#and the telescope she got me by the front door. and her cane by her memorial

[nyelaexe]

Everywhere I look in my house I see something my mom gave me. Or something that belonged to her

[thescarletnargacuga]

Love your series….ever thought about writing a oneshot of Caine and Pomni being nervous on their first date?? Just an idea! 😁

AN: And it's a lovely idea! Two nervous beans coming right up! I'm glad you like my Raceway series, it's fun to write!

ART BY: @waffle-gal

DATE NIGHT

WARNING: gets a teensy bit suggestive at the end out of context

~~~

"Ow!" Pomni cried as Ragatha brushed her hair. "Are you trying to scalp me? Ease up."

"Sorry, I'm just so excited for you! You and Caine, finally on a date. Took you two long enough." Ragatha set the hairbrush down on the vanity and touched up Pomni's makeup.

"We've been out together before, just the two of us." Pomni adjusted the blue evening gloves that matched her ankle length dress. "It's really not that different." She was telling herself that, more than anyone else, to ease her nerves.

"Not that different!?" Gangle nearly dropped the gold necklace she was putting around Pomni's neck. "It's entirely different! You two agreed to a date. This isn't just you two hanging out. You're going to get closer romantically, not just as friends." She clasped the necklace in place and picked out some gold bracelets.

Pomni's stomach did a backflip. "It's just dinner. He doesn't even eat, we'll probably talk the whole time. We already do that. No big deal." She smiled nervously at herself in the mirror and squeezed the red shawl in her lap, trying to remain calm.

~

Caine floated with his hands on his hips in front of his closet in his dressing room. He stared at the line of tailcoats, all the same bright scarlet. His tie hung loosely around his neck. "Ugh! I don't know what to wear!" He dramatically threw his arms up. "It needs to be perfect! Pomni deserves nothing less! Presentation matters!"

He snapped his fingers and a coat appeared on his body. It looked the same as it always did. "Nope!" He snapped again, it turned green. "Nope!" Again, pink. "Fashionable! But no." Again, yellow. "No." Again, blue. "Definitely not!" Again, black. "Well, now! This is classy!"

He looked himself over in a floor length mirror, spinning his body 360° without moving his head. He snapped and his buttons and tie fastened themselves, and a red cummerbund accented his waist. "Now I just need my accessories!" He took one look around. "Hey! Who's got my hat?"

Bubble floated to him from inside an oversized toy box, wearing his top hat. "Look! I'm the ringmaster! Pomni, Pomni, Pomni!" Bubble danced around in the air mockingly.

Caine rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha. Gimme that." He snatched his hat from Bubble and adjusted it on top of his head perfectly. He clapped his hands together and his cane telescoped out of his palms, he gave it a twirl for good measure. "How do I look?" He posed for Bubble.

"Like a [%$!#]." Bubble grinned.

Caine didn't know what else he expected. "Well, I can always count on you for an honest opinion." He popped Bubble with the end of his cane and took one more look at himself. "I just hope Pomni likes it."

He had it all planned out. He'd pick her up from her room in the tent, take her to a really nice restaurant he fabricated himself, then a romantic moonlit stroll in the garden terrace. He could do this. Consider it a special adventure. No need to be nervous. Not at all. Nope.

He was grateful he couldn't sweat.

~

Pomni paced by her door inside her room, holding her shawl around her shoulders like it would protect her from the anxiety tearing through her system. If she could go through the whole night without vomiting, it would be a miracle.

"I really will be alright, Pomni. You don't have anything to worry about. It's obvious to everyone that Caine likes you. You should try to relax and enjoy yourself." Ragatha tried to be reassuring but Pomni was practically vibrating with anxiety.

"But what if I mess it up!?" Pomni blurted out. "What if he realizes just how...how weird I am!?

The girls almost laughed. Ragatha put a hand on Pomni's shoulder to stop her from wearing a hole in the floor. "This is Caine we're talking about. If anything, he'll have to be the one to dial back the weirdness to not scare you away."

"No, no, not weird as in wacky. Weird as in awkward mess of a human being!" Pomni would have continued ranting about herself but the knock at her door silenced her.

"He's here!" Ragatha squealed. She and Gangle made sure Pomni was ready last second and hid behind the door.

Pomni opened it to see Caine in his sleek black suit; hat in hand, cane under his arm. Her eyes went wide as she looked him up and down shamelessly. "Wow.." she cleared her throat. "Hello, Caine. You look great." She smiled and stepped out of her room, leaving the door cracked. The girls inside peeked.

Caine clutched his hat to his chest. His pupils dilated as he took her in, from her red heels to her blue dress to her makeup. He committed every detail to memory. "Pomni... you're somehow more gorgeous than the last time I saw you! How did you do that!? Do you have special powers I don't know about!?"

Pomni knew her cheeks were going to be warm the whole evening, but she didn't think she'd want to dunk her face in cold water so soon. She looked down and picked at her gloves. "No, uh, Ragatha and Gangle helped..."

Caine flew around her, trying to see her at all angles. "However you did it, you look fantastic, my dear! Are you ready for our date?" He put his hat back on and offered her his arm.

Pomni gave a small smile and put her arm in his. "Yeah, let's go." Her stomach fluttered, full of butterflies. Caine being his usual boisterous self actually helped her feel at ease. If he could be confidently weird, maybe she could too.

Caine snapped and they teleported out of the tent. Pomni blinked and she was in a softly lit restaurant. All of the staff and patrons were the typical faceless NPCs, including the full orchestra performing on stage at the end of the grand ballroom sized room.

"Woah..." Pomni looked up and the ceiling was ornately painted. It looked like an A.I. generated oil painting, but it was nice nonetheless. A huge diamond chandelier glowed from the center of the room. A small two-seated table directly under the chandelier was the only one empty.

Caine smiled to himself as he watched Pomni take in the atmosphere. "I assume you approve?"

"Absolutely, I do. This place is so fancy."

"Only the best for you, my dear. I made sure of that." He escorted her to the table and her chair pulled out with a wave of his hand.

Pomni settled into the comfortable chair. The table had a white cloth and a vast array of cutlery. It looked like it had a special fork or spoon for every different type of food.

Caine sat but still hovered over the seat of the chair. He left his cane mid air and placed his hat on top of it like a hatrack. He took an inner sigh of relief. So far, so good. She likes the setting! She's absolutely stunning! They were on a date! ...now what?

Pomni made eye contact with Caine. They smiled at each other but neither said a word right away. They took in the general feel of their surroundings and decided it was a good one.

"So wha-"

"How-

They spoke at the same time and had a good laugh over it.

"You first." Pomni said.

"Nonsense, my dear. You go ahead."

"Oh, I was just going to ask what adventures you've been working lately."

"Now, now." He wagged a finger. "No spoilers. However, I will give you a hint. I've really been itching to do more underwater themes."

"Like reefs? Those colorful and vibrant coral habitats?" Pomni said hopefully. She grimaced at the thought of being under deep water.

"...that would probably be a better idea. Maybe I could make one big enough for the multi-whale." He tapped his "chin" in contemplation.

"The what, now?"

"No spoilers!" He snapped his fingers and a waiter came by the table and poured drinks. "Now, my turn. How do humans do this?" He leaned against the table.

"Do what?" Pomni took a sip of what was, at least presented as, wine.

"Date. What's the protocol? I wasn't programmed with this in mind. I, quite literally, have no idea what I'm doing. This-" he gestures to the whole room. "-was a mixture of background settings and NPC presets. So, how do humans, uh...what's the word I'm looking for here? Consummate?"

Pomni did a spit take. She coughed and spluttered and wiped her face with a napkin. "No. No, that's not the word. How do you even know that word? Never mind. Dating is a more intimate form of social bonding. Where two people get to know things about the other that would go deeper than just friendship." She surprised herself with her answer, it was very concise.

"I see. So, we should tell each other things we haven't shared with others? Like secrets?" He liked that idea.

"Pretty much." Pomni shrugged.

"Would you like to proceed?"

"Uhhh, how about turns? We could make a game of it."

"NOW you're speaking my language!" Cane rubbed his hands together.

Pomni giggled at how excited he suddenly got at the mere mention of a game. "Okay, it's called two truths and a lie. We tell each other three facts about ourselves, but one of them isn't true. You try to guess which one, and you win if you figure it out. But this game is more about the stories attached to the facts than actually winning anything. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does! I'll start!" He held up his fingers. "I was trademarked by C&A Tech Industries cerca 1997. I had a humanoid face, my current look is actually a permanent graphical glitch. And Bubble freaks me out."

Pomni thought for a second. "Bubble doesn't freak you out. You love Bubble."

"Wrong!" He said a bit too loud. He coughed and hushed himself. "Bubble is creepy! And they say the most horrific things! It just goes to show how good of a performer I am that you believe otherwise." He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking smug that he fooled her.

"Wow! That's hard to believe, you have such a good stage presence together."

"We keep our beef off the stage. Anyway, yeah, the lie was my face. I was made to look this handsome on purpose." He winked.

That got a good laugh out of her. "You are uniquely handsome, I'll give you that."

"It's the pearly whites, isn't it? The ladies can't get enough of my smile."

"That they can't." She paused and stared for a moment. He was so easy to talk to, even if she didn't know what to say. Probably because he could talk enough for both of them, but it was nice all the same. She didn't know what she was so worried about earlier.

Caine cradled his chin in his hands and rested his elbows on the table. "You're turn." He was kicking his feet under the table. She had called him handsome. He was going to be riding that high for a while.

"Oh! Oh right. Uh, let's see... I don't like bananas. I can juggle. And I snort if I laugh too hard."

"If the third one is true Pomni, you know I'm gonna need to hear that cute little snort."

"Oh, it's not cute. Not even a little bit." She admitted.

"Ah-ha! So you DO snort laugh!"

"Wait, hey!"

Caine laughed hard enough to bring a tear to his eye. "Okay, okay, okay, so it's either bananas or juggling. Hmmm....you LOVE bananas."

"Nope." It was her turn to be smug. "Never liked them. They taste weird and have an even weirder texture. The lie was about juggling. I mean, have you met me? I had no coordination in these noodly limbs." Her cartoonish arms squiggled out to her side for emphasis.

He chuckled and took a deep breath. His ribs hurt from laughing. "You're hilarious, you know that?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "Do you know that you're really fun to be around? You bring so much energy into a room, even when you're not in show mode. You make me laugh. You make me...happy."

Caine sat upright. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest and held out a hand across the small table. She put her hand in his and he squeezed it gently. "You make me happy too, Pomni. Happier than I ever thought I could be."

Pomni felt warm and fuzzy too. She glanced at the side of the room that had huge glass doors viewing the garden outside. "How about we skip dinner? Take a walk with me?"

He didn't hesitate. He stood and continued to hold her hand as she joined him outside. His cane with his hat floated along behind them.

Outside was quiet, say for the sound of insects and nighttime birds. The warm light of the restaurant illuminated the courtyard. A fountain took center stage. Benches occupied the four corners. All of it was surrounded by the vibrant forest that was the garden. Colorful flowers and strange plants only parted for the narrow walkways. Fireflies danced their nightly ritual, giving the garden a mystical feel. The air felt cool underneath the late evening sky.

Caine took off his coat and draped it over Pomni's shoulders. "There you go. Can't have you catching chill."

Pomni hadn't stopped smiling most of the night, but this warmed her heart. Caine was the all powerful being of this realm. He could just change the temperature if he so desired, but instead he gives her his jacket. It felt so personal. "Who taught you this?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets. As far as you know, I'm just a regular Casanova." He leaned in with an exaggerated smolder in his eyes.

This made her go all shy. She gently pushed him away. "Don't ever make that face again."

"What? This face?" He did it again, but even more ridiculous. Sticking his tongue out as well.

She giggled. "Stop."

"Why Pomni? Don't you find dis attractive? Am I wooing you?" His face got even crazier.

She laughed harder. A small snort snuck out and she froze.

Caine stopped everything. Had he just heard what he thought he heard? "Yes! I did it!" He whooped and hollered, flying in a circle.

Pomni couldn't stop. He was making her laugh more and she snorted multiple times. Their laughter rang out into the night. Pomni became lightheaded from it and swayed. Caine held onto her but he himself was unsteady. They leaned on each other as they slowly caught their breaths.

Caine cupped her cheek and wiped away the happy tears running down her face. "You're laugh is the most beautiful sound in the world. Snort and all."

"Tell anyone about it and I'll deny it."

"Heh, our little secret then. A special laugh only I get to hear. I couldn't ask for more." He looked at her with softness in his eyes.

She stood close, her hands on his waist. He felt nothing short of lightning pass through him when she touched him. His gaze drifted to her lips. "Is it weird...that this didn't feel like a first date, Pomni?"

"No. Not weird at all." She instinctively got closer, keeping her eyes on his.

His other hand joined in on holding her face. He sounded out of breath. "Pomni...I want to kiss you."

"Then kiss me..." She whispered back. She waited to see what he would do. She had NO idea what he considered his own lips.

The tip of his tongue peaked out over the top of his bottom teeth. His bottom jaw puckered with his tongue and she got a lip lock of teeth and tongue. It was nothing short of magical. All the fireworks were going off in her head. Perhaps it was the digital world's doing or Caine's influence, she didn't care. Kissing him was full body euphoria.

They separated very briefly to look each other in the eye. They silently confirmed that they both had felt the same thing and immediately pulled each other back in. His hands supporting her back and neck as he leans into her, her arms fully wrapped around him.

~

Gangle and Ragatha played cards on the floor of Pomni's room. They wanted to be there to support her if things went tragically wrong. OR be the first ones Pomni spills all the datetime tea with. A snap sound outside the door makes them pause. They both scramble to the door and press their faces to it. They heard muffled voices on the other side.

"You were wonderful company, my dear. I look forward to our next outing. Rest well, and my apologies if I was a bit ... overenthusiastic. You're quite the rare delicacy." A quiet smooch sound. Gangle gasped, Ragatha slapped her hands over Gangle's mouth.

"I look forward to the next time too. And, don't apologize. I enjoyed myself. Goodnight, Caine."

Ragatha went as red as her hair. She heard Caine snap away and she flung the door open. Pomni jumped, not expecting the girls to still be up. Ragatha eyed the teeth marks on Pomni's ahoulder. "Tell. Us. Everything."

