#and now she's acting like this is new terrible devastating information

[florida3exclamationpoints]

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[lovely-angst]

It’s a date

10.13.20

it’s good to be back in kacchan’s arms

It had officially been over a year since your break up with Bakugou. 

The end of your relationship had become rocky and the two of you just couldn’t keep the relationship stable no matter how hard you tried. Though it was mutual, you thought you could heal and move on after a few weeks, but here you were, a year later, still hung up on the man. 

You learned to slowly understand that whatever the two of you had, it was in the past and that it was time to move on. The single life wasn’t terrible either, but somehow, you found yourself thinking about how much more fun running simple errands would be with Bakugou.

It didn’t help much that the two of you still went to school together, thankfully, in different classes. It also didn’t help much that all of your classmates knew of the previous relationship. It seemed as if everyone was rooting for the relationship—how devastating it must have been to hear the news. 

Thankfully, being a third year in the hero course kept you busy enough to keep your mind from wandering back to Bakugou. Though lately, you’d been thinking about him a lot.

You would hear from some friends about how Bakugou was doing, how he would get amazing internships with some amazing heroes. Of course, he would, he was just that great. 

It didn’t help much that you would see him in the hallways from time to time or when your classes would meetup to train. Did he always look so cool when he wore his hero costume? You weren’t sure, but you didn’t want to keep on thinking about him. 

The relationship ended for a reason, there was no point on going back.

-

” Hey, (Name)?” Hearing your name called, you glanced upwards to find a few of your friends with large grins on their faces. “So we know you’ve been single for a while now, but I thought I could set you up on a blind date this weekend? What do you say?” 

Your eyes widened as you blinked at them, speechless. “Blind date?” you repeat, still in disbelief. 

Giggling, she nodded, “Don’t worry, he’s no creep. He’s actually in the hero course at Shiketsu High,” she informs, but the hesitant and worried expression doesn’t leave your face. “He said he’d love to meet you, I think you should give it a try,” she says with a small, supportive smile and you couldn’t help but give in. 

With a sigh, you nodded, “Fine, I’ll go.” You had no intention of pursuing another serious relationship, but it didn’t hurt to meet new people. 

So, here you were, standing in the busy city of Tokyo as you glanced down at your phone for the hundredth time—an hour passed your meetup time. Sighing, you quickly shot your friend a text, giving her an update of the date like she had asked. 

‘Got stood up :^\’

Putting your phone away, you glanced down at the outfit you had put together for the date you were supposed to go on. And to think you tried to dress up a little nicer too. 

Trying to calm the building anger inside of you, you found an empty bench away from the hustle and bustle of the city. As soon as you sat down, you couldn’t help but begin to pity yourself. 

-

“I knew today would be perfect for some icecream!” Kirishima exclaims happily, walking out of the ice cream shop before chomping into his icecream cone before letting out a pained scream over sensitive teeth.

Bakugou rolled his eyes as he held his simple vanilla cone in one hand. Though he’d hate to admit it, Kirishima was right. Today was a good day for some ice cream, especially from how busy he was in the past week. He deserved a well relaxed day like today. 

Just as Bakugou was about to dig into his icecream, Kirishima spoke up, “Hey, isn’t that (Name)?” 

His red eyes shot up to where his friend was pointing before he laid eyes on you alone on the bench, looking quite, dejected. 

“I wonder what she’s doing all alone?” Kirishima questioned curiously as the pair watched you from across the street. “Date gone wrong?”

“As if,” Bakugou scoffed, stuffing a free hand into his pocket. “Why don’t you go talk to her? Ask her if she’s okay?” Kirishima suggests, but Bakugou glances at him with narrowed eyes. “What? Why me?”

Kirishima shrugs, “You know her better, plus you’re just asking her if she’s okay!” Bakugou glared at his friend before clicking his tongue annoyingly, turning away to walk in your direction. 

“I’ll swing by in a few minutes!” Kirishima replied as bit into his ice cream once more. 

Each step Bakugou took, he wanted to turn back and tell Kirishima that approaching you was a stupid idea, but before he knew it, he was already standing in front of you.

Noting a pair of shoes slide into your view, you raise your head to find Bakugou staring down at you, thinking intensely. Before you could manage a greeting, Bakugou interrupts the silence. 

“Why are you looking all depressed here alone like someone who had just been ghosted on a date?” He questions and you know it was his way of trying to be comforting, but all you could do was sigh and give him a shrug, a sad smile on your lips. 

“Well, I have. Just got stood up today,” Bakugou’s eyes narrow before you glance back down at your nails, “It’s not a big deal though, it was a blind date my friend set me on, so I don’t know the guy, but I wasn’t expected to be stood up.” 

Bakugou stared down at you before deciding to settle down beside you, a good length keeping the two of you apart. 

“Blind date or not, it doesn’t matter,” Bakugou glances at you before offering you his icecream, “Here, I haven’t touched it yet. You seem to need it more than I do,” he says gently, your eyes wide as you focus on the vanilla swoop. 

“What? Just because I’m a girl, you think I need some ice cream to cheer me up?” You say playfully, taking the ice cream from his hands before giving it a lick. 

“Don’t act like you never ate ice cream when you were upset,” he snickers and you give him a small smile. 

“Hey bro!” hearing a voice call out, you notice Kirishima running towards the two of you with a wave. “Oh hey, (Name)! How have you been?” 

“I’ve been better,” Kirishima frowns at your response, “sorry to hear. Well, if it makes you feel any better, Bakubro here can spend the day with you. We were gonna hang, but Kaminari sent me this urgent message telling me to meet up with him at the arcade to play some DDR, so gotta run!” 

With a wave, he sped off, leaving you alone with Bakugou once more. You glanced over at Bakugou, who looked just as confused and slightly irritated at the news. 

“You don’t have to hang out with me, you can head home, I’ll be fine,” you say, standing up, Bakugou following your actions. “You have the rest of the day free, let’s go for some lunch. I haven’t had anything to eat yet.”

A smile forms on your lips as you give him a nod, “I haven’t either, lunch sounds great.”

Walking side by side with Bakugou was comforting, like all those days ago when the two of you used to date. Granted, it was sort of awkward because the two of you are no longer in a relationship. 

Tossing the last piece of the cone in your mouth, you glance up at Bakugou, “Hey, thanks for the ice cream. I guess I needed it more than I thought,” you say, Bakugou giving you his signature shrug. 

“It’s nothing. Didn’t know you were going on dates with guys you didn’t know, didn’t anybody tell you about stranger danger?” he joked, causing you to frown at him. “I only accepted the date because my friend was really bugging me to go. Plus, she said he was a good guy and he is in the hero course as Shiketsu, so how bad can he be?” 

Rolling his eyes, Bakugou scoffed, “He stood you up, so much for a good guy,” Ignoring his comment, the two of you made it to a tonkatsu curry shop before settling down to order. 

“What can I get you two?” The waitress asked, pouring the two of you some water. Bakugou studied the menu in his hands for a minute before speaking up, “One spicy tonkatsu curry for me and one mild for her,” he states, handing the menu back. 

“Sure thing,” as soon as she was a good distance away, you gawked at Bakugou, “How’d you know that’s what I was going to order?” 

“I know you can’t handle your spice as good as me,” he states nonchalantly, “I guess you haven’t changed much.” Crossing your arms, watching him drink his water, “Oh yeah? Since when?” 

“Since we last dated, obviously.” Hearing those words come from him, your cheeks flush lightly before you grabbed your water for a quick sip. “Getting shy there, princess?” 

His teasing caused your face to flush more and noticeably this time. He still knows how to wrap you around his finger. 

You didn’t think Bakugou was going to stick with you for the rest of the day, opting out to head home sometime after lunch, but here he was, standing beside you with a warm cup of hot chocolate in his hand, watching the sun go down with you. 

“This shit is too sweet,” Bakugou complained as he finished taking a sip of the sweet drink. “You didn’t have to get that drink, Bakugou,” you reminded, keeping your hands warm on the cup.

“Yeah, but you kept going on and on about how good this drink was. It couldn’t be that good and I still stand corrected,” he shot back, you rolling your eyes with a snort. “Whatever you say, princess.” 

Just as Bakugou was about to shoot another comment, the street lights and the hanging lights that hung around the trees lit up as the sun finally went down. Your eyes widened with an excited squeak left your lips. 

Your hand fell onto Bakugou’s forearm as you looked around delighted, “Katsuki, isn’t it pretty?” 

His heart jumped at the sound of your voice calling his name. He thought he was never going to hear you call for him again, but it sounded just as lovely as it did before. 

Maybe even more so now than before.

“Katsuki?” He repeated, your head turning to glance up at the male. Jumping at the realization, you quickly removed your hand from him before settling it on your cup, pushing your hair away from your face embarrassed.

“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to call you by your name! It just-” 

“It just what?”

With your lips pressed in a tight line, you tried not to show your panicking heart as you held your cup tightly. Though you felt so small and embarrassed from being caught, a rush of bravery flew through you. 

“It reminded me of the dates we used to go on when we were together,” you confessed, glancing back over at the beautifully lit street. 

Bakugou was glad you weren’t focused on him right now, you’d see how flushed he’d become from your words because you were right—it did feel like a date from the time the two of you were together. 

A ringing fell upon the quiet silence between the two of you before you reached into your pocket to pull out your phone, your face falling from a quick read of the message. 

“My mom wants me home now,” you say, trying to hide the sadness in your voice. “I’ll walk you to the station,” Bakugou quickly chimed in, your smile soothing the ache in his heart. 

The walk to the station was a quiet one as the two of you walked together no words exchanged. “Everything was going so well until I had to screw up and call him by his first name. Now he definitely knows I’m not over him after a whole year!” you scream mentally. 

“Thanks for hanging out with me today, Bakugou. I’m actually glad I got stood up for once,” you say, trying to lighten the mood as the two of you stood outside the station. 

“It’s nothing,” he replied, one hand stuffed in his pocket as the other held his not so hot, hot chocolate. “See you sometime,” you say, giving him one last smile before turning to walk into the station. 

“(Name),” Bakugou called out, watching you turn around, “I’m free next weekend if you are, for another cup of hot chocolate,” he says, watching the smile grow on your face.

“I thought you didn’t like hot chocolate?” you chuckle and Bakugou gives you a shrug, “Guess we have to find the perfect cup, huh?” Another giggle escapes your lips, fueling Bakugou’s heart.

“So, it’s a date?” you ask curiously with a playful smile, awaiting his response. “It’s a date.” Raising his cup, you followed in suit, raising your cup as well, “See you next weekend!” you say before turning around to catch your train. 

Smiling to himself, Bakugou turned around, walking back home, taking a sip of his too sweet hot chocolate, “It’s a date.”

[mashiraostail]

Hi Den! I just saw your depressive reader request and I really appreciated it, of course and your other contents, they were amazing. I wasn't really feeling myself lately and seeing the characters comfort the reader, believe me it really helps me, especially I'm going through a big test right now. I was wondering if I can request a Vlad King version, or any other characters you have in mind? I really wanted to be in his big arms, if no then it's ok too💗please stay hydrated at these times and be safe, I'm looking foward to your great work💗

 Hi! I'm really glad you liked them! I have another ask looking to get Mic and Yagi so I’ll add them here too, i hope your test goes well! 

Sekijiro Kan / Vlad King Hindsight is always much clearer. You wished you'd started the assignment when you got it rather than continually putting it off, but no, so everything had piled. You somehow managed to churn it all out the night before but it left you thoroughly exhausted. So much so that you end up flaking on your plans with Sekijiro, he doesn’t seem too perturbed on the phone though, he knew you had a lot of work right now, he’s been guilty of the same thing on occasion.  Though that was a week ago. Nothing particularly devastating had happened, nothing out of the ordinary, and yet you just felt so exhausted. Everything was a chore to you. Which made staying in bed with the lights out for days on end incredibly easy. But it made doing laundry, changing your sheets, doing the dishes, and even just finishing a glass of water basically impossible. All you had the energy to do was get up, go to your job, and come straight home and get back into bed. If your coworkers noticed your rapidly declining state no one said anything.  It was rare for Sekijiro to go more than a few hours without at least a text from you. You sent him literally whatever crossed your mind, pictures, random ideas or thoughts, questions about what you should eat for lunch or dinner, should you get mocha in your coffee or vanilla? You also usually called him when you were doing some sort of mindless task, cooking or cleaning and other things of the like. Not to mention how often you saw each other, practically everyday you usually stopped in on him while he was paroling, or asked him to come to your place when he was done. Now he was going full days without hearing from you at all. Since you’d given him a raincheck on your plans earlier last week he’d hardly heard from you. He texted you first of course, he’d asked how you were feeling numerous times now, but you always just said ‘I’m alright’ or ‘a bit exhausted’ at the worst before turning the conversation around to him again.  “You look nervous.” Aizawa doesn’t look up when he speaks, but it was an elephant in the room. Sekijiro was sure everyone had noticed how often he was checking his phone, or the nervous jitter in his leg every time it went off. “Yeah big guy what’s got you so rattled?” Mic agrees from his spot beside Aizawa in the teachers lounge.  “Nothing really.” Vlad cracks his knuckles, a nervous habit. “I bet you told Ryo. You shouldn’t play favorites it’s-”  “I didn’t tell him and I don’t play favorites.” He cuts Nemuri off.  “Is it romance troubles?”  “Why do you always take it there, Midnight?”  “So it is.” She looks proud, “I don’t always take it there, I just have a keen eye.”  Sekijiro lets out an empty huff of a laugh, “sure.”  “Maybe we can help.” If anyone but Aizawa said that Sekijiro would have written it off. It’s not that Aizawa wasn’t a nice guy, he was a hero after all, but for the most part he liked to keep to himself. Him offering help must have meant that Sekijiro was jumpier than he’d previously thought. “I have this...friend..and they’ve just been sort of MIA lately is all.  I don’t wanna barge in on them but they’re just not acting like themselves. I’m worried I did something to offend them, or that they’re hurt or sick and not telling me, when I ask they just write it off. I don’t want to seem like I don’t trust them but something just feels wrong.” Now that he said it out loud this did sound like the type of thing Ryo would have been really useful for, though that in mind Ryo knew you better than the others, the chance of him just barging in on you was much higher. The trio ponders this new information before Mic seems to have a lightbulb. “Why don’t you go there with a gift? That way it’s less like barging in and more like surprising!” Mic jumps, holding up an inquisitive finger, “or bring some take out or something like that!”  “That’s..not a bad idea..” Sekijiro murmurs to himself, it wasn’t out of character for him to surprise you at random times either...  “Great. Why don’t you head out now?” Aizawa offers and Sekijiro turns to him.  “No I mean, I would but I agreed to stay back for my class so they could use the-”  “We’ll be here for a while.” He’s curt but his kindness isn’t lost on the taller hero.  “Thank you Eraser. I really appreciate this, I’ll repay you.”  “Don’t mention it. If this’ll get you to stop shaking like a wet dog all the time.” He mutters to himself turning the paper before him over, “let us know if we can do anything else.”  You were starving. Yet you didn’t have a single morsel of food in your whole apartment, not even a jar of peanut butter. The hunger pains in your stomach weren’t enough to motivate you to venture out into the world, the terrible gloomy weather wasn’t helping either. You rolled onto your chest with a groan, wondering how much longer you could go on like this. Maybe after work tomorrow you could stop some place and pick up some groceries, for now though sleep was a great distraction.  Despite having a key Sekijiro still knocked, though after receiving no reply he elected to let himself in.  It seems like you’re in, your shoes are by the door, and your key is on the hook above them, but the coffee table is covered in plates, utensils and half empty cups of water or juice, your favorite blanket was strewn haphazardly over the couch, dangling onto the floor, you normally folded it neatly and draped it over the back. Your work papers and other things were cluttering the arm chair on the far end of the room and there were various wrappers around the floor and couch.  “Hello?” Sekijrio calls out for you but gets no reply. He clears a spot on your coffee table for the take out he brought and sets the other bag of various odds and ends on the couch before setting to straightening up. If you were asleep, which is what he figured, then you probably had a cold or something. He doesn’t wanna clean everything, incase you..liked it like this? He’s not sure himself but maybe you were trying something out. He empties the glasses into the sink and cleans them and the utensils off before discovering you had literally no food in your whole apartment. This was becoming concerning.  “Hey..” He knocks on the slightly ajar door of your bedroom, there’s no light coming from inside.  “I’m gonna come in alright?” He nudges the door open with his shoulder and the light from the hallway illuminates you, asleep. You didn’t look sick, though somehow you still looked worse for wear.  He shuffles over to you, “hey you?” He crouches down but keeps his voice low, “wake up.” He doesn’t want to startle you or anything. His efforts are fruitless. He straightens up and looks around a bit, pondering his next move.  He elects to climb into bed with you, he isn’t sure why he does this, but it feels like the right move. He carefully maneuvers your limp and sleepy form to rest against him. You start to mumble sleepily, still deadweight stacked against him, “Sek?” You’re wrapping an arm around his ribcage.  “Hey’re you up?” He looks down to you, only to find you are in fact not up. So he stays like that for a while, holding you by the back of your head to his chest, his other hand running long strokes over your spine, he could reheat the take out for you when you woke up.  When you do wake up you’re fully prepared for the terrible pang of hunger to be the first thing that you feel. But instead you just feel warm, you didn’t remember bringing a heavier blanket in here with you, but the warm weight on your back was comforting and...moving? Why was your blanket rubbing your back? The next thing to hit you was the scent, warm and piney to mask a slight metallic twinge, it was Sekijiro’s.  “Hey you’re awake.” His hand halts, “sorry to barge in like this.”  “it’s...okay.” You wipe your eyes and sit up, his hand slides off your back and wraps around to hold your waist.  “You feeling alright?”  The hunger hits you then.  “Honestly? No..” You’re straddling his leg, hands resting on his stomach.  “Yeah, I had a feeling. What’s up? It didn’t feel like you had a fever.”  “I’ve just been exhausted lately, Everything’s a chore. It’s all piling up and I have no motivation, and then I isolate myself and that doesn’t help.” You scrub your face. It clicks for Sekijiro then.  “Oh.” He sits up, “oh.” He holds either of your arms in his hands, “why didn’t you say something sooner? I would have come to help.”  “I didn’t wanna be a burden or seem childish, normally I can be pretty high functioning when I get like this. I’m still going to work and all so I figured I’d just pull out of this slump and then..apologize to you for being so aloof. I just-” Your stomach growls.  “And another thing! You don’t even have a crumb of food in here!” Sekijiro scolds you, “seriously I was worried sick when I got in. And you’re starving! You could have asked me to bring you something!”  “I didn’t wanna bother you, especially when I was being so cold I-”  “Okay. Don’t work yourself up.” Sekijiro uses the hand not being held by you to pull your bedhair back from your face, “well I brought food anyways. We can heat it up. So why don’t we talk after you eat?” “I’d... rather talk now..” You murmur, holding one of his hands in both of yours, “I’m really sorry Sekijiro. I shouldn’t have acted like that. I should have called you and explained and-”  “That’s a lot easier said than done babe.” Sekijiro stops you, “I won’t say I wasn’t worried, I was. Aizawa even said something to me.” He laughs a little, “but...this isn’t always something you can help. I didn’t wanna seem like I didn’t trust you by just barging in so I let it go on too long. I’m sorry for not coming sooner even though I was worried.”  “It’s not your responsibility to-”  “Shush. Anyways, now I know this kind of thing can happen from time to time, are you okay with me coming to check on you if I’m worried?”   “Of course I am..” You lean forward and drop your head onto his shoulder,  “I’m sorry too, for shutting you out and being cold..I didn’t make you think I was mad at you did I?”  He laughs, “It had..briefly crossed my mind.”  “I’m sorry Sek..” You wrap your arms around his back, you feel it shake with quiet laughter.  “It’s alright. Everything is fine now. You must be starving though, do you feel better? Enough to eat at least? Let’s go out to the couch, a change of scenery may do you good?”  You agree blindly, affectionately leaning into him as he rubs your back, truthfully you weren’t even sure what you agreed to until you were rounding the corner to the living room.  “Oh no it’s-” Not half as bad as you thought?  “I just picked up some stuff while you were asleep.” He waves, “I left your work stuff and the blanket, I know you can be particular about them. Get comfy and I’ll go heat this up.”  You sit on another bag by accident, curious you peek inside to find a niche collection of aspirin, a heating pad, and some socks among other things. You can feel your eyes getting wet.  “Hey why don’t you pick a movie too?” He’s coming back with two plates, “I can even give you a pass this time I won’t mind if you fall asleep because I-”  “Did you get all this for me?” You scrub at your eyes and he rushes over, quickly setting the plates down.  “W-well yeah I though you were sick!” He pulls you forward again, into his chest, he wraps his arms around you, “what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”  “It’s just really nice of you-” You sniffle, carding your hand through the back of his hair, “thank you for coming Sek.”  “Well..yeah of course I came babe. I’ll always...geeze, don’t cry..I didn’t wanna make you cry. Come on buck up.” His hands are sort of aggressively rubbing your back, but it’s actually kind of comforting..  “You could never bother me with something like this. I wanna help.”  “I’m sorry.” You pull away and wipe your face after he squeezes you one last time, “sorry I’m..I don’t know why I’m so emotional right now-” You sniffle and look up at him, “I'm such a baby aren’t I?”  “No..I don't think so.” He reaches out and nudges a tear with his knuckle, “I think it’s sweet. Babies are cute anyways.” His palms cup your face and his thumbs rub comforting strokes over your puffy cheeks, “let’s eat, okay? Put on a movie and you can fall asleep again if you want, I’ll even carry you to bed after. Tomorrow we’ll both go to work and then come back here and start getting you back on track alright? You’d help if it were me so don’t worry about troubling me. It’s really not any trouble at all. I feel better knowing you’re taken care of so really you’re doing me a favor.” 

