#and we already stablished they are getting married by the end of this

[khaopybara]

I'm just gonna say it. babe is not getting shot because 1. bison pushes him out of the way before that happens or 2. bison gets shot instead

[rosedpetal]

Until Death Do Us Part

Summary: Harvey and you have been on a rocky road lately, but hopefully, you can still find each other.

Pairing: Harvey Specter x Reader

Word count: 932

Warnings: stablished relationship (reader and Harvey are married), mentions of body image struggles, hints at +18 themes.

Masterlist

"No. Absolutely not." Your husband frowned when you came out from the closet wearing your 'costume'.

A huff of annoyance leaves your lips.

"What the fuck is wrong now? Did I gain weight and suddenly you can't get up or something?" Venom drips from your sarcastic remark and Harvey rubs his temples.

"Why are you like this? Jesus Christ, Y/N, it's not about some shit like that, stop trying to make me a bad guy at every given chance!" He snaps. "It's just your stupid wings, okay? You look like you came straight from a Barbie movie, when you said you'd like to roleplay being a fairy, I thought you'd use one of those Lord of the Rings-"

"Those are elves. Not fairies. They don't have wings!" You seethe, taking your plastic wings off and accidentally pressing the light button on them, turning the pink leds on, and Harvey's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I'm sorry if my knowledge in a fictional world lore is lacking, it's because I actually have a real job."

That was cruel and uncalled for and he knew it. Harvey had a bad habit of saying the most callous things without even thinking. It didn't help that he hated the idea of roleplaying from the very beginning.

"How could I forget, it's the only thing you care about!" You raise your voice, and it breaks in the end. "Tonight was supposed to be fun!"

Harvey immediately regrets the jab he made at your wings. Well, it's not that he couldn't get himself to be motivated by you while you were wearing them... It's just that it was fucking weird because he was a grown man and he was pretty sure his kid niece wore the same pink fairy wings every Halloween.

And he could explain that to you, but you just had to make a self deprecating comment about your body and imply that he wasn't man enough to look past his partner putting on some weight.

Which was another ridiculous thing, because, seriously? He couldn't care less if you were a size 2 or 20. It didn't matter. He married you because he loved you, inside and out, and you weren't an airhead that couldn't carry on a conversation with him. He respected you. He was interested in what you had to say (most of the time, at least).

But for months now, you two have been fighting nonstop, and more than often saying some hurtful shit to each other and no longer searching for the comfort of each other's arms in the middle of the night.

He wondered if your sudden self consciousness regarding your body was because you've been stress-eating ever since the chasm between you two was created.

Harvey was selfish, harsh, arrogant and snappy, but he wasn't insensitive to how women sometimes had insecurities that ate them alive.

He sighed, following you in the closet, his chest tightening at the sigh of your angry tears while you put on sweatpants and a top (the sleepwear you wore on nights you made sure no intimacy was gonna happen).

He even agreed on going to therapy with you, which he thought was an admission of defeat, that you two weren't mature enough to solve your problems on your own.

"Honey." He called, his voice soft with regret.

He hates the 'homework' your therapist gives you every week. A dinner date, a little getaway, a road trip, sitting down and talking for an hour. He feels like his own relationship is being scripted and that you can't find common ground anymore.

"What?" You wipe your tears, unable to look at him in the eyes.

"We don't roleplay." He said in a teasing tone. "Why would I want you to pretend to be someone else when you already exist?"

He gently holds your face in both hands, wiping the remaining tears with his thumbs.

"I'm an idiot. I promise my reaction has nothing to do with whatever's been making you feel vulnerable right now. Seriously. The wings just reminded me of halloween, and halloween reminded me of children going trick-or-treating and you don't want your husband to be thinking of children in the bedroom, do you?"

You grimaced. "God, no."

"Glad we're on the same page, babe." He gently pressed his forehead against yours. "Dance with me."

"There's no music." You sniffled.

"We have a nice record player in the living room. Come on, baby."

Gently, he guided you out from the room, his fingers intertwined in yours as he put on some sappy jazz music. He sways barefoot with you on his arms, your head on his chest, and it takes you back to simpler times.

"I'm sorry. For everything." He's the first to speak, and you appreciate the sentiment, because you know how hard it is for him to apologize, specially when he's the first one to bend the knee to make peace.

"We'll get through this." You mumble, and he kisses the top of your head, and suddenly the golden ring on your finger feels lighter.

"I love you more than anything in the world, darling. Please, don't doubt that. I need you to remember that every single day, specially when I'm at my worst."

"I love you too, Harvey."

He knows there's a long way to go, but the little progress you made tonight makes his heart feel more at ease, as long as you're both on the same side, because he knew with every fiber of his being that he meant it when he said 'until death do us part'.

[t-rex-bongo]

I have seen this also coupled with the idea that people reacting over bucktommy is erasing the other queer representation, and I think is more about that it speaks to a certain age queer (or not queer) viewers.

Hen and Karen started the show already with an stablished live, who knows how many years married and with a kid, their problem is not about them being lesbians: Hen cheat on Karen with another woman that has a deep connection with  (now I think this is great representation that queer couples don’t own the story to be perfect), they have conflict and then they solve it. And the rest of their arc is about expanding family and the obstacles that been a queer couple and a black couple can inject to that.

In the begins episodes of course we get more of Hen embracement of her sexuality and in the Karen episode at her Uni about how she had to shift her life plans because of DADT.

This is great representation and it is the main in 9-1-1, no more comments. But it is stablished (and if they even insinuated to break them u, they would bring absolute havoc).

You have Josh that is just absolutely underutilized as Maddies gay friend (and current Glee sponsor) but that also has this terrible story if fishing and being assaulted. They kind of gave him this pretty boy from the dispatch centre fire, but nothing else was ever known about it.

But the story of Buck and Tommy is also of value and the reason in particular that has resonated with so many is because it talks of having lived in the closet but isolating yourself (that is different than Michael building a family with Athena for 16 or so years, that I think can catch with generation X). For millennials having lied and being a person you are not proud of, then making the work and change for the better and still feel like you are not enough, this is something that resonates with a lot of us. Also the romance of it all: Buck is absolutely smitten, it is kind of problematic because it even feels that he hasn’t rationalized that he is bisexual as much as that he is infatuated with Tommy. And up until the end of 8x06 they seem to be happy and Buck sees a future for them.

So yeah, of course viewers have emotions towards this, I have read on IG copies of the discussions here, but also a lot of queer people first responders or family of them that are sharing how the story resonates with them.  Also having Buck, that we know almost everything about it, and Tommy, from which we have an stablished outline brought but we know almost anything about it, brings so much possibilities to unfold in a relationship.

Okay listen, I get that I have little experience in the 9-1-1 fandom, but what in the actual hell is the weird response to the bucktommy breakup? It was never this weird with other love interest breakups right? Of Buck’s love interests, Abby and Taylor were the only ones developed enough to warrant any sort of strong reaction. Tommy had no development.

Seriously. What did we know about him?:

He’s gay. He’s a pilot. He has a history of sexism and racism. He likes basketball and Muay Thai. And….? We saw nothing of his personal life, we saw little of his personality, and we didn’t see him and Buck actually power through any obstacles. Because that was the point, he was a plot device. It was painfully obvious he wasn’t going to be a lasting love interest…was it not? I don’t mean how little he was developed (because obviously that dev could’ve been done), but because of how HEAVILY Eddie haunted the narrative. Bucktommy’s first kiss genuinely shocked the hell out of me and my casual viewer sis-in-law because both of us felt it was obvious that Buck was trying to get Eddie’s attention. (seriously, that whole scene with Eddie on the phone in the firehouse and Buck peacocking to try and get Eddie’s attention…That was fucking obvious. I got a bruise from how hard that smacked me in the face.)

I realize I’m a buddie shipper so I am biased, but I’m a buddie shipper BECAUSE that is what the narrative has led me to. However, when Tommy was reintroduced, I made an actual effort to like him. I tried not to engage with the Buddie majority that hated him because I wanted to see if my mind could be changed, and ya know what? All it did was make me believe that there’s literally nobody else that they can end up with. Whether it was accidental on the writer’s part or purposeful, Buck and Eddie have been written into a romantic corner with only one way out, and that’s through each other. (Unless they somehow introduce two love interests that can beat a 7-season long slow burn friends-to-lovers with insanely good late bloomer queer representation. lol.)

