#and respected their choices in getting together as she probably did with rogue eventually getting together with Remy/Gambit

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

The day Kitty finds out Scott and Rogue finally got together as a romantic couple:

[loserchildhotpants]

Another destiel prompt from Twitter; say they’re dancing together, still trying to hide their feelings for each other, and because of that, avoiding eye-contract, the best the can, to ensure that the other character doesn’t notice how attracted they are to them (from this prompt list)

“Did you just turn her down?” Dean asks incredulously; Sam is busy sipping champagne next to him, but his eyebrows convey that he would also like clarification on whatever social interaction it is that Cas just had.

They’re all dressed to the nines, stuck at a posh wedding service until they solve this rogue Cupid case; it’s a low-risk case, but a case is a case, and they’ve got it well in hand.

Dean’s not been this dressed up since Bela stuffed him in a monkey suit, and he’d wager the same applies to Sam, but this is certainly the first either of them have ever seen Cas in anything other than his cubicle-life uniform.

Cas’ suit is sharp, pressed, striking, and he’s wearing a cerulean blue tie that has everyone meeting eyes with him coming up short. Predictably, he doesn’t know what to do with the attention, so he mostly apologizes awkwardly for those he seems to startle and thanks the handsy old ladies that liken him to long dead husbands.

With two flutes of bubbly meant for Dean and himself, Cas crossed the great hall, seemed to be stopped by a gorgeous young woman with dark hair, in a low-cut dress and a very promising smirk, but whatever exchange happened left her dejected.

“She asked me to dance,” Castiel tells Dean, passing him his flute, “I regretfully informed her that I don’t know how.”

“You can’t manage a simple little box-step for that hot piece? She was practically drooling, lookin’ at you!”

“We’re on a case,” he says, as though it’s a valid excuse.

“Nuh-unh,” Dean answers, shaking his head and putting his drink down on a nearby table, “That’s - that was a travesty, what I just witnessed. Babes are fuckin’ wasted on you, Cas.”

“She’s a fully grown woman, Dean,” Castiel corrects him, eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he brings his glass to his lips, “Besides, I’d only be wasting her time. I cannot dance, and I’d not be amenable to having relations with her, so it’s better I -”

“Not amenable?” Dean chokes out disbelievingly, “Who the fuck are you holdin’ out for?! Angelina Jolie?”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“It’s a shame you don’t know how to dance, though,” Sam interjects, seeing by the vein throbbing in his forehead that Dean is about to start shouting about beautiful women and Cas’ ineptitudes, “I could teach you, if you want.”

Castiel slants his mouth at Sam, and Sam smiles gently back at him, “I know it doesn’t sound like fun, but, honestly? It’s a good skill to have, and worst case scenario is that you brighten someone’s evening.”

Appealing to his kind nature is the right call; Cas can’t argue that point, so he puts his champagne down and walks up to Sam.

“Very well. Where do we begin?”

“Oh - we’ll probably wanna go somewhere more private, so we can move a little more freely.”

At Sam’s behest, Dean and Cas follow him across the great hall, out onto a spacious balcony, out of the way of most everyone. Double glass doors lead out to it, and flowers line stone railing; no moon is visible from where they are in the mansion, but the sky is bright with stars, and that’s light enough.

While Sam does a fine job of teaching Castiel, and Castiel is a very quick study, they struggle with their height difference while Dean tells them about their height difference, unhelpfully and repeatedly.

Eventually, Sam turns to Dean, and says, “you should step in, man.”

“What? I’m not short,” Dean pouts grumpily.

“No, but you’re at least shorter than me - it’ll make leading a little easier for him.”

Rolling his eyes as though he’s actually put out, Dean peels himself from the French window he’d been leaning on, and takes Sam’s place.

Even and paced, Castiel and Dean take a few turns around the balcony, and Sam is impressed, informing Castiel that it took him a full week of practice to stop tripping over his own feet.

“To be fair, you were still growing into them at the time” Dean jokes.

In a rare moment of familial levity between them, Sam laughs, and Dean smiles at him - all of that makes Cas smile too, and then Sam’s phone rings.

“Oh - it’s Natalie,” Sam lets them know, “She wants eyes on the dance floor for a minute - I’ll take care of it - Cas, you’re doing great, don’t stop practicing!”

To both Dean and Cas’ surprise and humor, Sam appears genuinely bereft to leave the lesson. They both seem inclined to respect Sam’s wishes, though, so they take another turn.

“You gotta stop glancing down,” Dean commands.

Flashing his eyes back up at Dean, Cas mutters, “it’s reflexive. I apologize.”

“Nah, it’s fine, man. You’ve got it,” Dean assures him, “Now that you know how to, you gonna ask that girl to dance?”

“Perhaps,” Cas tries to shrug, determinedly keeping his eyes up, “I feel certain she has moved on in her pursuits, but if I pass her again, I will offer a dance.”

“You know how?”

“Now, yes.”

“No, I mean do you know how to ask a girl to dance?”

“Is there a particular ritual involved?”

Exhaling a laugh, Dean brings them to a stop, and explains, “okay - I’m gonna show you how it’s done, alright? Then I’ll lead.”

“Understood,” Cas tells him with serious conviction, studious and militant.

Dean steps back and away, and they wait for the band’s dreamy rendition of The Way You Look Tonight to end before proceeding.

As The Book of Love begins, the live orchestra swells from inside the hall, Dean bows just a little at the waist, with his right arm crossing his chest, but his head up, and he inquires politely, “Castiel, may I have this dance?”

Tilting his head curiously, Castiel needlessly replies, “yes, Dean, of course.”

Smiling his most winning smile, Dean straightens up, offers his hand, and nods approvingly when Castiel all but glides into step with him.

He keeps the tempo slow, but incorporates making circles, turning them ‘round and ‘round the stone and marble balcony, up and down it’s length; Cas follows him easily, trusting Dean’s direction, and always operating on a similar wavelength - Dean thinks that maybe they dance together well because they fight together well.

“This is nice, Dean,” Castiel remarks softly.

A dusting of rosiness rises up in Dean’s face; he pulls Cas a little closer to better obscure his face from scrutiny, clears his throat and makes some noncommittal noise that could be agreement or indifference.

“You’re the one who taught Sam to waltz,” Castiel surmises conversationally.

“Yeah,” Dean answers.

“How is it that you came to learn it?”

“Eh, you’d be surprised what you learn on the job,” Dean replies easily, pulling away enough to spin Cas, and then move close in again.

“... you just spun me.”

“Yeah, I was there,” Dean jokes, smirking proudly down at Cas; “Don’t worry, when you get to be a seasoned pro like me, you can snazzy up your waltz too. Maybe next you can learn to salsa or tango.”

In a moment of silence between them, Dean follows Cas’ eyes to their clasped hands; Dean’s not sure what Cas is seeing, but whatever it is, it’s making Dean nervous.

“See now what that lovely lady wanted? Feel bad yet?” Dean prompts.

Castiel’s electric eyes refocus on him, startling him with their intensity just as they had the wedding guests that were strangers to Cas, “I do understand now. However, perhaps it’s the soldier in me, but I find I much prefer following than leading.”

“Ah, that’s just ‘cause I’m a great lead,” Dean teases playfully.

“Yes, you are,” Castiel reinforces, eyes flickering between Dean’s, “You do know I would follow your lead anywhere, don’t you?”

“Christ, Cas,” Dean swears, trying to politely move his too-warm face out of view.

“Really, Dean,” Castiel adds, squeezing Dean’s hand where they’re clasped; when that doesn’t work immediately, he takes advantage of a circling turn to near their faces - their noses almost bump, and Dean has no choice but to look into Castiel’s eyes, “I want you to know. You do know, don’t you?”

Swallowing roughly, feeling possibly feverish, Dean down, then away, “... you gotta stop saying shit like that, Cas.”

“Why?” he wonders, “It’s only the truth.”

Clearing his throat again - a nervous tic he didn’t realize he had until right then - he mumbles back, “yeah, well… I talk big, but I’m flyin’ blind, so maybe don’t follow me everywhere.”

“I’m a soldier, Dean. A Commander, actually. When I delivered you to the convent where Sam and Ruby were against the wishes of Heaven, I chose you. I pledged my allegiance to an Earthly King over an absent God, and I knew what I was doing when I did,” their steps slow down as Dean takes that in, “All I knew was that… I had faith in you.”

At that, Dean stops moving altogether, his hand slides down from Cas’ shoulder blade to the cinch of his waist, and he allows their joined hands to wilt a bit lower, but he doesn’t let go.

It seems then that Cas is the one having trouble keeping Dean’s gaze.

He looks to some faraway place over Dean’s shoulder, and rasps, “I still do. So, yes, Dean. I will follow you everywhere you lead, for however long you allow me to. I don’t mind flying blind if I’m flying with you.”

“Cas…”

With difficulty, Castiel looks back into Dean’s eyes, and Dean feels his heart thud in his ears. He wonders to himself if Cas can hear it, or feel it, but all Cas does is stare intently back at him, maybe waiting for Dean to confirm or deny something.

“Guys!”

Dean practically jumps away from Cas, frightened as if he’s been caught doing something untoward, but Cas is unbothered.

“I think I found our guy,” Sam announces, none the wiser, “And I think he brought a friend.”

“Yeah,” Dean affirms gruffly, “Got it.”

Sam turns back around first, through the glass doors, back into the busy hall, and Dean starts after him, a hand already twitching toward his holster, sparing Cas a look from over his shoulder.

The Angel is standing there alone, unmistakably ethereal with a backdrop of twinkling stars and lazy fireflies illuminating him; he’s examining his hand as though Dean may have left a mark or a message on him somehow.

“You comin’, Swayze?”

Cas’ eyes snap to attention again, and his forehead wrinkles, “... I don’t understand that reference,” but he follows after Dean anyway.

He doesn’t seem to notice how Dean clenches and unclenches his corresponding hand, but Dean wouldn’t be able to explain it if he did.

[liunaticfringe]

(via Lucy Liu's Independent Woman - Interview Magazine)

There have been many great sidekick pairings in the history of modern literature. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet…the list goes on. Yet, it seems there has never been a delightfully tumultuous relationship that comes close to echoing the one embodied by rogue detective Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend and assistant Dr. John Watson. Written in the form of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the opium-den loving Holmes would terrorize London with his intellectual, astute, and stubborn prowess, with Dr. Watson providing medical expertise and chronicling their entertaining exploits along the way.

Doyle’s works have now long been entered into the public domain, with many film and television adaptions cropping up every few years. Still, when CBS announced in 2012 that it would be turning Doyle’s works into an hour-long crime-drama series titled Elementary, it elicited an unusually high response—this was mostly due to the news that a woman would, in fact, be portraying Watson. Her name would be Joan, not John. And she’s now a fallen from grace surgeon-turned-sober companion and private detective, forfeiting her “Dr.” title in the process. The woman chosen to take on this exciting, contemporary role of Joan Watson was none other than seasoned actress Lucy Liu.

Liu, who’s best known for her roles as a fierce and ill-mannered lawyer in Ally McBeal, an ass-kicking “angel” in the rebooted Charlie’s Angels, and an equally ass-kicking bad girl in the Kill Bill series, certainly provides the yin to the yang of Jonny Lee Miller’s gritty portrayal of Holmes. Elementary chronicles the duo’s relationship as they consult for the NYPD on various criminal cases while living in a shared brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. Initially starting off in Season One as a substance-free friend to the fresh-out-of-rehab Holmes with a keen interest in solving crimes, Watson quickly transformed into a sharp and observant right-hand woman who now clearly has the aptitude to work on her own. And it appears she’ll be doing just that—the end of Season Two left viewers witnessing Watson’s decision to move out of the brownstone and start a new career as a solo private detective, seemingly fed-up with Holmes’ erratic behavior.

The warm and delightful Liu recently called up Interview from her home in New York City to discuss Elementary’s upcoming third season.

DEVON IVIE: Were you on set today?

LUCY LIU: I was running around like a maniac, yeah. It’s beautiful today, it started getting a little bit cooler again. But of course I’ve been bitten by the two mosquitos that are still alive in New York City.

IVIE: I know you were recently at New York Comic Con. How was it?

LIU: It was amazing. It’s such a spectator place. Not only do you get super fans, but you also get people who are curious and inventive and imaginative. It’s fun.

IVIE: Did you run into any cosplayers dressed as Joan Watson?

LIU: Oh, no, I don’t know about that. That’s funny! We did a panel with a huge audience so I couldn’t really see if anyone was wearing anything specific, but it’s an excuse for kids and adults to get dressed up and just be crazy. You know you’ve made it when you have super-fans out there.

IVIE: When you first read the scripts for Elementary, what was it that attracted you to the role of Joan?

LIU: I liked the fact that it was going to be about [Joan and Sherlock’s] relationship and their friendship, and bringing that into modern times. And I thought it was wonderful to change up the gender.

IVIE: Did you immerse yourself in Arthur Conan Doyle’s work as preparation at all?

LIU: I did, I did! I started reading the short stories. I never read them before so it was a really great excuse to read them. I can’t believe it was written so long ago, because it’s so current. The characters are so colorful, which is why I think there are so many incarnations of Watson and Holmes.

IVIE: Do you have a favorite story? I love “A Scandal in Bohemia.”

LIU: There were some pretty amazing stories. The one that stood out to me, which was a Watson story that I got to know him a little more through, was “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” He really is on his own in that. Of course it turns out that Holmes has been there all along, but it’s interesting looking into his interior.

IVIE: Yeah, the entirety of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is narrated just by Watson. And his diary and letters, too.

LIU: Yeah, I think it’s really cool. We started incorporating that into the show, too, the letters and journals.

IVIE: Has this detective genre always appealed to you? Did you grow up watching or reading detective whodunits?

LIU: I remember more of the old school Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys sort of thing. I also grew up with the Scooby-Doo mysteries. Remember when the villain would go, “I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you rascal-y kids!” Those were the kind of the things I immersed myself in. I have to say that my mother has always been a huge fan of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, so this show was her dream come true. I don’t think she totally understood what was going on with Ally McBeal. [laughs]

IVIE: I’ve enjoyed witnessing Joan’s evolution throughout the course of the show, starting off as a sober companion and eventually ending up as a trusty sidekick and confidant to Sherlock. What can we expect from Joan in Season Three?

LIU: When you see them in the third season, you see some friction between the two characters. Joan is now on her own, she has her own detective agency, has a boyfriend, and has been without Sherlock for eight months. She’s got her own apartment, she’s settled, and he shows back up. I think she’s a little bit hurt by what happened and how their relationship and partnership ended, which was basically his decision and his choice, and he left it all in one little note for her. I think she felt that their relationship was much deeper than that, and that he was dismissive in the way that he handled that.

IVIE: How would you define the relationship between Joan and Sherlock?

LIU: I think that it’s a really positive and good relationship, overall. They really have a good chemistry together, work really hard together, and understand each other. They acknowledge each other and respect each other, which is a really important way to have a friendship. And they can learn from each other, you know? She’s very curious about him and I think he sees that she’s a very smart person—that’s vital for him in having respect for someone, having them be intelligent and thinking for themselves.

IVIE: Do you see any of Joan in yourself?

LIU: I do to a certain degree. She’s a lot more measured and patient, for sure. She’s a very curious person, which I think I am, and I think she isn’t afraid of change. She was a doctor, and then became a sober companion, and then jumped off and became a detective. I think sometimes it’s good to make big leaps.

IVIE: You’ve probably been asked this question many times, but do you think a romance between Joan and Sherlock could ever fittingly happen?

LIU: It’s a question that’s often asked and I think it’s really up to the executives. Rob Doherty, the creator [of Elementary] really feels incredibly strongly about keeping their relationship platonic. He has already taken great strides to keep the relationship as clean as possible according to the literature, but he has also changed so much of it by changing the gender of Watson. To have them have a romantic involvement would turn the whole thing upside-down in a way that might really jump the line. [Doherty] felt really strongly about it and I think that’s the one thing he really wants to stay true to.

IVIE: I totally agree. Even on the BBC’s Sherlock, there are campaigns to get Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson to become romantically involved. It’s like, enough already, no!

LIU: No way, that’s so weird! People do have that level of friendship oftentimes, but it doesn’t mean it’s physical. I think that everyone just assumes because there’s chemistry the next thing should be happening. I would vote “no” for a romance. I think for sure the creator would vote no on that, too.

IVIE: I’ve talked to both women and men who watch Elementary, and they all consistently mention how well dressed and fashionable Joan is. Do you collaborate with the wardrobe department on styling decisions at all?

LIU: That’s awesome. Yes, I collaborate with Rebecca [Hofherr], who’s the costume designer, who’s wonderful. She’s very easy to work with. One thing we try to maintain about Joan and her style is that she’s a bit wrinkled, you know what I mean? Sometimes it looks like things are really put together, but we always want to make sure things aren’t too tight and are comfortable, kind of like she throws things together. We don’t want it to seem so business-y, so we go away from suits. Chic, but not corporate. Also just to make her seem like her outfits aren’t so put-together all the time. But I’m glad that people really seem to like it, it’s a relief! We don’t splurge a lot on the show, we try to do cheaper things, like things Joan would wear a lot. She wears the same white jacket and shoes frequently.

IVIE: Will we be seeing more of the infamous Clyde the Turtle in the upcoming season?

LIU: Clyde will indeed be in it again. We have to share custody of Clyde.

IVIE: Is it true that Clyde is actually two tortoises? Pulling a Mary Kate and Ashley in Full House on us?

LIU: Yes. It’s just like having twins on a show. Just in case one is crying and screaming and passed out or something.

IVIE: You made your directorial debut for an episode of Elementary last season [“Paint It Black”]. Do you have plans to direct an episode again soon?

LIU: That was so exciting. I’ll be directing another episode again very shortly in December, so you’ll be seeing it in a month and a half.

IVIE: Where did your interest in directing come from?

LIU: I guess I was curious about it. Having been in this business for a while, you kind of see and get a glimpse of everything doing film and television. I think it seemed like a natural progression to go into directing, and I hope to explore more of it, because it’s very exciting and a really good way to collide all the things that you’ve known and experienced in the business and put them all into one.

IVIE: Is there an ideal guest star that you’d like to see on the show in the upcoming season?

LIU: I would love to see Mycroft come back. I really think there was a wonderful tension for Mycroft and Sherlock as well as the triangle that occurred when Joan became involved with him. There’s something very deep about that relationship, and I also think that Rhys Ifans is a fantastic actor. He commands the screen, but off-screen he’s incredibly lovely. A real treat to have on the show.

IVIE: I remember the first few episodes that I saw Rhys in, I was like, where have I seen this guy before? So I looked at his Wikipedia page and it became obvious: he was the crazy guy from Notting Hill!

LIU: Yes, the roommate! So good! Everything he does, he just kills it, no matter the role.

IVIE: And it’s always good to have some MI6 action on the show, which Mycroft provided. Some international flair.

LIU: [laughs] International flair, exactly, some added spice. Just throw some spy stuff in there to throw people off their game. You just don’t expect it, you know? It came out of nowhere.

IVIE: That whole three-episode arc at the end of the second season…

LIU: That was awesome. I was lucky enough to direct one of those episodes, which is more narrative in tone. It’s more fun in some ways, too.

IVIE: You’ve done a range of acting work for both television and film. Do you now find yourself preferring one to the other?

LIU: I love both of them equally. The lack of predictability with television is something that’s constantly changing what your perception of who you think your character is. Suddenly I have a father that’s schizophrenic, or I discovered something else, or I have a relationship with Mycroft. The things that pop up and change the game for you and always keep you on your toes. The wonderful thing about film is that you have something that has a beginning, middle, and end, and you have a concrete amount of time to shoot it. And the process of that can be longer, like editing and advertising and testing the movie, so it’s very different. Television you just continue going, no matter what’s happening outside of your world. You get lost in that vortex a little bit.

IVIE: It’s interesting that America is now embracing the “mini-series” format that has already been so heavily utilized overseas, where there are a set amount of short episodes, and that’s it. In a way, it’s kind of like a cinematic experience.

LIU: I like that, too. It allows you to have a freedom of creativity and at the same time you don’t feel like you have to be contracted to something for that long; you’re really working on a piece of art. And then you’re done and you move on, or it comes back, like Downton Abbey. You don’t know. Those things become little masterpieces. The thing about television is that you see a range of actors now that you may not have seen five years ago even, 10 years ago absolutely not, and I think now there’s no wrong about doing television. There’s no definitive category for what kind of department you fall into anymore.

IVIE: What’s a fun, secret fact about your costar Jonny Lee Miller?

LIU: A fun fact about Jonny Lee Miller is that he oftentimes does handstands on a wall before he does a take, sometimes with pushups, to get blood to his brain and get him geared up for a long monologue that he may have. He stays there, hangs a little bit, and then turns around and does the scene. Most of the time in the brownstone more than anywhere else. He’s in full costume and everything. That’s trivia!

IVIE: I wish I could do wall-handstands by myself.

LIU: Oh my god, I need someone to push my legs up and then hold me there. I’m a cheat!

