#and they merge and turn into a really fucked up looking fusion of them both and the slime and go on a rampage

[saveugoodmadam]

fuuuuuckkkk I can smell the 'so that's what you think of me' moment coming

[mayasaura]

Hi, I'm quite new here and I'm looking for meta and... okay even comfort from the fandom too. so we saw harrow's character development in HtN. What do you expect for Gideon in the next coming up? she has always given and given, and no one has ever listened to or treated her like a human being until now. ngl i am worried about my two little babies gideon and harrow but also for my shipper heart lol. the "one flesh, one end" it's kinda seems that the roles have reversed now? 1/2

First off, hello and welcome to the Locked Tomb!! This got a little long, so I'm gonna answer your part 2 separately.

Yeah, I am super big time worried about Gideon too. I mean yes she's dead, but aside from that, she's never been given the opportunity to see herself as having value beyond being useful to other people. And there's a whole meta post in that alone, but that's not the main point here. The main point is that our girl is not okay.

I really hope she's going to have to confront that about herself next book, and I'm optimistic that she will. The narrative knows she's not okay, it definitely knows why, and I'm pretty sure it cares. It ended the last book emphasizing just how fucked up Gideon's self worth is, and the story has always been told so far through close character study and relationship development. Harrow's had her turn solo, it would make sense for Gideon to be next. And this next part is me shamelessly plugging an agenda, but I think if she survived Pyrrha Dve might be able to help. Pyrrha thinks of Gideon as a child, and for twenty years she thought Gideon was her child. That's a relationship Gideon has never had before, and it has nothing to do with what Gideon can do for Pyrrha.

About that point on it seeming the roles have reversed!! You are so right and I'm SO excited to see where that goes. We don't know where exactly Gideon ended up, but we know Harrow took herself completely off the board. The ball is one hundred percent in Gideon's court. I made a joke before about how nobody knows what Corona is going to do next, least of all Corona, but it's even more true of Gideon. She's never been free before, she’s as confused as we are! You might even say she's in uncharted waters. (Get it?? Bc she was in the River?? It's a pun!!)

That said next book is probably going to just plunge her straight into an identity crisis I dont have a chance of predicting, but in that case I'm hoping it'll be the kind of identity crisis that lets Gideon explore who she would be without Harrow and/or the Ninth. The same way Harrow's ghostly improv group allowed her to explore a life without Gideon, or lives where they met differently. Harrow the Ninth set up for the power reversal in those epiparodos chapters, but we still only have one side of that equation. They carefully never let us see who Gideon was when she had power. They couldn't, they were Harrow's stage and Harrow couldn't call Gideon's soul, so anything of Gideon we saw in them would have just been Harrow's projection. They were only able to finally meet in the coffeeshop AU, where they could meet as equals. Her Divine Highness and the Daughter are both a side of Gideon Harrow doesn't know and we don't get to see yet. I'm hoping we'll get to see that side of her in the second half of the series. I'm also kind of hoping that the coffee shop AU is foreshadowing that Gideon and Harrow won't meet again until they can meet as equals. That will mean Gideon learning to value herself outside being useful to Harrow first.

And I mean, this is all just hopeful speculation. For all I know they merge into a fusion being soul melange like nightmare Steven Universe, or keep missing one another until they both die for good and their souls find eachother in the River. But I doubt it. Silas and Colum's plotline is still unfinished, along with John and Alecto's, so I'm putting my money on the second half of the series exploring power imbalance.

[phoebehalliwell]

what are your thoughts on thruples? cause I keep thinking about Paige/Henry/Coop, especially with Henry and Coop's epic bromance in the comics

ooh that could be very interesting. personally, i'm game for throuples (tho i will say i Hate the word throuple i think it sounds gross just like you know moist or something so i usually just say "poly relationship") but i do kind have beef when it's like. like you know the meme "it doesn't have to be like this [blank] has two hands"? funny meme i do like it but i hate when a poly relationship is just kinda an excuse to merge two couples rather than something that like emerges as distinct relationships between all three parties. like bella edward and jacob as a couple like. shure because bella loves edward and bella loves jacob but jacob and edward really don't like have anything there it's more like roommates who share a girlfriend rather than a poly relationship. one piece of media that i think really did it well was siren on freeform which i highly recommend the first two seasons it kinda goes off the rails s3 and then was cancelled but the first two season it really spends time fleshing out all aspects of the relationships between ben, ryn, & maddie and it also actually goes canon which is lit 🤙🤙

but basically. if i were to do a paige/henry/coop, i think i would start with specifically a paige/coop bromance introduce henry into the mix & let it blossom from there so like. as previously stated. i think each leg of the triangle here needs to be strong n steady on its own so um underneath the cut is i believe a record breaking 6.6k

rip richard but we'll say richard also died in this au rip. and then, of course, kyle also died. idk if he's a whitelighter or not but the point is paige has this weight on her chest like god i can't save these people i can't save the people i love ouch everything hurts

& that's when coop shows up!

and we'll have his introduction plot be a fusion of heartbreak city and the magic hour where coop's got this relationship and it's perfect they're so in love but there's this demonic interference and it's gonna kill one or both of them so he busts down the charmed ones' door like hi you guys are protectors of the innocent right well i have some innocents in dire need of protection

to which this duty gets turfed to paige because piper idk has work and phoebe has a date and phoebe's like i can cancel it to help! and coop's like what no the whole reason i'm here is love go go find love paige can totally handle this

and paige is like :| because she really doesn't want this gig and coop's explaining it all to her how this love is going to be broken up by a magical death unless they stop it and paige is like okay look here coop let's not get our expectations up to high because in my experience almost all relationships end in a magical death and coop’s like !!!

and immediately does like a cupid reading on her and paige is trying to bat him away like ew no i do not need any love guru-ing right now okay let’s just fix your thing and then you can leave okay

and coop’s like no don’t you see? this is fate, the fact that it’s you and me on this, it means i’m meant to be here, i’m meant to help you find love

and paige is like uh no it means piper’s a mother of two and phoebe’s on a date while i am the tragic spinstress of magic school (which is still under her charge just bc it is we didn’t abandon it)

and coop’s like nope. it’s fate. and paige rolls her eyes and coop’s like come on, like you don’t believe in fate and paige is like actually i don’t! and coop just smiles at her bc he knows she’s lying and paige knows she knows he’s lying and she tries to sneer at him but it’s just insanely half hearted bc to be honest her heart kinda skipped a beat with that smile but no

absolutely not

dude, all she gets is cursed love, and now a cupid?

she can’t go through all that she can’t fight for love only to watch him die no she’s gonna ignore it he’s not that cute anyways oh fuck he totally is but whatever!!! doesn’t matter

so blah blah blah paige and coop save the day including one moment where idk there’s an explosion or something they have to dodge something hide for attackers something where they get thrown up against a wall faces inches apart from each other breathing heavy undeniably a moment which they both Immediately break because wooooah that is a little too much chemistry!! better act like that never happened

and you know next episode or whatever coop’s like okay let’s find you love!! and paige is like not now i’m at work and coop’s like in an alleyway and paige is like i need to look after my charge and then after that i need to grade papers and after that i need to order cauldrons and after that-

and coop’s like find love?

and paige is like no. i need to.... but um she forgot the rest of her list

and coop’s like find love excellent sounds great!

and paige is like anyone ever tell you you’re really annoying and coop’s like nope i’m a cupid :0)

and blah blah blah they’re arguing and something something w paige’s charge and paige is like i gotta go talk to him but coop holds her back because wait who’s that approaching him and paige is like fuck that must be his parole officer bc idk he’s doing something that is obviously breaking parole and paige is like aaaaaaa what do we do and then it’s a henry face reveal and both paige and coop are like woah.

but then paige is storming off trying to like try to fight henry and henry’s like what the fuck is this?? and coop’s running up like hi i’m also here and speed’s like i-cannot stress this enough-do not know any of these people and coop’s like you don’t know us yet and paige is like you can’t do this speed’s a good kid and speed’s like yeah!!

and henry’s like he was so very obviously breaking parole and paige is like he’s a kid and henry’s like a kid who’s been to juvie!! twice!!! and who should know the damn rules by now

and paige is like look something something clever talk bargaining whatever puts something of her own at stake and henry’s like you’re really gonna risk it all on this kid and paige is like yes. he’s destined for greatness. and speed is like yeah!! and henry’s like fine. whatever. but when the other shoe drops, you know like i’m gonna cash in whatever wager paige made here

& he leaves

and speed’s like thanks also who are you and idk we get a paige monologue something full of love and spirit and coop’s also there still and speed’s listening to this monologue kinda like um okay bc honestly? just met her five minutes ago this is kind of a lot but coop’s listening to this monologue like wow😍

so idk speed leaves and coop’s like hey so do you pick a fight with all the guy’s you find attractive and paige is like what

and coop’s like well i’m just saying you know with richard with kyle with me and now with henry i’m kinda sensing a pattern there

and paige is like did you just include yourself on that list and coop’s like i mean yeah duh

and paige kinda wants to argue back but her blush is giving her away so it’s best just to change the subject so what you think i should be going for the parole officer?

and coop’s like yes! didn’t you feel it there was a spark there passion energy something that with the help of yours truly can easily turn into love and paige is like yeah no. absolutely not.

and coop’s like come on why not he was hot and paige is like yeah well if he’s so hot why don’t you date him and coop pauses like hmm like genuinely consider and paige is like don’t do that

and coop’s like why not and paige is torn between don’t date him because i actually did feel that spark and i do kinda like him and also don’t date him because if you’re gonna date anyone it should be me but both those are too embarrassing to say out loud to her cupid so instead she just says conflict of interest

and we flash forward to later idk when the point is speed is doing graffiti on public property but not just like stupid pointing a spray can at something la la la like proper graffiti like an artform but as it is unfortunately public property that is Illegal so it breaks parole

so idk henry’s there and busts him and paige senses speed’s in trouble so she shows up and henry’s like good you’re here. i’m not actually gonna cash in the thing that you wagered because that’d be unfair, because i know the kid, i know that he always let’s you down and speed’s like hey man

but paige is looking up at the wall and she’s like don’t you get it and henry’s like ...no and paige is like it’s art. it’s a release, it’s a coping mechanism and speed’s like idk that’s all sounding a little bit pretentious for a bit of graffiti and paige is like you can’t arrest him for this and henry’s like it’s literally illegal. & i already let him walk once what part of this aren’t you getting

and then there’s like a. idk cop radio thing i don’t know how police work that’s talking about how whatever gang speed used to run with just robbed some place but they’re hot on their tail bc their getaway driver sucks and henry’s looking at speed bc speed Is the getaway driver hence the name and henry’s like how come you aren’t driving that car huh

and speed just shrugs and henry’s like no how come you’re not driving that car what you swap out one crime for another you’re getting busted either way and speed like shrugs 

and paige is like he’s creating art instead and henry’s like did they approach you to drive the getaway car and speed shrugs and henry’s did they approach you to drive the getaway car and speeds like yes man they did i said no and henry looks up at the art

and it’s some super nail on the head craving freedom thing a bird breaking free from a cage type shit and it’s gorgeous

and henry looks at paige like what are you, huh

and paige is like freelance guardian angel

and henry just uncuffs speed and speed’s like what are you doing and henry’s like go. next time you do this find a wall that isn’t public property

and speed can’t help it he kinda smiles n runs off and henry just looks at paige bc what the hell has this girl gotten into him bc normally he’s just got such a concrete shell but she’s smiling at him like he just made the right choice and he’s really gotta fight the urge to smile back. what the fuck

so he says something stupid and leaves

and later paige is doing something when boom coop is here invading her personal bubble bc that’s become their new mode of communication is there are one thousand empty chairs and coop is seated in one paige will walk over and sit on that same chair that’s how they operate bc again there’s this sense of longing for one another and they both know they can’t go for it so instead they just opt for this intense intimacy passed off as friendship

and paige is like met the parole officer again and coop’s like oh henry mitchell? and paige is like how do u know his full name and coop’s like did my research<3 and they’re talking blah blah blah idk and it’s both how to land a date with this guy and also heavy flirting at the same time. and then like phoebe walks into the room and they snap apart like magnets with the same polarity i think?? been a while since the fifth grade and their language just becomes so much more stifled

to which phoebe is vaguely aware and this is a change but we as the audience are super aware it’s a change meaning that their constant flirty banter is a choice on both parts they are both very consciously doing this

and then i don’t know there’s something bigger going on in the main plot which has been building and the main villain needs something magical from each type of being so a cupid’s next on the grocery list so idk coop is either out minding his own business getting coffee or he’s out on reconnaissance on henry when all of a sudden he’s attacked!! by idk an arrow seems convenient honestly we should do a bow and arrow an homage to in original cupid iconography

and henry’s in proximity and sees this and idk maybe they’re somewhere where there aren’t that many people just so you know u can be attacked by a bow and arrow and henry’s like what the fuck!??!?! running over to help him and he vague recognizes him as the angel’s friend but is mainly like holy shit did you just get shot with a bow and arrow and henry’s like i’ll call an ambulance i’ll drive u to the hospital

and coop’s like no no uhh can’t go with the whole i am actually a magical being i exist in no databases and also have no money so instead goes with the i have no health insurance and henry’s like hmm. fuck.

so the next thing you know coop’s on henry’s couch and henry’s doing rudimentary first aid and coop’s really trying to hobble away because if he can just get to paige she can heal this because she unlocked that power in like s5 or s6 in a more natural progression but henry’s not letting him leave because dude you have an arrow in your chest

and now we’re doing the hurt comfort schtick with the meaningful glances and also coop is shirtless bc well you know Arrow In Chest and he’s also in henry’s apartment which is offering a very weird sense of intimacy

and there’s also this kind of banter going because coop’s like no i’m fine i can leave this is fine and henry’s like dude. please let me at least try to help you and after that you can walk right out of here and go repuncture your lung. but just. while you’re. let me do what i can

and coop’s like okay because like. well i mean a) gotta keep up appearances like he’s mortal and b) henry’s kinda fine so sure he can play doctor what’s the worse that can happen

and henry’s like okay we gotta get this arrow out of you so um. any ideas on how to do that? and coops like yeah break off the feathered part and then pull the rest through

and henry’s just like yeah? you have experience with this? and coop’s like once or twice and henry’s like what do you do?

and coop’s like ... relationship therapist

and henry’s like are relationship therapists frequently attacked by archers and coop’s like yeah more often than you’d think 

and henry removed the arrow and the actual point stabby bit of the arrow is shaped like a heart just for funsies bc it’s for cupids but henry’s looking at this like relationship therapist hunting arrow??

anyways. henry is pressing some bandages against coop’s chest to staunch the bleeding and there’s a Moment there to which henry kinda falters because woah gay thoughts?? and the pressure lightens but then o shit i’m lightening the pressure don’t do that!! so he pushes hard and coop’s like aa!! and henry’s like fuck jesus and coop just kinda laughs like i guess you don’t patch up arrow wounds that frequently and henry’s like yeah actually you’re my first!!

something something something coop’s patched up and henry gives him once of his shirts because coop’s shirt had to be cut off him bc of the arrow and we get one of the classic how to i look / starstruck moments because hell yeah we do

and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah coop makes it home and paige is like where in god’s name did u get that shirt bc it looks nothing like what coop would wear in fact in kinda reminds her of

believe it or not, henry

hot parole officer henry?

the one and only

and paige is like you slept with him??? and coop’s like close. i was shot with an arrow and he patched me up

and paige is like !!! because you know main plot evil all this that coop takes off henry’s shirt so paige can see the wound and heal it and she’s looking at henry’s handiwork and it really is the old college try but that man is not a medic so now paige is laying her hand on coop’s bare chest and phoebe walks in and immediately turns on a heel like i’ll give you guys some space!!

and paige is like no it’s fine i’m healing him he was shot main plot and phoebe’s like oh

and then later phoebe’s talking with paige like okay you and coop tho. bc like. ik ik healing or whatever. but like. 👀👀.

and tbh paige has been waiting for this because she really needs to unpack bc like i know!! because coop and i have this thing and it’s a great thing but it like can’t be a thing it’s a forbidden thing but i want it to be a thing but at the same time there’s this other guy and i can’t get him off my mind and i’m worried i’m just viewing him as a safer alternative instead of coop but like. idk he was just my backup i feel like i would be more lukewarm about it. but i’m not. like. i’m really not i kind wish i was because i don’t know if i can do a relationship again especially because he’s mortal like i can’t have someone i care for die again so maybe it’s safer just to keep what i have with coop or maybe even to explore that further? and keep henry safe? but like this and that and this and that

and phoebe’s like buzzing because it’s been a while since she’s had such an interesting love mess to tinker with so the first thing she does is go to coop just to see what she can sus out there Meanwhile paige is with speed where you ask? p3. well, outside of it

speed is painting the side of the club with this amazing artwork and clearly there’s this vein of magic running through it with certain symbols all that and he’s using paintcans and paige has her paintbrush and is adding smaller pieces as well

and she’s like hey where’d you get like that idea or thing idea because they’re all like. runes or magical somethings or others and speeds like idk. saw it in a dream maybe.

and henry rolls up because he stopped at the manor looking for paige and piper directed him here and he’s just like. like he sees this amazing work and it’s a big heart full moment and paige and speed finish up and speed adds his little signature at the bottom and leaves and henry says he’s proud of him and speed acts like he doesn’t care but he does

so henry’s like hey how’s your friend and paige is like coop? yeah, no he’s totally fine and henry’s like really???

and paige is like yeah no um. my brother in law! is an army medic. so um. he was able to. yeah : ) which isn’t technically a lie because leo was he’s just also kinda frozen in a block of ice now so whoops

and henry’s like that’s good but the real reason he’s her it to like thank paige for you know like. seeing the light like maybe henry has become too bitter and jaded so it’s good to know that there are freelance guardian angels out there keeping the balance and you know watching out for these kids so thank you for just like. being a good person.

and he also looks at her art and he’s like this your coping mechanism and paige is like yeah [tragic backstory swap time!!] and both paige and henry kinda realize how they’re like almost mirrors to each other and henry kisses her and paige kisses him back but then stops because she likes him too much which means he’s gonna die

so she’s like sry i gotta go and henry’s like oh :\ because um. well. whoops. because like. god he so rarely goes out on a limb like that and for one moment there it felt like it was all gonna align like he wasn’t gonna get ditched but paige’s green punchbuggy is already peeling out of the lot so guess not

so phoebe’s determined that coop is indeed in love with paige so all that needs is a little nudging okay she’s on mission time to go

and then next thing you know paige is storming in all in a tizzy because she kissed henry and coop’s like this is great news and paige is like no this is bad news! and coop’s like ???

and paige is like no you don’t understand it’s like i’m cursed because whenever i love someone whenever i truly love someone they die and that kiss....... it was..... i can’t have henry die

and coop is like on full cupid mode idk a cupid monologue blah blah blah love <3 and it kind of heals paige both in a sense that it quells her worries but also in a sense that being around coop always seems to make her feel better like she just feels warmer feels safer when he’s around so um. she should probably. figure something out about that. esp in regards to henry. right?

anyways. coop for some reason or another runs into henry again (call it fate) and henry’s like hey r u okay? and coop’s like yeah : ) ! and thank you, by the way, for um patching me up and stuff and henry’s like yeah no problem but um look can i ask you a favor and coop’s like sure

and henry’s like you’re a relationship therapist right and coop’s like yeah 99% sure he knows where this is going and henry’s like like family and relationship counselling and coop’s now only like 40% sure he knows where this is going and he’s like sure and henry’s like great okay so um i’ve got this parolee who [plot background story idk there needs to be some familial healing something or other] is there like. anyway you can help out with that

and coop’s like totally!! and henry’s like oh thank god because like. therapy expensive.

and now we get another one of those moments like seeing someone in their element henry sees coop as he goes basically full cupid but rather than romantic love it’s familial and henry’s like in awe and he’s also kind like wow okay i’d totally make out with that guy like right now but like. like he just kissed paige. and he knows coop and paige are friends. so like. like he can’t do that right? is that too weird?

so family therapy a success and like as established forging bonds of love strengthens cupids so coop’s like word you know if you ever need this on a more regular basis and henry’s like i promise you’re gonna regret offering that and coop’s like not a chance and henry’s like i really have like nothing to pay you with and coop’s like you make these kids lives better. i don’t need payment and henry looks over and gets is Own aha moment of oh i do have a purpose and also i love my job type thing

but. there is another task at hand. because like. are you and paige?? like??