Hizashi Yamada/Present Mic The pair of you were quite literally inseparable. You called each other during every commute, texted and chatted throughout the entire day. So when he started lamenting to Aizawa that you’d pulled away a bit Aizawa told him to buck up, you probably just needed time to recharge. He’d been friends with the voice hero for over a decade now and even he needed to take time to himself on occasion, and he didn’t see Hizashi half as often as you did sometimes. He always reassures Hizashi that loudness can be exhausting but that doesn’t mean he’s disliked, sometimes people just can’t match his energy. That was probably the case now. While that put him slightly at ease he was still a bit disgruntled. You’d never had an issue talking to him about this sort of thing before, you were always the first person to ask him to quiet down, or to lower his energy level, and usually you were the one of the few who could do it in a way that was somehow sweet rather than hurtful. The fact that you were plain ignoring him now sort of...actually hurt his feelings. You answered his texts, though usually with much less gusto than before, and you always cut your talks on the phone short with some random excuse, ‘i think someone is at the door’ or, ‘sorry someone else is calling me’ or ‘my phones about to die’ and so on. When he asked to see you you deflected, you had a migraine, you were backed up at work, you wouldn’t be home till later, you had to get up early the next day, any excuse under the sun to take a raincheck on him. He spent about 2 days brooding over it, genuinely hurt by your actions and wholly unsure of your intentions.  To be honest, his high energy, loudness, and general excitability was exactly what you needed right now. You never had trouble asking him for help with things before; Help me open this jar? Could you pick up dinner on your way back? Do you mind moving my couch please, I’m trying to redecorate.. Will you straighten my hair I always miss pieces in the back. So you didn’t know why you couldn’t ask him to just be here. You didn’t need anything else, just his company would have been nice. You’d had an awful week, there was so much to do and you could feel your interest waining as the seconds ticked by, it was normal for you to get dragged down this time of year. Your coworkers and teammates were understanding of it, everyone had their ticks and this was yours, they were happy to help pick up what overwhelmed you and you were grateful for that but at the same time guilt gnawed at you, you felt useless and burdensome, the last thing you wanted to do was ask yet another person for yet another favor. Begging for help when you should be able to do it yourself. You didn’t want to suck the energy out of Hizashi, you already felt guilty enough for leaning so heavily on your colleagues. In hindsight your reasoning would make no sense, but all you wanted to do now was isolate yourself. It was as if your growth wouldn’t mean anything if you didn’t achieve it all on your own. You’re never really sure how you reach these conclusions but in the end they always feel logical.  That being said, it didn’t feel like you were achieving much of anything right now. All of these tears were over nothing, it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed but still. You’d written it all in pen, and now the error..it’s not that you couldn’t white it out, you surely could, but the white out would look sloppy now and it would be clear you made an error but you were so close to being done you didn’t want to start the whole page over. It felt like a silly thing to cry over, but you did anyways. Eventually it tired you out enough to get you to just resign to bed. Hardly past 10 pm, but bed. You needed bed. You were so wrapped up in work that you didn’t even notice him texting and calling, you hadn’t even spoken to him once today, and then when you decided to call it a night you just left your phone at your work space.  He was antsy, jumpy and even a bit irritable. Worry didn’t really begin to describe it. Eventually, late into dinner Nemuri tells him to just go to you. “Check up on them, if they really are exhausted they’ll tell you that to your face, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”  Everyone seemed to echo her sentiments, which was largely unsurprising considering his change in demeanor was probably the least refreshing thing to befall the group of teachers the semester. Dorming wasn’t entirely unpleasant, they liked each other enough, but when things like this happened everyone’s patience was tested.  He calls when he’s outside your complex, he’s mostly sure you won’t answer but he at least wanted to try before knocking, and then eventually deciding to just use his key. Not answering wasn’t going to be enough to get rid of him, he decided he was going to get to the bottom of this tonight. Even if the issues was simply that you just needed the time to recharge from him you could say that instead of just dropping off the face of the Earth, it wasn’t like you to be such a terrible communicator. Which is why he had trouble believing that as the truth, but even if it was there needed to be some sort of conversation about how this was not effective for either party because now he was mad at you and even if you had recharged sufficiently he wouldn't’ want to see you until he cooled down.  Hizashi isn’t surprised when you neglect to answer the door. He is surprised by the terrible state of your apartment though. Papers and pencils are scattered around the living room, the kitchen is practically turned upside down despite the only food on the stove being a pot of plain rice that looks hardly touched. The further he ventured into the apartment the less he worried about you being tired of him and the more he worried that something awful had happened, and he’d neglected to notice you when you were in harms way.  Your bathroom wasn’t much better than your kitchen, once neat medicine cabinet shelves were disheveled, cabinet doors were left open things were far from their usual place, not to mention the pile of laundry in the corner. He hand’t announced himself yet, normally it was the first thing he did, loud and boisterous and probably incredibly annoying to anyone but you, “I’m here, where are you?? come say hello!!” But something unsettling was constricting in him, his chest, his stomach, his throat it made his shoulders tense. Had something terrible happened to you while he was trying to give you space? Had he ignored an obvious cry for help? Was he too late? Would his neglect cause him to lose someone else? The last place to look was your bedroom, but the light was off, and it was hardly past 10, he brain wrote off any possibility of you being there, you were a historic night owl why would you be in bed at 10?  He wasn’t relieved by the lump under your covers, in-fact he’d go as far as to say his panic only rose, bubbling up to the point he could feel it behind his eyes, like some awful pounding headache, the kind you get after driving home from a loud concert and having to look at all the city lights at night, though this was much less euphoric.  “Hey?!” He can’t help tearing the covers back, flicking the lamp on, he hates to startle you, but right now startling you would be one of the best case scenarios.  You jump, it presses you back into your pillows, into your mattress, the sheets crumple beneath you, it’s just instinct, you don’t know what else to do, you throw a pillow at him.  “Get out!”  “Hey it’s just me!”  You were flinching, bracing for some sort of retaliation, though when nothing comes you open your eyes.  “Hizashi?”  “Babe, thank god,” he exhales like he hadn’t taken a breath in 10 minutes, not before pulling you up into a rib crushing hug.  “What are you doing here?” Your hands hover over his back, confused.  “What am I doing here??” He scoffs holding the back of your head, huddling you into the crook of his neck. “Looking for you! That’s what I’m doing here!” You feel a twinge of guilt at that, especially since he’s holding you so tightly, “are you alright?”  “I’m fine..Zash..I’m okay.” One of your hands fall limp into his lap.  “I was so worried.” He pulls you back, “seriously I was going insane, I thought something happened to you, you got abducted or hurt or worse I thought-” He stops himself, “please don’t ever disappear like that again.” He presses his forehead into yours, “you don’t need tot ell me where you’re going, I’m not trying to keep tabs on you, just please at least tell me you’re safe. Promise me you would tell me if you weren’t, that you’d be honest with me if you were in trouble or scared-”  “Of course I’d...Zash is something wrong?”  “I should be asking you that! Where have you been?” He’s pulling away again, squeezing your arms, “did you just get sick of me? Is this your way of-”  “No!” You jump, “no, Hizashi I’d never do that to you-”  “So then why? Why isolate yourself like this? Why would you do this? Did you just need a break from me? Was I being too loud, too much to-” “Zashi please stop you’ll make me cry-” You shake your head, “this didn’t have anything to do with you. Please stop thinking that, I’m sorry I made you feel that way I-”  “You’ve already been crying!” He’s inspecting your face, “why didn’t you call me, how long have you been upset for? Is that...” You can see the gears turning until the dots are connected.  “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner I-”  “It’s not your fault don’t be sorry! I should be sorry I- and you-” You hiccup.  “Me? What about me?” He Looks down at you, “this is about you babe I’m fine-”  “No! You thought I was upset with you! Or tired of you! Or worse that I didn’t want to be with you and that’s not true! I worried you for no good reason and I’m sorry!”  “Oh babe...no..” He shakes his head before pulling you into another hug, “no..no way it’s not like that-”  “But it is! Isn’t it? You even asked me if you were too much lately! You aren’t you never are Zashi, there’s no such thing as you being to loud or annoying or..anything. I just want you to be yourself, I’m okay when you’re like that, getting to see you like that I.... I don’t want you to change anything, please don’t change anything-”  “Babe that’s sweet.” He squeezes you, you feel his lips on your temple, "but I’m worried about you. What happened to make you so emotional?”  “I just got overwhelmed. I hate this time of year.” You fist his shirt in your hands, “work was too much. Everyone is nice, they understand, but somehow I feel even worse taking help from them. It feels like if I can’t pull myself up on my own it makes me weak, it doesn’t count if I don’t do it by myself. Which is why I didn’t call you. Or text you, or try to see you at all. I was already leaning on so many people I didn’t want to take from you too. I didn’t wanna suck up your extra time, you energy I...you’re my boyfriend not my caretaker I just-”  “Stop me if I’m butting in unfairly.” He rests his chin on your head, “and I mean this respectfully. But that’s stupid.”  “Asshole! I just poured my heart out to you don’t call it stupid!” You shove him.  “Hey let me finish!” He catches your hands before you can get up, “it’s stupid because I lean on you all the time.” He pulls you forward again, “are my accomplishments null because you help me out all the time?”  “Zash When do I ever-”  “Don’t even finish that sentence. And don’t answer a question with a question.” He scoffs, “you help me out all the time. Even if it’s not always big emotional stuff...babe this past week’s been hell without you around. Even things that feel small, like making a bed, or doing laundry or running a bath for someone make a huge difference, they mean a lot to me and knowing I’ll get to see you has always helped my mood. I lean on you for stuff like that constantly. But I don’t feel guilty because I know you like doing it. So don’t feel guilty when it’s the other way around, I wanna give too, I want you to lean on me, to take from me. Seriously, nothing would make me happier than knowing I helped you.”  “I’m sorry I pushed you-”  “Don’t cry over that!” He laughs, “god you’re sweet. It’s okay. I was being mean. I shouldn't have said it like that. Anyways you never answered my question.”  “What question?” You look up at him.  “Are all my accomplishments null? Because I lean on you? because I need you?”  “...well it’s not-”  “It’s a yes or no question. It is the same. It’s okay to need help, more than just opening a jar. It’s okay to need support, that’s normal. No one is meant to do it all on their own. So yes or no?”  “...no you’re right. No.” You turn into his chest and he plaits his fingers through  the crown of your hair.  “And you’ll always be there for me right? Because you love me, don’t you?”  “Of course I’ll always be here for you. And don’t ask a question like that you know I love you.” You mutter, ducking closer towards him and wrapping your arms around his ribs, “i’m sorry I didn’t call. You really didn’t think I got sick of you right?”  “No.” He swings his legs onto the mattress and lays back with you, “Shota and the others said you probably just needed a break but it didn’t really sit right with me, you’re the only person who never seems to need a break from me. ‘s why I showed up. To be honest I wasn’t really that worried about your wellbeing, I just figured you were swamped with work and didn’t want me worrying, but then when I saw..you know the mess..I panicked. I thought something happened to you, and you hadn’t answered my calls all day, or even yesterday.”  “I’m so sorry-” You warble, “god I’m so selfish I shouldn’t have-”  “It’s okay. You were overwhelmed. But if this happens again just..try to let me know you’re safe okay? If you aren’t ready to ask for help...and on the topic of help, how can I help now that I’m here?”  “I just wanna go to bed.” You murmur, latching onto his arm.  “Hm..nonsense. How about I run you a bath? And hey what were you crying about before?”  You flush, this was embarrassing.  “I messed up the page I was writing. But I did it in pen so I didn’t know what do to and I didn’t wanna start over because I was almost done but white out will look messy and so I got upset and then I got overwhelmed and then I started crying and then I went to bed.” You press your forehead into his arm petulantly, “and if you laugh at me I’ll make you leave.”  “I’m not gonna laugh.” He promises, “I’ll run you that bath, while you’re in there I’ll rewrite the page for you so you can stop worrying about it. But you should use pencil from now on.” He squeezes the nape of your neck, “sound like a square deal?” You silence says otherwise.  “What’s wrong?” He looks down to you.  “I want you to take the bath with me.” You mutter it, it hardly registers, “please.”  “Huh? Did you just say what I think you just said?” He looks delighted, despite his tone being almost devilish, “why would you want me to do a thing like that?”  “because..I missed you...and I still feel bad and I know you like taking baths with me and..” You look down at your hands where they’re interlocked, “and...I want you to wash my hair. I can figure out that page tomorrow or something.”  He sighs, “I can’t be mean to you when you’re being so sweet.” You get pulled along as he sits up, “of course I’ll come, and I’ll wash your hair for you.” He cups your cheek, “what else do you want? You can have anything just ask.”  “After that I...I think I just want to go to bed, and deal with the other stuff tomorrow. I want you to stay though.”  “I’m gonna have a heart attack.”  “Hey! Don’t say things like that! It’s bad luck!”  “Don’t be so sweet then!” He argues, pulling you to stand.  “Of course I’ll stay. I’ll stay tomorrow, and help then too, if you want. You don’t have to decide right now I know asking for help can be hard. In the meantime let’s just take that bath okay?” 

Yagi Toshinori/ All Might Retirement had left Yagi with some rather pleasant spare time. He’d never gotten to have many hobbies before but now he was enjoying freedoms life as All Might had never permitted. Chief among them being a continuous close proximity to you. Even though you didn’t technically live together it didn’t really feel as though either of you had a designated space either. It felt right for Yagi to be in your space, using your things, like he belonged there. It felt equally right for you to be in his space, existing and using his things as you pleased. You didn’t need permission and neither did he, it just felt right to exist around each other. Especially now that he had the extra time to spend with you and you both realized how easy and comfortable being together was. Though right now nothing felt easy or comfortable or right, your entire existence felt like a pair of jeans that was way too tight. Just taking a breath that was too deep felt uncomfortable.  Your closeness to Yagi made the shift in your mood apparent to him from the very beginning.  It was silly in hindsight. The proposal had a 50/50 chance anyways and it’s not like you had anything directly to do with it’s failure, it was just the last straw, the tiny thing that made all the other things seem huge, and as quickly as you’d realized that your mood had already plummeted. You’d run out of motivation, any drive to do anything but sleep and drag yourself to work had dissipated, at work you did what you needed to to get by and afterwards you went back to your place, even though Yagi’s was closer. Just being with someone else privately seemed like it would be overwhelming. Despite the fact that Yagi was the least overwhelming person on the planet, if anything you’d say he had the opposite effect, he was amazing at pulling your attention away from the little overwhelming details. However you couldn’t shake the gnawing nervousness that popped up at the thought of seeing him or anyone really. So when you crossed paths it was short, you poked into the school with lunch, into his place with dinner, you never stuck around to eat though. A conference call pulled you away, an important meeting you couldn’t be late for, you were catsitting and it needed your attention, you promised to call a relative and they’re just soo chatty, a late assignment needed tending to, all overused excuses that you normally practiced on everyone but Yagi, usually to get the pair of you out of an unwanted dinner or social event. You tried to avoid letting him into your apartment, you knew it was getting cluttered, you avoided the dishes and your laundry like the plague, putting another plate in the sink atop the pile only fanned your anxiety but the thought of actually cleaning it up makes you sicker than the sight of it. You tried to keep the front living room neat, luckily the overflowing sink was out of sight around a small corner, and the laundry cluttered a small closet out of sight as well. The only things out of place at first glance were the shoes, the coat rack and the copious amount of cups, cans and bottles littered around the apartment, some empty, some full, others in between.  Of course he noticed these things, to a passerby it wasn’t extreme, but Yagi sensed the shift in you like it was a shift in himself. Though you insisted it was fine, you were just exhausted, it was the busy season after all, come February things would plateau. You promised him. So he resigned, he trusted you after all if you said it was okay that must mean you were dealing with it on your own.  To be fair you were trying to. You honestly were. You just didn’t know how to ask for help in a way that didn’t make your stomach want to grow legs and run away from you. You said you were okay though, even if he didn’t totally buy it he’d wait patiently for you to tell him the problem, to seek him out. He knows how overwhelming it is for people to pry when you aren’t ready to divulge information. He doesn’t want to contribute to anymore bad feelings. However he could tell you were hiding something, still he plays dumb for your sake. He doesn’t try to poke further into your apartment, to your bedroom, or kitchen, places he’d normally allow himself without double checking with you, he doesn’t prod at you when you seem unusually emotional, when your excuse doesn’t hold up. He know’s you’ll come to him when you’re ready, at least that's the hope.  When you were like this a mediocre day is a terrible one, and a genuinely bad day is world ending. Today had been genuinely bad. You woke up early to prepare for a meeting, you put extra time into getting ready, you even stopped for a coffee at your favorite spot, all things you hadn’t had the energy to do even just a day ago, you really felt like today may be when things start looking up. But then the first coffee the barista made you was burnt, the machine was acting up, you assured her it was fine, it wasn’t her fault after all, you woke up early so you had time to wait for another one. Even that wasn’t really sullying your mood, it was nice to chat with the young girl while she remade your drink, there were no expectations of you, she didn’t care about pile of energy drink cans in your apartment, or the mountain of dishes in your sink, she didn’t even know the existed and she’d probably never consider that they did as a possibility. She was friendly and she always looked happy to see you. But then your bus was early and you missed it waiting for your coffee. You could see it receding down the street. It’s okay though, you woke up early. You had time. Then it was raining. Then the next bus arrived but skipped your stop so you had to walk. And suddenly all the time you put into your hair meant nothing.  Nothing terrible happened in the meeting, it was as lifeless and uneventful as ever, you weren’t sure what you were hoping for. And somehow your bus skips you stop again on the way home. Why hadn’t it stopped raining?  You’re about to climb into bed, drenched clothes and all when you hear someone knocking on your door. It was Yagi, you could recognize it anywhere.  “Hey Yagi I’m really-” You want to send him away, you do, you don’t want him seeing you so upset you felt like a child, but he just looked so concerned.  “I just got back.” You change your phrase last minute, “wanna come in?”  He sits on your couch, you appreciate how he doesn’t try to peek into the kitchen. You know you haven’t been subtle.  “I’ll wait here. You can go change into something warm. Please.” Yagi takes your hands, “and we can order dinner.” He wants to offer to make you tea, but something stops him from it. “You’re shaking. You must be freezing. I’m cold just looking at you. Go on, I’ll sit on the couch.” So you do what he says, sort of grateful for the demand since you would have fallen asleep like this, freezing and miserable and wet, and woken up sick the next morning.  “Much better! Good you even got a towel! Comfy?” He’s grinning at you as you round the corner, now in dryer, warmer apparel.  “Sit in front of me, I’ll dry your hair for you a little, it’s still dripping.” You nod as you follow his directions, any excuse to not have to look at his concerned face, getting out of his earnest blue gaze was top priority.  “The rain was totally out of left field huh? It even lasted all day.” His hands are big and warm, even through the towel how gentle his touch was is obvious.  “Yeah..” You draw your knees up to your chest, “I couldn’t seem to avoid it.”  “Well at least we can warm you up now.” You can tell his grinning again, trying to brighten up your mood. You felt like an ugly gloomy cloud, and he was a big bright cartoonish sun.  “Go ahead, you can lean your head on my leg, close your eyes. I can see your head drooping.”  You do that too. You sit there for a quiet 5 or so minutes, it does wonders to quell the nervousness in your stomach. You feel him pull the towel away and card big familiar hands through your only slightly damp hair. His palms are soft and comfortable against you, it feels right.  “You’re exhausted.” He observes, combing your hair off your forehead and pulling your head back a bit, closer to him.  “Mhm.” You don't open your eyes to give your minimal reply, instead thoughtlessly coiling an arm around his leg.  “Why don’t you come sit up here with me? It’ll be more comfortable. Your hair’s much dryer now.”  “You don’t have to baby me.” You stand up then, “I’m alright.”  “Ok I won’t baby you.” Yagi’s smile is soft and he casts it upwards to where you stand before him, “how about some tea? Are you up for making it? I’m still a little cold from the rain. Then after that you can some back and sit with me. Not because I want to baby you, but because I want to sit with you okay?” “okay..” You relent, “I can do that.”  “Perfect. I’ll wait here.”  You don’t know why you bit at him like that. You watch the kettle warm up as the guilt gnaws at you. It’s not like you were mean. All you did was tell him not to baby you. That wasn’t mean. You didn’t bite at him. But you kind of did. He was just trying to help. You aren’t mad at him so why are you mad? You open the cabinet. Of course there’s not a single mug to be found. You venture to the sink in search of two.  You’ve found the last one by the time the kettle starts to whistle which startles you enough to get you to drop the stupid glassware. The ceramic shattering on the floor is sort of akin to a dam breaking. Tears are stinging your eyes.  Things were looking up, Yagi was here, he was gonna take care of you, you were gonna feel better and now this stupid mug. You crouch down to pick it up.  “Are you alright? I heard a crash?” Yagi’s there, of course he is.  “Hey be careful, you’ll cut yourself.” He’s turning heat below the kettle off, "sweetheart here l-" and then rushing toward you. "I've got it." You were collecting the bigger shards in your hand. "Let me. I’ll get a broom, before you cut yourself. Please let me." He insists and you snap, ever so slightly, "Yagi. I said I have it."  “Hey, okay, it’s okay," he takes a step back, "do you wanna be alone for a minute?" He offers and you sigh, "Tosh I just-" then you slice your palm open, "oh fuck everything," you hiss and drop the bits you were holding and Yagi kneels beside you, "hey." "I'm sorry." You could feel yourself starting to cry, the stinging tears pouring out, "i'm sorry I got so short with you." "Hey it's fine, I understand." Yagi murmurs, a large hand rubbing your back, "it's alright, leave this for now so we can clean your hand up." He takes your wrist in his hand, but you don’t say anything. “Do you hear me?" "Yes." You nod, and take in a deep breath, "yes I hear you...yeah let me just get the-" "It's okay, the shards aren’t going anywhere." You just sort of stare at the muddled mess of ceramic and now a bit of blood mixed up on the floor. "Hey." Yagi takes your face in his hands, "look at me." "I'm looking at you." Your lips barely move. "No, look at me, not through me. Ignore the mug, look at me." He presses and so you do, you focus on him, his face, his eyes, his nose, his hands on your cheeks, the warmth that radiated from him. "Let's clean you up." You nod, "yeah. Sorry." "Don't be sor-" Yagi stops himself, "it's alright, not a big deal. No permanent damage. Go sit on the couch, I’ll get the first aid kit.” “My bathroom’s really-”  “It’s alright.” He promises, “it’s okay. I’m here to help you. That doesn’t bother me. None of this,” he gestures around, “bothers me. I’m here for you, whatever you need that to mean. Go sit down okay?” He wipes a stream of tears away. It’s quickly replaced but it’s a nice gesture.  You do manage to get the loudest tears out before Yagi comes in. "Alright let's see the damage." He opens the first aid kit on the arm of the couch beside him, "does it hurt?" "No-" Your voice gives your current state away. "Sweetheart.." Yagi kisses your temple, "come on.." "I'm sorry-" "I don't mean like that." "I know-" You wipe your eyes, "I know..I’m sorry I just-" He shushes you and extends a hand, you hold out your palm to him, you had pressed an old face cloth to it which did help ebb the bleeding a bit. "It's not that bad." You murmur as he wipes the blood away, "just a lotta blood.." “That’s how it always is.” He murmurs as he presses the wet cloth to the cut and pulls your hands up to his lips, kissing the damp fabric over the wound. You tilt your head at the sight of it, "I love you Tosh..I’m sorry." "It’s okay sweetheart, it’s alright. I love you too." He murmurs back, squeezing the cloth for a little longer before pulling it away. He goes through the routine you'd so regularly followed on him, before, when he was All Might all the time, cuts and bumps and head injuries that you always tended to for him, you cleaned up all his wounds before wrapping some bandage around it and kissing it, he mimics the routine on you "good?" "Good." You nod back voice soft and wet with tears. "I'm no expert but..did pick up a few things from one." He grins and you snort a little which makes him coo, "hey there's that smile 've been missing." He kisses the high of your cheek, "how do you feel?" "A little better..." You nod, "sorry you had to see that..." "I know that you feel like you have to apologize for everything but trust me okay? Stuff like this? I'll always rather help with. It's never a chore, but even if it were that’s okay. I want to be there for you." He kisses your forehead, "I wanna make you happy." "Then.. thank you I guess.." You look up at him and he wraps you in a hug. You spend a comfortable few moments there until he pulls away. "Don’t mention it...now," He stands and takes you with him, "let's go clean up the mug? Together. Then we’ll sort out the other stuff tomorrow, together too.” 