ELEMENTARY PREMIERES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 ON CBS.

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Hello! Love your works, if its not too much trouble, how about a Mia x Monty Hogwarts Fluff?

Ah thank you @richerthannoir I’m loving writing about Mia and Monty Potter (Minty) at the moment, so enjoy some Minty Hogwarts fluff!! As this is to celebrate a We Can Be Heroes  reader milestone on ff.net, it’s a reminder that in that story, I did say I would do a backstory get-together fic for Mia and Monty and I will do it at some stage soon!!

How Many Detentions Will it Take?

“Hullo, Mia.”

“Hullo, Potter.”

“Well past curfew, you know, old thing,” Fleamont Potter said, leaning against the wall in a relaxed manner.

“Oh, I’m well aware, Potter.”

Mia’s hazel eyes twinkled and he shook his head and grinned back.

“What?” she said.

“Nothing,” he said.

There was something about him, about his kind smile, his casual confidence and quiet positivity, that made her feel safe and excited, all at once.

“Are you not going to ask me what I’m doing out and about at this hour, Potter?” she smiled.

It was after midnight.

“Do I look like I want to know?” he said.

Mia laughed, her dimples showing.

“I’m willing to bet you and your fellow Buccaneers are up to something,” Monty said, idly twirling his wand.

“Oh never doubt that, Potter, The Five Buccaneers are always up to mischief,” she said. “You can take that as a given.”

“I’d rather not know the details,” Fleamont laughed quietly.

“Why’s that?” Mia asked, walking closer to him.

Their hands were practically touching. Mia’s strong, thick hair, cut in a bob (purposely, a muggle hair do, to cause outrage) shimmered gold against the torch light. Fleamont’s spectacles glinted, or perhaps it was his eyes shining, she couldn’t tell.

“I don’t want to have to give you detention,” he said.

“That’s cute, Potter,” she said, still smiling. “You gave me five detentions last month.”

He snorted and shook his head at her.

“That’s ‘cause you gave me no choice,” he said. “Almost like you wanted me to catch you red-handed.”

“Almost like I wanted you to catch me,” Mia repeated, her eyebrows raising theatrically. “Who knew?”

He didn’t say anything this time, just ran his teeth over his lower lip and laughed. She was quite sure she had managed to rile him up a little bit. But it was so hard to know, he was uncommonly good at appearing unperturbed. In fact, even now, she wasn’t sure he was even remotely interested.

“You Hufflepuffs are a menace,” he said eventually, running his index finger along the groove of the stonework. “Others always underestimate you.”

“You underestimate us at your peril, Potter,” Mia said, with a brazen wink at the tall, dark-haired chap.

He looked away as he smiled, bashful, just for a split second, and when he looked back at her there was something so pleased, so adoring, in his gaze, that her hopes rose. Maybe he wasn’t quite as nonchalant as he wanted her to think.

“I said others,” he replied.

His voice had dropped, lower, warmer.

“You’d think you’d have learnt your lesson by now, seeing as I’m always beating you on the Quidditch field,” Mia added.

She was almost embarrassed by her outrageously blatant teasing, her outright flirting. Almost. She did not do embarrassment. It wasn’t in her vocabulary.

His face took on a more confident grin, this was their usual banter, during inter-house games.

“You wish,” he said lightly.

“Gryffindor Seeker and Head Boy. Not bad, Potter,” she said, beaming up at him.

He was so much taller than her.

“Hufflepuff Captain and Rogue Buccaneer,” replied Fleamont, leaning his foot against the stone wall. “Not bad yourself.”

“Ha!” she grinned mischievously. “Pity my parents don’t think so.”

His smile dropped.

“Do they not?” he said.

He sounded astonished. But then again, his parents weren’t obsessed with pureblood nobility and the likes. Sure, the Potters were purebloods, but they didn’t appear to give a toss about such drivel as Sacred Twenty-Eights and other daft nonsense. Everyone knew it. In fact, despite being a very old and reasonably well-off family, they managed to remain on the outer fringes of respectability and quite outside pureblood elite circles. Lucky bastard. She was quite sure she had heard her father talking about what a disappointing, pathetic man Fleamont’s father was. It made her like Monty all the more. Just like she loved that he never called her by her surname.

“No. Hufflepuff was literally the worst House I could have chosen,” she said, determined to keep a light tone. “My parents think it’s the losers’ House. They were mortified. They said if I had been in Ravenclaw, they’d have accepted it, if Slytherin wasn’t an option. Gryffindor would have infuriated them, but there’s plenty of purebloods in your House. Mine is where most misfits, as my parents would call it, end up. You know – muggleborns and the likes.”

She rolled her eyes derisively.

“I’m sorry,” Fleamont said, genuine concern in his tone.

“Yeah, so am I,” Mia said.

She looked away pretending to fasten her cloak so he couldn’t see she was a bit upset. Only a bit.

“Anyway,” she said, after a pause, hoping he didn’t notice the tremor in her voice. “I don’t care. My father and I have never really gotten on. It doesn’t bother me what he thinks.”

Fleamont had been looking at her, tentatively, both feet back on the ground, one hand now scratching the back of his neck.

“I think my mum is proud of my Quidditch skills, but she’d never say it to me. The only time I hear from them is when I’ve gotten into trouble with the Professors. A Howler from my father. You’ve probably heard them.”

She wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted face, her laugh coming out all watery.

“A lot of them,” he said, smiling back.

“They don’t seem to deter me from getting into mischief.”

“I’m glad,” he said.

She smiled and looked away again, her wand tracing haphazard patterns in the air.

“My father has already decided who I’m going to marry, you know…”

“Oh?” he raised his eyebrows marginally.

“Yeah, some creep called Casper Carrow, a committed pureblood, a Ministry of Magic official,” she said. ���He’s nearly ten years older than us.”

She knew he had seen her shiver.

“Dad says I better change if I know what’s good for me, or the Carrows may decide to pull out of the agreement,” she said.

This time she looked at him, really looked at him, and he could see worry and resistance in her eyes. He stepped closer to her.

“I hope you never change, Mia, not like that,” Fleamont said.

He looked so sure, his grey eyes were burning, and she felt so much better when he was close to her.

“So, you like me, Monty?” she said, biting her lip, hoping she looked as confident and debonair as ever, that he couldn’t see the vulnerability hidden behind it.

He continued gazing into her eyes, steadfast, and brought his two hands to rest lightly on her shoulders.

“Of course I like you, Mia, you daft thing. I like you, an awful lot,” he said quietly.

“You do?” she whispered, standing on her tiptoes and wrapping her hands around his neck, pulling his face down closer.

“I do,” he said, his whole face lighting up now.

“Oh thank Merlin, I was resigning myself to daily detentions for the rest of the year, hoping you might get the gist,” she grinned, all traces of sadness disappearing.

“What gist is that?” he asked, teasing, his lips practically touching hers.

“That I like you back, an awful lot,” she said, radiant and triumphant.

They kissed, long and slow and full of hope, under the dim torchlight, bursts of tiny stars shooting from the tips of their giddy wands.

(Hope you liked it!)

Arranged marriage?   Minty   Minty fluff    Mia & Monty Potter Hogwarts fluff

[alittlewhump]

Unbidden - Act 1, chapter 3

Masterlist | Previous | Next

Content warnings: None

"Can't you keep up, ghoul boy?"

Morgan leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree, trying to catch his breath. Blaise was over a foot taller than him and much sturdier, clearly accustomed to regular physical activity. Her brisk walking pace was impossible for him to match. Traveling alone, he'd been able to set his own speed. It was considerably slower.

"No. Your legs... are longer," he panted. She grumbled something under her breath and turned away. Of course she wanted to move quickly. People generally wanted to spend as little time as possible around him. "If we slow down," he suggested, "I won't have to keep stopping." She didn't respond. "Or you could just... not go with me."

"Listen," she said sharply, turning to point a finger at his chest, "I earned my place in the Sisterhood, and I take it very seriously. I have to trust in Kashya's decisions, even if I don't agree with them. I'm going to see this through."

"Very well." He wasn't about to waste his breath arguing, not when it was still so elusive. Blaise peered around suspiciously now that she'd turned back the way they came.

"Hey, what happened to that... thing? Your monster."

He'd had to abandon it some time ago in favour of trying to keep up with the rogue. It made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable even though the enemies had been few so far, and she'd picked them off easily from a distance. She was a skilled archer. "Clay golem. It was too slow."

"I thought your kind raised the dead, anyway."

"Skeletons are faster," he said, watching for her reaction, "but most... don't like them."

She looked away, scanning the treeline. "Don't like you either, so does it matter?"

Morgan didn't know how to answer that. He decided to take it as permission. These fields were ripe with choice, layered thick with dead that had never been laid to rest. He selected two nearby specimens and filled their bones with magic, like pouring a little of himself out of a larger cup into a thimble. Blaise jumped back, nocking an arrow, but seemed to realize quickly what was going on. She scrutinized the skeletons, circling them to inspect all sides. They shuffled, restless - between the freshly renewed energy and whatever remained of their original spirits, they wanted to move. They flexed their bony fingers around the hilts of their swords, which were glowing faintly blue. It cost a little extra effort to manifest a weapon, but it was much more convenient than carrying or seeking out extra gear.

"Looks like these guys are battle ready." She gave Morgan a brief taste of the same assessing gaze. "More ready than you, anyway."

"That's the idea." He was not built for fighting. Or speed. Or much of anything physical, when it came down to it. His delicate frame and poor stamina put a damper on that sort of thing. His magical aptitude, such as it was, was his only strength.

"I mean, your sword is on the wrong side."

"What?" Morgan looked down at the scabbard on his hip, not seeing anything amiss. "I'm right-handed."

Blaise sighed, pointing. "Yeah, I figured that's why you've got your shield on the left. Your sword belongs on the left too. It's easier to draw from your opposite hip." She pantomimed drawing a blade from across her body. It did look easier than the way he'd been doing it, with less wasted movement.

"Ah. I see." He set about fixing his gear's arrangement as she watched, unimpressed.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?"

"Sharp end goes in the target," he answered. That approach had been working so far. Most creatures kept their internal organs in more or less the same arrangement, and damaging those was a quick way to win a skirmish. His constructs took care of most of the threats, anyway - he rarely had to engage in combat himself.

"Very funny." Morgan looked at Blaise questioningly. What was funny? "Wait, please tell me you're joking. Oh, for the love of-" Blaise clasped a hand to her forehead, turning away. "Perfect. I'm out here with a greenhorned... kid, and some dead guys. I hope finding this Deckard character is worth it."

"I'm probably older than you, I'm just small." Morgan always had trouble telling how old people were, but it seemed like a fair guess based on her voice and the way she carried herself. "And the skeletons... remember. How to fight. From when they were alive." Watching them was the way he'd learned to handle the sword, over the course of the month or so it had been in his possession.

"They what?"

He held in a sigh. People often didn't like this part either. "Some echo of the spirit remains in the bones after a person dies. It's stronger if they died suddenly, or weren't laid to rest. When I tell them to fight, they... fight. However they used to. Look." He commanded the skeletons to spar with each other and they sprang into action, blades clashing. Blaise watched them thoughtfully.

"Well," she decided after a few moments, "that's not as bad as I expected. Now let's get going, you've had a minute to catch your breath." She didn't wait for a response before setting off with a long, loping stride. Morgan trotted to keep up, maintaining a respectful distance. He felt cautiously optimistic. Grudging acceptance was among the best possible outcomes he'd dared to consider.

They'd had to stop for the night. Tristram was simply too far to reach in a single day, no matter how fast they walked. Few words had passed between them during that day, which suited Morgan quite well. Conversation so often felt like a maze to navigate, and he could rarely figure out the right solution. His golems responded quickly and easily to mental suggestions, not requiring any specific words to perform actions or be dismissed. It was so much simpler with them. The skeletons from earlier waited obediently for their next orders, standing guard at the edge of the camp.

Silence was easy. He'd nodded silently when Blaise declared she was stopping to hunt dinner, observed silently as she dressed and roasted the small rabbit she'd shot. Now he was eating silently from his own supply of dried meat, watching the archer oil and restring her bow. It was captivating, in a small way, watching people do things expertly. The fluidity of her actions, the balanced push and pull of her muscles as she conditioned the wood, the way the firelight cast shifting patches of brighter orange on the coppery tone of her skin.

"What the hell are you smiling at, ghoul boy?" Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously. He hadn't realized he'd been smiling. He stopped. The question felt like a trap.

"I was just... admiring you," Morgan ventured. If there had been a correct answer, that wasn't it. Blaise crossed the distance between them with a few long strides and grabbed the front of his shirt, hauling him onto his feet.

"Listen close, you disgusting little man, because I'm only going to say this once," she snarled. "I'm here with you right now because I respect my commander. I'm not here for your enjoyment. If you want your cock to stay attached, you'd better keep it in your fucking pants."

"What? No, that's not - I didn't mean-" Morgan stammered, horrified. Had there been a sexual connotation to his phrasing? He definitely hadn't intended one. He'd have to remember not to say that again.

She gave him a shake. "Tell me you understand what I'm saying to you."

"I understand," he croaked. She released him roughly, sending him sprawling in the dirt. He picked himself up gingerly. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it." Morgan closed his mouth and averted his eyes, shrinking back. An apology would have to wait until Blaise was... less furious.

She eventually turned away. "I'll take first watch," she announced with her back to him. "Can't sleep like this."

He wasn't going to sleep either, not after that outburst. It would be prudent to rest, though. He returned to his seat by the fire and settled in to meditate. The skeletons folded down into themselves, collapsing in an orderly manner so they would be easy to raise again later. Blaise whirled around at the noise.

"What are you doing?" She squinted suspiciously at the neat piles of bones.

"Putting them away. They don't stay together very long when I'm resting."

"Resting." Morgan wished immediately that he'd chosen a different way to phrase it. Maybe an explanation would help.

"Golems need magic to hold them together. Once they run out, if they don't get more, they just fall apart."

"Uh huh, sure. 'Resting' is a weird way to say 'sleeping' if that's what you mean, though. So what exactly do you plan to do behind my back all night if it isn't sleeping?"

"Just meditation."

"Why not sleep like a normal person?"

Morgan made the mistake of hesitating, unable to decide how to answer on the spot. Blaise jabbed her bow towards him.

"I said, why not?"

"It's nearly the same thing," he explained, "just with more awareness. I don't usually sleep in unfamiliar surroundings. None of my Order do."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"I don't lie, but if you don't believe me, I can't make you." He did not look away from her gaze, though he wanted to. It was uncomfortable. But people seemed to equate eye contact with honesty, so he made the effort.

Blaise didn't look satisfied with his answer, but she lowered her bow and turned her back on him again, muttering under her breath. It would do, then. He sat in silence for a minute or so before starting to meditate. Being rested was always preferable to the alternative.

[sidecarghost]

Suptober20 - Day 31 Carry On

Notes: AU where Dean dies trying to save Sam from the fire started by Azazel. But in this AU humans that die trying to save someone can become reapers. So Dean gets a chance to carry on and protect his brother

“Hello Dean,” a kid’s voice addresses Dean.

“Uh, hi,” Dean responds to the boy that appears to be about his age. “How do you know my name?”

“I’m here to help you move on Dean,” the boy says.

“No thanks,” Dean says. “I need to find my brother. There was a fire. I had to save him, and my dad was trying to save my mom. I don’t remember much now. I had to carry my brother out. His name is Sam. He’s just a baby.”

“Your brother will be okay, Dean,” the boy tells him.

“Have you seen Sam? Can you take me to him?” Dean asks.

“Yes, I can take you to see him. He’s in the ICU,” the boy says.

“Thanks, what is your name anyway?” Dean asks.

“I’m Castiel,” Castiel says.

Castiel leads Dean to the ICU and shows him to Sam’s bed. Sam is sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed.

“He looks okay to me,” Dean whispers.

“Yes, your brother survived because of your bravery,” Castiel says. “Your brother also has some special abilities at the moment that make him much more capable than other humans.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t know Sammy had super powers. And how do you know all this. Who are you?” Dean asks.

“I told you I’m Castiel,” Castiel reminds Dean.

“Yeah, I mean how do you know stuff about my family,” Dean says. “You don’t look much older than me, and I’m not even five for a couple months yet.”

“I’m a reaper,” Castiel admits.

“That sounds awesome,” Dean says.

“It’s okay,” Castiel shrugs.

“Were you always a reaper?” Dean asks.

“No, I used to be a boy too. I’m actually only a few years older than you. My name was Jimmy Novak,” Castiel says. “I tried to break up a fight when a kid in the playground was getting picked on. I was pushed violently by one of the other kids, and I fell backwards and cracked my skull on the pavement. There was internal hemorrhaging, and I didn’t survive. I have been a reaper for two months now.”

“So reapers are dead people?” Dean asks with his eyes wide.

“Yes, but not all dead people get the choice to become reapers. The souls of a person that dies sacrificing themselves for someone else gets to choose to either rest in heaven or become a reaper,” Castiel explains.

“Why did you choose to become a reaper after those kids killed you?” Dean asked.

“Because after a reaper helps one million souls move on to Heaven or Hell they get a chance to become an angel.” Castiel tells Dean.

“That’s awesome Cas,” Dean says. “So you will be an angel some day?”

“Yeah, that’s why I picked a new name. Castiel sounded like a cool name for an angel to me,” Castiel explains.

“I think it sounds like an awesome name for an angel,” Dean beams. “Are you helping any souls move on in the hospital? Is that why you are here?”

“Yes, Dean that’s why I’m here,” Castiel says quietly and nods his head.

“So how do you help them move on?” Dean asks.

“It depends, lots of times people have made their peace with passing on because they died from old age or sickness,” Castiel says. “It can be a lot more difficult for souls that died suddenly like in an accident or were killed to move on.”

“Who are you trying to help? Can I be any help?” Dean asks.

“I am here to help you Dean.” Castiel says while looking steady in to Dean’s eyes.

***

“You mean, I didn’t survive?” Dean gulps.

“I’m sorry Dean, but you died saving your brother.” Castiel says. “So you get the same choice as me.”

“What if I don’t want a choice? What if I don’t want to move on? What if I want to stay with Sammy? I’m just a kid, and this isn’t fair Cas,” Dean bites back tears.

“You can refuse to move on. You’d be a ghost, and eventually you’d lose your mind and you’d torment and hurt people.” Castiel says.

“I could hurt Sammy?” Dean asks fearfully.

“Yeah, ghosts lose their humanity and just become forces of destruction,” Castiel nods.

“I don’t want to be dead Cas!” Dean cries.

“I know Dean,” Castiel offers the boy a hug and Dean hugs the reaper and sobs into his shirt. “Take all the time you need Dean. I won’t leave you.”

Dean nods and cries himself out clinging to the reaper. “I don’t know what to do Cas,” Dean says as his sobbing slows down.

“It’s your choice Dean. You can rest in Heaven and be happy for eternity. Or you can become a reaper and earn your angel wings. Angels get to protect all the souls in Heaven. They are Heaven’s warriors.” Castiel responds.

“I want to protect Sammy,” Dean says. “Can I protect him as a reaper?”

“We’re not supposed to interfere with humans,” Castiel shakes his head.

“So it’s against the rules or something?” Dean asks.

“Yes, there are some rogue reapers out there, but most respect the rules,” Castiel nods.

“Okay, I don’t mind breaking rules to help my brother. I think I want to be a reaper,” Dean says.

“I’ll help you watch over your brother Dean,” Castiel says.

“You’d help me break the rules?” Dean asks.

“Yes, some rules are meant to be broken. You died saving Sammy, so I’d like to help you protect him. I understand why it’s important.” Castiel says.

“Do you ever grow older?” Dean asks.

“We live forever, so we don’t grow any older. But I can change my appearance to be more relatable to the human I’m helping,” Castiel switches to the form of a 30 year old version of himself.

“Gross, you looks so old Cas,” Dean mocks the reaper.

“I know right,” Castiel laughs and switches back to being a kid. “Reapers live forever unless we are killed. Reapers aren’t invulnerable.”

“Will we stay together?” Dean asks Castiel.

“Reapers almost always work alone, Dean. If we worked together we’d need to help two million souls to earn our wings,” Castiel explains.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t like that because you would have to wait so much longer to be an angel,” Dean says.

“No, I think I would like to partner with you Dean. We’d be a great team. I am not very good at convincing souls to move on. So we’d probably be more successful together. And being a reaper wouldn’t be so lonely anymore.” Castiel says.

“Yeah I’d much rather have a friend than have to be a reaper on my own. And we could become angels together! That would be so awesome right Cas?” Dean smiles at the reaper.

“Yes, that would be awesome,” Castiel smiles back.

“Okay, I made up my mind. Let’s be team DeanCas!”, Dean says.

“DeanCas?” Castiel asks raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I don’t want to change my name. I like Dean.” Dean says.

“Dean is a good angel name. But can’t we be CasDean?” Castiel asks.

“Nah, that doesn’t sound as good. But we can work on our team name.”

“So what happens now?” Dean asks.

“You need to sign Death’s book. Death is our boss.” Castiel says.

