#and the authors note on the science behind it that wasn't able to be in the book is so cool!!

[sylvrndoodles]

A scene from What Moves the Dead (by @tkingfisher) that has been ringing in my head since I read it ( ˙꒳​˙ )

[damagedintellect]

Skk Brainrot for Chuuya’s BDay

💌 When I said chibi was my dog this is not what I meant : Chapter 1  💌  

Summary: The minute he stepped into Mori's office Chuuya was already annoyed. While the Mafia dealt with foreign imports of all kinds, being told to investigate the strange influx of Stray Dogs across Yokohama wasn’t his ideal use of his skill set. Chuuya has always liked animals, animal's also liked Chuuya and he's always wanted a dog. He never expected to become a dog. The irony of Dazai calling him a dog all these years makes him want to scream. His ex partner has always been vocal about his disdain for two things. Now Chuuya is somehow both, and Dazai is the only one who can change him back.

Notes: Happy Birthday Chuuya~ I wanted to post something for Chuuya's birthday & this has been sitting in my drafts. Eventually this will have more than one chapter because I see the vision I just haven't had the time to write for it. Gonna base all the dogs on WAN.

💌 Word count: 3,754 💌  You Are Here | Next Chapter coming soon

The port mafia was practically "in charge" of every illegal trade in Yokohama so the sudden influx of stray dogs, breeds that were not known for being popular in Japan, tipped Mori off. He couldn't help but sigh rolling his eyes because he probably should have someone look into it. As silly as the situation may have seemed the Port Mafia has a reputation to uphold. Although the juxtaposition of sending an executive to investigate was also incredibly ridiculous but Mori has seen animals gravitate to the young man and knowing that a certain partner used to claim all the time that Chuuya was his dog, brought back a level of nostalgia that plastered a smile on his face. Chuuya on the other hand was less than pleased with this position. The mafia’s greatest combatant being used as a sheepdog to herd in a bunch of no names to the slaughter was a waste of time in his personal opinion. Don't get him wrong, he'll do it because Mori's command is law but he's still going to complain about it. 

The investigation didn't actually take him that long to trace it back to a series of missing people reports. One person went missing and suddenly there was a new dog on the streets. Although it seemed pretty cut and dry it was still concerning that the authorities haven't done anything about the disappearances. Most of the cases occurred near the edge of town where plenty of abandoned facilities were located. It was possible whoever was behind this was hiding there. Chuuya had only assumed what was happening, he had a hunch that it wasn't even animal's being imported. The power of science was a bizarre field to him, after all, he contained a power equal to that of a God.

What he didn’t expect was for it to actually be someone's ability. Why let the dogs out on the street if it was someone’s ability? He only had more questions but Chuuya didn't care one way or the other because what difference would it make to him. He was given the order to take them out regardless. Mori wanted the facility intact for further investigation after the group was swiftly dealt with but it was more of an afterthought. Chuuya didn't even bother taking reinforcements; he simply walked through the front door and watched as they realized nothing could touch him. He cleared out floors left and right until the only way down to the lower levels was an elevator. His ability should have been able to handle whatever trap had been set but then the room filled with gas, one of the very few things his ability had no effect on. Chuuya could only hold his breath for so long and despite manipulating the drop from the elevator to compensate for the impact of fall damage, he was already dizzy. By the time he forced the doors open, with a few steps out of the elevator he found himself collapsing to the floor.

His head had a dull ache that spread to the rest of his body. They didn’t kill or physically harm him yet which could only mean they want information but they must be more stupid than they look to not even bother trying to restrain him. All they did was put a cloth over him. His joints were sore as he tried to clutch his head. When he shifted the cloth fell off revealing not a hand but a paw. He wiggled out of what used to be his clothes to get a better look at himself. Observing the new changes to his body, he was a dog. A fluffy chihuahua if he had to guess by his reflection in the glass across from him. They seemed to have put him in some examination room. He turned around and shook his tail. The feeling of an extra limb was more apparent and weird but he didn't have time to dwell on it for too long. Someone was going to pay.

The familiar red glow covered his form as he continued what he came here to do. Being a dog wouldn’t matter in the end. He'd just change back after he killed the ability user, but even after clearing the building he didn’t. He ran up and down the empty halls struggling with the new sensation of walking. The panic was starting to set in. He still hadn't changed back and there was not a soul left in sight at the entire facility. That means they got away before Chuuya woke up. He grit his teeth. He didn't know how long he was out for and tracking them down would be a pain in the ass in the state he was in. The only thing that gave him some relief was that he came alone and that none of his comrades were in this predicament. He could only imagine the chaos an entire division of dogs would do.

Trying to sift through files with paws was a nightmare. It took all of his self control to not destroy everything in this godforsaken lab. Chuuya just hoped this weird organization didn't send back up his way otherwise he was screwed. He couldn't find anything important and his patience was running extremely low with how long it was taking to even grab a file from the desk. If he was human it would take him two minutes to settle this whole endeavor. Chuuya stopped dropping the papers from his mouth.

If he was human.

A wave of dread washed over him as he realized there was one person who could fix this.

Dazai.

He really didn't want to see the mackerel especially not like this but what else could he do. He couldn’t go back to headquarters like this. He couldn’t even phone for someone to help him, he tried. Even if someone picked up he could only bark and hoped they understood. All Dazai would need to do was touch him but there was one glaring problem with that. Dazai hates dogs. He wouldn't voluntarily approach them let alone pet one out in the wild. If Chuuya tackled him to the ground he would be forced to at least touch him right? He took off in the direction of the ADA without a second thought. Completely forgetting about his hat, his phone and the rest of his belongings. He sure had a lot of faith in Dazai’s ability.

Chuuya was exhausted halfway there. Walking on all fours was miserable considering the distance he had to cover and he was even using his ability to help travel which probably only made him more tired. Luckily it was so late in the night there weren't a lot of people or cars around. By the time he made it to the agency building he was ready to collapse. He sat by the door as the sun was already starting to rise. It would be hours before Dazai would show up. He let himself sleep in the meantime he was too tired to try and fight it.

“What’s going on here?”

A voice stirred Chuuya awake from his sleep but he didn’t want to wake up yet not after the night he’s had. He could sleep in a little more right? He didn't have to make his report immediately. He contemplated just how long he would sleep in before another voice joined the conversation.

“Hey Mr. Kunikida.”

Chuuya swears he’s heard the name before but it doesn’t fully click why. He was about to get up when he felt a hand smoothing out his hair. A warm feeling washed over him preventing him from wanting to move. He let the voices talk while he leaned into the unknown touch still keeping his eyes closed. 

“A lost dog, did you really think things through before bringing it here? Listen, it's a lot of responsibility taking care of a living creature.”

Lost dog

That broke Chuuya out of his pleasant stupor. He opened his eyes and got up abruptly. He was sitting in the white haired kids lap while a bunch of agency members were surrounding him. None of them were the one he needed to see.

“Dazai!” he tried shouting as he scrambled out of the kid’s grasp to find the waste of bandages. He briskly dodged the many hands that tried to grab for him. Finally being small came in handy for once. He cringed that he admitted that to himself. Chuuya sniffed the air and sure enough he could tell exactly where the brunette was sitting at his desk. As he bolted around the corner he jumped into Dazai’s lap almost knocking him out of his chair. He was pawing at Dazai’s chest trying to explain what happened to him but it only came out as incoherent barking.

Dazai frowned. All of his coworkers were fawning over an ugly mutt while he was making it a point to actually do some work. It was just a dog and a lost one no less. It already had an owner. What was so special about it? He had made his distaste for the animal apparent when Atsushi brought him up the stairs. Hadn’t he ever heard the phrase “let sleeping dogs lie” before? A single bark rang out from the conference corner causing him to turn his head before everyone’s panicked cries could be heard. It must have woken up and the amount of people surrounding the dog scared it away. Dazai should be fine at his desk or so he thought. The small runt tackled him almost making him lose his balance yapping up a storm. He frowned, glaring at the dog but that only made it continue barking and pawing at him. 

“Okay that’s enough.” Dazai snapped, holding the dog up with both hands. It was weird the dog stopped his infernal yelping, its eyes seemingly growing wide as both its tail and ears slumped downwards. Did the dog understand that it was being scolded? 

Atsushi stood in front of Dazai making sure the dog was okay “I thought you didn’t like dogs?”

“I don’t. Here, you take him.” 

The statement was dismissive as he tried to hand Chuuya off to Atsushi but before he could get a proper hold on him Chuuya jumped on to Dazai’s desk and started growling at the tiger boy. Dazai perked up again at the sudden change in the dog’s mood. 

“Maybe he can tell you’re a tiger.” he stated playfully.

“Or maybe he likes you, Dazai.”

Chuuya started barking again, taking an aggressive stance towards Dazai’s protege. Dazai stifled a laugh looking over the dog. It was a red long haired Chihuahua. The fur almost seemed unnaturally orange for a dog and paired with the black collar around its neck it almost reminded him of a certain slug. Maybe this dog was a Chuu-huahua with how little it’s temper was. 

"We should call him Chibi because he's so small." Dazai wanted to take a picture, draw Chuuya’s tacky hat on the dog and then send the picture to him. Of course he wasn’t going to because that was effort he didn't want to waste on the small creature but he still had the thought cross his mind.

Before Chuuya could bark in protest the president stepped into the room to address the obscure racket. They filled him in on the situation as Dazai resumed working, nudging Chuuya to get off the paper he was writing on and then completely ignored the dog. Naturally Chuuya stepped aside at a loss of what to do. The president was pretty okay with the agency taking care of the runaway for now until they found his owner but they would never find his owner since Chuuya wasn’t actually a dog. He hadn’t even noticed he was still wearing his choker which is probably why they thought he was lost. It fit loosely around his neck but since his coat of fur was so fluffy it wasn’t that obvious it didn’t fit him properly.

Chuuya was gutted that he didn’t turn back immediately but if he could just get Dazai’s attention the brunette would put it together. They could communicate nonverbally in the past with just a look. All Chuuya had to do was to make the stupid mackerel realize it’s him. He put his paw on one of the books discarded to the side. If he could make it float then his ex partner was sure to put it together right, but nothing happened. There was no red glow in fact Chuuya couldn’t even feel Arahabaki anymore not since the president said they would take him in. Was it possible that being a dog got rid of his ability? That can’t be right since he used it a few hours ago. He was more confused than worried. Dazai wasn't touching him; he should be able to use it. Chuuya grit his teeth but tried to appear calm. Chuuya glanced towards the president, was it possible it was his doing? He didn't actually know if the president had a special ability but it's also not like he doesn’t remember N explaining that animals are not capable of manifesting special abilities. It's just peculiar that he was able to use it when he first turned. Maybe it took him a while to fully transition to being a dog?