[sweeteastart]

✨Day 4✨

of the @khoc-week 2021 :)

Themes : 1. Sacrifice, 2. Alternative Universe, 3. What is your character afraid of ?

Mikana

1. Mikana wouldn't be one to admit it but she sacrifices quite a bit in her attempt to save her sister. Firstly by sacrifising her childhood, her autonomy and later on, the only friends she had for Xehanort plans. All of that for only a chance of him helping her sister do better. Because she is the only thing she have left, her only family.

3. At first, Mikana was ordered by Xehanort to infiltrate the guardians of lights and act as a spy. However as time pass by and Mikana grow closer to them and more precisely Vanitas and Ventus she grow anxious. Not only did she really grew to like them but she also realized they would despite her with all of their hearts if they found out. But even worst than Sora or Riku finding about her involvement with Xehanort, she was horrified at the thought that Van or Ven could come to hate her.

Sika

1. Sika was in love with Orion. It was reciprocated. However they started to drift apart when their best friend Erid, and the third disciple of Master Ivi, died during his mark of Mastery. Mark of Mastery that Sika passed and Orion failed. Things grew even more sour when Sora fell on White Castle post KHIII and the lonely Sika got closer to him.

Soon after, Orion attacked them, Master Ivi stopping the teenager and sacrificing herself to give Sika and Sora à chance to escape. This is after this incident that Sika swore to herself that she would take down Orion, no matter the price to pay. And she fulfilled this promise when, to take down Orion, sh sacrificed her own life.

3. Losing her memories. Above all else, Sika wants to remember everything she went through. She mostly want to remember how being free and happy feels. The freedom Sora and his friends made her experience and that she hold dear.

Bunny

1. After Anis betrayal, Bunny quickly realized something was a miss : Contrary to what might seems at first sight, on the three remaining pods towards the real world, only two were in a working state. Prioritizing her friends over her, Bunny pushed and locked Skuld and Ephemer in the two available pods.

She felt terribly sorry when she heard Ephemer desperate plea but she couldn't indulge him. He was an union leader et so was Skuld. They had to leave no matter the consequences. So she send them to safety even if she was truly terrified at the idea of dying.

3. Sadly, Bunny's worst fear was to not be able to properly protect her brother and her friends. She always felt that she was too weak. Too soft.

Anis

1. Anis consciousness awaken in his new heart. Contrary to what he had imagined, he wasn't assimilated but more in a spectator role. Soon enough, he learned that the new heart name was Xehanort. Anis truly wanted to help the boy stay away from the darkness however all he could do is watch without doing anything. Conscious, Anis started to grieve all the friends he lost. But his already grieve muted into a devastating rage when he recognized someone.

A boy, that was now a man, who now was indulging himself into darkness : Luxu. Slowly Anis started to piece together his own memories and the new information he got and understood Luxu involvement in the Daybreak Down fall. He was the traitor Brain book was talking about. He was the reason for all those sacrifices.

3. Anis is terrified he won't be able to save his sister and his friends. He fears he won't be able to do anything for them.

Mikana,Bunny and Anis

2. Since the last few prompts weren't really fun i decided to draw something lighthearted ! Like the theme suggest this is an AU and i called it : Magical Fix it AU. In a nutshell, this is basically the magical AU i've been working on for a year but without any drama. The Magical AU is basically a universe were the characters live in a modern society in which some people have powers and magical forms. In this AU, Bunny and Ephemer are together and had Sakore and Mikana. As for Anis, he had a wife named Faey and is 'Naminé's father. For the three other character here they are Strelitizia, Plume (the girl in the foreground) and Xail (the little blond girl next to Sterli) (the two last are @lennsart ocs ).

Pêche

1. Pêche was an unknown member of the Organization and New organization and it wasn't without reason : They were the watchdog. They were tasked to keep a watchful look on both the members of the Organization and the guardians of light by Xemnas. One of their abilities was to hide in shadow. Being able to spy anyone from their own shadow was a huge advantage.

However as times passed, they grew attached to some of the targets she had to watch over : those being lights or even Organization members. They started to omit some things on their reports for Xemnas. And as time went they lied about anything that could prejudice any of the people she grew attached to. It was a given that Xemnas would soon found out but they felt the later he would, the better.

3. Pêche can't feel anything but sometimes they wonder how it would be to do so. Since they have memories of their time as Daisy, they can somewhat understand the benefits of it but emotions seems so strange and foreign to them. But at the same time, Pêche truly fear they won't ever be able to feel again. They fear that, like Xemnas and Xigbar repeated so many times, they are nothing but a broken tool.

[casually-slips-into-coma]

An Essay (sort of) Explaining the Many Grievances I Have With Debbie Gallagher

Once again, Debbie is the fucking worst.

I’ve been wanting to write out my feelings towards her character for a fucking minute now just so that I have a full concise list. Now, I can talk about how Debbie has a constant need for attention, or how her character has become someone unrecognizable in the past few seasons, or how she’s a terrible mother, but what I really want to focus on is the center of my issues with her: her sexuality. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about to be a homophobic rant or anything. I just think her queer development has been written terribly and that should be addressed.

Too often I see people praising queer characters or relationships based solely on the fact that they are queer, and as a member of the community, I get it. I am also starved for representation. This, however, does not mean I’m going to settle for annoying, poorly written characters.

Why Make Debbie Queer?

The first thing I want to address is why suddenly develop a WLW storyline for her. Given that Debbie started as a little girl on the show, this gives the writers a lot of opportunity to give a character like that interesting storylines because she does not yet have a solid personality. It gives writers the liberty to take her story anywhere they want to without the constraints of established character because she, as a person, is still developing into adulthood. The show runners unfortunately dropped the ball with this.

From season 4 and onwards was when Debbie began showing interest in dating, sex, and romance having just turned the corner to puberty. From then up until season 9, she has shown exclusive interest in men. It isn’t until Alex the welder that Debbie deviates from this path. Alex is portrayed as a stud who confuses Debbie. I am inclined to believe that Debbie was originally attracted to her because she was masculine and therefore close enough to the people Debbie had previous experience with.

This arc was treated very much as Debbie experimenting with her sexuality, something that Alex also ends up realizing after Debbie tells her that having sex with a girl is “not that bad” and “like having sex with yourself” (S9E4). Once this storyline wrapped up (with Debbie shouting “you make me want cock again”) the writers powered through, adamant about Debbie now being a lesbian.

I have two theories as to why they’ve been fighting so hard for her queerness.

1) This was around the time that Cam was leaving Shameless. This obviously didn’t end up happening, but I was under the impression that the writers were freaking out at losing their token gay character and needed to fill that position. When Cam ended up staying, they were stuck with a queer Debbie storyline and decided to just go with it.

2) Shameless was planning on doing a WLW storyline regardless of Cam’s choice to leave and were originally going to give it to Fiona and her lesbian tenant that she had a close relationship and a lot of chemistry with, but Emmy Rossum wanted to move on from Shameless, and so they pivoted and gave the arc to Debbie, a character that was not supposed to be moved in that direction and so her new sexuality seemingly came out of nowhere. Fiona as a bisexual character would have made sense. Debbie still does not.

Shameless’s Awkward Relationship With Bisexuality

One of the biggest issues I have with Debbie is her insistence on being a lesbian. Lesbianism doesn’t come out of nowhere. Bisexuality, however, can. When you grow up being told that you are supposed to feel attraction to men, and you genuinely do feel attraction to men (which Debbie has expressed in past seasons/episodes) it’s easy to ignore your attraction to women and write it off as something that either isn’t a big deal, or something that isn’t there. It’s a lot more confusing than being strictly at one end of the spectrum. It would have been so much more believable if they had simply made Debbie bisexual. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t because the show has a history with bi erasure.

Bisexuality has been treated badly all throughout Shameless, used as a vengeful plot device back in the earlier seasons where Monica was only ever with women when unmedicated. Then in Season 7 when Ian’s boyfriend Caleb cheated on him with a woman (enforcing the stereotype of bisexuals being unfaithful) Ian, possibly acting out of anger or ignorance, said things like “only women are bisexual. When a man says he’s bisexual he’s really just gay”. The only semi positive bisexual representation on the show was Svetlana and Vee when they were in a poly relationship with Kev (though I also think that storyline wasn’t handled as well as it could’ve been).

This fight against the bisexual label in media is not a new one but it is also a harmful stance to take when writing a sexually fluid character. Debbie declaring that she is, in fact, a lesbian after waxing poetic about how Matty had a big dick and Derek had a great body and knew what he was doing is not the way to go. 

You could argue that Debbie, like many other queer women, is an unfortunate victim of compulsory heterosexuality, but frankly I don’t think the writers are well versed enough in queer theory for that to be a possibility.

Debbie as The White Feminist

Debbie is the pinnacle of white feminism. It’s an unfortunate thought that has occurred to me a few times throughout the show. She talks a big game as a man hater and someone after the equal treatment of women but she herself participates in a lot of problematic and anti feminist behavior.

For one, she r*ped Matty back in season 5 when he was blacked out and unconscious. This was a point in the story that was glossed over and one where she suffered no repercussions other than Matty no longer wanting to be around her. It was explained in the show that Debbie didn’t realize what she did was wrong until after she was explicitly told so because she was maybe 14 when it happened (not 100% on the age Shameless is very inconsistent about timelines). It was treated as somewhat of a punchline, something that Shameless has unfortunately done more than once when referring to male sexual assault (Mickey’s r*pe, Liam in season 10 ((i think??)) and in this latest season, Carl) but that is a different topic. 

There was also the time in which she lied to her boyfriend about being on birth control so she could trap him into a relationship with pregnancy (which also counts as r*pe!!) Good on Derek for getting out of that.

Debbie has also been pro-life in the past. Now I understand this was when Fiona was pressuring her into aborting her pregnancy, and as a pro choicer myself, I believe that Debbie was fully in her right to have bodily autonomy and go through with the pregnancy. This isn’t where the issue lies. It’s when Fiona finds out that she too is pregnant and tells Debbie that she wants an abortion that Debbie accuses her of “killing her baby”. Again, her behavior could be explained by her age given that Debbie was still a young teen during this time.

When her actions as a White Feminist become less excusable is mostly in the latest season. Her relationship with Sandy is one that I’m not really happy with because Debbie doesn’t deserve her.

Recently, it has been revealed that Sandy is actually married to a man and has a son. It’s explained that she was basically married off against her will at the age of 15 to a man twice her age. This implies that the product of the marriage, her son, was most likely conceived through dubious consent (or worse) at the hands of an adult when she was just a kid. Just because Debbie thinks that Sandy’s husband “seems nice” does not give her the right to try and make a victim of grooming feel bad about not wanting to be with her abuser. While I understand that Sandy’s son has no fault in how he came into the world, I’m still gonna side with Sandy when it comes to having to take care of a child she didn’t want and who is most likely a source of trauma for her. It’s not difficult to sympathize with Sandy and see that she’s clearly gone through something fucked up and Debbie, despite claiming to love and support her, AND despite her dumb white feminist arc about wanting equal pay and all that jazz, turns her back on the girls supporting girls aspect of feminism.

This isn’t even mentioning how shitty it was to just leave Franny by herself and assume that one of her siblings would take her to school and pick her up and stuff as if they don’t all have separate lives. She talks a lot about being a good mother but decided to “let off some steam” by fucking off to a gay bar to get loaded on coke and fuck a gay man (which wtf thats not a thing that really happens with casual coke but whatever I guess). Once she realized she fucked up, instead of taking responsibility she decided to paint herself as the victim as well as spew offensive bullshit about how she “probably has AIDS now” because of her sexual encounter with a gay man. No lesbian in their right fucking mind would ever say that because as members of the LGBTQ+ community, you are at least a tiny bit informed as to how devastating and tragic the AIDS crisis was for queer people.

(I also have an issue with how Debbie capitalized on her felony as a sex offender and her sexuality to start her Hot Lesbian Convict business but I think that’s enough said.)

Blame the writers

The show got almost an entirely new cast of writers after season 7 which is why the show feels more like a sitcom with low stakes and no consequences rather than a drama, but if there is a queer writer on the team it’s not very evident. Even the better half of the queer relationship story, Ian and Mickey, I don’t feel has really been done justice since the change in writers. It’s just become painfully obvious that the actress is a straight girl playing a gay character (not to mention I have never seen any chemistry between her and all of her female love interests). I don’t fault Emma Kenney (the actress) for this. I actually really like her as a person and I like the videos she makes about the cast and such, and I think she does her best with the script she’s given. My complaints with Debbie are targeted entirely towards the writers.

This brings me to my final point. I need them to let Debbie be alone. Her whole thing for the second half of the season has been that she clearly has abandonment issues and is afraid of being alone. It’s why she’s so adamant about keeping the house and fighting with Lip about it (I’m actually on Debbie’s side for that one but that’s besides the point). They had her and Sandy break up which leaves Debbie to spiral further into her loneliness. From a writing point of view, it makes sense to take this opportunity to give her an arc in which she can overcome that and feel comfortable with herself so that she can move on as an adult instead of jumping into a new relationship. This is especially true since this is quite literally the last season ever of the show and any character development needs to be wrapped up. Introducing a new character out of nowhere does not give the viewers enough time to actually get invested in the new relationship. It’s also unfair to Debbie’s character because her arc is going to feel incomplete.

Anyway,,,,,,uuuhhhhh,,,,,feel free to add on if u want lmao

[spockandawe]

Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

It’s absolutely no problem at all!! I don’t think I’ve been asked this before, but hey, I also have zero object permanence, so it keeps things fresh and new. And it’s interesting to see how my answers change over time! Lemme see, I think I’m going to go in reverse order, because I feel like then I’ll be doing the worst agonizing up front.

TGCF

Fifth favorite: YIN. YU. I know that he’s a minor character and him even making it onto the list is pretty solid performance, but I do feel guilty that he isn’t higher than this. He came out of nowhere in my first reading and punched me in the stomach with emotions. I find his sections so hard to read, and I was DEVASTATED when he died and BEYOND stoked to find out he was still alive in the extras. His story hurts so much! I am weak against characters who have relatively modest goals and still see them snatched away (see also: my next entry) and have to struggle on. I wish wish wish I had a way to see more of how he made his peace with things after being thrown out of heaven, and the nature of the (distant) relationship with Hua Cheng and what happens with Quan Yizhen now that he died in his arms, and still came back anyways, my god!

.

Fourth favorite:  He Xuannnnnn. I have a hard time articulating particulars, but. I love him a lot. I love a character with a grudge, with a deep, painful grudge, where the grudge is hurting him almost as much as it’s hurting the people around him, and setting the grudge aside would also hurt, and then what has any of this been for-- I've used this metaphor for other characters, but I don’t care if I’m overusing it, because I love it. He feels like a character caught in a thorn bush, where simply being there... hurts, but trying to escape or move in any ways is going to hurt worse, and there’s no path forward that doesn’t involve pain. And like... I don’t love the way he hurt Shi Qingxuan (who didn’t quite make this list adfasgdafsd I’M SORRY) but I wouldn’t have liked to see him swallow back down all that pain and set aside everything that happened to his family and fiancee either! I’m always, always soft for characters who have no good path forward and who grit their teeth and set out anyways.

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Third favorite: MU QING!!!!!!!!!! I have done... extensive screaming about him. And I love him veryvery much. I can already tell that this list is going to have a lot of mean boys on it, and like... no regrets. Especially since this is one of my FAVORITE flavors, an unapologetic mean boy who is rarely (but sometimes!) soft for the people around him, and who regularly tries to do decently by people, but who consistently gets shat upon and misunderstood and accused of acting in bad faith. I screamed when he and Xie Lian finally got to talk their friendship out in the book. I also screamed when I realized how immediately after Xie Lian’s return he started looking out for him again, and how sincerely, despite his horrible attitude about it. I still want to write more fic for him so badly. I love him so much.

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Second favorite: Xie Lian! What a good boy! The best boy! He’s so sweet and gentle, but also the best fightboy this world has ever seen, and also so gently snarky with the people he loves! I just... really love me some traumatized characters who have trouble recognizing that they can be Loved, and I’m not going to write this whole essay right now, but I think in some ways, he’s the most... passive about his romance, out of all the leads? Shen Qingqiu is aggressively oblivious, but Xie Lian kind of gently shrugs off the idea that he might be Hua Cheng’s special someone, until he finally gets hit with the cluestick. I generally shy away from the idea of a character “earning” love, but he’s maybe the mxtx character who moves me most with ‘you deserve to be loved’

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Most favorite: Hua Cheng. HUA CHENG. Oh my god, gotta love this boy. Gotta love this devotion. I love a mean boy who is soft for one person, and he EMBODIES it. I mean, I love Shen Jiu, but he barely manages to do the soft thing at all, while Hua Cheng is over here like ‘if I could only be the stone beneath your feet--’ It’s hard to talk about him separately from Xie Lian, because they’re a unit in my head more than just about any other characters on this list are. I don’t want to get this list to get out of control, so I’m not going to scream for too long, but... I could just watch him go forever. I want to write him forever, and that’s a huge aspect of what draws me to some characters.

MDZS

Oh god, I think I lied, I think this book is going to be hardest. Making these choices is AGONIZING.

Fifth favorite: .....Lan Wangji. Oh god, I feel bad about how low he is. But this story is just packed SO full of wonderful characters, and I’m already consumed with guilt over all the characters who aren’t going to make it. I don’t love them less! But my love for characters in this particular story is very evenly distributed. And I think that Wang Yibo’s acting is possibly scoring points with me that the book might not have earned all by itself. Microexpressions and subtle body language add SO MUCH to a character with such flat affect, and I would be drawn to such a closed-off character anyways, but it really helps. And I love, like... the combined subtlety and intensity of his relationships. It’s not that subtle once you know what to look for, and the brother/sworn brother network makes for varying degrees of how much other characters understand of the things he chooses not to explicitly express, and it gives a really interesting character to the way he interacts with the people around him. Also, love me a man with intense separation anxiety.