I’m genuinely trying to understand though. How are people going this insane over Tommy? What exactly did he do that was so fantastic and amazing that he deserved undying loyalty? The kind of loyalty that sparks people to write weird fucking messages on Oliver’s instagram about him being biphobic(???????) and then making jokes about deporting him and Ryan. What the fuck.

I could maybe understand the outrage if it was a character who was well developed and beautifully written (like Chimney or Hen), and I could even see it if it was a beloved side character (like Ravi or May), but. seriously. Tommy?

Anyway, normally I would say “eh who am I to judge what people get attached to?” But in this case I am a little bit judgmental.

[armandoswife]

Folklore love triangle and YSBLF Pt. 1

August as marcela Clarification: With this post im not attempting to make Marcela look inocent or anything. She was also a toxic person, they both were. I just understand her pain :). Also i hope i dont have many grammar mistakes lol

Salt air, and the rust on your door

I never needed anything more

Whispers of "Are you sure?"

"Never have I ever before"

But I can see us lost in the memory

August slipped away into a moment in time

Cause it was never mine

And I can see us twisted in bedsheets We know that Armando and Marcela's relationship was based, almost totally, in sex. It´s something we're told since the start of the novela when Armando comments with Mario his problems with Marcela.

August sipped away like a bottle of wine For Armando their romance was that, something enojyable (at a certain point) but not trasendent, even if he tried at the start to be a respectful fiancé he would always end up cheating on her with some model.

'Cause you were never mine

Your back beneath the sun

Wishin' I could write my name on it Marcela always thought she could change Armando, that if she tried enough he would truly love her, and the it became an obsession. For me this quote is specifically about she trying to get married with him at all coast, even knowing he didn't love her.

Will you call when you're back at school? This one is kinda dumb but you know... her obsession calling him all the time and wanting him to call her the moment he arrives his appartment.

I remember thinkin' I had you Aaaaahh... this one really hurts, even tho I know she was toxic (and also he) this little moment when she thought he actually wanted to marry her because he answer all her calls and was early home, but it was just that Betty was ignoring him :( it just hurts me to see her so excited about the wedding.

But I can see us lost in the memory

August slipped away into a moment in time

'Cause it was never mine

And I can see us twisted in bedsheets

August sipped away like a bottle of wine

'Cause you were never mine

Back when we were still changin' for the better

Wanting was enough

For me, it was enough

To live for the hope of it all Marcela put herself at a place where she was wiilling to accept Armandos affairs in order to marry him, she lived for the hope of him changing and realizing that she was the love of his life

Cancel plans just in case you'd call

And say, "Meet me behind the mall"

So much for summer love and saying "us"

'Cause you weren't mine to lose I think this is pretty obvious part, when they broke up Armando let very clear that long before he even met Betty, he already knew that he wasn't in love with her.

You weren't mine to lose, no

But I can see us lost in the memory

August slipped away into a moment in time

'Cause it was never mine

And I can see us twisted in bedsheets

August sipped away like a bottle of wine

Cause you were never mine

'Cause you were never mine, never mine

But do you remember?

Remember when I pulled up and said, "Get in the car"

And then canceled my plans just in case you'd call? Have you ever noticed how Marcela didn't have a life apart Armando? I'm not saying that it was beacouse Armando didn't allow her or anything like that, but she alone centered her life around him, her only friend (who was not even a real friend) was Patricia, the only time i heard she went to a social event was the coctel with Daniel, and she left early because she didn't feel comfortable. It's pretty sad cause you can see some of her past personality at some moments accross the show: When she was defending Aura Maria from Gútierrez, when she criticized Patricia for hanging out with Nicolás, when she helped Sofia with the whole situation with El Cheque, etc. You can see she had this amazing personality and had some pretty well stablished morals. When Roberto talks to her trying to convince her to not leave Ecomoda and talks about how she had this strong compromise and passion for the company. And at the end of the telenovela she was almost living for Armando and their wedding. But just before letting her complete soul die she talks with Betty, even if it was just for the company, and tells her how Armando really loved her, and how she changed him CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT? can you imagine telling your fiancé's lover everything she changed in him and how he was truly in love? How he gave her what you always begged him for and she didn't even had to ask for it? Sorry but I could never, it would destroy me.

Back when I was livin' for the hope of it all, for the hope of it all

"Meet me behind the mall"

Remember when I pulled up and said, "Get in the car"

And then canceled my plans just in case you'd call?

Back when I was livin' for the hope of it all (For the hope of it all)

For the hope of it all

For the hope of it all

(For the hope of it all)

(For the hope of it all)

[redrosewhiterose]

The Spanish Princess Season 1: A ridiculously long review

I finally watched The Spanish Princess, everyone's favorite hate watch of 2019-2020. The last instance (thank God) of the infamous Gregoryverse, this series is a sequel (kinda?) of the mini series The White Princess, who in turn is a sequel of The White Queen. It is also... something else entirely.

Everything bad about this show has already been said: it's trash, it's full of misoginy, it's inaccurate in a way that's offensive to the people it portrays, the characters are unlikeable, the pacing is terrible, the costumes are dreadful, it's just a really bad written TV show. I am saying nothing new. And yet, I felt compelled to write a review, because I think that the reason why this show was terrible in a way that neither TWQ nor TWP were can be traced back to a single thing: ageing up Prince Henry. This had such a domino effect that created a problem that wasn't present in the previouse series, therefore making it bad even for the standards of the Gregoryverse. The problem being that Catherine's story doesn't work at all with Henry being of marriageable age.

Hear me out: had Henry been older when Arthur died, he would have married Catherine the moment their parents made the new agreement, and that would've been it. The precarious situation in which she ended during her years as a widow simply wouln't have happened. You can't have that story with growed up Henry. Or at least, you can't have that story while still making sense. And this was the main problem: they still wanted that story, so they made it and it made no sense. And I'm not even talking about not making sense because it's not historically accurate, just not making sense within the shows' universe.

Let me give you an example: in The White Princess it was stablished that the Infanta's hand was a prize worth killing for. Actually, even if we ignore TWP, in the first episode of this show they established that Catherine and Arthur's marriage was crucial because Spain was an extremely rich and powerful country and England a broke and backward one (pretty sure this is untrue). Not only that, even Catherine's Lancaster ancestry (namely being a great-great-great granddaughter of John of Gaunt) and the exacutions of the Earl of Warwick and Perkin Warbeck were brought up. She is important and key to the Tudors, they need her. And yet the second Arthur dies suddenly she is useless, everyone hates her and wants to inmmediately get rid of her. Why? Why are they going against everything that was established one episode ago?? It makes no damn sense.

The show tries to give very lame excuses to this: from Elizabeth of York having a prophecy (???) about Catherine and Prince Henry's marriage being doom to produce no sons to Margaret Beaufort just hating her for no reason at all. But the real answer is painfully crystal clear: Henry is old enough to marry Catherine. They have to invent these stupid reasons and contradict their own logic because if they didn't, there wouldn't be any conflict in the show. So now it's not that Catherine can't remarry Henry because he is a literal child so she has to wait, and during those years of waiting the political landscape of Europe changes so much that she is no longer an attractive bride for England anymore, but that the King's Mother is evil and gets in the way of Catherine and Henry's true love because she doesn't like her!

Which leads me to the second biggest problem of the show: Margaret Beaufort being the main villain makes no fucking sense. I know that Philippa Gregory has a personal vendetta against her, and that these trashy adaptations do nothing but further the slander towards Margaret but MY GOODNESS the way this series goes above and beyond to paint her as evil is just vile. And a problem, because it doesn't work. Take The White Queen: since we followed characters from different factions, while there were "evil" characters, there weren't really villains, just people who ended up in the opposite sides of the battlefield. And that worked because they all strived for the same prize, the English throne, and put their lives in line for it. In The White Princess our main villains are the Duchess of Burgundy and Perkin Warbeck (although here he is actually Richard, Duke of York), and once again, it works because they want to depose our main characters and take revenge against them (no matter how much Emma Frost and co tried to make us believe that Warbeck was good and loved his sister, there is no way that he was just going to let go his nephews as if nothing lol). Meanwhile, in The Spanish Princess the main villain is Margaret Beaufort, because she wants to... send Catherine back to Spain because she has an irracional hatred towards her. That's it. That is literally the biggest danger Catherine faces: that she may be sent back home.

