide your emotions so well, but I think you wear them on your sleeve. Sora doesn't see it because *he* is the one hiding behind a mask. You know that just as much as I do. That optimism is welded in place to cover up the ache in his heart. He's had as much trauma as the rest of us. But your silence speaks for itself what's going on. I suppose I'm no better than your friend. It's only in the comfort of isolation that I allow myself to slip into what you wear every day."

Riku sat through it all with patient silence. "Are you happy?" He finally asked, the question softly hung in the quiet room.

"That's a loaded question that I could bounce right back of you but we're not in grade school anymore so I'll be mature about it." The blonde leaned in close enough that Riku could almost smell his breath, the faint waft on dinner's noodles and the sharp undertone of alcohol. He tilted his head as if to tell a secret and when he spoke his voice was clear and soft. "Happiness here is as complicated as time. It's better to just not ask those kinds of questions because dwelling on how to answer them is unproductive at best, and depressing at the worst." Riku could feel the warmth of his pale skin, and the heat of those unnaturally purple eyes. It dawned on him then what the static in the room was, the tension wound like a cord about to break, the skin crawling buzz that left him feverish even when his stomach dropped. He was shocked at how easy it was to come to a conclusion on how to act. He wasn't a stranger to any of this, but he was sitting in the presence *of* a stranger. Even as his mouth opened to speak he was surprised by the words that fell out, thick and heavy, voice roughened by late hours and a dry tongue.

"Do you want to fuck?" So casual. Just like that. It seemed like the only conclusion to the conversation. The pretense of Joshua's presence to begin with was a telltale sign. Had they both wanted this from the beginning? Was it even a matter of wanting it or was it just an involuntary act, like the blink of an eye or the rise and fall of a breath?

Joshua didn't answer but just like that he was climbing up onto Riku's lap and his mouth was on Riku and his hands were in his hair and it was all so sloppy it was as if it had never happened before. But there was an undertone of confidence, a roughness to his touch that contradicted. If he was going all in, he was going all in. Riku's hands slid down to grab at the blonde's ass, cupping each cheek with a strong grip as fingernails dug into the thick jean fabric. Neither of them made a sound except the heavy breath, almost deafening to Riku's ears. And he was right, noodles and soy, tart champagne, the sweetness of tender meat. He wondered briefly what the walls of his own spit tasted like as Joshua licked at them. His tongue scraped at the roof of Riku's mouth grazed over his teeth. Joshua kissed like he was trying to eat Riku alive and Riku fought to slow it down, everything about his motions deliberate and deep. Joshua was clinging to Riku's hair as Riku was already slipping up the blonde's shirt, roving over thin soft skin until he could span his hand across his chest, pinching a plump nipple beneath his fingers until it pebbled with his touch and Joshua keened against his lips.

They broke only to suck at what breath they could, Joshua scrambling to slip buttons from holes just as quickly as Riku was pressing into the couch so he could get both hands between them and tear at a button, the zip of a fly, and a grip of his pants.

"You're going to let me fuck you?" Riku asked, voice curt and softly demanding.

"No you idiot, I'm just tearing my clothes off to rub my cock on you until I blow a load on your chest." Joshua replied, shirt falling to the floor.

The surprised laugh Riku slipped forth was sucked down by Joshua's tongue, fingers back in his hair with a sharp tug. It was a blur of frantic motion after that, Riku shifting Joshua enough to shimmy his pants down until they hung off a leg. With how soft Joshua's skin was, he was surprised to feel the course down of hair on his legs, pale as his blonde hair. It was a reminder of his age, and a relief, not that Riku minded how Joshua chose to take form. He was a god, and older than Riku wanted to guess at.

With Joshua's pants free, Riku could finally touch and probe, fingers exploring along the crack of his ass until they nuzzled against the puckered hole that twitched at the attention. It was almost too easy, even dry, to slide just the barest tip of a finger in, testing the stretch of muscle. And he was right, this sort of thing was no stranger to Joshua. The thought was a turn on, a surge of blood to his cock that ground up against Joshua's lithe little body. He groaned into the blonde's mouth and muzzled his way down his neck, breathing the mess of hair aside to suck at the underside of Joshua's chin, right at the juncture of his throat. And Joshua was nearly silent the whole time, a jarring silence broken only by his breath and soft noises. Riku liked the way his voice fell deeper with the sounds, the wetness to his throaty noises. "L-lift up a second," he muttered, using the freed space between them to swiftly pull his belt aside and fumble buttons and zippers away so he could pull his cock out from the constraining fabric. Joshua hovered above him watching intently, lazily stroking his own dick until it hardened, fingers expertly dragging up and down the shaft, pulling precum from the head with the squeeze of foreskin. It was impressive really, curved like the devil and tapered down at the base. Riku stared hungrily, his cock jumping in his lap, heavier and thicker than Joshua's. Silver hair shifted as Riku appraised the blonde, finally settling on purple hues. He felt awkward all of a sudden, mouth quirking into a boyish smile. "I uh...how stretched are you? Are you going to be able to fit me?" He asked, hands reaching out to grab at Joshua's rear again, spreading both cheeks and then letting them bounce free.

"Not dry you won't." He retorted as he slid down to his knees until he was wedged between Riku and the coffee table. Predicting the action Riku's hands slid to Joshua's head, guiding them as the blonde pulled hair aside with one hand, gripped the base of Riku's cock with the other, and lips slid over the head of Riku's cock. Soft, warm, practiced. His head hit the back of the couch with a gasp as Joshua pulled him into his mouth, tongue flattened against the underside, flicking as much as he was able to against the ridge of a vein. It was sloppy, a means to get Riku as wet as possible. His head bobbed up and down with ease and Riku had to force himself not to grip at Joshua's hair and just fuck that obnoxious little mouth until he came, hips bucking. Joshua didn't stop until Riku was coated, spit soaking into his jeans. He climbed back up into Riku's lap and by now he was frantic. His hands probed and spread across pale skin until he had Joshua spread.

"Wait." Riku slid a finger in his mouth, wet the calloused digit and settled it back to where it was only this time it sunk in with ease. "Holy shit you're gonna take me easier than I thought." He growled, swirling around before slipping free, still spreading him open as he pushed the head of his dick against his hole. Little thrusts to wedge it in as Joshua cursed and moaned above him.

"I'm not loose!"

"Don't be a baby, you're hot."

"And you have a thick head so do me a favor and wedge it in because it fucking aches."

Riku rolled his eyes against Joshua's chest, a hand pressed rough into the blonde's bony hip to push him down. It ached for him too, Joshua's skin was hot enough to burn, and the pressure was almost painful, the head popping through the first two rings of muscle. The sound Joshua guttered out was clearly uncomfortable but once he'd pushed through he was able to sink in with ease and they both released a shaky sigh of relief.