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Fourth favorite: Jiang Yanli? I think it has to be Jiang Yanli, but these rankings are hard. So. I just talked about how much I enjoy the flat affect and closed off nature of Lan Wangji? Well, guess what, I also love it when m’girl is just very GENUINELY AND OPENLY an absolute sweetheart of a person, and I love the contrast between her genuinely kind nature and the uncomfortable pressure that her family’s dynamics put on her to start parenting at a very young age. It’s not necessarily a happy situation, but she adores her brothers so much and they adore her so much! And it’s... a very understated element of the story, but after her parents died, her baby brothers went off to war, and one wreaked havoc as a straightforward commander and one of them disappeared for months and returned as a creepy-ass zombie puppeteer. And she STILL dotes on them like before, despite knowing what they’re capable of. Like, yes, Wei Wuxian just raised an army of corpses and forced a man to eat himself, but I shall still boop him on the nose and feed him Soup. How can I not adore energy like that?

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Third favorite: Wei Wuxian, I think. I do adore him a lot. He gives me some of the same vibes that make me ache most with Xie Lian, where he is trying his best, and is struggling to hold on in the face of lots of suffering, and I find it really interesting that when the suffering peaked, Xie Lian was forced go on because he couldn’t die, while Wei Wuxian... expired. That line about ‘he thought that no matter how large the world was, there was still no place for him’ always sticks with me, and hurts me deeply. Xie Lian had most of his personal attachments stripped away, and was left to wander on his own, while Wei Wuxian still had a number of strong connections left, but abruptly exited life. And that informs their respective trauma so interestingly! The way Wei Wuxian bounces between high energy chaos and drained exhaustion is really fascinating to me, and was the thread that held me attached to the book through a very confusing beginning. And I’m still very drawn to how intensely he loves, whether it’s Xiao Zhan’s fantastic acting, or it’s him busting out with how much he wants Lan Wangji in the middle of the Guanyin Temple scene. He’s a fantastic character, honestly, I don’t think such a convoluted book would have held together very well without a protagonist this strong.

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Second favorite: Xue Yang :X Look, he’s a good boy and I love him. Who among us hasn’t done a few mass murders that we are completely unrepentant about, but that we would really like to keep hidden from our current boyfriend, actually? Anyways, as always, love me an angry boy who makes terrible decisions for understandable reasons. And I do love a character who is consumed by agonized ragrets (see my next entry), but I DO also love me a character who has no regrets at all and doesn’t even have much interest in trying to justify himself to anyone else around him. Just look at that confidence! Look at him go!!

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Most favorite: Jiang... Cheng....... I knew he and Xue Yang were going to be at the top, but those were the only parts of this list that were easy. I mean. Love a self-sabotaging angryboy who is also super super sad and keeps hurting himself in his own confusion. And while I love the romantic thread in all of the mxtx books, the agonized family thread in mdzs is one of my favorite parts, and something that I don’t really see echoed in any of the other stories. I need ten million jc+wwx reconciliations, at LEAST. He’s so sad! And so angry! And I want to see him becoming less of that thing, and for Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian to demonstrate very firmly how much they love him, because they do. I am invested in his happiness in a way that goes far and beyond any of the other non-main characters, haha

SVSSS

Fifth favorite: Tianlang-jun. I think? Oh god, but moshang. THIS IS REALLY HARD, I HATE THIS ;-; But especially since writing my fic, Tianlang-jun has really won me over. And like, he already hurt me good in the novel, just thinking about how he was an innocent young guy, just! Trying to have a girlfriend! And instead got trapped in sensory deprivation, body-rotting-hell for twenty years, when he didn’t do anything wrong!!! He suffered, so much! And I live for his intensely strained relationship with Luo Binghe, because it’s! Perfectly understandable and painful, from both of their perspectives! And he wants to hate humans so badly, but in the end, when he’s told that Su Xiyan never betrayed him, he starts helplessly asking the people around him, ‘really? is it really true?’ and then in the end he loses the only family member he has left who cares about him, and it’s just! Everything is terrible! I have a su xiyan au brewing in my head because I can’t stand it! Someone just give this man a loving partner!!!

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Fourth favorite: Shen Qingqiu. But... moshang??? Goddammit. Anyways, this dumbass. I find him so endearing, in his dumbassery. I sometimes get a bit frustrated with Wei Wuxian for being oblivious, and Shen Qingqiu is just asking for me to react the same way, but I... don’t, for the most part? Because he thinks he has good information, and he’s slow to react to a changing playing field, and I still haven’t read another transmigration novel that strikes the same balance of hypercompetence and intense incompetence :ppp It’s a funny book, and he’s a funny character! And I really vibe with him, in most parts of the story, which covers a pretty darn wide emotional spectrum. Plus, the running internal commentary is choice.

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Third favorite: Liu Qingge. Look, I’m a woman of simple needs, and sometimes I just need a high-quality fightboy who clearly cares deeply and is absolute garbage at expressing his emotions. I can’t articulate it much better than that. I absolutely howl at the succubus extra, when Shen Qingqiu is talking to Madam Meiyin about his future partner, and Liu Qingge is like ‘oh my god, sHE IS CLEARLY DESCRIBING ME’ and Shen Qingqiu is like ‘haha, liu-shidi, i thought you thought this was stuupidddddddd’. They’re both so dumb. I love them so much. But stupidity plus war god fighting energy has a narrow lead over stupidity and internal commentary track.

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Second favorite: SHEN JIU. GOD. I’m still arguing with myself over whether he should go first, but Luo Binghe hurts me consistently through the whole entire story, so I think he wins. Shen Jiu just stabs me in the heart at strategic moments. This is it. My ideal mean boy who is soft for one (1) person, and who BOTH does unconscionable things for terrible reasons (someone just. give him a pile of girls to teach, it will be much more pleasant for everyone involved), and who ALSO gets blamed for things he didn’t do even when he tries to act in good faith. It is the best of all painful worlds. And even at the end, when he has a powerful person who wants desperately to protect him, he still tries his hardest to shove that person away, to keep him safe. I’ve got like four aus where he gets to live. I’m so invested in this character, I love him so much.

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Most favorite: Luo Binghe. He was.... made for me............ Like, the overwhelming amounts of childhood angst were baked in by Shang Qinghua, but the in-story pain and suffering is PRECISELY my jam. I love a character with separation anxiety! I love a character with massive anxieties over being unwanted! Over nobody ever, EVER just choosing him! I love a character struggling with the idea that the person he loves most in the world thinks that he’s intrinsically Disgusting! I love the kind of stubborn determination that leads him to preserve a corpse for five years, desperately hoping for a way to revive it, constantly cooking fresh food, in case, in case he someday wakes up. The way Hua Cheng loves is overpowering, but he’s had time to like... learn to be mellow when he needs to be. Luo Binghe doesn’t have a chill bone in his body, and if he’s acting chill, it’s probably because he’s done some mental math and decided that being more clingy right now will probably get him pushed away harder. I love the combination of manipulative tendencies and a very, very genuine fear of rejection and being unwanted. There is nothing I don’t love about Luo Binghe, including his worst decisions. I love him so so much.

[caxsthetic]

Pleading Eyes

Bokuto Koutarou x F!Reader

Hurtful Truth: Human couldn't control how their heart works

Part 1 > Pt. 2

Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!

Your eyes were currently looking at the clock, the only sound around you was from there and how the rain was trickling down the windowpane. It was past 9 pm right now, and you wonder how long you will be waiting for him to show up.

The dinner that you prepared for him was long cold. He requested a lot of yakiniku for today. It was your third year anniversary with the said man. There's an upcoming match tomorrow, so you know there will be no rest for him and his team.

Since he became the V.League Division 1 player, he rarely had time for you. But that didn't stop you from surprising him at practice, bringing a lot of food for the whole team. Sometimes they will tease him about having you as his wife. Yes, wife.

He's such a child in the form of twenty-six years old guy, making them all wonder how someone as mature as you stuck with him. It's simple actually, because you love each other. Somehow you fall for his unique personality, and he fell for you because you actually want to know him, didn't even get annoyed with how he acted.

Even when they all knew that you are married to the ace, one of the members actually took a liking to you. Not just a mere flirt, and based on how the setter orbs see you, the whole team could understand that their teammates adore you, Bokuto Koutarou's wife. But you are loyal to your husband, and you have vowed that you will always be there for him until you are long gone.

The clinging of keys being turned waking you from your thought, you immediately stood and rushed to the door. By the time you see him taking off his shoes, all of your anger dissipated through thin air. There he was standing in all his glory, safe and sound with droplets of rain on his hair.

"I am sor-"

You jumped to him, didn't care about his wet clothes. His body goes rigid at your touch, not even relaxed a little, something that made you confused as your arms still wrapped around his figure.

"It's alright, Kou. It's alright to be late. The game is tomorrow after all." You were now standing in front of him, hands on his cheek to wiped away any trace of rain from his face, "As long as you came back to me safely, everything is alright for me."

Bokuto widened his eyes when he heard your words. It sounded sincere and full of love, he gulped down, not knowing what to say. Your hand glided down to help him took off his jacket, and he only stood there as you delicately ran your fingers on his strand of hair.

"You are really soaked," The worried tone on your voice was visible, "I will warm the dinner, you go take a warm shower, okay, baby?" You grabbed his jacket and shoes, going to put it in the laundry room to be cleaned after dinner. As you walked away, your eyebrows raised a little for the lack of footsteps.

You turned around and found your husband looking down at his bare feet. His fist clenched beside him, and there were tears dropped on the floor as he silently cried. Looking at the scene, you dropped everything on your hand and ran towards him.

As you stood in front of him, his body weakened and fell the ground. But before his figure could crash the wooden floor, you immediately became his pillow to fall and cradled him to your chest. He sobbed, hand clenching on your shirt.

"Baby, tell me what's wrong." You caressed his hair carefully, "Please, I want to help you, but I couldn't if you didn't tell me." From years knowing him since high school, you never saw him act like this, not even once. You knew his dejected and emo mode, but this is all new.

"N-no," Sorrow coated his voice, "If I tell you, y-you will leave me." He cried uncontrollably, and it pained you to see him cry.

"You don't know about that-"

"I KNOW ABOUT THAT!" He raised his voice and straightened his back as he sat in front of you, "I AM SURE YOU WILL LEAVE ME IF I TELL YOU! EVERYONE TOLD ME THAT!" You got taken aback by his outburst. Everyone? Does everyone know about his problem?

"You told a lot of people about your problem and not me, my owl?" You asked with curiosity, not even a hint of anger could be sensed. Bokuto didn't dare to look at your face right now, it's your third year as a Bokuto, and this is what happened, "Kou, I love you. What information could possibly make me leave you?"

He stiffened to hear you said that. You always so good to him, taking care of him and be patient with his antics. It's hard to have an athlete as a husband, but yet here you were for years loving him with all your heart could offer.

"You are not someone that would cheat, I know that." Your voice sounded sure, "I-It's true, right? You would never cheat on me right, Kou?" But the stutter in your voice showing him that you could feel insecurity too after all.

"No, I didn't cheat." He gulped and finally took a look at you. There's a satisfied smile on your face that caused by his answer, "T-There's no one in my heart, (Y/n)." You blinked, you were ready to joke out, Except, me~ but then his gaze fell to your eyes, and it's like you know what will he say, "Not even you."

His words send the air out of your lungs, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. You eyed him, searching for any sign of his teasing expression, but you found none. You waited for seconds, wanting him to blurt out the joke and laughing at your dumb expression.

It never came.

Except now, his hand on your shirt clenched tighter. He knew when the information completely went into your heart, you will be gone. You two never fought, not even once. Maybe a little quarrel here and there, but nothing too big because you were so understanding and he always felt guilty.

"I don't love you anymore, (Y/n)." He sobbed, "But I need you. I need you so bad."

Bokuto didn't even know when his love for you started to dissipate. Since he married you, he didn't care about spectators anymore. Knowing you standing there was enough, you were the only attention that he needed.

But then he started to act like he used to, grabbed everyone's attention as he played. It didn't go unnoticed by his teammates and best friend. At one point in his life, he knew his feelings for you were long gone.

"Since when?" There's no anger in your voice, not even sadness. He knew you always buried your emotions every time you feel devastated. And knowing him as the cause of you acting like this, he knew he would never forgive himself.

"I don't know," What he knew, was the time when his teammates were asking about you, and he didn't even get jealous. That and the fact that Bokuto didn't rush outside to meet you, and that time, the golden yellow-haired setter know immediately what's up.

"You what?!" Miya's hand was now grabbing Bokuto's collar, pushing him to one of the lockers,

"Atsumu-san! P-please calmed down." The orange-haired opposite hitter trying not to let his teammates fight each other, but the setter only focused on the wing spiker in front of him.

"Tell me once again, Bokuto. But now, look at me, so I know you are joking or not!" The ace didn't speak up, "For god sake, just answer-"

"I DIDN'T LOVE HER ANYMORE!" Bokuto shouted, feeling enough with the pressure from his setter, "Put me down." His golden eyes met his teammates, anger filled the eyes as he heard Bokuto's confession.

"You are sick." The setter pushed him down to the ground, grabbing his bag and walked to the door, "She will never leave you, you know that?" He turned one last time to see Hinata crouched down beside the dejected ace, "You just need to ask, and she will never leave you even if you tell her this." He opened up the door and let out a long sigh, "I hope you know what's better for her."

"You don't know?" You grabbed his hand, making him relaxed a little, "Does Keiji know about it?" Akaashi Keiji is your best friend and your classmates. He's the one who introduces you to the lively captain of Fukurodani's VBC at that time.

Bokuto Koutarou decision in his life was mostly from Akaashi. Your first date? Akaashi was the one who pushed him to do it. His confession? Akaashi was the one who dragged you to the gymnasium. The proposal? Akaashi helped him to search for a unique way to propose you.

Right now, Akaashi Keiji regretted everything.

"Hello?" Akaashi's voice was groggy when he picked up his phone, "Does something happened, Bokuto-san?" He yawned and sit, this is the first time he could have a decent sleep and Bokuto called him, "It's past ten pm, Bokuto-san. Where is (Y/n)?"

"Akaashi," Bokuto told everything about how he started to lose his feelings towards you. Your best friend was now fully awake, listening to the desperate voice of your husband, "What should I do?"

"You should tell her, Bokuto-san." That's the only thing that he needed to do, "And let her go."

"Akaashi knew. He, He is the one who told me to say it to you." Bokuto looked down to the floor, putting his hand on his face, ashamed, "You don't deserve this, (Y/n). I am such a child! I don't deserve you coping out with me for years!"

You love the man in front of you, but the fact that he didn't feel the same anymore hurt you badly. If only he cheated on you or do something terrible, it wouldn't hurt like this. Feelings are something that out of control. You couldn't blame him from falling out of love with you, and thats worse from being cheated on. Because either you or him, couldn't do anything to prevent that.

"Oh, Kou." It hurts you, but here you were still wrapping your arms around him, "It's alright, it's alright." It's not alright, and he knew it.

"HOW COULD YOU STILL ACT LIKE THIS?!" He screamed in the crook of your neck, "I hurt you, and I don't love you anymore... So why?"

"Because I still love you." You kissed his forehead, trying to calm him down, "Kou, it's alright if you don't love me again. It's alright." Your finger wipes all of the tears that were running down his cheek, "Do you want me to stay, Kou?"

"And, Bokuto-san." Akaashi's voice ringing from the other line, stopping him from hanging up, "You know she loves you and possibly will choose to be with you if you ask him, right? Even with this new... fact."

"Y-yeah, I know that."

"Then please, if she asked you. Don't hold her back." Bokuto wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, he wanted to be angry at Akaashi for telling him to let you free. He knew it's the best thing for you, but he couldn't do that.

"But I need her in my life, Akaashi! I couldn't ima-"

"STOP BEING SELFISH FOR ONCE, DAMN IT!" Your husband was now silent. His best friend rarely raised his voice, and he never cursed before, "Sorry for yelling, but please, Bokuto-san. Just this once, stop being selfish for her, just this once."

"N-no." He wanted to blurt out his plea and begging you to stay, imagine his life without you is something that never crossed his mind, "W-we should... We should get a divorce." He gulped down every wish on the back of his mind.

You understood him, and you know the things that he wanted—burying it down deep inside him. But you know it's best for both of you. He will feel guilty every time he looked at you, and you will regularly remember every syllable that came out from his lips tonight.

When he calmed down a little, you led him to the couch, turning on the fireplace and cover him with a blanket. He stared at the crackling fire in front of him, trying to absorb the heat. You walked upstairs with tears threatening to get spilt. But you held it, shaking your head and went to your shared bedroom.

The smell of his cologne attacked your nostrils immediately. With an incredible pace, you grab your bag and put some clothes there. The faster you could go from there, the quicker you could cry without hurting him in the process.

You finished your packing in ten minutes, putting your essentials on the other bag. When you walked to the door, you look at the shared bedroom one last time. You have been sleeping there for three years as Bokuto (Y/n). All the morning kisses and late-night making love wouldn't be repeated in your life ever again.

As you calmed down, you walked downstairs and found your husband at the end of the staircase. His eyes widened at the sight of you, wearing a long coat and ready to go. It's like you two would have a surprise date outside, but he knew better not to dwell on something that's not real.

"Hey," You took an easy step towards him, he still looks dumbfounded, "You should sleep, you know."

"W-where are you going to stay?" Just one more night, he wanted it to be with you once again, "Isn't it dangerous? It's so late."

"Kou, you know I could never leave if I just lay down beside you again." You patted his right cheek, "Just focus on your next match, okay? Tomorrow is the final, right?" He looked at you with grief engulfed his golden orbs, "Don't think too much about us. There's only you, or me."

You bit your lips, taking one last look of your husband, trying not to let the tears fall. His eyes pleading you to stay, and god you really want to stay and buried the fact that he didn't love you anymore. But you couldn't. It will torture him every day, and so are you.

"I will take care of the divorce paper. You just need to focus on your team, and you said one of the members being harsh to you, right? Who is it? Miya?" He nodded, it surprised him a little that you remember everything that slipped out from his lips, either it's essential or not, "I will take my leave now."

You closed your eyes and leaned in, kissing the right side of his lips. He held his breath as he felt your lips touching his one more time before you go. Even if it's not a kiss on the lips, tonight it felt so delicate like you pour the last amount of love.

He gulped as you take a step backwards, eyeing him with gaze still full of love, "Oh, and here, Kou." You take his hand and put your wedding ring on his palm, "I hope someday you will find someone that you will love until the end of time, and I hope they will love you as much as you love them."

And so, you walked towards the door. Ready to leave all of the memories that you spend on this house. All of the crazy breakfast, the burnt toast that he always made, the cuddle you shared at the couch, it will be imprinted on your memory as long as you love him.

When your feet reached the door, you turned your head to see him. You gave him a smile, reassuring smile. Both of you have been through everything together. You are there every time he lost and cry, and he was there when you have a bad day.

So you closed the door gently, letting go of all of those love when he was yours. He will be free without being afraid of hurting you every day. And you will be free, hoping that it will heal by time. Either it's by yourself, or someone else to help you.

The decision is all in your hand, just like tonight.

And from everything that you choose in your life, giving him back the ring that he promised to you precisely three years ago, is the hardest thing that you ever did.

[smashboxgirl26]

vengeance / chapter 6: a new perspective

chapter 5: befriending | chapter 7: helping

vengeance masterlist

You and Midoriya both walked through the doors, Midoriya following close behind as you swiped your keycard at the entrance and guided him to the center of the floor. Your heels clicked in rhythm against the cold, hard floor as you made your way to the front to see Mina sitting at the front desk.

She liked to take over for you during your lunch period since hers was earlier and she didn’t want you to come back stressed and worried about what to do. She would take the calls, write down notes for you, and direct people if they needed any basic assistance.

Her eyes looked up at the sound, widening as she saw the green-haired male that was trailing slowly behind you. Midoriya was more concerned with the atmosphere of the building, his eyes glancing in every direction as he took the place in.

His eyes stopped once he saw Mina stand up from the desk, in realization of her being one of the friends that was featured on your instagram account.

She was another Pro Hero. Somehow, it seemed like everyone else had achieved that dream except for him. But now, he’d have the chance to achieve something much greater, and much more meaningful than what they were doing.

“Hey Y/N,” Mina waved slightly before gesturing to Midoriya, “Who’s this?”

“A good friend of mine,” you answered, waving off her suspicions.

She raised her eyebrows in response to your answer but didn’t say anything as she reached her hand over the counter to shake Midoriya’s.

“Mina Ashido, or also known as the hero, Pinky!”

Midoriya returned the gesture before replying, “Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you.”

You interrupted their greeting as you stepped behind the desk and placed the messenger bag down, before turning to Mina.

“Is Katsuki still here? Or did he leave for patrol already?”

“Sorry, he left just a couple minutes ago,” she answered, staring at the paper bag and cup in your hand, guessing that was the reason for your question.

“I can put those up in his office for you if you’d like,” she said, gesturing towards them. “I have to go up and finish some paperwork now anyway before I leave.”

“Yes, please,” you nodded.

She smiled as she plucked them off the desk and nodded to Midoriya to say goodbye, before heading to the back of the building towards the elevator.

“Sorry about that,” you said, as you turned back to Midoriya. “Usually he’s still here,” you frowned.

He never left for patrol without saying goodbye to you. Maybe something urgent came up and he had to leave immediately.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s a pro hero so I understand,” Midoriya replied as he rubbed the back of his nape and looked around awkwardly.