 He didn’t have much time to think about it as Kunikida tried to pick him up off the desk. He kicked his hand away and growled again. He refused to let anyone come near him. Chuuya might be a dog but he didn’t want to be touched again. Knowing how good it feels to be pet and pampered he’s afraid he’ll lose himself in the warmth, plus he needs to focus. His train of thought crashed when Dazai patted his head calmly saying “No one’s going to hurt you here. You can stop your growling. It’s annoying.” 

He didn’t miss the glint of daggers in the other’s eyes, it was oddly comforting. If it was anyone else he would have bit them but right now Dazai was the only one he trusted. Chuuya nodded at Dazai causing him to pause. Chuuya would smirk if he could because he understood what that look meant. It was a subtle gesture but since he’s known Dazai for years and in that split second he could tell the other was caught off guard. 

Dazai blinked, did the dog just nod at him? It was getting increasingly difficult to dislike this dog when it kept peaking his interest. Most animals have always hated him but cats usually were the only exception. They say that animals can judge a person’s character and it seems like every small creature in Yokohama, including a certain slug, got the memo but this is twice now that this dog seemed to understand his words. Not even the cats that approached him displayed such obvious strange behavior. He could also be reading too much into this situation because he simply didn’t want to be working right now but that was more to spite everyone over the dumb dog.

Before anyone else could touch Chuuya, he jumped down and scampered underneath Dazai’s desk sitting by his feet. He had a lot to think about and he was still tired. He thought about going back to the facility to try again but it was too far for his small stature to traverse back and forth constantly and now he'd have to shake off these schmucks to do it. Honestly he could try dragging one of these losers with him, they are detectives after all. One of them could put it together but he doubts any of them would follow a dog around town for that long without thinking they’ve gone batshit crazy. The biggest problem is he didn’t know who the ability user was and there was no way for him to communicate effectively right now especially since his ability disappeared. Or was there? He’d have to think of something.

Atsushi and Kunikida watch in awe as the dog practically follows Dazai’s command. They both peer under the desk to see him curled up by Dazai’s feet. Atsushi raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm not the only one who thought that was weird right?" Laughing awkwardly as he looked around when everyone circled the desk.

Kunikida pushed up his glasses "I guess he's a lot smarter than he looks." Chuuya peeked out to bark again before glaring at the blonde. He could see this startled Kunikida slightly. 

Dazai sighed "I think you guys should leave Chibi alone for a bit. Let him get used to his surroundings."

"I'm impressed. Dazai, I didn't realize you were so good with animals."

His frown deepened "I'm not, I'm just saying that he's only gravitating towards me because I'm the only one who's left him alone." 

Dazai shifted to see the dog still at his feet lazily pawing at his shoe laces. He rolls his eyes. This dog was more of a cat than a dog but he supposed that with its small frame it wasn’t completely uncommon for a chihuahua to be fast and nimble but that does take the proper training to accomplish. Just whose dog was this, unless, was it possible this is Chuuya’s dog? Dazai remembered the hat rack always mentioning that he wanted a dog but for some reason he never got one. He smirked to himself. If that was the case Dazai would keep him for a while. Maybe he could train him to mess with his owner a little bit but first he had to find out if this was, in fact, Chuuya’s dog. Unfortunately finding that out would be too much effort even if it was to annoy Chuuya. He dropped the idea entirely. At the end of the day it was just a dog.

Everyone went back to their daily tasks giving Chuuya a much needed break from being the center of attention. He lazily played with the laces of Dazai’s shoes. He really had nothing else better to do. He heard the shuffling of paper and the scribbling of pens filling the room. Chuuya only assumed Dazai’s partner was furiously trying to blitz through paperwork. Glasses guy seemed like the workaholic type. Although that gave him an idea. If Chuuya could get his paws on a writing implement he could try spelling it out for Dazai. He slowly got up and walked around the corner to Kunikida’s desk. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the dog except for the blonde. Gracefully he jumped up and knocked a pen and small notepad off of the desk. 

“Hey, what are you-” Kunikida stopped when he saw the dog try to take the cap off the pen. Dazai raised an eyebrow but knelt down to take the cap off for him.

Chuuya tried his best to write “help me” but when he looked down it was intangible scribbling. Next he tried to draw a fish which he was much prouder of when he really shouldn't be. Dazai tilted his head as everyone crowded around to see what the dog was doing. When there was still no reaction Chuuya rolled his eyes and drew a hat. Well he tried to draw a hat. Putting the pen down it looked more like a food bowl but come to think of it he hadn’t eaten anything and it was nearing lunchtime already. Chuuya placed the pen down sitting upright, puffing out his chest. Surely this was enough for Dazai to understand what was going on. 

There was a moment of silence from everyone before Kenji clapped his hands together "Oh I get it! He's hungry." 

Chuuya deflated, nosing the paper of the notepad to start over as the ADA were trying to figure out the food situation. Chuuya took his time with the next drawing. He needed to get it right this time but holding the pen in his mouth wasn't the easiest thing in the world when he had to pick it up from the floor. Luckily this time it was a recognizable fish. When he was done he pushed it towards Dazai stamping his paw trying to mentally communicate. 

Dazai tilted his head to the side "A fish?" Chuuya barked trying to correct it to "mackerel" but it was no use.

Kenji crouched next to Dazai on the floor. "Could it be, he likes fish!" 

The brunette raised an eyebrow before trifling through his pockets to pull out a can of crab. "Maybe he could smell this on me? That would explain why he tackled me earlier." He flatly added opening the can without a second thought. Seriously, what was he doing? He should let the others handle the pest. 

Chuuya stared at the open can silently laughing to himself. Some things never change, huh? Back when they were partners Dazai always carried around the same disgusting cans of crab with him. He contemplated pushing it away but at this point it was better than being relegated to eating dog food. Taking a hesitant bite it wasn’t as bad as he remembered it being. He lapped up the crab ignoring the rest of the office marveling his odd taste in sustenance.

"A dog who likes crab and Dazai? Atsushi, where did you even find such a creature?." Kunikida put his pen down for the moment. This situation was weird even for what they normally deal with. "Well he was just sleeping outside the entrance. I thought he was another stray until I saw the collar." Atsushi scratched the back of his neck. He didn't really think anything of picking up the dog since Kyouka had brought a cat to the office not too long ago. Kunikida pushed up his glasses “I guess Dazai should be the one to take care of it then.” Everyone in the

office nodded in agreement leaving Dazai in distress.

He scoffed “Why me? Might I remind everyone that I detest dogs!”

As Chuuya finished eating he casually walked back over to where Dazai was sitting and made himself comfortable in the brunette's lap. Kunikida laughed going back to his work. “Could have fooled me.”

Dazai grumbled, staring at the small creature. It wasn’t everyday that anyone trusted him enough to fall asleep in his presence. This dog really was like Chuuya. The thought only made him roll his eyes. “Yeah, as if.”

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Captain Marvel: Part Ten

Pairing: Carol Danvers x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.4k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: For the sake of the rewrite, Howard and Maria Stark dies on December 16, 1997 instead of 1991. Tony is 23 when they die.

x

Maria knows she has to do this with her best friend, so she calls her parents over to take care of her daughter. Maria tries to come up with an excuse as to why she's asking this, and you and Carol are off to the side with Monica.

"Your Mom's lucky. When they were handing out kids, they gave her the toughest one. Lieutenant Trouble," Carol smiles.

"You remembered!"

Carol had a whole life here without you, and seeing her with her other family gives you joy, but it also brings you pain when you think of how she was taken and the fact that she was taken in the first place.

"Is that mine?" Carol asks, noticing the jacket sitting on Monica's lap. The little girl starts to hand it over, but your girlfriend protests. "Oh, no. You hang onto it until I come back. There is something that I need your help with. I can't wear these Kree colors anymore, and since you're obviously the only person around here with any sense of style, why don't you give me a makeover?"

Carol stands and presses a few buttons on her wrist device that changes the colors of her outfit. Monica reaches over to try and goes through possible combinations such as bright red and grey stripes, orange, blue and yellow, black with neon stripes, and white with green stripes. None of them are the one until Carol sees the outfit Monica is wearing.

Red, blue, and gold.

"Well, since we're on the same team, why not those colors?" 

Monica messes with the device once more, and Carol's suit changes to red and blue with a gold star on the front. This is it. This is the suit and colors that best suit her. She kind of reminds you of Steve when he got his suit, but you push back those painful memories of your best friend.

"How do I look?"

"Fresh," Monica smiles.

"We need to get going. Yon-Rogg will be here soon," you say.

Carol and Monica say their final goodbyes before everyone boards the big aircraft. Talos' science guy stays behind to pretend to be Carol to stall Yon-Rogg for however long. He knows he's going to die when he figures it out, but he's willing to risk his life if it means Talos gets home safe.

Since you're such a terrible pilot, Maria and Carol are at the front while you, Fury, Talos, and Goose are in the back. Fury is petting and comforting the animal while Talos stares at him with horror in his eyes.

"You know, you really shouldn't have that thing on your lap."

"Our little alliance with you is tenuous at best. As long as she continues to freak you out," Fury picks up the cat and shoves her in Talos' face, and the Skrull jerks back in fear, "like that, I'm gonna keep giving her all the love and hugs she needs, right?"

"Can I ask you two something?" Maria asks the two shapeshifters on board. "Do you just turn into anything you want?"

"I have to see it first."

"Those are my rules as well."

"Can you all do it?"

"Physiologically, yeah, but it takes practice and dare I say it, talent to do it well."

"Maria, I wasn't born like this. I was given a serum that gave me these powers, so there is only one of me."

"Can you turn into a cat?" Fury asks Talos.

"What's a cat?"

"That's a cat," you point to Goose. 

"That's not a cat."

"What about a filing cabinet?" Maria asks. 

"Why would I turn into a filing cabinet?"

"I don't know about the Skrulls, but I can only turn into living creatures no matter how small or the kind of species. If it's alive, I can turn into them."

"What else can you do?"

"Well, apart from shapeshifting, I am able to control the four main elements. Whatever you want to call it, I can do a lot of pretty awesome stuff."