“Okay.” Dean says. Castiel reaches out to hold Dean’s hand and the pair appear in Death’s library.

“Cool, can I teleport when I’m a reaper?” Dean asks.

“Yes, teleportation is one of our abilities.” Castiel nods.

“I’m lucky I’ve got you to explain things,” Dean says.

“Thanks Dean, but any reaper would be able to explain this to you. You’d get 24 hours with the reaper to help you understand your abilities, duties, and help you with the first souls assigned to you,” Castiel says.

“I am still lucky that I got you though,” Dean says. “You are awesome, I can tell.”

“Thanks,” Castiel blushes. “Here’s Death’s book. Once you sign the book you are under contract to get 1 million souls to move on. Do you have any other questions before making your choice?”

“Nope,” Dean reaches for a pen and prints his name on the page of Death’s book. Instantly Dean feels altered. His maturity has greatly advanced for his few years spent alive on Earth. And he feels new senses come alive to serve his role as reaper and supernatural entity. “Okay teammate, where to first?”

“Just think of it, and you will go there.” Castiel says.

“Hold my hand?” Dean asks.

“Of course Dean,” Castiel says and holds the hand Dean offers.

The reaper team appears in a hospital room. The patient is hooked in to a life support system, and she is covered in burns. Despite the horrific scarring, Dean recognizes his mother immediately.

“My mom doesn’t make it?” Dean asks.

“I’m sorry Dean, but she won’t die until she is touched by a reaper.” Castiel says.

Dean nods. A few minutes ago, Dean would have screamed about the unfairness of his mother’s death. But becoming a reaper has changed his perspective, and he feel mature beyond his years. Dean reaches out to hug his mother and put a kiss on her cheek.

“Dean!” Mary Winchester’s soul appears next to Dean. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Azazel came I thought he killed me, but we’re okay.” Mary hugs Dean.

“Mom, we didn’t survive,” Dean tells his mother.

Mary Winchester notices the trench coated man next to her son. “Are you the reaper that reaped my son and me?” Mary accuses Castiel. Dean turns to see that Castiel switched to his 30 year old form, and Dean tries to focus on changing himself to be an older form of himself.

“Castiel reaped me, but he wasn’t your reaper mom,” Dean says in the deep voice of an older man. Mary’s mouth drops open in shock as she looks at the older man where Dean had stood. Dean switches back to the form of a kid. “I was your reaper.”

“Oh Dean, I’m so sorry!” Mary wraps her arms around Dean and she begins sobbing in earnest.

“S’okay Mom,” Dean says, and he returns her hug holding tight to his mom. “I’m going to be okay. Cas is going to help me watch over Sammy.”

“Reapers help protect people?” Mary asks Castiel.

“Not usually,” Castiel says. “But Dean and I are going to be a reaper team, and even if we weren’t I’d do anything possible to help Dean.”

“Cas is only a few years older than me, Mom. He died standing up to some bullies.” Dean tells his mom. Castiel takes that story as a signal to switch back to his kid form, and an instant later Castiel returned to the appearance of the kid that first met Dean.

“I don’t know much about reapers,” Mary admits. “But I’m glad you won’t be alone Dean.” She smiles at the young Dean and Castiel.

“How do you know anything about reapers Mom?” Dean asks.

“I was a hunter Dean,” Mary confesses. “I would kill monsters with your grandparents Deanna and Samuel.”

“Was Azazel a monster mom? I heard you mention that name earlier.” Dean asks.

“He is a demon, Dean. I had to make a deal with him to save John’s life.” Mary says sorrowfully.

“Angels fight demons,” Castiel says. “We could fight Azazel some day, Dean.”

“Yeah, mom after team Destiel helps enough souls move on to Heaven and Hell we can become angels,” Dean tells his mom. “But we probably can mess with this guy before that.”

“Be careful Dean, Azazel is a very powerful demon.” Mary warns.

“We will be mom,” Dean reassures his mom. “Protecting Sammy is my first priority, he survived the fire mom. Cas took me to his room, and he was sleeping peacefully.”

“I’m so glad. I know how much being an older brother meant to you Dean, and I’m sorry you’re life was cut so short. I left hunting to keep my family safe, but I guess somethings can’t be outrun,” Mary says sadly. “How is your dad? Did he survive?”

“Yes, mom. I haven’t seen dad, but I’d know if he got reaped.” Dean answers. “I have to ask you mom, are you ready to move on?”

“Can you boys promise me you will always take care of each other,” Mary looks at Dean and Castiel in turn.

“Yes ma’am,” Castiel says. “I won’t leave Dean.”

“I will take care of Cas, we’ll be together forever,” Dean smiles.

“Okay, then I’m ready to move on. Can we see your dad and Sam first, so I can kiss them good bye?” Mary asks.

“Yeah mom, let’s go visit them.” Dean grabs hold of his mom’s hand and Cas’s hand to teleport them to John’s room.

“Dean and Castiel, can I have a minute alone with my husband?” Mary asks.

“Of course mom.” Dean says.

Dean and Castiel walk to the hallway.

“I like team Destiel,” Castiel says.

“I know right. We have an awesome team name.” Dean smiles at Castiel. “We are going to be the best reaper team ever.”

“You are doing great with your mom so far. I’m very proud of you,” Castiel says.

Mary leaves John’s room and walks up to the reapers. She reaches out and grabs a hand from both of the reapers. “Let’s see Sammy.”

“Here we go mom,” Dean says.

The three teleport besides the 6 month old Sam’s bedside.

“I’m so sorry I won’t be there to raise you, my little man,” Mary says as she reaches to stroke the sleeping baby’s face she can no longer touch. “But you will have two angels protecting you, well aspiring angels, and I’ll watch over you too. I will always love you Sammy.” Mary leans in to kiss Sam on his brow. She turns to Dean and Castiel then, “I’m ready now.”

Dean and Castiel bring Mary to Heaven.

“I love you, Dean,” Mary says and leans in to kiss her son.

“I love you, good-bye mom,” Dean tells his mom.

Dean grabs Castiel’s hand. “Okay do we reap one from your list now?” Dean asks Castiel.

“We can spend the rest of the day on your list Dean,” Castiel says. “But then we can take turns if you’d like. Let’s check in on Sammy first though.”

“Thanks Cas,” Dean smiles at his partner.

Mary watches the two reapers disappear, and her heart is full of pride for her son.

[goldandbluesmiles]

Magical Healing (Chap1/3)

Summary: Jason Todd gets a soul-sucking curse cast on him. Zatanna summons some help. Some very interesting help. 

Ao3

Part of my batfam Whumptober2020

xxx

Jason woke up feeling foggy and slow. His body felt like it had been covered in concrete and he was having a hard time moving his limbs. A quick glance to his side showed both Damian and Dick sitting at his side. Damian noticed him awake first and instantly called out for Bruce, much to Jason's chagrin.

"Father, Todd's awake," he said, "He seems to be having difficultly focusing though,"

"Shut up, brat," muttered Jason, trying to sit up

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that yet," said Dick, making him lie back down

"What? Get off of-"

"Jason," warned Bruce, coming to stand on his other side, "Stop it. How much do you remember?"

"I don't-"

"The fight," said Bruce, "Can you remember?"

The fight. Right.

They had been following some amateur bad guy hell-bent on making his name. He had been a normal human without the resources of most of the big rogues so they hadn't been expecting any surprise.

Turned out he had had a possessed demonic sorcerer on his side.

After that, the fight was a bit unclear in Jason's head but he did remember getting hit with something.

"I got hit," he said looking up at Bruce, "Is that why I feel so shitty?"

Bruce pursed his lips and shard quick glance with Dick.

"What?" asked Jason, trying not to panic too much, "What's going on?"

"We're going to show you something and please try to stay calm,"

That really didn't help Jason's rising panic. What could it be that was making Bruce of all people seem so out of his element.

"Here goes," murmured Dick and slowly lifted his shirt. Jason sat up to get a good look at whatever they were trying to show him and nearly had a premature heart attack.

Right in the middle of his gut was a black hole. A literal black hole.

"What the fuck?" he shouted on instinct, trying to move upwards as if moving could get him away from the physical thing on him.

Bruce held him down though, "Don't. We have no idea what this is so please stay as still as possible. We contacted every magic-user and Zatanna seemed to recognize what it was so we're going to wait on her, okay?"

Jason took a deep breath, "Okay?"

"You said you felt bad," said Bruce, "What did you mean?"

"Just feel kinda tired and weak, headache too,"

"Anything that might need immediate attention?" based Bruce

"Nah, I'm good," said Jason, "Let's just wait for Zatanna,"

"Okay," said Bruce, "I'm going to inform the rest of the family,"

Dick gently squeezed his shoulder as Bruce walked toward the computer. For once, Jason didn't throw him off.

xxx

Zatanna showed up only twenty minutes after Jason had woken up. Her swiftness both relieved Bruce and made him more worried. Zatanna would never drop everything so quickly unless she thought something was really wrong.

The feeling amplified when Zatanna took one look at the black hole and stepped back.

"This isn't good," she said.

"No kidding," muttered Jason, valiantly trying to hide the fear in his voice, "Is there any way to fix it? And what is it even doing?"

Zatanna took a deep breath, "It's sucking out your life force,"

Bruce felt his stomach drop to the ground.

"What?" asked Jason, voice barely over a horrified whisper

Zatanna nodded, "Yes, that's what I believe it's doing but I've also never encountered one before,"

"What happens when it's done with Todd?" asked Damian

Bruce flinched at tat but then reprimanded himself. The questions needed to be asked.

"I don't know," said Zatanna, "I need to do more research, make a few more calls,"

"And if you don't get it off in time, I die. Again," said Jason

Bruce could tell his son was trying to sound a little less affected than he actually was. Jason's gaze swept the cave and when it landed on him, he moved without any hesitation. Standing close to the bed, he rested a hand on Jason's arm. When the boy didn't pull away, Bruce knew it had been the right choice.

"I'm going to try very hard to make sure that doesn't happen, Jason," said Zatanna, "I promise,"

"Yeah," murmured Jason, "Sure,"

Bruce squeezed Jason's shoulder in encouragement but inside, his own heart felt like it was tearing itself apart.

xxx

"You didn't all have to come you know," said Jason

The family had taken no time in rallying together. Duke had come back from his trip, Stephanie from her dorm, Cass and Tim had Zeta'd from Hong kong and the Titans tower respectively. Barbara was also tuned into the cave though she hadn't physically made it there yet.

"Nonsense," said Cass, flicking his forehead

"'Course we came, stupid," said Stephanie, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," said Jason, "Guess this thing really is sucking it out me huh?"

"I could usually make so many jokes with that," muttered Stephanie

Tim hit her shoulder and snorted, "You're horrible,"

Jason chuckled though, glad that they were trying to make her feel better. It was one of the good things about working with the bats again, he got to be close to the family. Except for Dick, they weren't really his siblings, not yet, but he could say that they were at least his friends and had his back. Even the youngest brat.

"Did Zatanna tell you about her progress?" Barbara asked through the comms.

"Not yet. She took over the library and- oh wait, she's here. I'll let you listen to what she ways," said Dick

"Did you find anything?" asked Jason

"Not specifically for this," said Zatanna, "But there is a spell to summon spells. I'm familiar with those but this one can actually summon it across realities,"

"So, if someone from another reality figured this out, we'd be able to use the knowledge," said Tim

"Yes,"

"Reaching across realities is dangerous though," said Damian, "Are we sure we won't be putting Jason and ourselves in more danger,"

"I am certain that I can make it work," said Zatanna

Duke nodded, "I'll go get Bruce then,"

xxx

Zatanna pulled out the chalk, drew some symbols that Bruce wasn't even going to try to understand and sat down to chant a summoning spell. From what he knew, it wasn't something she did a lot but he trusted her confidence in her own abilities. If she was sure she could do it, he believed her.

Zatanna started her chant and beside him, Alfred squeezed Bruce's hand.

Bruce smiled thankfully and squeezed back. Eventually, the symbols began to glow, the cave lit for a second and then there was a burst of smoke.

Bruce had expected many things, but what he saw there was not one of them.

A fully grown man. There was a fully grown man sitting in the middle of Zatanna's drawn symbols.

After a closer look, it became increasingly obvious who it was. The man was wearing a leather jacket, had familiar blue-green eyes but most telling of all was the coif of start white hair standing amongst the rest of the salt and pepper

"Jason," he murmured

The other Jason took a measured look around the room and then turned gaze to Zatanna.

"So, why am I here?" he asked, "It's not everyday somebody pulls you a few hundred realities over,"

"I-I'm not sure," said Zatanna, "I was looking for a spell,"

"And you got me instead," said the other Jason, "What do you need help with?"

Zatanna gestures to their Jason who lifted his shirt for the man.

"What the Fuck?" the other Jason nearly shouted and then instantly turned to Alfred, "I am so sorry but it needed to be said,"

Alfred smiled, "Accepted, Sir,"

"So Jason, and to keep the confusion to a minimum, please call me Jace, May I?" said Jace, gesturing to the black hole on Jason's stomach.

Jason nodded, allowing Jace to touch his stomach. However, as soon as Jace touched his skin, he shook his head and pulled away.

"This isn't going to work," he muttered, "We need three?"

Before anyone could ask what he meant, Jace turned to Zatanna.

"I'm assuming that not everyone here is inherently magical," he said

"No, just a select few of us,"

"Well then, you people are about to have a couple more guests,"

xxx

The symbols, or runes as Jace called them, were activated again and out stepped another Jason Todd. This one looked about the same age as their Jason and a little more worked up about the whole situation.

"You pulled me from a fight!" he shouted at Jace, "I just left Tim alone with a group of thugs hell-bent on killing him!"

"I'm sorry," said Jace, "But you're here now, so please,"

The younger Jason shook his head and glared but stomped over to their Jason anyway, "You can call me Keeper. It's what we are back at our reality,"

"Keeper," murmured their Jason, "Got it,"

"Familiarize yourself with the force of it," said Jace, "I'm calling another one,"

This time the person who stepped out was a young teenager, though the white in his hair showed he had also been brought back to life. His reaction, Brue found, was probably the most normal.

He took a few moments to stare at their Jason, now shirtless.

"You're the guardian, right?" asked Jace

"Um- yes," he said, "That's what you can call me but uh-"

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen,"

"Right," said Jace, "In months how long has it been since you died? Since you were put in the pit?"

"Um, twenty-six and fourteen, uh- is he alright?"

"No, and since you were stable?"

This seemed to break Guardian Jason out of whatever reverie he was in.

"Eight months, it's been eight months," he said, "Now tell me why I'm here?"

"Soul sucking curse," said Jason, "We're going to assess,"

"Not perform?" said Keeper Jason

"You feel confident enough for that, Kid?" asked Jace

Both the Guardian and Keeper Jasons looked at each other and shrugged.

"We'll call them once we know what's going on," said Jace, "Let's get started,"

Bruce had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. And the part of him that made contingency plans for contingency plans, the part that liked to be in control, was screaming for him to ask. But another part was glad that at least someone knew how to help his boy, even if it made him very uncomfortable.

"Alright Guardian, you familiarize yourself too," said Jace, "Then we can begin to analyze it more,"

The youngest Jason nodded and then turned to Jason, "May I?"

Jason nodded, allowing him to touch the area around the whole. The Guardian touched his stomach but his reaction was much different from the one that the other two Jasons had had.

His hands glowed over their Jason's skin for a few seconds and then he backed away, face twisted in pain and clutching his stomach as he doubled over.

Jace moved to support him but he held his hand up, "I'm fine. I wasn't expecting that. It seems less magic and more demonic,"

"Um- if it helps," said their Jason, "We've seen possessed people before, and he definitely seemed a bit possessed,"

"Ah," said Guardian Jason, "In that case, we need a demon hunter. Best case scenario, somebody called a demon for a one-time thing and fucked up, worst-case scenario- well- they're too many to count. We need to find that thing before someone else gets this. How long has it been, in minutes?"

"Around five hours and thirty-seven minutes," said Bruce

"Moments like these I'm glad that the Bruces of every reality are control freaks,"

The Jasons, even theirs, shared a small conspiratorial smile, but Bruce couldn't bring himself to care. It wasn't as if they were wrong really.

"So you got one in mind?" Keeper Jason asked Jace, "Unless there's one that you guys can call right now,"

Zatanna shook her head, "Not so quickly,"

"Right," said Jace, "I got one. He's gonna come but just be warned, he likes to make an entrance. Takes after his darling father,"

Bruce was just about to ask what he meant when the lights flickered and the cave was plunged into darkness.

xxx

The cave only stayed dark for a few moments, but it was enough for Damian to reach for his weapons. From the rustling of fabric around the room, the rest of his family were doing the same.

When the lights started flickering back, they all heard the newcomer before they saw him.

"I hear from you for the first time in over six months and you drag me and my girls into another reality. Now that's just rude, Jason,"

The room cleared a bit more and Damian could see a man walking toward Jace, three girls in their teens and younger right behind him.

Jace opened his arms and grinned, "Demon brat,"

Demon brat.

Oh.

The other, older him dramatically fell into Jace's arms and laughed when his older brother lifted him clean off the floor.

It reminded Damian of the times Todd carried him around too, though Damian always threatened him in return.

Once the other Damian was back on the ground, he turned towards the girls and gestured for them to great Jace. The girls ran forward with cries of "uncle Jay' and "Jayjay' filling the air. Once that was done, Damian turned his eyes to Jason and went completely still. He then turned toward the youngest girl, seemingly around ten years old.

"Habibi, close your ears for me,"

The little girl brought her hands up to her ears, a soft glow emitting from them.

Damian then turned Alfred with his hand raised a little.

"Pardon my language Pennyworth, but what the ever-loving fuck is that?!" he said, gesturing his hand toward Jason's body

"Yeah, that was my reaction too," murmured Jace

"Can I take my hands away now?" said the littlest girl

Damian smiled and nodded. Then he turned back to their Jason.

"Tell me everything you remember about the caster and their mannerism,"

Wide-eyed, Jason started explaining what the man had looked like, his wording and hand gestures. Knowing what his brother would be saying, Damian took that time to observe the other Damian. He was just an inch or so away from his father's height and had his black hair and facial features. Though his lieth body seemed to be like Talia's. He was also wearing an all-black armour with gold ringlets and the League insignia, also in gold.

The girls were also dressed similarly and bore a striking resemblance to the Al-Ghul family. Damian wondered in these were other him's daughters or nieces or maybe even siblings if the Pit had been in use.

It was odd. Damian never imagined himself as a tall man, out of his child's body. It felt like something forbidden, to think of a future for himself that wasn't an abstract idea, something between batman and the league.

But now, watching the man, Damian could almost see himself standing tall and confident, out of both the comforting and suffocating shadows around him.

He thought he might like that.

xxx

"Weird isn't it?" murmured Dick

Bruce had to agree. The man introducing himself to Jason looked exactly like what Bruce imagined his Damian would be one day, confident, comfortable in his own skin and happy with a twinkle on his eye.

And the girls, the girls brought on a whole other wave of hope.

"Jason, these are my daughters, Tahara and Zara Al-Ghul-Wayne, and the youngest is their cousin Zinnia Al-Ghul. They will slow down the process of the curse until we can figure out some solution,"

"Okay," said Jason

"I will take a small, um...sample, of the curse and then I will track them down and hopefully get rid of the demonic force,"

"Sample?" asked Jason

"It'll just be a pinch," said the other Damian, stretching out his hand, "May I?"

"Yeah, sure," said Jason, "Go ahead,"

Damian tapped Jason's stomach, making him slightly flinch. The man's hand glowed black which then travelled up his arms in thick veins until his eyes were glowing an eerie black colour. If Bruce's family were any less than what they were, someone probably would have screamed. Instead, the biggest reaction was Duke's curious tilt.

Once Damian was done, he took his hand away and turned towards Jace. His brother cupped his face gently, looking him in his dark glowing eyes.

"Be careful, alright?"

The other Damian gave a huge grin and nodded, disappearing into a poof of black smoke.

Jace then turned towards his nieces and gestured towards their Jason.

"Alright girls. Let's get started,"

xxx

Jason smiled nervously as three girls took their seats around him.

"They'll start first," said Jace, "Once they've made their connection, we'll start analyzing the spell,"

"Okay," said Jason

The girls held their hands over him, muttering a few things as they cast whatever they had to. Not liking the silence, Jason cast his glance to where most of his family had moved, up over to the railing. They were too far away though, so he just felt awkward. Bruce and Dick were still standing close by but there was no way he was making eye contact with either one of them.

So he turned his eyes back towards the girls.

"So, can you guys talk," he asked, "Or is this one of the silent types of deals,"

The middle girl grinned, "We can talk if you want. By the way, you can start now Uncle Jay,"

"Thank you, Zara," said Jace, "Let's start gentlemen,"

The other Jason's started to gently prod around the black hole, their hands occasionally glowing and then picking up a pen and notebook to write notes in. The whole process was pretty odd so Jason turned his attention back to the girl.s

"Som how old are you guys?"