It just doesn't work. We went from pretenders to the throne that put our main characters' lives at risk to grandmother-in-law from hell doesn't like our protagonist. The stakes are so low it's ridiculous. And it's even more jarring when we all know were this is going. Elizabeth Woodville and Elizabeth of York may be more unknown to the general public, but most people have at least a vague idea of who Catherine of Aragon was. Every episode's cliffhanger after episode 2 it's "Oh no, something happened that will prevent Catherine from marrying Prince Harry!! Will she ever become Queen now??" and it's really stupid because the answer is yes, of course she is going to become Queen, she is Wife Number 1, divorced, you literally sold this show as the story of Henry VIII's first and true love. We know that. There is nothing engaging in watching a show that drags the unavoidable for six episodes and give us nothing else.

Because even though this show really wants you to feel sorry for Catherine and root for her, it also has a weird reluctance to actually showing us Catherine struggling with her undefined status after Arthur's death. Everyone is rude to her! She has to choose between old king Henry and his young son! Her mom wants her to go back home to live like a princess! She got send to a small apartment! She doesn't know if Harry truly loves her! And it goes on and on until she marries Henry. And yes some of these things are kinda bad, but they never feel... actually difficult? Like you never feel that Catherine is going through a hard time, because the show never pushes her too much out of her confort zone. This comes directly from the already mentioned biggest problem of ageing up Henry, because now Catherine isn't in a limbo in which she has no idea what's going to be of her for seven years, but only for a couple of months. For real, there isn't any indicator that even a season has passed, since the weather never changes. This season might as well take place in a single month for all we know.

The series also has a very anti-Tudor sentiment, which was also present in the two previouse instance of the franchise, but here comes off as weird: we are meant to see the Tudors, personified by Margaret Beaufort, as tyrants, impostors and simply unworthy of rulling England. King Henry is an uncapable ruler dominated by his ruthless mother (remember the whole character arc he went in TWP in which he separate himself from the influence of his mother? no? well, neither did the screenwritters) and the whole country hates them. Edmund de la Pole, the Yorkist pretender of the hour, lurks through out the entire season, but no one actually cares except for Margaret Beaufort and sometimes King Henry (and that's bad for some reason). It's just weird how he isn't threatening at all, given that it is crucial for our protagonist that the Tudors remain in power. But no, the screenwritters love the Yorks so much that even when de la Pole should be the greatest concern to Catherine, given that all the trouble she is going through to marry Prince Henry would be for nothing if his family gets deposed, he is merely Margaret Pole's friendly cousin that wants to help her by overthrowing the tyranic Tudors. Maybe it's just me, but I found strange how we are still asked to dislike the Tudors while simultanously root for our protagonist to marry into said family.

Also, another thing that I think was a failure is the fixation on Catherine lying about having consummated her marriage to Arthur. I don't think the real Catherine lied, but that's not the point: it is yet one more thing that doesn't work because of how known Catherine's story is. Episode after episode, there's always some variant of "Oh no, Catherine lied about being a virgin!! Will this ever come back at her??" and the answer once again is yes, we all know this. And it's also just annoying hindsight, because whether Catherine slept with Arthur or not wasn't important until Henry decided to base the annulment of his marriage to her in that fact. I think Catherine lying would've work better if we, the audiance, were made to believe that nothing happened until the season finale. You know that final conversation in which Catherine swore to Henry that she never slept with Arthur? Just imagine the impact that the scene could've had if it was revelead right then that Catherine did consummated her first marriage, and that she had been lying to everyone, the audiance included.

Overall, I actually think that Catherine's widowhood could have made for an interesting TV series, but the way they handle it just resulted in an uninteresting, predictable, utterly boring show. That was my biggest surprise watching this: how dull it is. For all their problems, TWQ and TWP were very entertaining series, and even when I was yelling at my scream for something awfully inaccurate that was happening, I was engaged in the story. Here I got bored in episode four, and I continued to be bored until the end. The story really has nothing to offer: just going on circles about whether Catherine will marry Henry or not, while the characters remain exactly as they were at the beginning. I could and I have more to say about this disastrous show, but the review is already ridiculously long, and anyway I'm not bringing anything new to the table. I am a completionist, so even though I didn't enjoy this series at all, I will watch the second season. Oh well, at least I'll get to see more Hot Thomas Boleyn, so it won't be all suffering.

My score: somehow they managed to make a TV show that makes The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) look like a not terrible movie in comparison

[irishseeeker]

The show is stablishing siblings relationships, even though it's just one season we got Anthony-Daphne, Benedict-Eloise as the strongest ones, although I notice Benedict had a close relationship with Anthony, Eloise and Colin, I wouldn't be surprise if it's Daphne the one who is going to talk to Kate about Anthony, especially because the show wants to focus a little more in female power but I hope I'm wrong and it's Benedict because it makes more sense given how much time they spend together

I think so too. As much as I would rather it be Ben or Colin, I think that's going to be Daphne's main plotline this season. With Rege leaving, Daphne's role is tricky enough. They can focus on motherhood which is wonderful but there's so much they could do with that when she's alone. It's sad the opportunity they missed out on not having Simon there, as Simon dealing with all his issues now that he's a father would have been such a good sub-plot for them as a couple. As they deal with them really at all in season 1. I think it's easier to put the attention on Daphne helping Anthony as well, since that's what he tried and failed to do in season 1 and draw it away from Rege's absence as I think a lot of people will be talking about that. Which is a shame, as freaking JONATHAN BAILEY AND SIMONE ASHLEY ARE PLAYING ANTHONY BRIDGERTON AND KATE SHARMA and honestly we’re all going to be like simon who? daphne who? after this season as it is going to be SO GOOD. 

Also, Anthony was unpopular for some people for how he treated Daphne and Siena in season 1. He tried to redeem himself with Daphne towards the end of season one but since this is his season, a way for his character to appeal more to everyone (even though I can't see how anyone can't adore him, especially seeing his storyline in s2 and reading TVWLM and also, look at him) but putting Daphne and Anthony together in s2 and focusing on repairing their relationship with will show his character growth as well.

I would have preferred Daphne being there for Eloise during her debut more than Anthony and Ben with Anthony as he tries to find a wife and tries to pretend the love of his life isn't right in front of him, glaring at him @KateSharma <3

The show has done well with sibling relationships, they’ve such a brilliant family dynamic and show how siblings actually behave. I also want them all to focus on Edmund and talk about him. Edmund is so central to Anthony’s story and it would be amazing if they explore how it affects all the siblings, as well as Anthony. I want to see conversations about him between Anthony and Ben who would have more memories with him, as well as Colin, Daphne and Eloise. I want to see Eloise talking about being with Edmund when he died. Violet talking about him. Hyacinth, Fran and Gregory asking about him as well as they were so young and H didn’t meet him and Gregory wouldn’t remember him. Anthony needs to talk about his dad and Ben is the person he needs to do it with, someone who remembers him and understands why Anthony needs to.

 I hope they continue showing how siblings are focus on the conflict in the sibling relationships but also on the happier side to sibling relationships. Like the ones who are very close-Ben and Anthony, Colin and Daphne and hopefully we see Eloise and Francesca this season! I'd love to see Anthony and Eloise as well taking on society together, as he'll be chaperoning her and focusing on not screwing it up like he did was Daphne's. In TSWL, the Anthony and Eloise scene was so good and heartwarming and I would scenes like that in season two. Johnny and Claudia also have incredible chemistry and we didn't get enough of them in season 1.

Anthony and Colin definitely butt heads but I'd love to see Ben and Colin teasing him this entire season and also being there for him, but I think we're not going to see a lot of Colin. I think he'll be traveling. If we do see him, I think we could see him maybe sleeping around and a bit miserable post-Marina.

I just really want more of Anthony, Colin and Ben as a trio. I really hope they keep the scene in TVWLM at Whites when he announces he's going to get married as it's hilarious but also the scene at the end of the book where they tell him to go home to Kate. Their brotherhood is so lovely and I want to see the Bridgerton women's sisterhood as well! Eloise will reluctantly end up relying or confiding in Benedict or Daphne as she's going to hate her debut but also be insecure, scared and overwhelmed. I can't see her going to Violet too much with her fears, same with Anthony for a lot of reasons, so it would be nice if they confide in each other or Eloise with Benedict or Daphne and Anthony with Ben.