~~~

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, please leave a comment! 🙏

[lissy-strata]

Three Times Vicki Used Fire For Good and One Time She Didn’t

This is my Secret Santa gift for @austerlitzborodinoleipzig, who asked for Vicki being awesome. (I’ll post this to AO3 as soon as I can.) Merry Christmas! :D

1. Light

The cave was only marginally warmer than the outside, which was so cold one could toss out a pitcher of boiling water and it would freeze before it hit the ground. Like a dangerously enthusiastic snow globe, the wind blew the snow fiercely, making it almost impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. What little light could penetrate the thick clouds slipped inside the cave opening, waiting out the storm with the two shivering travelers inside.

Vicki’s fingers shook as she tried to tie the end of a string to a bow-shaped stick. The string wrapped around another stick once, then joined the other end of the bow. “There!” she said, succeeding in her task. “Now I just n-n-need some sort of f-f-f-flat rock or s-something for the t-t-top.” Feeling around on the ground, she found a small piece of bark.

Beside her, the Doctor was fumbling around in his pockets for something to use as kindling. Miraculously, they had wood. The cave was filled with bits of branches and sticks that had one way or another come in. Some of it was even dry enough to burn.

“Hmm...” He peered through his spectacles at a few crumpled sheets of paper. “No, not this one...must remember to return that to Mr. Jefferson. Ah, yes! This should do nicely.” He handed her one of the pages. It was brown with age.

Vicki looked at it. “S-symphony No. 10....is this Beethoven?”

The Doctor pocketed his glasses. “Only a fragment. Nobody will miss it. Besides, I told him the second movement needs tweaking...” he trailed off before seeming to remember the urgency of the task at hand. “Are we going to sit around chattering all day or are we going to make a fire?”

She tore the paper into tiny shreds and piled them up in a heap. The Doctor reached for the bow. “C-can’t I do it?” she asked.

“What do you know about fire starting?”

“I know enough. Ian s-s-showed me. B-back on J-J-Juno.” She put the end of the stick in the middle of the paper, held the bark between her palm and the top of the stick, and began moving the bow back and forth. “See? T-the string moves the st-st-stick faster and it should heat up the p-paper.”

The rapid movement also helped warm her up a bit. The Doctor didn’t seem to feel the cold the way she did.

He sat back and watched her in silence for a few seconds. “Chesterson saves us all with fire again...” he mused.

“What?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing child. Nothing. I was just thinking about another fire in another cave...”

“Was that with Susan?”

Silence.

“...How did you know that?” he whispered, almost hoarsely.

“Ian told me about it when he was showing me how to do this.” The tiniest wisp of smoke wafted up from below. “He said it was when he and Barbara first met you.”

“He did, did he?” The Doctor’s tone was defensive.

Vicki decided not to pursue that line of conversation. Instead, she said, “He told me about Susan.” More silence. The paper started to smolder slightly. “Was she really your granddaughter?”

There was a long pause. Silence, save for the sound of scraping wood. Her arm was starting to tire, but she was sure the paper would catch soon.

“Yes,” said the Doctor.

For an instant, she saw a look of terrible sadness flicker across his face. He quickly hid it away.

“Barbara said she fell in love.”

“Yes. She did. With a young man on Earth. And I...” the words hung in the air.

The paper caught fire.

Together, they carefully fed the little flames until they had a decent blaze going. Vicki pulled her mittens back on and huddled next to the Doctor, letting the much-needed warmth wash over them.

He sat staring into the fire thoughtfully, occasionally adding another stick. Vicki couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she didn’t need to be telepathic to guess that he was lost in a memory.

“Doctor,” she began. He turned to look at her. “She sounds like a wonderful person. Do you think...” She hesitated. “I mean, maybe the Tardis... Maybe one day I could meet her?”

For a second, she was afraid she’d crossed a line. An unspoken boundary. But then a small smile played around his lips. “Maybe someday we will,” he said as he put an arm around her shoulders. “Maybe someday...”

2. Baked

“They’re coming through the windows!” screamed Barbara.

Ian rushed to the window where a seven foot tall gingerbread man was trying to break through and beat it savagely with a candy cane. The monster cookie roared and fell back, and Barbara grabbed a giant gumdrop off the floor and stuffed it into the broken window. It wiggled at bit as the gingerbread man pounded on it, but held firm.

“How many more are there?” Ian asked breathlessly.

“At least half a dozen,” said Barbara. “I’ve locked all the doors and windows, but the whole place is made of sweets, it won’t hold for long!”

Ian put the end of his sharpened candy cane down and leaned on it. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“With the mayor. He’s trying to get the attraction shut down.”

The attraction in question was the gingerbread mansion they were currently standing in. Every year, the humans on New Saturn built a new Christmas wonderland- a forest of ice sculptures, a maze of Christmas trees, a replica elf village. The tourism did wonders for the local economy. However, this year their elaborate gingerbread mansion hadn’t panned out the way anyone expected.

For example, nobody had expected the gingerbread men to come to life and start attacking people.

Outside the parlour, there came a loud crash, followed by a scream and the sound of someone running. Vicki burst into the room, wielding a long stick with the remains of a marshmallow on one end. Behind her, wearing the rest of the molten marshmallow, was an on-fire gingerbread man, waving its arms madly and roaring.

“I think I’ve found their weakness!” shouted Vicki. “They don’t like fire!”

“You just made it angrier!” Ian grabbed a nearby chair and threw it in the path of the rampaging cookie. It tripped and fell to the ground, still burning. As it tried to flip itself over, Barbara pushed Vicki behind her.

“It’s between us and the door,” she said.

Ian hefted his candy cane. “I’ll hold it off. You and Vicki make a run for it.” The gingerbread man managed to roll itself over, smothering the flames. “Run!”

“Wait!” said the cookie.

They stared in astonishment as the gingerbread man stood up and brushed itself off. “Wait,” it said again. “I...I’m done.”

“Done?” asked Barbara.

The cookie scratched the back of its head. “I’m done. Finished. Completed.” When the humans still didn’t seem to understand, it said, “The process is complete. My insides have hardened.”

“Are you saying,” said Vicki, “that you’re finished cooking?”

“Yes.” The cookie smiled.

“Now hang on a minute,” Ian said as he lowered his candy weapon. “You’re telling us that all the gingerbread men out there are on a rampage because they’re only half-baked?”

“Yes.”

“So all we need to do is finish baking them?” asked Barbara. “Vicki, can you get more marshmallows?”

Twenty minutes later, they were on the roof with bags of giant marshmallows, a small bonfire, and an improvised slingshot.

It was going to be a very eventful Christmas.

3. Explode

“Who are you?” asked Vicki.

The girl who had unlocked the cell door wasn’t at all who Vicki who had been expecting. She looked just a little older than Vicki, and she wore a black bomber jacket decorated with an eclectic assortment of pins and badges.

“I’m Ace. C’mon, we’re getting out of here.” Ace took Vicki’s hand and pulled her out of the cell and down the corridor with all the confidence of someone who either knew what they were doing, or who was really good at pretending.

“But my friends-”

“They’re fine. You just got stuck in a time slip. You’re something like fifty-seven years ahead of them.”

Vicki stopped short, jerking her hand out of Ace’s. “Wait! I’m in the future? Well, compared to them.”

She must have looked pretty distressed, because Ace threw an arm around her. “Don’t worry, kid. The Professor sent me to get you and send you back to the right timeline.”

“Who’s the Professor?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go!”

She allowed Ace to lead her through the twisted corridors of the research station. It looked so different from when she had come in with Steven and the Doctor. Newer, obviously, but also when they came in it had been an ancient castle. Now, it had been modernised- kitted out with new lights, new furniture, more computers, and a whole new wing dedicated to deep space telescopes.

“See, what happened is there’s a buildup of tachyon energy and if you happen to walk through the right place at the right time, you get zapped to the other end of the timestream.”

“I see,” said Vicki. That certainly explained the sudden dizziness and waking up alone. And the-

There was a bang from somewhere in the distance.

“Cybermen!” they exclaimed. Ace looked at her.

“I see you’ve met them.”

“Well, I didn’t lock myself in a cell!” snapped Vicki.

“All right,” said Ace. “And I’m not looking forward to a reunion. Let’s go!” She motioned for Vicki to follow her toward an alcove containing a stone spiral staircase.

“But the front door’s right there,” said Vicki, pointing. “We can escape.”

Ace stopped on the stairs. “Well, you know how I said we’re in the future?” Vicki nodded. “Okay, so it’s not the future future. Not the real one. It’s like a chunk of future but a bit to the left. All closed off from the rest of time.”

“Like a bubble?”

“Yeah, exactly! And we need to get to the focal point so we can get back to our own timelines and trap the Cybermen here. At least, that’s what the Professor said.”