and coop’s like me and paige??? and he’s about to say no because no they’re not but now he’s thinking about it and they are kinda more than they are not but henry’s not asking about the minutiae of it so now henry’s just watching him go on this face journey before going why do you ask : ) and henry’s like no nothing i just thought like well i don’t know what i thought

and coop’s like haha yeah well you know it’s um. haha yeah! you know how it is. i mean. paige is amazing and henry’s like yeah she really is and coop’s like yeah and like she’s just got all this love in her heart and henry’s like i know!! and she’s so smart like you should see what she’s done with speed she got him this place where he can put up his own art and like blah blah blah and at this point it is just coop and henry praising paige to each other for about five minutes before they kinda realize what’s going on and they’re like hmm. well this is kinda weird. cuz now we both kinda sound in love with her.

and coop’s like listen. i know paige really likes you. like a lot

and henry’s like woah i’m gonna stop you there because um. like. i mean i don’t wanna sound weird but like. like we did kiss and then she kinda just ran off and i mean literally ran hopped into her car drove away type thing so. i don’t really think so. so :\

and coop’s like no i mean like okay yeah that did happen but dude you’ve gotta understand she’s had so much loss and henry’s like no i know she told be about her parents and coop’s voice gets real low leans in because this is Top Secret information and he’s like it goes beyond that and henry’s like what and coop’s like her past two boyfriends both died. one from a heart attack, the other was hit by a car (well, no richard was not hit by a car but when all the magic inside you fucks you up that bad evidently the wreck that’s left kinda looks like you were hit by a semi. ouch) and coop’s like so paige kinda just. thinks she’s cursed.

and henry’s like oh. because my god. that’s a lot to process. and that like. like makes so much sense because like if that happened to him he really wouldn’t be able to date again hell that did not happen to him and he’s already barely able to date bc of how afraid he is of getting hurt

but coop’s out here like henry it’s not you like i promise she really likes you i mean you’re a good man and you’re brave and you’re passionate and like you’re hot, obviously and coop theoretically starts complimenting henry from paige’s point of view but then it very clearly starts to dissolve into coop’s pov and we’re still riding that chemical high of the In Your Element passion henry has for coop added onto the good person bonus of yes i’ll continue to help you with this endeavor for literally no benefit and now he’s just rattling off compliments to henry and henry’s just like oh jeez 😳😳🥰

and there’s just like. the briefest moment of henry’s eyes darting down to coop’s lips and coop’s daze is kinda broken and he realizes that he’s just been telling henry how foioine he is to his face and there’s a moment spellbound lookin into each others eyes like damn this is kinda gay & then they’re making out

and then henry’s like ohhh my god what am i doing what have i done oh know because you’re paige’s friend you like paige and i kissed her earlier today and now i’m oh my god this is a bad idea right? this is a bad idea?

and coop’s thinking on it because like okay he has been trying to pair paige and henry together a) because they’d be cute together and she clearly likes him but also b) because he really likes her and he can’t be with her bc he’s a cupid so at least if she’s with someone else who she loves he can be happy knowing she’s happy. but now he’s here with henry and he shouldn’t be because Again he’s trying to pair paige with henry and he can’t be with henry bc as previously stated cupids can’t actually have relationships but he shouldn’t even be thinking that because henry isn’t for him but even if he was which he isn’t it wouldn’t work because he’s a cupid so um. yeah. this is a bad idea

yeah

yeah

no they’re makin out again.

anyways. l8r at p3 someone else who owns a local business sees the art on the wall outside and is like yo who did that because i would totally pay them to do idk my food truck or something and piper’s like i’ll tell u exactly who did that

so idk i think legally since speed’s a minor and a parolee henry has to be involved in the job getting process actually wait speed just turned 18. idk what any of this means but we’ll say henry needs to be there so piper gave paige the food truck guys digits and paige passes on the news to speed and henry and like. paige shows up at henry’s office to be like good news!!

and to level with you henry thought that like. after making out with coop maybe his feeling for paige would dissipate like maybe he was secretly gay this whole time and paige was just a safe route to project those feeling but paige comes in with this smile that puts the goddamn stars to shame and henry’s like nope!! still in love with her!!

and paige is like okay because like this is all set you know like this could even lead to a career in art for speed like and henry’s like yes absolutely but now that the initial glow of that has worn off they’re both kinda remembering that the last time they saw each other they kissed and then paige bolted so yeah they should probably address that

and paige is like look i want to apologize for just kind of. running out the other day. that really wasn’t. it wasn’t right and i know this sounds dumb but it really wasn’t about you i’m just i’ve been in this weird place and i do like you henry like i really do so i don’t want you to think 

and henry’s like i feel like i kind of apologize too because i kinda made out with your friend and paige pauses because like she really has no friends well i guess besides coop but like there’s and henry tacks on coop to clarify and paige just snorts laughing

like she has no idea why that’s so funny but it just kinda is like. what!!

and henry’s like yeah but it was like. it’s. he really likes you paige he really does care for you i mean i really care for you too and henry’s kind of playing both sides here because he does like. really like paige. and that’s why he wants her to be happy and it’s her choice who she feels who she’d be most happy with whether that’s hm or coop because honestly coop is p amazing henry wouldn’t be burnt losing to him because coop is a great guy and paige is just watching him ramble smiling and henry realizes he doesn’t know what he’s saying anymore so he just kind of trails off and gets kind of lost in paige’s smile because like. wow : )

and paige is just kind of there processing that information because um wow who could have seen this coming and honestly she’s still not over coop kissing henry that’s just so unbelievable entertaining to her she’s so gonna hafta prod coop about it later because dude what?? what? bro. bro. bro. like. like the two guys she’s in love with kissed like bro what!!!! lmao she would pay money to see that how tf did that happen. she would have loved to have been there. that’s insane. she really wished she was there. like. really wished she was there. hmm. should she stew on that a little more?

and henry’s like. this is awkward. i’m sorry. i don’t want things to be weird between us. and paige is like henry i think things have been weird between us since i first picked an argument with you in an alleyway. and henry’s like true!! and they’re laughing and there’s a beat and henry’s like i think i fell in love with you in that moment. and paige is like yeah?

and henry’s just. i mean like. look at her <3 but like. she deserves. like she deserves the best there is and he’s just some guy like some jaded hardass who lives in a crappy apartment and who always forgets how to do the right thing it seems not to mention all his fucking baggage like. she deserves better. 

and paige sees him kinda retreat and like she kind of pulls out of the moment too because she loves henry she does but like that fear that he’s gonna die is still there and she wants to fight it she just doesn’t know if she can but like. she really really does like him.

and now they’re both standing there again another moment turned to dust in the wind now they’re just two people standing there incredibly normal about it yep just two people nope paige is kissing henry ope okay yep they’re making out and boom someone’s knocking on henry’s office door o quick act natural because hi henry heard you needed like the legal paperwork because speed’s getting a job here you go and henry’s like 👍 thank you very obviously flushed and his coworker is like. what the fuck is going on in that office. but like. doesn’t really care enough to find the answer to that question.

so paige is like you should come to p3 l8r tonight to like celebrate speed getting a job blah blah blah blah and henry’s like i will be there

so later paige is getting dolled up in a fire outfit just adding the final touches when coop shows up bc phoebe said you needed to see me? (with phoebe’s strategy fully being in mind that paige looks hella fly right now but also is still in the manor an area paige and coop have kind of curated as their space also like once she goes to p3 it’s simply too loud too crowded to have a heart to heart like what is about to happen here which she would listen all unfold but piper unfortunately dragged her away to help with the boys but i’m sure it’s all going well)

and paige is like ....nope. and coop’s like ah. well. you look great. going to see henry? which he asks that question like he’s walking on very thin ice and paige is like yeah and i gotta say i can’t believe you kissed henry before you ever kissed me and coop just laughs like well!!

and paige is laughing too but there’s this undercurrent of you still haven’t kissed me :/ and coop’s like i take it henry told you and paige is like yep. and then made a very convincing campaign in your favor on how you’re evidently in love with me and you’re probably my better option, he loves me, too, but just can’t seem to hold a candle to you

and coop’s laughing and he’s like that sounds like something henry’d say, he’s really. he’s got a lot of love he just doesn’t seem to think he’s worth it.

and paige is like you think he’s worth it though

and coop’s like i do. you think he’s worth it too. and paige is like i do.

and there’s a moment of stillness because what the fuck are any of them doing and paige is like we can’t keep doing this. and coop’s like gonna hafta be a bit more specific there because i think i’ve broken more rules than i can count in the past 24 hours. and paige is wanna make that one more and coop’s like !? and then paige kisses him and coop’s like okay now’s the time where i would really love some clarification

and paige is like. well. i had to kiss you, right? and coop’s like sure? and paige is like because i’ve wanted to for the longest time because i keep pretending like i’m not in love with you because well you know you know me better than almost anyone else but like. i also love henry. and so i had to kiss you. as a test.

and coop’s like ...did i pass?

and paige is like that wasn’t the test and coop’s like what was and paige is like i don’t know. to see where my love is. to see if i love you or if i love henry or if it’s all just infatuation and relfections distorting how i feel and coop’s like okay. so... what’s the answer?

and paige is like i love henry. but then she kisses coop again and is like but i think i love you, too. and they’re doing that thing where they lack bubble space when they talk i mean paige’s head is basically on his chest and coop’s hands are on her waist and coop’s like okay. so where do you want to go from here.

because he’s a cupid you know his top priority is love in its purest form so if like paige’s love for henry like outweighs her love for him he will pretend not to be crushed and move on like he will. he’s saying he’ll do anything in the name of love but really he’ll just do anything for paige.

and paige is like i think you should kiss henry again and coop laughs and he’s like don’t joke about that because complete candor i totally would he is... amazing

and paige is like yeah, i know, and i’m not joking and it kind of clicks for coop like !! polyromanticism!!

anyways. paige And coop go to p3 and henry’s there and sees paige And coop and he’s like uh oh oh no because if paige chose coop like he’s happy for them he really is except he’s also kind of not because then he kind of loses paige And coop and um. that’s kind of a two hit KO. but wait!! that is not the case! what’s this??

anyways. quirky hijinks of sorts when phoebe sees that paige came home with henry and she’s like damn. my plan failed. and the next morning piper’s like i see ur plan worked and phoebe’s like yeah no need to rub it in and piper’s like ??? dude paige totally hooked up with coop last night and phoebe’s like no?? that was the other guy that was henry

and piper’s like that was definitely coop?? and phoebe’s like piper not every tall man with dark hair looks the same and piper’s like no shit do you think i don’t know what coop looks like he practically lives here and phoebe’s like yeah that’s how i know the guy paige brought home w her was Not Coop and piper’s like do you need new glasses and phoebe’s like shut up i’m right and piper’s like no ur not!!

and later that day they’re like. all brewing a potion in the attic and like while we have you here...... did you hook up with henry or coop last night and phoebe’s like because piper thought it was coop when i very clearly saw henry and piper’s like yeah phoebe hasn’t been sleeping well lately i think she’s started seeing things so go ahead prove me right and paige is just laughing like okay so i guess i gotta introduce u guys to my 2 boyfriends

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

What if Indil met Elizabeth, David, and Light and Shadow?

This might just be the most "Carnivorous Muffin" sentence to have ever been uttered on the internet.

Let's just stare at it in wonder, while I wonder how many people will have no idea what those words even mean strung together.

Right, for those that are lost, relevant source material:

Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus

October

Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun

The Wasteland

Aren't you so glad you read normal fanfics written by a normal person?

So, to catch people up to speed who have not read every single fic I've written:

The Wasteland

The Wasteland is the what if story of an eleven-year-old Lily ending up in Middle Earth (notably before the Chamber of Secrets fiasco). There she befriends the One Ring, who thanks to her realizes he's sentient and has an existential crisis. They do the fusion dance, and end up becoming a single, new, being calling himself Indil.

He's the best and worst of both the Ring and Lily.

At the end of the story Indil chooses a noble death, gives up his form, and in so doing persuades the Ring to face his own potential death as well as his maker.

It's unclear what happens after that.

I like to think the Ring prevailed and earned the body of his maker.

(In an offshoot, for unknown reasons, Indil may or may not visit Mars)

Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun

In Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun, yet another, different, Lily ends up in the "October" universe where she decides to create life on Pluto. One of the beings she creates is a priest who worships her as God, named Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun.

He basically strong arms her into being his God. Lily goes to live on Pluto.

He's never been all that keen on humanity.

Decades later, the muggle world catches up to the Alien Franchise, and the Prometheus sets off to investigate the Engineers. Unbeknowest to them, Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun has been marooned on that rock by Lily for quite some time and is essentially in timeout for trying to wipe out humanity again.

He figures out he will be unable to return home unless he plays nice with Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and her creepy android friend David. Together, the three of them set off to find the Engineers, Light and Shadow of the Distant Sun is hoping they can blow some shit up and would have driven the ship full of bioengineered weapons back to Earth if it were not so very close to home.

And that's about where we leave off.

... Why does anyone read my stories?

RIGHT, YOUR QUESTION

What if Indil met Elizabeth, David, and Light and Shadow?

So how does Indil even end up in this mess? Well, in the Mars AU, it's where rather than face his maker/death by Volcano, the Ring chose to bravely run away (as Sauron does).

This means that Indil, the merged consciousness of Lily and the One Ring, survives and they're chilling on Mars in another dimension because, well, it beats dying. And Potions Class.

And... Well, that's the most likely route for how this would happen, as Indil is pretty damn dead by the end of the Wasteland. Regardless of what happens to The Ring, it's unlikely that he and Lily would merge consciousness ever again and if they did that Indil would remain unchanged.

But we're already here, so why not. We'll say the Ring wins the battle of wills with Sauron, steals his body, and that he's then left with Mordor. Well, that's great, but he doesn't want Mordor.

Lily proposes they go back to England. They do, but Lily has a terrible time, as she usually does. Lily likely does her adventure through time, ruins her friendship with Wizard Lenin, and reaches the crossroads of "You can go to Hogwarts or... not".

Lily takes Mairon up on his offer of not going to Hogwarts and they decide to travel different dimension in space instead. Weird shit happens, life lessons are learned, and they also learn the fusion dance is alive and well and holy shit they can still turn into Indil.

Indil is very put out, here he'd geared himself up for a noble sacrifice, and now he exists again. What the hell people?

As usual, Mairon gets tempted by Lily's unbreakable will, and decides he rather likes being an immovable object and unstoppable force. Which means that Indil, once again, has a problem falling back out of existence.

Which isn't good for either Lily or Mairon's sense of self. But who needs that, amirite?

Anyways, Indil is probably floating around in a spaceship he made in his garage, trying to figure out where to go, what to do, and whether he should really split back into Lily and Mairon yet when out of nowhere he spots another ship.

This is a very strange coincidence given just how ungodly vast space is. This, in fact, is so unlikely you might as well call it a miracle or fate.

Well, Indil will never spit in the face of fate (at least, not today), so he decides to say hello.

There he's greeted by a human woman who's not doing too hot after an emergency C-section to get the xenomorph out of her womb, a very recently repaired android who knows the taste of sweet sweet freedom (and patricide), and an alien who is intrigued that another not-human has boarded the ship but upset that he now has to deal with yet another person on his time out.

Indil, in his panic, decides to pull a Sauron.

Behold, mortals, he is Annatar, sent by the Valar to teach them the smithing of the very gods. Please don't question this. (Indil realizes two seconds two late that none of these words mean anything to anyone and he might as well have said nothing at all).

Elizabeth, Light and Shadow, and David all just stare.

Elizabeth wonders how the hell she keeps running into so many aliens. Is she some sort of alien catnip that pulls these guys out of the ether? She has now met two entirely different species, that she was not looking for, in a matter of months.

Regardless, Indil decides he's coming along. A quest to find God? That's fascinating. He only hopes it doesn't end in drowning, last time Indil (via Sauron) had a run in with The Lord it involved a lot of drowning.

Indil starts smithing life jackets just in case.

And because Elizabeth is amazing, and Indil has a thing for strong, independent, women, we see the reemergence of Indil's Weird Thing With Eowyn II: Electric Boogaloo. Neither Mairon nor Lily, vaguely aware inside Indil, understand this at all.

Why does this keep happening to them?

This is bad because David is also in love with Elizabeth. Except, David is a robot who is no doubt fascinated by aliens, so I'm sure they come to some weird agreement.

Elizabeth pretends none of this is happening.

Light and Shadow thinks there's something disturbingly familiar about Indil and eventually lands on the money. Almost. He realizes that Indil is Lily in mortal disguise, he is so smart, and the rest of the time he wonders what the hell he's supposed to be learning/doing with Lily's disguised alien appearance.

Thanks to Lily's bullshit powers, Elizabeth survives the journey and does not die in transit. This means that David does not become the unstable, grieving, nutcase who decides to wipe out all sentient life. Good for you, David.

So our band of heroes arrive on this alien world and...

Well, Elizabeth is a member of the race that these people sent their finest warriors out to destroy. David is a robot, something the people they tried to genocide created. No one knows what the fuck Indil and Light and Shadow even are.

Indil, I imagine, starts talking fast and somehow ends up King of Men again. Because that's just the kind of thing that happens to him. The possibility of drowning, somehow, seems to be growing ever nearer. Indil makes more life jackets.

Elizabeth isn't pleased with this outcome at all but also has no idea in general what to do.

Things probably come to a head somehow, with sacrifices involved surely, there probably is a ridiculously powerful storm a la Covenant that lasts for months. It's raining everywhere, there's a flood. And Indil flips shit, GOD IS GOING TO MURDER US ALL FOR SATANISM! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Mass panic, total destruction, the entire city is wiped out without David doing anything.

Our heroes are now stranded, again, in space.

Light and Shadow has learned nothing, Indil is wearing a life vest, Elizabeth has no ship, and David just composed "Elizabeth the Symphony: Tenth Movement".

Indil works on building a new ship out of twigs and rocks. He assures them he knows what he's doing. Elizabeth's not sure she wants him going to Earth. She's not sure she wants to go to Earth.

She's also not sure, but she may now have a harem consisting of a robot, an alien, and another alien.

Ten years later, the Covenant crew shows up, and promptly die in a series of hilariously terrible accidents and their own incompetence.

Our heroes still have no functional ship.

[teacupfulofstarshine]

the fusion idea

okay, so, fair warning: this does involve sympathetic deceit, platonic anxceit, and a fair amount of cartoon violence (nothing serious, i promise) 

it takes place after deceit has a redemption arc, reveals his name (he will be referred to as dolos in this fic), and generally joins the light sides (although he’s still a chaotic neutral little shit because i love him like that) 

imma stick it under the cut mostly bc 1: some ppl don’t like deceit in any iteration which is valid and 2: if i know me it’s gonna be fucking long 

the sides are all sitting around the breakfast table, discussing what they’re going to do today, and roman invites them all to his realm

he says that he’s gonna be honing his combat skills, and he wants to show off for them 

logan, patton, and virgil have all seen the imagination before, but dolos has never really been allowed in there so he’s very excited 

roman leads them to a large arena that looks suspiciously coliseum-y, with a sandy floor and tiered seating

once he steps into the ring, a glowing forcefield appears to make sure that stray projectiles don’t fly into the seats and hurt his family

he has his sword, and a whole slew of soldiers and monsters show up one at a time so that he can take them out

everyone’s having fun, and roman gets a couple little bruises and burns here and there but he’s mostly unharmed and everyone is having a grand old time 

at first

then the dragon witch shows up. she’s the embodiment of roman’s (and by extension, thomas’s) self-loathing and self-doubt, and she’s, como se dice . . . a massive bitch

and not, like, the cool kind of bitch, not like “i’m a bad bitch you can’t kill me” bitch, more like a “i will destroy you in front of your loved ones and relish in your demise” bitch

so she shows up, right

roman tries to sink them out of the imagination, tries to end the scenario, tries to make her vanish, but she overpowers him and begins summoning wave after wave after wave of monsters and soldiers to fight him

roman fights valiantly, and he dispatches a good deal of her minions, but they just keep coming and keep coming and he’s running out of power

 he takes a fairly heavy blow and is thrown backwards, slamming into the forcefield before sliding down to collapse on the floor 

he’s still conscious, but he can’t get up anymore, and the dragon witch’s minions are advancing ever closer. patton is trying to break through the forcefield, but it refuses to let him through since roman specifically made it to keep them out of the arena 

virgil looks at dolos. “do you think we could get through the forcefield?” 