I also need some Anthony, Hyacinth and Gregory scenes. As well as Anthony and Francesca being so alike and getting each other. Those are headcanons in my head I need to come true pleaseee. Hyacinth not having one scene with Anthony in her book was a robbery and I'll never be over it. Same with Francesca and when he was wicked. His little sister was a widow and her big brother Anthony didn't get one scene with her !? Anthony Bridgerton !? Come on!

I think it's more likely Eloise will go to Ben though as if they're focusing on Anthony and Daphne more in s2, Eloise and Ben already have a close relationship. There's Penelope too who Eloise will talk to but I can see a bit more conflict for their friendship in s2 as from their fight in season 1, Penelope calling her a 'pretty Bridgerton', that might be something Eloise worries about and her debut will be a lot more successful than Penelope's and there could be more jealously.

Excited to see what is ahead of us! The great thing about this show is if you read the books, you know the main couples storyline but we also get to see all the other siblings storylines before/after their books as well that we have no idea about, as well as characters like Penelope and the Fetheringtons!

[saintobio]

okay, first off-- i love, LOVE SO FRIGGING MUCH 'sincerely not'. i usually have a problem with depictions of cheating in fanfic because sadly my faves are the cheaters and represented as cartoony ass-holes or, when the cheating is well written, they're depicted out of character. with sincerely not it doesn't happen, and while i wish that gojo gets pink eye and loses his inheritance (??, it is in character with him and the context. i just applaud you so much and i can't wait to see how it plans out everything.

now, in relationship to the last chapter: 1) i just wish to see more people supporting Y/N, seriously, Gojo and Sera are shitting all over her and she just gets the short end of the stick while they get to live their forbidden romance stuff. AND THE WORST PART IS THAT POOR READER TAKES THE FALL. seriously, i just wanna give the girl a big ass hug and get her out of that enviroment. 2) seriously sera, do you seriously thought that the man who is MARRIED would not make love to his WIFE not even once?? and you complain about being betrayed when you're the mistress that gets the love and gifts?! seriously, and poor Reader having a clear illness from her chest pains but noooo, for gojo is all about sera. i just hope that, dunno, at the very least gojo suffers. he has to, but i know that at the points it happens we'll suffer too because by then he will be attached to reader. 3) man, toji was such a breath of fresh air. someone said he's usually depicted as a smexy man who only thinks about sex, but strangely enough while i think that it's not so far of an approach to toji, this one is really in character according to the universe?? AND THE REFERENCES TO MEGUMI AND HIS WIFE?? seriously, i just want YN to spend more time with him. now, to close off, pett's stupid theories about what could happen in later chapters: 1) reader gets fed up with gojo's shit and starts to make his life a living hell, how? getting where it hurts: either to make him believe she's falling for another and thus threaten his position with the marriage (i've been thinking about one of my favorite scenes ever with them, and basically it would be reader luring Gojo to a bar to meet with, say, toji or nanami and then she makes him believe they're having a romance); 2) gojo learns about the birth control. shit goes down, knowing gojo he would totally say she's trying to tie him down/sabotage him and sera, u know usual sn!gojo stuff... but the thing is, the reader snaps. but not a simple screaming match, she makes it hurt. she tells him about how she would've never wanted to marry a man like him, how he's been mistreating her, how he humilliates her with sera but acts all high and mighty thinking she's some evil woman out there trying to make him miserable, and that she won't take the fall that gojo's life has gone downhill since it's not her fault. and 3 (and maybe tied down to number 2)) reader... reader leaves. she's tired, and we know it, she's been trying to make things work hard. and sure, maybe she can stop caring, maybe she could play his games... but she would end up like him, she would become the monster her husband accuses her to be. so, even for a little while, she says "fuck this shit" and leaves. maybe she tries to follow her dreams. maybe she even get in contact with gen (i love gen so much, i kinda ship her and toji, sorry), toji, maki and mai and plans stuff out. and gojo thinks she'll come crawling back, bawling to him but... she doesn't. she doesn't pick up his calls. she doesn't reds his texts and he can't tell shit because he will have to own for his shit to his father. when reader comes back, maybe and knowing gojo, they would fight, but maybe with reader having a clearer mind it won't? who knows i just want consequences for gojo(?? 4) some romance comes from another male character towards reader. my bets are toji (his rival, reader reminds him of his wife/megumi's mom and he's already stablished in the sn!universe), nanami (a wild guess and maybe unexpected, but in canon he's always portrayed as a foil to gojo when it comes to values and personality, and he's always been really caring of people so i could see him falling for reader) and my really wild guess: GETO. he's known to not approve of this and maybe we could say gojo is running on thin ice with him, imagine if he falls for his WIFE and goes to the point to going against his best friend to protect said best friend's wife. if a love triangle happens with another male chara, gojo and mc, i would bet my money on nanami and geto since it kinda seems toji would be a platonic

relationship, buuuuuut who knows

either way these are my dumbass theories, i don't want to impose them on you because believe me, sincerely not is and will be amazing regardless if any theory is true, and i cannot thank you enough for this heartwrenching story and your dedication to it. you deserve the best!

omg this was a lot to process and i have no words except wow !! thank u so much for taking the time to write these down <33 the analyses and theories were rly fun to read :’)

[faustrinus]

Non Magical AU, Poet!Remus and Musician!Sirius

Part two! :D

· Sirius spent five hours trying to write the perfect letter. His hand was getting tired, two pens had already stopped working, and tons of not achieved attempts were laying on the floor, making a mess. James had left Sirius alone after the first two hours, not before shouting, “You’re not marrying him yet, calm down!” which made Sirius blush madly at the simple thought of marriage. Definitely too much.

· When he finally had in his hands what he considered the perfect letter he sighed contentedly, admiring his hard work. He did everything he could to make it look good, but like I just happen to be able to write perfectly and express my thoughts without any problem good. He wanted Werewolf to know he cared enough to write a good and thoughtful letter, but he didn’t spend half a lifetime doing it. He couldn’t look that desperate, could he?

· Luckily, after having one of the fanciest educations you could have thanks to his mother (not that she cared, she didn’t, she just wanted Sirius to be good at everything, that was a bare minimum stablished in the house) Sirius was one of these people that had an extremely clear and pretty way of writing. At one time in his life he even wondered in he could charge people to write their letters for them (but decided it wasn’t a good idea after learning that some people exchange some… not so family-friendly letters between each other, specially lovers).

· Well, he found a pretty envelope (that smelled old, and he guessed the poet kind of enjoyed that vibe) and grabbed his keys to go and deliver the letter.

· The whole time he was nervous, and when he came home that night, he couldn’t stop touching his newest tattoo. The guy who wrote what he had in his skin was sending letters to know, he knew. And he liked The Marauders music. He couldn’t stop thinking about, and it took both James and Peter to get him out of his fantasies.

· Okay, Remus. If he was being honest- he was totally overwhelmed by the whole situation. Not only THE Sirius Black had a tattoo of one of his poems, but he also took time from his own performance to talk how much he liked what Remus did in general. And now Remus was waiting for a letter from a hot Rockstar, nothing to be scared of, right?

· He told himself he wouldn’t panic, but when the letter arrived the next day he was pacing around and twisting the envelope carefully, he didn’t want to ruin it. It smelled so nice, like the old books that were collecting dust under his bed.

· When he started reading the letter, his legs threatened to give up, but he took a deep breath and keep reading. Could someone blame him if he was obsessed with Sirius’s calligraphy? It was so beautiful and elegant, so different from Remus’s, that was always messy and with weird shapes. He couldn’t help it- his hands trembled a lot and his pulse wasn’t the best to keep things organized. But it was understandable, and he was okay with it.

· Returning to the letter, right. Remus touched the paper so many times to make sure it was real, searching for any sign hiding behind a dot that Sirius didn’t want to keep messaging him. There wasn’t one, in fact, Sirius ended the letter with a cordial, “I do find myself looking forward to maybe, in one near possibility, keep sending you these letters. I admire you a lot, and getting to know you would be one of the greatest to receive in this life time.” For a Rockstar, he wrote like he was the protagonist of book that ended up with him and his lover being together after defeating all odds. Quite… romantic. And dramatic, Sirius was dramatic.

· Remus ignored his thoughts and read again just to be certain of what he knew now. Sirius wanted to keep in touch, he absolutely loved Remus poems, he didn’t regret at all his tattoo (and he also begged Remus to forgive him in case he found it uncomfortable) and in general he was happy Remus attended the performance. Remus was happy too.