"Well," said Zara, "I'm twelve, Tahara's seventeen and little Zinnia is ten years old,"

"Cool," returned Jason, "I'm twenty,"

Little Zinnia smiled, "You're very pretty,"

Jason let out a small laugh.

"Why thank you," said Jason, "You're very pretty too,"

"I mean," continued Zinnia, "Uncle Jay was probably very pretty too once upon a time but by the time I came along he wasn't very pretty anymore,"

The last part was said in a mock whisper and Jason had to try hard not to laugh.

"Though, maybe Tahara remembers him being pretty," said Zara, "Do you, Ta?"

"Nope," said Tahara, winking at him as she played along with the younger girls' game.

"You know I can hear you, brats," said Jace

Zara grinned and leaned in, "We're not supposed to say it out loud, especially around Uncle Jay,"

"Yes," said Zinnia, "It hurts his fragile feelings, that's what grandpa B says,"

"Uncle Dickie says it too," said Tahara

"I still hear you," said Jace, though Jason could detect the amusement in his voice, "God, you guys are really Damian's girls,"

Zara leaned in again and whispered, "See what we mean,"

All the girls let out little giggles at that and Jason couldn't help but join them.

They spent the next hour or so like that, Jason ignoring his family and other versions of him as the girls told him little stories about their life. Though, Jason noticed that they kept it pretty vague. They would mention a cousin but no names and talk about a wedding but not who's it had been. Probably didn't want to give him a crisis or any reason to freak out in the future. Even if their future wasn't his if their past was similar their future could be too.

"We're done," said Jace

"So now what?" asked Jason

"Now we wait for the performers," said Jace, "Girls why don't you move back a little,"

The girls nodded and got up, moving to the furthest wall from him, sitting around one of the desks there.

Jason turned his attention back towards Jace, "So waiting for what?"

"The three of us are not strong enough to do this-"

"Well, he is," said Guardian Jason, "We're not,"

"Right," said Jace, "And since it's better to do a spell with 'three of the same', we're going to wait for-"

"Bruce Wayne's of your realities," Jason finished for him

"Yup," said Jace, "They should be here right about-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the lights in the cave flickered again.

Jace snorted, "Dramatic timing as always,"

[yungidreamer]

Always

This is a gift I made for someone for Christmas and I thought I would share it here in case anyone might have fun with it here as well

Summary: After the defeat of the reapers, Garrus is left without his soulmate, and wants nothing more than to have her back.

Wordcount: 4.8k

Content warnings: Very angsty, missing your soulmate and being stuck in memories of the times you had together.

Text in bold is a flashback and plain text is present time. The italic section is a ‘dream’ (meaning maybe real, maybe just a dream, you can decide).

Garrus ran his fingers over the texture of the name on the memorial. Shepard. The name was etched more deeply in his heart than it was on the large memorial he stood in front of now. The sounds of London buzzed distantly around him, barely penetrating the fog of melancholy that wrapped around him.

In this place the defenders of all life in the Milky Way galaxy made their last stand. Too many were taken in the battle to preserve life itself, but their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

For all the moments we have, now and into the future, we give them thanks.

***

“Welcome aboard Garrus,” Commander Shepard said, giving the turian a quick nod. “Glad to have you.”

That moment and those words, spoken with such a casual friendly warmth, had been a changing point he could never have anticipated. Stepping foot on the Normandy and getting out of the C-Sec rules that felt more like shackles than useful guidelines, had been his first moment of finding himself. There was never a boring moment and, damn if Shepard didn’t have a way of challenging him, challenging the preconceived notions he carried around without thinking about it.

Shepard just… made him a better person.

***

“Still glad you left C-Sec,” Shepard’s voice echoed behind him in the docking bay. A smile spread across his face and he straightened up from his work on the MAKO.

“No question,” he responded, the trill in his voice carrying his humor. “Being free of all the red tape and regulations has been amazing. I finally feel like I can actually make a difference. Get things done.”

“You do remember that there are still rules here, too, you know?” Amusement suffused her voice.

“Yeah, I understand,” he shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I feel like your  rules make a lot more sense. They aren’t stopping you from saving people or letting bad people go just because of some silly technicality.”

“Rules exist for a reason,” she reminded him firmly, but still a tinge of understanding in her tone. “But I know the frustration of feeling like things are slipping through the cracks because the rules leave no space for judgement.”

“Yes, exactly,” Garrus sighed, relieved to feel like someone understood. “I understand the reason for rules but… it all just feels like red tape at some point. If you aren’t hiring people who you can trust to have good judgement, maybe you aren’t hiring the right people.”

“Even good people can make bad judgements,” she pointed out. “It’s too easy to get caught up in being sure that your judgement is clear when you are neck deep in something yet still only know half the story.”

“I know,” he sighed. “Just having to see the consequences of people getting away and causing more misery all because the rules and the paperwork and the regulations got in the way. I hate it. I hate… being helpless to save the innocent.”

“It’s never possible to save everyone,” Shepard commiserated. “All we can do is our best. Most of the rules are there to keep us from making the same mistakes other people have before. We get to make all new ones. It’s just part of being human… or turian, too, I guess.”

“Right,” Garrus laughed. “I should really get back to this.”

“Of course,” She nodded, taking a step back. “We can talk more later.”

***

“Has your father accepted your choice to leave C-Sec?” Shepard asked as she watched him work on the MAKO.

“As much as he ever will, I think,” a tinge of bitterness flavored Garrus’ voice. “He’s like C-Sec personified. He’ll never understand or respect someone who doesn’t fit into his system.”

“Don’t write him off just yet,” she cautioned good naturedly. “He probably only really got to see the bad sides of people who didn’t follow his rules and his way of doing things. I think you might be surprised at how he comes around… eventually.”

“You have more faith in him than he seems to have in me,” he sighed bitterly.

“Sometimes it can be hard for a parent, especially one who also is accustomed to authority outside the family as well,” she replied. “For them to accept when their children don’t just follow their same path. Give it time and you’ll be able to show him that your choice was good too.”

“I’d ask you to talk to him for me,” he chuckled. “But like I said before, he doesn’t like spectres even more than he seems to disapprove of my life choices.”

“I can understand,” she shrugged. “He probably saw the consequences of rogues and rule breakers more than anyone else. It would make anyone wary of seeing the same in others.”

“You’re right,” he admitted, turning to face her. “He saw the worst in people every day and I know there was more than one corrupt member of C-Sec he had to take down from the inside.”

“I’m sure more than one of them started out just bending the rules to make things easier or just to get things done,” she sighed. “I can understand how it would be hard for him to see it as more than just a slippery slope.”

“I know, I get it, I really do,” Garrus shook his head and returned to his work. “I just wish he trusted me.”

“You’ll get it someday,” she assured him, pushing off where she had been leaning against the MAKO. “You’ll earn it and then it will mean even more.”

***

Flaming ash fell around him like snow. The smell of the citadel burning around him was acrid and the cracking of fire filled his ears mixed with the blaring of the alarms. Seeing that piece of the recharge that had once been Sovereign fly towards them in the council chambers had, all at once, moved like slow motion and with unbelievable speed. It was as if he could see it coming, slowly moving closer and closer, yet his body moved like he was fighting through honey. Time pulled at him, kept his movements slow even as he willed himself and the others in the room, including Shepard to run, to move out of the way. He knew they could not make it far enough.

“GO,” Shepards voice had been sharp, decisive, like herself. Then there had been that dull, perfect ringing silence that comes when sound overwhelms your senses. An odd bliss of nothingness. In that moment he had wondered if he had made it. Perhaps this deafness was the last thing he would experience in life.

Then, slowly, as if someone was turning on the volume on a distant world, the sounds of a half destroyed station filled in around him. The crackling of the fire, the scream of the alarms, the creak of the building settling into its new, less stable self.

Shepard, he had thought, trying to turn to look in the direction he had last seen her, but all he could see was wreckage. Where she had stood was the massive pile of former reaper. Could she have survived that? Did she get out of the way in time? He waited, looking that direction, hoping to see some movement, but there was nothing.

“Captain Anderson, we found them,” a voice shouted from nearby as some of the wreckage was moved away. “They’re in here.”

“Take it easy,” Captain Anderson’s calming, authoritative voice carried over to him as the man knelt near Liara. “It’s over. You’re safe now. Where’s the Commander?”

Both sets of eyes turned to look in the direction she had been before the wreckage had come careening into the tower. She couldn’t have dodged that, there is just no way, he thought, his heart in his throat.

He had no way of knowing at the time, but that moment of fear, that split second of acceptance that she was gone was training for those two long years of her absence that was to come. Two years of trying to find a way to make the difference he felt like he had been making at her side.

***

“Archangel?”

That voice… he knew that voice. He could never have forgotten that voice, even when he tried.

“Shepard?” Part of him still didn’t believe it even when he saw her face.

Just my luck, he thought mere moments later as he lay bleeding on the ground in some back corner of Omega. Shepard finally returns from the dead and I’m going to die. I guess if one of us has to go, I’d rather it be me.

“We’re getting you out of here Garrus,” she said, leaning over him. Her voice traveled to his ears as if he had sunk to the bottom of a very deep pool. “Just hold on.” How could she sound so sure, he wondered, pain flaring with each move. “Radio Joker, make sure they’re ready for us.” The tone of her voice told him he looked bad. Maybe this is what I deserve, he resigned himself even as he refused to give up. He wanted to stay… but he wasn’t sure he deserved it.

***

“Look, you’ve done it before,” Garrus huffed, leaning forward on the desk. “Why not this time? Is it really so different?”

“Garrus, it isn’t that simple,” Miranda leaned back in her chair. “Even if I had all the resources I had back then, what we did, the testing the repairs on the cellular level, they were all in response to the injuries and damage her body had taken after the loss of the SR 1. With what they recovered, it would almost be like starting the whole thing over.”

“But you could do it again,” he insisted. “Just get the same team back. With the same talent and well stocked lab, we could get her back again.”

“After all that we’ve been through, after all the suffering,” she shook her head and sighed. “Maybe it’s time we just let her rest. In her two lifetimes, she lived enough for all of us combined. I want her back, too, you know. You aren’t the only one who misses her.”

“It’s not the same,” he was being defensive and he knew it. It was just… how could everyone just give up like this? “You only worked with her for a little while… you… It’s just not the same.”

“I know you loved her,” Miranda let his insistence go, fighting him on the idea that she cared just as much was futile. She didn’t love Shepard, but she had earned her respect, and that probably mattered more to her. The galaxy was a better place because of her, and it would have been an even better place if she had survived that final battle. But she hadn’t. She had done what any on her team would have; she stepped up and made the necessary sacrifice to ensure the survival of sentient life in the galaxy.

“You just,” he sighed, clenching his mandibles in frustration. “You don’t understand. You can’t understand.”

“Just because I’m saying no,” she said with a firm finality. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it, too.”

“Not enough,” Garrus said with a resigned defiance. Without another word, he turned and walked away, only the sound of his armored feet clicking metallically against the floor plating filling the silence.

***

“I just thought being finished with him, with what happened to my squad,” Garrus’ mandibles clicked in frustration. “That it would feel different. I thought I would feel…”

“Less guilt?” Shepard prompted. “Like you had finally found peace?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s it,” he admitted. “Thank you for your help and for everything you’ve done for me with this whole thing. There isn’t anyone else I would have trusted for this mission.”

“You did the right thing,” Shepard soothed. “In time the feeling will fade. It’s not the sort of thing you just forget but you’ll find a way to accept the difference you can make given what happened. You can’t change the past but you can do things now to make a difference.”

“If only it was easy to know I had done the right thing,” he groaned.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have the surety of knowing that,” she chuckled. “I don’t know that we can ever really have the comfort of knowing for certain that we did the absolute right thing, just that we are doing our best given what we know.”

“How do you just accept that?” He questioned, baffled by the ease with which she seemed to be able to do it.

“I don’t,” she gave a scoffing laugh. “But I don’t let it stop me. It’s my motivation. I know I can’t completely avoid having regrets, but the regrets I have help me avoid more; not making the same mistakes.”

“No, no, we just get to make completely new ones,” Garrus gave a self deprecating laugh.

“Exactly,” Shepard agreed with a laugh.

“Every day a new adventure,” he smiled.

“Every day,” she nodded.

***

“Garrus,” Tali’s sweet accented voice trilled over the vidcom. “It’s been a while. How… how are you?”

“As well as can be expected,” he couldn’t help the stiffness in his voice as he replied.

“Of course,” she replied quickly before they both lapsed into a tense silence.

“How is the resettlement of the Rannoch going?” He finally asked, searching for something to say.

“Better than I could have ever expected,” she responded. “The geth have been invaluable in the process. After 300 years… I never would have thought we could be living side by side.”

“Everyone is really getting along? Even after all the history and everything that has happened?” He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

“Well, not everyone,” she quickly admitted. “But the people who have been most skeptical have decided to remain aboard the homeships, keep the lifestyle of the fleet. I’m not sure I like the idea of us splitting up, but I can understand how some wouldn’t be able to trust the geth after so many centuries.”

“I’m impressed the geth could make the transition themselves that easily,” he admitted. “Afterall, it was your people who started all of it.”

“It wasn’t that simple,” she started defensively, then paused, having to admit there was truth to it. “But the geth still operate collectively. I envy them sometimes. It must be so much simpler when everyone just… understands.”

“Where is the fun in that?” He joked. “Is life worth living if there isn’t something you have to fight for?”

“There is enough to fight about without having to fight amongst ourselves,” she pointed out even as a note of humor tinged her voice.

“Listen,” he began, trying to move onto the topic of the call he had intended to have. “With all the knowledge we have now… with the geth and everything else… do you think… can we bring her back again?”

“I know you miss her, but…” Tali sighed. “Even if we know how. I don’t know that it is the right thing to do.”

“What do you mean?” Garrus could feel his stomach drop.

“She spent her life saving the galaxy, saving all our lives,” she shook her head. “She has earned her rest.”

“She earned a lifetime of happiness,” he corrected with passion.

“She made the choice and I have chosen to respect it,” Tali responded with resolute compassion. “I live my life and lead my people in honor of that choice and that sacrifice. I am doing what I can so that none of it, none of the losses or the sacrifices made to bring us here go to waste. And I am letting her rest. It’s all I can do. I’m sorry.”

***

Garrus returned to the apartment Anderson had left Shepard. He didn’t really know why he hadn’t sold it yet. Every corner of the place was filled with ghosts. Joker’s laughter and banter at the bar. Kaiden on the second floor floating James with his bionic field. His eyes fell upon a small pile of datapads. Just looking at them made the echos of Mordin’s voice echo in his mind. So many ghosts.

He padded through the sparse but well appointed room that had stayed the same since that last party they all threw before… before everything went wrong. Of course he had gone in knowing some or all of them might die. They had already lost Mordin and Legion. It would have been a miracle not to lose anyone else from the team. He just wished it hadn’t been her. Not again.

***

“How did you even find her body?” Garrus asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Technically I didn’t,” Liara admitted, pacing in front of the desk that held her camera. “The Blue Suns recovered her remains. The real challenge was getting the body back from the Shadowbroker. Leaving Freon behind for all that time… it was a hard choice, but it was the right one.”

“Easy for you to say as the one who wasn’t captured by the Shadowbroker,”  he said sardonically.

“He would have done the same,” she assured him. “The job was too important. We couldn’t let the collectors have her.”

“I wish I knew what they thought they would have found if they had gotten their hands on her,” she shook her head and sighed.

“Who knows,” he shook his head. “Maybe they wanted to know what she knew, what the Prothians had managed to preserve and pass on through the beacons.”

“There had to be an easier way to find that out,” she decided after a pause. “Maybe they needed to know why she could understand it. Shepard always was something special.”

“Do you think there was something that different about her?” He asked. “I mean in some way you could quantify in DNA or something?”

“It’s foolish to think that such things would simply be a result of some small quirk of genetics,” Liara admitted. “But maybe… maybe it could have told them those most likely to be dangerous to them if they were allowed to live and resist them.”

“That makes sense,” he had to agree. “They needed the masses to make the new collectors and maybe… maybe someone like Shepard would have been used to make the new ‘human’ reaper.”

“Perhaps,” she considered. “We have so much information now at our fingertips. I never really thought I would feel like there was such a thing as knowing too much. As a historian, I grew so accustomed to picking through little bits of information here and there. Now it feels like I have just fallen through the ceiling of some great library of a thousand lost civilizations. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Do you think…” Garrus paused, his mandibles clenching and twitching anxiously.

“You want to bring her back again,” Liara finished for him.

“Don’t you?” He pushed. “Don’t you think that she deserves it? Deserves to have a real life beyond being a sacrifice for the greater good?”

“I… yes but… it isn’t that simple,” she began. “The Illusive man is gone. There is no Cerberus this time to bankroll her resurrection. And what we found, what was left by the time her body was recovered, it wasn’t the same.”

“We did it before,” he insisted. “Surely what we learned from before, and with what we know now from all of this… it has to be possible.”

“Right now it feels like anything is possible,” she admitted. “But even if we have the information that would make it possible without 4 billion credits, I don’t know if we would understand it yet. Like I said, there is so much right now we are just working on absorbing at the moment.”

“Can’t someone, the geth for example, sort through it,” his voice held a note of desperation. “They owe Shepard as much as any of us do.”

“You can give a Yagh a physics textbook but they will never understand the material,” her analogy wrangled but got the point across.

“You really think we are too dumb to understand it now?” Garrus asked flatly.

“Stupid or not,” Liara shrugged. “We have to understand the framework and build the fuselage before we can fly the ship.”

“We’ve done it before,” he repeated again for the hundredth time.

“Cerberus did something before,” she corrected. “They spent two years doing bespoke work on a single person with a single circumstance. There isn’t anyone or any organization that is going to want to invest in a project like that again.”

“Every single being in existence owes it to Shepard to do this,” he insisted.

“Shepard never did this expecting something in return,” she reminded him.

“I don’t care.” He snapped. “I do.”

“Shepard has returned to the greater whole we are all destined to return to,” she tried to comfort him, turning to the idea most Asari believed in to some degree. It made sense to her even as a vague, comforting idea more than a strict system of answers of belief. “Maybe that is the best thing we can give her.”

“I can’t just be satisfied with that,” Garrus admitted. “I can’t just accept it.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything different,” a sad humor filled the admission. “If anything changes, I promise to let you know.”

“Thanks,” he nodded and looked away. “I’ll let you go.”

“Be well, Garrus,” Liara said before closing the channel. He sighed and moved away from the desk, heading up to the bedroom to sleep. Rest had eluded him even when he slept. His mind could not stop chasing every possibility, every chance, every last grain of hope. He had to admit that things looked bleak as he changed and stretched out on his side of the bed. His eyes closed and after a few tosses and turns, he slipped into dreams.

The hum of the SR-2 filled his ears and he opened his eyes to see a field of stars through the skylight above the bed in the captain's quarters. It was a view he loved but had seen too few times. Of course really, it had been the company that made the place so special. Even if he had only seen it once, it would have been burned into his mind for the rest of his life. Ripples of blue shimmered over the field that kept space outside even in this dream world.

Beside him he felt someone else shift in the bed and turned to see her laying beside him, a contented look on her face as she looked up at the same view he had opened his eyes to. The room was dim and warmly lit, just like she liked it. The speakers played a low key, chill electronic song; one of her favorites for going to sleep.

“Thanks for the company,” her voice filled the holes in his heart as she turned to face him. “It’s never the same here without you.”

“Always,” he turned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “You know it will always be the two of us, Shepard and Vakarian. Side by side. Forever.”

“How is everyone these days?” She asked, giving him a smile as she reached up to touch his face.

“Fine, fine,” he nodded, answering automatically at first. “Good even really. Tali is thriving in the work to settle people back on Rannoch. Miranda is putting all that genetic perfection to good use on both sanctioned and not so sanctioned projects. Joker is test flying the newest and most advanced ships that are being built. He and EDI got a little place together near the R&D facility that he would be living and working at otherwise. She’s learned to cook to make sure he is taking care of himself. Liara has put the organizational and research skills that she developed as the Shadowbroker to monitor and integrate all the information we have as best we can. Wrex and Grunt are back on Tuchanka rebuilding their civilization, ‘only better’ as one of them put it in the last message I got. All of the alliance crew is happily back at work flying from one system to another ferrying researchers and tech to colonies and planets as the innovations come out of all the new things we are learning. Jacob has a family and has happily settled in a new colony on the edge of what used to be alliance space. He’s happy taking orders and making a difference as part of a project he feels matters.”

“What about you?” She asked, eyes searching his. “How is my favorite turian doing?”

“I’m—” he wasn’t sure why, but he was about to say he was fine. At the moment, lying beside her, maybe he was, but that isn’t what she meant. “I miss you. Some days it feels like I am the only one who remembers you. I keep trying to get you back and everyone says it’s impossible. They did it before, why can’t someone just try again?”

“You know I’m always here,” she soothed. “Even if you can’t see me, I’m still here. I’m waiting for you at the bar. I don’t mind the wait. I’ve already got a bottle of the good stuff just waiting for us to share.”