Joshua was so tiny, like Sora, except instead of brawny muscle and curves of baby fat that never quite left, Joshua was sharp bones, light as a bird. He was easy to scoop up, Riku was strong, and Joshua would never say how good it felt to be wrapped up in stiff muscles that squeezed him a little too tight to lift him up. He drove Joshua back down, and there was nothing slow or careful about it. There was no foreplay, no cat and mouse. No *passion*. Riku could barely pull him all that far off his cock before bucking his hips up into wet heat. It almost stung it was so hot, yet it was so good Riku's stomach felt like it was pressing down into his intestines, sitting like a burning rock above the pubic mound where silver curls of hair tangled wet with spit and the precum that dripped down Joshua's cock.

"I wanna come, hold still," Joshua muttered, not that Riku could do much about it anyway, the tiny blonde's hands pressed flat against his shoulder, pushing Riku back into the couch until he was sunk into the cushions. Joshua shimmied down on his cock until he was seated balls deep.

"Shit!" He threw his head back until he was nearly smothered in the cushions and Joshua *rode* him. His hips ground down, weight falling enough onto Riku so that his cock dragged against Riku's chest. That's when he got noisy, keening and whimpering in rhythm as he bounced his ass off Riku's dick, slapping against his balls which clenched with every beat against them. Like a girl, he thought. Joshua is fucking me like a girl would, cock scraping for friction on his chest. If he was a girl, her clit would be sliding over him, tickled against those wet little curls of silver. He'd done it before, felt the little nub swell and pulse when they came.

When Joshua did come, he wailed, went nearly stiff in Riku's grip, body convulsing once, twice, a few more. Riku was panting against his shoulder, doing his best to hold still as Joshua's cock, no doubt sensitive to the touch, spasmed between them, hot threads of come dripping across Riku's chest and over his shirt. He couldn't feel that much really, but his teeshirt was thin and stretched tight over him, enough to feel that throb.

Once Joshua's breath had settled to quivering he spoke, words mumbled. "You can move, I don't mind if you come in me."

It was all Riku needed. "Fuck," was all he could spit out as his hips pumped up with renewed fervor. The pressure built until it hurt, until his thrusts became frantic and then just as suddenly they slowed and Joshua moaned as sweet as sugar as Riku hissed, gasped, the head of his cock hovered sensitive at the entrance. Those two muscles clung to him, sucked at the fat mound of flooded veins and stiff sponge. Joshua didn't make Riku pull out until he was soft enough to slide free and Joshua could fall to his side. Riku couldn't figure out how the blonde wasn't panting like he was. Maybe it was a god thing.

"We'll find a portal back for you tomorrow. Top of one oh four."

Riku let out a genuine laugh. "Really? That's all you have to say after that?"

"What did you expect? We fucked. You and I both know there were no strings attached. You fuck good and you have an amazing cock. One I could get used to. But I'm not. Because you don't belong here and I don't need you here."

The words didn't hurt. He was right, after all. With a groan he got to his feet and stretched, wiped futilely at the jizz on his pants before tucking his limp dick away. "Yeah. You're right." He paused, "thanks for the distraction." And his smirk landed on Joshua's own twisted little smile.

"Yeah, it'll do."

[shi-daisy]

Ghost

Ah, the angsty theme. I'll be honest I've never been fond of sad stories, but I'd be lying if I said Ulquihime dosen't have potential for really tragic stories, be it a one shot or a full length fic. Plus they're the only ship I would ever use this song with. Fits so well with them 😢

Special thanks to @vikowolf for letting me use her gif. Go give this talented bean some love!

I hope you all like!

@ulquihimeweek

Ulquihime Week- Day 4- Haunting/Touch Starved

Ghost

"Are you afraid of me, woman?"

She remembered his voice clearly, along with his empty emerald eyes.

Ulquiorra was turning into ash, but he did not despair, instead he reached out for her.

"No, I'm not afraid. I've never been afraid." Orihime tried to hold his hand but his fingers turned to ash under her touch.

"No! Ulquiorra please don't go! Don't die!"

She wanted to run. To heal him, to keep him from falling apart, but her feet didn't move. All she could do was beg him to stay alive.

The result was the same every night, he'd turn to ashes before her eyes and she would wake up screaming his name.

"Ulquiorra!" she called. There was no response, for her apartment was empty.

'Thats right. I'm home...' she remembered. It was getting harder to tell the difference.

'Goddamn it not again!' Orihime felt a headache coming on. She pushed her covers and walked over to the kitchen.

She had run out of medicine, much to her chagrin. The kit was empty save for a bottle of sleeping pills.

'I forgot to go shopping again.' Ever since she got back home she was forgetting things more often than usual. To her luck, both Rangiku and Toshiro had stocked up the fridge before going back to the Soul Society, so she still had some food. Orihime grabbed a box of doughnuts and scarfed them down on the dinning room table.

She glanced at the clock. It read 1 a.m.

'I have school tomorrow, I can't fall asleep in class again! C'mon Inoue get it together!'

Last week she had fallen asleep during class and had the same dream. Not only had it been embarrassing to scream his name upon waking, but this time she'd been crying when she said it, and all her friends saw it.

They all looked concerned and tried to talk to her about it, yet she didn't want them near at all, especially not Ichigo.

"Staying mad at Kurosaki because of me?"

That voice again. She lifted her gaze and saw Ulquiorra sitting across from her.

"Can't you leave me alone for one night?!" she screamed, throwing a glass at him. The glass shattered after hitting the wall.

"Woman, please don't break the utensils. We both know I'm not really here."

"I wish you were."

"Why? Why do you miss me? I was a monster. I took you away from your friends, I kept you locked up and even killed the man you loved. Yet you miss me. It's not logical."

"I know."

"You'd be better off forgetting me."

"No. I refuse to forget you." Tears began streaming down her cheeks. Orihime gripped the edge of her nightgown trying to keep from sobbing. "I know we were never close, or even friends, but I did care for you.

It wasn't clear to me until you were nearing the end. You told me you were curious about us humans. And then I understood.

You wanted emotions, companionship, understanding, a heart...I was willing to give all of that to you. Had you lived."

Talking felt like having glass shoved down her throat, but she continued.

"Instead of welcoming you into my life as a dear friend all I had left of you was a pile of ash and a torn dress!

I should have tried harder to save you! Aizen said my powers rivaled those of the gods, and I yet when I had the chance to use them I froze like an idiot! I should've put myself between you and Kurosaki! I should've tried to escape on my own and come back for you when the war ended! There were so many ways for me to keep you safe. And I did nothing! I'll never forgive myself for letting you die."

Ulquiorra stood up and walked over to her. Then he hugged her, laying his head on her shoulder.

Orihime knew it wasn't real, but she didn't care. It felt real. His touch was cold yet comforting. She leaned into it.