"A venus fly trap!" Fury exclaims, still on the topic of shifting into things. "I'll give you $50 right now if you turn into a Venus fly trap."

"Switching engines from Scramjet to fusion. Buckle up, folks," Carol advises.

Everyone buckles up in case something goes wrong, and Carol lurches forward at high speeds. Due to the severe altitude, everyone is pushed back into their seats. The plane jerks like how a commercial airplane would.

"Is this normal? Like space turbulence?" Fury asks.

"Pretty much," Carol answers.

Talos grabs Fury's attention and shakes his head to say that this isn't normal. The plane continues to fly upward, and as soon as the plane reaches just outside Earth's atmosphere, the plane stops producing the flames needed in order to fly. Everything inside the plane starts floating due to the lack of gravity. Yours, Carol's, and Maria's hair float along with a few pens that weren't locked down. If you hadn't buckled in when you did, you too, would be floating in mid-air. Similarly, Goose is floating upside down until Fury extends his arm, which Goose eagerly grabs onto. Then, Maria flicks a switch and gravity suddenly turns on inside the plane.

"Locking in the coordinate grid," Carol announces.

However, the only thing in front of you is an empty pad of space. Maybe the coordinates are wrong or maybe the lab moved because it's not here anymore. 

"Where is it?"

"It's here. It's gotta be here," Talos panics. 

"Is it in front of all that nothing or behind it?" Fury asks sarcastically.

There has to be some reason why the coordinates led you to this empty space. Carol presses some buttons on her wrist device, and the process of decloaking begins. If this is where the coordinates are, and there is nothing here, then it must be invisible.

"Decloaking activated," the computer chirps.

Suddenly, a bright light appears from the empty space, and a massive laboratory becomes visible. The title "Mar-Vell's Laboratory, Kree Imperial Cruiser" appears on the screen inside the spaceship. Carol flies closer to the laboratory only to realize there's a loading dock for incoming ships. Once secured inside, you five leave the ship in curiosity.

"Are we alone?" you ask when you walk into the main room. Across the room is the Tesseract connected to a big machine, and you walk closer to it with tears in your eyes. This is what you've been waiting for for almost one hundred centuries. "I can't believe after all this time, it's been here. I thought this was in the ocean."

"Is that it? The core?" Maria asks. 

"In her notes, she called it the Tesseract."

"This thing made me who I am today. This thing gave me my powers. This thing has been a pain in my ass this whole time!" you yell.

"It's okay," Carol whisper and puts her hand on your shoulder for comfort. 

"No, it's not okay, Carol. This thing needs to be destroyed. All this thing is going to cause is pain."

Carol understands where you were coming from, but in order to understand its power, it needed to be saved. She grabs the cube and throws it in the air only to catch it like it was a fucking baseball and not a killing machine. This thing killed your best friend and boyfriend. 

"Whoa. What was Lawson doing with all this kid stuff?" Maria asks and picks up a metal lunchbox.

Carol takes it from her, places the Tesseract inside, and locks it. You look around and take in your surroundings. There is something about this place, something off. On the glass table near the corner of the room is a mug with steaming hot tea in it.

You aren't alone.

"We're not alone."

Talos begins to sing loudly in his native tongue, and a swarm of scared Skrulls appears from their hiding places. An older one into the arms of Talos. If you had to assume, you'd guess that she is his wife, girlfriend, or sibling. 

"Talos!" 

"Soren," he sighs and hugs her tightly. 

"He didn't come for the Tesseract." Soren calls forth a child, probably her own, and the child makes herself known willingly. Talos leans down to get a better look at the child with a huge smile on his face. "This is his family."

"We didn't know what to do. Mar-Vell warned us not to send a signal for any reason or the Kree would find us," Soren explains painfully.

"You did the right thing," Talos whispers.

When the excitement of the family reunion wears off, Soren notices the group Talos came in with. She grabs her child and holds her protectively, even when Talos calms her down.

"It's okay, it's okay. She's alright. She's a friend. They all are."

"I'm not gonna hurt you. We're not going to hurt you," Carol says.

"They led me to you."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"If only I had known," you sniffle.

"Carol, Y/N, this is war. My hands are filthy from it, too, but we're here now. You two found my family. This is just the beginning. There are thousands of us separated from each other. Scattered throughout the galaxy."

Another Skrull child approaches Carol once she knows it's safe and took her hand. She directs her over to a pinball machine in the corner. The child points to the high score in glowing lights and points to herself to say she won that many points.

"If I played the same pinball machine for six years I'd have some high scores too," Fury comments.

Suddenly, the doors to the lab open and Yon-Rogg and his team march through with determination. Upon seeing the Kree, Fury draws his gun but Minn-Erva already had hers directed at him. She gestures to him to drop it and he has no choice but to listen. Talos put his family behind him but Yon-Rogg couldn't care less about them right now. No, he's only interested in you and Carol. Seeing his bitch-ass face makes you see red, and your eyes shine red like fire as your hands glow the same color.

"Fraternizing with the enemy? Don't be stupid, Y/N, you'll kill everyone here," he points out. It's true. If you used your powers, you'll blow this entire ship to pieces. "What did you do to your uniform?"

"They got in her head. Just like we thought," Minn-Erica says. 

"Oh, shut it, bitch," you growl.

"The Supreme Intelligence will set her straight," Korath says. 

"You can see they're not soldiers, let them go. You can have me," Talos tries negotiating.

"And the core?"

"You lied to me," Carol glares. 

"I made you a better version of yourself. What's given can be taken away," Yon-Rogg grins.

Carol tries as hard as she can to light up her fists, but they shortened out as if someone is controlling her powers from a distance. You notice something on her neck, something like a small device that is suppressing her powers. She doesn't know it's there or else she'd have taken it off a long time ago.

You turn to the other Kree and give them a malicious grin.

"I may not be able to use my fire power, but I have other ones."

The air around all of the Kree's heads begins to thin out while the air in the room stays the same. If they can't breathe, they can't fight. All of them gasp for air and fall to the ground, and you have to hold back your laughter. You're too busy focusing on them that you don't see Yon-Rogg sneak up behind you. He stabs something in the back of your neck, eliminating your powers for the moment.

"I've been waiting for this moment since I first saw you," he whispers.

He turns the device on and sends shockwaves down your body. With both you and Carol out of commission, the Kree can finally get what they came here to get.

When you wake up, you're not in Mar-Vell's ship anymore. No, you're in an all too familiar room with endless glossy floors and lights that descend from above. The man with jet-black hair stands in the middle of the room. Why does he look so familiar? When you think back to where you might know him, your head gets fuzzy and you get the worst headache ever.

Someone or something removed those memories from your head.

"There she is. I've got to say, I'm quite disappointed in you," the Supreme Intelligence says.

"There is no honor. The promise you made to me about honor and responsibilities is all a lie."

"Despite that, you performed well. You got us to the enemy. Thanks to you and jazz hands, those insidious shapeshifters will threaten our borders no more."

"I can't believe I ever thought the Kree would have the ability to change their ways. You're just as bad as Ronan. The Skrulls are just fighting for a home. You want to destroy them for what? Not submitting to your rules? Well, Carol and I won't do it."

You run at the man to attack him, but you go flying into the wall behind you with a flick of his wrist. You stick to the wall like glue so you're not going anywhere.

"It's cute how hard you try," he chuckles. "We needed you on this mission so you could lead us to the Tesseract. The power inside your veins wouldn't allow you to stay away. Plus, it is what you were looking for, yeah? You want to learn more about who you are and what Markus put into your body."

"How do you know about Markus?"

You slide through the sticky wall and come out on the other side where you can watch your memories play back in front of you.

"We know more than you think."

Each memory is of when Markus put you through each element trial. Through it all, the evil look on Markus' face never went away.

"You're no better than him," you turn to face the Supreme Intelligence.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Okay, you're done with this shit. You need to escape or else he will keep you here for as long as he wants. You need to escape if you want to help the Skrulls win this war.

"Do you know what the difference between me and Carol is?" The fire within you heats up slowly, and your skin glows with the embers of a thousand fires. "You've been able to control her through the device you slapped on her neck, am I right? Well, news flash, bitch, you can't control me."

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[acoldsovereign]

Be honest Vamp!Maize, favorite blood type?? 🔫

SUBJECT MATTER: HONESTY HOUR!*

// *For asks targeted to different verses. //

*(Vampire Edition)

sender: @theannoyedskittle // status--always open!

She ran a hand through unique curls that jutted out in different directions; some pointed towards her face, others away from it (and her head in general). It was black, the exact shade of ink, if not darker. In this disguise, she looked like a human; pointy ears were rounded, double fangs were flat, boring white teeth, and her height was cut in half (in terms of inches). She was 6'5" instead of 6'10".

6'7", if she wore any footwear.

She passed fairly well if nobody looked at her for too long or weren't astute enough to notice unnerving details like the shade of her eyes. Ominously luminous, the acid green coloration contrasted against dark brown skin. Sometimes, the pupils became slitted--especially when she dwelled on the topic of hunger. "What an interesting question." There was a hint of an accent, but with no clear point of origin. Her voice held subtle notes of amusement.

She tapped her chin and said, "I do not think I have one." An echo would follow the end of her sentences. "I enjoy my sustenance from humans and vampires alike.

"Originally, it was just foolish humans who dared come into my territory.

"On the Frontier, where I hail from, the Earth's been ravaged by monsters such as I, humans who have been mutated by the environment and my kind, and other assorted creatures made from magic and science--also from my kind.

"I only began drinking and devouring my kind when they showed their intolerance of me. Where I come from, we are called the Noblility. There is a hierarchy. Pureblood, born-vampires are considered the true and supreme authority above all. Those who are turned are not given true respect. They are often made to be servants to these royal and so-called noble bloodlines." Her eyes darkened. The pupils went back to 'normal'. "They have thralls--human slaves. They use them in all manners one can think of. Yes, even in that way.

"They are mostly arrogant and stagnant; convinced of their superiority, they waged war with other beings, aliens, other Gods, and humans. Or, so I've heard. The war of attrition has been lost, and Lady Fortune hasn't favored them in many centuries since."