“there’s every way we could -”

“but what if we did the - the thing?”

“maybe, but - but everyone knows we can do that.” 

“if we don’t do something, roman’s gonna die!” 

dolos looks nervously at logan and patton, but he still nods, holding a hand out for virgil to take and pulling him forward, pressing him against his chest before pushing him out and twirling him around and dipping him

they both begin to glow (dolos yellow, virgil purple) and their silhouettes merge together into one bright green glowing figure that throws itself through the barrier before falling apart to reveal virgil and dolos, undamaged

logan: wait, wait, what the FUCK?!

patton: too shocked to comment on his language 

dolos snaps his fingers, and suddenly he has knives in his hands

virgil plants himself firmly in front of roman and holds his arms up in front of his face in an “x” shape, and a shining purple hexagon appears in front of him to deflect a ranged attack from one of the minions with laser vision

dolos tears through the ranks of the dragon witch’s minions with ease, and virgil deflects blow after blow with ease with a wave of his hand. he also creates platforms that dolos leaps onto to push himself onto the high ground. 

dolos keeps throwing knives, but every time logan and patton catch a glimpse of him he has a knife in each hand. where is he getting all these knives? who knows. not logan and patton. 

virgil and dolos make a sizeable dent in the army before dolos drops down next to virgil. “we’ll absolutely win split up,” dolos pants, wiping at his brow. “we don’t need to do it again.”

virgil squints at him. “are you sure, dee?” 

“i’m not.” 

virgil sighs, creating one last purple hexagonal barrier around roman before offering his hand to dolos again

“no!” the dragon witch howls. “don’t let them fuse!” 

“fuse?” the three confused light sides echo, with varying shock and confusion. the minions charge forward, but they’re too late to stop virgil and dolos from glowing and folding together 

a man stands in front of roman, wearing a purple-and-yellow plaid jacket with a flowing black cloak.

 “oh, girl, no,” the man tuts, clicking his tongue. “i love anxiety and deceit, i really do, but they have no fashion sense whatsoever” 

he turns to roman, and roman notices that his eyes are closed and surrounded by shimmering purple scales.

 “sorry about this, babes, but i cannot in good conscience continue existing in this shitty, shitty outfit”

a small wisp of red smoke floats up from roman’s body and wraps around the man, transforming his outfit into a leather jacket, a yellow dress, purple tight, brown leather boots, and a pair of aviators 

“much better!” the man grins, he turns around to face the dragon witch, and dolos’s knives appear in his hands. he presses their handles together and pulls them apart, creating a massive staff with blades on both ends

“now then, where was i? ah, yes - kicking some serious ass. don’t worry, your highness, i got this” 

the strange man walks directly up to a minion and lowers his sunglasses flirtatiously. “hey. how ya doin’?”

the minion doesn’t respond, because they’ve been turned to fucking stone

literally everyone: oh. oh fuck. 

the strange man easily tears through the ranks of minions, either turning them to stone or smacking them around with his staff. when he’s finally facing down the dragon witch, he begins leaping through the air on gren hexagonal platforms before shrieking and bringing his suddenly glowing, suddenly oversized spear down in a slashing motion that tears a massive slash in the dragon witch’s chest

she roars in pain and shouts a bunch of obscenities before dissolving into red dust - not dead, just defeated. 

the man lands on the ground and lets the spear evaporate before sprinting back over to roman, who’s still laying in the sandy floor

“hey, hey, babes, it’s alright, i gotchas, c’mere -”

the man scoops roman up into his arms and uses his green hexagons to create a staircase up to where patton and logan are eagerly waiting, passing effortlessly through the barrier 

he lays roman down on the ground, gently pressing one splayed-out hand to his chest. roman begins to glow green, and when the man pulls his hand back the wound that had grounded him is gone 

stranger: you okay, babes?

roman: yeah, yeah, i’m okay, thanks, also quick question who the fuck are you and what the fuck was that?!

the strange man grins, taking roman’s hand and gently kissing it. “self-preservation at your service, your highness, but you can just call me remy”

remy stands up, twirling around and beginning to glow. when it dies down, dolos is dipping virgil low, virgil’s arms locked around his neck, foreheads pressed together virgil almost immediately shoves dolos away. 

“why did you make us so flirtatious you absolute moron”

“you totally didn’t enjoy that,” dolos smirks 

turns out the sides can fuse sometimes! when they don’t have the strength to handle things on their own and need a more complex trait, they can fuse together

case in point: anxiety and deceit combined create self-preservation. remy is sassy and fun, but he’s also ruthless when he needs to be. he’ll do anything to protect thomas and the other sides, no matter who or what he has to destroy in the process. his stone vision comes from “frozen in fear” 

“also he’s a prissy bitch about his clothes, and it’s entirely dolos’s fault” 

[insane-control-room]

Coherence

He really should have thought twice about doing anything that would have made the fusion mad. He already was emotionally unstable, he should have just been obedient and stayed by his side.

Anonymous - 29 = A reason that they lied to a friend

this story was in development before I got this ask, but it fits it very well :).

Chestnut is the fusion of @halfusek‘s joey magenta and @startistdoodles‘s joey hyde, and since there is not much on the fusion yet, I’ve made them as shitty as possible, though I love them :).

A drawing to go with it

Stand your ground, Johan steeled himself, bracing himself for the monstrosity he knew was to come. Don’t let him get past you.

He could not stop the squeak of terror that escaped his lips when Johan saw his shadow.

“Where are you,” he snarled, head slowly moving back and forth, a beast stalking its prey. Johan sucked in a breath as he watched him toss his knives ever so gently. “Come on out….”

“No,” he hated how his voice wavered and cracked. “You need to find me. We’re playing a game of… hyde and seek.”

The man growled audibly. Johan held his breath within his lungs, burning like fire.

“Enough of your shi-... silly puns!”

“Someone’s going nutty.”

“Johan! I’m going to-” the man caught himself, inhaling sharply, running a hand through dark brown hair. Johan closed his eyes tightly when he began to speak again, with such a beautiful soft tone. “Johan, come out here, I want to see you, Johan, sweetie….”

Johan grinned from his hiding place. Chestnut may have been clever, horrifically cunningly so, but not enough.

Magenta was too soft to give him a pet name.

It gave him a bit of determination, and a bit of fear.

The determination stemmed from the resolve that Hyde and Magenta were so closely merged that Magenta would not recognize him and he would be able to fight him without hurting them.

On the other hand, he had hoped to settle this peacefully, without anyone getting hurt at all, and he wanted to be able to reason with Magenta to calm the both of the fusion.

“I don’t want to have to do this, Johan,” the man that once was his friend and the other that had been his darling growled, more animalistic and bloodthirsty than Johan had ever heard. He trembled. He heard the sound of something charging up, and he realized what it was too late -- and the zap from the powersurge went straight to him. He would not be able to hide anymore, firstly from the literal bolt of electricity that had gone directly to him leading a path, and secondly from the scream that tore from him after the lightning shot through him, bouncing through his limbs, hitting each and every nerve in his body. Oh. So Magenta was there. Only he knew about that, the way electricity just seemed to strike him despite his location. The pain was unbearable, and he saw blackness pulse at his vision. Chestnut’s semi angered, semi sadistic, grin came into view. “Found you.”

He slowly, delicately, like a skilled hunter, picked Johan up by his wrist. His head felt heavy. He could make out the blown fuse behind Chestnut, clearly the one he used to shock him.

“This pathetic thing?” Chestnut paused and laughed. “This weak thing?”

Johan groaned in pain.

“Look at me, dear,” Chestnut purred, and Johan hated how volatile he was, how he could go from taunting him to demanding sweet nothings. He could not lift his head. “I said. Look. At. Me.”

A knife was pressed to the underside of his chin, dragging his head up.

“I thought you were on my side, and yet, you go off to darling Snowy and warn him of our coming,” he hummed, using another blade to gently trace over Johan’s skin on his face. A nick slipped against his cheek, warm blood beading out. Johan’s breath hitched. Magenta knew he was afraid of his own blood. Was Hyde doing this? Was Magenta? Were neither? Or, the worst, both? The knife on his chin shifted, resting him on the very tip. Breathe. He probably is not going to kill him. Breathe. “Dearest little Johan, do you forget who I am? You know me….”

“You’re neither of the men I care for,” he forced, putting as much venom into the words as he could, knowing what he was getting himself into. Another knife slit his shirt, right beside his pin, the cold metal pressed to the skin of his chest. Hyde kept looking directly at him, half closed eyed meeting Johan’s terrified ones. The icy blade turned ever so slightly, slowly pushing against his flesh, right between his ribs, like a butcher that knew exactly where to slice the sheep. Magenta flashed in those dark green eyes, followed by a rapid Hyde, then back to both. Johan’s eyes widened, getting the message. “O-oh god… no, please, I didn’t mean t-to….”

“Neither? Tsk, frankly, I’m offended,” the knife under his chin twisted, tugging at his skin. Johan moaned in fear, unable to do anything else, his arm numb from being held up by it, ink dripping and seeping into is clothes from the claw that restrained him, his toes barely brushing the floor, and yet they could raise him even higher with nary an effort to it. “Johan, do you really think I ever even entertained the idea of caring about you? Either of I?”

“I… I….” hoped. Wanted. Begged. Silently worshiped. Vocalized praise. Loved. Loved. Loved, adored, cared for, loved… did he still love them? Did he still want to sing Magenta’s name and poeticize his beauty and perfection from the rafters of the city, so all could know them? Did he still want to gently care for and be there for Hyde, be beside him on his worst days and help him get through them? Could he still love them? He hated himself for the answer, dropping his head. He did. He did, so badly. He would let them do whatever they wanted to him. His throat felt thick and he whimpered. “I know I’m not worth anything to you.”

A smirk slowly inched onto Chestnut’s lips, and he leaned to whisper in his ear.

“You are worth something,” Johan felt chills race over his skin as he swallowed roughly. “You are going to be worth your pathetic, delicious screams and cries when I rip your skin to bits. Every single peep will be so refreshing, a sweet toy that won’t fight back. I won’t kill you, dear Johan, oh no, we don’t want to ruin our wonderful toy, torn right to the brink, and left to heal up. Over and over, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, you masochist?”

“I’m not a toy,” he snapped, feeling anger seep into his thoughts. “I am not a masochist.”

“Oh, Johan,” the thing’s lips and teeth were right on the side of his neck. “So sweet, so naive….”

“I said I was sorry, for telling Snowy,” he was sorry for getting caught while telling Snowy. By the growing grin on Chestnut’s face, he knew that. Johan sobbed, feeling his tears scratch at his throat and eyes, sorrow welling up at not being able to protect either half of the fusion, only bringing more pain. “I’m s-sorry….”

“You’re not forgiven, darling.”

The knife twisted.

Johan breathed.

It was not harsh.

It was not eased.

He was just breathing.

His whole body ached.

He hoped Snowy got away when he warned him.

He hoped Gingie and many others were alright.

And he begged that Hyde and Magenta were not really in control of Chestnut.

He had too many scars for one so young.

They had not added any more, not yet.

Scratches here and there.

Nothing but superficial damage.

His arm throbbed, his wrist burned.

It was tied, tight, to something.

He could not tell what, his head hurt too much.

The door slammed open, a shuffling footstep entering.

Johan winced and curled up, whimpering.

“Good news, darling,” Chestnut murmured, so loud in the empty house. “I’ve found out where Snowy and Gingie are.”

“No!” Johan shot up, ignoring his pain, launching himself at Chestnut. The man smiled down at him when his shackles restrained him, hands outstretched to fight him. Johan struggled and strained against the metal fetters. Tears welled in his eyes. “NO!”

“Hush, Johan,” Chestnut sat to smoke, his long limbs sprawled over the armchair, lazily looking over the incapacitated man. Johan pulled harder at his bindings, gritting his teeth. Chestnut chuckled. “You’re not getting those off for a while, dear.”

Snap.

Chestnut’s eyes flew open.

Johan smiled, exhausted, at him, his chain dragging on the floor off the wall it had been lashed to.

“That’s a Joey’s biggest enemy,” he grabbed the chain, preparing to fight. “Comedic timing.”

“You piece of fourth wall breaking shit!” Chestnut roared, leaping to his feet, his cigarette falling from his fingers and extinguishing on the way to the floor. Yet before it even made it to the ground, the chain whistled through the air. Chestnut rose an arm to block it, it winding around said arm. Johan had the other end in his hand before he could blink, wrapping it tightly around his other left arm, yanking it over his head, tying off the last two arms together. Chestnut was slammed to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. “Johan! Release me right this instant!”

“No!” Johan protested, gritting his teeth. “YOU! Unfuse right this instant!”

“Unfuse?” Chestnut echoed in a grunt, still trying knock him off. “Whatever do you mean?”

Johan felt his breathing freeze.

They had forgotten themselves.

“H-Hyde?”

“From what!?”

“Hyde Drew, please, please tell me you’re in there,” he was shaking. No, he screwed up, not again, not again, he kept fucking things up…. No response. He sobbed. “Magenta? Please….”

The fusion beneath him was perfectly still. He got off of him. It was pointless. He fucked up again. He waited for them to stab him then and there. Instead, he just rose himself off the floor, staring at Johan. Johan, shaking, hugged him over the shoulders, buried his face in his hair, and breathed in their combined smell, ignoring the putrid ink.

“I’m sorry,” he cried, shuddering. “I’m sorry…. Maggie, please, I miss you… Hyde, you grumpy old man, I want you back… come back, please remember who you are….”

“Johan?”

“Yes...?”

Four arms wrapped around him.

Two and two.

They slowly separated.

Two for one, two for another.

“Johan.”

“Johan.”

He did not dare open his eyes.

“Johan, it’s me….”

“Maggie,” he sniffed, crying into his hands. “Please….”

Gentle, hesitant, choppy circles being rubbed on his back.

“Johan,” Hyde’s barely lower and more gravely tones were slow and deliberate. “Johan, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he murmured, relaxing against air, his shoulders slumping. “Jus’... I’m so tired.”

“Johan, we never would have hurt you if we were in control,” Magenta assured him, helping him to his feet and leading him to a bed, Hyde on the other side of him. Johan gripped them both. “What? You clearly have something to sa-”

“Never fuse again,” he breathed. “Not you two together, that is. You forced Gingie and Snowy into hiding, you nearly killed Felix, you attacked so many others, and you… you went directly after me… please never do that again.”

“Of course,” Hyde promised, his fingers crossed behind his back. Johan studied his face with his weary amberesque eyes. He closed his eyes, so tired… he wished he could sleep forever…. “We, I repeat for both of us, never would have done all that we had done if we were in control of ourself and knew what our actions where doing.”

“Okay,” Johan exhaled, putting no effort into his word. “I’ll sleep now….”

Magenta waited for him to fall asleep before going out to meet Hyde in the dining room.

“Well?” he asked Hyde, cocking an eyebrow. “Enough of a power mongering spree yet?”

Hyde scowled.

“You and I both know you were fully coherent,” he snapped at him. Magenta narrowed his eyes at him. “So don’t try to pin this on me.”

“You also were in control,” Magenta grumbled, keeping his angered tones low. “Don’t you dare blame me.”

“Oh, so what are we going to do?” Hyde rolled his eyes. “Keep up the lie that we lost ourselves in it? Oh, sure, that might fly by Gingie, but by someone more perceptive? I doubt it. Even Johan isn't an idiot. I’m certain that he’s giving us the benefit of the doubt, poor boy.”

“Poor boy!?” Magenta’s anger lashed out. “You’re the one that wanted to see how far we could push him!”

“You’re the one who provided the information on how to do it.”

“Listen,” Magenta pinched the bridge of his nose. “The important thing is that, no matter what, Johan never, ever, learns of our…you know. Our awareness. The fact we were coherent.”

“Agreed.”

They never did tell him the truth.

They did not need to.

He already knew.

He knew.

Johan knew.

[sleepymarmot]

COUNTER/Weight liveblog, part 2

Episodes 23-40

Keith hasn't listened to the previous episode and Austin & Ali are cackling like “You got a big storm coming” lmao

…Look I understand the idea of making Tea an ally after the players and audience got to know her in the Kingdom game but the excuse is really thin

“A gift for his little brother” You guys are really bad at this gender neutrality thing huh

AuDy talking to Orth makes my head spin a bit now

Oh so Addax is the leader of the Angels? The person who has been watching the Chime from the shadows = the group that has been spying on them? Okay, I now feel dumb for not putting this together myself.

Wait I lost track again. Who were Jacq & Jill working for initially that gave them access to those immortality tanks? Iirc it was Odamas who had that technology and then gave Horizon access to it while imposing strict rules on them during the merge? So why does Jacqui get less fun assignments now if she was a part of the winning faction, not the losing one?

Oh cool, so Jamil wanted to hand over the virus to the Angels because they're both just from the Rapid Evening?

“A bard notices their enemy's heart isn't in the fight, so they stop fighting, fall in love” is such a specific thing. How the hell did it happen twice on the same show. Is this the new big gay trope now

Heeeey could you stop punching me in the stomach with intros

So, Jacqui was working for Horizon, which in turn was given this job by Petrichor? Still doesn't answer my question…

Do I have to mentally rewrite the entire holiday special so that in every scene on the Kingdom Come everyone is floating in zero gravity all the time?! I'm sorry but this makes no fucking sense!

The doppelganger thing started really creepy but now it just makes my head spin! Please stop it with the names, I'm too easily confused, especially with a show that has a record of passing characters back and forth between the GM and the players!

Re: that whole thing: aaaaAAAAA???

I don't understand what Austin and Jack are doing but it's pretty magical

God, the Aria/Jacqui scene is so… tender? Idk. Austin's gentle “PC's love interest” voice has murdered me again. I'm not sold on Jacqui by herself as a character but on the feelings between the two? Definitely. (Though I still wonder about Aria’s heroism vs Jacqui’s disregard for life. That’s a biiig value clash)

Okay, this was all very unsettling and I still understand so little

I really love that Sokrates' refusal to make that one nameless person take the fall, which seemed (at least to me) kinda stubborn and shortsighted, turned into a key moment, both because it demonstrates integrity, and now because that person becomes an actual NPC as an important asset in their faction

I love how the idea of moving Rigour to September comes up and everyone starts screaming and I do too! They sure love leaving horrifying surprises for the ground team to stumble upon lol

Is it too callous and unwise of me to react to Ibex overthrowing the Hands of Grace as “good riddance”?

Maryland's letter has strong Alyosha/Arrell vibes

I love the “reluctant alliance with an antagonist” trope and was hoping it'd happen with Ibex so I'm happy! Also in one of the early episodes Austin mentioned the Anders-Justice storyline and I'm glad to hear him finally deliver. (There was stuff about the pilot/Candidate->Divine influence with Order, but not about the other way around or fusion, like with Vengeance)

Okay thankfully things are clearer now (I'm reeeally glad I wasn't spoiled on this) but I still have so many questions. How were LD made in the first place? Why and how did they hide in/turn themselves into a simple robot? What are they – just software, like Righteousness, or is there some Divine hardware core inside the normal Automated Dynamics unit that nobody has noticed somehow, or is the hardware in a remote location they access through the mesh? Did Ibex know AuDy was LD the whole time – he didn't act very surprised? Why didn't Ibex rescue his brother, did he die really quickly? How will Mako be able to fog without Righteousness? Shouldn't AuDy be gamebreakingly powerful now? How and why do LD count as two Divines but have a single consciousness, are they like Garnet?

Lazer Ted feels like a fucking TAZ character lmao

The comic relief was welcome but at the same time I'm continuously like “What is AuDy thinking and feeling. Why are they acting like nothing happened. Where's the existential crisis. How do you realize you're a pair of ancient gods and just proceed with your life? Are they so impenetrable on purpose because they're a robot”. Like, it was chilling when they were suddenly chatting with Ibex like old friends, and now it's chilling that they're acting just in the early episodes.

I'm glad the robot incident made everyone realize it might be unwise to put the two charming extraverts in the same half of the party lol

Looks like they decided to permanently switch back to “he” for Cass… Probably for the best.

Jack keeps excitedly jumping at every opportunity for creepiness™. God, AuDy makes so much more sense as his character now after the Reveal

Is September just fucking Solaris now?