A horrible electronic screech echoed from a nearby corridor. Three Cybermen entered the great hall somewhat shakily. A strange foaming substance oozed from various heads and chests. The one in front pointed at them and screeched again.

“Move!” shouted Ace. Vicki didn’t need to be told twice. The two of them scrambled up the steps as fast as they could go. At the top, Vicki watched as Ace pulled a silver canister out of her rucksack and fiddled with the top.

“Just giving them something to think about,” she said, grinning. From below, they could hear the Cybermen ascending the steps behind them. Ace tossed the canister down the stairs. It bounced out of sight and then there was a loud explosion that shook the walls.

Three more corridors and another set of stairs later, they found one of the newer rooms, filled with futuristic computers and equipment and tangled wires weaving haphazardly through it all.

“What do we do?” asked Vicki.

Ace powered up the computer. “I think...yeah, they didn’t change the coordinates. It looks like they just unplugged everything.” She tapped a few commands into the computer. “Okay, that should send us back to where we need to be. Help me reconnect all this...”

It wasn’t difficult to plug all the wires back in. Most of them were even helpfully color-coded. It was just that they were tangled and there was a lot of them. They were almost finished when they heard another strangled electronic screech. Ace swore. She was halfway underneath one of the machines, up to her elbows in cables. “Hey, kid! Get another can of Nitro-9 out of my bag!”

Vicki dropped the tangle of wires she was working on and dove for the bag. She pulled out another silver canister while Ace shouted directions.

“Just don’t use it until you actually see a Cyberman,” she said. “Don’t want to give away our location.”

“Okay.” Vicki slid open the door to reveal a Cyberman standing right outside.

It was still scorched from the first explosion.

“Here!” Vicki quickly thrust the can of Nitro-9 into its outstretched hand, slammed the door shut, and threw the bolt home.

The following boom shook bits of rock and debris from the ceiling.

“Ace!” said Ace.

The machine, when fully assembled, looked an awful lot like three old-fashioned television cameras arranged in a triangle around a raised platform on top of a nest of cables.

Vicki stood on the platform, holding a remote control, and watched as Ace carefully fiddled with her last canisters, placing them strategically around the room.

“Why..?”

“So after we’re gone, those things can’t follow. Don’t looks so worried, it’s a long fuse. I’m like, 93% sure of it. We’ve got about a minute before they blow up.”

She ran to join Vicki on the platform. “Ready, kid?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Vicki hit the button.

Thirty seconds later, the now empty room exploded.

4. Tradition

“Are you sure this is all right,” Steven asked as he peered around the corner at the city square. A fresh blanket of snow covered the previous blanket of snow, giving their target a festive winter coat.

“Of course it is. Lars said it was.” Vicki fumbled with the lighter. “And we’re just in time to be the ones to do it this year if we hurry.”

“But why would people go through the trouble of building a giant straw goat just for someone to burn it down?”

Vicki handed him a lit torch and began lighting the other one. “It’s tradition. It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s probably some ancient religious thing that nobody knows the meaning of anymore.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t they pick someone to burn down the goat? Why leave it up to chance?”

“That’s probably part of the tradition.” She tucked the lighter into her pocket and held her torch in front of her and grinned. “If you’re lucky, the goat survives. And if you’re not, the goat burns down and you get six more weeks of winter.”

“That’s Groundhog’s Day.”

“Oh, who cares? It’ll be fun!” She went to the end of the alley and checked to see if the coast was clear. “Ready?”

Steven shrugged. “I guess. What do we do?”

“Follow me!”

Vicki burst out of the alley and ran at top speed toward the huge straw goat, whooping and hollering and waving her torch. Steven ran after her, with much less noise, and together they circled the enormous legs, touching the fire to the straw until the flames grew and the goat was completely alight.

They stood back, panting, watching the structure burn.

“It’s gorgeous,” said Vicki.

“I have to admit,” said Steven, “it does look pretty spectacular.”

They only had a few moments to admire their handiwork when they heard sirens and an angry voice yelling, “Hey, you!” They turned to see Swedish police officers running towards them.

“...maybe this isn’t really a tradition...” Vicki said softly.

“Yeah. And if we’re lucky, we’ll avoid jail time. Run!”

[sarehime]

The Shadow of Madness (Frankenstein Castlevania AU) Chapter 1

Even though Frankenstein was a regular and clean young man, his working room always dominated by a chaos. Three walls of his room was bookcase but book towers stretched out towards the ceiling because the shelves did not suffice. There were a lot of books from different languages. Latin, Hebrew, French, English and Scandinavian languages... There were open books and papers on the table right in front of the window. There was a pendulum next to the papers and books, sometimes Frankenstein watched this pendulum for hours on end. At that time you could understand that he was designing something or having a problem in his brain. A strange mechanism showing the movement of the moon around a globe made of gold stood in a corner of the room as if it had just been thrown. There was a little window on ceiling, long and heavy telescope's eye always facing that window. İt was Frankenstein's favorite tool. At night when he can't sleep, he watched movements of planets and stars.

Frankenstein loved his working room although all its untidy. This room completely belonged to him, just to him.

Now he looked carefully red liquit in a test tube. When red liquit was steady, he frowned deeply. While he put test tube in place, he turned to his book.

"What did I do wrong?" he mumbled. He really didn't like to fail. He did everything written in the book. He sighed. It would be good ask to Ignes this problem. He was looking for an excuse to see Ignes. He closed the book and dressed quickly. When he left the his mansion, he informed his housekeeper about where he go. Ignes' house was forty five minutes away with horse. Luckily today was a beautiful day! He could watch spectacular scenery along the way. While he passed through the village that under the protection of his family, people greeted him. Frankenstein responted their greet with a fake smile. He didn't like the people. Ignes was living in a mountainous place far from the village. She preferred to stay away from the people too and Frankenstein loved her attitude so much. He loved her completely actually. Finally he arrived Ignes' house, he pulled halter towards himself, the horse stopped immediately. He smiled flirtatiously when he dismounted. He knocked the door with a melody on his part, in this way Ignes could understand he coming.

When the door opened, Ignes welcomed him with her usual beauty. Today she wore a white dress. There were violet colour flower embroidery on collar of dress. She made a nice bun with a purple ribbon to her raven, wavy and long hair. Frankenstein admired Ignes. Again and again.

"Don't look at me with that stupid expression," said Ignes. Frankenstein laughed.

"Well, usual Ignes. When will you leave being a grumpy witch?" he said. Ignes rolled her eyes.

"Never!" She said and started walking inside, leaving the door open. Frankenstein entered the house with a smirking.

"I have a problem," he said and extended his book to Ignes. "No matter how hard I try, the metal in the liquit always remains constant." Ignes got the book and took a look.

"Allow me to review this book for a few days. I can extract a formula you can understand."

"Of course!" Frankenstein said and took a look the house. There was no change. Books scaddered all around and big and noisy clock kept working. Ink spilled on the her work table and the papers on the table were ruined. Frankenstein immediately headed there. He was in the clear ink bootle and papers. After arranging and claening the table, he turned to Ignes who sitting on cane rocker. He raised one his eyebrow.

"I worried for my book," he said.

"I am too," said Ignes while still reading the book. "This book is amazing! I try to make sure nothing happened to this book but I don't promise."

"At least spill tea, if you would spill ink, it is become completely unreadable!" Ignes looked at him with deadpan look.

"Your trust to me make my eyes water!" Frankenstein widened his smirk.

"Please come on, Ignes! You can't say I am wrong!" he said tauntingly. Ignes closed the book harshly.

"Very well, I will not discuss more. Do you want a glass of tea?"

"I would like to of course! I miss your tea," said Frankenstein with a cheerful voice. "But I forgot to bring snacks."

"No need," said Ignes. "I made cookies. In this cupboard." While Ignes was making tea, Frankenstein put the cookies on the table in the hall.

While they drunk their tea, Frankenstein looked at Ignes.

"Cookies is tasty. I am surprised." Ignes glared to him but then she turned enjoyed her tea. Frankenstein giggled.

"I am joking, you know Ignes."

"Shut up," she said. Frankenstein put the tea cup on the table.

"It's great to watch you while drink tea but I prefer chat. I like your conversation, dear," he said. There was a tone trying to seduce her in his voice. He tried flirting with Ignes hopelessly again.

Frankenstein started observing Ignes' face carefully. Young woman  seemed a little tired and she lost her weight. She was paled. Frankenstein frowned.

"Are you sick?" Ignes looked at him wonderingly.

"No, I am not sick. Why did you think so?"

"You are pale and tired. What happened Ignes? There is nothing bothering you, right?" Ignes sighed. She closed her eyes and she tilted her head to her hand.

"A week ago I heared a letter from my mother. My father was... plague-stricken." Frankenstein gaped.

"I am so sorry," he just said.

"I want visit my father." Frankenstein looked at her with surprise. His heart started beating with fear.

"Ignes.. you can't go. You told me that if you go back to there, they are going to execute you? Also... This plague is communicable. Ignes I understand you but-" Ignes cut his word.

"I said I wanted to visit, fool, I didn't say I am going to visit!" Frankenstein hove a sigh of relief.

"Oh... Well. I am sorry, I acted selfishly. How do you feel? Ah... My bad. Of course you don't feel well!" Ignes dropped her eyes to tea cup.

"Nothing " she said in a low voice. Frankenstein stare at Ignes. He didn't know what to say. He gulped. He could feel Ignes' pain and her pain hurted him so much. "And it hurts Frankenstein. I never had a deep relationship with my father. When they excommunicated me, he didn't support me. When they exiled me from my own home, he just watched. Actually I get pain for unfulfilled memories. We are to late for being father and daughter and we will not be anymore." Frankenstein listened Ignes' words with a ache in his.

"I am really sorry," he said. Ignes shrugged.

"Nevermind. How are you, prince? Night creatures have often attacked to the village these days."

"It was good open this matter," said Frankenstein. "How long do you plan to live alone in this house? It's dangerous!"

"What do you suggest I do?" Ignes said tauntingly.

"Marry up with someone!" Ignes raised one her eyebrow.

"With whom?" Frankenstein run his hand through his hair.

"With someone who can protect you, of course!" Ignes put her hand under her chin and pretended to think.

"Hımm... Actually you are right! Some sort of think, the blacksmith from the village is a pretty good candidate for me!" Frankenstein glared at her.

"When you see me as a candidate for marrying?!" Ignes laughed loudly.

"I think never! You brat!" Frankenstein frowned.

"Marry me woman!"

"I refuse! I don't know how many times!" Frankenstein put his hand on his heart in a dramatic way.

"You are breaking my heart!"

"Come on Franky, you like it!" Frankenstein rolled his eyes. After they a little more conversation, Frankenstein looked out the window.

"I think it's time to take my leave." Ignes nodded. She was upset.

"Okey," she said.

Ignes saw him to the door. When Frankenstein went out of the door, he turned to Ignes suddenly. They looked at each other eyes for a while. Then Frankenstein placed his hand to Ignes' cheek.

"Please think about my proposal of marriage," he said. His finger tips caressed to young women's silky skin. Frankenstein closed the distance between their faces. "I am serious," he said sotto voce. Ignes wanted tilted her head but she just stared his sky-blue eyes. Both had lips were open part but thin wall that always in their between was show itself. Frankenstein looked at her lips he had always yearned and longed for. His fingers caressed her lower lip already. Not now... Young man gulped and tilted his head toward Ignes.  

Ignes closed her eyes when she felt soft lips on her cheek. Sometimes she wanted to lose herself in these arms that now surround her.