The woman raised her head and sighed an exasperated sigh. It was a long winded explanation; but she was able to explain the most important parts of vampire history in a couple of sentences. The vampires fell into a state of ennui; humans caught up and started eradicating them en masse. Many fled underground, leaving behind super-science tools powerful enough to create black holes, new universes or to destroy them altogether. Others fled to the stars. Some decided to stay behind and fight. The classism of the Noblility was why they didn't take in new fledglings. The woman wasn't too sure of how old she was; memories melded together with something else--someone else's influence.

As if that information was classified.

"--Their stupidity," she concluded, with a dark chuckle. She waved a hand dismissively, as if this was all funny and lighthearted like a joke between friends. ". . .is why I prey on them. They're too idiotic to live. So I relieve them of their life force. I've learned from the experience that blood is blood. Regardless of where it comes from. Of course, human blood is nutritious and easier to digest. But oh, isn't the blood more delicious when taboo? The blood of the ancients are akin to centuries old wine. Refined by age. They're picky so the quality of their blood is exquisite. As is their flesh."

She gave a shrug. "It matters not to me whether my prey consents or not. Do you ask the tiger not to eat you if you are in it's den? Or do you pick a God and pray it's over quickly?"

[ithehellisbucky]

An Apocalyptic Romance

Cha Hyun-Su x Reader

Requested: "Why do you keep hanging around me?! Go with her, don't you like her?!" "But I like you." @leedosbunnyboy

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: A lot. Suicide mention, self harm (not only Hyun-Su), reader smokes and has a nicotine addiction, blood, trauma, shock, canon level violence, PTSD, survivor's guilt, everything in canon just with reader in it

Author's Note: After writing this I don't even want to write for the MCU anymore. I'm just not into that anymore, so let me know about that. It was my birthday on monday. And let's just say that it was a birthday.

~

It wasn't like in the movies. Yes, some people stepped up and some people wielded weapons to defend themselves against the monsters. But it wasn't like that.

No one relished power or freedom in this new world. No one enjoyed being the product of a science fiction novel. This wasn't how anyone's future was supposed to go.

Your neighbor had just moved in a month or so ago. His hair almost covered his eyes and at first, the only sign that he was alive was the weekly ramen deliveries that showed up at his door. If you hadn't seen those, you would have thought that there was no one living there at all.

You both happened to peek out your door at the same time when you heard loud screeching from down the hallway. Slowly following a trail of torn apart ramen packet heading toward your across the hall neighbor- a model.

When you saw her dead cat's skull scrape across the floor, being dragged by a disturbing and grotesque blood-soaked hand, you weren't able to stifle your scream. Luckily, he quickly slapped his hand over your mouth and moved slowly back away.

Your feet were planted on the ground. You couldn't move, couldn't breathe. You barely recognized it when he wrapped the arm that wasn't over your mouth around your torso and began to drag you with what little upper body strength he had.

In the moment, you were too terrified to even pick your feet off the ground, which was almost a saving grace, but unfortunately, your neighbor was too busy making sure you didn't scream and kill you both, that he didn't do the same.

The crunch of the dry noodles made you both freeze in place. After this you weren't so scared of the noise your mouth would make when you opened it, so you screamed as loud as you possibly could and your neighbor grabbed your hand and you ran together towards the door to his apartment.

You couldn't tell what was behind you and you didn't want to know. All you knew was that the soles of your shoes were covered in the cat's blood, and you were shivering in fear. You couldn't even will yourself to cry.

Your neighbor had a different reaction. He stared into space, in shock. It was at this moment that you realized you didn't even know the name of the man who saved your life.

"Um, what, what is your name again." You stuttered, unaware of how you should even approach this situation.

His gaze at the door was unwearying. "Cha Hyun-Su," His voice and his body didn't react, almost like his brain was already so traumatized that this situation was just like weight on a broken scale.

"My- my name is (y/n)."

He turned his head to face you, and you almost saw a glimmer of something in his eye, but he didn't say a word.

Hyun-Su might've said something in that moment, but you would never know, because the doorbell rang and interrupted your eye contact, causing you both to stare at the red door in terror.

He grabbed a bat and slowly walked towards the door, eventually reaching it and look on at the security camera monitor. You heard him mutter underneath his breath something about her hands until you heard loud feedback like sound and a body-shaped dent rammed into the door. Hyun-soo backed away in terror and held up the hockey stick in defense position. You grabbed an X-Acto knife you found lying on the ground next to his bed and clutched it close to your chest, frozen in fear.

The both of you stayed perfectly still for another few minutes until the ramming finally backed away. Hyun-Su ran to his computer and sat down in his gaming chair, as you stayed in place as if someone had covered you in a block of ice and left you to thaw.

Hyun-soo muttered to himself and you stayed still, for at least 45 minutes. Unmoving and incredibly, incredibly fazed.

Slowly, you and your neighbor had figured out the basic rules of this new universe.

Don't confront the monsters, never get a nose bleed, don't make a sound, always save others, and never leave Green Home.

Over time, you found something with Hyun-soo that you could never find anywhere else.

It wasn't perfect. It couldn't be in an imperfect world. But the way you looked at Hyun-soo when you thought that he wasn't looking was the most perfect thing there was here.

You didn't talk about it. Somehow talking about it would make it real, and reality can be twisted and ruined.

When Hyun-soo's nose started bleeding on the first few days of your alliance, you were terrified. But you pulled yourself together because no one could have been more terrified than him. As wrong and badly motivated as it is, you trusted him to tell you if he thought he would hurt you.

Together you decided to take the fight to the monsters or die trying.

There was screaming outside of your window. Kids, screaming for their father from several floors above. You watched in horror as the monster tore their father from their building, and he fell onto the ground below.

By this time Hyun-soo was at the window with you today too. You managed to distract the monster and fight him off, and you set off on a mission to save the children.

On your quest, you met Dusik Hahn, a wheelchair-bound man who made weapons for you to fight off the monsters with. He made a knife stick for Hyun-Su, and he took your small Exacto knife and made it into a deadly dagger for close-range combat. Not exactly a situation you wanted to be in, but a situation you might as well be prepared for.

You made the slow journey to save the kids and ran into another group of two, the bassist that you heard thumping through your floor sometimes, and a god-devoted teacher wielding a sword.

You had managed to recognize the monster-hunting the children and narrowly rescued the kids in the meantime.

Right as you had made your way out of the direct danger, Hyun-Su stopped. His nose was bleeding.

"Take the children." He said, clutching his nose.

"Hyun-" You said, reaching for him and trying to help him.

"TAKE THE CHILDREN AND RUN!"

You didn't want to argue, you ran down the stairs and hid yourself and the children in a closet, praying to whatever cruel god was out there that Hyun-Su would be the one walking down those stairs and not a monster.

There was a thumping noise coming down the stairs, and you covered both the children's mouths and clamped yours shut. You only opened your mouth when you could see very clearly that it was Hyun-Su and not a monsterized version of himself.

You let out a sigh of relief and threw the door open, wrapping your arms around Hyun-Su and his blood-soaked hoodie. He awkwardly patted you on the back, body as stiff as a board, as that was the extent of what you could really do.

You didn't talk about what happened to him, or that you saw his eyes turn blackout of the corner of your eyes. He wasn't the same as he was before, but he wasn't fully a monster either. It was the only Hyun-Su that you had ever known. And you like what you see.

You dropped off the kids at Dusik's apartment and set off on a journey to the lobby on the ground floor.

There weren't that many monsters that attacked you on your journey down. You ignored all the ones that ignored you.

When you reached the first floor you saw a ghastly sight. Many of your neighbors were there, and they all looked entirely broken. You got the situation you described to by Eun-Hyuk, a medical student that you had seen around the building and working on his laptop in cafes near the apartment complex.

Everyone seemed pretty nice, except for the asshole convenience store owner. Some people hated Eun-Hyuk, but you felt bad for him. He didn't want to let that girl die and he didn't want to hurt people, he was just trying to save as many people as he could, and being a hero couldn't be easy.

You met his sister Eun-Yoo, you had seen her dancing on the roof when you went up there to breathe and to smoke. She seemed taken to Hyun-Su, and he seemed a little bit smitten by her. You hate to admit it, but you felt jealous.

She was beautiful, and feminine, and unapologetic, all the things that you weren't. He couldn't not like her.

When the rest of the neighbors found out that Hyun-Su was some sort of monsterized version of himself, there was naturally an uproar.

It was entirely silent when all of the residents were crammed into the preschool room, silently waiting for Eun-Hyuk to tally the results of the vote.

It was a tie. A perfect tie, between banishment and acceptance. Because that's how it always seems to go.

The nasty convenience store owner, Suk-Hyun, was screaming at Hyun-Su, right up until his nose began to bleed. He started pleading for his life, and Hyun-Su walked up at tallied the vote against himself, only to make sure Suk-Hyun went in with him.

When Hyun-Su and Suk-Hyun were trapped in an empty office, you brought him ramen and sat down in front of the chained storefront and ate with him.

Silently, you sat together. What you didn't know, is that whenever you were looking down Hyun-Su was looking at you.

Over the next week a lot of stuff happened, you rescued more people, lost some, been through more tragedy and trauma than anyone should have to go through in their entire life, and throughout it all, you and Hyun-Su stayed stuck together.

Hyun-Su and Eun-Yoo grew closer, they would talk together and you would often see her staring at him from across the room.

Eun-Yoo was good, and she was kind to the people that deserved it. Sure, she was violent, mildly sadistic, and cold, but she was still a good person. Yet you hated her. You hated her because Hyun-Su wanted her more than he wanted you.

It wasn't like you to be a jealous or pretentious or possessive person, but you wanted Hyun-Su more than you wanted most things. And sometimes life just works out that way. In horrible, jealous and violent ways.

You were sitting with Hyun-Su in an empty hallway on the first floor. You were both trying to ignore the fact that the door you were guarding had the bodies of a 10-year-old and a soldier behind it.

This world wasn't fun or easy. It was an adventure and it wasn't an epic. It was just real life. And real life is broken. You saw the scars on Hyun-Su's wrist when his hoodie sleeve rode up. You saw the way he looked at the sobbing mother mourning her daughter. You overheard Eun-Yoo talking about Hyun-Su killing himself.

You had scars on your body too. Cigarette burns across your hands from where the butt fell off, times where you pushed it into the palm of your hand and the sides of your finger when you were drunk or too tired to run it under water or throw it out the window and all you could do is lay there and take the pain.

Real-life was broken. Hyun-Su was broken. You were broken. This world is broken.

You realized that in your self-sabotaging state you had let a tear slip out of the corner of your eye.