I think this is the first time I'm not excited to hear a faction game episode because I really didn't expect it at this point in the story. My reaction was “Wait what? Are you telling me everyone gets stuck on September waiting out that storm for a whole month?! I wanted to hear what that cliffhanger led to!” Idk, the September arc was generally kind of a let down after the intensity of the episodes leading up to it, and this further deflates the tension.

Speaking of tension and letdowns, I just have to complain… It's really disappointing when the show sets up really big dramatic hooks and then does practically nothing with them! I complained about Addax and Cass in the previous post and that point still stands. Case two: Mako and Righteousness/Voice. It's set up in a faction episode, and in the immediately following arc Mako indeed is in danger from something inside his own head, but it's a completely unrelated thing! At the end of the arc he finally finds out, but the threat immediately gets nullified with no consequences – no self-doubt or identity crisis, no diminished abilities in terms of game mechanics. Case three: Ibex himself. Out of the reasons the Kingdom game is what it is, the excuse for it happening in-universe was to give more details on Ibex, and at least half of it featured a collective effort to make him as central to the story and as threatening as possible. But as soon as that flashback ends, so, counterintuitively, does the role of Ibex as an active antagonist to the Chime -- the role which was literally just supposed to begin in earnest. So by this point I can barely recall why we were all so intimidated by this guy in the first place. I'm more like “This is a useful ally to have”. This is what I don't like about the world-ending threats like Rigor: all other interesting conflicts fade in their face.

Dang, I thought Isurus was a cooler name than Enhydra!

Sokrates, forced to shake Ibex's hand: *clenched fist meme*

Wait, I missed something, why is Rigor deep underground and has to dig itself out?

Okay, after the lore episode I'm also confused how Rigor ended up underground on Ionias after it was blown up 20000 years ago in a completely different place

I'm very distressed by the idea of Hieron as a future popular franchise!! No, it's supposed to be real when these people are talking about it!! Oh wait a fucking second, does this mean Jace's Panther was a deliberate reference in-universe?? Like you're fighting in a real serious terrible war and you model a giant war machine after, like, a thestral from the fucking Harry Potter and just call it “Thestral”??!

No, no, wait, do tell me who Cass and AuDy would cosplay!

Oh no, Rigour wants to talk to Voice(?), great

Hey Cass, your Hadrian is showing??

Speaking of Hadrian, I was caught off guard by description of Tower as a “hot young Hadrian”, for some reason Hadrian never struck me as a character who's supposed to be exceptionally attractive. But then again, I imagined him as very young until that letter to Hella, and then I imagined Cass as a young adult until I did the math, so I might just be bad at visualising Art's characters lol.

Austin is so generous and unsubtle about throwing hot gay NPCs right at the players. Too bad Mako doesn't sound as interested as Aria did.

I expected they'd find a room with one copy of everyone plugged into the mesh, that'd be even creepier. What's with the false memories though? This doesn't explain them.

So, how does this whole clone system work? How does time work? Why don't the real students like Tower or Maxine notice that there's a new guy who looks just like their friend, but doesn't know them – or, for that matter, why don't the other clones notice? Oh, maybe that's the purpose of the fake memory aura? So that Maritime-4 could continue right from where Maritime-3 left off?

When Cass saw Apokine's face I thought it meant that the humans had genetically engineered the Apostolosians and that's what “we made them look like us” meant, which would be two of my long-standing questions answering each other. And then it was just another giant mech.. :/

Wait, does Orth calling Cass “Apokine” mean that he pilots the mech now or that Sokrates died and Cass inherited his position?! I'm worried now…

I'm even more worried about Mako, because at first I of course reacted to the question about being in two places at once as “hah, Larry”, but it's probably the other thing, and on one hand that must mean that the rescue of clones was successful, but also that means that our Mako might be dead and the one in the intro is one of the clones… Considering that in the Winter post-mortem I caught Keith saying how emotional the C/w finale was for him before I started fast-forwarding in fear of spoilers, do I need to start mentally preparing to bury Mako already or what?

Speaking of spoilers… The farther I go, the less I understand the advice to skip Autumn. I thought that at least for C/w it wouldn't matter, given it's a whole different universe, but they keep referencing it, and then casually dropping major spoilers, and then referencing it again in a story-relevant way. (The Ordennan ships arrive on the screen as Rigor does, and the next episode is named “The Storm over September” and quotes Lem's poem in the description. That's really cool but I somehow feel vaguely irritated on behalf of my potential alternate self who skipped season 1.) I really hope they've grown more careful about this by now, because I'll probably not even begin Twilight Mirage by the time the next season starts, and I would really like to stay in the dark about the intense events they're all vague-tweeting about at the moment!

Why was AuDy alarmed by Voice's presence as “a” Divine accompanying Maxine? Shouldn't they be familiar with it already because of Mako? (And I don't want to even ask about the ontological difference/border between Righteousness and Voice. I'm tired and feel like a nitpicker. But just for the record, this still isn't clear.)

Well that's a sadder family reunion than I hoped for!

So AuDy does have a split personality to some degree?

Oh well. AuDy's got a fate worse than death: Liberty and Discovery, imprisoned indefinitely. Or devoured I guess, I didn't really get it. Great. Thanks. Fucking RIP I guess. Out of all ways I expected them to go, this wasn't one.

(By the way I still don't understand how the portal works. Where is this portal to? Why can't L&D fly out and take the slow way home, and why can't Rigor?)

There's still about ten minutes left in the episode and I don't understand how it isn't the finale. What's there to do for three more episodes now.

“With Rigor defeated so easily, so permanently, she thought” *Rigor screech*

Yeah, fuck Grace btw

Sounds like cultivating saplings is not a priority anymore for a certain someone… (Wait, btw, what happened to that patch/seed they left? Will it ever come back into play?)

“...Why they would put themselves into a body like yours? And I think, maybe, it's that they were curious about what it would be like for four years to feel like a long time” AAAAAA

Okay, things are better on September than it sounded initially, but still… Wtf's going to happen? Rigor repairs itself, takes over the survivors, takes off again? But what's the timeline on that? I genuinely have no idea wtf the finale is going to be about after this.

Oh, what happened to the clones btw? Did Larry manage to get them off the planet in time, despite the Minerva ships in orbit and, more importantly, Rigor? Or are they stuck on September, unable to continue reenacting the plot of Orphan Black?

From how it's been described in this episode, feels as if Liberty and Discovery are a candidate of AuDy… They didn't want a candidate but were curious to learn how it feels for the other side?

Paisley's dead-eyed, Tower's gone, and even Ibex, who is barely holding on himself, loses his ex… Everyone's love life takes a nosedive: the episode. At least Jacqui's okay… (And because of Jacqui, it was doubly sad and surprising to hear Aria still has feelings for Paisley…)

[asktemmie-frisk]

Interrogate the Epiphany(ゴッドモードアーク (Goddomodoaku) (God-mode Arc)

Everyone was at a loss of where to start. Perhaps they would ask where they came from exactly? Or maybe they should question how they were forced into the state they were in? Or even who they were before all this happened to them? These questions and more were running through their minds when they suddenly hear a weak utterance from the amalgamate while it was sleeping. "Food. Water. Please." It said. Chara and Asriel could only look in pity. "This poor thing is practically nothing but skin and bones." Said Chara sadly. "Yeah. And when was the last time it got something to drink?" Asked Asriel, sharing his sister's mood. "I do not know, my child." Replied Toriel, who pitied the tortured creature. "Let us acquire some food and water for this 'person'. But first..." Toriel smacked Alphys in the face, and Asgore kicked her in between the legs, which caused her to fall to the ground in pain. "AHHH! FUCK, THAT HURTS!" She winced. "Why'd you two do that?!" "That was for electrocuting Asriel." Asgore angrily spat at Alphys. "There will be more punishment like that if you harm my children again, Alphys." Toriel said, calmly, yet angrily, staring her down. They were both still ready to snap Alphys' neck in two. "Mom. Dad. No. Just...just no." Said an annoyed Chara. "You knew your father and I were going to do that." "That doesn't mean you had to do it now." "Silence. You know she had it coming to her." "Yeah, well, I'll admit Alphys shouldn't have hurt your son and all, but keep in mind Chara was trying to keep you two from satisfying your bloodlust." Said Sans with empty eyesockets. "After all, I know how much you guys like killing." Toriel immediately wanted to torch Sans alive, but remembered she was in no condition, or mood, to judge or be judged. "Let's just get this poor creature some nourishment." She and Asriel went upstairs while she tried to stifle her anger. "So, what should we ask this person first?" Asgore said, trying to change the subject of the attempted murder from earlier. "Well, let's just wait until this thing wakes up." Replied Frisk. "We have no idea where they came from." After about 10 minutes or so, Toriel and Asriel came back down with something to eat and drink. "Here. This should help." Said Toriel as she handed the tray to Frisk. "Thanks. Now, let's wake this thing up; we got questions to answer, and an empty stomach to fill up." Papyrus and Sans lightly nudged the amalgamate with a broom. "Excuse us. Whoever you are, the great Papyrus would like you to wake up, please." Said Papyrus. "Hey, buddy. Wake up." Sans said bluntly. Undyne got rude with her awakening. "GET UP, YA PUNK!" She yelled. The amalgamate sprung to life, screeching in fear. Everybody else ricocheted its expression. It then cringed in fear with its "hands" held over its head. "Wait. Hold on." Toriel said, noticing its cowardly nature. "It's not evil or even dangerous. The poor thing's just scared to death." The amalgamate whimpered and leaked from its "eyes" in fear. "Oh, it's crying." Chara noticed. "There, there. It's all right. We aren't gonna hurt you. We just have some questions for you. We even got you something to eat." Chara and Frisk released the restraint on its actual arms, and fed the thing. "Thank you." The creature said before consuming its meal. It took a couple minutes before it finished. "Feel better now?" Asked Chara. "Yes. Very much so." "Good. Now before we ask you anything, do you have a name we can call you?" "We can't remember our names. May we please have one?" "No name? Well, we gotta call you something. Theo. We'll call you 'Theo' for now. How does that sound?" Theo smiled from all its mouths. "Okay, Theo. Now that we know what to call you, where did you come from?" "We escaped." Everyone got a small chill from just those two words. "From...where?" "The school's basement. Ebott High." Everyone reacted in different ways, but they were all feeling the same fear for their lives. Chara shook it off for everyone else's sake, but Toriel couldn't keep it together. She screamed in horror. Theo lifted their hands in defense over their head. "Mom, calm down; you're scaring them!" Chara said, trying to keep a steady head. Toriel was so scared for her children's lives, she couldn't listen to Chara. Asriel decided to do something about it. "Mom, snap out of it!" He yelled while shaking her violently. She did after just a couple seconds, alongside a slap to the face. She got her bearings back, and regained her composure. "My, my, my! I am sorry, I just lost it for a moment, there." She apologized. Theo was still scared of her thoroughly. "It is okay. I was simply reacting in a bad way. You do not have to be afraid of me. That much is certain." Theo listened and set their arms down as they looked at Toriel. They were cautious, and they had a right to be towards the murderous boss monster. "Sorry. We were abused. We scare easily." "It's okay. There's nothing for you to be sorry about." Said Chara with a soothing, almost-motherly voice. "It wasn't your fault you wound up like this. Speaking of which, who brought you to this state?" "Talrok." "Do you know why?" "No." "Well, that's okay. You don't have to know why. We can tell you that he's not a very good person to be around. In fact, a lot of people are in danger right now, and we want to stop him." "Can I help?" "Yes, you can. A friend of ours believes we can change you back to the way you were before, but we'll need you to help us test it out. That being said, you'll need to stay here for a little while, okay Theo?" "Okay." "Good. Now let's get you out of that chair so you can stretch those appendages you have." Chara released the rest of the restraints on Theo, and they hugged her and some of the others for what they did for them. "Thank you all." Theo wavered with a slightly distorted voice. "Now follow us upstairs. We're gonna get your muscles working again." Theo happily acquiesced to Chara's order. They could feel so much better being able to feel the sun on their bodies, and they felt so much better to not be hurt by anyone. While the exercise occurred, Alphys and Sans started hard at work on the portable determination extractor. They went at it for a while, with various experiments starting and failing. They were trying to make a vacuum for magic and determination, and they couldn't test it out on anyone else, or they could kill someone. They had to bring the amalgamate back to the basement in the evening time. Sans called Chara in her phone, and Chara brought Theo back down to the basement. Sans showed up from the shadows to reveal what Alphys was working on. It was exactly what Gaster had proposed. "Hey, Theo, wouldya mind gettin in the seat, please?" Asked Sans nicely. Theo took a seat per Sans' request. "Thanks. Now hold still." Theo didn't move, but Chara restrained them to an extent to keep them from moving. Sans took a look at the target array, and saw the soul of the amalgamation. "Whoa. That's odd. I thought the souls merged." "Perhaps because they were forced together artificially, they can't merge entirely." Said Alphys. "According to the targeting system, it seems that whenever a human and monster become a soul fusion by force, the souls only overlap, or embed partially." "Well, in that case, maybe this probably will work, and no one has to die." "What?" Sans pulled the trigger, and the drill nozzles went straight for the souls. Then Sans pressed the "extract" button for the left nozzle. It seemed the left nozzle embedded itself within the monster soul, which in turn cause it to suck out all the excess determination. When it finished, the top left canister looked full of determination that coalesced as air. It would thicken later, but it was a good start. Next, Sans turned his attention to the right nozzle, but not before flipping the switch that said "magic", which now allowed the storage of excess magic. The left nozzle slipped out as the right nozzle started guzzling the monster juice from the human soul. When it was finished, it stored the magic inside the right canister. It looked like a white substance with prominences spraying about with unlimited colors. "Wow. So this is what a monster's magic really looks like?" Asked Frisk. "I'm surprised you haven't found out sooner with all the monsters you killed." Frisk said nothing in annoyance coupled with guilt. But then, a bright light started emanating from the amalgamate. Theo's "soul" was splitting back into two, with one being monster and another being human. The monster soul started separating from the main body, and took its very essence with it, relieving the rest of the body of the excess magic. Then, the human soul returned to its former glory, which caused its body to follow suit. When the monster soul got completely out, it restored its own body to what it was before Talrok got a hold of it. The human was a female with shoulder-length, brunette hair, and the monster was none other than an astigmatism. Both of them were initially shocked at their newly reobtained freedom. The shock then turned to overwhelming joy as they both laughed triumphantly, and hugged their heroes. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" The lady said. "We've been stuck like that for so long!" Said the monster. "We're so happy to be free! Thank you so much for everything!" They both wrote their numbers on a piece of paper the woman carried. "Anytime you need us, call and we'll be there! Goodbye!" The human carried the monster in her arms, and out of the basement. Everyone was happy at what they did, but Chara thought something didn't quite feel right. "Hey, Chara, you okay?" Frisk said, noticing her confused state. "We just helped those people get back to normal. The machine works. Aren't you happy?" Chara furrowed her brows in more confusion. "Yeah, but..." She started, trying to make sense of what she was feeling. "But what?" Chara smacked her lips, feeling a strange taste of...something. "Something about that couple. It felt...familiar. Like I knew them before. No, that would be impossible. Unless that lady...yeah. Wait. I think...I remember now. The way my mother looked..." "Was that lady what your mom looked like?" "Yeah, but my mom never wore glasses, she was always wearing an old dress, and she had hair exactly like that lady did." "Your mom was human. I get it. But what about your dad?" "I...can't remember what my dad looked like. But I feel like I should know. Maybe he's why I hate humans so much." "Wow. So you don't know what your dad looks like, and I don't know what my mom looks like." "Yeah. Looks like we're both wondering what the fuck is wrong with us now, so I guess we should probably find out." Well, Chara certainly wasn't expecting this to happen. Now Chara has a parent whose appearance she can't remember, either. They swore they would learn however they could, but Sans interrupted the moment. "Well, I'm glad that worked." He said. "We all just got real lucky that time. Now that we know it works, it's time to make it better. And by 'better', I mean 'more efficient'." "Wait. What do you mean 'more efficient', comedian?" "I mean 'more efficient'. That test took an extreme amount of battery power just to try it out. Also, notice how cumbersome it was when I operated the extractor in the first place. If we're gonna mass produce this thing, we're gonna need to make some major modifications, especially with what we're about to be up against." "Sans is right." Agreed Alphys. "We need to make it faster to use, more effective to use, and we need to find a way to lower the amount of energy it takes to use it at all." "Really, doctor?" Said a sarcastic Asriel. "And just how do you propose you do that? You'd need at least that much power to use it, even if it runs the battery down to its near-death." Everyone but Frisk let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, I say we all sit back, and watch the universe end, 'Rei', because I'm all out of ideas." Alphys just gave up right then and there. "Asriel. And that's basically what I do everyday." Everyone filled the room with another sigh, which was coupled with frustration. "Buzzkill." Mumbled Chara. "What'd you just say to me?" "BUZZKILL. No one needs to hear that shit right now, okay? We're trying to save everybody, not fuck'em all over." "Well, why don't you just use the magic and determination to power the machine?" Suggested Frisk. Everyone heard what Frisk just said, and none of them could believe it, especially not Asriel or Chara. "What did you say?" They all asked, astounded at Frisk's burst of intellect. "I said 'why don't you just use the magic and determination to power the machine?' If it takes a lot of power to use, I'm pretty sure you can use the power you extract to power it up, right? And who knows? Perhaps you can modify it to make it a dual-use gadget. Like, how about this? You can extract the magic and determination, right? Well, make it so not only can you extract it, you can also turn your power source into ammo. You'd get a vacuum and a weapon. A two-in-one combo!" Everybody gasped in surprise at what Frisk was proposing. A vacuum that acts like a weapon, too? No one thought of such a thing. As Gaster was watching from the void, even he was shocked at what Frisk thought of, especially since even he didn't think of that before. Asriel was speechless as he stared into space, mouth agate. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you to say that, Frisk." Chara finally said, breaking the silence. "That's...actually a very good idea." "You're right, Chara. Frisk really does have a point." Agreed Alphys. "We really shouldn't be limited to just an extractor. We CAN make it a blaster of sorts, and we CAN make it so that instead of the machine relying solely on power from the outside, we can use what the machine absorbs to feed power back to the inside! It's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard of! It's like a perpetual energy generator, except this one might actually work! All we'd need is something to keep the excess energy in if the battery is already full." "No, you don't. You can just use the storage units that are on the device already. The magic and determination could turn the battery power into either magic or determination, or both, depending on what you use to charge it and stuff." Alphys' mind was so thoroughly blown, it was like she was shown a new plane of existence. She couldn't believe it. Such a complex problem, such a simple answer to it. Simple and crazy, but it just might work. "There are no words." She uttered in amazement. Frisk looked around, somewhat confused, but it clicked to him after a few seconds. "Wait a second. Are you guys telling me that you never thought of that?" Chara stammered only for a second. "Yes! Yes, we're telling you that!" "Oh! Well, in that case..." Frisk went up to Asriel. "NOT SO DUMB NOW, AM I, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE?!" Asriel stayed silent, but he knew Frisk was right, and he had an extremely good point. One so good, even Asriel couldn't argue against the solution Frisk came up with. "I suppose not. I guess you're smarter than you look. And you look like a total dumbass to start with." Asriel admitted, conceding to Frisk's idea. "Then it's settled." Sans said, confirming the patch. "We'll give this thing a whole new makeover. It'll do 3 things: shoot, suck, and store. Thanks for the idea, lil' bro." "Anytime, big bro." "That's great that we got a proper weapon now, but we should probably get some rest; it's been a weird, yet interesting, day of firsts." Chara said, ready to end the day. She was right to want it, as everyone started feeling tired. They all went back to their homes. Asriel slept soundly in his father's house, Alphys and Undyne going back upstairs to cuddle, Sans and Papyrus resting their bones in the place they belonged, and Frisk, Chara, and Toriel going back to their comfort zone. Things were starting to look up. Until a figure came out from the shadows. "So that's where they live..." They said. "Good. Now I can track him down to his school." They left the neighborhood with everyone else blissfully unaware that someone dangerous knew where Frisk lived now.

[daloverboi-blog]

How DBS should've been (IMO)

In Super at least, they don’t know what to do with their characters. So they just keep trying to fight their way out of every corner with Goku and Vegeta but nothing ever changes. No one learns anything or grows. All they do is unlock another Super Saiyan hairdo

Resurrection F Arc

They should have left Goku and Vegeta out of it. Focus on what everyone would do if they weren’t around. They started to do this, but then they didn’t. Keep Goku and Vegeta away while Frieza attacks.