· The following days more letters were exchanged, every single one of them becoming more and more intimate. At first, they didn’t know what to write about- Remus would send poems and thoughts about them, explaining to Sirius his creating process (that he thought it was really boring even though Sirius told him he liked it) and some topics he liked to write about. Sirius sent back some lyrics he had wrote and particularly enjoyed, sometimes mentioning the anecdotes they had behind them. Remus would laugh every time he did this, because, God, Sirius did some stupid and amazing things. There was this one lyric that said (and Remus loved) “And I hope whoever is above forgives me for loving an angel that fell down” and Sirius explained that even when that lyric was quite “deep” he wrote it after seeing a cheap angel statue in a store nearby and then laughing at James who fell down at the entry of the store. Remus loved the lyric even more after the explanation.

· Finally, after three whole weeks of sending letters to each other every day, Remus took all the courage he could and ended his most recent letter with “You can call me Remus, Sirius. That’s my name, and I think is more comfortable than having to refer to me as Werewolf. Still wonder why I chose that nickname.”

· When Sirius read that he literally fell down the couch, eyes wide opened. “James, he told me his name! his real name! he practically revealed his identity to me!” “You two are quite close now, aren’t you? Why don’t you ask him to meet up with someday? You could suggest it. C’mon, I want to know if the guy you are in love with is as handsome as I am- “ “I’m not in love with him- “ “Okay. But you’ll be if he keeps sending you letters that make you smile as big as you’re doing right now. Stop, is scary.” “Shut up.”

· Sirius thought a lot about what James said (when he said a lot, he meant he meditated for like ten minutes and decided it wasn’t that crazy) and wrote down in the next letter, it was shorter than the others he had sent. He was writing the usual, grasping for air just to put in the end, “Remus, I know you feel more comfortable hiding your identity, and I’m happy you decided to tell me your real name. But I was thinking… is just a suggestion, but maybe one day we can get some coffee together? We don’t need to go out in public, but there are some pretty nice and calm places to hang out around here. No one would disturb us if you interested. Think about it.”

· Remus screamed. He was too new to this interest that the vocalist of The Marauders had in him, but he didn’t despise it, he… okay, maybe he was dying to get a date with Sirius, and maybe he had a possibility, but his reflection in the mirror told him otherwise. He was used to look half-dead (he was sure he had broken all the bones in his body at least once, and he got sick quite often), but it was still discouraging to see his lanky figure and think that maybe that wasn’t was Sirius was waiting for.

· Yet, he couldn’t reject the offer by saying “No, I’m sorry, I’m ugly,” (even though he was the only one that thought that), so he nodded to himself and wrote a new letter. A positive answer to what Sirius was asking, he was still unsure on how he could improve the way he looked in some days (or hours, if he had magic or something), but with some effort maybe Sirius would ignore his image.

· Days passed by and Friday came, the day when Sirius and Remus would finally meet in person, or well, Sirius would meet Remus in person. Sirius tried to dress casually, enough to look good but also in a way people wouldn’t think, yeah, that is a Rockstar. He didn’t want anything disturbing the day. He even sent James and Peter to a friend’s house (poor Mary) so in case everything went wrong he could come back to an empty house and he could cry about it and then eat the chocolate cake James brought the other day.

· Remus decided to totally ignore his mirror after fixing his hair a little bit. The more he looked at himself the more self-conscious he would get, and he wasn’t ready to get his day ruined by snarky comments coming out of his own brain. He looked good, he was ready and the day would be awesome.

· Sirius arrived first. He sat down and started tapping the table with his fingers, nervousness taking over him. He had sent the exact address and even the number of the table they would at (and that was important because Sirius chose one that was hiding behind some curtains, and it offered privacy), but he was worried Remus wouldn’t find him.

· A few minutes passed and when he was ready to order a glass of water to entertain himself, someone coughed softly to gain his attention. When he looked up, he was certain that he had forgotten how to talk, because who is this tall and handsome man and why is he sitting right in front of me. That was Remus? He was certainly a lot taller than Sirius expected him to be, and he had scar going across his face. Sirius noticed he also had tons of little ones in his hands, and maybe what he was thinking wasn’t the purest thing on earth, but Remus scars were hot. He was hot. You don’t arrive at a cafe to find that the Poet you have been reading non stop for some time was extremely attractive every day.

· Remus coughed again and Sirius tried to act normal, smiling at him. They were both sitting in front of each other, Remus cracking his knuckles and Sirius still staring at him. Remus was trying not to stare back because this was the first time, he was so close to the vocalist, and he knew he would blush if he did.

· But his mental plan failed when Sirius commented, without any trace of shame, “I like your eyes. They’re pretty,” and Remus melted right there. He laughed out of nervousness and Sirius followed with him, both giggling. “Thanks, I… I’m sorry. Is just that I wasn’t expecting that.” “Is fine. I blurted it out, sorry. I should have asked if you were Remus first, but now that think of it, that would have been stupid since you came directly to this table. And only you knew I was sitting here.”

· After a few more giggles, they ordered what was tempting at the moment (Sirius recommending the best pastries) and started talking a little more comfortably. Remus spoke the most (surprising to even him) and Sirius listened, nodding from time to time. After mumbling a lot of things at the beginning, Sirius showed he was as nervous as Remus was, maybe even more.

· They spoke about everything they could, laughing between stories and taking breaks to change the subject and then come back. They even had to remind themselves to eat because talking was so fun, they forgot the food was waiting for them. Maybe the coffee wasn’t hot, but it was fine. More than fine, the coffee was excellent when the company was making it better.

· Hours passed and they didn’t notice. By the end of the conversation about school and friends, a waitress came to tell them they were going to close. Sirius was startled, how much time had passed? They divided the bill in equal parts (even though Sirius insisted he wanted to pay) and got out of the cafe. Outside was cold and cloudy, and Sirius blushed when he noticed the first thing he thought about was Remus looks cute with his face all red thanks to the cold.

· They both stood outside for some minutes, until Remus spoke, his face hiding behind the scarf he was wearing, “Would you… like to do this again? Because I certainly would.”

· Sirius nodded so fast that Remus laughed loudly, his smile making his freckles shine a little bit and Sirius felt his heart beat a little faster. He didn’t have a type before? Well now he certainly did. And it was Remus.

· “Maybe… Are you free on Wednesday? You could come over to my house. Well, the one I share with James and Peter. You could help me write some lyrics. I’m… a little bit blocked. If you could say it like that, and having you writing lyrics for the group would be amazing.” “I would like that, yes. Would you send me the address?” “Sure! It will be in the next letter.” “Great.”

· They shared a weird but not uncomfortable silence until Remus whispered “Fuck it” and kissed Sirius on the cheek, quickly turning around and walking to his home, “Good night, Sirius.”

· Sirius face went red as it could go, and he only mumbled “Good night, Remus,” when Remus was already a few steps ahead. If the boy had enough courage, he did too, so he wiped his sweaty hands in his jeans and shouted, “Can the next one be on the lips?”

· Remus blushed and laughed loud enough for Siris to hear. He nodded to himself, and he swore he heard Sirius go “Yes! I won, fuckers!” behind him.

None of them could wait until Wednesday.

[piet-ra]

Here are my thoughts on the whole supernatural thingy:

(Spoilers for spn and she-ra i guess)

I don't know if I'm happy for it even existing, if I'm mad at the writers for not doing it sooner, if I'm mad at myself for being slightly pleased that the bare minimum exists when we clearly deserve so much more.

But mostly I think I'm just annoyed and angry. My devotion to the fandom and the show died many years ago and now I just casually read something here and there about the show. Even though I watched 9 seasons non-stop and was a very dedicated Destiel shipper.(and yes Carry on my wayward song is still great and now I can associate it with the actual developed gay couple of Carry on - Rainbow Rowell) So, when I heard "Destiel is Canon" it felt like I never left seeing how excited I was. Then, I was surprised. I felt like it came out of fucking nowhere. And very late at that. I go watch the rest show. Surprise surprise it did come out of nowhere. I had a hard time processing it. And now Imma lay down my reasoning behind being mad even though no one actually gives a shit.