"(y/n)." Hyun-Su was looking up at you from his ramen.

"Oh, uh sorry." You took your finger and wiped your tear away. He had enough on his plate already, he didn't need to know the raging jealousy that was growing inside you.

You were Hyun-Su's friend. He was your friend. He didn't love you, you were the person he could trust to remain consistent. He might not have loved Eun-Yoo, but he didn't love you. He couldn't love you.

"What's wrong (y/n)?" He was too pure. Someone who's been through so much and done so many bad, bad messed up things couldn't be that pure.

You didn't say anything. You took your spork and put another spoonful of hot ramen into your mouth. It burned a little bit, but you didn't mind.

"(y/n)?" He put down his food and scooted a little bit closer to you, still as shy as always "I need to know you're okay."

The link in the chain around your heart finally broke, "I'm not okay." You run your hand over your head as you look up at him, "You like Eun-Yoo, and that's okay, so why are you hanging out with me? I'm nothing compared to her!"

You finally shouted, agony stabbing through the heart that is no longer protected.

You put the ramen down and it kicks over when you stand up, water and noodles falling everywhere all over the floor. You don't even care, you just need to get away from Hyun-Su. You're walking away with a stomp when a hand grabs your wrist. It's Hyun-Su, obviously. Curse his weird half-monster superpowers.

"But I don't like Eun-Yoo," he grabs your other hand. "I like you."

It never even occurred to you that Hyun-Su could even like you a little bit. It was more like a fever dream that could never come true but that you can still fantasize about.

"What?" You ask, still not believing him.

He pulls you closer to him, little by little "I like you, (y/n)." This is the most assertive and straightforward that you had ever been. It shocks you. But he said your name, which means that he must mean you. He must mean you.

Before you realize it you are in his embrace and your arms are wrapped around each other. Finally allowed yourselves to be vulnerable within the comfort of one another.

You don't need to say anything, and neither does he, you both know exactly what to do now- just be there.

"Fucking finally," You both turn around and see Eun-Yoo standing at the end of the hall, a cigarette dangling from her mouth and a smirk on her lips.

~

My Masterlist

Requests are open!

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Sweet Home:

[literallykenmaandshoyo]

Hi Kenma! i was wondering if i could request high school or college shenanigans with the chuckle sandwich boys? with a gender neutral reader too please

just them being platonic besties <3

and could I be dragon anon?

High School Shenanigans with the Chuckle Sandwich Boys

Chuckle sandwich x reader (gender neutral) (platonic)

Requested by dragon anon

Proofread: Nope

Music: It's All Futile! It's All Pointless by LoveJoy

Warnings: Underage drinking, partying, ditching class, being chaotic

Author's note: Hello! I love this! Of course, you can be dragon anon! This is gonna be a mix of headcanons and scenarios that I have in mind! I'm basing most of this off of my own high school experience lol

-Mod Kenma

Being friends with the trio that called themselves 'Chuckle Sandwich' was a handful to deal with. They were all chaotic in their own way, which made high school interesting.

You met Ted first. You were taking theater as an elective class and he sat behind you. He was super funny and you always laughed at his jokes. You two got closer when the class did an improv session. He pretty much carried and you played off of him pretty well. The teacher saw the potential between the two of you and ended up pairing each other for almost every project. Let's just say the two of you ended up with easy As.

You met Schlatt in your English class. Your class was reading The Great Gatsby and Schlatt always had something to say. He would also crack jokes but his would be darker. You would roll your eyes and chuckle at every quip he threw out, finding him annoyingly funny. When seats were rearranged, you two sat at the same table. Your other tablemates were never in class so you two were pretty much left to your own devices. At first, he would play devil's advocate to piss you off, making it hard to get any work done. Slowly but surely, you two were able to get along when it came to what you were passionate about.

And finally, Charlie. You met Charlie in your chemistry class. Your schedule had to be changed since you weren't given the right science class. You were sat at a table with only one student there, Charlie. He was a jokester and got scolded for talking in class. The teacher had hoped that you would straighten him out a little. With all that pressure on you, you assumed Charlie was a bad kid. When you watched him work, you realized that he has a knack for comedy and is really smart. You ended up opening to him more and became more comfortable around him.

One day, you were in line waiting for lunch. They were having your favorite and you honestly needed a pick me up. While in line, you were shoved into someone. You almost fell and the weight of your backpack wasn't helping. You were ready to just give up and cry till the person you ran into stepped back and held your shoulders. "Are you okay?" You looked up and saw Charlie, concern written all over his face. "It's been a rough morning." He nodded slowly and helped you move through the line. The two of you grabbed lunch and walked out of the cafeteria. Before you could scout out your own table to sit at, Charlie offered you a seat at his table.

At first, you didn't want to bother him. He had his own friends and you didn't want to intrude on that. But the smile he gave you made you give in. You followed Charlie to his table and were pleasantly surprised to see Ted, Schlatt, and a few other faces you sort of recognized. You sat down awkwardly, giving yourself enough space from the others. Not that you didn't like them, it was that you had never talked to any of them outside of the classroom. Little did the four of you know, this was going to be the beginning of a brilliant friendship.

You four end up eating lunch together more often till it becomes a daily thing

The first 'outside school' thing you guys do is study. I know it sounds boring but it was for a test you all had

So you two went to Charlie's house and studied. Well, kind of studied

It was the four of you goofing off while trying to get work done. It was a good time

You four have your own inside jokes that nobody understands

You know some of the bits from Chuckle Sandwich? You're in on them and you two reference those inside jokes all the time

The first birthdays in the friend group were chaotic. You guys had birthday bashes and spent most of the time playing video games and just hanging out

On days when one of you isn't feeling good, the other's will ditch class and focus on whoever doesn't feel good and try their best to raise the mood

Charlie got stung by a stingray and freaked you guys out

Like, how does one react in a calm manner when one of their best friends gets hurt in such a way

Most of the time, it's Ted and Schlatt trying to convince you and Charlie to ditch. It's always for some dumb reason too. Like Schlatt is hungry or Ted wants to sneak into the cafeteria to get milk cause he didn't get any at breakfast.

Sometimes, you guys will leave school early and play DND at Charlie's house. He teaches you guys and he is SO proud. The campaigns you guys play are so fun and you always have a good time.

Now, sometimes Schlatt gets invited to parties by his friends (Wilbur, Dream, Skeppy, Quackity) and spreads the invitation along

Most of the parties consist of loud music and drinking (pretty boring in my opinion)

So when you guys go, you hang out with other people

You usually sit and chat with Sapnap and Punz, watching them stroke each other's egos with a smirk and an eye roll

Schlatt is egging people on to do stupid shit while Ted is trying his very best to get Schlatt to stop

Charlie is just laughing at everything, especially when someone does something stupid

Honestly, you four have gotten caught doing stupid shit on campus. Here are some examples: Talking too loud in the library, stealing drinks from vending machines, accidentally breaking a printer, making those sticky note window art stuff, trying to highjack the speakers and play music, somehow playing apex on school computers, and the list goes on.

But at the end of the day, these three idiots are your best friends and you wouldn't change it for the world

[helloalycia]

worth the wait [one] // daisy johnson

summary: when your best friend, Skye, keeps running away from home, you're left to deal with the consequences, but then one day, she doesn't come back.

warning/s: mentions of unwanted foster kids

author’s note: this is a five parter and each chapter is quite long bc i got carried away. i've literally been working on this for so long so i hope there's still some daisy johnson stans out there to appreciate this!

part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | masterlist | wattpad

"She's the only person she talks to... doesn't listen to anyone... just try..."

I twiddled my thumbs as I refrained from rolling my eyes. Mr Lock was pretty stupid if he thought I couldn't hear him with the door slightly ajar.

"...can't do much... good student?"

"She'll tell you what she knows," I heard Mr Lock say more clearly, to the police officer, before the door got pushed open.

I glanced at him as he feigned a smile for my sake, making his way over to his desk and sitting opposite me. The police officer followed after him, taking a seat at the edge of the desk and watching me with curious eyes like she was studying my every move.

"As you are probably aware, Miss Y/L/N, your friend Skye has gone missing," Mr Lock began to explain. "Her foster family have tried contacting her, but they can't find her."

I felt nervous with the police officer watching me, trying not to glance her way for fear she'd know I was hiding something.

"We just want to bring her home safely," Mr Lock continued. "And you're the closest person to her."

It wasn't a question – he knew I was the closest person to her. We'd done this back and forth many times before, every time Skye decided to run away. And it didn't get any easier.

I swallowed hard. "If you're asking me if I know where she is, I can promise you I don't."

Technically I wasn't lying, so that wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Have you had any contact with her since yesterday morning?" the police officer asked.

I shook my head and tried to ignore how warm I was getting. "I usually meet her by the entrance before class, but she wasn't there. I thought she was just pulling a sick day or something."

The officer hummed in response and the way she didn't give away what she was thinking didn't help with my nerves.

"So, you know nothing of Skye's disappearance?" Mr Lock asked with a raised eyebrow. "Anything you can tell us will be greatly appreciated. Her family just want her home and we all want her to be safe. You know the drill."

"I want that, too," I lied as confidently as I could. "You know she's done this before... she'll come back. She always does."

Mr Lock sighed and rested his head in his hands; he was clearly exhausted from having this same chat with me every few months Skye decided to leave.

"I think that's everything," the police officer said, before standing up straight. She glanced at me, adding, "Thank you for your cooperation. Please let your teacher know if you hear anything from her."

I nodded awkwardly. "Will do."

Mr Lock stood up, hand on his hip with mild frustration. He nodded my way and waved a hand dismissively. "Okay, you can go now, Y/N. Back to class, go on."

I nodded and looked between them both before grabbing my backpack and heading to the door. I could hear them talking quietly though, and felt mildly guilty for lying.

"...does this regularly now," the police officer was saying. "She'll turn up."

"She's wasting our time," Mr Lock was mumbling. "She always does this and for what?"

I sighed inwardly before leaving his office and heading back to class. I continued on with my school day as normal, up until lunchtime when I got a message from Skye herself.

Heading to the toilets to ensure nobody would see me, I slipped into a cubicle and pulled out the burner phone Skye gave me the first time she ever ran away a few years ago. She was always cautious of being caught out but still wanted to be able to contact me, so this was her solution. I didn't argue it as I only ever wanted to make sure she was okay and I could at least talk to her.

She'd texted me, it reading: Meet me by the ice cream truck in the park after school.