“I don’t want to wait,” he held her cheek as he pressed his forehead against hers. “I hate that I have to wait to meet you here. I want to fall asleep in your arms again. I want to worry when you go on stupid missions. I want to have to worry about securing your apartment again. Zaeed still has some good ideas about securing the place Anderson left you.”

“No one is better at making some place safe than an ex-assassin,” admiring laughter danced in Shepard’s voice.

“Kasumi dropped by to check on me,” he added. “I’m pretty sure she’d been watching me for a few days since she gave a few things a security upgrade before she left. I have no idea what she is up to these days, but she seems happy and well. I guess when you are a cat burglar, not seeing her on the extranet is a good thing.”

“She always did land on her feet,” she smiled and shook her head.

“Samara and her surviving Ardat-Yakshi daughter have been able to spend some quality time together.” Garrus recalled from his last conversation with her. “Her work as a Justicar has diminished since the last stand. Besides, I think once you’ve saved the existence of life itself, anyone would feel like they’ve earned a moment’s pause.”

“I’m sure her daughter is grateful for that,” she responded.

“Samara is too,” he agreed.

“I’m glad everyone is doing well,” Shepard sighed contentedly. “You know it’s okay for you to move on, right? I know it’s not that you’ve forgotten me or that you gave up. You can follow your dreams still, go out and fight injustice.”

“I’m not ready yet,” he sighed. “Just a little longer.”

“You don’t have to stay here,” she assured him. “I’ll be with you wherever you are. Omega, Horizon, earth… wherever.”

“I know, just… not yet,” he curled up along her side and let his eyes close as he held her close.

“Whenever you’re ready,” she agreed, hand resting on his arm that was draped across her stomach.

***

Liara paced around the dim room, lit mostly by the cluster of screens that lined much of one wall. Her mind lipped through a hundred ideas and possibilities as she scrolled through a series of names on the data pad in her hand. Her networks had their fingers in almost anything that was going on in Alliance territory and in most of the places outside its jurisdiction as well.

She had said no to Garrus when he called, but she had never really written off the possibility of working to bring Shepard back. She could cling to it, keep pursuing the possibilities while keeping a cool, dispassionate head. Shepard would always be someone who she owed more to than she could have ever repaid in even an asari lifetime. Still, she wasn’t her soulmate, the other half of her the way she was for Garrus. It would be cruel to string him along as she looked into the slim, distant possibilities that existed.

This looks like something, she decided, pausing on something that had come on to her list in the last few days. Clicking through the information, she flicked it onto the screens on the wall, analyzing all the information and connecting it with threads and bits of research that others were doing in completely different places.

Yes, this could be very promising, she decided. Taking a seat, at her communication station she pulled up a covert channel and opened the line to one of the agents she had as her roll as the Shadowbroker.

“Shadowbroker, what a surprise to hear from you,” the trill of a female turian voice chirped over the coms.

“I‘ve been following the research happening at your facility,” Liara’s voice was transformed over the coms into a mechanical tone that held none of her original tone or voice. “I want to know more…”

[buffyversefanfiction]

Slayer of Slayers

Warnings: I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the copyright or characters within the Buffyverse which includes but is not limited to the television shows Buffy and Angel, as well as the Darkhorse comics series’ continuation. 15+ Strong to moderate violence, Graphic to mild descriptions of gore, and torture, sexually charged scenes, sexual innuendos, mild to strong language, and practices of witchcraft. M/M, F/F, M/F, GEN, OTHER +

Part One: City of No Angel

After being away from Los Angeles for several years the brooding vampire Angel had been convinced to return to his former city under the advice of vampire slayer Faith Lehane who herself had been sent back to L.A. due to the witch Willow Rosenberg’s concern about a growing number of vampire slayers going missing within the troubled city that once had the evil law firm, Wolfram and Hart, pulling its strings. Angel, Faith, and old one Illyria arranged to meet at Angel’s old, haunted grounds The Hyperion Hotel which had once again become abandoned like it was when he first set up home in there with his friends who became like family, most of which were long gone now. After the unlikely trio consisting of a vampire with a soul, a former goddess in a human’s body, and a redeemed former rogue slayer, met up they soon discussed the facts of the mission which had brought them all together. “So, Willow’s big plan is for me to play the role I play best, the rogue slayer, thinking that whoever’s killing slayers is probably going to like the idea of teaming up with a slayer who kills humans or used to, obviously hoping they do not know any stories of all the things I’ve done while seeking some kind of redemption.” Faith informed Angel and Illyria. “I did the covert rogue slayer thing a while back for Giles and shit got pretty messy hence why I was not doing this one solo.” “If slayers are killing out other slayers, then maybe we should not interfere I mean after all there was only ever supposed to be one at a time whereas now you throw a rock and you have yourself some superpowered woman thinking themselves as something like a god insulting actual gods like myself,” Illyria complained while making it clear she was far from happy about the rise in the quantity over slayers over recent years. Both Angel and Faith did not bother to reply to Illyria’s choice of words having both got used to the way she speaks by now and how she viewed the world and despite her literal tough outer shell, the old one was always on their side without question having somehow become her friends. The three of them were determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious case of the slayer of slayers not realizing that this mission would change everything forever…

Elsewhere, in the city of Los Angeles, the slayer of slayers was eying their next target a Knight-haired vampire slayer looking something like Faith herself, as the girl believed she had the upper hand as she ran down a dark alleyway with a male vampire running after her, believing she was luring this monster into a trap not realizing that this vampire was luring her into one as part of his master’s own devious plan, to eradicate all slayers. “Unluckily for you, you seem to have no idea that I am not your average girl!” The young vampire slayer bravely stated as the male vampire closed in towards her with his full vampire face on display. The slayer wasted no time in charging towards her undead opponent as she pulled a wooden stake out of her black leather jacket during mid-run as she launched herself into the air, throwing her body into the night sky before launching her right clenched fist down towards the vampire, punching him with force across the face as her feet fell back onto the cold hard ground. The slayer continued to fight with the vampire each of them getting several good hits on the other before the young slayer eventually got the better of the vampire, kicking his body so hard the vampire fell to the ground as the slayer launched the wooden stake into the vampire’s chest causing the vampire to explode into nothing more than a big pile of dust. “They just keep bringing slayers to my city it’s like the big man no longer cares about his chosen daughters.” An unbelievably handsome man with short jet black said to the slayer as he too appeared from out of the shadows wearing a black fishnet t-shirt flaunting his chiseled abs with skin-tight black leather jeans that clung perfectly to his impressive body making this stranger look as sinister as he did sexily. The young slayer knew instantly whoever this stranger was, he was most definitely an enemy working alongside the forces of evil and so the Knight haired woman ran towards her next opponent not realizing that this opponent would be her last as it did not take long for the handsome stranger to quickly get the better of the slayer, punching her several times across the face before kicking her in the stomach with such force the slayer fell into some nearby bins amusing the man before her as she quickly began rustling through the rubbish as she pulled herself back up onto her feet defiantly. “You do not scare me, vampire!” She lied before charging towards this mysterious man once again, as she refused to allow her growing fear to get the better of her. “Not a vampire.” The man replied as he punched her once again before grabbing the slayer by her throat and lifting her up into the air into a chokehold. “You may know me as the slayer of slayers.” Before the slayer could muster any words while under the surprisingly strong stranger’s stronghold on her neck, he threw her across the street, her head hitting off a nearby wall before her body crashed onto the ground knocking the slayer unconscious in the process. “I swear you get sexier with every slayer you slaughter!” A short dirty blonde haired male vampire said as he appeared from out of the shadows eagerly making it clear to the two men knew each other very well. “Who would think little Theo will grow up to be the ruthless slayer of slayers?” “If only mummy dearest could see me now,” Theo replied as he walked over to the vampire with a seductive smirk on his face. “Killing slayers and sleeping with vampires.” The vampire, otherwise known as Tobias, pulled the slayer of slayers, otherwise known as Theo, in towards him until the two men’s bodies were grinding against each other’s as they began kissing passionately getting off on the carnage that Theo had just created.

After a rather successful night of Tobias hunting humans and Theo capturing a vampire slayer, the dangerous duo had retreated to a demonic dive bar that they owned together and often used as their headquarters for all their hellish operations, while their demonic and monstrous clients continued to drink and often join in when they were asked of by Theo and Tobias, fearing the two too much to even consider saying no to them. “I heard you’ve got yourself another slayer, is she on the menu tonight?” Asked one of the vampires that stood at the counter breaking up Theo’s kiss with his vampire lover as the two put their focus back on their customers. “This one’s going through a little processing right now before she gets served to our public no point drinking her blood while it's still poisoned now is there?” Theo replied with a sense of casualism that could only occur from doing what he did far too often. “Pretty messed up the things you do to your own kind Theo.” A demon with snake-like skin-colored red and a lizard-like tongue said to his bartender, laughing away in respect for the monster within the man in front of him. “I’m no vampire slayer, I am a slayer of slayers it's my destiny to eradicate them all and plunge this pathetic excuse of a world into pure and utter darkness it is just a bonus I get so much pleasure in killing each and every one of them,” Theo replied to the demon. “Besides slayer’s blood sells very well and who does not love money?” “My beloved Theo is unlike any before him, he not only lives in the darkness he thrives in it, and with him, on our side, the slayers will soon be nothing more than unfond memories.” Tobias chimed in while showing genuine affection for his lover. “My only fear of course is the one slayer who always defies the odds that perky blonde one who changed everything for her kind.” “Buffy Summers is more myth than truth Tobias, I have told you that before,” Theo said to the vampire, trying to reassure him that Buffy was nowhere near as much of a threat as she was in stories they had been told. “I would not underestimate the girl who killed Angelus and The Master not to mention that goddess who almost ended the world one time.” Another vampire at the counter said, adding to the conversation within the bar. “I have the upper hand when it comes to Buffy whether she is as fearful as they say she is still a woman, a woman who had seen love and loss in her time and will no doubt be thrown back to meet her only son.” Theo declared, revealing his identity as Buffy’s son to the shocked crowd within the bar, everyone except Tobias being stunned by the slayer of slayers’ admission.

The very next day Faith found herself riding on her motorbike down a somewhat quiet road on the outskirts of Los Angeles before pulling up on the middle of the road, climbing off her motorbike, and beginning to walk further and further into the hot desert, as she pulled out her phone from her jean pocket and dialed Willow’s number before putting her on loudspeaker while continuing to walk through the desert. “I know when you think dead bodies you reckon, I am the expert, but I was better at deserting them not looking for them in a bloody desert.” Faith said with her signature sense of sarcasm after hearing Willow answer her call. “This slayer got into L.A. not long before you did Faith, we’re not sure why any slayer would be rushing to Los Angeles these days but if we failed to safe her at the very least, we should try to find answers from her death to stop it happening again,” Willow replied to her. “I get it Willow, and I’m all for helping with the bigger picture but searching for a fellow slayer’s dead body before having breakfast is not all it’s cracked up to be.” Faith complained to the red-headed witch. “I will make you all the eggs on toast if you sort out the L.A. problem. You know you’re the main girl in action with Buffy being all M.I.A. since the incident.” Willow told her while trying to butter her up, only for Faith to be left silenced by finding the body of the young slayer who looked a little too much like her for Faith’s liking. “Looks like your right once again Will.” Faith admitted as she stood over the young slayer’s lifeless body all bloodied and wounded with injuries that told a tragic tale of torture. “Whatever’s killing us slayers seem to be taking real pleasure in it…I cannot wait to kill those bastards.” “Oh, goddess, this is far from good thank the heavens you’re not going solo on this one Faith,” Willow told the former rogue slayer. “I’ll call this in to the local authorities once you have got yourself a good distance from the crime scene, you should probably report back to Angel before going in undercover on this one… the last slayer we need showing up dead next is you.” “Thanks for the sentiment Will but this is even more reason for me to get my spy mode rolling!” Faith replied to the witch before hanging up the call to her. “Rather not wait around to examine the next dead slayer who happens to look far too much like me!”

Tobias walked into the bedroom of the apartment above the dive bar which he shared with Theo, shirtless and wearing a tight boxer brief as he willingly flaunted his tanned skin, muscular frame, and handsome body while walking over to Theo who was sat on the edge of their shared bed. “You know you anger me when you question my strength in front of the customers.” Theo, who was wearing just a pair of tight white boxer briefs himself, with the rest of his own impressive body fully on show, complained to his lover. “I am mainly looking out for you, fearing for you, worrying about you, like anyone who truly loved you would,” Tobias replied as he began softly kissing Theo’s neck. “I know you are capable of anything, but I cannot help but fear that we may lose everything we have worked so hard for.” “I love you too Tobias, but you have got to have more faith in the grand plan the last thing we want is for Drusilla to learn of your doubts,” Theo said through panted breath as Tobias began working his way down Theo’s chest, kissing lower and lower, slower, and slower, as he pushed Theo back onto the bed. “I would challenge the devil himself if his plans risked your safety!” Tobias promised the man he loved before he pulled Theo’s boxers down to his ankles, proceeding to take off his own boxers and climbing onto Theo’s naked body, their two bodies crashing against each other’s, kissing passionately, as they made love to each other.

The very next night Theo had taken himself just outside of the demonic dive bar he ran with his undead partner, to enjoy a quick smoke break as he stood in the dark alleyways smoking a cigarette only to be left stunned to find a Knight haired beauty appear from around the corner, clearly walking towards him, as Theo began to wonder if he had met this woman before, noting the similarity she had to the slayer he had recently murdered. “Don’t suppose I can steal a smoke from you?” Faith asked him, knowing damn fine that this man was the man she was looking for, determined to find out more about him so she could shut down his entire operation. “Here’s the thing love, humans do not normally come around this neighborhood unless they got a death wish that is,” Theo replied to her as he suspected this woman to be another slayer, another potential victim. “I’m not fully human, I’m a vampire slayer and even then, I’m much more than just any slayer I mean I do not mean to brag but I’m probably the most famous rogue slayer to ever live the original good girl gone bad although I was never that good.” Faith revealed herself, knowing no good girls made it out of this alleyway alive. “The name’s Faith, in case you did not already work that one out.” “Rumour has it you went back to the good side even helped Buffy herself destroy a Hellmouth along with her hometown,” Theo responded, clearly knowing a little something about the vampire slayer before him. “I hate rumors I’d like to get the guy spreading that lie and cut his tongue out!” Faith lied, ready to convince this man she was as evil now as she was back when she was evil. “Heard your part of this mission about killing all slayers and I’ve been trying that one long before you, in fact, I got pretty close to killing B until the bitch gutted me that is. However, a team-up could be just what I need to take her down once and for all.” “Well then Faith,” Theo answered with a smile on his face as he threw his cigarette to the ground eagerly. “How about a drink to discuss this potential partnership?” Faith had Theo exactly where she wanted him and he had her too, Faith being determined to take down his entire operation, and Theo wanted to test the theory of whether or not Faith was really the ruthless slayer she was claiming to be, neither of them liking the answers that would follow.

[kor-ra]

Fun challenge for you based on your recent tags: Explain to me, someone who has never watched a single episode of the 100, why you ship Bellarke? I am curious, and I'm hoping this is entertaining for you to do lol

Oh gosh ok you asked for it, the flood gates have been opened. Sorry this took so long to answer but I wanted to explain it in the best way I could (or at least try to). I’m going to do a short version and a long version so people don’t have to read my entire explanation lol. Also I’m only going over the plot as it relates to their story, so there will probably be some holes.

Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake are soulmates, plain and simple as that. The growth that they have had since the first season till now has been a long and winding road. They were enemies then became co leaders then best friends and now are (hopefully) on track to admitting that they love each other. The amount of parallels the show draws between them is insane and they both have such a profound understanding of each other due to their shared leadership role and constantly being the person that the other one goes to when they need someone to comfort them. Time and time again they choose each other, even during some of the most difficult decisions they will ever have to make. Their growth almost always comes back to how they influence each other to try and be better people. Canonically, they make better decisions when they are together: The Head and the Heart. They cannot exist as their full selves without each other in their lives because their lives have become so intertwined with each other that they are fundamentally different people when they’re apart. No matter how often they’re apart, they always find a way back to each other. And if nothing else, the gazes and longing hugs that they give each other just oozes love and understanding.

Ok that was the short version. Here’s the Long Version🤪

Ok so Bellamy and Clarke definitely did not start off this way. From the very first episode they are at each other’s throats. Clarke is trying to be the practical leader to get these kids to survive while Bellamy is the dynamic leader inspiring these kids to “do whatever the hell they want”. They don’t see eye to eye and Bellamy even says he’s willing to cut off Clarke’s hand to get what he wants. This doesn’t change until 1x03 when Bellamy sees Clarke mercy kill Atom, another kid on Earth.

This girl, who he thought was a pampered princess, was able to make this tough decision while he couldn’t. After that they begrudgingly try and coexist together. Then “Day Trip” happens and Bellamy and Clarke go off on their own and almost die by a rogue delinquent. They kill him and while they’re recuperating Bellamy wants to run away from all the hardships and mistakes that he’s made. Instead of holding it against him, Clarke gives him forgiveness (“if you want forgiveness, I’ll give it to you ok, fine you’re forgiven”)

For the first time they are truly vulnerable with each other and make their first decision to lead together. This is the turning point. From then on they co lead together, sharing the burden and responsibilities of leadership and being the person that the other depends on. They don’t always get along but they learn to rely on each other. The season ends with them separated at the end of their first big battle. Clarke closes the drop ship door to save her people from the enemy and she thinks he didn’t survive the blast outside

S2

Bellamy and Clarke are separated (a common occurrence that you will soon find out) Clarke is trapped in Mt. Weather and although the rest of her people are comfortable there, she is determined to get out and find out if the rest of her people -cough cough Bellamy- are alive. Bellamy likewise also starts to look for Clarke. Angst and drama ensues, but the important part is that we get our first ever Bellarke hug and man is it a good one (and an absolute fan favorite)

Like Bellamy is so stunned by the way she RUNS and wraps her arms around him and slowly after the shock hugs her back. But this hug cements just how important they’ve become to each other. From here on out they protect each other. Bellamy saves Clarke from being poisoned, he volunteers to go into Mount Weather and Clarke (originally) violently opposes it saying that “She can’t lose him to” in reference to losing the boy she loved, among other things (imo this is when Bellamy starts to develop real feelings for Clarke). Finally towards the end of the season when they face off against the “big baddie” they have to make the choice to kill hundreds of innocent people among the guilty to save their own people. An impossible choice, and Clarke being the self sacrificial puppy that she is wants to “bear it so they don’t have to”. But Bellamy won’t let her do that, they’re going to share that heavy burden. And they pull the lever together

So they return home, people rescued and the guilt hanging high above their heads. But for Clarke the guilt is too much to bear and she tells Bellamy that she has to leave. And Bellamy BEGS her to stay, even repeating that same line that she said to him in the beginning of the show. However, she leaves him and her people behind, which would lead them both down a path of hurt.

S3

And hurt they do. Clarke leaving didn’t fill the hole of guilt in her heart, and Bellamy was left to (try lol) and heal his broken heart on his own. I will also say that both Clarke/Bellamy get their own significant other with Lexa/Gina respectively and this is because (imo) they both go down paths where the other is not in the picture I’m so certain that if they stayed togehter, they would’ve been together and that’s why they’re always separated. But then for the first time in the 3 months since she left, Bellamy finds Clarke, while she’s being taken captive and literally DROPS EVERYTHING to rescue her. When he finds her it is the most tender thing.

This is soon interrupted when Roan (her captor) comes back and Clarke BEGS him to save his life, saying “I’ll do anything. I’ll stop fighting just please don’t hurt him.” Bellamy gets stabbed in the leg and and Clarke and Roan get away. Unlike a normal person, Bellamy Blake is hopelessly in love and devoted to Clarke so he STILL TRIED TO GO AFTER HER WITH A HOLE IN HIS LEG AND WE GET THIS BEAUTIFUL SCENE RIGHT HERE

Cut back a little while later Clarke is safe in Polis with Lexa, trying to unify their two clans and Bellamy finds her again. He tells her to come back to Arkadia (their home) but she says she needs to be here (in Polis). This breaks his heart and is what sets him literally down a VERY DARK PATH of murder to try and justify a war (complicated stuff, what matter is he fucks up). Clarke eventually does come back to Arkadia only to find a very angry and heartbroken Bellamy who tries to justify his actions (You Left Me). They have a very Bellarke™ talk full of emotion and love.

And just when you think everything is going to be alright, he handcuffs her to a chair lol. And they spend a good chunk of the season apart.

When the going gets tough however, they know that they need each other. And after episodes of not speaking to each other they have another one of their Bellarke™ talks and hugs where Bellamy says “I was so mad at you for leaving. I don’t want to feel that way anymore” And then they hug like this, like c’monnnnnnn platonic my ass.