"I could only hold your hand for a few seconds before it turned to ash, still, I could feel it. It was cold, it was gentle, it was electric...I'd give anything to hold you again, properly this time."

"We both know that's not possible, nor is it ideal.

My demise was no one's fault but my own, woman. I was the one who engaged Kurosaki un battle. Had I surrender you to him I would still be alive."

"No. He had forgiven his enemies before. Enemies that wouldn't have hesitated to cut him down if they could. What made you any different?"

"I do not know. Maybe the fact that I tried to kill him twice, or the fact that I took you away."

She scoffed. "Kurosaki dosen't care that much about me. He went to Hueco Mundo to fight Grimmjow, not for me."

"That's a narrow way to look at it. Kurosaki Does care for you, even if he dosen't show it."

"That's not enough for me. It'll never be enough for me, anymore."

She stood up, feeling slightly cold as Ulquiorra let go of her. The clock read 1:30 a.m

'I'm not going to fall asleep at this rate.'

Opening up the fridge again, taking a bottle from the very back. It has half empty, and the scent from it filled the whole apartment.

'Sora wouldn't be too proud seeing me like this.' she winced. 'Then again, we both inherited things from our parents that we didn't want. I wonder how those two lowlives are doing these days...'

The first glass always burned her throat but by the second the sting subsided and she got used to it.

"So now, you're just going to drink away and ignore me?"

Ulquiorra's voice startled her. "You usually don't stay this long. Even in my dreams you fade away after the first touch."

"My apologies. I cannot change the past."

"I know, you're only in my mind after all."

Again he walked over to where she was, this time she was the one who tried to hold him, but her hands went right through him.

Orihime began to cry again, not caring if she was being too loud. Ulquiorra sat beside her, holding her hand.

"Woman, what did you mean before by 'not enough'?"

"Exactly that. Empty gestures and fake concerns are not enough. They should've never been.'"

"Then what would be enough? What do you want?"

"You." she whispered. "I want you. Not your spirit, not in my dreams or in my mind. I want you here in the flesh. I want to hold you, to truly speak with you. To be with you."

"You shouldn't want that. You should move on. Everything's alright now, you're back home with your friends, this is what you should want."

"Well I don't!" she yelled. "I don't want any of this, if I can't have you by my side! It all feels so..."

"Empty." He finished for her.

"Yes. It's all so very empty."

Ulquiorra stayed silent for a moment, then he looked at her. "If that is your final answer, then I just have one last piece of advice."

"What would that be?"

"Go to sleep."

"I can't. You won't be there when I wake-"

He put a finger over her lips to silence her. "Yes. Yes I will. I'll even lay down with you."

Orihime didn't expect him to inch closer towards her and kiss her. His touch wasn't cold anymore, or maybe she was the one radiating warm. It didn't matter, this was what she'd been wanting for weeks now.

"Now please woman, go to sleep."

Orihime nodded, grabbing a couple sleeping pills from the kit and taking them with what was left of the liquor. The effect was immediate, as drowsiness began to take over.

She walked over to her bed, and settled in. Ulquiorra was lying beside her over the covers.

"I need you to promise me you'll be here when I wake up. I'm getting tired of seeing you disappear."

"I'll be here. I promise."

With that in mind she closed her eyes and let sleep take over. Ulquiorra would be there to greet when she woke up.

If she woke up at all.

[getuponthehydrasback]

Fragmentary Memories: Fanfic Preview

This is still a work in progress but I promised yall a rewrite with all of my head canons and its  HAPPENING. Gotta love me my Trans! Sora The fic, pairing is SoRikai, with moments of every combination! PS This fic also includes REAL TECHNIQUES FOR DEALING WITH PTSD and Panic attacks 

Tap Tap Tap the distant sound of rock against glass persisted againstthe calm sound of rain outside of the small room. On the bed sat a petite feminine figure of a person, crouched in a corner, their back pressed against the walls of their room, and their gaze fixed upon a tan paper, ink etched into its surface. It had become a nightly routine for the ‘girl’ to jot down her thoughts; it helped with the nightmares. On pages she could map out her deepest fears, that which were inarticulable to even those she held dear. The emotions that still ruminated in her soul, and weren’t yet ready to make themselves known. It was a practice she found to be almost sacred in that aside from being the arms (or sometimes plopped down ontop of or in between) of her two dearest people, eased the ever growing fear that nestled in her heart. Though this practice was sacred, she found herself snapped out of the moment by in incessant tapping.

“What on earth is that sound” she exclaimed as she pushed the curtains aside only to see a water drenched boy standing a story below, looking up solemnly at her. “Sora! What the hell are you doing out in the rain, you’ll freeze to death!” She exclaimed as she quickly opened her window.

“I know…it’s stupid but please …” he didn’t have to finish his sentence, Kairi saw the desperation in Sora’s eyes a look she hadn’t seen since the night that changed all of their lives. Without hesitation Kairi held her hand out to him knowing he could make the jump up into her window without rousing the attention of her sleeping grandmother a few doors down.

Sora backed up and ran towards the side of the house, skillfully using the leverage to jump up and grasp Kairi’s hand. Within a few moments he stood, soaked in the middle of her bedroom. “Thank you” he whispered softly, his voice husk and devoid of its usual playfulness. Kairi could make out the puffiness and faint red tint in his eyes and faint salt streaks along his cheeks almost washed away by the rain. Without saying a word Kairi reached out, clasping her hand in his giving him a gentle affirming squeeze. She didn’t have to know what happened or what was wrong, she only knew that whatever it was, it had shaken him to his core.

“Of course, is there anything you need right now, you’re soaked let me get you something to change into”. Kairi offered as she turned to go to her dresser. The suggestion sent a wave of nausea to the boys stomach and itch under his skin in protest; however all he could externalize was a faint defiant tug at her hand.

Drawing her attention back towards him Kairi tilted her head in confusion. Sora’s expression had quickly changed. There was a quick flash of fear, and storminess in his eyes, sending a wave of concern throughout her. Though she began to become increasingly worried about what could have possibly caused such a reaction out of him, she knew that remaining calm would be the best way help her friend. “No worries” she said softly, giving his hand another gentle squeeze. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Sora’s grip on her hand seemed to tighten at that statement as he averted his gaze. His body was tense, his breathing beginning to become increasingly shallow, as echos and images flashed in his mind.

We’ve had enough of this. You disappear for god knows how long doing god-knows what and you expect us to be okay with it? You’re delusional. You don’t know what youre walking about all of that stress has gotten to your head!

The voices and images of his parent’s anger continued to resonate over and over. His precious belongings, gone, his clothes gone everything. He couldn’t stop the recent memories, they replayed on repeat until he felt a gentle squeeze on his hand again, tethering him to the reality before him. Bringing him back into his body. His gaze darted around the room, taking in their surroundings.