Frankenstein glanced her eyes.

"Have a nice evening, la belle dame sans merci," he whispered and finally he leaved from Ignes.

Frankenstein was careful not to listen to his heart as he walked towards his horse. If he listened, he would go back to Ignes and that was not the time. Of course the time would come. Frankenstein looked forward to this time. The time that he lost himself in Ignes' arms...

[thelanternwielder]

Too Late - Part Two

Autor’s Note:

Hello. This is a follow-up on the Monsuno fanfiction that I started >>here<<.

I wrote this part assuming that you have read the first section.

Edit 2018/01/06: Part Three can be found >here<.

Tell me what you think. Feedback is always appreciated.

It was late in the morning. The airship was buzzing today. Hargrave was walking down to the control room, in uniform. He had been told by Drezz that he should go see the Professor.

He swore he could hear his name being called from other parts of the ship earlier.

The butler entered the bright control room. There was someone in the seat in front of the screen. You could just see the top of their head. The screen was off. Drezz and Dom Pyro were standing to the side, seeming as if they were waiting for Hargrave’s arrival. Drezz was in his usual attire: grey t-shirt, long sleeveless jacket and matching headband. Dom was in his black leather outfit, trimmed with orange. His Monsuno was clipped to his sash.

Hargrave regarded the men, giving them a nod, then looked at the occupied seat.

“Forgive me, Professor,” he said, “I have only the sincerest of apologies for this morning.”

He bowed slowly.

A voice came from the seat with an uncontrollable stutter.

“I’m s-s-surprised you’re even up, c-c-c-considering your state last night.”

The chair swivelled around to face Hargrave. There was a stout man in the seat. His hair was straight and long enough to rest on his back. He wore a suit with a black bowtie, an apron over it and a bowler hat. He had a metallic mask that covered his mouth. His left eye was replaced with a telescopic lens. The trimming of the suit, the apron and the lens were all the same colour: orange, the colour of Forge. He clutched a strange metal cane.

Hargrave knew at that point that the Professor had already seen, in its entirety, the security vision of last night’s incident. He glanced over to Drezz and Dom. Drezz looked worried. Dom had a knowing look about him, which made Hargrave a bit nervous, not that he showed it.

Had they seen it? He hoped not.

A look of concern washed over the Professor face.

“D-d-d-don’t do that again. You c-c-c-can talk to us.”

Hargrave was surprised. He had never been offered this sort of support before. In fact, he never felt like he needed such support.

He spoke softly, “Oh, that isn’t necessary sir. I am feeling better.”

A small, grateful smile appeared on his face for a moment. The Professor shook his head.

Dom piped up, “Even now, you hide, Clockwork Man.”

Hargrave turned around to see him grin. He stroked his Monsuno while it was still on its clip. Hargrave’s eyes narrowed defensively. Drezz glanced at Dom, then at the Professor, then to the side. His face changed to perplexment.

Suddenly, irritated talking could be heard coming from the corridor. Everyone looked at the door as it cresendoed. Hargrave moved to the Professor’s side, with his hands behind his back, as three people entered, two disgruntled.

One was a man with very long, messy hair, held back by his brown cap that had goggles on it. His long gloves and boots gave his otherwise normal outfit a steampunk flair. Another was a burly woman with ginger hair. She was in a black tank top and had the steampunk gloves and boots. The third was another woman, petite in build. Her dark hair was in bushy pigtails and wore shorts with extremely long sock, as opposed to pants. Throttle, the one with pigtails, was the only one of the three to have a neutral expression; the others had a scowl.

The man gestured in frustration towards Hargrave, “Oh, there he be! Finally decided to show himself.”

“And good morning to you, Tinker,” Hargrave flatly replied, “How nice that you all care about me so much.”

He quickly shot the Professor an earnest look. Ratchet, the brawny woman, crossed her arms.

“Where the heck were you?” she huffed.

Drezz interjected, “In his room.”

When he approached Hargrave’s room, the door was shut. He knocked a couple of times on the steel door, a sound that echoed down the hallway. Silence responded. That put him on edge. He came to a scary conclusion: Hargrave could be dead. The butler wasn’t young or in a good state of mind when he last saw him. He opened that door very quickly.

“I, uh,” Hargrave considered his words carefully, “had a bit of trouble getting up this morning.”

Throttle smiled sympathetically.

“Oh, you were having one of those days, si? Sometimes, I don’t want to get up either,” she looked up contemplatively, “Normally, it’s during winter, when it’s cold,” she hugged herself, closing her eyes, “The bed’s so toasty that I never want to get up!”

The butler looked at her considerately. He could see what she was trying to do. He was certainly bundled up in his bed earlier, creating a cocoon of blankets. But it was not because the world outside had frozen and he needed the warmth. No, the frigidity came from within.

Tinker’s anger had dissipated.

“At least we found you. We thought you had disappeared off the face of the Earth,” he admitted.

Ratchet begrudged in a mutter, “Same can’t be said about our morning.”

The Professor looked up at Hargrave who returned the gaze from the corners of his eyes.

“There was one t-t-thing that I have w-w-w-wondered about.”

He swung his chair to face the massive screen and turned it on. Hargrave turned to it and there beheld the picture of the Cloud Carrier that he found last night. He squeezed his hands tightly as his heart wrenched.

The Professor pointed to the screen and looked at Hargrave.

“W-w-w-what’s the significance of t-t-this image?”

Drezz encouraged the butler, “Tell him what you told me. Tell everyone what you told me.”

Hargrave glanced at Drezz, then at the Professor, and then faced everyone. Tinker, Ratchet and Throttle seemed a bit confused. The butler took a deep breath.

“As you all know, I have been trying to find any sort of lead on the whereabouts of Dr Klipse and Six,” he hesitated, glancing at the screen, “I believe they are imprisoned on that Cloud Carrier.”

The Professor pivoted his chair to face him.

“That is an a-awfully hefty c-c-claim that you make. Do you have any p-p-proof?”

He shook his head solemnly.

Drezz spoke up, “Hang on. What about your headache,” he gestured to his head, “migraine, thing, whatever it was?”

An air of bewilderment spread around the room, as if Drezz just spoke in a language that only Hargrave understood. Everyone looked to the butler for some clarity.

He explained, “Last night, before I came to this dreadful conclusion, I had the most tremendously painful migraine. It was as if someone decided to shoot me in the head. And the pain engulfed my entire body. Two incredibly odd things happened at that point: my Monsuno core was flashing,” Dom’s eyes widened, “and I heard, very audibly, the Doctor call for me to find him. I summoned this image before fainting. I think it is a sign.”

Tinker viewed the butler with scepticism.

“So, you concluded that Dr Klipse and Six had been kidnapped after you got a headache, hallucinated, banged your hands on the keyboard and fainted.”

Ratchet snidely remarked, “And I thought Dom was the crazy one.”

The butler regarded her and dryly retorted, “You’re hardly any better.”

She pursed her lips when she heard the response. Throttle had a concerned look, mixed with puzzlement. Her head was tilted to the side.

“Has this happened before?” she quietly asked.

Hargrave stammered, eyes diverted to the side, “Well, I, um, have been getting these duller headaches late at night, followed by, as you would call them,” he swallowed, “hallucinations of the Doctor. This started two weeks ago.”

He looked up to see the room had been swallowed up by a sea of bafflement. Then he saw Dom gaping. His eyes were the beacon in this foggy sea. Hargrave became wary.

Dom said softly, “You had a vision.”

He wandered a bit closer to Hargrave.

“You. Monsuno voice. Who knew?”

He put his hands on his hips. The Professor rubbed his eye, becoming frustrated.

“What are you o-on about, Dom?” he groaned.

Dom was in the centre of the room. His eyes darted to everyone, head twitching eagerly, finally stopping on Hargrave. He gestured in the butler’s direction with open hands.

“He has the Monsuno voice, like me.”

He grinned. Everyone started to become fatigued from the amount of confusing ambiguities this morning has raised.

Hargrave muttered with a shocked stare, “Oh brilliant. I’m losing my faculties.”

Dom continued, “You can hear the Monsunos like I can. Hear them chatter. That’s how I found out about what you were doing at night when you thought you were talking to the Doctor. Your Monsuno was speaking to you.”

The butler’s face shifted to displeasure.

“You mean to tell me that you have previously watched me talk to myself and chose to do nothing but gawk.”

Dom slinked back to his spot and shrugged defensively.

“Watching you was like watching a car crash: there was nothing I could do but I couldn’t look away.”

Hargrave grunted derisively. Everyone else was still trying to grapple with the concept of talking Monsunos.

Ratchet turned to Dom and asked, “So what, you can have a conversation with your Monsuno?”

Dom giggled in that unnervingly high-pitched voice of his.

“Yes. And they tell you all about what’s going to happen in the future.”

This pricked Drezz’s ears. He stared at Dom with the realisation.

“You can see into the future.”

Dom nodded, giddily chuckling.

The room was instantly filled with utter astoundment. Hargrave, with his eyes popping out of his skull, glanced down, processing everything that had been said. His mind went to all the previous plans the Doctor concocted that had failed since Dom joined the team. He thought about how foresight could have helped them predict their enemies’ movements, how they could have succeeded, for once.

Hargrave looked at Dom and said sharply, “Did you ever consider disclosing this information to us when you were first hired by the Doctor? That psychic skill would have been incredibly useful.”

Dom crossed his arms and simply replied, “When I joined, the Doctor became preoccupied with cloning himself and you got swept up with him. So, I didn’t bother. Besides,” a wry grin appeared on his face, “it bugged you whenever I talked to my Pretty.”

Hargrave sighed. He didn’t bother to chase Dom down this conversation and change his mindset. It was a lost cause.

Tinker snickered, “What do you need him for, mate?” he pointed to Dom with his thumb, “you can do it yourself.”

Dom added, “With practice and meditation.”

Hargrave blinked. They had a point. If he could harness this power, it would be an invaluable asset to the team. He could be the one to predict their enemies’ next moves, even before they come up with them. He could improve his fighting prowess and become as unpredictable as Dom. It would certainly impress the Doctor; he always liked to do that. The possibilities seemed endless.

He gazed at the picture on the monitor.

Did the image, in fact, depict a future event? Were Dr Klipse and Six still free?

Could they be saved before it was too late?

One thing became clear to Hargrave by this hindsight on the Monsuno voice. He remembered an incident that occurred during an exploit when it was just the Doctor and him. Monsuno essence was originally considered as an alternative power source. Research for that path was thrown out of the window when the Doctor’s former colleague, Dr Suno, proclaimed the essence to be genetic material, a base for life. The Doctor had continued the study into Mosuno essence as an energy source after his departure from the research facility. With Hargrave’s help, he built a monolithic airship, powered purely by the essence. It was a powerful death trap, able to take down an entire squadron of S.T.O.R.M. aircraft with a single shot. They were on top of the world and nothing could stop them.

Or so they thought.

There was a deafening crack from above. Something struck the ship down, as if a divine power saw what they had done and intervened. They flew away from the burning wreck, just barely escaping the falling inferno. When they reached the ground, they were surrounded by all their enemies. S.T.O.R.M. weren’t the only ones in the area; Team Core-Tech were also in pursuit after the Doctor and Hargrave kidnapped Dr Suno.

Everyone spun their cores out. A flurry of blue, yellow and red light erupted from the centre. The crimson was smothered by the other colours. The Doctor had Backslash, a black bear-wolf monster with his master’s hate in his eyes. Hargrave had Shadowhornet, a strange hybrid of centipede and hornet with bat-like wings, three massive claws on each wing’s joint and a spear for a tail. The other groups each had at least four behemoths on their side. It was a battle royale, winner takes all. Chaos ensured.