First, right out of the gate, what pisses me off is the lack of actual build up. Yes, the fans have been calling it for years. But the fans were also searching for breadcrumbs due to a lack of representation. Fans were projecting and trying to find subtext. I was one of them. Never there was explicit enough reasons to canonically think they were a thing or would ever become one. And now the writers went there and gave us a feeling of false vindication by saying "you were right all along, we were dropping hints" when it has certainly not been the case. I doubt (like rly rly doubt) that their intention when writing spn back then was to make destiel a thing. They hadn't even planned for half the shit that went down but y'all want me to believe destiel of all things was the exception? Meh. But even if I'm being really generous and giving them the benefit of the doubt, it still stands that they could have done it a long long time ago. Which takes me to the second reason why I'm mad.

The timing is ridiculously convenient for the writers. The show has been running for FIFTEEN years, it has FIFTEEN seasons and they choose the third to last episode to make it happen? And then HE DIES AND IS SENT TO MEGA HELL after confesssing his gay feelings??? With only two more episodes left, I'll let you wager on how much of actual destiel we'll get. That is, if Dean EVER reciprocates, because it was not explicit at all.(c'mon Jensen, you can do better than that) The dying thing is a massive problem, but not as much as when it happens. Because this is still supernatural and everyone has died and come back to life at least five hundred thousand times before. They could have kept the scene as it was, only a few seasons before. Then we'd actually have decent moments of consequence to the confession, conflict, build up to an actual romantic relationship if they did not mean for it to be one sided, dean confronting his feelings and all that jazz. But no, we get the bare minimum and after this the show ends if people are upset about it, they will no longer have to deal with that shit.

Even though they knew destiel was immensely popular in the fandom for AGES, it seems that now that some popular lgbtq+ couples/shows have arisen and have been received (mostly) positively, they wanted to jump in the band wagon, but not so much that it would anger their straight prejudiced viewers. Cw shows, huh? It's like we're doing it, but we're not committing to it. And if you don't like it, we have already milked everything from you anyways, cause y'know the show is ending in a couple of weeks. AND WHAT IS WORSE. If Destiel didn't happen, I don't think it would be a Sherlock case where something feels off and weird and the lack of it feels forced. Since Dean has been stablished since the beginning as liking women and all indication of otherwise can fall under plausible deniability and fans reading too much into it, I don't really think they would receive big amounts backlash for not doing it or be criticized for it. Fans really have resigned themselves years ago that Destiel wouldn't ever happen. And if they are doing it just to avoid backlash is bad, but if not, then why? To make the show relevant again by trending Destiel? To play on the popularity of the ship? Idk and Idc. They can have the bestest of intentions, but it was done poorly. And now, since the lack of build up is a problem, it - and it reallly pains me to say this - feels forced/aka censored. (I hate myself right now for saying this aaaaaaaaaaaaaa).

It is not good representation. (And seeing as my tumblr is basically she-ra focused, I'm anticipating people saying that that also happens in she-ra. But when the show has never shied away from representation, good casual represation, like having two dads, two moms, a married lesbian couple, a non-binary character amongst other things, I can't find it in me to say it does not have good representation. And the characters only getting together at the end fits their development and personality. And we had a whole season to develop them coming to terms with loving the person who's supposed to be your enemy, but was once your best friend and now fights alongside you and you now realized you love. Supernatural feels like fucking pandering.)

However, it is kinda maybe sorta representation still. And - that depends on how they play it out on the next two episodes - I don't feel it is particularly damaging(except the mega hell thibgy, but again, it is spn); It was not advertised as an lgbtq+ show nor used the couple to promote their season, so yeah kay fine, I'm still gonna laugh at ya.

So, having already had a weak spot for Destiel in the first place, I can't stop feeling a bit happy that at least Cas fessed up and we might get something. It can't be used as a example of great representation, but I'm not mad the ship exists. I'm just really really mad at how it was done.(not only because y'know, I'm queer, but also because the fans and the couple deserve better.)

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Chapter 3

Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, consider supporting the creators by purchasing the official releases here. Alternatively, please consider supporting the studio that animated this work with any of the options in this list.

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We’d held hands in the darkness. The only proof that we were alive had been our body temperature. Whenever she’d say that she was scared, I’d reply with, “It’s all right”. “Your Big Bro will do something about this,” I’d tell her.

The one who’d affirmed my existence was my little sister. I’d managed to get courage from the fact that I could be relied on. That, yeah, I was an older brother. That she was no good without me, so I had to keep on living.

But I didn’t remember. I didn’t know.

Had someone broken me? Had I broken on my own? I didn’t know.

Still, she definitely existed. If I met her someday, I’d know it was her for sure. Even if I had forgotten, even if I couldn’t remember her, I’d recognize her if I saw her. I wished the same to be valid for her.

That feeling alone stayed inside me like a bonfire.

Whether the continents scattered around the world were big or small made no particular difference for the people living in them. Any place was the same should there be humans living in it. They would plow and grow. Harvest, build and color. Create and fail. Hide, interact, destroy, starve, succeed. Become depressed. Shed tears, coerce. Sparkle, act immoral. Repent, depart, worship. Acclaim, breed, mourn. Become idle. Become nostalgic. They would love each other and kill each other.

And so would he.

Back when a certain continent put an end for once to a war that had extended for a long time, the “Continental War”, battles continued happening in another continent as if it were natural. On the topic of occupations that had deep ties with so-called “wars”, there were mercenaries.

Although there existed different types of them, the mercenaries who wandered that continent were in majority freely warriors who would join any faction depending on the pay. They would head east today and west tomorrow. It did not matter if, for instance, a fellow mercenary with who they had drank together turned into an enemy. They would also not care for whatever happened to the head of the lord whose favor they had earned, or to the village of the woman they had slept with, depending on the money.

And right now, too, a single mercenary was being led to the death that would certainly come to many others.

“So cold.”

Sandy blond hair swayed in the wind mixed with ashen dust. A man with looks that would be a waste should he perish in such a place lay collapsed the way he had been born. His ivory skin, in which golden hair stood on end, was exposed mercilessly to natural threats. The man groaned amidst his clouded memories, asking himself how on Earth things had turned out as such.

——Three days ago, I was killing. Two days ago, also killing.

He recalled several battles that he had surrendered his body to joining in a spur of the moment.

——Yesterday... that’s right, I was in the bar of a small highway town dancing with women, drinking...

The man could more or less understand what had happened. He had extravagantly squandered to his heart’s contentment the reward he received for surviving wartime fire and spent the night with an absurdly fine woman, who had taken notice of his lavish feasting. His lodging and the drinks he had consumed were arranged by said woman. She had most likely administrated some sort of drug into them.

“I feel sick... oeh...”

The fact that all of his belongings had been stripped off him, that the bounty he had earned at the cost of his life had been snatched away, and that he had been left to chance in such a place without anyone bothering to finish him off could not be called anything other than misfortune. Only that his body was not tied up was good luck, but even if it were, he would not have moved. It seemed he had by no means the energy to stand up.

“Some...” he attempted to say, but closed his mouth.

——Even if I call for somebody, there ain’t anyone around. Who even is “somebody” to me, anyway?

The man did not have comrades or family to aid him in such a time.

That was what it meant to live as one pleased. He would make his baggage as light as possible and simply move forward to wherever he saw fit. If he had some sort of grandiose goal, it might lead him to good results. A lukewarm existence would sometimes turn into a hindrance for life decisions. Those who had nothing could probably see a world far broader than those who had everything. However, having no one to grieve for them when tasting such final moments was lonesome.

A pain ran through somewhere in the depths of his chest – the spot that was called “heart”.

“Nope, I ain’t dying.”

The pain ran through, but the man did not have the spirit of someone who obediently perceived fate as fate. He balled his fists, exhorting his body and attempting to stand up somehow.

“As if I’d die... As if I’d die; as if I’d die!”

Perhaps because that roar had been the last of the strength he had left, from head down, the man collapsed onto his back once again after just yelling. Buried by sand, he lost consciousness. In his primary circumstances, he would have died there. Nevertheless, there was a certain number of individuals beloved by the Goddess of Fortune to the point of it twisting their destinies. The fact that a motorcycle was transiting the road-less way and that he met a passerby with a good heart who stopped upon finding him were all the work of the Goddess of Fortune.

The man opened his eyes again after few hours had gone by.

“Who... are you, seriously?” Due to the surprise, but also because he was sitting up, his voice was hoarse.

“I’m Hodgins, a veteran in the middle of a trip. I’m the one you owe your life to for picking up your butt-naked self from the desert.”