“You’re safe” Kairi whispered softly as to not startle him.

“Sorry” he managed to choke out, worriedly “Sorry…sorry sorry” his words seemed more like expressions to himself, or an invisible other rather than to his friend as he repeated the words.

“It’s okay, I’m not upset, you’re safe…I will stay here with you as long as you need” she responded quietly. “Is it okay to hug you?” she asked to which Sora’s eyes widened and he frantically shook his head.

“Sorry” he replied again, his breathing growing more erratic.

“It’s okay, do you want to try some grounding exercises?” she asked, knowing that Sora’s condition would most likely escalate if he wasn’t able to ground himself soon.

Sora thought for a moment, or rather attempted to gather his scattered fragments of thoughts before slowly shaking his head.

“Okay, what’s five things you can see?” Kairi asked quietly, as she gently ran her thumb along the back of Sora’s hand in a soothing pattern.

Sora couldn’t formulate words but merely pointed to a few items in the room, each item slowly drawing his focus back from the fear ridden fog it had been in. He looked around, noticing the dimly lit lights, he pointed to the note book perched upon Kairi’s pale pink cotton sheets, the Crayon drawings of their adventures hanging on Kairi’s wall, the way Kairi’s face though relaxed, still showed concern in the faint furrow of her brow, the pale pink color of her nails as they brushed against his hand. Sora could only point at the things as Kairi gently urged him on.

“Good, what’s four things you can hear?” she asked again.

Sora closed his eyes for a moment taking in the sound of the rain pounding against the window, the sound of his own slowly stabilizing breathing, his occasional coughs and sniffles, the buzz of the heater, and the calming sound of Kairi’s steady breath. For each thing he heard he managed to choke out a single word indication.

“That’s excellent” she gave his hand another gentle squeeze “What’s three things you can feel?”

Sora thought for a moment, he could feel the gentle caress of Kairi’s fingers stroking his hand, their consistent motion soothing his racing thoughts. He could feel the fuzziness of carpet beneath his feet, as he’d ran over barefoot, and he could feel the cling of his damp clothes against his skin, and the tight nylon fabric of a binder pressed against his chest.

“I-I think…I’m okay…” he managed to respond, as he gave Kairi’s hand a gentle squeeze.

They stood just like that for a few moments in silence, as Sora gathered his thoughts, his breathing had stabilized and his incoherent memories began to solidify. After a few minutes he finally uttered.

“They threw out everything…they hate me…they’re…they’re going to disown me.” His voice cracked at the statement as tears began to fill his eyes. “Everything! All of my clothes, all of my belongings anything they thought was too boyish my parents through out! They screamed at me!”

Kairi felt a wave of anger course through body at Sora’s distress, at the way his usual happy kind eyes seemed so defeated, and broken. She clutched her free hand in a fist, trying to swallow her anger to be fully present for Sora but she couldn’t.

“Listen to me, they’re wrong. They are so incredibly wrong, whatever they think whatever they say, they’re wrong for treating you like that you hear me Sora?” She placed her hands gently on Sora’s cheeks to direct his gaze to her.

He stared back at her, eyes wide with tears. “You’re one of the strongest, kindest, loveliest boys I know, and if they can’t see that, if they can’t see all the things their sonhas done then theyaren’t worthy of you. You’re the boy who saved the universe for crying out loud. And they’re mad because what? They got your gender wrong? I’ll fight both of them goddamit.” Kairi tried her best to manage her anger.

Kairi’s words broke the floodgate Sora had been suppressing in his whirlwind panic. Relief, fear, sadness, hatred, visceral pain all bubbled their way to the surface as Sora reached towards Kairi, burying his face into the crook of her neck in a half attempt to muffle his sobs. Taking Sora’s lead on physical contact, Kairi wrapped her arms around him, gently placing the flat of her hand on his back, and gently rubbed circles into the damp fabric.  They stayed like that for a few moments, Kairi’s arms firm around him as he fell apart.

Kairi had always known Sora’s parents did not approve of who he really was even before their journey across worlds, but she never imagined they’d do something as drastic as disown him. During their time on the islands when they were younger, Sora always passed himself off as a tomboy much to his parent’s disapproval. But spending so many years away from them, meeting new people, new places, had allowed Sora the freedom to be himself. No one questioned, no one knew, except her and Riku. Sora had grown into the young man he was always meant to be, and yet, his parents could not see him for who he really was. The thought angered Kairi, the pain they caused him sent her into a rage, but more important than her rage was her ability to comfort her dear friend. She continued to simply breathe deeply and rub soothing circles into the boys back.

After nearly twenty minutes, Sora had cried himself dry. All that he could make out were faint whimpers and sniffles. He’d tired himself out emotionally, his head throbbed and his eyes were puffy and red, contrasting against the electric blue of his irises. “I’m sorry for causing so much trouble…I should probably head back” he managed to whimper out.

“Heck no” Kairi responded adamantly “you’re staying here tonight, or going over Riku’s but no way are you going back to that hell house. You’re no trouble at all I’m glad you came here, and that you’re safe. I will always be there for you Sora, you know that” she gently cupped his cheek with a soft smile.

Sora glanced up at her, his gaze meeting hers for a moment. Her tender smile sending an ache in his chest, the contrast of her kindness against a growing wound he carried, her warmth contrasted against his own. He hadn’t quite realized how warm she was. In their years a part, the quiet girl, had grown to become a kind warm protector. The tenderness of her touch and the gentleness of her smile enveloped him in a sense of safety. Content with her offer he simply nodded and snaked his arms around her in a grateful squeeze.

“I can even call Riku if you want, and make it a sleep over.” She suggested as she began to shift around looking for her phone. “Though god I don’t know what would stop him from not storming over to your house and fighting your parents on sight if he finds out.” She said with a slight chuckle to lighten the mood as she began to step away to grab her phone. However her actions were stopped by Sora tugging her back closer.

“In…in a moment…” he responded softly, not wanting to lose the warmth surrounding him. He felt far to tender and exposed to break the moment.

Kairi let out a surprised huff, before settling back into him, wrapping her arms around him again. Sora in response nuzzled into her and closed his eyes.  

Pt 2

[brimmsedge]

Dream: Dyad Institute

The dream began; I was being forced through a crowded space in a queue line of metal detectors and surveys. There was much confusion has to what happened and what was continuing to happen. And where I was. But I couldn’t look around too much before the space in front of me opened up and I’d get a not so friendly push to fill the gap.

At first I thought they were just eager to speed the process along. It wasn’t until a young man tried to flee from the line that I realized we weren’t here by choice. He didn’t get far until the tazer jolted him into a violent seizure.