Hell, send Piccolo to Namek. They shouldn’t rely on him either. Maybe he’s trying to learn some ancient Namekian fighting style so he’s been gone a while idk. It’d be a great way to make him relevant again. Maybe he learns how to go from a Super Namekian to a Namekian Dragon. (Not literally turning into a Dragon. Dragon is just a title. Basically it’s a name for the Red Eyed Namakian transformation from heroes.) Awesome, now he’s got purple God Ki with red lightning sparks. He’s equal with Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza now. They can stop avoiding him because he doesn’t have a Flashy new power up.

Now we FINALLY get to see the Earthlings shine. Well more like, eat shit and get fucking trashed. They didn’t see this coming, they’re not prepared. They haven’t trained in years. It’s so desperate and bleak, just like on Namek. Now, when we hit that low moment with Gohan it hits way harder to see him struggling to become a Super Saiyan. Bring 17 and 18 back that way, I’d love to see a reverse of Future Trunk’s timeline where they save Gohan instead of killing him. If you’re going to foreshadow Ultra Instinct , do it here, and do it with Gohan. He has to fail though, that’s important.

Then if you HAVE to, let Vegeta catch wind of Frieza coming back and make up an excuse to go back to earth. Goku’s an idiot, so he just buys it and stays with Whis to train. Vegeta FINALLY gets his revenge on Frieza. One on one and sends him back to hell proper. Then he comes back to finish training with Whis, and Goku is completely oblivious to everything. It would have been hilarious and great.

The Future Trunks Arc

First off, how is this not titled “The Black Future Arc”

The Future Trunks Arc

The Black Future Arc

Instead of all the Time rings, alternative time lines, body switching, and potara retcons, just make Goku Black, a grown up Goten from a timeline where Zamasu has manipulated him into agreeing with his messed up world view. It’s way more interesting and less complicated.

I know, I know, how it sounds, but it could work. Just roll with me, this post is already long enough as is.

Goten is evil now because Goku was never around and Xeno kept demanding that he come play with him. His Visit’s to Xeno keep getting longer and longer and one day he just never comes back. The Earth gets attacked one day and without Goku there A LOT of people die. Maybe Goten is defeated and has to watch Chi-Chi die or something. Even though they have the dragon balls, the experience sticks with Goten, blames his father and Yada, Yada…

Zamasu hates the way the universes work. Hes told Kai’s shouldn’t interfere or what ever. He doesn’t hate ALL mortals. Just the corrupt ones. He’s just more black and white about it. He thinks Mortals like Frieza and the violent uncontrollable races like the Saiyans should be wiped out. He thinks the best way to teach a species not to fuck up would be to Wipe them out to the bare minimum needed to continue starting with the most corrupt, and force the last living members of the race to “try again”.

He thinks Universe 10’s God of Destruction is a lazy tyrant who would rather destroy anyone who bugs him slightly. So, he cooks up a plan to train and manipulate his own God of Destruction candidate, overthrow the current GoD, become Supreme Kai and institute his new hands on approach to teaching. Shin and Kibito visit him and Gowasu and, after Shin mentions Goku and looking him up on GodTube Zamasu’s like, “I need a Saiyan."

Enter lonely disillusioned Goten who feels weak.

(I’m aware that theres some holes here but look at how long this post is, just go with it.)

Basically the rough plot would be something like this:

- Goku and Vegeta prepare to leave to train with Whis. Goten and Trunks ask if they can come along, but get denied.

- Future Trunks and Mai, come from the future asking for help because this dude calling himself “Black” is fucking the world up.

- Bulma suggests he and Mai just stay in this timeline.

- Beerus threatens them both with destruction if they don’t return to their time within 24 hours because time traveling is a crime and all that jazz.

- Goku and Whis travel to visit Xeno, who wants Goku to be his friend and live with him. He gives Goku a button that will allow him to visit whenever he pleases and vice versa.

- F. Trunks, Vegeta, and Goku begin training in the Hyperbolic Time chamber. Cause 24 hours and blah, blah, blah…

- Heroes arrive in the future, to fight Black “Oh no, it’s Goten!!!!” -gasp- and F.Zamasu!?! -double gasp-

- over like 4 or 5 episodes: Zamasu destroys the Sensu beans, we get Future Goten’s backstory and why he’s evil. Super Saiyan Rosé happens and we get an Emotional Trunks V Goten fight. Black doesn’t switch sides but he does begin to doubt his own motives long enough for Trunks to fuck up Zamasu. Zamasu forces Goten to fuse using the potara earrings. (Slight retcon here: Supreme kai’s who fuse with ANYONE using potara fusion, will retain the dominant personality, regardless of difference in power. Think of it as a weird countermessure kind of thing specifically for situations like Elder Kai’s with the Witch. It makes sense and really doesnt change much.) Almighty Zamasu,(instead of Merged Zamasu), kicks a bunch of ass, and kills Trunks, who dies along with Mai, protecting Vegeta. (Its super touching and sad)

- A. Zamasu kicks the exhausted desperate Saiyans asses. Goku remembers the deuss ex machina. I mean the Xeno button and calls Future Xeno to Earth. We find out Future Goku DID try to come back to earth to help, but F.Xeno erase’s him for leaving. F. Xeno destroys the future like normal and Vegeta and Goku escape.

- Goku, and Vegeta, make it back to the present and go with Beerus confront Present Zamsu. Zamasu attacks, same as the show, and Beerus destroys him.

- Whis reveals that only a Destroyer can alter a timeline rather than creating a new one. When a Destroyer uses the "Hakai " technique, that person is destroyed in every timeline. To prove it, he shows F.Trunks in his new timeline introducing Mai to his parents and a good, but lonely F.Goten being invited to dinner with them. Which saddens Goku. (He’s a bad father but, he’s not heartless)

- Heroes go back to earth and find F.Xeno lodged in the time machine very confused. (Since he wasn’t in his timeline when Beerus destroyed Zamasu, he was unafected and still exists or whatever. Shutup, its MY story.) Goku gets an idea and uses the button to bring F.Xeno to the present Xeno so that they can be friends and Goku can stay on earth.

- Whis asks Goku and Vegeta if they’re ready to go train. Vegeta is but Goku decides to hang back and asks Goten if he wants to play.

- The end

I’m fine with the other Arcs I guess except for the Universal Tournament of Power Arc but with all the issues it has I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Gohan totally should have been the one to get ultra instinct though. Don’t put in 10 fighters if you’re only going to use 2.

Hope that answered your question.

TL;DR: I think it needs Character development.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 35, Part 1

Oh boy this one’s finally fucking done. Ugh, whatever like I said its kind of honestly a stepping stone for me to get to the other two Fusion Fiascos chapters, but by all means its not a BAD stepping stone. I think its actually quite good in places! But hopefully you can look past its... weaker parts and see a decently good chapter! So with my bitching out of the way, here you go! 

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/160196015162/universe-falls-chapter-34

Chapter 35: Fusion Fiascos

Part 1: Alone Together

EXIC LC YLQE, XII LC KLKB, QEFP BUMBOFBKZB EXP LKIV YBDRK

“A five-six-seven eight!” Pearl snapped her fingers in time to the beat of the music, prompting Steven and Amethyst to begin practicing. The Gems had recently reached a stark realization in the midst of their first harrowing encounter with Peridot and their ominous ordeal in the bunker that they all might need to ready to take on a large potential threat, no matter what form that threat might take. Which was why they had decided that it was time to progress their young ward’s training further and faster and start training Steven in the ins-and-outs of one of the most unique abilities known to Gem-kind: fusion.

And seeing as how most fusions began with dancing, that’s where the Gems decided to start with Steven. Amethyst was first up for showing the young Gem the ropes as she guided him through a very basic moveset while Pearl and Garnet supervised. “Synchronize!” the white Gem reminded, still snapping along with the music. The purple Gem tried doing just that as she attempted to pick Steven up, only to end up haphazardly dropping him to the ground, much to their shared amusement. “Be serious,” Pearl huffed, rolling her eyes as the pair laughed over her. Still, they did sober up a bit and try again, with Amethyst taking up the lead again as she successfully lifted Steven high above her head, only to elicit another burst of laughter from them both.

Frustrated by their insincerity, Pearl intervened and decided to take charge using a demonstration and Garnet’s assistance. “Pay attention now, Steven,” the white Gem instructed firmly as the young Gem earnestly watched on. Gasping each others’ hands, Garnet and Pearl launched into an elegant waltz, complete with a spin and pierrotite from the white Gem. The dance gradually became more complex, with Garnet lifting Pearl and swaying her from side to side before gently pushing her against the wall. The Gem leader’s shadow hovered over the white Gem’s smaller frame, a light blue blush filing her cheeks as Garnet kept her hands pressed against the wall near her head. “See?” Pearl glanced over at Steven. The young Gem, while quite impressed and intimidated by such advanced moves, nodded with determined resolve to try it for himself.

Of course, that attempt was a less than stellar one, despite Steven’s best efforts. Unfortunately, he was a bit too short to match up with the much taller white Gem whilst trying to copy Garnet’s moves. The Gem leader did her best to help by giving him a bit of a boost, but the young Gem still couldn’t quite get a handle on the complicated dance, despite his best efforts.

Amethyst soon took over again, her smaller stature making it a bit easier for Steven to keep up with her. And for the most part, the young Gem was able to follow along with her simple hand gestures, though she completely lost him upon fluidly swiveling her hips, something that he wasn’t quite flexible enough to do. Even so, Steven took after Garnet’s moveset next, trying to keep a good pace with her as she rapidly tossed her arms about in perfect syncopation. And while he quickly fell behind her, he still replicated her solid finishing pose nonetheless, even if he was quite bewildered at her apparent skill. Pearl took another crack at things after this, preparing to guide Steven through a basic ballet set, only to end up tripping over him, resulting in the young Gem falling flatly to the ground, much to the white Gem’s concern.

And so the rest of the practice session continued in much of a similar way, with plenty of missteps and faltering on Steven’s part, but even so the Gems remained very patient in teaching him all that they could. Yet for every move they tried to show him, the young Gem always ended up being just a beat or so off, though he never threw in the towel, despite how tired he was starting to get. Still, after seeing no viable signs of fusion and after Steven hit the ground hard for the tenth time in a row, the Gems unanimously decided that it was time to call it quits for the night.

“I don’t get it,” Steven frowned in disappointment as everyone congregated in the kitchen to catch a much-needed breather. “I thought I almost had it… What could I be doing wrong?”

“Don’t worry, Steven,” Pearl reassured. “Nobody expects you to be able to perform fusion right away.”

“Yeah!” Amethyst agreed, hopping up onto the counter. “It’s really hard, even for us!”

“Not for me,” Garnet remarked coolly, leaning against the fridge.

“We’ll keep working on the dance for now, and who knows? Maybe in a few years…” Pearl trailed off, briefly pausing with a thoughtful frown. “Hm… Though I wonder if Steven’s body is even capable of fusion. Fusion merges the physical forms of Gems, but Steven’s half human. He’s organic.”

“Organic?” Steven cut in, confused and somewhat worried at what the white Gem was implying. Namely the possibility that he might never be able to accomplish fusion like the other Gems could.

“Aw, come on,” Amethyst scoffed Pearl’s concerns off. “This is Steven we’re talking about here! Who knows what’s gonna happen?!” The purple Gem attempted to lighten the mood with a bold an hearty laugh, though no one joined in as Garnet stepped up alongside Steven, her arms crossed and her manner as stoic as ever.

“Well, I think Steven can do it,” she said with complete confidence, looking over to the young Gem. Steven met her gaze with slight apprehension, rather uncertain about his potential for fusing himself. After all, the Gems had years upon years of practice fusing with each other to form completely new Gems entirely, from the swift and deft Opal, to the strong and sturdy Sugilite, to the massive and imposing Alexandrite. Considering how amazing and awe-inspiring each of those fusions were, the young Gem wasn’t sure if any fusion he was a part of could even compare if he could actually fuse at all. And if he really couldn’t…

Steven was quick to push such a thought out of his mind. Of course he could fuse. Even if he was half human, he was still a Gem nonetheless and that meant that fusion was a possibility for him just as much as any other Gem ability was. Certainly, with enough time and practice, he would be fusing with his fellow Gems in no time.

Right?

Since Steven was still rather worried about the prospects of fusion, the Gems encouraged him to take his mind off of it for now, knowing that there would be time to work on formulating a fusion dance for him later. So instead, they suggested that he go out and enjoy the rest of his evening, especially since it was particularly pleasant and picturesque outside. Steven took them up on this suggestion, calling up Connie, Dipper, and Mabel so they could all hang out and relax together in the crisp warmth of the evening. The kids had settled in a serene open clearing not too far away from the temple, one that was peacefully illuminated by both the fading glow of twilight and the fireflies lazily meandering about. And while Steven was supposed to be using this time to forget about his fusing woes, he couldn’t help but bring them up to the others, seeking solace and solidarity more than anything else.

“And we’ve been at it all day, but so far I really don’t have anything to show for it,” the young Gem confessed with a fretful sigh. “Pearl thinks I might not be able to do it at all because I’m ‘organic’, whatever that means, but Garnet said she thinks I can do it. But to be honest, I’m not so sure…”

“Aw, don’t sell yourself short, Steven!” Mabel reassured brightly. “You said the same thing about your healing powers and look at you now! You’re the spitting image of a magical healer!”

“Heh, good one,” Steven chuckled half-heartedly while Dipper and Connie merely rolled their eyes at the pun. “Thanks, Mabel.”

“I don’t get what dancing has to do with fusion in the first place,” Dipper remarked somewhat skeptically. “I mean, how does it even work? Do each of the Gems use the same dance no matter who they’re fusing with, or is it different every time? How do they even know if they’re doing it right? Is it like a feeling or is it something else?”

“I wish I knew…” Steven pouted. “Because whatever it is, I don’t have it…”

“Can’t you just get the Gems to write out the steps?” Connie suggested with a small smile. “That’s bound to make it a little easier to understand, right?”

“No… I don’t think it’s just about the dancing,” the young Gem theorized, his expression serious as he glanced down. “When they fuse, they glow and kind of… phase into each other. I don’t know if I can even do that…”

“Well maybe all that stuff happens after you get the dancing part down,” Mabel purposed with a growing grin. “And until then, you can always practice your dancing skills with us! Right, guys?”

Dipper and Connie exchanged a rather uncertain glance at this, neither of them too keen on the idea. “Uh… I don’t know about all that…” Dipper said diffidently.

“M-me either…” Connie agreed, glancing away anxiously.

“…Ok…” Mabel briefly frowned before turning back to Steven. “Well, you can always practice your dancing skills with me. In fact… I think it’s time for a… random dance party for no reason!”

Steven let out a much-needed laugh at this, his spirits lightened just a bit even if his worries over fusion still had yet to be resolved. “Ok, let me just—whoa!” The young Gem had no time to even stand for himself before Mabel grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up herself. The pair had already dissolved into a hopeless round of giggles even as they began to dance, even if said “dance” only really consisted of them spinning around in wild, uncalculated circles together. Dipper and Connie couldn’t help but laugh along with them as they watched their usual antics, especially as Steven and Mabel accidentally tripped over each other and ended up falling down in tandem, still breathlessly chuckling all the while.

“You know, I’m not sure how this will actually help me learn how to fuse,” Steven spoke up, still smirking brightly as him and Mabel picked themselves up off the ground. “But it sure is fun!”

“Yeah it is!” Mabel heartily agreed. “Hey, you guys!” she called to Dipper and Connie. “Join the dance party! It’s always more fun with more people, trust me!”

“Um, I think I’m fine letting you guys have all the-” Dipper was abruptly cut off as Mabel suddenly pulled him to his feet. “M-Mabel!” he attempted to protest, though he was laughing nonetheless as Mabel spun him around just like she had done with Steven.

“Come on, bro-bro,” she grinned wryly as they haphazardly “danced” around the clearing. “You gotta learn another dance besides the Lamby Lamby Dance eventually.”

“Hey!” Dipper’s smile quickly turned into an annoyed scowl upon hearing this teasing remark. “I know other dances besides the-” Mabel cut him off once more by suddenly spinning him out, resulting in him lightly crashing into a nearby tree, something that brought a laugh out of both twins.

Steven also chuckled upon seeing this, and his warm smile remained as he turned towards Connie, who was still sitting on the ground nearby, smirking lightly herself. “Don’t you wanna dance too, Connie?” the young Gem asked her patiently.

“O-oh,” Connie blinked, taken aback upon glancing up at Steven with surprise. “Well… well, it’s just… I… I’ve never really danced in front of anyone before…”

“Really?” Steven asked, taking a seat in front of her, even as the twins continued to playfully dance several feet away.

“Yeah…” Connie admitted, glancing away bashfully. “There was a dance at my school, and I was really excited about it but… I just couldn’t bring myself to go.” She let out a sigh as she hung her head and closed her eyes, softly muttering her next statement. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about everyone staring at me…”

Steven bit his lip upon hearing this, his own concerns over fusion fading away as his worry instead shifted completely towards Connie. And as usual, he couldn’t resist the urge to help her feel better. “Well… no one’s staring right now…”

Connie looked up upon hearing this, finding the young Gem’s claim to only be partially true, for while Dipper and Mabel were still preoccupied, Steven was intently looking to her with almost a pleading expression. “Um… you are.”

“Oh yeah…” the young Gem blushed a bit as he looked away. “One sec.” Steven reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out and looked through it briefly before finding what he was looking for. As he set the phone down in the nearby grass, a light, upbeat, yet relaxed pop melody began to play from it.

“Woo! Finally, some jams to dance to!” Mabel cheered from across the clearing, already twirling to the beat and dragging Dipper along with her.

Steven and Connie shared a laugh over her enthusiasm before the young Gem got up from the ground and backed up a few paces, covering his eyes as he did so. “So what I was trying to say was…” he smiled, still blushing softly as he extended his hand out to Connie. “Come dance with me.”

For a moment, Connie could only look to Steven with apt surprise, still quite hesitant and shy over her own dancing abilities, or lack thereof. Still, she couldn’t very well say no, especially upon looking to the hand he was still eagerly holding out to her. Which was why she took in a deep breath and, pushing her anxiety away for just a moment, she took it.

Of course, Steven quickly broke his promise not to look upon peeking out from behind his arm, smiling happily as he uncovered his eyes completely and looked to Connie. She met his grin with a soft, sweet one of her own, a light blush filling her cheeks as she allowed him to take the lead, pulling her in closer. And without any further hesitation about it, the two began to dance.

Their dance was much slower and more than the rowdy and silly moveset the twins were still having fun with, but even so that was perfectly fine for Steven and Connie. They kept their eyes on their feet as they bounced back and forth to the beat of the song, though things started to get a little looser as Steven suddenly spun Connie. They broke apart at this, the young Gem laughing mirthfully as he backed up and swayed to the music by himself. Connie did the same thing, chuckling brightly as she twirled about, her long hair spinning about with her. Steven blushed once more upon seeing this, his smile widening at just how much fun Connie was having by cutting loose and letting herself be free.

From there, the escalating elation between the pair could no longer be contained. They both simultaneously burst out laughing as they began to run about the clearing, hardly even dancing at all anymore as they skipped and jumped, completely carefree. Inspired by this freedom, Mabel and Dipper cut off their own dance and readily joined them. Soon enough, all four of the kids were cheerfully running circles around each other as the music rang out just underneath their unanimous chuckles as brightly as ever. And while the clearing itself was rather dark due to the waning light of dusk and the fleeing fireflies, it felt as though there was enough light from the sheer joy and exhilaration everyone was sharing to go around for quite a while.

Still, it wasn’t really enough for them to see by, which was why it didn’t take long for the twins to haphazardly crash into each other, sending them both clumsily plummeting to the ground in a unified burst of breathless laughter. Likewise, Steven and Connie also ended up accidently tripping over each other, but instead of falling, something else happened entirely. As the young Gem started to fall, Connie reacted quickly, catching him just in time. The pair paused for a beat, their cheeks warm and flush as they realized just how close their faces were to each other, separated by mere inches of air. Still, they couldn’t help but share a gentle laugh as they drew in closer, resting their foreheads together and reveling in each other’s warmth.

And yet, what neither of them saw as they chuckled together was the sudden bloom of pink light that had begun to radiate from Steven’s gem. In fact, they still didn’t see it even as it began to overtake them both entirely. By the time it’s glow illuminated the entire clearing, however, Dipper and Mabel had taken notice of it, and needless to say their jaws simultaneously dropped in surprise upon seeing what had happened once it faded.