He was a bit of a rich man, an easy-going one who could easily chime in with others, extremely calculating and intrigue-loving, who scored a large profit in war gambles and had an upstart. He was an entrepreneur currently in the middle of stablishing his business. That was the man’s first encounter with Hodgins, his lifesaver.

“Why’d you help me, Old Man?!” his harsh voice echoed throughout the interior of the shop.

The two were in an open-terrace restaurant located at the first floor of an inn to which the man had been heading. It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. The man was conspicuous. After all, no matter how one looked at it, he was dressed in baggy, obviously borrowed shirt and trousers.

“Ah, I’m sorry. This kid is a bit ill-mannered. Yes, he’ll quiet down... Hm? Wait a minute. ‘Old man’...!? Me...?” Hodgins opened his eyes wide and leaned closer to the man.

That was what he was going to react to?

The youth and the overly cheerful man were a mismatched combination inside the refined inn. It was inevitable that the gazes of the customers would gather upon them in a natural manner, but at a growl of, “We ain’t for display!” from the young man, everyone looked away.

“Old Man, listen to me.”

“No, no, more importantly, how about we clear up the issue of whether or not I look like an old man? I’m indeed past my twenties already, but I’m younger than the people from my generation who are married, my stomach doesn’t stick out yet, and more than anything, I’m a fine man, right? Do I really seem like an old man? Not a big bro? How about you try thinking it over? Ready, set—”

“OLD. MAN!”

As if stabbed in the heart by his words, Hodgins clutched his chest and moaned. “What is it... young man...?” Even his voice was pained.

“Why’d you help me? You’re even treating me to food... What’cha after? I’m telling you I’ve got no money.”

It was true. If the man were billed for a meal in that place now, it would be the end of the line for him.

In contraposition, Hodgins waved his hand to the side. “Nah, I’m not after anything.”

“Then you want my body?”

“You’ve... got too much confidence in yourself. Well, when I first saw you, your body was buried in sand and I couldn’t properly see anything other than your face... so, I thought you were a naked pretty girl who had passed out.” After glancing fleetingly at the man, he turned his head to a different direction, eyes far-off. “When I lifted you in my arms, I noticed you had something extra there... but you were still alive, so I brought you back to the inn with me, stroked your body since you were with hypothermia... and when I realized, it was morning. I knew you had no money just by looking. You had nothing with you.”

This time, the one with an aching chest was the man. “My bad. For... not having anything.” As his voice tone changed quite a bit, perhaps what had been rubbed was a very sore spot.

“Young man, why were you asleep in that place?”

“‘Why,’ you ask...?”

Albeit hesitating to discuss his misfortune, he talked about his situation in a summarized way. Hodgins had listened seriously at the beginning, but from the middle onward, he turned his face to the side and his shoulders trembled as if he were holding back laughter.

“If you wanna laugh, just do it...!”

“Eh, can I? Ahah! Ahahahah! You’d finally earned some and lost all of it?! That’s too pitiful! My stomach hurts... Ah, hold o—hold o—wait up. How about you stop lifting that chair? Let’s calm down? It was terrible, wasn’t it? You’re hungry too, right? Eat up, eat up. Speaking of which, I didn’t ask your name either. Young man, what’s your name?”

Silence.

“Hey, hey, no matter how badly behaved you are, you should at least give your name.”

Pouting, the man muttered curtly, “Ain’t got it.” Seeming to have been made from the colors of the summer sky and blown into a glass ball, his remarkable eyes clouded over, and he defiantly spoke one more time. Crossing his arms, he rested his feet on the table. “I ain’t got a name. I might’ve been given one, but I don’t have any. Call me whatever you want. My registration name from when I used to be a mercenary was ‘Blue’. Since I dunno my name... I went with my eye color.”

Hodgins showed agitation for the first time in front of the man, who had turned into a lump of displeasure. “‘Don’t have any’... What do you mean?”

“Amnesia. My memory’s got nothing but what happened starting from a few years back. I dunno where I was, what I was doing, where I’m from or who I was before this. When I came to, I was lying on a riverbank at the borders of this continent. Back then, I was wearing an armor and a cape... If I hadn’t been picked by a woman gypsy, I’d have died just like that.”

Hodgins at last realized his own words to have been a verbal gaffe.

“You don’t remember anything? Not a single thing?”

Silence.

“Is there something you do?”

That might have been important to the man enough to make him falter even at putting it into words. After showing an expression of hesitation, he finally opened his mouth. “I probably... had a... little sister.” His attitude was almost that of confessing a sin. “Still, I don’t remember her. I just have the memory that she existed, and I dunno what kinda person she was. But she was definitely there. I remember that.”

Hodgins wound up gripping his own shirt at the chest area.

“I tagged along with the gypsies for a while, learning from them how to sing, dance and stuff. Then, in the end, I changed jobs to mercenary. Looked like fighting fit my nature better, y’see. ‘Battle-Hungry Freak’ is my nickname. I’m famous in the mercenary world.” Upon saying so, the man shrugged. “Well, that ain’t a name, though...”

He did not know who he was. Just how worrisome was that for him? The man did not seem to have a commendable personality at all, yet he was apparently concerned about not having a name.

“Hu~n... that so? So, you... were a mercenary, yeah?”

“That’s right. Is it bad?”

“I’m not saying that it’s bad per se. But even so, you got no money, no name or anything at all?”

“No”, “no”, “no”. The man’s rage towards his own life was present at the many sorts of “no”.

“You wanna get killed, Old Man? Just saying it, but I don’t have any sense of moral obligation, so if I don’t like someone, I’m fine with beating them up.”

“Yep, you’re like that. Not a single ‘thank you’. But I... don’t hate insincere guys like you.”

“What’s with that?”

“Also, you see, I have an acquaintance... it’s a girl who resembles you... Even though I’m her legal guardian, I left her with other people and went on a journey as if running away. I sort of got the feeling I couldn’t leave her by herself.”

——Someone who resembles me?

Was there any such person in the world?

“What kinda fella is she?”

Not answering the man’s question, Hodgins gave breadcrumbs to a dove that lay in waiting at his feet for his meal’s leftovers to fall down. Whatever he was thinking, he stayed quiet for a while and suddenly rose from his seat, chasing after the dove. The other doves could not stand his imposing action, batting their wings and fleeing into the sky.

“Hey, what kinda fella is she!?” his angry shout overlapped with Hodgins’s innocent laughter and the sound of bird feathers.

With the town that the doves had flown toward at his back, Hodgins turned around. His eyes seemed to be looking at the man, but were not.

“The strongest and weakest in the world.” As expected, Hodgins was smiling, but his eyes did not form an arc. Regardless of whether the person he referred to was evil or good, the air around him transmitted the fact that she was someone important.

The man frowned.

——What’s that...? A riddle...?

He became even less able to understand the lifesaver in front of him.

“I also have to just go and face her already.” Hodgins had said he was in his thirties, but he seemed older than that as he talked about the “strongest and weakest in the world”. “I can’t tell her... that it’s hard for me to look at her face when she seems sad.”

Eyes crinkling, the man thought:

——This dude... he pretends to be decent but something’s up with him.

He sensed a twist from the laughing other man. The latter spoke a lot at first, but he had seemed to be giving vent to his thoughts rather than having a conversation. Was he not burdened with some sort of enormous problem? One that he truly could do nothing about, no less.

“It’s settled.” Hodgins pointed an index finger at the man and snapped one of his eyelids closed. “If you aren’t anything, won’t you tag along with me?”

“Meaning... you’re gonna hire me?”

“That’s right. You lack too much of everything. Come to my place earn money. You need cash to search for your sister and to get revenge from the guys that threw you naked into the desert, don’t you? In exchange, can you lend me your life for a bit?”

“Hah?”

“Right now, you only have your life, yeah? I’ll buy that.”

At those words, the man’s heart started making astir sounds. He was supposedly used to having his life bought with money, but when asked for it face-to-face, his breathing felt as if it would stop.

“How much is it?”

Upon being asked so, the man was at loss for an answer.

Afterward, the man acquired a name.

“Benedict Blue”.

He also secured a profession and a place to sleep.

The CH Postal Company.

He had a lifesaver who was dear to him.

Claudia Hodgins.

He obtained comrades as well.

He had treaded a long prologue, but that was his story.