When I got closer to the end of the line, I saw a chair and a strange head device. It was easy to deduce what this machine did by the violent, scared, emotions of the test subjects before and the numbness of them after the machine came to a stop. Brainwashing. On the backboard behind the chair was a triangle symbol. The symbol for the Dyad Institute, from Orphan Black.

Hooked up to the machine were several wires and two computers on desks. It wasn’t hard to tell what these machines read either. They made them very user friendly. They were reading people’s Chi. Each person they tested had an easy to read number. +3, -7, +5. My mind worked over the results of each person before me until I could no longer read the screen. This place felt much like TSA security. Lots of those portable taper strips to guide us along the line. Lots of bodies watching and guarding. The place looked clean and professional.

When I stepped to the chair I sat down without resistance. I let the machine work its magic. In turn, I’d work mine as well. This is my dream, and you think I’d let you take it from me? I looked at the machine with X-ray vision when the monitor called over his supervisor. My Chi was neutral. 0. Never been seen before. They didn’t seem to mind. They didn’t try to recalibrate the machine either. Next person got up, +9, +1, -6. It was working. Except I remembered everything. I was exactly who I was a moment ago.

The first machine wasn’t the only method of brainwashing. Every day in this new prison they’d give us pills to make us forget. I’d swallow them, but they held no power over me. I wondered if I had any magic at all and it wasn’t just because of my Chi. My neutrality gave me superiority over the others. We spent most days inside and sometimes when it rained they let us into the courtyard of mud and electric fences. I’m not sure the voltage was necessary. It was so much that the blue curls of lightning never stopped pouring out from the cold metal barbs.

It wasn’t until I started to try and wake up the others that my trouble started. Paul Deters from Orphan Black’s Dyad. Obviously the first few rebels I woke up and tried to escape didn’t work. We were met with brutal force. I got the machine again and several pills in isolation to make sure I was wiped. The isolation helped me practice my mock face. The next few revolts were planned more precisely. Still failed because the others would act out of line and instead of risking one person they all thought they could escape. A few times I let them act alone. I didn’t need unnecessary isolation, I needed to keep planning.

The men here had high powered energy guns and turrets set up. This next escape would do the trick. I just needed Paul to stop following me everywhere. One day, he did. He was replaced though. I woke up one morning beside him again. They shot me with drugs. They finally realized I wasn’t accepting any of them. They found out because another inmate had 0 Chi and he didn’t pretend like I did. They watched him pass off the drugs and machine, he panicked until they put a bullet in his head. They reviewed all the footage and saw that each and every time I resisted the drugs. This time, they had something else in mind.

They were going to militarize my DNA. Something like the Symbiote, or Xenomorph. No black goo, but definitely effective. My body resisted and tried to fight the infection. But failed. Instead it manifested with it. I turned into a werewolf. Paul did too after his injection. Except, he was a failed version. His claws and toes, face and skin, were deformed. He even knew it was something to be ashamed of. But me, my toes looked like raptors. My claws as sharp as blades. They still had me restrained and tazed me after the transformation was complete. They pushed me to an arena to test out my abilities.

I had faster reflexes, better vision, more agile. I was the perfect weapon. I laughed because here I could test and redefine my method of escape. They were helping me, they just didn’t know it yet.

Like normal, I would wake everyone up. This time I did it by force. I used my werewolf strength to break down the walls getting everyone together and then telling them that the family they’ve created in their minds were fake. We rebelled once more. This time I was on the front lines. Making sure no one else got hurt. I’d jump on walls, running on all fours. I’d rip turrets and people in half. I was a killing machine.

We got the end of the hall and three new turrets rose up from the floor. These blasts were easy for me to dodge. But not my fellow inmates. The energy burnt them to the bone. Nothing but ash was left in the torrent of white light. It hummed as it charged its next shot at me. I stood my ground. My last attempt to survive would not be so easily thwarted.

As the beam shot out and reached me, my hands grabbed the mystical energy. I tore it in two. Holding it in place, harnessing the energy. I sent the two beams back at the side turrets. To be honest, I was surprised I was able to catch the beam. I just wished for it to happen, and it did. After the explosions of the two turrets I pounced onto the center one and hacked at the machine to pieces. Not much of my resistance was left standing. They attacked us from the back and many men were getting shot down. I decide it’s best if I escape. So the efforts aren’t in vain.

I hire a lawyer and immediately investigate Dyad Institute. Day by day goes by during the trial. But my witnesses are disappearing every day. I call Paul Deters to the stand and even he goes missing. While it sucks for the trial, it still makes me look good. The trial is to resume in a few days so the police bring me to a safehouse with another family in the mean-time.

I ride a four-wheeler out across the meadows of their land. I arrive at the house but no one is home. I look down the winding driveway and find a strange mage whose face is covered in shadow by the hood. Every 10 feet or so, the mage drops down a crescent moon or star. Large 1 foot by 1 foot pads, of some sort. I pretend to be afraid and run up this tower. It’s strange because it resembled a Minecraft plank house. I ran slow enough to make sure the mage could keep up.

When I got to the roof I waited. Moments later the mage came up and began his dialogue. “You silly boy-“ But before he could make progress, I lifted him into the air with my telekinesis, I made two open hand clawed signs with my hand, bringing them together in front of me. Matching the energy that of the mage, I twisted my hands like opening a jar and slowly began to pull them apart. The mage reciprocated. His body twisted and his skin ripped red open. Some blood dropped, but when I tore him into two pieces no blood came down. Just cosmic energy. I could see billions of stars and galaxies between the pieces.

Further and further I stretched my hands until they began to shake from the power. Then I slammed my hands together in a thunderous clap. Only fragments of the mage’s clothes fell to the ground, his body fell into a pile of cosmic dust. I could feel the cosmic energy flowing through me. I grinned, staring down the roadway where the mage had come from. Hoping more would follow.

The sky began to weep. I could see Sora’s truck coming down the driveway. I leapt from the ledge and hid in the family’s garage. When the truck came to a stop, an ordinary looking family got out, confused, and worried. I came out from hiding to let them know I was okay. They must have seen the Moon sigils the mage left behind. The family and I went inside to eat.

But before I entered the house, I woke up.

[ruunkur]

Day 13: Bonds This is going to be the return of the second person perspective!

Trigger warnings: Suicidal ideation, suicide mention, depression, self harm mention, past character death. Yeah, this...is not light hearted, whoops. I'm sorry about that.

Through years, you have felt like you were being pulled by an invisible string. You had dreams of a world where digital monsters walked the earth, where you had friends that would have your back no matter what. You often would wake up from these dreams, covered in sweat, and staring at the dark ceiling above you.

You're in your early twenties, and you know you did not have the magical adventures that often haunt your nightmares. You live with your father, your mother having passed when you were younger. That year had taken both your mother and your younger sister-though not in that order-from you, leaving you with a hollow shell of a father and too much pain to know what to do with.