I was relieved to know she was okay, since it was the first text she'd sent me since she left yesterday morning. But it was frustrating that she'd disregarded my many concerned texts before that.

With a huff, I replied: I'm doing good, thanks for asking. You could've texted sooner, Skye.

It took a moment before she responded. Sorry, mom

I rolled my eyes, knowing she'd have that annoyingly cute smile on her face as she texted from wherever the hell she was.

Another text came through from her. Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Everything cool with the cops?

I sighed and hastily replied: Everything is as cool as it can be. I'll talk to you later when I see you. You safe?

Every time she left, she came back without a scratch to my relief, but it didn't make me feel any better when she would leave again and again. Running was her way of rebelling against everything – the countless foster families she went through, the teachers who ridiculed her, the other students who judged her. I didn't know where she went – it would change every time and I was sure she was making it up to make me feel better – but I covered for her because I cared about her and didn't want her to push me away like she did with everyone else. It was getting old though.

Her text came through and the heaviness on my shoulders lifted with relief. I'm always safe. But thanks for caring.

I always care. You know that.

I do. I'll see you later, Y/N. Love you.

I love you, too. See you later.

She stopped responding and I put the phone away before taking a deep breath. Seventeen and Skye had me feeling like a soldier's wife at freakin' war. She was gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.

—

"Over here."

I spun around and felt my racing heart calm down when I saw the familiar teasing smile of Skye watching me behind the abandoned ice cream truck.

"You're okay," I breathed out with relief before moving forward and pulling her in for a tight hug.

She laughed but wrapped her arms around me, squeezing gently. "I always am, I told you."

I refrained from rolling my eyes as I pulled away, meeting her gaze. "I'll always worry, Skye."

Momentarily, her playful demeanour disappeared and was replaced with something genuine. "I know... sorry. Thanks for coming."

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Skye, you can't keep running away like this. Mr Lock called me in again. Thinks I know where you are. Says your family are worried."

Skye snorted as she took a seat on the bench nearby. "They're probably throwing a party in my absence. This is just protocol for them. All of them."

I watched her with a pitiful gaze before taking a seat next to her. "The police came again."

"But you covered, right?" Skye asked with a quirked brow.

"Obviously," I said, making her smile, but I didn't return it. "I hate lying to them. It makes me feel... dirty."

"It's not like you're hiding the location of a war criminal, Y/N, chill," she teased, patting my knee.

"Where were you this time?" I asked, afraid to know the answer.

A grin appeared on her lips with remembrance as she reached into her backpack, pulling out a laptop.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Where d'you get that?" 

She seemed proud as she said, "I won it in a bet."

"Skye!"

"What? It was fair play and I happened to win," she said with a shrug.

I facepalmed. "Skye, if you needed a laptop, you should've asked. I could have asked my parents or– or– I don't know–"

"What? Fundraised for the poor foster girl in class who can't buy a laptop like everyone else?" she cut me off bitterly, before replacing the laptop in her bag. "I'd rather not."

I frowned, moving to rest a hand on her back, but she shook me off harshly before standing up.

"Skye, I didn't mean it like that," I said apologetically, standing up, too. "I just meant– I could have helped. I want to help. I don't want you to have to make bets to get stuff. I just want you to be safe."

Skye and I becoming friends was something I never could have seen coming, but when we were partnered in science class in middle school, we kind of just fell into each other's lives. I knew of her situation with her many foster families and always knew she deserved better. Sometimes though, I think she felt the difference in our lives when it came to little things like buying stuff, and I hated it.

"Skye–"

"It's okay," she interrupted, glancing at me with sad eyes. "I know you want to help. But I'm okay."

Treading carefully, I asked, "Where did you go then?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "Library."

I narrowed my eyes. "You expect me to believe that?"

She met my eyes and shrugged. "You don't have to, but it's the truth."

I couldn't be bothered arguing with her, so I simply played along. "Fine. You went to the library and won a bet with someone, getting their laptop."

"Exactly."

I gave her a knowing look. "When are you coming back? To school?"

She was about to respond, but her phone vibrated and she checked it quickly, her eyes lighting up. I tried not to roll my eyes at her change of mood, not wanting to imagine the bond she'd made with her new friends.

She finally answered. "A few days, I promise."

It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, so I nodded. "Okay. A few days. You'll keep in touch though, yeah?"

"I will, I promise," she said with a small smile before moving forward and hugging me tightly. "Thanks, Y/N."

I sighed but returned her hug, knowing I couldn't stay mad at her for long. "Just please take care of yourself, Skye. And if you need anything – and I mean anything – just ask. Unfortunately, I have a soft spot for your dumbass."

She laughed and admittedly, my stomach did somersaults at the sound. She pulled away but kept within arm's reach, allowing me to see the honesty shining in her brown eyes.

"I'll see you in a few days," she promised. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I replied, watching as she stepped back to leave.

She sent a final smile my way before running away, leaving me standing there alone and with a worried heart.

"More than you'll know," I muttered to myself, knowing I could never tell her how I truly felt.

—

"Won't your mum kill you for this?"

I shrugged, leading Skye through the the party-goers and to the kitchen where the drinks were. "She's okay with it because she knows I'm responsible. Plus, I promised her I wouldn't get drunk."

Skye let out a laugh. "Right. You're at a high school party and you're not gonna drink. That's totally happening."

I poured myself and Skye a drink as I quirked a brow. "I never said I wasn't going to drink. Just that I wouldn't get drunk. There's a difference, Skye."

She seemed impressed as she nodded. "Sneaky."

I was invited to this party by some girl in class and thought it would be nice for Skye and I to go to since it had been a while since we'd hung out. She didn't want to go at first, but after a little convincing on my end, she joined me.

We ended up staying there for about an hour when Skye needed to go to the bathroom and I decided to grab a snack from the kitchen. As I was browsing the bowls and considering whether I wanted to risk grabbing food from a shared bowl, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind me.

When I turned, I was surprised to see a very tall guy stood there with a smirk on his face.

"It's Y/N, right?" he began the conversation, before suddenly raising his hand and reaching for something in my hair. "Sorry, you had some fluff there."

I smiled awkwardly and pushed my hair behind my ear. "Er, thanks. Yeah, I'm Y/N. I'm sorry, I don't think I recognise you."

He shook his head. "I didn't think you would. We don't go to the same school. I saw you walking around and thought I'd introduce myself."

"Oh, er..." I didn't know what to say as I wasn't really interested in his clear advances.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked suddenly, still smirking at me.

"I already have one," I said conclusively, before aiming to move past him, but he put his arm in the way. I looked at it before raising my eyebrow at him. "You gonna let me go?"

He snickered. "Come on, just let me get you a drink."

"I'm not interested," I told him straightforwardly before attempting to make another move, but he pushed me back gently. "Dude, come on."

"What's one drink gonna do?" he asked persistently (and annoyingly).

"I–"

"She said back off," another voice came out of nowhere, and suddenly Skye appeared and pushed the guy back harshly, stepping between us.

"Skye, I–" I began, but the guy was already glaring down at her with a fake smile on his lips.

"Or what?" he asked rhetorically.

She returned his glare and said nothing. I rested a hand on her arm and tried to tug her backwards, but she wasn't moving. Always the stubborn one.

"What are you gonna do, Skye?" he repeated with bitter humour. "You gonna call the cops? I heard they know you pretty well by now, don't they?"

"Don't speak to her like that," I said angrily, glaring at him.

He began to laugh, shaking his head, before finally walking away. I released a deep breath and watched as Skye turned around to face me.

"Are you alright?" I asked her gently, resting a hand on her arm as I found her eyes.

"Are you?" she countered, looking over me with concern. "That guy was a jackass."

"He was, but I had it under control," I said with reassurance, before downing the rest of my drink and throwing the cup in the bin. "You didn't need to step in."

"Uh, yeah, I did," she said, stepping in my line of sight. "He was a creep."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Okay, Skye, whatever you say. Thank you."

"You're welcome, now can we leave?"

I shoved her in the shoulder slightly. "We're not leaving. Not yet anyway. There's a foosball table in the other room I wanna play with and you're playing, too."

She sighed dramatically. "Fine."

I grinned at her before dragging her to the other room by her hand.

Another hour passed when I unfortunately began to feel the effects of my drink that I later came to learn was spiked by the arsehole who tried to hit on me. I wasn't particularly aware of my actions, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have done nor said half the things I did. Things like playing beer pong for the third time in a row and losing every game.

"It's just me an' you, Y/L/N," Kate, the girl I was playing with, said as we both a had a cup left. "Think you can win?"

I laughed as I rolled the ball between my fingers. "Third time's the charm...?"

The group of teenagers around us watched with anticipation as I aimed the shot up in my mind. It wasn't exactly helpful that I could barely stand up straight and my eyes were crossing over, making the cup move around slowly.

"One... two... three...," I counted down, before tossing the ball and watching it bounce off the side of the table and onto the floor. "Well, shit."

Everybody laughed as I ran a hand through my hair. Kate chuckled before grabbing the ball and lining it up. Miles better than I did, she aimed quickly and got it in the cup in one shot, resulting in cheers from everyone. I laughed and grabbed the cup, eyeballing the beer. I wasn't really a fan of beer, but a game was a game.

I downed the cup and pulled a face at how disgusting it tasted, before tossing the cup on the floor. I pushed away from the table I was leaning on, before falling back and hitting the floor, butt-first. I giggled to myself as I tried to stand up, but with great difficulty.

"Y/N, there you are!"

I looked up and lit up when I saw none other than Skye standing above me. She bent down and grabbed my hands before helping me stand up. I stumbled into her, but thankfully she caught my weight and let me lean on her for support.

"How did you get drunk so quickly?" she asked with surprise, leading me to the front door. "I've literally been with you. Until you ditched me twenty minutes ago which wasn't cool since I only came to this stupid party because of you."

I laughed. "I'm sorry. I saw the ping pong table and couldn't resist."

She sighed to herself before leading me outside. "You smell like alcohol."

"That's because I had some," I whispered not-so-quietly in her ear, before erupting into giggles.

"I gotta get you home," she mumbled, before searching my pockets. "Where are your keys?"

"My mum is gonna k-kill me," I realised, but a dopey smile was on my lips. "You have to sleepover."

She found my keys and began leading me to my car. "I'm gonna have to, aren't I? So much for not getting drunk."