The roars and shrieks of the Monsunos as they tried to kill each other filled the battlefield, the ruins of a town, and the skies above. Billows of dust went everywhere.

Soon, there was only six warriors standing, two for each faction. Team Core-Tech had Lock, a bear-gorilla beast that had glaciers jutting from his shoulders, and Evo, a blue bird with four wings. S.T.O.R.M. had Driftblade, a black and yellow lion with swords for shoulders, and Blackbullet, a giant, sleek black bird.

Suddenly, there was a mighty bang, followed by a shockwave that swept the battlefield. It was the engine for the monolith that had exploded. Everyone ran for cover. When the shockwave passed, people peered at the battlefield.

Six Monsuno became three. Each group’s Monsuno had been combined to create winged gladiators. The Doctor regarded the result of Backslash and Shadowhornet with utter glee. The creature resembled Backslash with Shadowhornet’s wings and armour. The Doctor continued the fight with this new living weapon. Hargrave stayed in his hiding spot, watching in amazement.

The three gladiators soared into the sky, chasing each other fiercely, leaving streaks of deep blue, gold and crimson behind. Hargrave watched as the creature that was their Monsunos become nothing more than a speck. He felt a profoundly bizarre sensation at that point, one that he still remembered in the present. He felt a gaping hole in his torso that dissolved more and more of his body the longer the Monsunos stayed in this form. He could barely stand when he saw their archangel falling from space, through the clouds, and crash into the Earth. It landed with a terrible thud. It exploded into red light that split and snaked its way back into the Eklipse cores. Hargrave became whole when Shadowhornet returned. He ran to help the Doctor.

“E-E-Earth to Hargrave,” the Professor was waving his cane in front of the glazed butler’s face, “do you c-c-copy?”

It didn’t work. Annoyed, he slammed his cane into the ground right next to Hargrave.

BANG!

Hargrave jumped about ten feet into the air. He clutched his chest and breathed sharply. A snigger came from the others.

Still dazed, he said, “Oh heavens! I was completely lost in my own little world!”

“C-c-c-clearly,” the Professor retorted.

The butler assumed the same position he was originally in, heart still pounding.

The Professor addressed the entire group, “As m-m-much as this picture is a l-l-lead, there is nothing c-c-c-concrete. We n-n-need more information.”

Drezz smirked deviously, “Maybe we could ask them ourselves.”

Throttle’s eyes lit up at the thought.

“Playing dress-up?” she giggled.

Drezz nodded. A jolt of malevolence struck Tinker and Ratchet, sharing the evil enthusiasm. Drezz and the other Punk Monks had previously stolen S.T.O.R.M. uniforms to masquerade as soldiers. They used this trick to sneak into one of the secret bases and plant a destructive explosive device on a S.T.O.R.M. rocket poised for space. The Professor then remotely aimed it at a nearby city. The plan would have worked if Team Core-Tech didn’t intervene.

The electricity shocked Hargrave.

He smiled, “I have an idea. Why ask them when we can see for ourselves?”

Tinker asked, “How’d we be doing that?”

Everyone listened intently, hanging onto each word.

“Simple. Plant a trapdoor, a gateway into their systems.”

Dom laughed with excitement, now zapped by the spreading voltage. That was a trick from their side of the team.

The Professor looked at Hargrave.

“Do you r-r-really have the s-s-software to do that?” he asked with intrigue.

The butler chuckled darkly, “Oh, but of course we do! We planted that software in Team Core-Tech’s little ship by simply communicating with them. It was child’s play. All I need is a transmission and S.T.O.R.M.’s database is ours to peruse.”

The Professor was filled with wicked joy.

“Oh excellent!” he stroked his chin cunningly, “It is all c-coming together n-nicely.”

The gears in his head were working furiously as he fabricated a plan. The room was electrified with the darkness of the group. The demons were plotting, itching to strike S.T.O.R.M. with their own thunder and lightning.

[multifandomimaginesforevery-blog]

a long way from home | part 1/?| a walking dead fanfic

summary: Coraline Brums is a genus Astrologist who get’s caught in the middle of Rick Grime’s life when she offers to help find his family along with her own. She is just an innocent civilian trying not to let the apocalypse change her but her need for survival might do just that.

a.n: hello everyone who has stumbled upon this fanfc. It will take place from season 1 till whenever I see fit for it to end. It is either going to be a Rick love story or a Negan one, I haven’t made up my mind. If you are looking for a quick read then this is not for you because I want it to be long. If you want something quick you can request it in my ask box. Enjoy the story!

this chapter is rated PG-13 so read at your own risk!

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    When the dome to the observatory opens, it’s like coming home or running into the arms of someone you love. My brother Mason likes to say that I was born into the wrong species. That my soulmate resides somewhere in space. That I spend more time looking at space than I do at earth. But he’s wrong. If I were to be born an alien it would be different, I wouldn’t see space the way I see it now. It’s the fact that everyday I go to work I get to travel to different planets, stars.     Ever since I’ve been little I’ve always dreamt of getting a closer look into the unknown. That’s why I became an astronomer, to escape from earth. It took a total of 10 years of college, not to mention the two years of school I just finished to get my associates degree in diesel mechanics.     You see, I’ve always been a pretty ordinary person. I grew up with both of my parents in a small city and went to a public school. I’ve never gotten along with my parents very well. They’re both dead now.     I’ve always been really outgoing, a class clown, optimistic in a way that's almost ignorant. Almost. I was everybody's friend. I grew up with my older brother, who I’ve never gotten along with. He is not outgoing and is embarrassed to go out in public with me in fear of  being judged. It’s been that way since we were young. My parent always tried to convince me otherwise but it was obvious. He would never have friends over to the house. Matter of fact, he was never home himself; barely able to be around me. So despite thinking I grew up normal, I know that there is something different about me, I’m just not sure what that is. But family is family and we’d both do anything for each other. At least I would him.

    After I finish some papers on the satellite I’ve been assigned to babysit I close the dome after getting another good look at my favorite planet, Jupiter. Once it’s completely closed I heave a sad sigh. Before I can go down the stairs I hear the emergency sirens blare throughout Cynthiana, Kentucky.     Confused I open the dome again, warm air hitting my face, blowing my wavy, dark red hair out of my face. After my parents death a month ago I dyed it red and got it cut into an even bob with my bangs. I grab the weakest telescope off of it’s stand to get a good look at the city that is about a mile away from me. I push my glasses up into my hair and look into the scope.     Even from here I can hear the sirens of firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances. When I look into the scope I can see cars lined up on the highway, heading towards the town over.     People are standing outside of their cars. What the hell is going on? I jerk the scope away from my eye when I hear a sonic boom coming from the city. The large explosion came from the jet from above the city. The large mushroom of fire raises from the middle of the city I was raised in. The park I used to run away to when thing would become too much with my parents.     I realize that my brother is at home right now, still in the city. We don’t live near the explosion but I have no idea what’s going on down there. I quickly close the dome, grab my bag and leave. I shove the telescope in my belt loop, just in case. I run down the stairs quickly, the tail of my lab coat whipping behind me. When I reach outside I turn around and fumble to lock the Observatory.     I quickly get into my red jeep (that my father kindly left in his will) and stick my keys into the ignition. Throwing the key to the Observatory in the glove box I race out of there. I don’t even bother with the highway knowing that it will be packed full of vehicles ready to leave Cynthiana for some unknown reason. I tap my hands anxiously on the wheel as I drive into the city, or should I say chaos? To my left there is a group of people with blood covering them trying to corner a couple that looks terrified.     I usually would have stopped and done something but in this case I couldn’t, seeing as this was happening around every corner I take. When I reach about a block away from my house I see a flash of blue before the world turns black.

    I wake up with a gasp. Looking around cautiously I see a blue Cadillac that I smashed into. Oh shit, I hit the driver's side. I see a body slumped against the steering wheel but I can’t tell if they’re still breathing or not. I open the door and step out. Hit by a sudden nausea and dizziness I fall over and heave out stomach acid.     Stomach acid? That doesn’t make sense, I’ve eaten today. Then it dawns on me; I’ve no idea how long I’ve been out. Minutes, Hours, Days? I check my watch but I see it’s been broken during the crash. It’s early morning, and the streets are deserted. Something makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It’s the noise. It’s gone completely silent. There are no birds chirping or the usual buzz of the cars on the highway that’s nearby. I can still see the smoke rising from where the explosion had happened.     Slowly I stand to my feet, hand braced against the door of my truck. I swallow my own spit to soothe my raw throat. That’s when I feel it, sticking out of my stomach. I didn’t feel it per-say, on my stomach. In fact, I don’t feel anything on the whole right side of my torso. I bring my hand down to feel the long hunk of metal that is sticking out of my lower right side. There’s a bit of blood surrounding the area but the metal is blocking off most of the flowage. I can feel all the colour leave my face. I can feel myself going into shock.      After twenty minutes of just standing here, trying not to go into shock, I take a scarf that I found under my seat and tie it above the wound as tight as I can. I curse under my breath. I attempt to walk again, finding great difficulty in keeping my balance. I remember my dad had a limp so he kept a cane behind his seat. I find it with little to no problem. This should do, it’ll have to. Before I leave I grab the key to the observatory and throw it in my bag and begin the one block hike to my house.     When I pass the Cadillac the driver to the car, who I had forgotten about, starts to growl and snap it's teeth at me. I begin to walk closer cautiously. “Hey, is everything alright?” I yell out, only a yard away. I notice the pale, veiny skin before I notice his pale eyes. “Jesus.” I mutter. I must be really losing it.     I take my cane and poke his (it’s?) face. He snaps his teeth towards me as if he were trying to eat me. “What the hell?” I speak quietly. The seatbelt is holding it hostage so I leave him where he is.     I begin to cry softly as I walk towards my house. I think I killed a man. My house is unharmed and empty. I checked all the rooms in the house and there is no sign of my brother. I sigh in relief when I find all his clothes missing and a bunch of food from the pantry gone too. He ran. My brother is resourceful, he made it through all the chaos, I know it. What I am sure of is that I need to go to the hospital.     I notice my brother took his car (which is a good sign he's alive.) I walk to the garage with great difficulty. I know that there's my fathers Harley in here somewhere. Thankfully I find it at the front in all it's red glory.  After a couple weak tries of starting trying to start it up it comes to life. I almost fall over attempting to walk it our but eventually I get the strength to kick off and head to the hospital.

[thegodhunters]

a new future

We see Sam Winchester open the door to his room inside the Men of Letter’s bunker in Lebanon Kansas. It’s not his original room, from before. What we can see of this room it’s a little bigger, and filled with a double bed and other homey furniture. Obvious signs are seen that he’s sharing this space with someone else. Sam leans on a cane, one specially made for his taller lankier frame, and steps out into the hallway. He’s older too, hair shot with silver. The lines in his face have increased but his eyes are still sharp and his movements are spry besides the limp and the cane.

 He makes his way down through the halls and into the main library of the Bunker.

 It’s busy, noisy, full of different people working. A few are on laptops going over information. More are pouring over books, reading and researching. Just beyond in the war room there are three young women who have pulled one of the old consoles away from the wall and are elbow deep in upgrading and repairing the wiring there.

 As Sam comes through the room, each person in turn looks up and offers a smile or a friendly hello. They are always respectful, but always with fondness in their voices. Sam smiles, pauses to listen to someone discuss a Lamia case they found, smiling as he hears them working through the possibilities and solutions.