You had been eleven at the time of their deaths. You didn't know then how your mother died, other than your father said she wouldn't wake up one morning. Later, you found out that it had been suicide, from the pain of losing a child she cared for, despite realizing that it would leave another child behind.

You push yourself up out of the bed, shuffling over to the wall and flipping on the lights. You live in a small apartment, courtesy of your job that you only had to pay bills. The air felt stale and, as you change into something clean, you glance at the cuts scattering down your arm. You roll the sleeves of your jacket down, shaking your head and moving like a zombie to make food, knowing that, while you weren't hungry, you should probably eat.

It had been this way since you had moved out. You lived day to day, yearning for sleep so you could slip into a world where digital monsters ran wild, where there was happiness and, most importantly to you, where you had friends that would never betray you.

The real world was dreary however. It dragged on you each day, and it sent you spiraling closer and closer to the same darkness that had overtaken your family. To this day, you could not say for sure if your father was alive or dead, having lost all contact with him when you moved out.

You head down to the store, running a hand through your hair as you recalled just how much money you had left. Enough to get food for week, which would make it to your next pay check-

You feel a shoulder ram into you, your gaze darting to the young man that had walked past. He turned, opening his mouth before shaking his head.

"You should watch where you're going." He commented, blue eyes cold as he stared at you.

"Maybe you should." You commented, hand curled into a fist. "I was to the side of sidewalk, you were the one that ran into me."

"Well, how brave of you." The man commented with a sneer. "Lousy dregs of society like you-"

You grit your teeth, throwing the first punch you had in a long time. It hit its mark, the man stumbling as your weight was thrown into it. While you didn't often get enough to eat, you still had a bit of muscle on you from playing sports in school. That had been your own crowning moment that you had never wanted to change. You had been good at sports. If you hadn't nearly failed your last year of school, you could have probably gone on to do something better with your life. But at that point, you hadn't cared.

"What the-" The man narrowed his eyes, meeting your gaze and you glare back at him, taking a step back.

"Are you going to apologize?" You ask, a cockiness in your voice that you didn't feel. You want to go back to bed, to disappear from this stranger's gaze. The back of your mind whispers that you know him. He was one of the people that haunted your dreams when you slept, one of the people that had been a friend.

"You're the one that hit me." The man commented, taking a step forward. "If anything, I think you should apologize to me." He snapped.

"Yamato!" You snap your head to the side when you hear a woman's voice, taking a step back as the red head comes down the street, waving at the blond that you had been arguing with mere seconds ago. "If you don't hurry up, we're going to be late." She said.

"Right, I'm going." Yamato-he really did look like an older version of the Yamato from your dreams-gave you a glare, turning to the woman. "Sorry, just had an...altercation."

"Does the name 'Gabumon' mean anything to you?" You ask, shoving your hands in the pockets of your jacket. You see Yamato give you an odd look before he slowly shook his head.

"Unless you read my brother's books, no, it doesn't." He commented, voice taking on the hint of iciness you had seen in his eyes.

"What happened to your face?" The woman asked, reaching up to see the bruise forming on Yamato's cheek. He pulled away, shaking his head.

"He ran into a fist," you comment, turning and continuing on the way to the store. You hear Yamato snort before he told the woman his side of the story, starting with how you rudely ran into him and refused to apologize, then ended up punching him in return. You only listened to see what he would say before you disappear inside the store, grabbing a basket and carefully deciding what you could get.

***

You were told, when you were younger and still believed in such things as fairy tales, that bonds could last throughout worlds, through life and death, and survive even when they should not have. That was what kept you alive during your childhood, you were sure of that. But now...

You stare at the reflection in the mirror, raising a hand and running it through your hair. It was your day off, a week since you had seen the young man that had seemed to have walked straight out of your dreams. Every time you went to work, you looked for him, in hopes that you would see him again. You wanted to talk to him, to maybe confirm that you weren't crazy.

But you hadn't seen him since. You turn your attention to the computer in front of you, plugging in the laptop and turning it on for the first time in nearly two years. You hardly used technology. You find yourself almost fearful of technology, though you can't quite understand why. The thought makes you cringe as you open the google search after the laptop took its time updating.

It's nearly four in the afternoon and you're still in pajamas. You often spend your days off like this, not bothering to leave the apartment unless you needed food, which you should actually get some more today,while you're thinking about it. You grimace, typing in the name that you didn't really want to know about.

Your surprised when the internet turned back results, listening one Ishida Yamato as the lead singer of a fairly successful band in Japan. You frown as you look at the photos, recalling how, in the dreams, he had given up his dream of becoming a musician to instead chase after the goal of going to space. You shake your head, letting out a small laugh before you start seeing if you could find the others, the search only turning up Mimi and Sora, each woman with her own successful career.

It's another week before you run into Yamato again. This time, you're at the store, debating over if you could afford to splurge on chocolate, when you hear his voice and another man's, their laughter penetrating what little peace you could have claimed. You decide to go with the chocolate, putting it in your basket and turning to avoid his gaze.

"Hey, you're the guy that punched me." Yamato comments, and you grimace, turning to look at him.

"And you're the guy that rudely ran into me and blamed on me." You retort back, looking at how disheveled the blonde was for it being only the afternoon. "You look like shit."

"Not even on first name basis and you're already mocking my appearance, you really are the rude one." He commented. "But, at least I don't look like I crawled out of bed and never got changed."

"That's because I didn't." You reply. You didn't care about running for groceries in your pajamas. Besides, they were your comfort clothes.

"What a menace to society." The man said, though you could see the teasing in his eyes. "So, what brings you here?"

"Food," Taichi said, holding up his basket. "Isn't that what someone usually comes to a store like this for?"

"You seriously can't be eating junk like that." Yamato responded, catching a glance at the basket. "That's unhealthy."

"I make due. Besides, I don't even know you." You point out, your gaze sliding to the other man who looked so similar to Yamato.

"Yamato," he said, sticking out his hand. You glance down at it, taking it slowly.

"Taichi," you respond with a grimace, pulling your hand away as quickly as you could. You had felt electricity jolt up your hand when you had touched him. That was a thought that you didn't want to explore any time soon. You had heard stories of soulmates connected through reincarnated lives that would be able to recognize each other, no matter what.

"I feel like I know you." Yamato said, crossing his arms over his chest in thought.

"Nope, hardly leave my home beyond work." You say with a shake of your head. "Sorry, can't help you there."

"Yamato, we'll be late if you linger any longer." The other blonde said, Yamato rolling his eyes.

"Be right there Takeru." He said, turning his gaze to you. You meet his gaze, shaking your head slowly as he pulled a card out of his wallet. "I think you and I could be good friends. Message me sometime." He suggested.