I covered my mouth to try and stop the laughter from spilling out. She didn't seem amused as she managed to get me into the passenger's seat before rounding the car to the driver's seat. When she got comfortable, I watched her with a childish grin.

"You can't drive," I said in a know-it-all voice. "You didn't pass your test, silly."

She started the engine and began doing her mirror checks before pulling out, muttering, "Nobody has to know."

I watched as she drove, feeling exhausted but lighter than usual. She looked really pretty tonight. I wanted to tell her when we went to the party, but I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Now however, it was all I could think about and my heart was fluttering at the thought.

"Here, drink this," she ordered, before throwing a bottle of water into my lap.

"But–"

"No buts, just drink it," she said authoritatively, glancing at me.

I didn't want to argue with her, so I began opening the bottle as I giggled to myself. "You said butts."

She groaned to herself and I drank the water as instructed, even if I really didn't want to.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at my house and Skye was helping me to the door.

"Your mum knows you're coming back late, so this shouldn't be a problem," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "Try not to make noise though, okay?"

I nodded obediently, before putting my finger to my mouth. "Sshhhh. Quiet."

She rolled her eyes before using my keys to open the door and drag me inside. I stayed as quiet as I could, letting her take me upstairs and to my room. Only, before we could go in, I heard my mum call out for me.

"Y/N, love, is that you?"

I stared blankly at Skye as she gave me a knowing look with wide eyes, nodding. I continued staring at her as my mum called my name again.

"Answer her!" she whisper-shouted to me.

"But you said to stay quiet," I said with confusion.

She facepalmed. "Just answer her," she said with frustration.

"Well then, no need to get crabby," I mumbled before calling out to mum, "It's me, mum! Skye and I are back!"

There was a pause before she called back, "Okay! Make sure you lock the front door!"

I snickered to myself as Skye shoved me into my bedroom before I could reply.

"Will do, Mrs Y/L/N!" Skye called out before slipping into my room with me.

She flicked on the light as I flopped onto my bed with a satisfied sigh. Suddenly, something was tossed onto my face making me groan as I pulled them off. I realised they were pyjamas.

"Get changed. Now."

I sat up and saw Skye watching me with a stern expression. I couldn't help but smile to myself, giggling. She looked really cute when she pretended to be angry.

"Y/N," she warned.

"I'm not tired," I lied, standing up. I wanted any excuse to keep on talking to her.

"I don't care," she said with a shrug. "You're going to bed whether you like it or not."

"But I wanna talk to you," I whined like a child, before moving forward to grab her hand.

She let go and gently pushed me to the bed. "Don't be a baby, Y/N."

I hugged her quickly, smiling to myself. "Thank you for being here. And for coming with me tonight."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"I'm serious," I said, pulling away and almost falling backwards, but she held me upright. "Thanks."

Her expression softened. "Unfortunately, that's what friends are for, Y/N. I wasn't gonna leave you."

I breathed out, momentarily startled by her sharp gaze. She had the most beautiful eyes, I always thought it. Somehow, she had the power to make me freeze up and forget everything I was thinking or going to say and I never knew why.

"I love you," I said truthfully, not caring what I was saying and too overcome with emotion to care.

She rolled her eyes, a smile of amusement dancing on her lips. "You gotta keep it down, Y/N."

I smiled widely. "But I do."

She gave me a knowing look. "I know you do. And I love you, too, but you have to get ready. Tomorrow morning is not gonna be kind to you."

"No, you don't get it, I really love you, Skye," I said, my mouth going dry as I stared at her with butterflies in my stomach.

"I know," she played along, patting me on the shoulder. "You done, idiot?"

"I'm in love with you," I blurted suddenly, smile disappearing. I stared at her, trying to ignore the blurriness in my vision. "I always have been."

Her smile seemed to fade when she realised how serious I had become. She licked her lips and shook her head slowly, lowering her hands.

"You don't know what you're saying, Y/N," she said quietly.

I grew distracted by her lips, barely acknowledging what was coming out of her mouth. "I do," I told her.

She didn't know what to say, and before I knew it, I had moved forward and pressed my lips to hers. It was something I'd wanted to do for so long and now that I was finally doing it, my shoulders felt lighter as if I wasn't carrying a huge secret on them anymore.

I closed my eyes and momentarily felt her kiss back, hands resting on my chest. It didn't last very long as she gently pushed me away, leaving me face to face with her flushed cheeks and swollen lips. I was sure I didn't look any different.

"You're drunk," she stated awkwardly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and began to come to terms with what I'd just done, what I'd just ruined. I stepped back and shook my head.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and began to come to terms with what I'd just done, what I'd just ruined. I stepped back and shook my head.

"I'm so sorry, Skye. I–"

"It's okay," she reassured me. "Please, let's just get you ready for bed, okay?"

I avoided her eyes as I nodded, feeling my heart ache with discomfort.

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't remember much from the night before. At least not straight away. All I had to remind me of it was an insane headache that wouldn't go away and a rancid taste in my mouth. Thankfully, Skye caught me up with how drunk I was and how she had to stay with me to cover for me before she left me to shower and freshen up.

Unfortunately for me, showering and freshening up gave me enough time to remember parts of the night before, including the main bit where I kissed my best friend and expressed my feelings for her.

To say I was freaking out was an understatement. I couldn't believe I had done the very thing I had avoided for years. Seeing her at the breakfast table made me wonder why she hadn't mentioned it. Was she embarrassed? Did she want to pretend it never happened? Was she uncomfortable?

I wasn't sure whether to go along and pretend I couldn't remember it, or admit the truth and apologise profusely. In the end, I ended up doing the latter.

We were eating pancakes that she'd made with my mum as I spoke up.

"So, I, er, I'm kinda remembering some stuff from last night," I said awkwardly, glancing up at her.

She slowed down with her eating, avoiding my eyes. "You do?"

I nodded, looking back down to my food. "Yeah. Particularly the, well, I–"

"You don't have to say it," she assured me, and I looked up to see her watching me with a small smile.

"I'm really sorry," I got out with a deep breath. "I don't know why I did that. Or said those things. It was stupid."

"It was?"

"You should've left after that, but you didn't for some reason," I continued with a grimace of embarrassment. "We can totally pretend it didn't happen."

She chewed on the inside of her mouth as she nodded slowly in agreement. I nodded, too, eyes falling to my pancakes.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "And thank you for making sure I was okay. You're a really great friend."

She smiled at me with distracted eyes. "Anytime, Y/N."

[ailelie]

more summaries and reviews of books that don't exist

These are the last three titles friends provided. I wrote a summary or review of books as I imagined them.

In Glorious Repose

Before the Moon

A Melancholy Madman Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb

Summaries are below the cut.

In Glorious Repose

This nonfiction book is a wonderful and extremely well-written exploration of burial customs across the world and time. The best part, however, are the photographs. Sure, a lot are of the well-known famous graves, but a big chunk are more humble sites with some feature of note (e.g., epitaph, statuary, etc). Alternative practices such as donating your body to science and creating online memorials on social media are also explored. The book also includes a brief aside on autopsy and why families seek to find answers.

What really elevates the book, though, is its focus on the living and why we engage in such elaborate rituals with our dead. It discusses our hopes and fears for the afterlife and how we memorialize our loved ones. Death is part of life. These customs and practices aren't for the dead, but for those of us who remain behind. This isn't merely a ghoulish travelogue of gravesites. It is a celebration of living on after loss both personal and cultural.

One chapter that really stuck out to me was on Facebook memorial pages. The author interviewed a young woman who lost her best friend when they were still in college. The woman has, for years now, returned to the page yearly to post an update about her life. After the first couple years, the deceased's parents noticed the posts and reached out. The young woman now visits them whenever she stops back in her hometown. The author discussed how death can bring people together.

There was another story in a similar vein about a family in which the youngest daughter had long been at odds with her parents and hadn't been home in years. When her great-grandmother died, she returned home for the funeral and was able to reconcile with her parents and siblings. It wasn't immediate, but the lines of communication were open again and they had another chance at being a family.

It is a beautiful book in multiple ways. I definitely recommend reading it.

Before the Moon

All right. The first basic conceit of the stories is that each one completes the phrase "Before the Moon" with a different word or phrase. So you have "Before the Moon Was," "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg," "Before the Moon Rises," "Before the Moon Dies," "Before the Moon Held Footprints" etc.

Some of the stories are fantasy. Some are just modern literature. A couple are science fiction. One is a script for a comic book.

The second conceit of the stories is that they're all about different members of the Mochizuki family (Note: The 'zuki' in their name means 'moon'). The stories aren't connected in any way except sometimes they'll reference people from other stories (or, more likely, anecdotes in other stories). One modern literature story talks about an "old family story" but the events described match those of one of the fantasy stories.

Naturally readers of the book have attempted to arrange the stories in chronological order, but the one that makes the most sense following the references places the far-future science fiction story solidly in the center, which has led some readers to suggest that the setting in that story is merely metaphor.

One of my favorites in the collection is "Before the Moon Tripped Over Itself" which seems, at first, to be a diary entry from teenaged Mochizuki Miyu (whose name also has 'moon' in it) and how she embarrassed herself in front of the boy she likes. But, if you read between the lines, it is a story about Miyu forcing herself to have a crush on a boy when she really wants to date the boy's one-year-younger sister. And then there's a third level because Miyu talks about a few events in passing, but her details *completely* change the tenor of "Before the Moon Rises" from a pretty placid, dull story to an utter brick of a tragedy. Neither story is sad, but when you put them together, the implications are amazing and horrifying.

Another thing that runs through comes from "Before the Moon Was" a Meiji-era story that is, itself, a collection of paragraph-long bedtime stories parents tell their children. The last bedtime story never gets finished for unknown reasons. This story comes after the halfway point. That last story, though, keeps popping up and has a different ending each time. The fate of the characters in each tacked-on ending matches the fate of a character in one of the stories in which the story *isn't* told. They all match up except for one. In the zany science-fiction story "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg" the bedtime story characters are murdered. The *only other* story that doesn't have a match is "Before the Moon Was" which, of course, implies that the reason the story is never finished is because the storyteller was murdered. And this family has, for centuries, been drawing on other family tales to finish it.

Then, of course, you go back to read "Before the Moon Was" and you begin to realize that the stories were the parents' way of warning the children away from someone dangerous and that the parents were probably aware that they were going to be murdered. It is another story whose tenor completely changes once you make the rather convoluted connection to "Before the Moon Cracked Like an Egg."