I’m going to speed up for the sake of getting to more stuff. But they end season 3 as they always do, fighting the evil together. Other highlights include Clarke’s (brainwashed) mom using Bellamy as her 1st choice to sacrifice in front of Clarke. There’s also a cute hand holding scene hgngnghngg

For all the angst however, this is the first season when other people call them out on their feelings (mainly Bellamy’s tho) for each other well Octavia already called him out during the first hug but that doesn’t count because She knows him too well. His other friends call him out for not being devoted to his old girlfriend Gina (who died) and Murphy comparing his feeling for Emori (his CANON love interest) to Clarke.

S4

Ok, I know a lot of this post has been focused on Bellamy’s feelings and that’s mostly because Clarke has had a love interest in every season so she hasn’t had time to recognize her own feelings. However during s4, we get to see the extent of just how much Clarke means to Bellamy as well. There are a lot of moments in this season so I’m just going to try and focus on the big ones/my faves.

(This isn’t super important, but in the 1st episode of s4, Clarke is still grieving her gf Lexa who died and IMMEDIATELY AFTER, we get a cut to Bellamy like way to be subtle guys. no platonic explanation for this edit)

Ok basically what you need to know about s4 is that the world is going to end by a nuclear radiation cloud thingy called Praimfaiya and it’s up to Bellarke (along with some other peeps lol) to save everyone from it. So one of the things Clarke has to do is write a list of 100 people to choose for a potential bunker. So of course Clarke puts Bellamy on spot 99 but can’t bring herself to write her own name. So Bellamy who is sleeping on the couch wakes up because his Clarke is sad sirens are going off to tell her to put her name down. (If I’m on that list, you’re on that list) Still she can’t do it sO BELLAMY DOES IT FOR HER (because this boy needs her to be with him). and then he puts his hand on her AND SHE LAYS HER HEAD ON HIS HAND....so tender.

Ok so a few episodes later Bellamy (and Kane) get held hostage and Clarke has to sacrifice part of a large shelter that they need to escape Praimfaiya for them, it’s a tough decision but one that Clarke obviously makes. (Literally the only reason Bellamy was even taken was because Roan knew how much he meant to specifically Clarke). I can’t find a gif, but trust me it’s worrisome

Ok god next episode is when we start getting into that high stakes shit (THAT I LOVE). So basically Clarke and Bellamy are going to be separated AGAIN and right before he leaves Bellamy says this

LIKE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ARGUE THAT HE WAS NOT ABOUT TO CONFESS HIS LOVE TO HER LIKE CMON PEOPLE LOOK AT EVERY TROPE OF THIS EVER. Clarke of course was like “No, we will see each other again” but uhufhdjejdwkndwk he was going to say “I love you” in my book

Ok now towards the end of the season, most everyone in Skaikru is in this Bunker except for Octavia and most of the grounders (people on earth who survived the original radiation). I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this yet but Octavia is Bellamy’s younger sister and throughout the show he has sacrificed so so much for her and risked a lot of things to keep her safe. So now when Bellamy learns that Octavia is alive and outside the bunker he rushes to open the door for her. But here’s the catch: if they open the hatch, there’s a chance the radiation is bad and everyone in the bunker (THE HUMAN RACE) would die. However, because Bellamy needs to save his sister he’s willing to take that risk. For Clarke, that isn’t though and POINTS A GUN at him. But Bellamy says if she shoots she’s “going to have to make it a kill shot”. AND SHE CAN’T BRING HERSELF TO SHOOT HIM. CLARKE CANNOT KILL BELLAMY EVEN IF IT MEANT SAVING THE HUMAN RACE. Of course it was fine but still man c’mon.

And then later in order to try and lighten the mood, when they’re trying to drive the rover, Bellamy makes Clarke laugh and IS SO DISTRACTED BY HER SMILE HE CRASHES THE CAR. ok moving on

OK HERE IS THE BIG LEAGUE MY FAVORITE BELLARKE SCENE IN THE SERIES. So Bellamy and Clarke have this big heart to heart cause Clarke thinks she’s gonna die and it is the softest scene ever. So Clarke, thinking she’s going to die says “You’ve got such a big heart Bellamy. People follow you, you inspire them because of this (his heart). But the only way we’re gonna make sure we survive is if you use this too (his head aka what Clarke represents in their relationship” AND TO THAT RESPONDS “I got you for that” IN THE MOST TENDER WAY LIKE THEY’RE SO IN LOVE. And also they have one of the best bellarke hugs of the show.

So Bellarke and like 6 of their friends head off to the space station to avoid the death wave. However, the satellite that allows them to get in isn’t working, so Clarke sacrifices her self to go and fix it while the rest of her friends can go to space. Bellamy makes the HEARTWRENCHING DECISION to leave her behind in order to save the rest of his friends from the death wave. So Spacekrew go up to the station to wait 6 years until Earth becomes habitable while Bellamy grieves Clarke’s death.

Except she’s not dead

Clarke has special blood called “nightblood” that made her immune to the radiation. She spends the next six years on the only available plot of green land left with her adoptive daughter Madi (who has nightblood and she found when she survived the radiation.) So for the next 6 years CLARKE CALLS BELLAMY ON THIS RADIO EVERY DAY. This radio doesn’t even work, but Clarke calls him anyways to keep her sane and (imo) this is when I truly think Clarke realizes the depth of her feelings for Bellamy, because I for sure wouldn’t call my platonic buddy EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. for 6 years (THATS 2199 DAYS) like c’mon

S5

Ok so 6 years have passed, and Clarke is waiting for Bellamy + Co (Spacekru) to come back to Earth. But before Spacekru comes back, another ship lands on Earth full of escaped prisoners who have been cryogenically frozen for the past like 150 years. So basically they come to Earth, capture Clarke and hold her hostage, while Madi (her adoptive daughter) escapes.

Literally a little while later Spacekru finds their way back to Earth and stumble upon Madi who tells them Clarke is alive, much to all of their shock but ESPECIALLY Bellamy (cause ya know the love of his life is back from the dead). So he goes to find and rescue her his wife from the prisoners. When he finds her they threaten to shoot him on sight, but he has leverage. He can send a signal back to the spaceship so, he trades 283 lives in order to save Clarke because of course he does.

Bellamy and Clarke finally have their moment to reunite 6 years in the making and it’s as soft and sweet as you could ever expect it to be and they have another one of their classic Bellarke™ hugs.

Ok so happy ending now for them right? They’re finally back together !!! Well NOPE because after Bellamy was done grieving Clarke he got himself a girlfriend :))))))) named Echo (context Echo was an assassin/spy the “bad guys” until end of s4, then she went up to space w/ them) but Bellamys whole schtick is forgiveness, which he learnt from Clarke COUGH COUGH . Anyways when Clarke sees them making out for the first time she is let’s just say ~taken aback~

and the second time she sees them she looks straight up heartbroken !!!

Now that Clarke has finally realized her feelings for Bellamy he’s with another girl :///// But Clarke still holds a very dear position in Bellamy’s heart and we see that when he confronts his sister. Remember Octavia? The sister who he would do anything for??? Well now she’s kinda lost her marbles and became an evil dictator when she was leading everyone in the bunker. So now due to ~plot~ Octavia wants Clarke dead. Bellamy CANNOT have this happen. I mean he just got her back !!! And he pleads for Octavia to save her life and Octavia says this

HIS SISTER WHO KNOWS HIM BEST (well besides Clarke lmao) CALLED HIM OUT ON HIS FEELINGS. And the best part is that Bellamy doesn’t even try to deny it. Then he says “I can’t let you kill Clarke , O” AND PROCEEDS TO POISON HIS SISTER. THE ONE WHO HE HAS RISKED HIS LIFE FOR LIKE FOREVER (she doesn’t die tho) Bellamy choses Clarke over her without hesitation, and that has come a long way my friends. 

Ok while, we’re riding this high it gets kinda worse. So, remember Clarke’s adoptive daughter Madi? Well now Spacekrew wants to put this thing called the flame (ok sorry I glossed over it before but it’s really important to the show, I just hate it !) which all previous leaders of the grounder people had, in Madi’s head because she’s the ~destined~ leader (it’s confusing I know just roll with it). Clarke is like fuck no because she also hates the flame (queen) and doesn’t want Madi to become a leader and carry that burden. So Bellamy locks Clarke up to get to Madi, but then Clarke grabs Madi and leaves Bellamy to die in Octavia’s apocalyptic fighting pit to fend for his life.

Not looking great right? Bear with me for a moment lol. So flash forward to the end of the season and one of the prisoner dudes accidentally sets off a bomb that’s going to destroy the one green valley that was left. Bellamy is pissed at Clarke for leaving him to die, but Clarke was only trying to save Madi but doesn’t know how to fix this. Then Madi (our mini bellarke shipper) tells Bellamy how important she is to him. Like this girl probably watched her make these calls every morning, SHE KNOWS

And just like that Bellamy cannot be mad at Clarke anymore, because he realizes the bond and isolation and dare I say LOVE she must have for him to do that. So they all make it back up to space as Earth explodes for the 2nd time (RIP). So remember that prision ship with cryogenic pods? Yea so now basically everyone who is on Earth is going to rest in these pods until Earth heals itself. Except it doesn’t (at least not in the 10 years they had hoped for). So two of Bellarke’s friends and couple named Monty and Harper stay awake and spend their remaining years finding another planet to live on. And when they find one 125 years later guess who they picked to wake up first. You guessed it, the co leaders themselves Bellarke. So they have a tender moment watching the sun rise over this new planet

S6

Ok this is the last season before we’re caught up but my god it’s a big one for Bellarke. Ok so the season starts off on this new planet and everyone is distrustful of Clarke for what she did on Earth to protect her daughter and make ONE personal sacrifice when she sacrifices everything for everyone all the time god Anyways, on this new planet due to this like “red sun” they hallucinate on the surface and Bellamy says to Clarke “I don’t need you anymore Clarke”(remember this it’s important). After the red sun fiasco, the actual residents of the planet show up (they were descended from an earthship that came there like 250~ years ago).

(I can’t believe I almost forgot to put this but Bellamy tells Clarke about the radio calls before they hallucinate and it’s such a whole some scene and helps to bridge the gap between them once more)

So the people show Bellarke + crew their customs which includes a ceremony where they repent and let go of their past mistakes. Clarke uses this to apologize to Bellamy for her actions as she declares to him “Hey, you’re my family too. I lost sight of that. But I promise I will never forget it again” like boyo that scene brings me to tears like fuck !!! and then once again they have a classic Bellarke™ hug and god it’s a GOOD one.

So yay, they’re on good terms !! That means something bad is about to happen again per usual. So it turns out the leaders of this group of people have been alive for 100s of years using these “mind drives” to back their consciousness up and put into new bodies when their current body dies (fun!). And take a guess as to who has the special blood and can be a new host :))))))))))

Clarke gets stolen and *dies* so Josephine can take over her body. While Josie!Clarke fools everyone for like an episode, guess who is the first to think ‘hey that’s not really Clarke’ ofc our boy Bellamy. AND THEN THEY GIVE BELLAMY AN ENTIRE EPISODE TO GRIEVE CLARKE LIKE HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO LOOKS THIS SAD THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE. way to be subtle JR

But then guess what !!! Clarke isn’t dead. She’s trapped in her own mind, but very alive. And you’ll never guess how Bellamy finds out. Josie!Clarke taps her fingers on her legs and Bellamy interprets it as morse code that translate into “ALIVE”. LIKE IMAGINE TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO SOMEONE THAT YOUR SUPPOSED DEAD WIFE BESTIE IS STILL ALIVE CAUSE SHE SENT YOU MORSE CODE, LIKE MY BOY I KNOW YOU LOVE HER BUT THAT’S QUITE A STRETCH.

Anyways, this sends Bellamy into overdrive mode, because goddamn it he is not losing her a 3rd time. Throughout the next episodes we see Bellamy prioritize Clarke over everyone, including his girlfriend Echo when she is in danger. He risks himself and even the lives of others to try and save Clarke to get Josie out of her head. And it all culminates to this masterpiece of a Bellarke scene.

Clarke’s heart stops and she won’t get up and Bellamy arguably becomes the most desperate he has ever been. He whispers, “the head and the heart” before LITERALLY BECOMING HER HEART AND PERFORMING CPR ON HER AND BANGING ON HER CHEST TO GET HER TO WAKE UP (HOW MUCH FURTHER CAN THEY TAKE THIS METAPHOR). Even when Octavia gives up, Bellamy yells at her that she’s not dead. “I need you” the first time he has openly admitted that he PERSONALLY needs her in his life. “You’re a fighter Clarke now get up and fight”. Clarke literally (in her mindspace) finds the will to get up and fight by hearing Bellamy’s voice. And like a miracle she wakes up and AN ICONIC AND BEAUTIFUL Bellarke™ hug occurs, even though it looked like she was literally about to kiss him !!!!!! Like tell me these aren’t heart eyes ?!!??!

So then for the rest of the few episodes Bellamy is still super protective of Clarke but they have to split up again because ~plot~. BUT WE HAVE ONE MORE GREAT HURT/COMFORT BELLARKE MOMENT IN THE FINALE. Clarke’s mother had just died, and who does she seek in a crowd for comfort: Bellamy...hopefully you know this by now. God they give each other such meaningful looks in this last scene and have another once again iconic Bellarke™ hug, but it’s a hug where they run into each other like from s2 !!!!! parallels

So they end s6 closer than ever and now we’re all caught up in the present to s7 and lemme be honest besides 7x11, it’s been a HORRIBLE bellarke season, but last episode has had things shake up finally god. So basically everyone assumed Bellamy was dead (including Clarke!!!), but *surprise surprise* he’s alive, but as they soon find out he’s been brainwashed by an evil cult. NOW IT’S CLARKE’S TURN TO SAVE HIM BY BEING HIS HEAD LIKE HE WAS HER HEART LAST SEASON (or I at least hope so). As of writing this post, Bellarke isn’t canon but I’ve been watching this show for 5 years and these two have such a hold on my heart it’s embarrassing, but I hope this explained to you why I and many others will be ridiculously obsessed when it comes to them hehe. Pray for us to be canon, we only have 5 eps left for this beautiful story to come to a conclusion.

[waltzofthewifi]

Kota Chapter 30: Bombs Away

Table of Contents | Beginning

It wasn't easy to line their schedules up, but eventually Marinette managed to meet up with Fu to discuss relaxing techniques.

They met right after school, but it was already late afternoon by the time they were finishing up. If Marinette hadn't promised to meet up with Alya, she would have stayed even longer. But after cancelling two study sessions because of akuma attacks, Marinette didn't want to stand Alya up again.

Still, there was something she needed to say first.

"There is one thing I'd like to talk to you about," Marinette said.

"Yes?"

"It's about the temporary heroes," Marinette said. "Im starting to think we should be trusting them more."

Fu hmmed thoughtfully. "They have proven to be trustworthy. However, I do not know if it is safe to trust them with anymore. Putting more miraculous out in permanent use isn't safe."

"No, but there are other things we could do," Marinette said. "We don't have to give them their miraculouses permanently, but we can lend them out - give them some time to talk to their kwami, maybe bring them on a patrol so they can learn how to use their powers in a situation that isn't a battle."

"An interesting idea," Fu admitted.

"I was thinking of starting with Rena and Carapace - If that's okay with you, of course. But I want to give everyone a chance - except for maybe Kagami. Since Hawkmoth knows her identity, it might be too dangerous."

"If you think it is wise, I'll go along with it," Fu said. "I'm sure I can live a few days without Wayzz."

"Great!" Marinette said. "I'll come by tomorrow to pick them up!"

.

An akuma attack that night forced her to bring out the miraculouses a lot earlier.

The akuma called himself Ghost - according to his monologue, he had been stood up on a date. His powers included phasing through objects, flight, and shooting love potions grenades that made you fall in love with the first person you saw after being hit.

Chat Noir had been hit, but since he already had a huge (and sometimes annoying) crush on Ladybug, he didn't show any signs of being affected. Still, Ladybug decided having a few more allies was a good idea.

Carapace and Rena Rouge were her first choices. Not only did they have the experience to not be hit, but they had the same safety net as Chat Noir. Ladybug debated grabbing Alix, thinking that perhaps her being aromantic would keep her from being affected. On the other hand, if she never had a crush before, a magically-induced one might be twice as distracting.

Ladybug also considered Kota. She was a romantic, and had self-proclaimed herself someone who crushed easily, so there was a good chance she could focus through the effects of the love potion. But Lacy had been strangely out of it through out the school day, maybe it wasn't a good idea.

"It's your decision," Tikki said when Marinette relayed her thought process to her.

When Fu opened the miracle box, Marinette grabbed the fox and rooster and asked for the turtle.

"And will you be leaving the miraculouses with Rena and Carapace?" Fu asked.

"Yes," Marinette confirmed.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too."

It was the middle of the night, so Ladybug ended up having to wake up Alya, Nino, and Lacy (she was starting to suspect that Lacy never slept, and was glad to be proven wrong.)

Chat Noir was waiting for them on the rooftop, with a rose for Ladybug. Ladybug ignored him, and instead filled the other superheroes in on the plan.

Well, it wasn't a plan. More like a general idea.

Ghost was terrorizing a small apartment building, flying in front bedroom windows and startling the people inside. In a dark gray suit and butterfly mask, the akumatized object - a blood red rose in his chest pocket - was obvious.

Rena Rouge dropped onto the street behind Ghost and casted her mirage.

Ladybug watched her sorta-plan unfold, sparing minimum attention to Chat Noir's frequent flower-bringing.

Maybe the potion was having a stronger effect than Ladybug originally thought.

Ladybug swung from her perch across the street to the apartment building, landing on the roof just in time to see Ghost raise his arms to aim two potions at the mirage. She jumped, wrapping her yo-yo around Ghost's arms and yanking him to the ground.

Ghost was halfway there before he went intangible, phasing out of the yo-yo strings. He aimed a potion at Ladybug, but Carapace jumped in front of it and it bounced harmlessly off his shield.

Ghost turned tangible again and dove for Ladybug, but Kota jumped onto his back. The forced caused Ghost to fly into the concrete, sending him and Kota tumbling.

Kota was back on her feet in seconds, but couldn't dodge the potion as it hit her.

Ladybug grimaced. This was not going well.

"Lucky charm!"

She reached for her lucky charm, and the action forced her to drop her guard. Ghost launched another love potion, and Ladybug abandoned the lucky charm to reach for her yo-yo.

The potion would have hit her if Kota didn't jump in front, using her kite to knock the potion back.

"Thanks," Ladybug said, picking her lucky charm off the ground.

Kota flashed her a smile before Ghost forced her back on the defensive.

Ladybug watched the fight, keeping her eyes out for what she needed for this lucky charm. Very slowly, a plan started to form.

"Rena, I'm going to need your help."

.

It wasn't until after Ladybug and Kota landed in Lacy's apartment that Ladybug realized something.

"Did the love potion not affect you?" Ladybug asked when Kota had detransformed.

Lacy dig a granola bar out of her desk and opened it for her kwami.

"I guess not," she replied, handing the bar to Orikko.

"Course it didn't," Orikko said, mouth full. "Considering who your mom is."

"Your mom?" Ladybug asked.

"Oh, um, it's nothing," Lacy stuttered.

Ladybug frowned. As far as she knew, Lacy didn't talk about her mom at all. Whenever the topic came up, she usually mentioned Elisabeth, and most of the class was probably under the impression that Elisabeth was her biological mother. If Lacy's mother was important - maybe even magical, considering the context - Ladybug wanted to know, but if she didn't want to talk about it...

Orikko also seemed to decide to respect Lacy's privacy, because he didn't mention it again. Instead, he landed on Lacy's desk and started looking through a fresh batch of photos she had printed.

"Thank you for your help tonight," Ladybug said. "I know these late-night akumas are horrible."

"It's not that bad, with the rooster miraculous," Lacy replied with a shrug. "Must be rough on you and Chat though."

"Ugh, yeah," Ladybug agreed. "I'm starting to think Hawkmoth doesn't sleep."

Orikko finished his granola bar, and Lacy handed the miraculous over.

"Hope you still have time to sleep," she said.

"That depends on if there's another akuma," Ladybug said. "Sleep well."

Lacy yawned and waved goodbye, and Ladybug swung away.

Carapace and Rena Rouge were waiting for Ladybug on the rooftop of the apartment building Ghost had attacked. They were cuddling together when Ladybug landed.

"Ladybug!" Rena Rouge jumped on to her feet, blushing. Carapace followed suit. "You, uh, said you wanted to talk to us."

"Yes," Ladybug confirmed. "The two of you have proven yourself as useful allies, and I think it's time you took the next step forward."

"Are you letting us keep our miraculouses?" Rena Rouge said, face brightening.

"Not permanently," Ladybug replied. "At least, not yet. But I want you to have them for a few days. Get to know your kwamis a little better. Maybe learn a thing or two about your miraculous. In a few days, I'll still take them back, and it will be harder once you've spent time with your kwamis, but I think this is the right thing to do."

"Thank you!"

"We won't let you down."

.

"Trixx, let's rest."

Alya collapsed on her bed, watching as Trixx flew around her room. She couldn't believe it -she would have a whole couple days with her miraculous!

I wonder if Ladybug would mind if transformed without an akuma around?