“I don’t want you to wait here. Sometimes he comes back way later than normal, and if something happened that he had to leave in a rush he’ll definitely take a while.”

You stood up from the desk once more as you walked him out. Midoriya thanked you for the lunch before heading off into the direction of the bookstore, but not before glaring at the man from last night who passed him as he made his way back towards the building from lunch.

…

After you left his office, Bakugou stared down at the files you’d given him, having no motivation to open them and finish his paperwork. He mostly stared at the little sticky note on the top one, the little heart that was at the end of the note telling him who to call.

He shifted his chair so he could stare at the window, watching as the sun moved along with the clouds overhead.

Hearing Deku’s name for the first time in so long was starting to affect his mental capacity. He was scared. He remembered all the terrible things that happened between them before he left. And he regretted it. He regretted everything that he said and did.

But hearing about Deku again reminded him of that guilt, something that he’d pushed down a long time ago and left to sit on its own.

Would Deku even understand him if he explained his actions now? Would he forgive him, even?

More than anything, he didn’t want you to look at him any different if you found out what happened. Ideally, no one would tell you but he wasn’t so sure that was going to happen.

Watching the people pass by outside the window without awareness of his gaze seemed to ease him as the clock ticked by slowly. He finally turned away when he felt he’d thought over the situation enough. He was going to tell you when you both got back home and then hope for the best.

He swivelled the chair back to face the desk and stared at the note on the sticky note, reading:

Call from the Hero’s Commission, (###)###-####

Call back soon! ♥

He reached over his desk to grab the phone and typed in the numbers before pressing it up to his ear.

He turned back to stare at the world outside the window as the phone rang, the noise finally ending when he heard the other line pick up.

“Heroes Commision secretary Whitney speaking, how may I help you?”

“I got a call earlier, I was in a meeting,” he answered gruffly and bluntly.

“Ah yes, Mr. Dynamite? Give me a second and I’ll transfer you to the Director’s line.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes slightly at the thought of having to be on hold for longer. He hated the seemingly endless ringing.

So he was thankful when the other line opened up promptly, the Director clearing his throat noticeably before answering.

“Thank you for calling back so quickly. Usually we don’t get an answer back from your agency for a couple of days,” the director chuckled lightly.

Bakugou rolled his eyes in response to his comment. He despised the Director’s needless attempts to create mindless conversations when on business calls. He just wanted the news or information he wanted to tell him, and then he would hang up with no further notice. Which is probably why, he always put off calling them back for a couple of days.

Why he decided to actually call back promptly, was weird.

The director gave another small laugh as he imagined Bakugou’s reaction to his statement, deciding not to agitate him further.

“Listen, I’ll cut to the chase. I understand that back in UA, your class in particular had many run-ins with the group known as the League of Villains.”

“Yeah, we did,” Bakugou responded with his eyebrow raised. He was concerned as to where the direction of the conversation could be heading.

“And as you know, after the last large fight that occurred between the heroes, including your class, and said group ended in them being put away to top-security prisons and psych wards.”

The Director paused afterwards, the silence becoming louder by the second. Bakugou had a feeling about what he was going to say next. He didn’t want to admit it to himself though. His mind glanced back to you, thinking about how you were probably walking around the city without a care in the world. He wanted it to remain that way.

“Well, some of the staff at those institutions have expressed that there have been more and more behavioural incidents lately. They’ve been seeing more and more suspicious behavior coming either from the way they act with staff or the way they communicate with other prisoners. They are coming to fear that something big will occur soon. Of course, law enforcement has been notified and detectives are looking into the old case files and other pieces of evidence left behind to look for clues. So far, they think that there might be someone still out there that used to work with them. They have no direct evidence pointing to that fact, but from what I can see that’s what it looks like.”

“So why’re you dragging me into this mess, huh?”, Bakugou interrupted quickly. “Of course there are some people left behind. The underworld is huge, and is twisted in ways we don’t even fucking understand. Who knows how many goddamn people could’ve been working under or with them on the side?”

“As perceptive as always, huh Dynamite?”

Katsuki was about ready to jump over to the office and blow the old man up. He was tired of his overdramatic, round-about way of speaking. He wanted to be done with the call so he could finish his paperwork and eat the lunch you brought him before going out for patrol. He didn’t want to deal with the nonsensical drama the Director always tried to bring in his news.

“Don’t kill me, I swear I’ll tell you,” the Director reassured when he swore he heard Bakuogu’s seething breaths from the other line. “Why I’ve chosen you, Katsuki Bakugou? Because you’re capable. You’ve been in enough missions that you know rushing in at this stage in time is useless, but also know how to quickly take action when necessary. I trust that you won’t screw this up. Not to mention, you are the number four hero. And that the heads of police have been riding up my ass to get some heroes assigned on the case. A big name hero such as yourself will get them to shut up for a while. And then, when nothing pans out, you’ll get credit without having to do much.”

“...So, you’re basically telling me that you think the entire point of the case is useless. And that you want me to go help them, so they shut up.”

“Exactly,” the Director nodded intently. “Besides, since you’ve worked with these specific villains before, I’m sure that you’ll be able to tell them that nothing’s going to happen. We don’t want the public having an outcry, do we? It would wreak utter devastation otherwise.”

Bakugou shifted the air out of his nose harshly, choosing not to respond to his last comment. He bit his tongue before opening his mouth, yet feeling no words forming in his throat. What was he supposed to respond to him with?

So instead, he opted to just hang up the phone. The Director wouldn’t care, he was used to it.

He stared back at the desk in front of him, but not really looking at it as he began overthinking the Director’s words in his mind. He glanced down to the sticky note that you’d left him, specifically at the little heart at the end of the note.

While he hadn’t expressed his genuine fear to the Director, he was worried about where the investigation was going to pan out. He didn’t want anything dangerous to be found, obviously, but finding something and reporting it was better than sweeping it under the rug.

And since he now had no choice but to join, you bet he wasn’t going to half-ass it like the Director thought he was going to. He always put all of his effort into everything he did for his hero work, and this was no different.

And the little heart at the end of the note urged him further. He wanted to deal with the issue so you could be safe. That was his main job. No one else mattered if he couldn’t protect you first.

His consciousness began to slip out of his mind and back into the present moment, looking at the many files of paperwork littered across his desk. His hand reached out slightly as if it was an attempt to reach them, yet he recoiled it quickly, getting a sense of anxiety just looking at the pile.

He turned back behind him to look out the window, and stared once again at the blue sky and the lazy clouds that floated slowly across it. He needed to be there, where he could think about it.

Not to mention, he now had to tell you about his whole story with Deku and prepare himself for your reaction to his adolescence.

He barely even thought twice about it as he walked swiftly out the door and into the sunlight, mostly forgetting about the lunch you were bringing him.

[bailesu]

John Rewrites Star Trek:  The Motion Picture

This movie is great thematically, visually, and musically, and a disaster in terms of plot and character and pacing and especially pacing.  Way too many scenes of actors trying to react to special effects that don’t exist yet.  Two new characters, who are largely wasted.

So what is the theme of STTTMP?  It’s the question ‘Is this all there is?’  It’s the classic mid-life crisis question and that’s where the cast is when the movie starts - the Enterprise finished its mission, they moved up the ladder, but they’re not satisfied.  It’s that feeling there ought to be *more*.  Even V’ger has this and so this has to be a movie about the quest to find meaning in life when you have achieved your original goals... and now you don’t have a direction.  This also functions as a cosmic question - does the universe have any higher meaning or are we just an accident?  Why do we exist?  Is this all there is?

So we open with Scotty dropping by Kirk’s office to ask about some parts they need for the engine refit on the Enterprise.  Kirk is now Admiral Kirk and we learn the Enterprise did a successful five year mission and now there’s a refit and a new commander for it, Matt Decker; we get a brief mention of the Doomsday machine here and the first mention of Will Decker.  They also mention that Uhura has been working for Starfleet intelligence, mostly deciphering Klingon transmissions.  

 Then Uhura enters, dropping a report on Kirk’s desk.  “Look at this,” she says.

Cue footage of the Klingons vs  huge glowing energy field which zaps them with a beam that methodically erases them.  We learn this field destroyed three Klingon outposts and that it came from beyond the Empire.  

Uhura says, “It’s on a direct course for Gamma Iotis, near the border of the Federation.”

Scotty says, “That sounds familiar.”

“It’s where Bones is part of a research facility.”  Kirk said.  “I will get you those parts, Scotty, and brief Captain Decker.  It’s the only ship that can get there in time and even then, it’s going to be a close shave.”

Kirk has a message sent to evacuate, but it’s too far for a direct connection.  But given the limits on how fast ships can move, it will get there before V’Ger can, right?

Cut to Gamma Iotis, where McCoy is having an argument with David Marcus over whether terraforming technology is a good idea.  David’s ideas involve the use of technology based off the transporter and who still hates transporters?  Bones, that’s who.

Carol steps in to get them both to backdown and approves David doing some testing on a small scale.  Then V’Ger attacks and they’re running for the ships when everything evaporates.

Cut to a shot where the entire moon is gone and V’Ger moves on.

Then we roll the opening credits.

We see Spock, meditating in a Vulcan facility.  He has achieved his goal, Kolin’ar, but he is clearly not satisfied.  The peace he was promised is not there.

And then he feels the attack on McCoy and all the souls on Gamma Iotis vanishing.  He does something (to be explained later) and then tells the head monk he must leave.

“If you return to the world of attachments, there is no turning back,” the monk warns him.

“The needs of others is more important than the needs of the one,” he tells the monk, who cannot argue.

Cut to Kirk, who is riding to the martian shipyards where the refit is underway, taking Uhura and Scotty with him.  The VIP ship is commanded by Sulu, accompanied by Chekov, who are both bored out of their minds.  Kirk tells him the reason he ended up here was that they all did so well that Starfleet was afraid to risk them.  They had become too big of heroes, and he mentions what happened to John Glenn.

Here we get the ‘Look at how sexy the Enterprise is’ shot but cut down to reasonable length.

We now meet Decker and Ilia.  The Deltans are a race of telepaths.  Most never leave their homeworld, but if they must, they shave their heads, because their hair acts as telepathic antennas and around people with no mental defenses, they would be overwhelmed; Ilia can still do telepathy by touch.  Deltans have a reputation for being incredible at sex but are not obsessed with it, unlike Roddenberry’s version.  Decker and Ilia were once lovers but he left to enter Starfleet.  She became discontent with the limits of her homeworld, having learned more of the universe from him and joined Starfleet to see other, different places, but now they’re assigned together and it’s awkward.  Especially as he is her commanding officer now.

Scotty runs off to install the parts.

As Kirk is briefing Decker on what’s going on, two things happen: They get a report that the mysterious cloud is headed towards Earth at ludicrous speed, and that it destroyed Gamma Iotis with no survivors.

Kirk decides they have to go NOW.  No waiting.  They take off and Chekov and Sulu are along for the ride.

Decker isn’t happy to have his boss riding him.  The hasty departure leads to the wormhole problem, which Decker and Ilia and Scotty solve as they’re the only ones briefed on the new equipment.

Then Spock joins them and tells them McCoy is somehow alive and dead at the same time, his katra is inside V’Ger.  All the katras of the dead are.

Cut to McCoy, who finds himself in a weirdly frozen version of Gamma Iotis III.  He can’t figure out what’s going on but has this feeling like Spock’s looking at him.

His efforts to figure out what the hell is going on leads to V’Ger talking to him through Carol Marcus, who was up to this point one of the frozen.  We find out V’Ger’s mission is to go out, collect samples and information, to learn all that is learnable and bring this information to the Creator.  McCoy is now data in V’Ger’s banks, only he can still act of his own will.  

V’Ger then ‘activates’ various of the other people, making them act strangely and explaining that he has spent a lot of time playing out various scenarios to understand how carbon-based lifeforms think.

McCoy is really angry over that and tries to do the Kirk Manuever (use illogic to make the computer blow out, but it doesn’t work).  He refuses to play along, and V’Ger becomes both angrier and intrigued.

They reach V’Ger.  It remembers the feuding between Klingons and Federation, learned from its scan, and sends out the Klingons, reconstituted but still under its control.  Sulu and Chekov get to show their stuff here and the Enterprise wins, but Spock realizes they are just puppets, reconstituted from data about them.

He also feels V’Ger’s loneliness and discontent.  This is where Spock goes in, with Ilia flying him in, to try to make mental contact; he talks to McCoy and senses V’Ger’s state of mind.  The world is nothing but a plaything and the playing means little; it knows all that is knowable, or thinks it does, and now it seeks to report to its Creator, hoping to feel fulfilled.  Ilia tells Spock about how she left Delta because she didn’t feel fulfilled there.  She wanted more but didn’t know what she wanted.

Uhura now figures out how to communicate with V’Ger in a way it can understand and it responds by sending Carol Marcus as its ‘probe’ and tells them they must tell it where to find the Creator.  This shakes up Kirk.  It believes the Creator is on Earth, according to its oldest records.

Kirk comes up with a plan on how to destroy V’Ger with the Enterprise; he and Decker have a big argument over whether Kirk is freaking out like Decker’s father did.  Cue flashback.  Then Spock tells them that V’Ger would barely even feel it.  They cannot defeat it by force.

Their only hope is to try to reason with it.  Spock feels V’Ger is lost and seeks a purpose.  He has too much knowledge and power and nothing fruitful to do with it.  He seeks a purpose.  Ilia agrees and feels terrible for it.

They enter V’Ger and confront it, discovering its origins.  It demands of Spock to know how McCoy stillhas his own will, and Spock indicates he has been in contact with him sufficiently to sustain him, a power born of his search for Kolin’ar, but one that also meant he could not be content with it, for he could not renounce his connections to others.

But V’Ger has no others to connect to.  It has mastered this plane but does not know how to rise above it.

And now we get the Decker and Ilia joining with V’Ger, to help it to ascend and to learn how to connect with others.  V’Ger restores everything he turned into data.  Then they ascend.

This is pretty barebones, but that’s how I would do it, to give everyone more stuff to do and try to also build links to exploit for the later movies.

The Genesis Device is adapted from V’Ger tech information David gained to refine his ideas.

Carol and David will return in movie two.

We can blame the devastation of Khan’s world on V’Ger :)

We set up the idea of katras for later use and help show Spock has a strong bond to McCoy as well, for when his katra ends up in McCoy.

[i-cant-handle-change]

Did AFO knew about that the emotionless izuku and for all might I expecting him to feel scare and guilty

Two men suffered that fateful day.

One saw the aftermath and the other grieved for a son he rarely saw.

All Might was barely on the third floor of the building, already checking twice and confirming the slime villain was still in his pocket. He had to tell the kid the harsh truth that he couldn't be a hero when he was quirkless, he had to have a quirk otherwise he would-

A flash.

A flash of black and green came through his peripheral vision, Yagi didn't have time to react before he heard a sickening blow echoed.

For a moment he stood still, heart in his throat, eyes widening, and posture stiff he didn't get out of his trance before a deafening scream was heard among many others. He ran down the rest of the stairs, mind running with millions of possibilities, all of them worse than the last. He slammed the doors open, his hair waving around from the wind he looked to the left and-

”. . .”

He looked peaceful despite the terrible act he just committed.

A small smile was on his face, the only peaceful thing that was bathed in blood as well as his entire body too. A group began to form, many screaming, many calling an ambulance, others staring in complete shock. Once the sirens were heard, the weakening hero left the scene, chest aching with guilt and tears streaming with grief he left the villain at a random police station and went home alone.

He spends the night drowning with guilt, the scene replaying in his head over and over and over until he eventually sleeps.

All for One is not a man who gets scared easily.

He’s lived long enough to distinguish himself to laugh at the face of fear and control it to be used against those who oppose him. He only felt this fear when All Might had successfully disfigured him in battle and the day his very distressed wife calls him to tell him the dreadful news.

Izuku had jumped from a building and is now in the hospital on life support.

All for One is not a man who gets scared easily but when he heard the news he was most certainly afraid.

He called the doctor, urging him to check on his son, warning him that if his son were to succumb to his wounds he would face the dire consequences. The doctor, of course, agreed and gave frequent updates on Izuku’s condition, doing everything he could to keep the boy alive. All for One waited for those updates, every one of them urging on his anxiety that one of them may be the last.

Three agonizing weeks had passed before he received a call from his wife, not the doctor, and she had the most wonderful news.

Izuku was awake!

Relief is but a small fraction of what All for One had felt at the very moment, he had to take a breather, he would have cried if not for his injury. But then came the sickening result of Izuku’s injury, he was but a shell of what he was before, his eyes dulled and his hair was as white as All for One’s before his injury. He imagined what Izuku would look like now and it pained him to do so but now all he could do was sulk in the darkness with the dread twisting his mind.

The phone call hadn't made it any better; what was the energetic, stuttering, and muttering adorable mess that was his son had been resited to a slow-talking and emotionless husk of what he was before. To say that the devastation that ravaged All for One during that phone call would be, once again, an understatement. He wished he could just find a way to reverse his injury so he could just hurry home and hug his family close once again. But that was just a dream, a dream he hoped to one day accomplish, but now he supports his family any way he can.

It hadn't even been a month after the jump before All for One had gotten news about ’The Wired’ and what chaos was erupting from within.

’The Wired’ is a complicated place to say at the very least. Even before All for One was born, ’The Wired’ had been around at first a strange ideal of the future which then expanded the more people began to believe it. The idealism is that this so-called ’The Wired’ will be intertwined with reality itself and impact the future of mankind.

It was laughable, the ideal put down by the thought that delusional people were being as unreasonable as ever. All for One himself not paying too much mind to ’The Wired’ before, during, and after his debut as himself the place gave him no interest at all. Over the years, he failed to realize how much of an impact ’The Wired’ had onto many people, millions perhaps billions shared within the connected forum that was ’The Wired’.

Apart from ’The Knights’, nothing ever bothered the old cryptic from doing his duty of taking down who got in his way and to get his little brother’s quirk back. But now, in ’The Wired’ chaos has erupted and talk of the very person that's been disrupting it had come to light. It took a little digging and some help from Tomura since he has grown attached to ’The Wired’ and had given him more information on the matter.

When he had heard his son’s name he thought he heard it wrong, that possibly that it had been a mistake and Tomura has been prone to make mistakes before. But Tomura had been adamant on his claim, stating that there’s been this ’white-haired brat’ that's been messing with ’The Wired’ to the point where he's been popping up everywhere. All for One demanded to know the very detail of what this ’Izuku’ had looked like, which then came to the sudden realization that it was his Izuku.

Besides the hair, this Izuku had been made his presence known with his otherwise plain appearance. Green eyes and freckles accompanied by either a calm and calculated stature, a playful and outgoing teenager, and a naughty delinquent who loved to cause trouble. They all were different yet all very much alike, so alike that people may have been influenced that any Izuku could have been the real Izuku.

It was all very disjointed, all of it felt like a nightmare but at the same time a dream. No one should have been able to change ’The Wired’ let alone be able to cause this much chaos other than ’The Knights’. But now, his son, his very son was doing all of that and for what exactly?

What was the purpose of it?

For fame?

To cause a scene?

What was the meaning of all of this?

All for One needed answers and answers he’ll get just it's from an unlikely source...

[pyrefell]

Headcanons for some of the boys? Namely horrorfell, underswap and underfell?

you let me off my child leash and i honestly wasn’t even really sure where to even start here, so you get some pretty general headcanons. i have a lot to say about underfell and horrorfell,,,

UNDERSWAP:

IN ALL HONESTY, Underswap is currently one of my least developed AU interpretations. I'm still just really indecisive. BUT! I do have some stuff that I'm fairly set on.

Papyrus:

Never really grew out of the shyness he had as a babybones, he’s always had a much more outgoing brother to hide behind. 

He's the one that designed the puzzles in Snowdin! Puzzles are still one of his special interests in this AU. (Sans gets really excited to tell anyone that asks that his Very Cool little brother designed them.) 

He's fairly low to mid (but consistent) energy. He tries (and usually succeeds) to act all chill but he gets really excited about some things and can reach True Papyrus levels of loud. 

He and Undyne are still friends in this AU! He doesn't go to see her super often because. Hotland. But when they are together, it's pretty chaotic. They like to design things a la Mickey's Dick Smasher. 

Man, he's sure been feeling a lot of deja vu lately. Huh, wonder what that's all about. :)

Sans:

He’s still the Judge! And he's still the one that has to deal with the ever shifting and resetting timeline. It's...really starting to take a toll on him, but what's the point in telling anyone? They won't remember and besides, who's going to believe him anyways? 

He was always fairly outgoing and bubbly but he took on an even more bubbly persona kind of unconsciously to overcompensate for and hide how Tired he is now. 

Sans is just about the opposite of his brother energywise. He's full of energy for short bursts and then he sleeps for hours. He's started sleeping more since everything with the timeline started. It's not the best sleep but he’s just...so tired nowadays. 

Still completely willing to eat condiments for a joke (or a """joke"""). He eats mayonnaise by the handful. Does it mostly to embarrass (and disgust) Papyrus. 

Genuinely enraged by people who think he's young. Sure, he may be only a few inches over 5', but he's a Wide Boy. And not a naïve child, he's the older brother, thank you very much. Haven't you heard his voice? What kid has a voice that deep? 