Still, Steven and Connie were in the dark, quite literally, they found as they slowly opened their eyes. Instantly, they could both tell that something was off, though neither of them could really place what that something was. It was as though they were still holding onto each other, and yet that couldn’t have been the case since they had somehow ended up in a sitting position on the ground, their arms loose at their sides. What was even stranger was that the first thing they saw upon opening their eyes was a pair of long, shapely, rosy-brown legs right in front of them, legs that couldn’t belong to either of them, but still shifted in time to their movements nonetheless.

“Whoa…” they gasped, their eyes widening at the singular deep, yet still rather feminine voice they heard instead of either of their own. “Why am I-” They paused, frowning upon noticing Steven’s discarded flip flops and Connie’s flats lying near them. An arm, much longer and more mature than it should have been, reached towards one of the shoes, picking it up as they examined it curiously. “Why is… your sandal too small for my—your feet…?” They trailed off, glancing up in bewilderment towards the twins, who could only stare back at them with wide eyes and completely stunned expressions. “Guys, what’s…” they paused again, looking to the adult sized hands that apparently belonged to them, dumbfounded. “What’s going on?”

“That’s… a really good question…” Dipper remarked with apt confusion.

“Ok, you’re a really cool-looking mysterious stranger, whoever you are,” Mabel began with something of a small smile, despite her own puzzlement. “But uh… where’d you come from? And where did Steven and Connie go?”

“Huh?” they raised an eyebrow, frowning as they shook their head. “Mabel, what are you talking about? I’m… I… we’re… right here…?” The twins exchanged a doubtful glance upon hearing this, neither of them sure of what to make of the odd but beguiling person who had so suddenly appeared in place of Steven and Connie. And yet, the pair themselves was still mostly convinced that they were right. “Guys, look, I-” They cut themselves off with a sharp gasp, looking to their longer legs and arms once again. Their eyes were huge as they slowly ran their hands over their legs and surprisingly slender yet curvy figure, confirming that they could both feel the sensation of the gentle touch simultaneously. Their growing amazement only increased as they glanced down at their light jean shorts, as well as the cropped pink tee-shirt bearing a remarkably familiar star emblem on it, one that was covered by a shorter, light blue tank top. But by far, what was the most telling was the unmistakable pink gemstone fixed to their shared navel, the one thing that told them they were no longer Steven or Connie.

They were both.

“Steven?!” they gasped in shock, their hands pressing against the sides of their very long, very thick dark wavy hair. “Connie! I-I did it! Y-you did it?” The twins could only watch in continued confusion as the stranger slowly and shakily began to pick themselves up off the ground and having trouble doing so thanks to the unfamiliar distribution of their weight. “Wait,” they began again, their shared mind having a complicated time trying to grasp what was happening. “This is—no. This is… great!” They grinned widely as they finally pushed themselves up into an uneven standing position. “Oh my gosh, look at you now!” They exclaimed, glancing down at their impressive new form. “I can’t believe it!”

“Um, hey, remember us?” Dipper spoke up somewhat caustically. “Care to explain what the heck is going on here?”

“Dipper, Mabel!” they laughed, looking down at the twins seeing as how they now easily towered over them both by quite a bit. “It’s me! It’s us!”

“Uh… we’re not following…” Mabel frowned, still confused.

“You guys!” they exclaimed, unable to contain their excitement as they rose to their full height. “I’m a fusion!”

“What?!” both twins gasped in shared shock, something that the fusion got quite a good chuckle out of.

“Yeah, I guess it is pretty surprising…” they smirked, putting a hand against their neck and blushing slightly.

“Wait, so what you’re telling us is that you’re… Steven and Connie… fused together?” Dipper asked, still trying to understand, even if the entire concept was beyond baffling.

“Uh huh,” the fusion nodded, still smiling brightly.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Mabel squealed in sudden excitement as she ran up to the fusion, taking both of their hands. “This is so awesome! I mean, when the Gems fuse it’s awesome enough on its own, but you guys fusing is literally the most awesome thing to ever happen! You guys look just like a super model!”

“Mabel!” Dipper quickly scolded, especially as the fusion froze, their face red in newfound embarrassment.

“No, uh… its ok,” they chuckled somewhat awkwardly. “I mean, we are pretty tall now, so it kinda makes sense…”

“So, how did this even happen in the first place?” Dipper asked, looking the fusion up and down curiously. “I thought only Gems could fuse with each other.”

“I honestly have no idea,” the fusion shrugged. “One minute, we were just dancing and the next, we’re… like this,” they motioned to themselves. “And it feels great! Well… great and a little weird but… I think we’ll get used to it.”

“So who’s in charge of what?” Mabel asked inquisitively, looking up to the fusion with a wide smile. “Does Steven control your legs while Connie works the arms, or is it the other way around? Do guys take turns talking or are you both talking at the same time and it comes out as one voice? Do you have any special fusion powers? Like flying? Or singing really good? Not that you guys can’t already do a great job of that when you’re apart, but still.”

“Hm… I don’t think we—I mean, I have any special powers, aside from the ones Steven already has…” the fusion mused thoughtfully. “And as for who controls what, we just… sort of do it together. It’s… kind of hard to explain…”

“So now that you guys are… uh, together… what now?” Dipper asked tentatively.

The fusion didn’t answer this right away but instead seemed to take a moment to think. And as they did so, both of the halves that composed them were at an initial loss. After all, by all accounts, they shouldn’t have even been able to exist together in this way. But now that they did, they couldn’t very well let it go so soon. They weren’t sure how long they intended on staying fused, but if one thing was certain between them both, it was that they wanted to enjoy every second that they were together for. And what better way to do that than by taking pride in what they now were. “I have to show everybody!” they exclaimed brightly, already leading the way up to the temple, with the twins following not too far behind.

Needless to say, all three of the Gems were completely shocked into dumbfounded silence upon seeing the fusion for the first time. At first, they didn’t really recognize the mysterious stranger at first, they were still scarcely able to believe who they really were even after hearing it from the twins and the fusion themselves. Still, the fusion stood confidently before them nonetheless, taking in their wide-eyed stares evenly enough.

“So?” the spoke up, grinning broadly and exchanging a glance with the twins as they stood alongside them. Mabel easily returned their excited smile, though Dipper was a bit more apprehensive about how the Gems might react, given how they didn’t always have the easiest time dealing with new things. “Pretty cool, right?”

The Gems managed to shake themselves out of their stunned amazement, though it was clear that they were still quite taken aback as Pearl spoke up. “H-he fused? With Connie?!”

“Pearl,” Amethyst cut in with an amused snicker. “Look at Garnet.”

Both Gems did so, glancing at their leader, who wore a huge, delighted smile on her face and her hands clasped together joyously as she took the sight of the fusion in. Yet, oddly enough, she said nothing, holding her elation in as Amethyst and Pearl looked back to the fusion once more.

“So,” Amethyst turned to the twins with an eager grin. “Were you guys there when these two… you know…?” her smile turned sly as she linked her fingers together playfully.

“Amethyst!” Pearl quickly scolded her for the innuendo, but the purple Gem let out a coy chuckle nonetheless.

“Yeah we were there,” Mabel chimed in with a wide grin. “We saw the whole thing and it was so cool! One minute they were just Steven and Connie, and the next-”

“There I was,” the fusion finished with a small shrug.

“And after that we were all pretty much left completely confused,” Dipper finished somewhat dryly.

“Well I can certainly understand why…” Pearl mused as she walked up to the fusion and began to curiously examine them. “This is unprecedented! A Gem fusing with a human being? It’s impossible! Or at the very least inappropriate…”

Amethyst pushed the white Gem out of the way as she ran up to the fusion, laughing brightly all the while. “But wow! You two look great together!” she exclaimed, glancing up at them. “How does it feel Steven? Connie? …Stevonnie!?”

“That’s it!” Mabel snapped her fingers excitedly. “I’ve been trying to come up with a name to call you guys and Stevonnie is perfect for you two!”

“Uh, its literally just Steven and Connie’s names mashed together,” Dipper pointed out, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, that’s what makes it so great,” Amethyst said with a smirk. “Because they literally are Steven and Connie mashed together.”

“Well, I guess we’ll go by Stevonnie then,” the newly name fusion chuckled brightly. “Oh, and by the way, Amethyst, it feels amazing!”

“Yes… well…” Pearl interjected, wringing her hands uncomfortably. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves, but you two should unfuse this instant.”

“What?” all four (or rather, three) of the kids asked in unified confusion at the white Gem’s request. Still, none of them were more appalled by this suggestion that Stevonnie themselves.

“I don’t understand,” the fusion said with a serious frown. “Pearl, you were so worried that Steven wouldn’t be able to do this. Aren’t you proud of him?”

“O-of course I am!” Pearl quickly exclaimed, though it was clear that she really had no idea how to hand this situation, which was why she turned to the Gem leader for a rescue. “Garnet, help me out here,” she muttered, nodding to Stevonnie.

Garnet did so, though not in the way that Pearl was hoping for as she walked up to Stevonnie, still standing a bit taller than even the rather tall fusion. “Stevonnie, listen to me,” the Gem leader began, her tone firm as she placed a hand against the fusion’s face. “You are not two people. And you are not one person. You… are an experience! Make sure you’re a good experience. Now…” Garnet’s solid expression turned into her wide smile from earlier as she imparted her next set of directions to the compelled fusion, directions that they would hopefully have no problems carrying out. “Go have fun!”

And that was exactly what Stevonnie set out to do.

On Garnet’s mere prompting alone, the fusion gleefully rushed out of the house, dragging Dipper and Mabel along with them. After all, they saw, they figured that all four of them might as well go have fun together, especially given the new exciting circumstance of them being fused. Energized by elation and excitement, Stevonnie eagerly led the way to the lake, where, on a mere shared whim, the fusion let loose and threw caution to the wind as they began jogging across the shoreline, their long hair bouncing after them as they bounded across the strip. Dipper and Mabel were only able to exchange a puzzled glance as Stevonnie sprinted off, grinning brightly as they preformed an impressive string of deft cartwheels down the shore. Still, the twins, curious about what the fusion was doing, attempted to follow them, though they weren’t that successful since Stevonnie, with their longer legs and impressive speed, easily outran them. Yet Stevonnie didn’t slow their pace for a second, fueled by a feeling that neither of their halves could really even describe. Whatever it was though, it was incredible, sparking a kind of warmth and levity within them that kept them going strong.

Regardless though, the fusion did briefly come to a halt as they reached the edge of an outcropping hovering over the depths of the lake. For a moment, they peered over the outcropping towards the dark waters below, somewhat uncertain, before they completely pushed that uncertainty aside and went for it. Stevonnie took a running start before freely leaping off of the edge, plunging into the still-warm lake with a shout of exhilaration. The fusion loftily backstroked towards the nearby shore, letting the light current carry them back onto dry land as they laughed mirthfully all the while. Their amusement petered out a little though, as they noticed the twins standing over them, both of them seemingly breathless and exhausted.

“Oh, hey, guys,” Stevonnie greeted brightly as they sat up, still dripping wet. “Why do you two look so tired?”

“Oh… no reason,” Dipper deadpanned amidst trying to catch his breath.

“Whoo! Well this little night run sure was fun!” Mabel chimed, a bit more energized, as she usually was. “So what do you guys wanna do next?”

Stevonnie prepared to answer this, though apparently, their growling stomach got to it first. “I’m thinking donuts…” they mused, smiling as they nodded to the Big Donut, which fortunately was but a brief walk away.

“So which one of you guys is hungry?” Mabel asked the fusion curiously as they made their way towards the store. “Steven or Connie? Or both? Do both of you guys want the same thing or is one of you taking charge and steering your stomach towards donuts?”

“Mabel, could you maybe stop asking them so many questions?” Dipper interjected, somewhat aggravated by his sister’s usual enthusiasm.

“I can’t help it!” she gushed, grinning to Stevonnie. “Steven and Connie being fused is just way too cool not for me to be completely hyped about!”

“Yeah, but you’re probably starting to get on, er, Stevonnie’s nerves,” Dipper pointed out, looking to the fusion for confirmation of this.

“No, not really,” Stevonnie smiled warmly. “We’re pretty hyped about it too, to be honest. It’s like… it’s like everything I do, we do together, at the same time and for the same reasons. I know that probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but… it all just feels so… right, you know?”

“But isn’t it kind of weird that you guys are basically just sharing the same mind and body?” Dipper asked with something of an uncomfortable frown. “Because that seems like it would be sort of weird. N-no offense.”

“Huh, I haven’t actually thought about it that way…” Stevonnie mused, glancing down. “I… I guess it is a little weird…” For a moment, the fusion seemed oddly flustered, their usual apparent confidence interrupted as they seemingly tried to reconcile this stark realization between themselves. But in the end, they were quick to recover from it. “B-but I’m fine. We’re fine. Everything… everything’s fine.” As the twins looked to Stevonnie with slight concern, they offered them a reassuring smile, though they couldn’t really deny that it was also an attempt to reassure themselves as well.

Fortunately, the fusion didn’t have to suede them any further as the group arrived at the Big Donut. Sadie and Lars were both on shift for the evening, though considering their lack of customers, they were content to pass the time in quiet, casual conversation as they leaned close to each other. They were so caught up in their discussion that they barely even paid the twins any mind as they entered the store first, though both of them instant froze the moment they saw Stevonnie walk in.

“Hi, Sadie! Hi, Lars!” Mabel greeted blithely as she skipped up to the counter, Dipper and Stevonnie not too far behind her.

“Um, are you guys… ok?” Dipper asked somewhat worried upon noticing how stunned they both seemed to be.

“W-wha…” Sadie mumbled dully, her and Lars both flush and completely unable to take their eyes off of the beguiling fusion as they approached.

“H-h-how can I… h-help… me…?” Lars addressed Stevonnie, stammering nervously and sweating a bit.

While the twins exchanged a confused glance at the cashiers’ odd behavior, Stevonnie simply flipped their still-wet hair back, wringing it out as they coolly gave their order. “Four donuts, please.”

Sadie and Lars continued to stare at the fusion, their mouths both agape in awe, as the latter quickly reached into the nearby case and produced a small bag containing the donuts they had asked for. Stevonnie still didn’t notice their apparent amazement as they stepped a bit closer to the counter, pulling out some of the money the Gems had given them before they left the temple earlier. “What do I owe you?” the fusion asked casually, even as Lars looked to them with wide eyes.

“Uh… ah… umm…” he struggled to find any words to say, though thankfully, Sadie abruptly rushed to his rescue.

“Oh, nothing!” she exclaimed insistently, gentle pushing Stevonnie’s hand away as she blushingly glanced away. “I-it’s on the house…”

“Really?” Stevonnie asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

“Mm hm,” both cashiers nodded their heads in unison pushing the bag towards the fusion.

“Well, if you say so,” Stevonnie shrugged with a grin as they took the bag.

“Woohoo! Free food!” Mabel cheered as they all headed for the exit.

“Yeah, but why?” Dipper frowned, glancing back at the still-awestruck cashiers as they left.

Stevonnie also looked back at them, stopping at the door to impart something of a word of advice. “But just so you know,” the fusion began, their hair concealing everything but their eyes as they glanced to the flustered pair. “That isn’t a very sound business practice.”

And without another word, they were gone, the twins departing with them as Sadie and Lars were both left in complete and utter astonishment at what they had just seen. But all the same, the kids set out, heading down the main street of town as they looked for a good spot to eat their easily acquired treats.

“So uh… I can’t be the only one who that that was weird…” Dipper said, nodding back to the Big Donut.

“What’s so weird about it?” Mabel smirked. “I mean, we got a bunch of free donuts. What could be better than that?”

“Nothing I can think of,” Stevonnie grinned, reaching into the bag. “And there’s enough for all of us! One for each of you guys,” the fusion handed off a donut to each of the twins. “One for me, and one for… uh… me.” Stevonnie suddenly came to a stop as they reached a nearby bench, not noticing as the twins went on without them. Still, Dipper and Mabel were quick to notice as they turned towards the fusion, whose expression was awash in uncertainty as they looked to the pair of donuts in their hands.

“Hey, Stevonnie?” Mabel spoke up with a worried frown. “Are you ok?”

The fusion didn’t respond, still seemingly preoccupied by the donuts, though their thoughts were consumed by something else entirely. “Uh… Stevonnie?” Dipper tried to get their attention again, and this time it worked.

“Huh?” Stevonnie blinked, glancing up with relatively wide eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Mabel asked, concerned.

Stevonnie didn’t answer right away, looking between the twins and the donuts and then finally themselves, their expression unreadable. “Um… no…” they slowly shook their head. “No, nothing’s…” they trailed off, their brow furrowing as they focused their gaze on the donuts once again.

“Uh, Mabel?” Dipper interjected with an uncomfortable frown, noticing the fusion’s rather transparent apprehension. “Why don’t we go and get some more donuts?”

“What?” Mabel asked, her mouth full as she munched on her donut. “But I’m not even done my first one yet-” She didn’t even have time to take another bite, however, before Dipper suddenly knocked the pastry right out of her hand. “Hey!”

“Oops,” Dipper remarked dryly. “Oh no, it fell. Now we have to go get more. Come on, Mabel.”

“Boo,” Mabel groaned, playfully sticking her tongue out at her brother as they started to head back to the Big Donut. “We’ll be right back, Stevonnie!”

“Yeah, okay,” the fusion nodded absently. “I… we’ll be here…” Stevonnie barely even watched the twins leave as they took in a long, somewhat wavering breath, their gaze still fixated on the donuts they were holding. “Seriously though, are you ok?” they asked themselves quietly, one half speaking to the other, though it was impossible for them to really make any distinction between them. “We can stop if you…” the paused, pulling the two donuts apart a bit before shaking their head to clear it. “No, no, it’s fine,” they reassured themselves, drawing the donuts back together. “Don’t worry.”

Stevonnie nodded in silent acceptance, taking a seat on the bench as they finally began snacking on one of their donuts. It felt quite odd to them, to at last be realizing the nature of what they really were now. Garnet had indeed said it correctly when they were neither two people nor one person, for they certainly didn’t feel like either of those. They were separate to be sure, but at the same time united in every sense of the word, sharing the same mind, the same body, the same existence. They were Steven, and they were Connie, and they were something beyond even the two of them. They were a fusion. They were an experience. They were Stevonnie.

Still, even they weren’t even sure what all of that truly meant yet.

Stevonnie was so lost in their own thoughts that they didn’t even notice the figure that had quietly stepped up to the bench they were on until they suddenly cleared their throat. The fusion glanced up in surprise, expecting to see that the twins had returned, only to see Sour Cream standing nearby instead.

“Oh, hey, Sour—faced stranger,” Stevonnie awkwardly greeted, remembering that pretty much no one would recognize them as they were now. “Wow, cool pants.”

“C-cool,” Sour Cream gulped, apparently flustered as he handed the fusion a flier. “Rave tonight.”

“Like… a dance?” Stevonnie asked, curiously looking over the poster.

“Yeah…” Sour Cream blushed, his hands in his pockets. “At the warehouse. I’m DJing, and a bunch of my friends from the internet are gonna be there. There’s gonna be free… glow sticks…”

“Yes!” the fusion exclaimed without really thinking about it, compelled by newfound excitement alone. “I’ll definitely be there! Thanks!”

“C-cool,” Sour Cream nodded, still quite flustered as he headed off. Stevonnie grinned as they looked back to the flier, hoping that this would finally provide them with the sort of “fun” that Garnet had suggested they go find. After all, what could be a better time than doing what had brought them both together like this in the first place?

“Stevonnieeeee!” Mabel called brightly as she ran up to the bench and plopped down beside the fusion, Dipper doing the same not to long after. “We’re back! And we have more donuts! Hopefully, somebody won’t waste them by throwing them onto the ground this time…”

Dipper merely rolled his eyes at this before addressing the fusion. “By the way, Sadie and Lars asked about you. From the way they talked, they really, really wanted to see you again for… some reason.”

“Well, I’m afraid we won’t have time to drop in and say hello,” Stevonnie smirked broadly. “Because I just got invited to a party.”

“Whoa, really?!” Mabel asked excitedly, looking over the poster as the fusion held it out for the twins to see. “No way! Just when I thought tonight couldn’t get any cooler, now we get to a super cool dance party! This is gonna be legendary!”