"Thanks," you say, taking the card and letting out a sigh. You shove it in the pocket of your jacket, feeling Yamato catch your wrist.

"Whatever happened to you Taichi, you didn't deserve it. Our bonds are stronger than anything." He murmured, stepping into your space and staring into your eyes.

You close your eyes to cut the contact, feeling his hand let go of you. You wait for five heart beats before opening your eyes again, finding yourself alone in the store, neither blond anywhere in sight.

[florencetheflowerfairy]

The Sorato – Taishiro Parallel

To celebrate reaching 100 followers, I wanted to do something for both the Sorato fans and the Taishiro fans who follow me. How about we look at that time they deliberately paralleled these two relationships in the Dark Masters Arc!

In the first scene, Takeru is kidnapped and Pinnochimon may kill him. Yamato is desperate to save his brother. Pinnochimon’s henchman threatens the group, and Yamato insists that they question the henchman for Takeru’s whereabouts before killing him. But the henchman attacks the group, and so Piyomon fights back in self-defense, killing the henchman. Sora thanks Piyomon, and Yamato loses his temper. He shouts and raises his fist at Sora.  Taichi grabs his arm to stop him. Yamato apologizes for his behavior in the next episode.

In the second scene, Hikari is ill and Mugendramon may kill her. Taichi is desperate to save his sister. Koushiro plugs his laptop into a wall to search for the whereabouts of medicine. However, Mugendramon uses the signal from Koushiro’s laptop to track down the children, and he sends his henchmen to attack them. When Taichi and Koushiro escape, Taichi loses his temper. He shouts and grabs Koushiro’s collar. Agumon and Tentomon grab Taichi’s arms to stop him. Taichi apologizes for his behavior immediately.

To be sure, they’re both disturbing scenes. But I care about this parallel because both relationships are able to overcome this conflict. Taichi and Yamato redeem themselves. And if you want to foreshadow a long-lasting relationship (whether platonic or romantic), you should show that your characters can forgive each other’s mistakes and move forward. Since Taichi and Yamato have tempers, it’s important to me that the story confronts that issue in their closest friendships.

I also love this parallel because it’s all about family! It sets up Yamato-Takeru-Sora and Taichi-Hikari-Koushiro as two families dealing with a conflict. Adventure is not a romantic show, but it does do a fantastic job with families. Having Yamato and Sora act as Takeru’s “parents” was a frequent foreshadowing tool for their future romance. Fortunately for my non-canon heart, once Hikari joined the group, sometimes Taichi and Koushiro got the same “parental” treatment!

Really, I just think it’s cool how the writers very-obviously-on-purpose paralleled Taichi and Koushiro with the canon couple! The writers could have chosen anyone to be the targets of Yamato and Taichi’s tempers. Choosing Sora—Yamato’s future lover—shows how far Yamato has fallen, that he would threaten his own “family.” Choosing Koushiro for Taichi has the same heartbreaking effect, because Koushiro is Taichi’s close friend. Both scenes are meant to show the boys at their darkest moments, when they have lost their minds out of worry for their siblings. That they end up threatening the redheads carries emotional weight, because Sora and Koushiro are arguably the boys’ greatest allies. Sora and Koushiro have always been loyal to the point of risking their lives, and they are a constant positive force in pushing the boys to act better.

Here are a few examples of how the writers established Sora and Koushiro as the boys’ constant allies:

From the beginning, Sora is always able to stand up to the older boys when they start shouting. She pushes them to be more considerate.

Sora secretly helps Jyou and Yamato at Digitamamon’s diner, without expecting anything in return.

Sora runs into battle, armed only with a stick, to rescue Yamato from a literal grim reaper with a scythe.

Sora comforts and encourages Yamato after they have lost Hikari.

In short, over the course of the show, we see how Sora is one of the few characters to get to know Yamato as a person and befriend him. She protects him, counsels him, and learns to understand him.

Koushiro faithfully recalls that Taichi was always a good person, even though he disapproves of the way he is currently treating Agumon.

Koushiro stops Taichi from recklessly running into the electric fence and explains why he should be careful.

Koushiro offers that he and Tentomon will fight Etemon alone, in order to give Taichi time to save Sora, even though there is no way that Koushiro and Tentomon could win this fight by themselves.

Koushiro expresses total faith in Taichi as a leader at Vamdemon’s Gate.

In short, over the course of the show, we see how Koushiro and Taichi’s already-strong friendship becomes stronger. Koushiro trusts in Taichi no matter how bleak the situation, and always gives him valuable advice.

On the flip side, Yamato and Taichi have been always great supportive friends to Sora and Koushiro. Here are their most iconic examples:

The moment that made little kids fall in love with Sorato. When Sora begins to cry about her mom, Yamato is the most respectful and understanding of her feelings. 

The moment that made fans swoon for Taishiro. After everyone has put their faith in Taichi to lead, Taichi picks Koushiro to solve Vamdemon’s puzzle and inspires the others to encourage the boy.

They’re both important moments that have a huge impact on Sora and Koushiro’s development. Yamato and Taichi supported the redheads when they most needed validation. It goes a long way to help the audience trust the boys. This makes their fall from grace all the more dramatic.

After writing all this, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that another part of the Dark Masters parallel is that both Sora and Koushiro are the most observant, understanding, and forgiving characters of the two boys throughout the arc.

How Sora sees Yamato

Before they meet Pinnochimon, we have the graveyard scene. Sora takes up half the screen so that she can properly observe Yamato lose his temper at Taichi and look concerned for him.

After Yamato sneaks away from the group, Sora is the only one who notes how his behavior was becoming more worrisome.

After Yamato apologizes to the group and says that he needs to leave, Sora asks if he wants company. When Yamato says that he needs to be alone, Sora says that she still believes in him. (*cough* Incredibly similar to how Koushiro said “I’ve always believed in Taichi-san” at Vamdemon’s Gate! *cough*) Sora also immediately comforts Takeru, and Yamato thanks her before leaving.

Even after Yamato has shouted at her and then betrayed the group, Sora remains compassionate. Sora is the only one who reaches out to Yamato to call him back to the group when they see him again.

How Koushiro sees Taichi

Before we meet Mugendramon, we have this scene. After Hikari falls ill, Taichi confides in Koushiro that maybe they shouldn’t have brought her with them, or Takeru.  Koushiro responds practically that they still need the younger children, and asks Taichi what’s wrong. Taichi demures, and Koushiro takes up the whole screen to look worried about him. 

After Taichi apologizes to Koushiro for grabbing his collar, Koushiro remains calm and understanding. He has deduced that something private must have happened to Taichi and Hikari, and so he asks specifically if that is the case. Taichi finally answers him honestly.

Even after Taichi has lost his temper at him, Koushiro remains steadfast in his loyalty. He continues to bravely speak up to Taichi and counsel him, even when Tentomon and Agumon act nervous.