UNDERFELL: 

One general headcanon I have is that they both have DT in their systems. Gaster gave them injections when they were still very young babybones in the sterile lab and they’d started mysteriously falling down. He’s not really a bad guy there, he wanted to save them. Of course, it’s probably got it’s side effects, right? After all the Bromalgamate and Comic Papyrus exist. :)

Their relationship is...strained. They definitely still love each other and would fight to the death for the other but they don't really talk. They both blame each other for how the other turned out, how they act.

Papyrus:

He’s blind in his scarred socket! He first got the wound when he was still pretty little and because he and Sans were still living out on the streets, he wasn’t able to get any real kind of medical care. It’s still pretty fragile but there’s really not a whole lot that can be done anymore. 

He can cook! Like, really well, actually. Grillby taught him when he was younger. He’s particularly good at cooking with whatever’s already in the house. 

I think he still wants to believe everyone can change and be good if they try. Though, whether he actually believes that anymore is kind of debatable. And I  think that he doesn’t really enjoy all the fighting. He doesn’t take any real pride or joy in what he's become. He really wanted (and still wants) to actually protect monsters. 

There's a square of fabric on his scarf that's from a well-loved blanket he'd had as a babybones. It still brings him some semblance of comfort when he needs it. 

He's well aware of timelines. Well okay, 'well aware' isn't exactly the right way to put it. He can't put a name to what's happening, why he can remember things that haven't happened yet or have happened at all. He at one point attempted to keep a journal about it all but it was gone the next reset. He'd like to talk to Sans about it, but given how their relationship is... 

Sans:

He’s got 3 golden teeth, he got hit pretty good almost directly on those teeth around the same time Papyrus got his scar. They were really loose after that but didn’t actually come out until later. 

Most still see him as free EXP. He doesn't get attacked as much anymore but the times he has, he's been able to suffice on just dodging until Papyrus shows up. He could just as easily fight back, but he's decided there could be some benefit to hiding what he can do for just a bit longer. Besides, he'd rather not place any more targets on their backs. 

He knows how to sew! He learned completely out of necessity when they were both young. They only had so many pieces of clothes, after all. He's the one who sewed the little square of Papyrus's blanket into his scarf. 

King of eavesdropping. Despite his stature (and who his brother is for that matter), he's surprisingly good at going unnoticed. He tends to play like he's completely shitfaced and passed out at Grillby's, just in case someone lets something slip. 

They both blame themselves for how the other turned out but Sans has it bad. He's supposed to be the older brother, right? He was supposed to keep Papyrus safe and stars, did he do a shit job at it, even if there were some things he just couldn't do anything about. 

HORRORFELL: 

OKAY SO, my Horrorfell doesn't start the same way the normal Horrortale AU starts. The short version is that Frisk doesn't fall until YEARS after they normally would have and they fall with Aliza. The Famine devastated the Underground. Frisk's left to try and figure out why they didn't fall when they should have and why they can't remember anything that happened during those years between. They have to balance keeping themselves and Aliza alive and trying to get through to at least Sans, who, while his memory is terrible he knows he's supposed to be pissed at them. They left the Underground to rot. I think that's all y'all really need lmao. I'm definitely going to write about Horrorfell, in fact I've already started something about it

ANYWAYS! On to the headcanons for the Boys. These two are so ride or die now it’s almost unreal. They’ve had a lot of time to air out their grievances and have the years worth of fights with each other. They work together so much better now and it comes in handy for both protecting each other and hunting. They're the most efficient and successful hunters in the Underground. 

Papyrus:

He’s effectively completely blind at this point. He needs coke bottle lenses to see. He ends up completely depending on his hearing and sense of smell when he's hunting. Despite his failing eyesight, he remains the best chef in Snowdin after Grillby's disappearance. He's always sure to use as much as he possibly can. 

His new stature has made it incredibly difficult to get into most buildings. He often ends up walking on all fours and his magic's started to adjust his body for that. He doesn’t recognize himself so much anymore. 

While Sans was comatose, Papyrus spent his time trying to ration out food, attempting to keep the peace for the denizens of Snowdin and caring for Sans. He'd continued to cut his own rations not only for the rest of Snowdin but for Sans too when he hopefully wakes up. 

He'd managed his way out to the rest of the Underground with his own brand of 'shortcut' earlier on despite the lockdown in Snowdin. Some say they'd seen him but no one's really sure if that's true and if it is, how did he get out? Can he do it again and maybe talk some sense into the Empress? They used to be friends, right? 

His memory is also not very good. He and Sans keep a big whiteboard in the kitchen with pertinent information and there's a calendar in every room with all the past dates marked off, just in case someone forgets. 

Sans:

The reason why the hole in his skull is so big and leads into his nasal cavity is because of preexisting cracks. Undyne really didn't mean to hit him! Really, she didn't... 

The selfish part of him almost wishes the DT in him hadn't kept him around, but he can't bring himself to really want that. He can't leave Papyrus alone, especially not now. 

His relationship with Frisk is...tense to say the least. When he first saw them, he didn't fully process who they were but he felt nothing but rage. He doesn't really believe what Frisk's saying when they claim they can't remember anything. Their relationship could absolutely mend, there's just so many roadblocks at the start. 

Seeing as he can't reliably use his shortcuts anymore, he's not as efficient a hunter as he could be. But that doesn't mean he isn't extremely deadly. The brothers are revered for the effectiveness, after all. 

He's developed some pretty nasty coping habits, most of which involve some kind of self harm either intentional or not. Papyrus tries his best to limit it, but he's not the best either.

[arbenia]

The other day on the BBC news I saw a young, educated and eloquent Serbian woman speaking about the life of ordinary citizens under the NATO bombing. The Serbian citizens are afraid, she said. Normal life is more and more difficult. There are power cuts, and people are forced to go several days without access to the Internet. There is also a cigarette shortage. But yes, they are trying to live normally. They go to work, they shop, and they sit in cafes. Of course, the bombing turned the Serbian citizens against NATO, not against Slobodan Milosevic. After all, “bombs are dropping from the sky.”

Clearly, this young woman, like so many Serbs, does not want to understand that her country is at war. They still seem to be thinking, What has all this to do with me? I know this mechanism of denial, because I have seen it before. Serbs by and large ignored the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. It was always happening somewhere else, to somebody else, and they were not involved. It was the Serbian army, the police, the paramilitaries, but not them, the ordinary citizens. But now, when it is happening in Serbia and affecting all of them, they are still somehow surprised.

The young woman on TV used the expression “Serbian citizens,” but her use of this phrase suggested that these Serbian citizens are people struggling to maintain the normality of their daily lives. By “Serbian citizens” she evidently meant only Serbs. Others–that is, Albanians–are simply never mentioned in that context. Their problems are not addressed, by her or other Serbs. In the perception of ordinary Serbs, Albanians are not included in the category of Serbian citizen and therefore are absent from the language as well.

Why? The problem is that Serbs–or anyone else, for that matter–cannot identify with the suffering of others if they are not able to see them as equals. In Yugoslav society Albanians were never visible. There was no need to construct their “otherness”–as, for example, with Jews in prewar Germany or recently with Serbs in Croatia. The Albanians were never integrated into the country’s social, political and cultural life. They existed separately from us, barely visible people on the margins of our society, with their strange language that nobody understood, their tribal organization, blood feuds, different habits and dress. They were always underdogs. What was their place in the Yugoslav literature, in movies and popular culture? What famous Yugoslavs were Albanians? Because of that estrangement, not many voices were raised in protest during the past ten years, when Albanians in Kosovo lived practically under apartheid.

For the older generation, the only visible Albanians were people in white caps coming from Kosovo to their cities to cut wood in the winter. For my generation they were people selling ice cream all over Yugoslavia. They spoke our language with a funny accent and never could pronounce “lemonade” properly. They lived among us, but we chose to ignore them. If we did happen to notice them, we despised them, laughed at them, told jokes about them. I never had an Albanian friend in Zagreb. No one I knew married an Albanian. But the difference between Croats and Serbs was that Croats did not really have to deal with the Albanians; we had no Kosovo.

It was clear that they belonged to a different category from Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins or Slovenes. Serbs could even fight a war against Croats, but they never perceived each other in the same way they both perceive Albanians. The prejudice against Albanians can be compared to that against Jews or blacks or Gypsies in other cultures. Today every Serb will tell you that Albanians multiply like rabbits–that this is their secret weapon in the war they are waging against Serbs in Kosovo. This is not nationalism; this is more or less hidden racism.

The woman on the BBC the other day may be only an ordinary person, but there are other Serbs who should know better and who can’t use the excuse of innocence so easily. They are the people in the opposition. But all one hears from them is their lament about the destruction of democracy and civil society in Serbia. The NATO bombing is to them a savage attack, a terrible act of aggression against a sovereign state–they all use the language of Milosevic’s propaganda. There is “the other Serbia” they say, a better Serbia of the brave people who fought Milosevic all along.

Surely there is another Serbia that will surface once Milosevic is gone. And surely everyone can understand that opposition people are afraid now. One is tempted, however, to ask, Exactly what opposition, what civil society, what “other Serbia” are we talking about? The one that for more than a decade was not able to produce a democratic alternative to Milosevic? The one that never established contacts with Albanians from Kosovo in order to work together for the common future of both nations? If the opposition, political as well as intellectual, ever had anything in common with Milosevic, it was in its attitude toward Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians were a litmus test for the opposition all these years, and they always failed it. Now they are engulfed in self-pity.

An open letter from Vladimir Arsenijevic, a young Serbian writer of some renown, circulating on e-mail, is a striking example of this invisibility of Albanians. In his answer to a friend from Zagreb, who reproached Serbs for their lack of remorse over the situation of the Albanians, he wrote: “On account of lack of pity for the fate of Kosovo Albanians, I know (from my own experience–and I know that I have no bad feelings whatsoever directed toward anybody, least of all Albanians) that it is very hard to care about somebody else’s problems if you are personally experiencing major problems of your own at the same moment. There is no favoritism in this society. Everybody is too busy surviving here to be able to feel any remorse…. Remorse is a privilege of the well-nourished, clean and civilized. And we are all Albanians here. All of us: Serbs, Montenegrins, Hungarians, Slovaks…. Poor, underfed, degraded, oppressed. And I mean ALL of us, even those who have supported Milosevic with all their heart through all these years of terrible hell.”

There is something almost obscene in this sudden “visibility” of Albanians, in the Serbs’ desire to achieve the status of victim through this kind of identification. Albanians remain an abstraction, an empty notion with no real substance, used solely as a means of adding visibility to Serbian suffering, thus denying the Albanian identity once more. I can see this young writer sitting at his computer (there must have been no shortage of power then) in his Belgrade apartment: He sends his e-mail letter, checks the latest war information on the Internet and goes to bed. Meanwhile, his Albanian counterpart, with whose suffering he identifies so much, sits in a tent somewhere in Albania or stands in the mud, waiting to cross the Macedonian border. His house is burned down, his computer–if he ever had one–has been taken by Serbian paramilitaries and he doesn’t know where his family is.

If the young writer considers himself an Albanian, why is he not fleeing to Macedonia or Albania as well? How cynical–or young or innocent or perhaps stupid–do you have to be to say that? It is as grotesque as if the Germans, after World War II, had said, “We were all Jews.” After all, had they not suffered occupation, bombardment, rationing?

The writer means to say that if the Serbs are victims, then how can they possibly have anything to do with the responsibility for this war? Or for the Milosevic regime? War goes deeper than bombardment, and the more we pretend it doesn’t concern us, the more it invades us. War is destructive of the human soul. It corrodes human beings, bringing out things we didn’t know about ourselves. And when he says that remorse is a privilege of civilized people, he puts himself and his nation on the level of people without pity. He is justifying the inhumanity of his people, and that is terrible.

This is what the war is doing to the young writer. But like the woman on the BBC, as well as ordinary people and opposition intellectuals, he is not able to realize that. Precisely this denial, blindness, unconscious racism and cruelty toward other human beings, this lack of remorse (but no lack of self-pity!), is what war is doing to Serbs, and it is much more devastating than NATO bombs. Living with Milosevic’s regime and the war for so long takes its toll. It has changed Serbs in the past ten years, and the rest of the world is witnessing this only now, still puzzled and bewildered by it. It is hard to understand that our acquaintances, our lovers, drinking buddies, philosophers, our once dear friends, are different people. It is even harder to understand that they themselves let that change happen.

`(Slavenka Drakulic, a Croatian-born author, is a Nation contributing editor. Her latest book is A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism.)

[beyond-the-mirror]

The Blue Eyed King’s Gift

Welcome back to another chapter of this story! Have you already guessed which fairy tales is it inspired by? You can find one of the answers in the tags below.

Tagging @v-vic​, if you wish to be tagged you can let me know at any moment.

I also want to give special thanks to @thottyonmainsquid​ for beta reading and offering her great and brilliant advice, as well as our discord server for their support and inspiring shenanigans.

Pairings: Vergil x Fem Reader

Warnings: War and violence. Mild gory descriptions, nothing too explicit.

Part One - Part Three - Part Four

……………………..

Part Two

Once upon a time, there existed a vast kingdom ruled by a great and powerful demon who possessed a heart as merciful and gentle as that of a human.

At the beginning of his reign, the Demon King bestowed upon all the humans of his land the ancient magic of his kind, quite unlike his predecessors that kept said magic to themselves selfishly alongside a few nobles of demonic heritage. With this wonderful gift, the inhabitants were able to access greater knowledge, developing more advanced technologies that greatly improved their lives. Soon enough the kingdom grew larger than ever before, making alliances with neighboring countries in order to selflessly share their magic and science with those who needed it most. Such was the will of the Demon King, who reigned over the peaceful land for centuries.

One day, the king fell in love with a human woman, and took the ultimate decision to renounce his immortality in order to spend the rest of his days with her as his beloved queen. From this union, two children were born, twin little boys with pristine white hair and blue eyes. The entire kingdom was overjoyed at the news, a long lasting celebration was held in honor of the newborn princes. As time passed, the twins grew up to become well respected nobles among the people, as well as skilled swordsmen just like their father. The younger one had a spirit like the sun, warm and vibrant; the older one had a spirit like the moon, calm and piercing.

……………………..

Many years later, the Demon King and his beloved queen passed away at their shared bed due to old age, both with a peaceful smile on their faces at the fulfilling lives they had shared with each other. At their passing, the elder brother was crowned as king of Fortuna in a most luscious ceremony which hosted many representatives of their allied countries. The Blue Eyed King was able to reign as benevolently and wisely as his late father; however, he would often question his trust in some of Fortuna’s allies, concerns that he kept even after his crowning.

During a festival at the town square, someone caught the monarch’s attention, a beautiful maiden with a heart of gold lively dancing and twirling to the cheery music. At the end of the song, their eyes locked for a few moments that seemed almost eternal, and he knew he just had to meet her. Love blossomed between them, which some time later led to a joyful marriage between the two. The king and queen lived together with great happiness, their love as profound as the immensity of the universe.

Such happiness wouldn’t last long.

……………………..

After a medical checkup, the couple was informed that the young queen could not bear any children. The news absolutely devastated her, driving her into a severe depression that kept her isolated in her private chambers for months to come. In his despair to help his wife, the king did everything in his power to aid her in her malady. Every single medic was summoned to the palace, doctors, healers, therapists… the young king prayed every day and night for the recovery of his beloved, always tending to her side and holding her close as many times as she allowed him too.

One day, after many painful months, the queen finally gathered some energy and emerged from her chambers, much to the relief of all the servants and the young king himself. She made one single request to her husband.

She showed him a small bag of seeds “My beloved. Allow me to plant these seeds in our royal garden, and tend to them with my very own hands. I don’t wish to be helped by our servants and gardeners, who have already done so much for me these past months. Please, let me be the only one to nurture these seeds.”

As much as he wanted to protest her decision to work despite her health condition, the king obliged. Whatever it took to make his love recover her lost happiness, he would gladly accept.

The next months, the queen would be seen tending to the seeds she planted in the garden, which eventually grew into many exquisite blue roses thanks to her love and dedication. The king was filled with joy knowing that his wife had finally started to smile again, little by little did she recover and soon she was back into her usual cheery self.

None of them would have expected the tragedy that was about to fall upon the kingdom.

……………………..

They attacked at midnight while everyone slumbered. Loud explosions from their cannons shattered the calm atmosphere of the night, reducing buildings and homes to rubble and dust. 

Nobody would have expected that this particular allied country would ever consider the benefits given by Fortuna as simply not enough for them. Envious and greedy, they wanted the great kingdom’s power and riches all for themselves.

As his twin rushed to take care of the siege engines surrounding the city, the Blue Eyed King and his army fought valiantly against the enemy who planned to infiltrate the grand palace. He had struck down another group of soldiers with a graceful cut from his demon sword Yamato when an all too familiar scream made his blood run cold. Looking around frantically, he spotted through the corner of his eye the queen running towards the royal garden. The king immediately bolted after his beloved, only to stop dead in his tracks at what he saw once he reached her.

The queen laid lifeless on the exact same roses she had planted months ago, the blooms now crushed and their petals painted red with her blood. Towering before her, the very own general that commanded such an act of treason against Fortuna, standing victoriously arrogant at the murder he had commited.

At that moment something broke inside the king. Everything happening around him became mere white noise as pure rage and sorrow drowned his rationality. A blaze of blue fire enveloped the king as he embraced his demonic heritage, and with a mighty roar that shattered the night skies above and the earth below, he unleashed his fury at the ones that took his love away.

……………………..

Everyone watched in horror as a dark atmosphere consumed the entire city, even the soldiers stopped fighting and froze on their sports as the heavy darkness wrapped around everything it could touch.

And then, it happened.

It was strangely beautiful, the way thousands of light beams shot instantaneously through the air like fractals of blue energy, followed shortly by a delicate hum that resonated everywhere, not unlike the chirping of birds at breaking dawn. The lights illuminated the streets as if it were a sunny day despite being in the dead of the night. All who bore witness to the otherworldly display found themselves hypnotized by its beauty, the sight so alluring, so alluring... 

And just as it had begun, it ended, like a lightning breaking through the storm in a matter of seconds. During that time nobody dared make a move, too stunned at what they had just witnessed.

The Blue Eyed King sheathed his sword.

One by one, every single soldier from the enemy country fell to the ground in unrecognizable pieces, a sickening sound as their remains sploshed and bloodied the streets. It was a nightmarish sight, how an entire army was eradicated in just an instant and in such a grotesque manner.

Silence reigned over the ruined kingdom once more, as if a war had never happened in the first place.

……………………..

The prince rushed to the palace, knowing something must have happened to his older brother after realization had hit him. His imposing red wings pierced the sky as he flew, a twisted feeling that tugged at his heart telling him that something must have gone terribly wrong.

As he landed at the now rundown garden, he saw his brother’s true demon form thrashing around in torment.

Overwhelmed by his grief, the king kept ripping and tearing down the now mangled body of the opposing general. Even his own demon sword laid forgotten on the ground as he preferred to discharge his wrath with his very own claws.

The prince immediately seized him, trying his best to calm down his brother. However, the beast inside him had completely consumed him, leaving only a primal creature thirsty for blood and revenge.

Suddenly, an unexpected cry resonated through the garden, interrupting the fight between the twin brothers.

Both demons stood bewildered as the high pitched wailing continued, breaking the silence that permeated the garden. The Blue Demon quickly scanned the area, looking for the source of the strange noise, his breaths slowly evening out as he started to recover some of his lost clarity.

His blue fiery eyes widened as he noticed the sound was coming just next to the corpse of his long lost queen.

Without losing a minute the beast prowled towards her body. Upon closer inspection, her arms seemed to be enclosed around something, as if protecting it and keeping it safe until her very last breath. Ever so carefully, the Blue Demon pried her arms open, minding the sharp talons that had replaced his human nails.

In her embrace, a single intact blue rose laid. The bud was abnormally bigger than the rest of the blooms that laid broken around her, gigantic even. As the king focused on the bizarre flower, he realized that the cries were coming from inside it, just as he too observed a few slight movements on its soft inner petals

In the most gentle and careful manner, the beast opened the rose bud. What he found inside brought tears to his eyes.

Two newborn babies were cuddled inside the unnatural flower, flailing their tiny limbs and crying in distress. The infants had pale rosy skin, soft white tufts of hair crowned atop of their heads.

The king turned beast stood astonished at the sight, not expecting to find such innocent lives at the now crumbled ruins that were once his and his wife’s garden.

Scales turned into flesh, talons transformed into lithe fingers. The king slowly reached for the children with shaky arms, pulling them out of the rose and cradling them against his chest. The babies nuzzled after the warmth he exuded, one that soothed their alarmed cries little by little. It was then that they finally fluttered their eyes open, and the king let out a startled gasp.

One had light blue eyes like an endless ocean at peace, very much like the kings’ own. The other had mesmerizing green eyes like a lively forest, very much like… His heart swelled with both joy and melancholy. The child’s eyes were very much like his beloved queens’.

What the monarch failed to realize at that moment was that this was his beloved’s last gift. Unbeknownst to him, amidst the doctors that had been summoned to treat her infertility, there was an elderly woman who was praised for her unique medicinal practices involving a combination of magic and science. Knowing this, the queen begged for her help as soon as she had recognized her presence in her chambers. 

The elderly woman gifted her a small satchel full of magic-imbued seeds, instructing her to add a drop of her own blood as well as one of the king’s into the satchel before planting them, warning that the seeds would only grow by the hands of the queen herself. According to her words, one of the roses would bear a child after 9 months, an heir with the same blood used to soak the seeds at the beginning.