As Trixx sniffed and investigated Alya's room, Alya sent Nino an orange heart emoji - her code for getting home safe after an akuma. A second later, he replied with a green heart. Satisfied, Alya locked her phone and plugged it in.

That brought her attention back to Trixx.

"I have so many questions," Alya blurted.

"I'm sure you do, pup," Trixx replied.

"What were the other fox heroes like?" Alya questioned. "I bet they were awesome rogues, tricksters, thieves - but with secret hearts of gold that earned them their miraculouses."

Trixx scoffed. "Sure, pup. Rogues and thieves could definitely be trusted not to abuse a miraculous of illusion."

Alya frowned. "That's a good point. But does that mean fox heroes are usually the opposite - people dedicate to the truth?"

"You're a good fox hero," Trixx said. "What category do you fall in?"

"I'm dedicated to the truth!" Alya declared. "Though I've been told I'm pretty gullible too."

"Yes, because the average 14-year-old is smart enough to know instantly when they're fooled," Trixx droned. "You're young, of course you're gullible. It's not necessarily a bad thing."

Trixx finished flying around the room and settled on Alya's laptop, like a cat seeking out the warmest place in the room. They curled up like a croissant.

"Next question?"

Alya tumbled for a moment before digging out her ultra-secret notebook and opening to the page where she had written down questions for Trixx and/or Ladybug.

"Why is the ladybug miraculous the only one who can purify the akumas?"

"I don't know the specifics," Trixx admitted. "Save the question for Ladybug."

Alya made a note and moved on. "Okay. Do miraculouses have any affect on dreams?"

"Not in the way you mean," Trixx replied.

"Huh?"

"I'm not an expert on dreams," Trixx explained. "But I'm pretty sure everything you encounter can affect your dreams, but there's no magical side effect - at least not with mine."

"Oh."

"If you're having magical dreams, it's probably hereditary," Trixx said. "You do have a magic smell around you."

"A what?" Alya asked.

"That's all I can say," Trixx said. "Your parents would know."

Alya scribbled a note to ask her parents later - because magic? - before continuing on.

"So it's possible that I could dream a memory of something," Alya pressed. "Like one of the past fox heroes?"

"Yes," Trixx agreed.

"Interesting."

Alya made a note and yawned.

"Tired?" Trixx questioned.

"No," Alya lied.

"Good," Trixx said. "It would be a shame if my new pup could tire out only after - oh, what was that, an entire battle? In the middle of the night? On a school night? After probably staying up late working on schoolwork or whatever teenagers do nowadays."

Alya yawned again. "Okay, maybe I am tired. But I have so many questions! Are there any side effects I might experience? I already think my hearing has improved, but Nino says I'm just imagining it."

"You're just imagining it."

"Am not!" Alya argued.

"Well, there you go," Trixx answered. "Your hearing and other sense might improve. You could gain night vision. You also might start screaming around Carapace."

"Screaming?"

"It's a fox's mating call," Trixx said. "Try not to do it public - people may stare."

"No kidding," Alya said. "What about turtles? Is Nino going to start doing weird mating calls?"

"I don't know," Trixx admitted. "Something to ask Wayzz - the turtle kwami."

Alya made a note and yawned again. "Alright, we'll continue this in the morning. Anything I need to get for you?"

"I'm good for now," Trixx said. "I'll need food in the morning, and someplace to hide during the school day, like a backpack."

"Okay," Alya said. "What type of food? My mom keeps our pantries full."

"You figure it out", Trixx said. "Night, pup."

"Goodnight."

.

Trixx clearly didn't like any of the food Alya offered - even the things that foxes were supposed to eat - but still ate their full. They had no problem hiding in her book bag, snuggling up next to some of her hygiene stuff. Alya had read that foxes were nocturnal, so she expected Trixx to sleep throughout the day.

Alya hadn't noticed it the night before, but her miraculous had changed from a fox tail to an orange heart with a white center. She had planned on figuring out how to hide it, but with the change there was no need.

She was the first in her group of friends to arrive to class, though the other side of the classroom was bustling with activity. Sabrina and Chloe were talking animatedly, Kim and Ivan were arguing, and Lacy, Alix, and Nathaniel were huddled together in the back whispering. Alya hesitated, wondering which conversation she was most curious about.

Max ended up breaking up the argument, so Alya headed towards the back to find out what had her classmates whispering.

"It's nothing," Lacy said, way too fast, when Alya asked.

Alya narrowed her eyes. "Is that so?"

"What she meant was it's none of your business," Alix said with a scowl.

"I'm just curious," Alya defended.

Alix rolled her eyes. "Aren't you always."

Marinette bursted through the door, looking disheveled, so Alya went to help her. But she wasn't giving up.

"You okay, girl?" Alya asked, sliding into her seat.

Marinette popped down in hers. "I had a horrible dream last night! I overslept, and missed the whole day of school, and Bustier got so mad that she said I'd have to repeat the grade-"

"Sounds scary."

"I could not get here soon enough," Marinette said. "I guess it's kinda silly."

"Nah," Alya replied. "There's always those few minutes after a dream where it feels real. Besides, it got you to class five minutes earlier than usual!"

"Morning!"

Adrien and Nino walked in, Adrien flashing his bright model smile at them and Nino stifling a yawn.

"Morning," Alya replied.

"Morning," Marinette squeaked.

"Did you hear about the akuma attack last night?" Adrien asked. "The love one?"

"Yeah, Ghost, right?" Alya asked.

"Kept me up all night," Nino complained.

Adrien gave him a curious look but didn't argue. Alya figured Adrien was well aware that the akuma hadn't kept Nino up - maybe he knew that the akuma hadn't lasted that long, or saw Nino's icon on whatever online thing had kept him up all night.

(Then again, Nino might have been too occupied with Wayzz to be online.)

"Have you checked your phone?" Nino asked.

Alya raised an eyebrow. She rarely missed notifications on her phone, but Nino's tone of voice implied he sent her something and she hadn't seen anything from him.

She dug her phone out of her bookbag, not surprised to see Trixx had fallen asleep. Her phone had a text notification from Nino.

Trixx eats tofu - Wayzz

Alya grinned. Thank you, Wayzz.

.

Marinette searched her bag and her locker with no luck.

"I can't believe I lost my notebook!" She complained.

"I'm sure you'll find it," Tikki reassured her. "Didn't you leave a notebook on the table at breakfast?"

"No, that was my other notebook," Marinette said.

"What about the notebook you left on the balcony?"

"No, that's the other notebook," Marinette corrected. "The designs I need are only in this one."

"Wait, didn't you lend Alya a notebook?"

"No, that's my school notebook," Marinette said. "I know! I left it in the art room."

She closed her locker and headed up to the art room, which was fairly full for a room of that size. Three students from a different class were huddled around one table, whispering while eating lunch and planning some project. On the other side of the room, Lacy, Alix, Nathaniel, and Marc were hunched over something.

"Hey!" Alix greeted, waving at Marinette.

"Hello," Marinette replied, before going to the desk she remember putting her notebook on.

She found it under a couple of papers, untouched. Marinette slipped it in her bag, noticing one of the other students glaring at her as she did so.

"Don't mind them."

Lacy slid next to her, talking softly.

"They're in Lila's new class," she explained. "She's pulling her usual stunts."

Marinette glanced at the students, feeling almost sorry for them.

"Maybe we should warn them," she suggested.

"Alix tried," Lacy replied. "They didn't listen."

Marinette sighed. "I thought we were done with Lila."

"You could be," Lacy said. "I mean, you're right to want to warn them and all, but she doesn't have to be your problem now. She's really hurt you, so take your time and recover."

"I don't know," Marinette replied. "I've never been good at letting things go."

"And that's what makes you our everyday Ladybug," Lacy said. "But resting doesn't mean letting it go or ignoring it forever. Just focus on something else for a while."

"You're right. I've got enough problems as is."

Her statement was further proved by the akuma alert going off.

.

Ladybug didn't get instant gratification a lot, but seeing that Rena Rouge and Carapace had not just beaten her and Chat Noir to the battle, but had already began getting citizens out of the way, did give her that feeling.

We've needed this.

Rena Rouge noticed Ladybug first. She glanced at Carapace, and the two heroes exchanged a silent conversation. Carapace moved to cover Rena Rouge as she joined Ladybug on the rooftop.

Chat Noir landed on the rooftop a second later.

"It's a tough one," Rena Rouge reported. "He calls himself Bombarder, and he causes explosions. As far as we can figure out, there's no way to stop the explosion."

Ladybug glanced down at the street, where Carapace was shielding a few citizens as a building exploded. The debris flew towards their rooftop, and Ladybug whirled her yo-yo to block.

"Big explosions too," Ladybug noted. "Any idea where the akuma is?"

Rena Rouge shook her head.

"Great."

Ladybug looked Bombarder over. The majority of his outfit was done in blacks and dark grays, with yellow accents. He had black ankle boots, tight dark gray pants, and a long, short sleeved tunic-like shirt with a yellow sash. The sleeves of his tunic were jagged with yellow edges. His black hair stood up on edge, with yellow tips, and a yellow butterfly mask covered the top of his face. Black stripes covered one of his arms, which stood out against his dark gray skin.

"Maybe it's in his sash," Ladybug figured.

"You don't sound sure," Chat Noir said.

"I'm not," Ladybug confirmed. "We're going to need a lot of help with this one. I think we need everyone."

Chat Noir nodded. "Agreed."

"Rena, can you and Carapace keep Bombarder occupied? Chat, I'll need your help getting everyone. Meet me on top of the hotel."

.

By the time all the heroes were gathered on the same rooftop, Carapace had been forced to use his shelter and recharge, leaving Rena Rouge fighting Bombarder alone. She couldn't protect bystanders as well as Carapace, but she had no problem dodging Bombarder's attacks.

Ladybug had gathered Viperion, Roi Singe, and Kota While Chat Noir found Ryuko, Queen Bee, and Pegasus. Chat Noir and Queen Bee were the last to arrive.

For a moment, Ladybug wondered if Chat Noir had given the bee miraculous to someone else. If she didn't trust her partner so much, she would have believed it.

Queen Bee looked different.

She now had her hair mostly loose, the sides braided back like a crown and striped black. The circlet continued with a metal piece resting on her forehead. She had a black top that almost looked like a chest plate that covered her shoulders, and came down to her mid-stomach. Two yellow stripes lined her neck, like large necklaces, and the she had a yellow under-shirt that covered her arms and the rest of her stomach. She had a black belt and yellow pants with black stripes, black hexagonal knee-pads, and - was that a pocket? Her shiny black boots covered her ankles, and she wore elbow pads that matched her knees. She wore black gloves and black lipstick, and her mask was solid yellow with a black border.

"Why does she get pockets?" Ladybug wondered allowed. She wished she had said something a little more professional, but she wanted pockets.

"I don't know," Queen Bee admitted. "But it feels nice to be back. Thank you, Ladybug."

"Wait, you're Chl- Queen Bee?" Roi Singe asked. "You look totally different! Super cool!"

"I also want pockets," Ryuko commented.

"You look so pretty," Kota said.

"Do you two seriously not have pockets?" Viperion asked.

"Shouldn't we be focusing?" Carapace questioned. "Rena's down there by herself."

"You're right," Ladybug said. I'll talk to a Tikki about pockets later. "Okay, so I've thought about it, and I believe that the akuma will be in something small - something we can't reach easily. Queen Bee, you'll need to use your powers to freeze him."

"You can count on me," Queen Bee said.

"Carapace, stay on the lookout for bystanders," Ladybug said. "We want to minimize risk as much as possible. Kota, Ryuko, you're the most agile of us - you'll be doing what Rena is doing right now. Viperion, do your thing. Pegasus, I want you to help me with a trap - we're sending Bombarder away from citizens."

"To the arena?" Pegasus assumed.

"Yes," Ladybug confirmed. "Chat Noir, Roi Singe, you two will wait for him there to pick up from Ryuko and Kota. Carapace, I want you to follow Bombarder through the portal if you haven't use your power yet, and cast a shelter around the arena. Queen Bee, you'll also have to be at the arena already. Kota, I'll be trusting you to make sure Rena gets out safely as well. Alright, go!"

Chat Noir, Roi Singe, and Queen Bee headed towards the stadium. Kota and Ryuko charged at Bombarder, Ryuko landing a solid hit with her sword. Carapace and Viperion found a rooftop with a good view, and Pegasus hung back with Ladybug.

Kota deflected debris with her shield as the building behind Rena Rouge exploded. Ryuko engaged Bombarder, giving Kota time to usher Rena Rouge away. When she was close enough, Ladybug used her yo-yo to bring her up to the rooftop.

"You okay?" Ladybug asked.

"I'm fine," Rena Rouge said. "I could go another couple minutes. The buildings on the street, not so much."

"Good, because I'm going to need your help."

The trap worked perfectly. Bombarder didn't even realize there was a portal until he was on the other side of it.

Viperion, Rena Rouge, and Pegasus all needed to recharge, and Kota had been thrown several blocks away, but the rest of the heroes followed him in. Chat Noir and Roi Singe immediately attacked, both whacking him with their baton and staff. Carapace called for a shelter.

Ladybug landed on the bleachers, keeping an eye on the fight so she could intervene if needed.

"Lucky charm!"

A pillow fell into Ladybug's arm.

"It's a repeat," Queen Bee noted.

Ladybug didn't respond - she was already coming up with a plan.

"Be ready to go," she warned Queen Bee. "Hey, bomb guy! Explode this!"

With as much force as she had, Ladybug threw the pillow at Bombarder. Halfway there, the pillow exploded.

And a bunch of feathers engulfed Bombarder.

Queen Bee moved fast, launching herself off of the bleachers and whipping her top at Bombarder.

"Venom!"

The top smacked into Bombarder, freezing him into place.

"Nice one, Queen Bee!" Roi Singe called.

Ladybug and Queen Bee joined them on the field. Bombarder has frozen with his wrists bent, and Ladybug could see that the black stripes were actually ribbons that attached to a bracelet near his gloves.

"Alright, kitty, I need your claws."

Chat Noir swiped through the ribbons, shredding them easily, and a butterfly flew out. Carapace dropped the shelter, and Kota and Viperion joined them a second later.

Rena Rouge landed behind the heroes just as Ladybug released the butterfly, and Pegasus arrived seconds later.

"Pound it!"

Ladybug looked over her team. It was the first time they had all been together, and she suddenly realized the potential they had, as a team.

But they never really had a chance to work as a team, and that needed to change.

.

"Are you sure?" Fu asked.

"I'm sure," Marinette replied.

"Okay," Fu agreed. "Let's do it."

.

Next chapter

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I read your Steve and Logan bits and they are amazing. But consider this; Steve learns that Logan, who's older than WW1, has lost his memories. He gives a statement in an interview describing this man, this patriot who always looked after other people in his own gruff way, describes his side-burns, his claws, his cigars. And suddenly, people are calling into the station; "Yeah, think I met this guy a few years ago" "My granddad has this photo..." "So, In this bar one time..."

And all these people call in, sharing their own memories of this mysterious Cryptid named Logan who is apparently an immortal, grumpy, wandering dad-friend who's also a patriot and he helped punch out Nazi's and free camps and beats up assholes who don't respect women. And the whole while Logan is watching this from a TV screen with Kitty or Rogue holding his hand so gently, after they dragged him to the couch in a hurry. "You recording this?" "Don't worry, we won't let you miss a single word."

Okay but if we’re gonna do this we’re gonna do this HARDCORE HISTORIAN STYLE, and it initially comes up while Steve is being interviewed for a book about the Howling Commandos or a bit for the History Channel or something.  Because this person is like “Hey, there are a bunch of stories of you showing up somewhere with only one dude for backup, was that Bucky?”  And we’ll assume that this is before the whole Winter Soldier thing, so that’s not a hideously loaded question.  

And Steve kind of laughs and he’s like, “Oh, wow, God, that was actually this dude on detached duty from the Canadian special forces, he and I got sent on a bunch of missions together.  His name was Logan, he was the weirdest guy I ever met, and I knew some pretty weird guys, but he could take a hit even better than I could, so when the Howlies were laid up, they sent us out together.”  And he launches into this story about how one time he and Logan stole a plane complete with pilot and stormed a prison camp that was holding German Jews before sending them up to Poland, and the historian he’s talking to is taking frantic notes and trying not to drool because THIS IS A NEW GUY.  CAPTAIN AMERICA’S STORY IS METICULOUSLY WELL DOCUMENTED BUT NO ONE’S EVER MENTIONED THIS GUY.

There are no pictures, obviously, so Steve does a sketch for this historian, because he’s helpful like that and also because.  Like.  Listen.  Steve’s been through a lot of weird shit, and to be sure this Logan he used to know could take a bullet and keep coming no problem, but this dude’s probably been dead fifty or sixty years.  No harm in giving him a little posthumous glory, right?

So this historian runs back to her university and starts doing research on the Internet.  She reaches out to her coworkers first, then to anyone else she knows, then to the premier WWII and Captain America scholars of the world, and asks all of them “Do you happen to know who the fuck this dude is?”

And like, no, they don’t.  They’ve got no idea.  Steve’s not even totally sure what the guy’s real last name was, because Jameson is common as hell and there’s no Logan Jameson on the books.  So they start doing research into this WWII cryptid, and finally they reach an old woman who listens to her grandson’s boyfriend talk passionately about this new project he’s working on and goes “Oh, yeah, I met Cap in Germany one time, there was a guy with him who sounds kind of like what you’re talking about.”

This passionate history major immediately sends an email in all caps to his adviser and it just says “MY BOYFRIEND’S GRANNY KNOWS WHO WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PLEASE COME TO KANSAS ASAP THANKS” or whatever, because, listen, historians are Like That.  Speaking as someone who could easily have claimed to be a history major based on my thesis, I would have gone to Kansas in 0.2 seconds if someone had been like “What’s up we found that book you were after but we can’t take it out of the museum.”  It does stuff to you.  Trust me here.

So this woman tells the story of how Cap and his weird buddy broke her and her mother and father out of a temporary prison camp, and this history professor immediately takes all the tiny bits of information and starts asking around, looking for literally anyone else who knows this Logan dude.  He saved your ass one time in Paris?  He gave you some rations in Berlin?  He beat your grandfather’s ass in Russia?  He took three bullets for you?  You had a passing conversation?  This historian and his extremely pumped undergrad who just changed his senior thesis want to hear about it.

And then someone gets in touch with them and is like “Hey, I know you’re looking for WWII stories, but this guy saved my dad’s entire unit on the Somme and I have pictures?”  And someone else is like “Hey, I have a file from a Vietnam MASH unit for a Logan who looks like that guy, do you want it?”  And someone else is like “Uh, fuck all of y’all, I think this is him in the Civil War, what do I do about that?”

AND SO BEGINS LOGAN, THE HISTORICAL CRYPTID.

This undergrad is taking an extra year of college and basically getting a Bachelor’s degree in Tracking Weird Mutants Through History, and also his adviser is very lucky to be on tenure, because otherwise he would have been laughed out of the college three times by now.  But there is an absolute preponderance of evidence, is the thing, so it just turns into this massive quest to investigate exactly whether or not Logan the Mystery Dude was actually in China for the Boxer Rebellion or whatever.

Forget this being a collaborative effort between colleges, there are multiple continents involved in this by now.  Canadian government is under pressure to turn out their WWII special operations files for this guy from five different big name universities in five different countries, including their own.  Things are getting a little wild in academia.  Steve’s been interviewed nine times and he has a filter set up in his email specifically to catch stuff from the University of Toronto.

It takes a little bit for Kitty’s bubbe to get a phone call.  Kitty’s bubbe has been living a quiet-ass life in Illinois and likes it that way, especially because her last name is not Pryde and therefore Kitty and her weird friends can crash at Bubbe’s house whenever they’re in the area without any trouble.  It’s fine if her granddaughter wants to run around in spandex and save the world and shit, she’s honestly much more chill about it than Kitty’s parents, but Bubbe does not care for news crews in her neighborhood thank you very much.

But so eventually this nice old Ashkenazi woman gets a phone call from an extremely pumped undergrad who read a very brief statement she gave in a news article forty years ago about Captain America, who she is very grateful to for breaking her, her older sister, and their little brother out of a prison camp during WWII and also helping them get across the border.  Did she happen to see anyone else?  Why yes, very polite young man, the Captain had another man with him, he was very grumpy but he let my brother ride on his shoulders so I liked him very much.  That’s great, would she mind if someone came and talked to her about that?  No, very polite young man, not at all, when would work for you?

And she gives Kitty a call that night, because she gives Kitty a weekly call since Kitty and her parents are going through a rough spot to the tune of “please God stop risking your life//listen I’m saving people I’m not going to stop learn to cope”.  Bubbe mentions offhand that she’s going to have a talk with this very polite young historian about the Shoah and Kitty’s understandably a little concerned for her bubbe’s mental health, and asks some questions.  

So Kitty hears her bubbe out in increasing degrees of shock, hangs up the phone, and immediately goes and does an extensive google.

Then she goes and hammers on Logan’s door until he says to come in, slams her computer down in front of him, and says “Holy shit, Logan, why didn’t you tell us that you knew Captain America?”