 He’s just about to ask a question when a woman strides up through the war room, having come up from the garage area. She’s dressed the way he and Dean tend to dress for a hunt, and it’s obvious she’s just come from one with the grave dirt dusted over her clothes. Her blonde hair is cut short, but it curls tousled and wild on top of her head. Much like her father’s dark hair used to decades ago. Her eyes as still as blue as his but her smirking smile as she approaches Sam is still very much uniquely her own. She’s much older than we last saw her, but she’s aged well and is still in great shape.

Behind her, two younger people walk in carrying duffle bags. She casually asks them to take those down to the armory and then her eyes are back on Sam again.

 “Hey Old Man,” She says fondly, her smile growing.

 “Watch who you’re callin’ old Claire. Most of these kids are half your age now.” Sam teases.

 Claire’s smile grows wide and warm, “They’re a good bunch.” She nods towards the two that just retreated to the armory, “Jace and Bev did good. Held up well against a nasty poltergeist.” When she turns back to Sam she smirks again, “And whatever. I’m still younger’n you.”

 A woman in her mid 30’s comes out from around the hall, sees Sam and Claire and come straight to them. She’s tall, and her hair is the same color as Sam’s once was. Her hazel eyes look determined and focused.

 “Uh-oh,” Claire chuckles, “What did you do now Sam?”

 Sam ignores Claire as his face lights up, “Hey Sweetie…”

 “Don’t you ‘Hey Sweetie’ me Dad…” She plants her hands on her hips and gives Sam a face that reminds Sam so much of her mother Eileen that it makes his heart swell in his chest. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you…. I thought you were working on the Botanical lists with Jane?”

 “I took a nap instead.” Sam shrugs. “Jane knows what she’s doing.”

 Claire interrupts them for a moment, “Sorry guys, I need to get cleaned up. See you later?”

 Sam’s daughter smiles at Claire, and looks apologetic, “Yes of course Claire, sorry.”

 Claire nods and turns to walk back into one of the adjoining hallways, “No prob! See you later Mary, Sam…”

 Sam gives a small wave and then turns back to his daughter, “What really has you worked up Mary?”

 Mary rolls her eyes in that classic way her Uncle Dean has done for decades, “I can’t find the Roylance Guide or Spates Catalogue. Are they in your room? the Jones sisters are in Nashville dealing with some serious weirdness at Opryland and called for some assistance and…” Mary releases out a breath.

 Sam smiles more and reaches out to touch his daughter’s shoulder, then he lets his hand linger there, “Hey, let’s go look in you Mom and my room, hmmm? And then you can tell me what really has you worked up.”

 With a chuckle he pulls her closer, to walk with his arm sheltering her around her shoulders. He’s never gotten tired of this, having her in his life. He endeavors to make the most of it everyday he can.

 As they make their way out of the library and back into the hallways of the Bunker, Mary glances up at her Dad and bites her lip, “Well okay yes, it’s not really Opryland or any of that…”

 Sam’s smile can’t help but grow. Mary still has the same tells as when she was little, worried she’d get in trouble for climbing on the telescope at five, or at fifteen when she stole Dean’s keys and took the Impala without asking first.

Speaking of that…

 “So remember when I took the Impala to impress that girl I liked in high school?” Mary leans into her Dad as they walk down the hall.

 Sam chuffs out a laugh, Dean’s reaction had been nearly comical in how he had exploded when he found Baby gone. Sam always wondered if Dean’s reaction was more for the safety of his niece more than the state of the Impala. “Not likely to forget that.”

 “Well, uh, the apples didn’t fall too far from the tree.” Mary winces slightly and looks up at Sam, “The Impala is okay though, Mom is on her way to collect Sammie and the boys and…”

 “Mary, wait....They took the Impala??” Sam stops to look at her. Sammie is his ten-year-old granddaughter, and ‘the boys’ are Sammie’s brothers, DJ and Cas, who happen to be seven years old. “Sammie is barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel and….”

 “They got as far as the diner on Route 833, DJ wanted a milkshake…” Mary bites her lip. “And Sammie can see over the steering wheel. Mom is furious though….”

 Sam nods because yes, Eileen would be. He finds he’s not as upset however, and barely surprised. His grandchildren are Winchesters and the Impala has been a source of awe and fascination for all their children since each one of them has laid eyes on the car. He looks down at his daughter now, her brows drawn up half in apprehension and half in something else. She’s the children’s Aunt, and no doubt had something to do with this somehow.

 Sam sighs and rolls his eyes, then restarts their walk down the hall to his and Eileen’s room. “Right. And how do you know Sammie can see over the steering wheel?”

 Mary gives a non-committal shrug and detours on the subject, “Johnny is the one who always lets Sammie ride on his lap when he drives the Impala into town. He taught her to drive it. That isn’t my doing.”

 Sam chuckles. Mary’s older brother Johnny and she had been having a long-standing feud over who would eventually own the Impala.

 “I would be a responsible owner and caretaker for Baby. My kids wouldn’t be out joyriding and endangering themselves and the world….” Mary gestures around with the arm that isn’t wrapped behind in a half hug on Sam’s back.

 “Mary Lillian Winchester…” Sam pauses, “First of all you don’t have any kids….” Sam lets his tone of voice wander out into ‘Dad’ territory, “Did you or did you not have anything to do with your niece and nephews getting their hands on the keys to the Impala?”

 Mary looks nervous again, “Not intentionally.”

 Sam’s brows go up as he slows his walk next to her.

 “I thought I had put the keys away in the lock box…. on the wall with the rest of the car keys in the garage…. when I came back from driving everyone to the airport last night.” Mary states but is still jittery. “But I might have forgotten to actually lock the lock box.”

 Sam shakes his head as they come to a stop in front of Sam and Eileen’s door. Sam opens it and steps inside. The wall to his left, one you couldn’t see from before, is visible now. It is covered nearly floor to ceiling not in books, or weapons, but with photos.

 Family photos.

 Photos of he and Eileen in front of the County Courthouse the day they were married, flanked by Dean and Cas as their witnesses. Photos of Eileen holding Johnny the day they brought him home from the hospital as an infant and then pictures of Mary as a baby as well. There are pictures of Johnny and Mary growing up in the bunker with Sam and Eileen, next to more photos of the kids with Dean and then with Castiel. A swath of photos of the children’s lives as they grew up and then more pictures of them as growing adults. Here is one of Johnny at 21 by the Impala sharing a beer with his Uncle Dean; there is one of Mary graduating from college, her smile bright with one hand in Castiel’s and her other arm wrapped around her smiling Mom, Eileen. And then more pictures of people who have come to live at the bunker and call it home like Claire. Finally a single photo of Johnny standing at the bottom of the bunker stairs, his arms full of his twin baby sons and a three year old Samantha Winchester clinging to the hem of Johnny’s jacket.

 Mary nudges Sam’s elbow with her own as they booth look at that photo together. Sam still doesn’t know all the details of what had happened. He and Johnny had gotten into a fight, over hunting of course. And Johnny had taken off and disappeared, using what he had learned growing up in a Men of Letters bunker to not be traced or found. Dean and Cas had spent over a year on the road looking for him without success.

 And then one day Johnny had just shown up at the Bunker, his arms filled with his small newborn sons and his little daughter timid and sad. The only thing Johnny would say was that it was safer at the Bunker, that he was sorry and that he was there to stay. It had taken a long while for the healing needed for everyone involved. But those three children had settled into the bunker easily, and Dean had doted on them incessantly.

 Sam side eyes Mary now, “You get to tell Dean when he and Cas and Johnny get back from Buenos Aires. I’m certainly not doing it after he’s been on a fifteen hour plane ride….”

 The nervousness comes back into Mary’s eyes, “Yea well, you know, when I get back. From Nashville. And Opryland…” She takes a breath, “And besides, Uncle Cas will calm Uncle Dean down. He always does.”

 Sam chuckles and shakes his head. She’s not wrong about that last part. He leans over to kiss his daughter on her forehead and then moves to the bookcase in the room. “You also have to go meet your Mom when she comes back with the Impala and the kids…and tell her about the keys.”

 Mary’s face goes pale at hearing that.

 Sam pulls the books she had asked for from the shelf and then offers them to Mary. “It’ll be fine. And if not, I’ll make sure you have a very nice hunter’s wake.”

 “That’s not funny Dad.” Mary blanches as she takes the books from him.

 “You could always hide at Jody’s….” Sam offers.

 “That sounds like a great idea!” Mary beams and hurries forward to kiss her Dad on the cheek, and then she’s out of the door and down the hall in a flash.

“Thanks Dad!”

 Sam shakes his head and sits down on the edge of the bed. “That wasn’t a serious suggestion…” He muses as he listens to her foot falls fade down the hall.

 Sam’s eyes rest on the wall of pictures once more. Years ago he never would have dreamed that his life would be filled like this now, surrounded with so much family and so many friends. Deep inside he’s filled with so much gratitude he could burst.

 Sam is about to stand up and walk back out, when his phone chimes. He pulls it from his pocket and smiles when he sees Dean’s name on the screen. With a swipe of his finger he answers and brings it to his ear.

 “Hey, how was your flight?” Sam listens and chuckles. “That terrible huh?” a pause, “Yea… yea I hear you. Johnny snores pretty loudly when he falls asleep on flights….”

 We hear another pause as we draw back away from the scene, retreating backwards out the door into the hall. Sam framed by the doorway as we go.

“No, uh, yea… things are fine here….but, um…”

 We can’t see Sam now, he’s around the edge of the door-frame out of our sight line but we can still hear him speaking over the phone with Dean.

 “Did you know Sammie can see over the Impala steering wheel now?”

 -END-

(AO3 posted fic here)

[aggimaginary]

The Grinch 2: Happy New Year Chapter 12-We need all the help we can get

Back in Whoville, at the Light Maze entrance, Cindy Lou and Groopert were waiting for their other friends to come for their plans. Just then, three kids raced towards the entrance with their bike, trike and scooter where they saw two of their friends waiting for them.

"Alright, you call, we came," Ozzy said with a candy cane in his mouth.

"So, what's up?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah. What's the deal?" Axl added.

"Thanks for getting here so fast, guys. Follow me," Cindy Lou lead her gang through the entrance for a secret meeting.

While silently walked inside the entrance, Axl interrupted, "So, what's the big secret?

"Yeah, I don't have very long. My parents set the timer," Ozzy mentioned.

"Again?"

"Yeah. They decided to have that every night."

"Alright, everybody, brace yourselves! In exactly 48 hours, just before New Year, we're going to do something that no kids have ever done before!" Cindy Lou announced. "We're going to get a man and a woman fall in love with each other!"

"Getting a man and a woman falling in love with each other?" Ozzy inquired in disgust. "Why would you wanna do that?"

Axl slapped Ozzy behind his head, "Duh. Cindy Lou wants to be a cupid." Then, he turned to Cindy Lou, "But you do know it's not Valentine's day.

"I know it's not Valentine's day, and I don't want to be a Cupid. To uh... I just want to get them together."

"Do you know this man and the woman?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah. They are very close to me."

"Why would you wanna do that anyway?" Ozzy asked again.

"It's personal," Groopert tried to cover his friend's secret.

"Yeah, it's kind of personal," Cindy Lou nodded.

"I don't wanna do it if you won't tell me why," complained Ozzy. "It's like capturing Santa all over again."

"Yeah. What do you mean 'personal'?" added Axl.