After offering her heartfelt gratitude to the healer, the queen set to work as soon as possible, one night even pricking her husband’s finger while he slept in order to follow those same instructions. She worked day and night, tending to the roses while ignoring the worrying looks of the servitude and those of the king himself. Above all, the queen prayed to the gods every morning she would get up to keep gardening. When she noticed one of the roses growing much more than the others, the smile she thought long lost had finally returned.

The infants stared at the man holding them before raising their small hands, reaching for his face as they giggled ever so sweetly.

For the first time in his life, the Blue Eyed King broke into tears, now understanding why his beloved was in such a rush making her way to the garden.

These children were his sons, his and his queen’s very own flesh and blood.

She had given her life to save their children.

The king hugged the little boys in his arms tightly, tears after tears cascaded down his face. His younger brother, now back into his human self, fell to his knees and embraced his brother, hoping to alleviate some of his brother’s pain as he too broke down.

He could barely hear his brother’s words as he spoke between heartbreaking sobs. “No mortal shall ever cause you pain, my beautiful children. I am your father, and until my very last breath, I shall protect you.”

……………………..

As dawn broke, all the surviving Fortunians were gathered in front of the palace gates. By order of the king, every single inhabitant of the kingdom had been relocated to the citadel which will later be rebuilt and occupied.

Before everyone, the Blue Eyed King vowed and swore to protect his people by all means necessary. And if it meant cutting ties with the rest of the world, then so shall be his will and command. Fortuna had been betrayed by who they considered an ally, and he will make sure a tragedy like this one would never happen again. 

For the sake of his people. For the sake of his sons.

The king unsheathed his sword, and with an all-powerful cut, he split the land around the great citadel and the surrounding villages, severing all cuts with the outside world and enveloping it in a magical barrier.

In the blink of an eye, the Great Kingdom of Fortuna was gone.

……………………..

Once upon a time, there existed a vast kingdom ruled by a great and powerful demon. However, every remnant of its existence vanished without leaving any trace behind. As ages went by, nature grew and reclaimed the unoccupied land, eventually forming a thick forest where all kinds of wild creatures lived in harmony.

For the rest of humanity, Fortuna had been long lost. This, however, couldn’t be further than the truth.

The great kingdom still stood proud and prosperous, albeit in another plane of existence cut off from all mundane ties to our world. A plane of existence where even time itself behaved in the most different and unexpected ways possible.

It was a bit difficult at the beginning, but the inhabitants soon adapted to their environment without any more trouble. In no time they managed to rebuild their homes and return to their normal lifestyles, now convinced that the decision made by the Blue Eyed King was the best for everyone.

Peace once again reigned over the kingdom. And as long as its existence remained a secret to the outside world, nothing shall ever take it away.

[ryanhamiltonwalsh]

“Hammond” - The Roches

File Under: But What Is The Song Actually About?

Released by Warner Brothers in 1979, the song features stunning sisterly blood harmonies and the most perfectly out-of-place Fripp guitar solo of all time. Lyrically, the song seems to present a parental warning to their (mostly) grown children & the children’s rebuke, but the specifics of the song are never quite explained. Where is Hammond and why is it a path to the wrong track? Here’s what I found:

In 1970, Maggie and Terre attended Paul Simon’s songwriting seminar at NYU. Two years later, they called him up and asked to audition for him. Simon was impressed enough to have them sing backup on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, and he also introduced them to his lawyer, who negotiated an album deal with Columbia. Seductive Reasoning, an interesting, uneven record, which had four producers, was released in 1975 to resounding public indifference.

Devastated, Maggie and Terre retreated for several months to a friend’s kung-fu temple in Hammond, Louisiana, where, in Maggie’s words, “a lot of people went to learn how to beat people up.” When the temple dissolved, they drifted back north and into performing again. - Rolling Stone

Huh. Well, that’s unexpected, right? Louisiana? A Kung Fu Temple?

Suzzy Roche to Slate in 2020:

I mean, the song is a story, but, well, imagine Terre had met this guy who had a Kung Fu temple, as you do in Hammond, Louisiana.

And by the time I was was down there, when I arrived in the middle of the night by Greyhound bus, I realized quickly it was an abandoned telephone company building. And there were all these guys there who were studying Kung Fu. And us and Maggie and I had jobs at a truck stop and Terry was working at the Magnolia Diner. And I really cannot tell you how strange it was, is very extreme. But needless to say, my parents were not terribly thrilled about the whole thing. And I think that that song, the Hammond song, has to do with that.

Terre weighs in:

“We were humiliated,” Terre added. “We wanted to get out of the whole situation. We had a friend in Hammond, Louisiana, who was running a Kung Fu school. We gave up our apartment and told the record company, ‘We’re not going to promote the record anymore; we’re going away for a while.’ This was two weeks after the record came out. Maggie wrote the ‘Hammond Song’ about the whole experience.”

Cursory searches for more information about this Kung Fu temple in an abandoned telephone company building yielded nothing. Same with Magnolia Diner. So what about the town itself? Hammond highlights from its Wikipedia entry:

The city is named for Peter Hammond (1798–1870), the surname anglicized from Peter av Hammerdal (Peter of Hammerdal) — a Swedish immigrant who first settled the area around 1818.

During the Civil War, the city was a shoe-making center for the Confederate States Army.

The city later became a shipping point for strawberries, so a plaque downtown gave it the title of "Strawberry Capital of America."

During World War II, the Hammond Airport (now Hammond Northshore Regional Airport) served as a detention camp for prisoners of war from Nazi Germany.

The city was the home base for production of the first season of the NBC television series In the Heat of the Night, starring Carroll O'Connor.

Shoes, strawberries, and Nazis. Got it. Ok, so how did Fripp get involved? His own account from August, 1979:

RF: Originally, I'd been in..., I visited The Kitchen Arts and Video Center in Soho and John Rockwell was there, the critic from The New York Times. He introduced himself and I said... would he recommend anyone I should go and see? And he said, "Go and see The Roches." So I went to see The Roches at The Bottom Line not long aftrewards, they were there a few days later. Fell in love immediately, remarkably impressed. Since they were obviously so talented and seemed to be fairly innocent, I sensed that they were good canidates for being ripped, so I made one or two phone calls to make sure their affairs were being taken care of, which they were, and expressed interest in producing them should this arise. The Roches, for their part, felt that they needn't look for a producer, that when the producer came along, he would look for them. So eventually, I was interviewed by them for the job. They really gave me a grueling two hours, in which they said nothing. They simply said nothing.

RG: Just drilling you with questions?

RF: No, they said nothing. They just sat there and said nothing.

Delightfully strange. Terre says some King Crimson fans didn’t appreciate Fripp producing a folk act:

We were at that point every music career gets to where the honeymoon was over. The Roches had burst onto the music scene in 1979 with a shower of press infatuation rarely accorded a folk group. The unlikely pairing of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, with his hard-driving English art rock, and the three singing sisters from New Jersey had caught the attention of music writers even before the album was released. Liz Rosenberg, our publicist at Warner Brothers, told us the press was calling her for interviews. She told us this was extremely unusual.

When the actual record came out, the momentum accelerated. The sound of three fairly soft voices and three acoustic guitars, with songs about waitress jobs, commuter trains and longing to be accepted by your parents,                    issued forth into the 1970s climate of disco fever like a drop of powerful medicine into a compromised bloodstream. Fripp, in an interview, put forth that people don’t realize gentle music can be revolutionary.      

Some of his fans were upset that he’d traded in bombastic male music for lily-white warbling so delicate you had to turn up the dial to hear it. “The Roches” was No. 1 on The New York Times’s list of the year’s best albums. We were on our way.

Cristgau loved it. Marcus hated it.

And that represents the bulk of relevant information I could find on “Hammond.”

I’ll add that I appreciate how the song is aware that it’s a song (a sub-genre I try to keep a running list of) and how it seems to serve as direct communication to The Roches’ actual parents. I wonder if they ever gave their daughters an answer or told them they were ok?

Do your eyes have an answer To this song of mine They say we meet again On down the line Where is on down the line How far away? Tell me I'm okay

The combination of a folk song structure, three part harmony, and a prog-rock guitar solo suggests a new kind of musical genre that never quite got off the ground. I wish there was more music that could live comfortably next to this song.

Please reach out to me if you ran the Kung Fu temple in an abandoned telephone company in Hammond, Louisiana. I have questions.

[thethreemages]

*rises from the grave to finally deliver on a certain new story arc chapter*

...Heeeey everybody lol I know this may not be something anyone expected in like, ages compared to my other recent TTM-content... but well, ever since my last chapter upload from maaany months ago... I've just continuously kept getting blocked from wanting to get back more into the main story, especially with the influx of developing lore and side casts I've been having fun with a bit more in comparison.

But well, after some more heavy thinking and reworking a bit of how I wanted to frame the next few bits of the story to go (while still keeping relatively faithful to my original concepts)... here's the official next part to keep the main story flowing with some rather "juicy" drama ahead~

((Here's the DA Link for the fic itself in case it gets too cut-off here-))

===========

The eerie stillness of the forest was something all too familiar to those raised around this trek of the woods… but this night in particular was getting all the more “curious” for what semblance of peace was broken left and right....

On one side, a noble prince and a gentle strength mage were connecting all the closer together as they were quietly walking through the woods.

On another, a fiery prince and a gruff healer mage were stumbling into the middle of an ominous find… enough to have stirred up some lingering “threats” following after them.

And finally, as of now… a cunning dark mage was finding herself apprehended by a group she once looked up to, respected, and trusted…

“-I will not say this again! Unhand Me. This. Instant!” Prym Fletcher hissed towards the pair of guards who were roughly escorting her back to the camp, feeling tempted to have blasted them back already with her magic… had it not been for a fierce pair of eyes ordering her to keep still.

“Save it, kid. You’ve snooped upon very classified information against official orders, you’re not leaving our sight.” Taiyin Zhou replied back with a firm tone, “You’re about lucky we haven’t already arrested you as is…”

“Ughhh, I’m telling you I did NOT snoop! I had simply stumbled across your camp by accident!” the young dark mage insisted, her voice already growing exasperated with frustration, “Why won’t you believe me?? I’m Lady Meradyth and Sir Luka’s daughter, for Saint’s sake-!”

Halting in her tracks upon hearing that, Taiyin only turned her head to give a… rather puzzled look, “Sir… Luka? Um, sorry but... no one’s ever been registered in our ranks with that name…”

Rightfully confused as ever by that response, Prym had taken the moment to shove off the guards restraining her as she offendedly exclaimed, “Wait… w-what?? Oh, now this has to be a damn joke… Luka was once one of your top members back in the day! Closest friend to Ivor and my mother Meradyth, what do you mean by ‘never been registered’??”

“-Look, I’ve been here in the Elite for a good number of years, kid... and I think I would know if I was aware of anyone named Luka,” Taiyin furrowed her gaze to Prym in a frustratedly tired way, almost reminding her of one of the strict & overworked teachers back at St. Ravilda’s, “I don’t know what else to tell ya on that front, but we’ll be the ones handling the questions here, thank you very much...”

The younger mage could feel her fists clenching in a rising anger towards this woman’s insensitivity… yet didn’t have time to make another retort as a pair of familiar faces joined to greet them from behind Taiyin.

There stood the imposing General himself, alongside the stoic Alastair who gave a quiet look of disapproval towards his comrade’s harshness to Prym. In the meantime, Ivor’s face seemed to twist with many mixed feelings upon seeing his daughter’s friend. Shock, disappointment, confusion… and perhaps even a bit of fear?

“Prym… what in the Saints’ good names are you doing out here??” Ivor shakily demanded to know, the stern fatherly side of his kicking into high gear as if she were his own child caught in the act, “I told you specifically to stay back at home where it’s safe! Don’t you know what kind of danger you’re putting yourself in, especially at this hour of night within these woods??”

“I… w-well,” Prym struggled at first to find the words, not wanting to risk giving away that Tula and the others were very much out there in the woods too… so, after taking a second to think and compose herself, she retorted back to him with an unamused tone of her own, “Hmpf… I suppose I should be more asking you the same question, Ivor. Don’t think I didn’t hear His Majesty giving you orders to collect this insidious-sounding ‘white plague’ for him… whatever the hell that means for his standards…”

“-Hey, what did I say about watching your tone, kid-!” Taiyin attempted to scold her… only for Alastair to hold up his hand to let the young girl speak her mind. Not exactly expecting Prym to have spun the question onto him now, Ivor gave a conflicted moment of silence… but eventually, an approving look from Alastair encouraged the hulking General the resolve to just admit what’s up, not seeing much else to lose now that she’s already here...

“The… white plague we were speaking of earlier, Prym… is a code name for this strand of white fungal root that had suddenly taken bloom within Graystone. These plants… they’re about the most devastating plant species our country’s faced in these past few decades… once was the stuff of legends within our oldest history books, but then… somehow some twisted, sick individuals decided to recreate these plants and spread them loose to cause countless amounts of destruction among the lands…”

Hearing of these plants made Prym’s eyes widen a bit in recognition… taking a moment to think on it, “Hold on, I… think I might’ve heard of such plants back in this one story Professor Blanchard once told us; an old crone who was jealous of the younger beauties in her town made up a mash of brew from these weird, white twigs so she could poison the girls, and absorb their own beauty to become a ‘goddess’. The plan backfired when it simply made the other men exposed to her inner flaws despite all her good looks, so she was cast off in a ritual fire to pay for her sins. Could… those perhaps be the white plague plants you were mentioning?”

One by one, Ivor and the others had given a nod of yes as Alastair floated up a steel box to open in display… revealing within a sealed-jar the shriveled up remains of a ghastly, half-rotted root… curled into a position like that of a crooked hand. Nauseating as the contents were to look at, the fact that this root was seemingly swimming in a sickeningly thick black liquid near the bottom didn’t help either…

“Indeed, Prym… this is the white plague we’ve been tasked by King Grayle to retrieve,” Ivor continued on to explain, “In our years of tracking them down, they’ve been linked to many terrible cases of people becoming infected when they didn’t expect it. Whether it’d be from injesting the root itself or the snow-like spores spread out into the air… its almost impossible to fully recover from it before its too late...”

“Yes… these roots were the ultimate cause of many terrible tragedies our country will never forget…” Alastair finally spoke up as cleared his throat, his tone serious yet solemn as ever, “Queen Elianne’s death, the double-crossed Wraith Night survivors, the village residents of Yulong…”

‘...Aevri’s hometown…’, Prym thought as she felt the tears prick to her eyes, remembering when her friend was given the grave news of her parents passing away of illness a few years back in school... so sudden and out of nowhere during a seemingly peaceful period of time. Long as it was since the last she saw Mr. and Mrs. Ren, Prym could still plainly recall them both being such kind, healthy-bodied people who wouldn’t hurt a fly… so hearing of them being the unsuspecting victims of such a ghastly plant this whole time was beyond tragic… “...even among our own ranks we’re all too familiar with white plague being inflicted right under us… ” Ivor admitted with a saddened tone, his gaze to Prym signifying she’d know who he’d talk about next, “The night Lady Meradyth had fled, the arrow blades recovered from the crime scene were found to be traced with this blackened poison linked back to the plague root… which, in connection to those other past incidents could only mean one thing..”

Not having to say another word, Alastair let his magic do the talking for him as he enchanted his glowing aura to shapeshift a group of silhouetted figures gathered together, each holding the white plague roots within their hands in an ominous, unified fashion. With that, signifying that whoever was perpetrating these white plague attacks… were all working together in a single, spread-out group.

Hearing all this was already pretty heavy for Prym to bear… breaking her more into confusion as she noticed Taiyin and Alastair turning to leave along with some other guards, “w-wait, where are you going?”

“Continuing the rest of the mission, kid.” Taiyin informed her, thankfully not as harshly as before but still firm enough to try and hold the young dark mage back.

“Yes, if our sensors are correct then its only a matter of time before these plague roots bloom upon the first morning hour. We must give haste at once.” Alastair joined with Taiyin as he packed some quick essentials nearby, looking over to his superior, “General, please inform us if anything stirs around this area while we’re gone, and we shall do the same in return.”

“Noted.” Ivor simply nodded as he gave some silent orders for the two to continue heading out. As much as a part of Prym wanted to say more in perhaps suggesting to go with them or however… her mind was still much too focused on the growing anger she had towards all these suspicions and secrets being kept from her. Not even letting Ivor reach to touch her shoulder in comfort, she had resigned to simply stomp towards the tent to cool off… the shining light of the moon following behind her.

——-

On another section of the sprawled forest, making their way through the thickets was Prince Elas and Tula… seeming to make good headway on the path they were on. Further back they had found some tracks being quite imposing enough to belong to no one else but Tula’s father,

“Okay, looks like it won’t be long to find Papa!” Tula had deducted, feeling some more confidence at finding another cluster of footprints up ahead, “my guess is that he might’ve set up camp just a few trees away, by this rate.”

“Indeed, I can’t say I can find much to disagree with that notion.” Elas gave an approving nod, analyzing some of the tracks for himself, “Seems to me he might’ve had some party members of his own crossing though here, so whatever he may be up to then he’s bound to not be alone…”

Looking on ahead in the direction they were headed to, something inside Tula was feeling… odd, and kind of confused as to how everything was going so smoothly at the moment. Perhaps… a bit too smoothly, as the forest seemed eerily still at this point in time.

“...Elas, does something seem ‘off’ to you?” the young Strength mage pondered, her gaze glancing around for any signs of possible life within the trees or bushes. At first, the prince didn’t seem to detect anything out of place as he stepped ahead… until his foot caught sight of something that made him jump back in shock.

“Oh good Saints, w-what in the world was...?” gathering himself to calm down, Elas took a closer look to find that his shoe had stepped into what looked like a puddle of thick, ghastly-white goo… the contents sizzling a bit under the glow of the moonlight above. Tula had curiously peaked over his shoulder to see what was up… only for them both to jolt back again once the puddle started to bubble and release a hissing, acidic green stench.

“-What is that stuff?? I-I’ve never seen anything like that in these woods!” Tula exclaimed with a clear worry in her tone, “Do you think any of the girls or Kain found-”

Halted in her thoughts was the ear-piercing shriek of something very much inhumane ringing throughout the trees, rattling both her and Elas from standing upright. Careful to at least not fall back in the goop behind them, the two helped pick the other up as within these shrieks, they heard the loud crashing and glowing of magic clashing near the distance ahead.

“-Kain!” Elas deducted, upon recognizing the reddish-orange glow from where he was standing, “He and Aevri must’ve found something dangerous up there, come on!” he encouraged to Tula while instinctively firing up some blue fire in his hands.

Answering back only with a firm nod, Tula didn’t take long to summon up her Strength gauntlets as the two of them hurried on to try and help the other mages. If only they had looked back behind them, they would’ve noticed how that white goo from earlier was beginning to fade away as a figure summoned it back into the darkness…

—-

The normally firm General was in quite an awkward spot having Prym stumbling upon such top secret info as she did… having hoped that tonight could’ve been just a simple detour mission without having to drag any of the kids along. And he knew that hearing the truth about the dangers of white plague had truly shaken her up… so, he knew that he couldn’t have any room to blame her for not being willing to talk to him at the moment while they were alone at the campsite.

A few more minutes would pass before he’d finally make the move to head inside the tent as well… looking to find Prym with her back turned from him, clearly lost in thought and conflicted.

“...Prym, I know what you may be thinking,” Ivor steadily began, trying to keep his tone as delicate as possible, “-But you must understand that this situation was... much too dire and dark for me to just confess it freely among you and the others back home. I simply wished to protect you all-“

“-Protect us from what, Ivor?” Prym finally spoke up, not so much defensively as much as she sounded… tired, “If you haven’t already noticed, me and the girls are not little kids anymore… if you truly meant to be on an important mission regarding these plague plants, then we could’ve understood if you simply told us. Otherwise I thought… well, with the King’s orders and that one lady’s coldness to me, I…”

“...I know. And for that as well, I deeply apologize...” the General lowered his head as he sighed, “Taiyin is quite a strong soldier, noble-hearted as well… but we’ve been meaning to correct her more about not letting her loyalty to the Elite get the better of her towards outsiders. I’ll be sure to have a talk with her when she gets back, I promise.”

Assuring as that thought was, as well as relieved at his genuine apologies… something in Prym’s mind was nagging at her to not let it go. Something regarding one, particular detail that wouldn’t leave her thoughts…

“...Ivor, earlier Lady Taiyin had given me this… really strange response to me mentioning my father Luka. Basically saying he… apparently never existed within the ranks.” Prym had turned to further face the general, looking up with a look of questioning, “You didn’t even directly say that he died within those other plague casualties, simply that there was poison found at that scene where Mother ran away. Is… there something you’re not telling me, Ivor...?”

“...Prym, n-now is not the time to-“ he looked quite shaken by her sudden accusation, but Prym continued to stand her ground further with a firm anger in her tone.

“-No. Now is more than the perfect time to explain- Why is it that all my life, I’ve been told my father was this grand, loving hero of the King’s Elite alongside my mother, giving his life to protect countless innocents… and yet now I learn that’s all apparently been one big lie?? Ivor, please what is the real truth here?? W-Was my father a true soldier, or not?? Was he working for some other party, dealing with some unsavory types?? Please, j-just tell me already, Ivor!”

Steadily her voice began to shake more to a near-sobbing tone, lip quivering as her mind was drifting to all sorts of possibilities… and one more question stuck out the most as she pitifully looked up to the older general,

“Ivor… is my father even alive…?”