“Uh, because I mostly didn’t,” Logan says, wary.  “Don’t remember that much.”

“You might want to take a look at this, then,” Kitty says, and Logan looks through her fifteen tabs and thanks her and calls the university that seems best informed.

Which is the story of how an extremely pumped undergrad gets a phone call from the object of his thesis that opens with “This is gonna sound pretty fuckin’ wild, but my name is Logan and I’m pretty sure you can catch me up on the last hundred years better than I can.”

Oh, and then Logan and Steve meet up again and it’s very nice and sweet and that undergrad gets a full ride to the PhD program of his choice.  The full ride’s name is actually Tony Stark, who’s doing a favor for Steve, who’s doing a favor for Logan, who’s secretly doing a favor for the undergrad, but no one really knows that.

[mindelanandalsea]

Realization

AO3

FF

Summary: A look into some of Ava’s thoughts shortly after 3x05 Return of the Mack.

Everything is falling apart. Director Hunter went rogue and now good agents are dead. Damien Darhk is alive again. And maybe most surprisingly, Sara “Breaker of Time” Lance actually did the responsible thing and turned in Rip. The world has turned upside down and nothing makes sense.

I can’t believe Rip would go to such extreme lengths. I know he’s been obsessed with Mallus for a while, but I never thought he would be so reckless. And I can’t believe he betrayed Sara. Even when he was putting the Bureau together and training us by using the so called “Legends” as great examples of what not to do, no one could miss the respect and admiration he has for Sara. His obsession must be worse than I could possibly imagine for him to break her trust like that. I could barely detect any remorse regarding the deaths that his actions led to. He was still so focused on proving that Mallus exists and that the ends justify the means, I barely recognized him. Why couldn’t he have trusted me to help? I would have at least helped him come up with a better plan. Instead he’s in handcuffs while the rest of us have to notify families and try to clean up this mess.

Sara looked so broken when she called to alert us of his whereabouts, and who can blame her when the man who murdered her sister was resurrected in part due to Rip’s betrayal. I can’t even imagine how difficult that must be for her. The strength it must have taken for her to not rewrite reality and instead return Darhk to his correct time when she knew he would kill her sister is more than I can imagine, but at least she knew that he would eventually be stopped, even if it was too late for her sister. But now he’s alive again, partially because someone she trusted didn’t trust her and betrayed her after asking for help.

God I can’t believe I’m sympathizing with Lance. Maybe it’s finally seeing a hint of vulnerability from her. I mean I know her history, I’ve read her file and spent years studying her and the rest of the “Legends”, but I’d never actually seen her show a hint of all she’s gone through. Usually the only things she has shown have been cockiness, stubbornness, and a ridiculous amount of disregard for rules and authority.  Maybe it’s the betrayal from someone who’s supposed to be a friend that’s wiped away that cocky smirk that must have always been hiding the pain from her face. Even after studying her life, I never would have expected to see that much hurt from her, and if she revealed that much pain to me, I can only imagine how much she feels that was still hidden. I just never expected her to reveal any sort of weakness around me, especially not after she risked her life, and the life of her crew and ship, in that stupid game of chicken; after that incident I never expected to see anything except an idiotic level of stubborn arrogance.

Maybe that was the problem.

After learning about all of the mistakes the Legends make, studying the ways that their recklessness endangered missions, maybe I only saw what I expected to see. After all, what kind of rule flouting, cocky idiot breaks into the Time Bureau headquarters, steals a ship, and makes an incredibly irresponsible and dangerous time jump from inside the building? After that, maybe I just kept expecting her to make stupid reckless decisions, and most of the time she lived up to, or rather down to, those expectations, but I guess even though she didn’t follow protocol, and definitely made some choices that were more reckless and dangerous than any agent of the Time Bureau would have approved of, she did have success with fixing the anachronisms with those hooligans she calls a team. After all, Sara and her misfits did eventually return the saber tooth tiger back where it came from, even if my most inexperienced agents would have been able to do it faster and without making it so much worse like they initially did. I just don’t understand how they let themselves get in so far over their heads to begin with and not think to get some actual adults to help keep things from escalating so badly.

Ugh the Legends. I have no idea how Sara manages to keep all of them focused on the task at hand as well as she does. It must be like herding a group of toddlers who keep getting distracted by different shiny objects. I hate to admit it, but it’s rather impressive that she’s kept Mick from causing too much destruction throughout history; a less competent captain would probably have seen Mick go rogue and become ruler of his own island or be the cause of some other major anachronism. And it’s not like Rip did any better when he was captain.

And after working with Gary all day, it’s nice to interact with someone who doesn’t seem terrified of me, even if most of the interactions are hostile. As much as I wish she would follow protocol and call in the Time Bureau when they’re in over their heads, which is the majority of the time if I’m being honest, it is kind of refreshing to be challenged from time to time, especially considering that they do clean up their own messes for the most part. And not many people can hold their own when fighting with me, let alone fight me to a stalemate. It was actually kind of nice to fight someone so evenly matched. It has been so long since I didn’t have to worry about holding back, part of me wants to ask her to spar with me except I know I would be tempted to cross the line from (semi) friendly sparring to an actual fight just to wipe that smug look that would invariably appear on her beautiful face.

Wait…beautiful face? Where the hell did that come from? I mean, I’m not blind. I know Sara is undeniably beautiful, but I’ve kept myself from thinking about it since the second week of training when we began learning about all of the Legends’ mistakes. Why am I back to thinking about how beautiful she is and how bright her eyes are when she’s arguing with me? She’s an incredibly irresponsible, reckless, disrespectful, caring, loyal…

Oh my God, I think I have feelings for Sara Lance!

[talesfromatabletop]

What I did in D&D today is...

Picture this: a 5e campaign with a very flexible DM. We are getting our party together as a prologue on the current continent to eventually start the official plot which is on the "New World" across the sea.

We have two players, myself and my roommate, but each of us plays two characters. We say it's to balance the party but really we both just really liked both of our options and the DM was chill.

A Tabaxi rogue, a Wood Elf sorcerer, a Halfling bard and a Tibbit monk all meet in a small town. Three of these chucklefucks have dragons in their backstory and the other has a Faustian deal.

----

Session 0, we all met an NPC Drow bard (Erivan) that offered to take us to the New World. Lit! A Creepy Dude also offered us that and then murdered an Æsimar. Not lit. We defeated a gross monster and session 0 ended. Huzzah, the elf is a badass with a crossbow! The Tibbit monk has been in cat form the whole time and hasn't revealed that she isn't a normal house cat.

----

Session 1, we decide to investigate Creepy Dude on Erivan's suggestion. We would A) protect the nice barmaid at our tavern of choice and B) probably earn a bounty reward. Sweet.

The sorcerer and bard pair up and find ACTUAL clues about where the Creepy Dude disappeared to: an abandoned manor in the spooky forest, north of town.

The monk and rogue, independent of each other, rob a merchant and guard, respectively. We all reconvene with Erivan...who bought himself a doughnut. Nobody questions it. We all head to the manor while Erivan stays in town.

We quickly run into cultists! The rogue is downed and the monk stabilizes him by using her fluffy body to stop the bleeding. They get him up and all four enter the house. Inside is creepy AF and vaguely menacing. We run into an animated armor (rogue is knocked out and stabilized by the cat again, but remains unconscious), a demon and an evil broom as we search for clues.

We find four corpses and evidence of a secret staircase that leads below the house. We eat and take a short rest, and end the session with the party reaching level 2. FeelsGoodMan.jpg

----

Session 2. Ooooh session 2. This literally finished up 3 hours ago.

We inform the rogue of what he missed (since he was, y'know, unconscious for 2/3 of the exploring) and went to find the secret staircase. The sorcerer, bless her, had found a clue that told her exactly where to look and so was leading the way. We open the room up and find three cultists. Crap.

The sorcerer casts Sleep like a boss, though, and between the party we swiftly execute the men. DOWN WE GO! The party goes down into a dungeon-like basement that the cultists have been living in. This is where the DM giggled at us.

"You see-" giggle "You see phallic objects on a table along with whips-"

Oh god

"cat-o'-nine-tails-"

Oh no

"and plugs and stuff. It uh-" laugh "turns out they're a cult that equates pleasure and pain, which I only learned AFTER last session when I'd already chosen the cult."

Our DM accidentally chose a sex cult. The Tabaxi rogue takes a spiked whip for himself...and he and the bard steal all of the toys to sell at a later date.

The group kills several more cultists before finding three girls. It turns out that they were from the town and had been kidnapped! We go back to the staircase and tell them to go wait by our horse until we come for them. By this point, we are irrationally determined to handle this cult issue.

We find Creepy Dude and wreck his face, only for him to turn into a DIFFERENT dude in yellow robes. The ground shakes as unearthly howls and scary-ass noises come from even further below us. Here is where shit goes south

The rogue wants to leave and the bard wants to stay. Rogue has a sense of self-preservation, apparently, and a backstory reason to want to avoid trouble. The monk is all for leaving, but has still not left cat form for a single moment and thus can't talk. The bard knows her deal is almost up and kinda wants to see if demons might solve her devil problem...and the sorcerer is willing to go with her, with the understanding that if it gets crazy, the bard is getting ditched.

And so we do the one thing our DM didn't expect. We split the party.

While the rogue and monk take the girls home, unconscious cultist in tow, the sorcerer and bard descended further. They found a Tiefling in a scrap with two ghouls that used to be the Baron and Baroness that lived here.

I'll be honest, we held our own pretty well! But a few bad rolls and ghouls having poison immunity meant both of us, and the Tiefling, were knocked out.

The rogue felt a pull on his conscience as he approached town and told the monk to turn the cultist in- he was going back for the sorcerer and bard. My monk did as he asked before finally shifting into her halfling form and riding the horse back to the manor herself to help.

By the time the rogue got to us, the sorcerer and Tiefling were piled in the corner of the room and the bard was on a stone slab to be sacrificed(?) to demons. He dealt with tiny demons for a while and had one grappled.

When the monk showed up, they agreed to save the others and the monk was YEETED at Creepy Dude by the rogue for a quick unarmed strike. This started a scuffle that was interrupted by an imp and two devils showing up.

It turned out, the devil the bard was contracted to didn't appreciate her being sacrificed by a demon-summoning cultist. Combat kicked off for real now with only two conscious PCs, three allied devils, and an enemy that summoned more demons mid-fight.

The rogue DESTROYED Creepy Dude as the monk chipped at a demon, but the devils rolled poorly while helping us. My monk, though strong, has VERY low health. Two hits and she wasn't just down - she was DEAD.

The rogue got KO'd too, but the devils cleaned house for us.

Unfortunately, the bard woke up first and talked to the devils. They wanted the souls of the three living people (sorcerer, rogue and Tiefling)...so she brokered a deal. Her devil could have all of their souls, once they died, if he extended her own deal's remaining time and brought the monk back to life.

She got one extra year, and we ended the session with everyone but the elf waking up with no knowledge of what she has done.

TLDR: Bard sold the party's souls on the first adventure.

[gorogues]

“The Elongated Knight Rises”

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of the Flash!

Lots of stuff in this episode.  As noted earlier, Zoey/Prank is indeed Axel's mom.  Axel is looking for James' approval, while she's not really thrilled with her ex.  Barry becomes sort of friends with Big Sir in prison.  Warden Wolfe appears to be looking out for Barry as a favour to Joe, who he clearly respects.  And we see the mystery girl from Barry and Iris' wedding again.

Barry meets up with Axel in the prison yard, who's happily eating pudding; we later find out it was given to him by an icognito Zoey to make him sick so she could break him out of jail.  She apparently went on the run after James was arrested in the `90s TV series, and gave birth to Axel soon after and raised him on her own.  She's pretty sour about James, calling him a deadbeat and is frustrated that Axel craves his love more than his mother's.  Axel's desperately seeking James' approval, and goes out to commit crimes to get his dad's attention.

Axel gets into a showdown with Ralph, and eventually hurts him with a super-strong acid called "Axid".  But he gets beaten up by Cisco, and is really bummed about being a failure...until his mom goes back into Prank mode because she deliberately hasn't been taking her meds.  She's obviously made a conscious choice to win Axel's love by filling James' role, so they go on a silly spree together to take down Ralph and kill a few people.  They don't succeed, thanks to the hard work and courage of Team Flash, but they do create a lot of mayhem.  In the end, Prank vows to bust them out within a couple of years so they can do it again.

Axel has a really weird relationship with his parents that the show touches on with the line about Oedipus, and I think a lot of interesting material could be mined from it.  That'd almost certainly come from fic though, as I doubt the show will go much deeper than we've already seen.  I wish the show handled mental illness better, but it's obviously drawing heavily from the `90s series and is sticking with the way James and Zoey (and as a result, Axel) were portrayed there.  I don't think we'll get any differently from it for that reason.

I was delighted to see Beebo again, but why do they keep destroying him? :(  I can't lie, I love Beebo and would be thrilled to have one of my own.  Get on that, CW/DC merch department.

Big Sir protects Barry on one occasion because Henry had saved his life when they were both in jail together, but Sir/Dave is only interested in squaring his debt the one time.  However, Barry saves him later from some other inmates, so that paves the way for them to be friends or at least allies in future episodes.

Big Sir isn't very similar to the way he was in the comics, which is a good thing; the character definitely hasn't aged well.  For those not familiar with him, in the comics he was an intellectually disabled man (named Dufus.  Yes really, but he was clearly part of an homage to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) in a psych ward who was busted out by the Rogues to become their secret weapon against the Flash.  They ended up tricking and mind-controlling him into being their patsy and that really was one of the worst things they’ve ever done.  Later, he teamed up with Major Disaster and the Injustice League, where he was kind of exploited by them but at least did it of his own free will and was clearly their friend.

The mystery girl appears at the end and pays for Cisco's and Ralph's coffees (for which they seem oddly ungrateful), eagerly geeks out over them and is later seen writing in a book.  At first I thought she might have been writing Interlac, but it definitely isn't the established Interlac script from the comics -- it's the script Barry was writing when he returned from the Speed Force.  Maybe the TV show is creating their own version of the Interlac alphabet, but it's not the one from the comics.  She's probably Dawn or Jenni, but her identity is still not clear yet.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable episode.

[overplannedbutunnamednpc]

This week’s ask meme Monday theme is “I make my friends do math” SO start at the top and answer prime numbers until you 1) run out of characters 2) run out of prime numbers or 3) lose interest. STEM boy

:(

but i’m still doing it. randomly rolling starting with pcs, then npcs, then stopping

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? Isaac: so i don’t know how much i’ve said on here about what isaac’s experience in hell actually Was Like. and i think I’ve used the word “puppet” before, and I think that was what it was like. she doesn’t remember a whole lot about it, because for the most part, she just wasn’t there. if she really tried, i think she could remember specific things, but she doesn’t Like To. it’s remembering when you had no choice or control, when your body wasn’t your own and you had to smile and laugh for things with too many hands and tails and teeth. a devil full ass remade her as a tiefling, grew her horns slowly but surely through the skin of her cheeks, up and through and out her eye sockets. like. shits fucked. now that she has her brain back, shes Very afraid of the thing that did that to her.

2. What is your character’s happiest memory? Nyxi: her patron probably had a kid while she was working with her and oh my god...... thinking about her and that tiny small little baby while her patron recovered....... knowing that no she wasn’t the one to give birth to them but they’re going to be, like their siblings have been, just a much a child of hers as theyve all been. she loved all her kids, of course, but there was something special about holding that baby in the first few hours of their life, watching them grow up and helping them with that growth. she’d probably rank those first few hours among the happiest of her life, for sure.

3. What’s one skill your character really wishes they had? Sarril: hmmmm. the ability to heal, maybe? I think that’s the kind of skill he would like. there’s just something nice about like. even if you get too angry and go too far there’s still a way for you to make it right, you know?

skipping 5 bc I don’t care for it overmuch

7. Have they ever encountered someone they really wanted to kill? Zephyr: no. like does she dislike a lot of people? sure! but she’s been mostly a stay-in-the-ivory-tower kind of person, and as such hasn’t really made any enemies. rivals, sure, yeah, and I doubt she made many friends before she entered into the academy. but she doesn’t want to kill anyone. (yet.)

11. What was something they struggled with greatly and how did they overcome it? Legacy: hmmmmm. I think legacy struggled a lot with like.... Mattering, if that makes sense? I think she got her Powers rather early in life because her grandmother looked at her immediately post her spouse dying and went “yeah she’s old enough” and came by like “yo adore whats up. want some cool Spells (eventually) and also to be my grandchild” and legacy, then adore, then 9 years old, said “boy WOULD I!!!!!” and then she spent the next eight or nine years really struggling with what to do with them? she’s got spells at this point and all she’s done is work in a print shop. at some point she turned to petty crime because she was good at lying her ass off, and then eventually she got a sword and went to Adventure because she straight up didn’t know what else she wanted to do. it’s only now that she’s kind of figuring out that like. yeah she does kinda like adventuring? even more when there’s people around her.

13. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? Zier: so like......... yes and no? zier sucks. zier sucks big time. and I think the closest thing he has at least at the points i’ve played him, are MAYBE one of his little siblings. like yes he’s meant to be making them paranoid and selfish. but also maybe he has a little sister who’s just always been a bit too soft for his family. and maybe he remembers that he’s the only boy in his family because his oldest sister killed the other one. so maybe he’s a little protective but very good at pretending like he isn’t. maybe his littlest sister knows better than to trust him even if she’s soft, so he’ll never have much more of a relationship with her than that. and maybe he wishes that it was different. and maybe he knows better.

17. How was their childhood? Did their parents treat them fairly? Did they have any really good friends? Kenny: kenny had a very nice set of parents and I think I said in game that he had a little brother but I also think he might’ve been an only child? idk. but this ask doesn’t ask that!!! his parents were very fair. maybe a little lax but only because kenny was a pretty Good Kid. and I do think he kind of sees them through rose colored glasses now that theyre gone but they were pretty good. his tragic backstory focuses on Losing them. in addition, I think he did have some really good friends! he’s a charming boy and pretty friendly, and it was a decently small village. I think he found some other folk his own age and they played together when they were young and that translated into proper friendship as they got older.

19. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? Ecstasy: okay so. I made it semi canon that when she got the reapers hand, it may or may not have made her shoot her best friend point blank to devour her soul when it got hungry. I am canonizing this. this did happen, and it was the reason ecstasy started taking rogue levels instead of fighter levels. she like. got back to using guns? but she handed over her hugely cursed but also HUGELY powerful gun to her fuckbuddy’s friend without much of a fight, I’ll tell you that much.

23. Does your character know any languages apart from their native language? What one would they like to learn? Glade: lemme look at his character sheet. okay he only knows common and orcish. he uses common a lot more than he uses orcish, but orcish was his first language and now that he has red he uses it a lot more, trying to have her pick it up as a language too. and this is a predictable answer but still true: if he had much time to learn a language, he’d learn infernal. he knows a few words because he’s married to a tiefling, but he doesn’t have the bloodline-given understanding of the language like they do and he would Like To Know What His Wife And Two Year Old Are Giggling About, Please.

29. If they could change just one thing about themselves, what would it be? Endurance: so. like. I don’t know if endurance would change anything about herself??? actually no she would. she would love it if she were more decisive. like, relentless decided to fall and decided to claw her way back to amaunator’s side, and endurance like. isn’t like that at all. I think a lot of her regrets are still tied up in “should I have turned lent into the crownsguard” and because of the violence that happened, she shouldn’t have. but like. she REALLY hates how unsure she is about the circumstances surrounding it, you know? she didn’t heal her, she didn’t really try and stop it until it was too late, and she hasn’t accepted that she was passive in those circumstances. at least if she were more decisive, she thinks she would have already made peace with the things she did pre and post lent’s fall.

31. How patient is your character with others? Do they find it easy to handle people that try and bug them, or hard? Iris: very patient. she’s a princess and also deals with motherfuckers unlimited Literally Constantly. she’s SO patient. however. she also takes no shit. if someone is trying to bug her, then she will not attempt to deal with it. her ability to have Diplomacy means that she can rather easily and relatively politely just go “you are not having this conversation with me in a respectful manner. if you can stop deliberately prodding me for a reaction, we can continue with what we are discussing. if you cannot or refuse to respect me and my time here with you, then I am stopping the conversation here. which option would you like?”

skipping 37 as well

41. Where do they live? What is that place like, do they enjoy living there? Kiya: kiya likes highgrasp! she probably likes it more than any other place she’s lived. it’s a nice city, it’s a clean city, she likes the ocean, and she likes the job she got there. not much to complain about!

43. What are they like when they’re drunk? Don’t be a prude and tell me they’ve never been smashed before. Coriander: zephyr and coriander are the Same when drunk. Loud and Intelligent. coriander also may be a Horny drunk but that may be because she just likes talking about her spouse and thinks (rightly so) that they are Sexy. she will get on her construct to be eight feet taller than most opponents and she will Debate them about magical theory whether they want to be a part of the conversation or not. Fucka You.