IN CONCLUSION

Sora and Koushiro are both incredibly patient friends to the rascal boys. It’s a good thing that Yamato rescues Sora from the Dark Cave, and that Taichi protects Koushiro from Piemon as they wait for the party to regroup, because they definitely had to redeem themselves! They had to prove they were worthy of the redheads’ trust.

I’m certain that it was planned from the beginning that Yamato would freak out about Takeru in the final arc, and it was only natural for Sora to be written as his most observant, understanding, forgiving friend, since Yamato and Sora were created to fall in love.

When the writers decided to add Hikari to the group, they must have also decided to give Taichi a parallel arc where he would freak out about her, and in the process learn to be more sensitive like Yamato. Happily, Koushiro got to fill in the parallel role of Sora, as Taichi’s most observant, understanding, forgiving friend.

Was it meant to be queer romantic foreshadowing for Taishiro? No. But it’s fun to interpret it that way. :)

[askthedespairkids]

At The Shelter

Sora: .......-Sighs and slumps against the wall near some of the shelter residents- So...how y'all doing?

Damien: -The residents simply glare and move back to do tasks for a the day...except Miraz.- You never explained what you both were here for.

Sora: I mean, I kinda just dragged along for the ride...this is just a pain in the ass for me...but that Junko girl sent us here to stop Future Foundation when they respond to your distress signal...or something like that. I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention.

Damian: Junko? As in Junko Enoshima? -He asks before a letting out a bitter laugh.- I knew something was off about her. Kind of like that lady from Season 2.

Sora: ...right...whoever the fuck that refers...look, I'm just a forced accomplice. I'm too lazy to try anything like this under normal circumstances.

Damian: Forced? -He asks curiously.- How'd you even end up with them?

Sora: Captured my class...most of my class, after the attack at Hope's Peak...may or may not have gotten captured because I'm too lazy to run...

I take it the robot is only a few of the things this group has?

Sora: Major players in the movement all have some kind of weapon...Masaru's is the robot. Wouldn't bother trying to destroy it...not gonna happen with what you've all got here

Damian: -Miraz grimaces at this.- I guess not...why is Masaru with her?

Sora: Dunno...never asked.

Damian: Guess I'll have to ask him. But...you're certain none of the weaponry we have can stop the robot?

Sora: ...the despairs have the Ultimate Mechanic on their side that made all that plating as a weapon to destroy the biggest despair resistance group on earth....and you wanna know if your bullets and arrows are gonna stop it...?

Damian: A man once told me to remember what I'm doing things for, no matter the odds. If there's any chance to get the both of you out of this base or to give up on your plan to attack Future Foundation, then I refuse to give up. -Damian replies determined.-

Sora: Hate to burst your bubble then. The thing has a weakpoint, sure. But it would take a hell of a lot of damage to actually expose it...nothing you got here could expose it.

Damian: Where's the weak point? -He leans in anticipation.-

Sora: That Monokuma chest plate...like I said. Nothing's gonna damage it.

Damian: Hmm...I'll keep that in mind. -Miraz nods.- But why haven't you tried getting out of the group?

Sora: ....partly too lazy...partly because the rest of my class would probably get axed if I tried.

Damian: How can you be lazy about all this?

Sora: Hahah...-Puts a hand on Damien's shoulder-...you'd understand if you knew me better. Trust me, anyone that's known me for longer than a week just accepts it.

Damian: Even...during all this? He motions to everything around them. Despairs running around and tearing everything apart?

Sora: Yeah. I don't like getting stressed, so I do everything in my power to avoid it.

Damian: ....you're weird. -He stands up.- But I can admire avoiding stress. Thanks for the info.

Sora: ...you're gonna try and destroy the robot, aren't you?

Damian: ... -He doesn't reply and walks off to meet the others in a more private room.-

Sora: You're gonna get everyone killed...! Ugh...I'm not moving....

Damian: -After ensuring Masaru wasn't around, Miraz shuts the door and turning to the group.- Nagata-san gave up some info on how we can possibly take out the robot and why he and Masaru-san are here.

Yae: Eh?! How the hell are we gonna take something like that out?!

Tall male: Keep your voice down, would you?

Damian: First, they're here to ambush Future Foundation, a group that's out there trying to bring hope back to the world. We can't let that happen. The robot itself has one weak spot: on its chest.

Yae: That big bear robot print thing, right?

Damian:Right. However, bullets won't work as seen in...the last attack. He pauses, pushing back memories. He also said arrows won't work either.

Yae: Not to mention they somehow disabled all my traps...stupid bastards, ruining perfectly good work like that. Bunch of scrubs, all of 'em!

Umeko: Then...what do we do...?

Damian: ... -Damian frowns-, still thinking on that. We....we could use the power from the station to shut it down maybe.

Tall boy: Like an electric shock? It could work, if Kamii tries to hook something up.

Damian: Could you do it? -He turns to Kamii.-

Yae: Well, duh! The problem is making sure the kid doesn't notice! Ugh, we really are balls deep in trouble now.

Umeko: Even then, we don't know if our weapons will work on its weak point...

We have to try at least. Reaching could be an issue- Wait... Damian stands, pacing for a moment. Maybe...

Tall boy: What? You got a plan?

Damian: Electric Arrow -Damian turns back to the group.- We distract Masaru, wire up the power to an arrow and fire at the chest. It's just like that one movie. ...something games?

Yae: Yeah, but that was a movie! What if something goes wrong you electrocute yourself or some other shit?!

Damian: It's the best I can think of right now. If you guys come up with anything else to stop them then I'm all ears.

Yae: ...

Umeko: ...

Tall Boy: ...you said they were waiting for future foundation, right...?

Damian: Yeah, if they get here, and the robot is a problem, then our hope of getting help is done for.

Tall Boy: ...what if Kamii makes an electric trap to stun the robot so they can evacuate us all? I mean, this is a radio tower, it's gotta have an insane amount of power.

Yae: It's risky, but it could work.

Umeko: Not to mention, Future Foundation must have some kind of equipment to help fight against these sort of things.

Damian: They might... How would we get the robot into the trap though?

Yae: Looks like the robot attacks with drills, so it can't attack at a long range...if I set the trap up at the entrance, then the robot will have to step over it.

Damian: Alright, let's do it. It's our best attempt for the time being. When do we do it?

Umeko: Daimon-kun seems like the type to monologue, so he'll probably have a speech prepared for when they all arrive.

Damian: So we start building under his nose, then attack when he least expects it.

Tall boy: Sounds good. Nagata, you're pretty good with kids, yeah?

Umeko: I suppose...well, I'll do what I can in any case...

Damian: Great, we'll overcome then we'll finally get to safety! -Damian proclaims.- Why do we carry on?

All three: For a better day ahead of us!