Silence quickly fell upon the tent… as Ivor looked conflicted as to how exactly he should answer such a question, let alone in a situation like this. As the seconds were passing into a minute between them, Prym was afraid that… perhaps he wouldn’t give her an answer, that maybe it was a mistake to ask at all after she had already stepped out of line as is… until at last, the still air broke when Ivor delivered a simple, one word answer that changed everything…

“...yes…”

——-

On their end of the forests away from everyone else, things had… really picked up much more chaotically for Kain and Aevri, the two of them now lost in a battle between an eerie group of monsters clamoring around them. Resembling that of tall, ragdoll-like humanoids made of white tree bark… their gaping mouths and hollow eyes dripping with white goo could’ve easily shackled their two foes in complete fear, if they both weren’t so stuck in fighter mode right now.

“-Eat this, bitch!” Kain had exclaimed with some kicks and punches of his crystal magic blasts, encasing the tree-like creatures in red shards that pinned them all to the ground. Aevri in the meantime did her best to defend them both, having summoned her shields to ward off and slice away closing-in enemies.

“Ughhh, will you freaks get the damn hint already?? Piss off!” the Healer mage grunted, swiftly throwing her summoned-shield to knock back some of the foes before it flew back into her arms. Try as they might through their defenses, however… Aevri and Kain could only watch as the monsters had simply risen up more from the ground up, not even seeming phased by their earlier attacks.

“Oh for fuck’s sake… what the hell is keeping these things alive??” Kain cursed while powering up another set of crystal attacks, “Even a wyvern would’ve fallen down by now, shit!”

Before Aevri could’ve answered back with a possibly-snarky retort, their thoughts were halted as they saw a flurry of blue flames burning back the horde of monsters that tried to make a grab at the two… the sender revealing none other than Elas and Tula who had hurried on to join the battle.

“...Greeaaat, perfect timing, bro.” the younger Graystone prince flatly remarked with a roll of his eyes, his brother simply scoffing in response with a flick of his hair, “-Save the backtalk til after we’re safe, Kain.” Letting his companion Tula take the next step in pummeling down some of the creatures with her firsts, she at least gave a more grateful and relieved look to her healer friend at seeing her standing strong in the fight, “-Aevri! Thank the Saints you’re alright! I-I hope these things didn’t hurt you too much…”

“Pff, hey... what would it be a fight without a few scrapes?” Aevri joked a bit to lighten the mood, bringing a small smile to Tula’s face before the both of them turned to ward off the next wave of monsters. It almost seemed concerning just how much these things were reanimating up again despite the waves of attacks… only seeming to keep going and going within the next few minutes to pass.

All… until each of the tree dolls suddenly halted in their place like statues, the melting white goop re-materializing into their eye sockets properly as each of them stood up straight. Confusing the hell out of the mages that were fighting them, the four watched as these dolls started to assemble into some upright positions… almost like an army awaiting their leader approaching. And with a rustle of movement coming from the bushes from behind, that… actually seemed quite closer to the truth as a pair of footsteps came walking out from the dark.

“-Hey! Who’s there??” Aevri turned in the direction of the steps as did the rest of her party, all rearing for another big battle… but then pausing as they finally saw who it was. Turning out to be a pair of hooded, ominous figures greeting them in plain view… their features hidden from where they were standing a lil far back. All until they stepped further into the moonlight was it shown that they were both women, one of them covering their face with a featureless white doll mask… and the other simply smiling back in a rather calm, calculating way.

“Aww… whats wrong, little ones~?” the hooded figure with a mask tilted its head, giggling in a tone that sounded much too saccharine sweet, “Sister and I simply wanted to have a lil playtime with my babies here… don’t be so mean~”

Naturally, this quite frankly creeped out the young mages who were now all the more confused seeing the masked lady stepping over to gently caress one of the tree dolls, as if it were her most prized possession. Compared to everyone else ain was at least trying to mask his unnervedness by standing back more boldly,

“H-Hey, these things of yours attacked us first, lady… what the actual fuck are you on about-??”

“...Hmmmm, temper temper...” came the much more dignified voice of the other woman, shaking her head in Kain’s direction though that smile of hers still remained clear as day, “Is that any way to speak to your family… Kain?”

The once-fierce gaze in Kain’s eyes had… very much evaporated into a look of disbelief upon hearing that voice… the crystal auras in his hands disappearing as they dropped to his sides in shock, “...w-what…?”

Alarmed by his brother’s sudden distress, Elas had turned to try and step up in Kain’s defense as he demanded, “-What in the Saints’ good name are you on about?? Kain is my brother, and I do not recall either of you being anywhere near ‘family’!”

“-Shhhh, manners… young man~” whispered the masked-figure, holding a finger to her lips as all stilled around her… summoning an eerie aura that surrounded the other mages into freezing in place, much like the tree dolls. Unable to do anything but move their heads and faces, Tula, Elas and Aevri all looked on as only Kain was allowed to move on his own… yet all he could do was just shakily stand in place as the unmasked figure slowly approached him… again still smiling that damn smile of hers…

“-No, n-no no you can’t… you can’t be her…!” muttered the now-shaky voice of the usually-haughty prince… trembling as the figure was now up face-to-face with him. Even without being freeze-spelled like the others were, Kain could do nothing but stare as the figure reached up a hand to his face… gently caressing his cheek as her free hand moved to pull back her hood.

Now… there was really no doubt who exactly she was. The striking red hair, the ruby red lips, the amber eyes all too similar to Kain’s… save for the subtle signs of aging, he could never forget a face like that....

“Yes… it is me, my son~”

———

Millions of thoughts were running through Prym’s mind as she recalled what Ivor just confessed to her. Her father… her own father Luka… was alive all this time?? As much as she wanted to celebrate such news, another dark side of her was just reeling at the implications…

Where was her father, all this time she and her mother were in hiding? Why didn’t he come back for them? Was someone keeping him hostage, forcing him in place? What if… what if he willingly chose to abandon her? Not even sparing her a second thought, wherever he’s at now…?

Sensing the growing conflict growing within Prym, Ivor did his best to try and diffuse the situation as he reached to comfort her, “Prym, I… p-please try to understand-“

“-What IS there to understand, Ivor?? Nothing is making sense anymore!” the dark mage exclaimed as she threw up her hands, feeling her tears growing hot as she began to pace back and forth, “You say my father’s apparently alive all this time, but where in Terra IS he?? Obviously he’s not within the Elite ranks now, Mother hasn’t heard from him in ages, and none of the current Elite seem to know who he is! All I want now is the truth, and I want it now!”

“...” Ivor had grown quiet for the moment, heavily sighing as he gestured for Prym to follow him near one of the seats, “I… know this is very much against protocol, but… i-it’s about time you knew, Prym…”

As much as she would’ve liked to argue and stay pouting… the ever-curious side of Prym decided to relent in at least hearing his side of the story out, wiping away her tears with a still-determined look in her eyes. All she could do was watch on as Ivor went and grabbed an old wooden chest to carry over to her, opening the contents to pull out a sealed document folder hidden under some other papers and trinkets inside.

“Prym… your father was a man that had many burdens over him at his age,” the General began to explain, handing Prym the folder as he sat down next to her, “As much as he tried his best to fulfill his duties as a leader… others still feared and hated him for feeling like he took away what wasnt ‘rightfully’ his, on top of the already-detested dark magic he carried. And well… being his oldest friend, I knew that it wouldn’t be healthy for him to linger on all this bad press… so, it was my suggestion that he would involve himself more with our growing Elite forces, to help him lighten up from the stress of it all...”

Within her grasp, Prym flipped open the folder to see the first page contained a picture of Luka’s face on it, with the royal insignia of the Elite stamped below it. With a silent nod from Ivor, she flipped under it to see that inside held some various papers and photos from the old days of Luka’s younger years… from sparring with his troops, to happily posing with some grateful-looking civilians, to joining together with his team to stand vicariously together all at once.

“Overtime, your father grew to fit in well within the Elite for letting him express himself for who he was… beyond all the titles and dark magical stigmas, but as a loyal comrade who’d do anything for the good of Graystone. And since the local civilians didn’t seem to recognize him as a simple soldier like the rest of us, he had even felt comfortable enough to try and help out these communities through his own acts of vigilantism…” Ivor chuckled, unable to resist a small blissful smile at the memory, “Not too surprising that he and your mother grew to get along a lot well in that department, denying as they were at first...”

Pausing for a moment from browsing through the folder, Prym looked over to Ivor with a look of puzzlement, “...So, if you say my Father did all these great things for the people… why would they turn on him because he performed some darker magic spells than normal? I know Mother had mentioned that he enraged some uptight army for his necromancy, but…”

“...W-Well, truth be told, that... wasn't exactly the ‘full’ reason for his eventual attack, Prym...” Ivor admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, “Luka, well-meaning as he was… at the same time was always rather stubborn and reckless when it came to what he thought was the right thing to do, regardless of the possible consequences ahead. There was no better example for when he had stepped out of protocol in one of our missions against a local crime-lord of the downtown New Grayle district… Boss Byzantine.”

“Byzantine…?” Prym blinked, steadily recognizing that surname after a bit of thought, “-One of Kaz’s bully friends shared that name back in school… Cable Byzantine.”

“Ahh, yes… the Boss would’ve been Cable’s father, from what I recall of that man.” Ivor gave a nod of acknowledgement, “Often kept to himself apart from the few public appearances with his family… most wouldn’t even know much else of him aside from that automobile company of his. But well… we as the Elite were having our growing suspicions after examining more of how poorly the downtown area was, and interviewing the locals terrorized from his gang’s past attacks. And thanks to one of our undercover operatives, Sgt. Kodiak, we had not only started to put any and all accomplices in jail, but had planned in the near future to soon put Byzantine to justice too. Luka, however… well, turns out he had decided to take fate into his own hands by cornering the Boss one day in his office with his dark magic… giving into temptation with his soul-ripping spells to really show the crooked man who he was messing with…”

The air seemed to grow heavier as Ivor quickly grew quiet again, his gaze going back to the chest’s contents as he pulled out something else from under all the papers… a locket with a purple moon gem symbol on the front, “...In the end, thanks to some nearby guards catching wind of his actions, Luka wasn’t fully able to be rid of Byzantine as he hoped… but that would soon seal his fate as the Boss had subtly planned a “vengeance” of his own. And so, a few years later Luka and Meradyth had made plans to head into the Downtown area for a quick errand, picking up this upcoming birthday present for you...” explaining as he gently placed the pendant within the girl’s hands, eyes closing as he painfully recalled further...

“...and, just as they were heading back home… they were ambushed. A mix of Byzantine’s own men and a few hired hands from the army Luka has disgraced, together overwhelmed the couple in more ways than one. Within all the smoke, blades, and spells being thrown around it was practically impossible for either of them to evade it all on their own…”

“So, how exactly did my father manage to survive from it all...?” Prym turned her gaze to ask, a hand gently resting onto Ivor’s as he felt himself getting shaken by the recollecting… only pressing on further for Prym’s sake, “-Through having to spend a good chunk of his aura energy on teleporting Meradyth away from safety, and the last of it to unleash one, devastating blast to ward off the remaining foes, they were defeated and got taken into custody… but at a grave cost to Luka, himself. Our troops, try as we did to bring him back to heal him up, just weren’t able to stop the plague-induced infections from slipping him into a deep sleep. Hours had turned to days, and days turned to weeks… and throughout it we were beginning to lose hope. Finally, at last he was able to wake up and face us again, b-but…”

It was here that Ivor had turned to look back at Prym, placing a hand to her shoulder as he delivered the news that had shattered the shred of hope she had earlier...

“Prym… h-he didn’t recognize us anymore, and… neither could he remember either you or your mother when we tried to tell him after waking up…”

“...W… What? No… n-no that can’t be right..!” the dark mage bitterly broke into a sobbing mess, shaking her head in near-denial, “-What kind of father would just up and forget his own loved ones, his own family?? P-Please tell me this isn’t true, Ivor! Please…!”

“...I-I’m sorry, Prym...” a guilt-ridden Ivor muttered, instinctively pulling Prym in for a tight hug despite her protesting sobs, “We tried all we could, believe me we did… but this plague proved to be the most resilient curse on our fellow comrade, even with the best medicinal help. Showing him pictures, records, and home videos did little to jog his memory… after awhile, he started refusing our help all together despite our protests…”

Soon, even as toughened as he usually was… even Ivor has begun to shed some tears as he held Prym close,

“He’s changed so much as time further passed, Prym.. not even going by his name anymore whether he’s off duty or not these days. To the point where eventually we just decided to never bring up the subject of Luka anymore, with the very few remaining soldiers from our old ranks swearing to silence never to speak of him either. As much as we wanted to reunite him with you both in the coming years, we just… w-we didn’t want to task the risk if anything were to… well, go wrong…”

To say that this did anything to soothe Prym’s heartbroken state would be a lie… as in the minutes that passed her furious sobs had silenced into mere whimpers, whilst Ivor continued to do his best to hold and comfort her as if she were his own child. In some ways, this news had devastated her even more than her initial thoughts of her father being deceased. To even imagine having to go through as much as he did, miraculously surviving but erased of his own memories like that… it was beyond crushing of a thought...

...Yet, the more she had paused to think on this info, the more she began to realize the implications of what exactly Ivor meant by Luka not going by his name anymore. Thinking back to the folder left next to her, she couldn’t help herself in pulling away from Ivor… desperately flipping through until her eyes caught sight of the last page. Her father’s medical file.

And this time, even Ivor didn’t move to stop her as he defeatedly looked away, accepting that she had to know this sooner than later...

...our current patient has been confirmed to have been inflicted with trauma-induced memory loss, and by royal order we have been requested to withhold further treatment by his end. Our staff has grown worried with his own past history of ongoing PTSD and Chronic Depression, but well… as our fellow staff had put it, an order’s an order.

With a heavy heart, this concludes our progress into looking after our patient of the past year and a half... Luka Grayle.

[didsomeonesaydaddydraco]

Quiditch World Cup | Draco Malfoy one shot

Hey you! Thank you for being here. I really hope you'll enjoy reading this imagine storie about Draco Malfoy. If you have a story request, feel free to message me, giving me the most important details. (e.g.: your name, hair and eye colour, a few words about what you have in mind).

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- You know, you might be known as the stone cold Slytherin Princess at Hogwarts, but you shouldn't be acting like one at home - my brother looked at me from across the dining table and tried to throw a piece of bread at me. Our Mom glared at him as a warning to behave at the table, but didn't say anything. She was too busy trying to follow dad's storytelling about his last trip with his friends - Would it really be that terrible to come to the Quiditch World Cup with me? 

- You know that I'm not the biggest fan of that game - I rolled my eyes and continued playing with my salad. Summer outside of Hogwarts was a nightmare. At least for me. Our parents being gone for most of the time due to their jobs, I was left with my brothers for weeks - Besides, I really should be preparing for my fifth year. 

- Oh bullshit - this time he aimed right, and hit me straight in the face with a slice of tomato. I automatically reached for my wind, but when I remembered that Mom banned magic during family time, I changed my mind and throw a handful of salad at him.

- Kids - Dad warned us again - Stop with this childish behaviour right now. Both of you are grownups if I recall it correctly. If you expect your Mother and I to treat you such as, I truly believe the least you can do in return is not playing with food like a bunch of toddlers.

- Sorry Dad - we both apologised.

- Y/N - Dad looked at me - You are going to the World Cup with Elvin and you are bringing Rune with you. Your Mother and I have a lot of work, besides, it won't kill you if you spend some quality time with your brothers. 

I didn't argue back. I knew that he had the last word in these kind of questions, so I just finished my dinner is silence and went to my room. Before I went to sleep, Elvin and I planned our visit to the Quiditch World Cup and told Rune about it. He was so cute with his adorable smile and excited voice. He hasn't been to any World Cups before and being only 7, he was over the Moon when he realised he might going to see some real magic tomorrow. We might had been a pureblood family, but our parents were rather strict about wizardry at home. They wanted us to have a normal childhood as long as we could. Well, at least until we turned 11, and first Elvin that 4 years later I received our letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

*Next day at the World Cup*

Elvin and I held Rune's hand as tight as we could so he couldn't slip away and get lost in the sea of wizards, witches and other magical creatures. We stopped a couple of times to have a little chat with our friends and introduced Rune to them. He was happy to finally be at an event for the magic world. Elvin was happy because he could see his beloved Quiditch matches. And I was devastated because I had to be here. At some point, I left the boys behind and went on my own way to wander around the small village where the fans had their tents. When I thought my day couldn't be worse, I caught a glimpse of a very blond hair. Fortunately I could disappeared before he could see me. 

Or at least I thought so.

- Are you hiding from me, Princess? – his tall frame appeared right in front of me and his signature scent of cologne mixed with peppermint hit my nose.  I rolled my eyes, but failed to hide the small smile on my lips.

- I think we both know it’s impossible for me to hide from you, Malfoy – I stepped away before anyone who had known us from Hogwarts had the chance to caught is together – Somehow, you always find me..

- Oh yeah – he smirked down at me – But you could successfully hid all your letters…or you just didn’t want to send me any with your owl?

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Draco and I were the Slytherins’ IT couple. Well, the only problem was, we weren’t dating. Only shared a couple of night together, sneaked out of the Slytherin Dorm rooms when everyone was asleep and made out in the dark corridors of the School, or at our favourite spot, at the Astronomy Tower. We both agreed on one thing. We keep our relationship a secret from everyone.

- Was I supposed to send any? – I asked with a playful tone, but when he kept a straight face I sighed – Draco, we made a deal. We have fun, but no deep feelings. Besides, my brother would have found the letters. You know how gossipy he can be and we don’t really want people from school to find out so…

- You know – he took a step closer – Now I get the Ice Queen nickname – his voice was cold and it cut me like a knife – I have known you since our first year at Hogwarts. All these years, you swore that you didn’t care what others think or talk about you. But suddenly, when it comes to being in a relationship…no, no wait. Not go that far. When it comes to show any kind of emotion apart from being sassy, cold or mean, you suddenly care about those things. But I tell you something, Princess. Maybe you should get off of your high horse, put away your damn pride and realise that having feelings for someone is not something you should be ashamed of.

- Malfoy – I tried to say something, but he cut me off by pushing something in my hands.

- Or you would be ashamed being with me? – his voice was filled with pain and I saw the usual dangerous flame in his eyes fading away. He turned on his heels and left me there alone. It was the moment I realised, quite a few of our schoolmates gathered around us and tried to pretend like they weren’t eavesdropping.

Draco Malfoy wasn’t afraid to talk back to me. He wasn’t afraid to get into a heated argument with me. He wasn’t afraid to confront me. He wasn’t ashamed of hiding his feelings. And he was right. All these years, I tried to be someone they thought of me that I was, that I completely forget who I really was. I wanted to keep my reputation as the Slytherin House’s Princess, and I thought I could only do that if I turn off my emotions and turn into ice. I had no regrets, apart from one. I hurt the only person who could saw through my act.

- Oh for Salazar’s Sake – I looked down at the thing Draco had pushed into my hands. It was his Quiditch jersey, with his name and number 07 on it. It smelt exactly like him. I forgot there were friendly matches beside the stadium. Of course he was going to play. He loved that stupid game.

- Everything okay? – Elvin and Rune finally find me – Were you really fighting with that Malfoy boy…wait, is that his jersey?

I only smiled faintly at my brother, who was clearly confused. I speed walked towards the much smaller ring, where two teams were already warming up for a game, checking their brooms and talking about their new strategies. Elvin was running after me with Rune in his arms so he didn’t lose him again like last summer.

- What are you doing young lady? – he asked with concern in his voice when he saw me stripping down my shirt and replacing it with Malfoy’s jersey. By this moment, he totally lost control of the events happening around him. I bet he regret dragging me with him today.

- Trying to make the right thing for once in my life – I flashed him a smile and jumped over the cordon which separated the viewers from the players. There were a couple of minutes before the start of the match so I had to be quick.

Draco and his friends were standing the other side of the field, chatting and warming up. I felt nervous and I was afraid of throwing up in front of everyone, but I had to get over it. I shouldn’t care what people think or say. A sudden foreign feeling went through my body and I started to run towards that arrogant asshole.

- Malfoy – I shouted his name and he immediately looked at my voice’s direction. He had a confused expression on his face, but when he realised what I was wearing, he started to run towards me as well. We met at the middle of the field and when I reached him, I pulled him in for a kiss by his shirt. I missed his lips on mine. I missed his hands pulling my as close to his body as possible. I missed feeling his heartbeat against my chest. I missed feeling him smile during the kiss.

- You look really good in my jersey – he whispered in my ears and placed a soft kiss on my shoulder as he hugged me tightly – And not to mention, my name suits you very well, babe.

I laughed and shook my head at him. Arrogant asshole.

- Just for your information, I would never be ashamed of being with you – a played with his platinum blond hair at the back of his neck – Sorry for being a bitch. I hate to say it out loud, but you were right. I had to get off of my high horse. I need a man who can put me in my place sometimes.

- Lucky for you, I’m quite good at it – he winked at me.

- Speaking of it – I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him again, but this time with even more passion but not as quick – This is for a good luck – I placed another small kiss just under his ears – And if you win this game, you can get even luckier tonight.

That night, we both get lucky. They were incredible on the field and we were finally working on our relationship. Gossip flew around Hogwarts quickly, so when we get off the Hogwarts Express, everyone was talking about that day at the Quiditch World Cup. And the first night, we walked into the Great Hall with pride, determination and most importantly, with each other. Hand in hand. And in love.