Cindy Lou exhaled, "Alright. There are two personals: One is very top secret, and two is something that I have to share with all of you." She saw her friends are waiting for her explanation. "The man and the woman I was talking about, and they're very close to me were Mr. Grinch... and my mom."

"Wow! That's crazy!" Ozzy exclaimed.

"Yeah. I told her that!" Groopert told him.

"And I want them to be together," Cindy Lou finished the explanation.

Her friends then looked at each other in concern and quite worry.

"Are you sure about this?" Axl asked.

"What? You don't like Mr. Grinch? You don't want him to be with my mom."

"It's not we don't like him, Cindy Lou," Groopert corrected her. "We like Mr. Grinch. He's awesome."

"Yeah, and he can make amazing gadgets and gizmos. I wish I can be like him," Izzy sighed dreamingly.

"It's just that we're so worried that it's not cool for you if your mom fall in love with Mr. Grinch besides your dad," Ozzy added. "Do you still miss him?"

"Of course I miss my dad. I still love my dad, and I always remember him. But things are a different when he was gone," Cindy Lou sighed. "Ever since Dad died, Mom was so sad, work so hard every night, and took care of us every day. She did all of these things all by herself, and always said she's okay, but she's not. It's just not fair. I don't want her to be like this forever. I want her to have someone to keep her company, and help her taking care of me and my brothers. Besides, Dad doesn't want Mom to be unhappy. I know he wanted her to have someone to keep her happy and company. And I know, Mr. Grinch is the one. I want to be honest with all of you guys. You all have a complete family... I mean, having both parents with you, and I feel so jealous. I'm still happy that my mom and my brothers are the only family I got, but I always feel that something's missing, and I know it was my dad. I don't care if Grinch is gonna be my new dad if that's ever gonna happen. I like him. He's a good and fun guy, as long he keeps my mother happy. My brothers also needed a dad since they never got to meet our real dad. Dad would've wanted this. If my mom is happy with Mr. Grinch, then I'm happy with it."

Her friends stared at her in disbelief. They realized how humble Cindy Lou is, and how good that she's going to accept a new dad in her life, if this will make her mother happy.

"That's beautiful," Groopert said.

"Okay, okay, okay. You convinced me," Axl nodded.

"Count me in, too," Ozzy volunteered.

"Alright, we're in," Izzy added.

"Great. Now let's do this!" Cindy Lou smirked as she led her friends out of the maze.

The gang were riding their bikes and trikes in slow motion to the tune of Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis', until they heard their parents' calls.

"Cindy Lou, it's time to come home!"

"Izzy, it's getting late!"

"Axl, time to eat!

"Groopert, dinner time!"

"Ooh, dinner," Groopert excitingly rubbed his stomach.

"Alright, we'll meet first thing in the morning," Cindy Lou announced.

"Alright" Axl agreed.

"See you tomorrow." Izzy waved them good-bye.

The gang rode away with their bikes and trikes, except for Ozzy, until...

"Ozzy, timer!"

"Okay, mom!" Ozzy groaned as he addled away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the edge of the land way of Mt. Crumpit, Aggie dragged the snowmobile outside the cave, the Grinch wore a belt with a monitor on the front, and Max was tied up with a helmet, headphones and cameras on his head and a drone on his back.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" doubted Aggie.

"Do you have a better idea?" Grinch asked.

"Well, I..."

"Ha! I don't think so!" He then turned to Max, "Okay, Max, all you have to do is to get this snowmobile to Donna Lou. Ne careful not to drop. I spent all day building that. I'll be in your ear the whole time, and whatever you're seeing, I'll be seeing on the monitor."

"You better hurry up. I saw Donna Lou is about to leave the house. I think it's her night shift," Aggie said.

"How did you know that? You're not even using a telescope," asked the Grinch.

"I have super vision; a vampire have this power. I'm also a 1/516th vampire. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents on both of my parents' sides are vampires. That's where I got my vampire powers," Aggie replied.

This quite shock the Grinch, "Wow. You really have a big family."

"I know, right? I'm so proud of myself!" She squealed.

Grinch rolled his eyes, and turned to Max, "Alright, Max, you're ready to launch!" He used a remote control to let the drone fly with Max. "Hold on, and hold on the snowmobile. Try not to drop it, okay?" his mast instructed. Max barked and saluted as he grabbed the snowmobile's hand with his paws, and the drone sent him to town.

"This is not gonna work, Grinch," Aggie crossed her arms.

"It'll work. Trust me," Grinch fought back.

Meanwhile, Donna Lou bent down to kiss Cindy Lou on the cheek, and then, she kissed the twins before turning to the babysitter.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Mrs. Wilbur?" she asked.

"Your kids are gonna be fine, Ms. Who," Mrs. Wilbur nodded. "Just go or you'll miss the bus."

"Right!" Donna looked down to her daughter, "I'll see you in the morning, sweetie."

"I wish Mr. Grinch is gonna babysit us," Cindy Lou complained.

"I know, but we don't want to disturb him. He worked too much for us already. It's time for him to take a break," Donna explained before running towards the street. "I gotta go! Bye Cindy Lou!"

"Bye, Mom!" Cindy Lou waved at her before she and Mrs. Wilbur, carrying the twins, went back inside.

Donna Lou ran as fast as she can to catch up the bus, but it already drove away. She tried to call loudly to the bus to stop and wait for her, but it's already far away. Donna hung her head down in sadness. She's always been like this. Late to catch up the boss, and late for work.

Suddenly, from above, she noticed a cute pink sparkly snowmobile was lowered slowly in front of her. Donna also noticed that Max carried the mobile all the way while tying up with a drone.

"Alright, boy, release it slowly," Grinch commanded from his dog's headphone as Max put the snowmobile down, and he flew away.

Donna Lou made a big smile in appreciation. She knew it was the Grinch who made this snowmobile since he's the best inventor she ever know. Donna waved a Max, which the Grinch saw her on the monitor, happy to see his "friend" happy. He continued to watch Donna taking the snowmobile, and rode it happily on the street without stressing herself. The snowmobile is fast enough to take Donna to work in time.

"See, Aggie? I told you my plan worked," Grinch said proudly.

"Yeah, she really appreciate it," Aggie agreed, watching the scene with her super vision. "But it was supposed to be you who give her the snowmobile! Now Donna thought it was Max who gave her that!"

"That's exactly my point!" He shouted. "If I give it to her in person, I would probably say, 'Hey, Donna, I made this mobile just for you', and she'll think I have a crush on her."

"Which you have."

"But she didn't know that! Listen, Aggie, I already took your advice, gave Donna that snowmobile, and that's it. Everyone's happy! You know? I'm going to bed. Just get Max, and come inside the cave if you want." The Grinch went back in his cave in tiredness, and shut the door.

Aggie was left alone on the edge, and, while waiting for Max, she thought of something to make Grinch open his heart to Donna without turning back. This is a very hard mission than she thought. She also can't force someone to confess his feeling to the one he love. She needed some help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, in her room, Cindy Lou wore her pajamas and fixed her bed, ready to go to sleep. Suddenly, she heard loud taps from her window. She turned around and saw Aggie while holding Max in her arm on her window.

"Oh, Aggie," Cindy rushed to her window, and opened it.

Aggie flew in and sat on a small chair, "Sorry I came here do late, Cindy Lou. I can't use the front door. Your babysitter might not let me in."

"That's okay. I'm not sleep yet, but I'm just ready for bed," The little Who girl closed the window. "So, what's up?"

Aggie started to grunt in frustration, "It's the Grinch! He's so stubborn! He doesn't to listen to me!"

"Why? What did he do?" Cindy asked.

"I was right, Cindy Lou. The Grinch is indeed in love with your mom. He told me," the winged human replied.

"Yes!" Cindy Lou squealed happily.

"But he's too shy to admit it," Aggie continued. "He told me everything. He told me how he met your mother when she was your age. He fell in love with her the day after Christmas. I gave him advice of making a snowmobile for her so she won't be late for her work and miss the bus at the same time, and told him to give it to her in person. And you know what he did? He used Max to deliver the snowmobile to your mother!"

"But did she like it?" inquired Cindy Lou.

"Yeah, she likes it, but that's not part of the plan! I'm just trying to help him admit his feelings to Donna by him giving her the snowmobile face-to-face. It's like he gave her a sign that he likes her, but he didn't listen to me! He's so stubborn and shy!"

"Well, that's really Mr. Grinch. He's always grumpy. And when I invited him to my Christmas dinner, he's too shy and nervous. It's his first Christmas dinner after all."

"I completely understand that. I can't even force him to confess his feelings. That won't work. That's why I came to you because I need help. I don't know the Grinch as much as you do."

"Actually, Aggie, I only know the Grinch for only few days. I don't know him much. The only thing I know about him that he's alone in his cave with Max, he hates Christmas because no one has ever celebrate with him, he's a cool inventor, and he can be a good friend."

"I know. That's the only information I know about him." Aggie got up from the chair, and pace around the room. "This mission is harder than I thought. If I can't complete this mission soon, I can't celebrate New Year with my family."

Cindy Lou felt Aggie's sadness. It would be unfair if a friend, daughter, mother and wife can't celebrate New Year with her family. She has to work fast. The little girl had an idea, "You know, I know one Who who can help us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Bricklebaum's house, the door bell rang, and Bricklebaum opened the door, seeing Aggie, Cindy Lou and Max in front of him.

"Well, look who's here!" He was surprise to see three of the Grinch's good friend.

"Good evening, Mr. Bricklebaum," Cindy Lou greeted.

"Come on in. Make yourselves at home," Bricklebaum politely let the three visitors in.

"Sorry for coming here this late," Aggie apologized.

"Oh no. To me, it's not. I always stay awake this late," the joyful Who said. "Would you like some hot cocoa?"

"Thanks, Mr. Bricklebaum, we need some hot chocolate for now," the little Who girl nodded.

When Bricklebaum hot chocolate for his three visitors, Aggie and Cindy Lou drank from their mugs, while Max drank on a dog bowl. "So, what brings you three here at night?" He asked.

"Okay. First off: Grinch admitted it. We were right. He was in love with Donna," Aggie said first.

"I knew it!" Bricklebaum squealed. "Mr. Grinch. That sly dog! Woo!"

"I know. I'm surprised too," Aggie took another sip.

"Me too. I never thought there's someone who likes my mom," Cindy Lou chuckled.

"And second, that's my mission. I have to help Grinch confess his feelings for Donna."

"So, how did it go? Did that green guy make the first move?" Bricklebaum was excited to here the story.

Aggie cleared her throat to explain, "Well, he did admit he likes likes Donna Lou. He told me he had met her when she younger. I gave him an advice of making a snowmobile for her so she won't be late for work and catching the bus everyday. I also told him to give the mobile to her in person, but he didn't listen to me. He just do it his way! He used Max to give the snowmobile to Donna. Now she'll never know his feelings for her! Mr. Bricklebaum, you know Grinch more than we do, we want to know why he acted like that."

Bricklebaum sighed as he sat on his chair, "Mr. Grinch isn't like us or any other Who. He never got out of his cave, except when he needed to buy important things like food and dog food for his dog from the grocery. He never socialized with any Who for a long time or I never seen him socialized with anyone in town. Well, except for me. We have good times together. We talked, shared stories, telling each other's secrets. That's what we best friends for. Mr. Grinch was my neighbor for years."

"Huh, he wasn't kidding when he told me he was alone for 53 years," Aggie felt so guilty. She didn't quite believe of the Grinch's story about him being alone in his cave for decades, but she wasn't so sure until she was told by someone else. "No wonder he was not quite comfortable when I'm around."