Overall an interesting collection. Each story works on its own, but when you put them together just right, magic happens.

A Melancholy Madman Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb

This doorstopper of a near-future science fiction novel is good if a bit predictable, but. Okay, so I can't talk about this without spoiling it. The story just ends. Like wham and done. No aftermath. No check for survivors. No epilogue. It just *stops.* And sometimes I think that is clever but most of the time it annoys the absolute hell out of me.

The novel has three groups of characters it follows.

The first centers of Xander, one of a group of soldiers on the moon. This group is tasked with overseeing the nuclear missiles on the moon that are forever aimed at US enemies on earth. It is heavily implied throughout that Xander is the titular madman. However, while these missiles do eventually go off, Xander actually tries to stop the end of the world from happening. Xander is an amazing character. He got into the military because it was his only option for college (middling grades, low income family, etc) and now wants out more than anything, but has to wait 2 more years. His family has no idea that he is stationed on the moon. Then his computer is hacked and he gains a nonmilitary window to life on earth and finally he can get the word out about the moon, find out how his family is doing, and so on. It is a much needed lifeline. ...we'll get back to that.

The second focuses on Elina Madden and her campaign staff as she runs for president of the United States. Her section is often humorous, but also gets grimmer later on as she learns about a secret cold war that has been going on. It is through her story that you learn that *no one knows* about the moon missiles. The military does. Presumably enemy nations do. But the general populace? Clueless. And Elina learns that there are forces trying their best to tip the world back into war. Elina is caught then with keeping up her campaign and just focusing on winning or redirecting her attentions to this threat she's learned about it. It is all hush-hush and scandals and, honestly, her sections are my favorite in the book.

The third focuses on Abram Holt who is a college sophomore and computer hacker. During a hack he finds out about the moon missiles and manages to become secret email pals with Xander. Other than that, Abram does nothing. He promises Xander to tell people about the missiles, get information about his family, etc. Abram, however, just feeds Xander lies. He is genuinely the worst. His story also focuses heavily on the journalism professor he has a crush on (Naomi Bennet). Abram considers giving Naomi his evidence about the missiles and Xander but then decides against it because she "doesn't deserve it" as she treats him like any other student. Again, Abram is the worst and incredibly self-absorbed. But Naomi is great and when she's involved we get a glimpse of how the presidential race is playing out among regular people. She also discusses rising tensions with other nations with her students. Abram, using knowledge he's gained from Xander, participates in these, hoping to catch Naomi's eye.

I hate that I've talked about him so much, but I feel like I have to justify his presence. It is a scifi novel and he's lost in 'why doesn't she like me' land. He should be trying to get the word out about the missiles and running into the conspiracy Elina has found herself in, but he refuses to act. He is too selfish to act.

Anyway, Xander is handling conflicts among his fellow soldiers and prevents an accident that would have launched the missiles. Elina is investigating the secret cold war and building up leverage to prevent it from heating up. And then Naomi rejects Abram. And Abram uses his existing connection to Xander's computer to launch the missiles.

And the story ends with Xander gaping in horror at the earth exploding.

And that's it. Everything. Just. Ends.

[blub-blup-bup]

Chapter One

"How was your day at school sweetie?" Inko Midorya asked. She stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to her son. "I'm almost done with dinner."

"That's good, I'm starving. I had to skip lunch to help Uraraka find her necklace." Deku said, his stomach agreeing to the promise of food. Inko sighed and patted his head.

"Your not going to grow any muscle if you keep skipping meals, darling." By the way Deku looked, skipping meals were becoming a habit. His studies and training have kept him from eating. She worried that he'll fatigue and wound up hurt.

"I know mama. I've just been so busy, I don't really have time to eat." Deku walked into the living room and set down on the couch. He was exhausted from school and didn't feel like standing up at the moment.

"Well, how about tonight you eat two portions instead of one? Sound good?" Inko asked, walking over to Izuku and giving a kiss on the head. She headed back to the kitchen after receiving a lazy nod.

Time passed slow, it was practically killing the boy. He didn't want to wait for food but knew his mom couldn't cook any faster. His stomach complained every second, sending pain and growling loud. He swear he heard his mom giggling after a particular loud growl.

"Mom, is the food almost done?" Izuku asked.

"Now, now. Don't be so impatient." She said. "It's got a few more minutes left, see?" She pointed to the clock on the microwave, which gave no indication of how much time was left. Izuku sighed and rolled onto his side. He grabbed the remote, turning the T.V. on, and flipping through random channels. He ended up stopping on a news program, which was reporting a break-in at the number one hero's, Endeavor Todoroki, agency.

Deku paid close attention as they went over potential suspects and showed viewable evidence. Midorya was curious as to who would want to break into the agency. It could have been the league of villains, but he had a feeling they weren't responsible.

"Dinners ready. Come get it while your still alive, you starved boy." Inko joked, setting the table.

Midorya reached for the remote, when he saw a black figure in the corner of the screen. It stood behind the reporter, seemingly staring into the camera. It sent a wave of shivers down the boys spine. He grabbed the remote quickly and paused the program.

"Momma, can you come here for a second?" He asked.

Inko walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What is it. New All Might merch?" She questioned. Deku shook his head and pointes to the paused figure. Ms. Midorya inspected the screen. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, seeing as how Izuku's finger blocked half of the object.

"Someones standing where the crime took place. Mom, we gotta tell someone." He shuffled through his pockets and pulled out his phone.

Since Deku moved his hand, Inko could clearly see the figure. She pulled her sleeve over her hand, using it to wipe the screen.

"What are you doing?" Deku asked, seeing his mom wiping the screen.

"Well, I was making sure it wasn't just a spot on the screen. I don't want to waste someone's time." She replied, putting her sleeve on normally and turning to her son. "Take a picture of it real quick." Deku obliged, pointing his phone to the screen and snapping a picture.

"Why do we need a picture?" Inko grabbed the remote and pushed play. The room filled with loud banging and screaming from the t.v. The two stood in horror as they watched people run away from the exact spot the figure stood, only a few moments ago.

"Oh no. What happened?" Inko said, worried about all the children she could see, and hear, from the screen. "Where are the heros?" She asked, watching as a child was thrown across the street. Inko had to turn her head, the scene hit too close to home.

Midorya pulled his mother into a comforting embrace. "I'm sure they'll be safe. I can see a few not allowed to use their quirks. The heros are taking action." Deku assured, gently rubbing his mother's back. She turned to look back at the screen. It showed the underground hero, Aizawa Shota, holding off the attacks. The villains that were able to leak through Aizawa's defence, were immediately faced with the voice hero, Present Mic.

Inko sighed and turned off the t.v. "We should eat dinner while it's still warm." Her enthusiasm from earlier was gone. Midorya nodded and followed his mom to the dinner table. They ate in silence, not having much to say.

Dinner went by and Inko shoed Midorya off to his room. He was to do his homework and get some rest. Of course, like the respectful child he is, Midorya started his homework as soon as he entered his room. It was simple homework, seeing as class was simply taking notes and answering a few questions.

Deku was half way done with his science work, when he received a message from Todoroki.

____________________________________________

Todoroki:

Hey, is it alright if I borrow your notes tomorrow? I dropped water on mine.

Sent at 8:54pm

Midorya:

Sure thing. I'll make a copy so you can keep them.

Todoroki:

Thank you and there's no need to make a copy. I'll do that myself.

Midorya:

How you going to stop me through text?

Todoroki:

Midorya.

Midorya:

Fine. I'll just make an extra copy for myself. See, not for you. It just so happens that the extra copy, for myself, are to be given to you.

Todoroki:

Fine. Since I can't stop you, go ahead and do if you want. Just make sure it doesn't bother your schedule.

Midorya:

Okay. See you tomorrow, Todoroki-Kun.

Todoroki:

Alright. See you tomorrow.

Seen at 9:03pm

____________________________________________

Midorya turned his phone off and grabbed the notes out of his bag. He set it to the side of his desk, so he would remember to do it later. Getting back to work, Deku's mind filled with many thoughts about scientific knowledge.

A knock on his door disrupted him, as his mom walking into his room. "Hey, sweetie. I wanted to tell you that there were no casualties in the attack. A few were injured but they will survive." Inko said, walking over to him and patting his head. Midorya gave her a relieved smile.

"That's good. I'm glad they're all safe." Deku said, turning back to his work. "I wish I was there to help." A thought crossed his mind but he shook it away, knowing there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to deluded his head with impossible fantasies. Just because he had All Might's quirk, didn't mean he could suddenly preform heroics much larger then the man himself.

"Impossible hope."

He knew it was useless to get there and save everyone, but he used it as inspiration. It sounds odd but Izuku liked to use situations he had no control over, and strive to grow into a hero that could at least save one person. He wanted to save everyone and to achieve his goal, he needed to start by saving one.

"Izuku?" Inko asked, gently shaking his shoulders. "Izuku, sweetie, your zoning out again."

He snapped out of his head and gave her a smile. "I'm sorry. I got distracted with my thoughts." He apologized. Inko stopped shaking him and patted his head. She told him it was okay and warned him about zoning out in difficult situations. She left soon after.

Izuku sighed and looked at the pile of work still on his desk. Giving a quick glance to his All Might themed clock, Izuku began finishing his homework, writing a copy of notes for Todoroki, and rewriting them in a neater style. He didn't want to hand Todoroki notes he couldn't read.

All finished for the night, Deku stood up and stretched. He walked over to his door, heading out into the hallway and looking for his mother. He found her sitting in the living room, folding clothes and watching the news. Izuku smiled and set next to her, grabbing a shirt and helping his mother fold the laundry.

"Izuku, you should be heading to bed soon. It's been a long day." She told him. Deku nodded and held his mother in a hug, laying his head against her. "I'm so lucky to have a child who tolerates hugs." She whispered loud enough for Midorya to hear.

"I know, I'm just so amazing." Deku couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"You silly goose." Inko chuckled, pulling out of the hug. "Off you now." she said, ushering Deku back to his room. The boy simply obliged, he didn't need anyone to tell him to sleep, just standing was a workout at this point.

"Night Night, Momma." He called out over his shoulder as he walked away. He could hear Inko's response when he turned into his room. Deku shut the door behind him and immediately flopped down on his bed, already getting lost in dreams.

[To Be Continued]

Word Count: 1,539

Chapter Count: 1/21

Time Count: ≈35-40mins

Author's Note: My Human Geography teacher got quarantined. :))