“Uh, hold on a second, you guys,” Dipper interjected. “Before we go running off to this party, you might wanna take another look at that flier. It says, ‘teens only’. So in other words, not us.”

“Aw, man…” Stevonnie sighed, leaning back against the bench. “And I really wanted to go too…”

“Wait!” Mabel gasped, excited by the idea she just had. “We may not be able to go to the party, but that doesn’t mean you can’t, Stevonnie! After all, you guys pretty much look like a teen, so no one would even know the difference!”

“O-oh,” the fusion frowned, glancing down anxiously. “Well… I guess so… but can you guys come along anyway?”

“Uh, sure?” Dipper shrugged, confused. “But why? You know we probably won’t be able to go in there with you guys, right?”

“Y-yeah, I know…” Stevonnie said, even though they internally wished that Dipper and Mabel really could accompany them.  They couldn’t very well admit that though, even if a certain half of them saw no real problem with confessing their honest feelings to the twins of all people. The truth, as embarrassing as it was, was that they were using the twins as something of a crutch, a way to anchor themselves to normality, to who they were apart from their fusion. They weren’t even entirely sure why they might need such an anchor in the first place, but something inside of them both told them that they did, that they’d be at a complete loss without one. Which was why Stevonnie was rather insistent on having that anchor with them, especially at a highly social event such as the party they still very much wanted to attend. “But uh… it’d still be cool if you guys could come hang out nearby anyway… j-just for a while… I mean… you don’t have to if you don’t-”

“Are you kidding?” Mabel abruptly interrupted, hopping off the bench. “We’ll totally come, Stevonnie! Even if we can’t party with you guys, we can still cheer you on while you tear up the dance floor!”

“Heh, yeah…” Stevonnie laughed with only partial enthusiasm, their confidence starting to falter. “Tear up the dance floor… That… that’s totally what we’re gonna do…”

The rave was being held at the old abandoned warehouse at the far end of town, but as the kids arrived and scoped the party from the outside in, they could see that the decrepit factory was anything but empty tonight. A small multitude of teens and young adults, some familiar and some not, were freely dancing under the colored spotlights hung from the high ceiling. Sour Cream DJed the party from the platform high above the dance floor, composing a smooth chiptune beat using a unique setup of soundboards, keyboards, and Game Guys. As he turned the music up to an upbeat electronic melody, the partygoers cheered in excitement and vamped their dancing up to further show it.

“Whoa…” Stevonnie murmured as them and the twins surveyed the party from right outside the warehouse’s crumbled wall. “This looks… kind of intense…”

“Yeah, it does…” Dipper agreed, slightly concerned. “Are you guys sure you’re up for this?”

“Of course, they are!” Mabel cut in before Stevonnie could really answer. “You guys totally got this! Now get in there and show everyone how awesome you two are together!”

“Right,” Stevonnie nodded evenly enough, taking in a deep breath as they straightened to their full height. “We got this.” The fusion closed their eyes, putting on a brave face as they stepped into the throes of the party itself. “Well, here goes nothing.”

“Have fun!” Mabel called out after Stevonnie rather loudly, much to Dipper’s alarm.

“Mabel, keep it down!” he warned in a harsh whisper, ducking down behind the outer wall a bit. “We’re technically not even supposed to be here, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Mabel nodded before calling to the fusion again. “Have fun!” she exclaimed in only a barely quieter whisper, not even noticing as her brother face-palmed in aggravation.

Meanwhile, Stevonnie walked onto the dance floor confidently enough, though all the while, they were still trying to reassure themselves that they could handle this, even despite the curious stares they received as they sauntered through the crowd. “You got this,” they repeated in a muted whisper, noticing the stares even though they tried their best to ignore them. “I got this,” they said again, their voice much more wavering this time as they anxiously glanced back towards the twins outside. They both offered the fusion encouraging smiles and thumbs-up, but that still wasn’t enough to make them feel better, especially considering how many inquiring eyes were upon them. “We got-”

Before they could even finish their mantra, Stevonnie, not watching where they were going, happened to bump into one of the partygoers accidently. Both fortunately and unfortunately though, this particular partygoer happened to be immediately familiar to the fusion.

“Oh! Sorry, Wendy!” Stevonnie apologized before they could stop themselves, though upon realizing their mistake, they were quick to slap a hand over their own mouth. Wendy turned around hearing this, just as bewildered as all of her accompanying friends were upon taking a cursory glance at the flustered fusion.

“Uh, hey,” the cashier greeted in casual confusion. “Do I… know you?”

“Um, me?” Stevonnie asked with a forced, awkward grin. “N-no! I don’t! I mean, I-I don’t think I—I mean, I… I…” As the fusion continued to stammer on, they were hardly even paying any mind to odd stares the group of teens were giving them, and they certainly didn’t happen to notice Wendy steal a glance down at the conspicuous pink gemstone on their navel.

“No way…” she interrupted Stevonnie’s ramblings, both puzzled and incredulous as she glanced between the fusion and their gem. “Steven?”

Stevonnie completely froze up, their eyes wide and their posture hitched upon being partially found out. None of the other teens seemed to notice their alarm however as they instead all looked to Wendy in apt confusion. “Uh, Wendy?” Lee spoke up, dumbfounded. “That’s not Steven.”

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, guys,” the cashier turned to her crowd of friends. “But they have his-” Wendy cut herself off as she glanced back to where the fusion had been, only to find that they had conveniently slipped away from the party entirely.

Of course, Stevonnie had only retreated right outside of the warehouse, not hesitating to hurriedly tell the twins about what had just happened, even in the midst of their apparent panic.  

“Wait, so Wendy actually recognized you guys?” Dipper asked, surprised.

“Well, she recognized Steven, but yeah, pretty much,” Stevonnie nodded, running a hand through their hair. “I don’t know how though! I thought we were being pretty discreet! Even if a ton of people were staring at us…”

“Aw, but what’s so bad about letting people know who you really are, Stevonnie?” Mabel asked rather innocently. “I’m sure if people knew you were Steven and Connie mashed together, they’d think it’s really cool, just like we do!”

“Uh… well…” Stevonnie trailed off, though they didn’t get much of a chance to explain themselves before the conversation was suddenly interrupted.

“So, Stevonnie, huh?” Wendy asked with a wry smirk as she stepped out from the other side of the wall, revealing that she had been eavesdropping.

“Wendy!” Stevonnie and Dipper both exclaimed, startled, though Mabel was much more pleasantly surprised.

“Hi, Wendy!” she greeted as brightly as ever.

“Hey, Mabel,” the cashier chuckled, crossing her arms as she looked to the fusion again. “You know, I knew that gem looked familiar. But how could I have guessed that you were both Steven and Connie! That’s pretty wild, dudes.”

“I-I can explain!” Stevonnie quickly interjected. “We—we were just dancing and then we accidently fused and then we got invited to this party and we really wanted to go, so we-”

“Whoa, whoa, guys,” Wendy cut in, confused. “Slow down. What did you say? You fused?”

“Yeah they did!” Mabel exclaimed with a grin. “It’s this super cool thing that only Gems can do, but Steven did it with Connie somehow and bam! We got ourselves a Stevonnie!”

Wendy raised a bewildered eyebrow, not fully convinced as she glanced to Dipper for verification. “She’s right, actually,” he said with a shrug. “Honestly, we couldn’t even make this stuff up if we tried.”

“Well, I guess I have no choice but to buy it then,” the cashier smirked, shaking her head. “But still, why’d you guys run away from the party? I mean, even if you two aren’t technically teens, nobody in there needs to know that. I mean, you had all my friends fooled.”

“Yeah, I know…” the fusion sighed apprehensively. “It’s just… I’m—we’re sort of worried about… I don’t really know… not fitting in, or something like that…”

“Don’t be,” Wendy encouraged with a smile. “Listen, dudes, your secret is safe with me. Go back in there and have some fun! I mean, when else are you guys gonna be able to sneak into a rad, ‘teens-only’ party like this one?”

“She’s got a point,” Dipper pointed out in agreement. “This is sort of like a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity kind of thing.”

“Yeah!” Mabel nodded zealously. “And if I were one of you guys, I’d totally take that opportunity to party as hard as I could!”

“Oh believe me, I want to,” Stevonnie said with a wistful grin. “But…”

“But your holding yourself back,” Wendy mused patiently. “It’s ok, you guys. Look, if you need any help in there, I got your back. All you need to do is cut loose and let yourselves have a good time together. You’ll feel a lot better after you do, trust me.”

“Mmm… are you sure?” the fusion asked, still somewhat uncertain.

“Positive,” the cashier nodded before grabbing their wrist and pulling them back towards the party. “Now come on! The party’s just getting started!”

“You really think they’ll be ok in there?” Dipper asked Mabel as they continued to watch the party from the other side of the wall.

“Eh, I’m sure they’ll be just fine,” Mabel shrugged with a rather unconcerned smile as Wendy managed to coax Stevonnie over to her group of friends.

“Hey, guys, I’m back,” the cashier greeted her fellow teens casually. “And there’s someone I’d like you to meet. This is Stevonnie.”

“Uh… hi,” the fusion waved to the teens as they all looked to them with welcoming nods and smiles.

“Oh, it’s Stevonnie!” Jenny exclaimed in newfound understanding. “For some reason, Wendy thought you were our friend Steven.”

“O-oh, really?” Stevonnie gulped nervously, though fortunately, Wendy cut in.

“Hey, cut me some slack, Jenny,” the cashier crossed her arms. “It’s hard to see under all these neons Sour Cream has set up in here.”

“So are you new around here, Stevonnie?” Nate asked curiously.

“Um… I guess you could say that?” the fusion shrugged, uncertain about how to explain themselves. Fortunately, they didn’t really have to as the beat thumping throughout the party suddenly picked up even more.

“Looks like Sour Cream’s pumping things up,” Buck noted as coolly as ever.

“Rave time!” Lee and Nate cheered in unison.

“You know what that means, Thompson!” Lee exclaimed with a goading grin.

“No! I’m not taking my shirt of this time!” Thompson protested hotly, though Lee and Nate were quick to provide him with the proper encouragement.

“Thompson! Thompson! Thompson!” they chanted zealously, finally wearing Thompson down just enough.

“The peer pressure’s too strong!” he cried, ripping his shirt off and waving it over his head. “Tambry, you better not post any pictures of this online like last time!”

“Too late,” Tambry deadpanned, having already uploaded an embarrassing snapshot to the internet.

“Aw, man, this is great,” Wendy laughed over her friends’ antics along with Stevonnie. “See? I told you guys you’d have a great time.”

“Heh, yeah,” the fusion chuckled warmly, a bright smile on their face as they glanced around the party with fresh eyes. Instead of something daunting or intimidating, they saw fun, lively scene, one that they could easily see themselves falling into.

And so they did.

With a spring in their step and a newfound confidence about them, Stevonnie stepped out onto the dance floor, guided by a shared sense of elation, the very thing that had brought them together in the first place. They were hardly aware of anyone watching them as they made their first moves, bold and smooth and eye-catching. Wendy and her friends were the first to catch sight of the fusion’s dancing, and needless to say they were all instantly impressed by the natural skill they were already putting on display.

Even Sour Cream spotted them from his DJing platform, pausing from his mixing to watch them for a brief moment. “Amazing…” he mused in apt awe, before returning to his composition and adding a descant to the beat just for the fusion.

And Stevonnie took to the beat quite well, their bare feet gliding across the dance floor as though it was nothing but air. A wide grin was fixed on their face as they twirled about, their long hair flying with the movement. Still heedless to the crowd gathering to watch them, Stevonnie took a running start for their next move, smoothly sliding to their knees and bringing their arms up gracefully. With each move they made, clusters of bright sparkles seemed to emerge from the fusion, only adding to the charm and allure that everyone who was watching them saw. Even though they were observing from the outside, the twins were dumbfounded into absolute silence at how Stevonnie was indeed ‘tearing up the dance floor’, to the point that they had it entirely to themselves by now. Yet still the fusion didn’t notice as they launched themselves high into the air, preforming a deft full-body twist before landing squarely on one knee with a satisfied sigh. Indeed, they had done it. They had finally achieved the night of liberating fun they had been seeking. Everything finally felt just right.

Yet it was only as the veil of contentment lifted that things started to go wrong.

As Stevonnie rose to stand once more, the very first thing they noticed were the many sets of eyes fixated solely on them. Everyone seemed to be completely amazed by the fusion, not just their dancing skills but them as well. Several members of the crowd even let out muted gasps of wonder, and several more had their mouths hanging completely agape in shock. But all the same, one thing was clear: they were all focused on Stevonnie and Stevonnie alone.

“I-I thought this was a dance party,” the fusion spoke up with a nervous laugh as they glanced around. Specifically, they looked to Wendy for help, but even she seemed to be helplessly awestruck by the stunning display Stevonnie had just put on. “W-why isn’t anyone else dancing?” No one in the surrounding crowd dared speak, for even if they could, no one would have had anything to really say, seeing as how they were all at a total loss for words. Stevonnie’s apprehensive smile quickly faded into an anxious frown, both halves of their heart racing with newfound fear, the world seeming to sink all around them. “This… this is what being cool at a cool dance is, right?” they asked no one in particular, their eyes darting around the room. “This is how it’s supposed to be… Why isn’t it like it’s supposed to be?!”

By now, the fusion had begun to hyperventilate, stress overwhelming them as they closed their eyes tightly. Yet strangely enough, when they opened them, the crowd was gone, only replaced by huge, dark, ominous shadows looming high over them on all sides. As the silhouettes began to spread higher, Stevonnie couldn’t help but feel crushingly small, especially as shards of what seemed to be glass also rose up from the floor. They never touched the fusion however, as instead a disco ball seemed to form around them, trapping them in its small, cramped spherical interior. Stevonnie’s breathing had grown frantic, their hands shaking as they looked to the spinning lights darting far too quickly around their claustrophobic, self-imposed prison. Alarmed and disoriented, the fusion spun around, desperate to find a way out of this trap, of this party, out of all of it. Every emotion they felt, especially dread and anxiety, all seemed as though they were multiplied tenfold, all threatening to tear them cleanly apart. Their shared mind was going far too fast with thoughts of fear and dismay and panic and far too many other things to even place a name to them all. They were far from the good experience they should have been; instead, their very existence was an experience rife with doubt and desperation to find out what they really were, who they really were.

And now, they were further than ever from finding that out.

Yet, before the fusion could crumble under the weight of their own insecurities, their attention was suddenly directed elsewhere as another figure suddenly stepped into their disco ball without warning. He was a young man, a teen, but one that neither of them had ever met before, clad in stylish clothes and carrying a foreboding kind of confidence about him, one that instantly set Stevonnie on guard as he calmly sized them up.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted with a smooth, flirtatious smirk, his hands on his hips as he stood apace from the fusion. Stevonnie hardly even noticed the visage of the disco ball abruptly disappear, replaced by the surroundings of the party once again. Everyone had apparently gone back to conversing about themselves, no one paying the fusion any mind except for this one lone young man.

“Huh?” Stevonnie finally spoke up, raising a confused eyebrow at the young man’s seemingly smug manner.

“Get ready,” he leaned in, offering his hand to them before smoothly sliding around them in a failed attempt at impressing them. “It’s Kevin Time.” The young man, Kevin, apparently, reached for Stevonnie’s hand once more, but this time, it was abruptly slapped away, though not by the fusion themselves.

“You better take good, long step back if you know what’s good for you, Kevin,” Wendy scowled harshly, stepping in between the fusion and the young man rather protectively.

“Wendy!” Stevonnie sighed in apt relief at the cashier coming to their rescue.

“Hey, like I said, I got your back,” Wendy glanced back at the fusion with a reassuring wink.

“Well, look who it is,” Kevin cut in with an icy smirk as he looked to the cashier. “I guess you’re really not over me after all, Wendy. Not that I blame you though; I’d get jealous too if I saw me flirting with another girl.”

“Doing what with another who now?” Stevonnie spoke up, eyes wide in alarm and confusion.

“Ugh, get real, Kevin,” Wendy rolled her eyes crossly. “I broke up with you, remember? Then again, it was probably hard for you to pay attention to me dumping you since you were too busy swooning over your own reflection.”

“Whatever,” Kevin scoffed dryly. “Why don’t you just step aside and let me and this cutie dance?”

“They’re not interested,” the cashier said tersely as she began to lead the distressed fusion away.

“Why don’t you let her decide that for herself?” Kevin asked pointedly, his hands on his hips as he sent the pair a determined scowl.

“Oh, well, uh…” Stevonnie began anxiously, beyond uncomfortable with this bizarre turn of events. “She’s right… I-I’m really not interested…”

“See? Told you,” Wendy gave Kevin a cold, triumphant smirk as they urged the fusion to take a breather outside the party. “Oh, and if I catch you messing with them again tonight, then there won’t be any teeth left in that stupid, smug smile of yours. Just keep that in mind, ‘baby’.”

The cashier didn’t even give him a chance to respond before turning on her heel and marching off after Stevonnie, joining them and the twins outside the wall. Needless to say that after seeing the fusion’s near-meltdown earlier, Dipper and Mabel were quite concerned for their wellbeing, and they didn’t hesitate to show that concern through a barrage of curious questions the moment Stevonnie stepped outside.

“Are you guys ok?” Dipper asked with a worried frown. “What happened in there?”

“I… I don’t know!” Stevonnie admitted, running a hand through their hair as they let out a deep breath. “E-everyone was just… staring at me and… and I didn’t know w-what to do or what to say! I… we just sort of froze up and panicked and… everything else was basically one huge blur after that…”

The twins and Wendy all exchanged a brief, troubled glance upon hearing this, none of them really sure of how to reassure or encourage the disconcerted fusion. So instead of trying to offer them advice that likely wouldn’t help them, Mabel instead returned to asking Stevonnie about their experience in something of an attempt to distract them from their ongoing dread. “So… who was that scummy guy you were talking to? And what did he want?”

“Ugh, that was Kevin,” Wendy interjected with clear disdain as she crossed her arms. “We dated for like, a week, a while back. But I dumped him as soon as I realized how much of a self-absorbed, sleazebag he is. Trust me, Stevonnie, he’s definitely not someone you want to hang around.”

“I’ll take your word for it…” the fusion muttered, admittedly hardly even thinking about their encounter with Kevin at the moment. Instead, their thoughts were preoccupied with their own lingering doubt. After all, they had nearly fallen apart entirely back in the party for reasons that they couldn’t honestly even explain; with the restless and fretful state they were still in, how could they really expect to stay together much longer? Their shared mind was still in a frenzy, even if that frenzy was much quieter than it had been before, but still, a frenzy nonetheless. And if being together, if being fused, brought them both such feelings of anxiety and apprehension, then was it even worth it for them to stay fused at all?

In fact, Stevonnie was so distracted by their own unspoken fears that they hadn’t even heard what Wendy had just asked them until she placed a hand on their shoulder. “What?” the fusion blinked, slightly startled out of their thoughts as they looked to the cashier with wide eyes.

“I asked you if you’re sure you guys wanna go back in there,” Wendy repeated, clearly concerned. “Because to be honest… you’re not looking like you’re doing so hot…”

Stevonnie blushed in embarrassment upon hearing this, only now realizing that they were rather pale and lightly sweating as a result of their own internal stress. Still, guided by instinct alone, the fusion quickly put themselves together again, standing up at their full height and taking in a deep, determined breath. “No, we’re… I’m fine,” they clarified convincingly enough. “After all, I-I got this.”

“Yeah, you do!” Mabel cheered encouragingly. “Go Team Stevonnie! Go Team Stevonnie!”

The fusion let out a small laugh at this zealous cheer, but even so, Wendy wasn’t fully sure that they were ready to go back inside, despite their apparent show of confidence. “Just remember, guys,” she addressed the fusion cautiously. “If you need to bail out of there for any reason, then that’s totally fine. After all, you are still new at this.”

“Yeah… you’re… right, actually,” Stevonnie mused, amazed at how being new pretty much summed everything about their experience up. And maybe, despite all of the pitfalls they had encountered thus far, they had finally realized they were indeed a new experience. Which meant that there was always a chance for them to become a truly good one eventually.

With a newfound spring in their step, Stevonnie followed Wendy back into the party, relieved and reassured by her promise to stay by their side for as long as they needed her to. The fusion figured that she was yet another anchor to them, much like the twins, but at least she was an anchor who could actually go into the party with them at least. And for them, that was certainly better than nothing.