"Give him time, Aggie. I'm sure he'll get over his pain very soon, and I'm sure he'll confess his feelings."

"I guess you're right, Bricklebaum. Really, I can't force him to finish my mission. As representative of the element of Imagination, my job is to help people showing what friendship is all about. But in Grinch's case, I'll help him show what love is, and how to use it."

"That's great, Aggie, but you can't to that alone," said the little girl. "I told my friends about this, and they agreed to help."

"Did you tell them about me and this as my mission?" Aggie asked.

"No, I only told them that we should get my mom and Mr. Grinch together."

"Great, because my mission is top secret. No one knows that this is my mission." The winged human then turned to Bricklebaum. "Sir, you have to help me. Grinch was so stubborn, he never listens to my word. I know he'll listen to you."

"I'll do what I can do best," The joyous Who replied.

"Thanks. Thanks to both of you. I need all the help I can get. No. We need all the help we can get," Aggie smiled.

"And we have to finish your mission before New Year, so you can go home," Cindy Lou added.

After few minutes, Cindy Lou and Aggie, who carried Max in her arm, walked out of Bricklebaum's house.

"Are you sure you know your way home?" He asked in concern.

"Don't worry, Mr. Bricklebaum, I know my way," Cindy said proudly.

"We don't have to," Aggie told her.

"What do you mean?"

Without answering the little girl's question, Aggie used her wand staff to zap Cindy Lou to teleport her back to her house in her bedroom, "Don't worry. She's already in her bedroom by now. We'll see you tomorrow at 7:30?"

"You bet. The guy really needs help," Bricklebaum answered.

"Thanks for your help. I really need that. See ya."

Aggie waved at him before flying all the way up to the Grinch's cave while carrying Max.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the Grinch left the door open for her, Aggie let herself in, and put Max down.

"Alright, Max, I'll see you tomorrow," She said as the dog rushed to the kitchen, where his bed is.

Aggie flew upstairs, until she reached her room at the mid-stairway. When she hopped on her bed, she remembered that she haven't called her family and friends this morning, so she quickly tapped the belly of her penguin wand staff, and it showed three holograms from the penguins mouth.

Three holograms means three divisions of the I team she contacted: the main, which they appeared two days ago, the honorary, and the back-up.

"AGGIE!" They all shouted happily.

"Hey, you guys!" She greeted back to them. "Gosh, I already missed you."

"You haven't contacted us this morning," Burn complained.

"Sorry, I'm a little busy... of finding my mission," Aggie replied.

"You found your mission?" Pirate Izzy inquired.

"Yep, but I'll tell you later. I want to know how are the Honorary and the Back-up are doing!" The leader to the other two divisions.

"We're fine, Aggie. You don't need to worry about us," Numbuh 3 giggled.

"Yeah, but as your friend and leader, I'm still worried. So, how was Martha II doing?"

"Pretty good," Vlad said. "When she got her fangs 10 years ago, I decided to train her full-time, and she was rather well, except she never shut up."

"Grandpa Vlad, she's a teenager. Teenagers are quite rebellious these days. Don't pressure her, like what you did to Dennis," Mavis reminded.

"I don't want to be reminded by an overprotective mother who almost TEARED THE FAMILY APART!" Aggie yelled angrily, until she calmed herself. "Sorry. I was a little stress there. Too much bad memories." Then, she turned to the Back-up, "And how about you guys? How's the egg?"

"Pretty good, Aggie. Quite warm, but it's going to hatch," Marlin held his and Dory's egg.

"I can't believe I'm going to be a big brother!" Nemo swam a loop in excitement.

"Yeah, don't get too excited. You'll get stomach ache if you keep doing this," SmurfWillow warned.

"So, what the mission is all about? What's the friendship problem?" Sally Carrera inquired.

" It wasn't a friendship problem I have to fix..., it's a LOVE problem." Aggie replied.

"WHAT?!" Her team shouted in horror.

"Why the heck your element sent you instead of us?!" Junior yelled.

"I don't know, but the element sent me," Aggie tried to calm the stork down.

"But we represent the Element of Love. It was supposed to be us to fix this problem!" Tulip added.

"I know your upset and confuse, but if the element chose me to fix the problem, then we'll respect that."

"That's not fair! You know that's our job! And besides, it must be hard for you to fix this love problem," the stork growled. "You know what? We're coming there. Where are you?"

"Junior, please, I can handle this. It sounds like you don't trust me."

"We trust you, Aggie, but..." Tulip tried to explain, but Aggie interrupted her.

"Like I said, we have to respect the element. Plus, I have done this before with almost all of you. It wasn't so hard or easy. If you let me do this and trust me on this, I'll finish this mission in no time."

Junior grunted, "Fine. We'll leave you to this, but please, make this possible. We all know you are a very capable matchmaker, alright?"

"Stand down, Junior, you may still be my boss in Stork Mountain, but I'm not there, and I am still your boss in the I team."

The stork just growled and rolled his eyes.

"So, who's having a problem in there?" Ginger asked.

Aggie explained, "His name is Grinch. He lived near the town called Whoville. He never lived within the town. He lived here in Mt. Crumpit in his cave with his dog, Max. He's the town hermit, just like you, honey."

"Thanks for reminding me that, Sweetheart," Red groaned, didn't want to discuss his past. "I think I'm probably related with this Grinch person."

"Grinch, huh? There's another funny word in this universe," SmurfBlossom laughed. "Grinch! Grinch! Grinchy! Granch!"

"SmurfBlossom, remember, it's not nice to play other people's names," La Muerte reminded.

"Yeah. When he was just a kid, he was an orphan. No one adopted him. He saw children at his age celebrate Christmas with their families, and he doesn't have one. So, he lived on his own, hated Christmas for 53 years, and didn't socialized with the Who for a long time." Aggie continued.

"Oh, that's sad." Babs commented.

"I know. I felt his pain. So, he planned to 'steal' Christmas from the Whos to fix something that happened years ago, but when he did, it didn't what he was expecting. One little Who girl, Cindy Lou Who, invited him for Christmas dinner, which it was his first Christmas dinner, and he confessed it wasn't Christmas he hated, it's being alone."

"I think I feel him," Red said.

"Me too," Basil added.

"So do I," Sherlock Gnomes admitted.

"Okay, first, that was sad, and second, the people there are called 'Whos'?" Kitka repeated.

"Yeah. They all look like humans, but different appearances," Aggie described.

"But Grinch's problem was already solved. Why you were sent there to help him?" inquired Kessie.

"That's not actually the problem, Kess," corrected Aggie. "You see, the Grinch has a crush on Cindy Lou's widowed hardworking mother, Donna Lou, but he's to nervous to tell her since he never had socialized with the Whos before."

"Wait. If that's the problem, then it was supposed to be us to be sent there!" Avery realized that. "We represent the Element of Confident. Grinch has no confidence to tell his crush his feelings for her."

"Yeah, but, Avery, I was sent here. Like I said seconds ago, let's respect it."

"Yeah, Avery, elements don't lie, you know," Tyler said.

"Shut up, Tyler!" Avery yelled at her step-brother.

"Anyway, I already started helping him, but it didn't work today," Aggie told her friends.

"Did you give him advice?" Danger Mouse asked.

"Yeah. Building a snowmobile for Donna Lou to get to her work is working, but giving the mobile to her in person isn't working."

"Okay, that's all I got." The white mouse shrugged.

"Aggie, do you really agree to this?" Judy asked. "I mean, his name is Grinch, which means 'an unpleasant person who spoils other people's fun or enjoyment'. Does he really need some friendship?"

"Oh, so you're dictionary now?!" Discord glared at the rabbit cop.

"Yeah, don't be so judge-y," Tootie added. "Like Zootopia, anyone can be anything, you know. Like being a bunny cop."

"Okay, everyone, enough," Aggie halted the argument. "I know the victim is exactly what you think, but that's why I'm here. I also taught all of you how to become friends with everyone despite all of your differences. I even reformed villains into good by teaching them about friendship, and revenge isn't always the answer, right guys?"

"You're right, girl," Joen nodded.

"Meow!" Kat gave her a thumb up with his claw.

"Uh-huh," Dr. Blest agreed.

All reformed villain nodded in agreement, trying to forget their evil days.

"I even teach you guys that family isn't about related and same-blood members, but also the people who are close to you and love you," Aggie added. "Despite our differences by personalities, appearances, and the world we lived, it didn't matter when comes to love and friendship. And Grinch. He never had a friend or a family besides his dog. We can't just leave him like this. Even I can't do it. He deserves to have family and friends like we do. He also deserves a love interest. We all do, even how different we are or even we're all different species. Love is stronger than race. You guys deserve to be my friends, and I deserved to be yours. If we all deserve to be happy, loved, and friended, then Grinch deserves the same as we have."

All of your friends and family stared at her in disbelief and in touch. They realized their leader and friend might be right. They all befriended each other and one another for 20 to 40 years already, and nothing has ever teared them apart before, and no one was alone anymore. If Aggie was right, then the Grinch should have what they all have: happiness, love and friendship.

"That beautiful, honey," Red smiled.

"Okay, okay, okay, you convinced us," Doc sighed.

"Count us in, too!" Skully exclaimed as he flapped his green wings.

"Alright, we're all in, baby girl!" Xibalba winked.

Aggie was so happy that her friends and family are willing to help, and supporting her mission, "Great! Now, let's do this!" Then, she turned and glared at her dark god best friend, "Hey, X! Don't call me baby girl!"

To get started for the plans for bringing two love birds together, Aggie set up a black board, pinned the Grinch and Donna Lou's picture on the upper part, and wrote branches and calculations. It's like she was writing equations about love, while her team observed and thought of solutions of how to bring a man and a woman together, still having their holograms on. That was until their element shards on their IDs blinked with alarm wrist watch sounds.

"Ooh, bedtime," Crimson Red.

"Alright, we'll call first thing in the morning," Aggie turned to her friends before turning off the holograms. "Night, you guys."

"Night, Aggie."

"See you, tomorrow."

"Don't forget to call!"

When her team said their goodnights, Aggie turned the holograms off, covered the blackboard with curtains, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I reused the "Power walk" scene for Cindy Lou and her gang from the movie.

Once again, this chapter has crossovers at the end: Numbuh 3-Codename: Kids Next Door Burn-Turbo F.A.S.T. Pirate Izzy-Jake and the Neverland Pirates Vlad-Hotel Transylvania Mavis-Hotel Transylvania Marlin-Finding Nemo/Finding Dory Nemo-Finding Nemo/Finding Dory SmurfWillow-Smurfs Sally Carrera-Cars Junior-Storks Tulip-Storks Ginger-Chicken Run SmurfBlossom-Smurfs La Muerte-Book of Life (2014) Babs-Chicken Run Basil-Great Mouse Detective Sherlock Gnomes-Sherlock Gnomes (movie) Kitka-Penguins of Madagascar Kessie-Winnie the Pooh Avery-Dog with a blog Tyler-Dog with a blog Danger Mouse-Danger Mouse (tv series) Judy-Zootopia Discord-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Tootie-Fairly odd parents Joen (My OC)-Oggy and the Cockroaches Kat-Kid vs Kat Dr. Blest (My OC)-Penguins of Madagascar Red-Angry Birds Doc Hudson-Cars Skully-Jake and the Neverland Pirates Xibalba-Book of Life (2014) Crimson Red (My OC)

Enjoy this, because there's still another chapter tomorrow. Pls comment.