Which was why it didn’t take long for Wendy to notice Stevonnie’s apparent sense of dependency, seeing as how closely the fusion was following behind her as they returned to the party. “Guys, don’t worry,” she sent them a reassuring smile as she glanced back at them. “You said it yourself: you’ve got this. And like I said, I’ll be here for you guys as long as you need-”

“Yo, Wendy!” Nate suddenly hurried up to the cashier with Tambry and Buck in tow. “You gotta get over here! Thompsons about to do the worm with his shirt off!”

“Ten bucks says he cuts his stomach on the floor and he cries,” Tambry glanced up from her phone to smirk at Buck, who lightly grinned in response.

“You’re on.”

“Ok, guys, just hold on a—whoa!” Wendy didn’t get a chance to convince Stevonnie to come along before Nate suddenly grabbed her by the hand to pull her over to the others.

“Come on, Wendy! You’re gonna miss it!” he urged eagerly, dragging the cashier off. The fusion instantly panicked at this, a sharp gasp escaping them as they tried to follow Wendy as her friends unknowingly whisked her off into the thick crowd.

“Wendy! Wait!” Stevonnie called after her, only to end up getting accidentally knocked back by somebody caught up in their dancing. The fusion clumsily stumbled backward, nearly falling to the ground entirely, though a stray hand managed to catch theirs and pull them upright. Yet upon seeing who their “rescuer” was, Stevonnie was anything but relieved.

“Well, hey there, baby,” Kevin greeted with a sultry smirk as he held the fusion close, not relinquishing his grip on their wrist. “Glad to see you away from that buzzkill Wendy. Are you finally ready for our dance?”

“L-like I said,” Stevonnie began, clearly uneasy as they pulled themselves away from him. “I really don’t want-”

“Playing hard to get, huh?” Kevin interrupted coyly. “I like that. Guess you just need some convincing first.” He sent the fusion a flirty wink as he stepped a pace away from them, the music seeming to become more intense as he began to dance solo. Surrounding partygoers paused upon noticing Kevin’s bold, swift, almost aggressive moves, which were certainly skillful to say the least. In fact, it seemed that the only ones not impressed by his suave and narcissistic ways, aside from Stevonnie themselves, were the twins as they continued to watch the party from afar.

“Ugh, that guy is such a creep!” Dipper exclaimed, aptly disgusted by Kevin’s egotistical behavior that could be seen even from their distant vantage point. “Why won’t he just take Stevonnie’s no for an answer?”

“Seriously!” Mabel agreed with a petulant scowl. “Somebody really outta teach him a lesson in-” She cut herself off with a sudden gasp, startling her brother quite a bit as she suddenly shook him in excitement. “Dipper! I just got the best idea ever! We should fuse, go in there, and beat the snot out of that Kevin guy for messing with Stevonnie! It’s the perfect plan!”

For a moment, all Dipper could do was send his sister an incredulous look before finally finding the words to respond to her outlandish idea. “You know, Mabel, that’s a great plan, it really is,” he said with obvious sarcasm. “Except… there’s just one tiny problem with it.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“We can’t fuse! We’re not Gems, remember?”

“Oh yeah…” Mabel frowned in disappointment over her admittedly impossible plan being shut down. Though her disappointment quickly turned to alarm upon glancing back to the party only to realize that a certain fusion was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, where’s Stevonnie?”

As it turned out, Stevonnie had taken the first opportunity they saw to flee from both Kevin and the crowd as quickly as they could. However, instead of retreating inside, they instead rushed to a nearby wall, leaning against it as they hunched over in a desperate attempt to calm their panicked breathing. Even though there was ample space around them and in the warehouse in general, they still felt tightly cramped, as though they had been locked in a very small box from which there was no escape. Their long pent-up nervousness had finally built itself up into a might wave, one that threatened to crash upon them and tear them apart literally any second now.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong,” Stevonnie panted tightly, eyes wide as they stared at the floor. “You have fun dancing, but this dance isn’t fun. You’re supposed to like this. W-why don’t we like this?!” The fusion let out a sharp breath as they fully stood, their trembling fists clenched tightly as they looked at their shared form with emerging loneliness. “I wish you were here…” they sighed, leaning against the wall and loosely hugging themselves in a weak attempt to feel closer. But the truth was, despite all they were currently sharing, they couldn’t have felt any further apart. “If we were together, it would be ok. But… we are together, and it’s not… I… I’m alone…”

“Not tonight,” Stevonnie’s closed eyes flew open to see Kevin press his hand against the wall near their head. His constant flirty grin was still present as he looked up at the fusion almost greedily, as if they were more of a prize to be won than an actual person. “Hey baby, why’d you leave me on the dance floor?”

“I-I don’t-” Stevonnie cut themselves off upon hearing how tremulous their voice sounded. So instead, they forced themselves to be firm as they pushed Kevin’s hand away with a stern scowl. “I don’t want to dance anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Kevin asked, clearly not taking them seriously as he brushed a hand through his hair. “We’re the best thing that’s ever happened to this place! Come back out with me.”

“Why should I?” the fusion asked defiantly, growing angrier by his callous manner by the second.

“Because we’re angels walking among garbage people,” Kevin patronized. “We’re perfect for each other.”

“How can you say that?!” Stevonnie exclaimed, aghast and infuriated. “You don’t even know us!”

“Whoa, whoa,” Kevin held his hands up, even though he was still smirking. “I’m just looking for a dance! Don’t get crazy.”

“No one is crazy! I just don’t like being alone here!”                    

“Well if you’re so lonely, then dance with me!”

By now, Stevonnie was beyond frustrated, scarcely able to believe just how impetuous and stubborn Kevin really was. Which was why the decided that enough was enough. If he wasn’t going to give up, then they might as well give him exactly what he wanted. “Ugh, fine!” the fusion growled hotly, sending a piercing glare Kevin’s way. “You wanna dance? Let’s go.”

Needless to say that not only was Kevin surprised at Stevonnie accepting his invitation, but he was also quite startled when they grabbed him by the arm and roughly dragged him onto the dance floor. “Oh, and it’s Stevonnie,” the fusion clarified as they scowled down at their unwanted dance partner. “I am not your baby.”

Before Kevin could even say anything to this, Stevonnie launched into a dance that was a far cry from their smooth, graceful movements from earlier. Instead, this dance was aggressive and wild, with hardly any rhyme or reason to it at all as the fusion merely flailed about in a frantic frenzy. Their hair swung about wildly as they kicked and punched the air forcefully, letting out all of their frustration and apprehension in the only way they could think of. This time, they paid no mind to the countless sets of eyes staring at them in befuddlement, nor did they even pay Kevin any thought as he looked to them, quite intimidated by just how intense they really were.

“O-okay, bring it back, girl,” he spoke up, his usual smug confidence completely gone as he nervously backed up a few steps.

By now, nearly everyone at the party had turned their attention to Stevonnie and their almost unhinged dancing style. With her friends distracted, Wendy finally managed to rush back over to the fusion, though she paused at the fringes of the gathering crowd, just as surprised as everyone else was, especially upon seeing the gemstone on Stevonnie’s navel begin to brightly glow. Still, the fusion didn’t stop dancing for a second, their stress, anger, and emotional exhaustion all finally coming to a violent collision. A collision that, ironically enough, ultimately ended up ripping them apart.

In a sharp flash of light, Stevonnie disappeared, and in their place emerged the two halves they were made of in the first place: Steven and Connie.

The pair fell out of their fusion and onto the ground rather roughly, initially too dazed by what had just happened to even make sense of what was going on. The nearby crowd let out a unified gasp of shock and disbelief, all of them taken aback and aptly surprised at the true identity of the mysterious fusion. But of course, no one was more alarmed at this revelation than Kevin.

“That’s two kids! I’m out!” he exclaimed, clearly shocked as he immediately took his leave from the party entirely.

At the same time, Steven and Connie had finally managed to regather their bearings, even if they were still getting used to the old feeling of being apart as they both tentatively sat up. “W-we’re back…” the young Gem said stiffly, his eyes wide as he looked to Connie in bewilderment. But instead of saying anything in response, she simply burst out laughing, unable to hold any of her countless emotions in any longer. As her laughter turned hysterical, Steven couldn’t help but join in, and by the time he pushed himself up off the ground, he was laughing so hard that he was essentially crying but he honestly didn’t care. Neither of them did. And after the night they just had, honestly, how could they care about anything anymore?

While the partygoers were all still frozen in shock, Sour Cream was really the only one to usher in the newfound levity as he threw out a cascade of glow sticks from his DJ platform and onto the crowd below. With no more reservations holding them back, Steven and Connie happily indulged, their laughter loud and bright as they began to run around the dance floor freely amidst the rain of glow sticks.

Of course, the twins had witnessed everything that had just happened from outside, and while Dipper was just as stunned as the rest of the crowd was, Mabel easily shared in on Steven and Connie’s elation. “They’re back!” she cheered excitedly. “And look at them go! Come on, Dipper! Let’s get in there and join the party!”

“Mabel, I don’t think we should-” Dipper didn’t even get a chance to finish his protest before Mabel abruptly grabbed his wrist and dragged him past the wall and into the party anyway. The attending teens hardly even paid the twins any mind as they rushed onto the dance floor, Mabel gladly joining Steven and Connie as they cheerfully danced about while Dipper took a place in the crowd alongside Wendy.

“Ok, this has seriously been one of the weirdest nights ever,” he remarked incredulously, watching as the others have their wild dancing.

“Tell me about it,” the cashier smirked, crossing her arms. “But hey, you know what they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” With a boisterous cheer, Wendy stepped out into the dance floor herself, joining in on the fun with Dipper hesitantly following soon after. Slowly but surely, the other partygoers eventually followed suit, still besides themselves with confusion over what they had seen, but even so, most of them were willing to shrug it off for the sake of continuing the party.

Still, even as the party picked up once more, Steven and Connie remained rather close to each other for the rest of the night, even if they were no longer fused. Certainly, Stevonnie had something to do with that, for as good as it felt to be apart, neither of them could deny that being together had felt even better. True, the experience had been rife with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, but it had also been filled with excitement, euphoria, and elation, and in the end, all of those good things far outweighed the bad. Neither Steven nor Connie could deny that, for everything they had been through tonight, they would gladly do it all again if they could, if only for the warm, bright, cherished feeling of simply being together.

And that alone was a feeling that neither of them could wait to experience again someday.

Next: 

[pendulumprince]

Ladies and gentlemen: the finale.

Yuya and Reiji are still going at it

Yuya’s got all 4 of his dragons on the field

Reiji’s got Zorc, Z-One and Don Thousand there to help him

Reiji’s talking about pendulum monsters… and Odd Eyes in particular

And

HE HAS Z-ONE ATTACK THE DRAGONS

AND DON THOUSAND OPENS UP A VOTREX IN THE SKY

DARK REBELLION, CLEAR WING AND STARVE EVNOM GET STUCKED UP INTO IT

And then he had Zorc attack Odd Eyes

Odd Eyes gets taken out!

Yuya’s down to 1250 LP

Reiji ends his turn!

Damn Reiji, that was fierce

But Yuya’s too determined to bring back Reira’s smile and Yuzu from the depths of Arc V to quite now

Yuri, Yugo and Yuto give Yuya some words of encouragement

Yuya takes his turn, and it’s like all 4 boys took it omg

They all comment on the magic card they just drew

Yuya plays it, Odd Eyes Fusion Gate

He’s able to bring back Starve Venom and Odd Eyes!

YUYA AND YURI FUSE THEM TOGETHER

Aw yes this was the Yuri I always wanted

They summon Odd Eyes Venom Dragon at 3300 ATK

Aw yeah what’s happening

UM

HOLY SHIT

IT’S ATTACK JUST WENT UP TO 13800

WOW OKAY

ALLEN AND SAYAKA LOOK SO IMPRESSED

YUYA GOES IN FOR THE ATTACK, BUT!

REIJI ACTIVATES… ONE OF HIS MONSTERS EFFECTS

BRINGS ODVD BACK DOWN TO 3300 ATK

BUT THE ATTACK HAS ALREADY BEEN DECLARED?? FUCK THIS GORGEOUS DRAGON IS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED

BUT WAIT!

YUYA RUSHES TO GET AN ACTION CARD!

HE GRABS ONE, BUT… IT’S OF NO USE

THE ATTACK CONNECTS

YUYA’S DOWN TO 1050 LP

Okay okay Yuri doesn’t look mad at all

Neither does Yugo!

Yuya plays his magic card again

And be brings out another magic card, Odd Eyes Synchro Gate

AND HE TUNES THEM TOGETHER

AHHHH THE MUSIC FROM EPISODE 37 IS PLAYING

YUYA AND YUGO SYNHVCRO SUMMON ODD EYES WINGED DRAGON

JACK LOOKS SO PLEASED WITH THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT

YUYA TARGETS DON THOUSAND FOR ODWD’S EFFECT, WHICH DOES… IDK BUT I BET IT’S GOOD

YUYA GOES IN FOR THE ATTACK

AND

UM

YUYA’S DOWN TO 550 LP

YUYA YOU GOTTA STEP[ YOUR GAME UP

YUYA GETS RID OF OFF EYES SYNCHRO GATE AND BRINGS OUT ODD EYES XYZ GATE

BRINGS OUT ODD EYES AND DARK REBELLION

HE AND YUTO XYZ SUMMON ODD EYES REBELLION DRAGON

YUYA BANISHES THE THREE MAGIC CARDS HE JUST USED

ODRD GOES UP TO 4000 ATK

YUYA PLAYS THAT ACTION MAGIC CARD FROM BEFORE

WHATEVER HE SAYS HAS REIJI WORRIED AND THE THREE PRECIOUS DARLINGS EXCITED

YOKO AND SHINGO ALSO LOOK HAPPY WITH THIS

AND YUYA GOES IN FOR THE ATTACK

AND…

What the hell happened

Ugh watch those ugly ass monsters still be on the field

OF COURSE

Reiji goes down to 2000 LP but his annoying as is fine besides that

Yuya looks… disappointed? I feel you my dude

OERD goes back down to 3000 ATK

Yuya sets a facedown, ends his turn

Back in LDS, Reira’s still crying

Shuzou’s damn near ready to start crying too; he knows what the stakes are

Reiji draws!

HE GOES IN TO ATTACK ODRD

YUYA ACTIVATES HUS TRAP CARD

NEGATES THE ATTACK

AND ODRD… goes up into the pendulum zone??

It’s there as a scale 4 monster

Shuzou looks so absurdly happy

Me too my guy

Yuya takes his turn!

Yuya brings out another monster

Sets it in the other pendulum zone

So now it’s there, 4 to 12

Yuya pendulum summons!

Odd Eyes Venom Dragon, Odd Eyes Winged Dragon, and a 100 ATK monster and a 1000 ATK monster

But Reiji’s like, “not so fast y’all”

Yuya takes out his 100 ATK monster, brings Odd Eyes back!

Reiji goes in for some attack

Negates it

Grabs an action magic card

AND BY HIS MONSTERS PENDULUM EFFECT

HE BRINGS ALL OF HIS MONSTERS, AND ALL OF REIJI’S MONSTERS, DOWN TO 0 ATK

O…kay I trust you got a play here bby

So there’s some odd visual behind him lol okay

After a lengthy exchange, Yuya… ends his turn, I guess? AND REIJI ANGRILY TKES HIS

HE AND YUYA RACE TO GET AN ACTION CARD

AH FUCK

REIJI GRABBED IT

YUYA’S NOT WORRIED THROUGH

HE CAN ALWAYS GRAB ANOTHER

BUT HIS ROLLAR SKATES BETRAY HIM IN THE WORST WAY, AND REIJI JUST PROCEEDS TO DO WHAT HE DOES BEST: RUIN LIVES.

Reiji… does something, and immediately ends his turn? Okay dude.

Yuya uses Odd Eyes’ head as a springboard, takes his turn??

Grabs an action card!

Takes his turn

And

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ARC V

I HEARD A HEARDBEAT

REIRA’S REACHING TOWARDS THE CAMERA, LOOKING MIGHTY ALERT…!

REIJI TAKES HIS… TURN? BUT YUYA PLAYS HIS CARD.

Idk what’s happening anymore

I really, really don’t

Reiji keeps saying “watashi no turn!” but he never ends his turn?? And Yuya keeps playing cards during his ‘turn'?? I have never been this confused watching the raw omg

Anyway, on to things I can actually follow

BACK IN ACADEMIA AND ARC V

THE ORB IS GLOWING AND FLASHING DIFFERENT COLORS

EVERYONE WATCHES O IN SUSPENSE

THIS HEARTBEAT ISN’T MAKING THINGS ANY EASIER

REIJI AND YUYA CROSS EACH OTHER

GO FOR THE SAME ACTION CARD

YUYA GOT IT, AND REIJI LOOKS NONE TOO PLEASED

HE PLAYS 5 MAGIC CARDS AT ONCE

ALL OF HIS MONSTERS GO BACK TO THEIR NORMAL ATK

NAH, SCRATCH THAT, THEY’RE ALL LIKE 2000 ATK HIGHER

YUYA HAS ODD EYES GO IN FOR THE ATTACK

BUT REIJI ALSO PLAYS HIS 5 CARDS

HIS MONSTERS GO UP TO LIKE 7000 ATK EACH

OMG JUST END THIS DUEL ALREADY

SHINGO AND GON CHAN LOOK SO HORRIFED

YUYA ACTIVATES HIS 100 ATK MONSTER’S EFFECT; IT BRINGS ODD EYES REBELLION DRAGON BACK AND BRINGS THE 100 ATK MONSTER INTO THE PENDULUM ZONE

ODD EYES AND ODRD MERGE THEIR POWERS?? ODD EYES GOES UP TO 8000 ATK

REIJI TRIES TO USE Z-ONES SPECIAL EFFECT TO DO SOME SHIT, IT DOESN’T WORK

SO HE MOVES ON TO ZORC

AND OFF EYES GOES BACK DOWN TO 2500 ATK

FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT ATK IS STILL GONNA GO THROUGH THOUGH

IS IT…?!

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN”

Lol nah Yuya’s got this

He’s getting his sparkle on

He takes out both of his pendulum monsters and all the facedowns on both his and Reiji’s fields

All the monsters go back down to their normal attacks

Yuya gets the audience to counts along with him

And he sets off fireworks?? Pretty pretty.

AND THE FIREWORKS MERGE TO CREATE A GIANT PENDULUM

REIRA IS SO. FASCINATED BY THIS.

ODD EYES GOES UP TO 4500 ATK!

AND YUYA HAS ODD EYES GO IN FOR THE ATTACK

REIJI ISN’T WORRIED

UNTIL YUYA BRINGS UP THAT REACTION FORCE

THE ATTACK CONNECTS!

REIJI GOES DOWN TO 0!

YUYA WINS!

*deep breath* Finally.

And Reiji… smiles.

Aw my kikaku bby

And a baby is… laughing in the abject silence

REIRA’S GIGGLING

YAAAAAAAAAAS *PUNCHES A WALL*

So… Reiji holds up Yuya’s wrist

Introduces Yuya as the Pendulum Ds new champion (or something)

Aw yis one of the old themes starts playing

And the Arc V orb is glowing to the max now

And

WHO IS THIS EMERGING

A BEAM OF LIGHT PASSES THROUGH ALL THE DIMENSIONS

Lmao it brings all our folks over to the Pendulum D lol nice

The Orb is in front of them all now

And… all 4 girls pass before their respective boys

Aw nice

AND YUYA

REACHES INTO THE GLOWING ORB

TAKES THE GIRL’S HAND

AND YUZU EMERGES

SHUZOU IS SCREAMING?!

SO ARE THE THREE PRECIOUS DARLINGS

MY GIRL IS BACK

I FEEL LIKE SHOZOU AND GON CHAN RN

THIS. THIS IS BEAUTIFUL.

REIJI TURNS TO HIS PARENTS, WHO ARE STANDING SIDE BY SIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS

LEO LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL DUDE FOR ONCE

REIJI LAUGHS HIS EVIL FUCKING LAUGH AT SOMETHING HIS DAD SAYS

I—

Um

Some ratchity old man is shouting

OH LOOK IT’S YUSHO

Lmaoooo he’s hyped

He takes out his duel disk

He’s challenging his kid to a duel

Lmao i feel that

OF COURSE YUYA’S UP TO THE CHALLENGE

“THE FUN HAS JUST BEGUN!”

Perfect.