Benedict Blue

“The rough explanation ends here. The client who made this request just wants the letter sent definitively. Little Violet will do the ghostwriting. Benedict will do the delivery. It’s a sudden commission, but it’s good that you two were going to work in the same place. I can also count with Benedict for seeing off and meeting on return with Little Violet. I’ll give you a few days’ break when you’re done, so do your best. How’s that? Does it seem okay?”

Benedict observed the golden-haired girl who immediately answered, “Yes” with blue eyes similar to hers. They sat next to each other on a sofa in Hodgins’s room. It was a languid early morning. Work was about to begin that day as well.

The climate, atmosphere and food of Leidenschaftlich, which Benedict was once not used to due to having come from a different continent, now penetrated his body without any sense of displacement.

“Fine.”

He had no reason and was not in the position to refuse. The one in front of him was his lifesaver and superior. He did not show respect for the latter, but felt familiarity from him. Most likely, of the highest degree.

“V, don’t make your luggage too heavy. It’ll weaken my beloved bike’s movements.”

The girl beside the amnesiac Benedict was an individual who had only just appeared into his short life. From the time they had first met, to Benedict, she had rooted herself in the classification of people whom he “somehow could not leave on their own”. She was a stunning Auto-Memories Doll. Her impudence aside, she was an ignorant child unknowing of the ways of society. In the beginning, he had doubted that such a machine-like person come from the military would manage working in the service business, but she was currently the most popular figure of the CH Postal Company.

“That is true. I shall reduce the firearms to the minimum equipment. My body weight is also heavy due to the prosthetics, so it will increase the burden on Benedict’s motorcycle.”

Her fine appearance had always stolen the eyes of whoever looked at her, but lately, he had the feeling that her charm had increased. It was as if spring had been born from within her cold beauty.

“Even if the equipment is scarce, if I am with Benedict, I will probably not struggle in case of emergencies.”

She had become able to smile faintly on occasion.

The biggest incident amongst the ones that they had just recently experienced in person – the Intercontinental Train’s hijacking – crossed Benedict’s mind. And so did a man with an eyepatch, who had showed up embracing Violet sideways as she had lost an arm, and taken his leave.

He had not heard everything about the past of the two, but Hodgins had told him the general story afterward. They were in love with each other. There was no room for anyone to come in-between. Their colleague, Cattleya, had said that the two apparently started seeing each other on off days. “I’m glad,” Cattleya had laughed.

Benedict did not deem it as good.

That was probably the reason why looking at Violet felt somewhat unamusing as of late. He suspected that she was being deceived by a much older man who had conveniently vanished and come about once again.

Putting it positively, he was worried.

Benedict tautly flicked Violet, who had no idea about his feelings, on the forehead with his fingertips. “Not really; you’re light. It’s just that your bag’s heavy. Old Man, you ever lifted V’s luggage? Swing that thing around and it’s like a normal blunt weapon; a blunt weapon. There’s a ton of weapons in it under her clothes.”

Hodgins made an all but deplorable face. “Little Violet... you buy guns with your salary, right...?”

“They were distributed to us back when we were in the military, but now I have no option except purchase them myself. I can only take Witchcraft when President Hodgins grants me permission, after all. I have recently purchased a long-range shotgun. My hands are actually more accustomed to wide-swing maces, however...” Perhaps due to having a desire to acquire large weaponry, Violet moved as though wielding the real thing, staring fixedly at the imaginary weapon.

“No can do, no can do. I’ve gone through the trouble of getting you a cute look, so don’t take stuff like that with you aside from emergency cases.”

“Stop, stop. Giving you a ride would get even heavier.”

Completely shut down by the two men, Violet put on a disappointed expression, as if disheartened. “I am prepared to explain the advantage points of the mace, though...”

Without her having the opportunity to give said explanation, the two were set to depart in haste. Seen off by Hodgins and after Lux, who was on phone duty, waved at them, Benedict and Violet left the agency.

The blond duo swayed on the motorcycle towards wherever.

Autumn had ended, the seasons changing into winter. Leidenschaftlich usually did not witness snowfall, yet icy winds were blowing. Gloves, scarves, hooded coats – even if the protection measures against low temperatures were appropriate, cold was cold. As the one driving, Benedict had no choice but simply endure the chilly gusts head-on. Violet’s artificial arms around his torso were gelid as well. The heat from the part of her actual body that was in contact with his back was the only warmth. He could feel the hold of her arms more firmly than when giving her rides back in summer. Was it because of the coolness or because of her trust in him?

Feeling an itch, Benedict sneezed, “Achoo!” While vigorously speeding up the motorcycle over the vast land, he initiated a conversation for no particular reason, “It’s cold!”

“Yes.”

“V, your prosthetics okay? Ain’t there any downsides or something if they get too chilled?”

“It is bad if the joints freeze, but that will not happen as long as the coldness is not extreme.”

“Hu~n.”

“We mostly roamed around northern lands during the Continental War, so I am knowledgeable of the protections against cold.”

“Well, the place we’re going to – Lontano – is inside Leidenschaftlich, so for starters, it won’t be snowing there this time of the year. As long as the weather isn’t abnormal, that is. There’ll also be no obstacles to my delivery duties.”

“Yes. This is reassuring.”

“Hey, don’t say that.”

“Why not? The climate is stable. The one who said that there would be no obstacles to the delivery duties was you, Benedict.”

“That’s not it; it’s ‘cause you’re with me. When you say stuff of the sort, it feels like something will happen instead.”

“So the weather will become abnormal because of what I said?”

Benedict knew that Violet’s eyebrows were furrowing even without looking at her. He laughed aloud. “Stu~pid. You’ve got it wrong. I’m saying that ‘cause it’s easy for some kinda problem to happen when I’m with you. To make up for your luggage being lighter, we got ready to manage at least an interception if anything in general goes down, but... Lontano is a pretty big city, so there’s lots of thugs. Flashy towns also got many dark sides.”

“What an issue...”

“You got picked by some weirdo and it was fight on; you were attacked by a bandit and it was fight on; the motorcycle broke and we got stuck in some field. Also, what else...? You raise one small thing and there’s no end to it.”

As if to protest, Violet alleged, “I cannot agree with this. Benedict, the fights that you started one-sidedly are also included.”

“That so? Might be bad for me to get teamed up with you.”

After a short pause, Violet objected again – to the part about teaming up with Benedict being a “bad” thing, “I cannot agree with this either... Indeed, I can assume there is a factor in us that makes it easy to bring about some sort of conflict. However, we were able to deal with them. We, the two of us... can deal with it if something happens again.”

It was difficult to tell what she was thinking, and she might well have been merely protesting against the negative reputation of her own abilities. Still, Benedict somehow heard it as something other than that.

“Heheh,” laughter leaked from him in a natural manner.

Her breath coming out in white puffs behind him, Violet added as if just recalling it, “This applies to times of war and not to times of peace, but... we would have even less enemies if Cattleya were included,” she whispered intermittently and Benedict smiled.

“If that happened, there’d really be no match for us,” he chuckled.

From that point onward, the way to their destination took a couple of hours.

The place that the Auto-Memories Doll and postman from CH Postal Company headed to was Lontano. Small in comparison with the capital Leiden, it was the most prosperous city amongst the neighboring ones. The houses formed circles as if to surround an old castle sitting on top of a slightly elevated hill that extended itself for about a hundred meters, a river with the same name as the country flowing nearby.

Enshrined within a solemn atmosphere, said old castle was a famous attraction of the city. While holding the rights to it themselves, the clan that formerly owned it had handed its management over to the city, and the city allowed people to tour inside of it for cheap admission fees. The old castle had become a grandiose touristic spot, for the one who had built it was a well-known architect.

Places with renowned attractions that had cultural value were easy to turn into the aspired cities of young artists. Not an exception to this, Lontano had art and history museums, theatre venues and a market of ancient books, making the urban area into one where lovers of such things would be unable to help themselves just from strolling through it. Before entering the city gates, one could overhear music as young people played instruments by the road, and walking a little into the city, one would find bookstore after bookstore. The vicinities of statues and fountains were packed with people drawing sketches. It was city of gorgeous structure, yet gloomy and easy to get lost in if one wandered into an alley. Albeit a small ward, there was also a red-light district, which was more popular amongst those who had no interest in arts.

“Now...”

Benedict dropped Violet off at the city’s entrance. She would then rush over to the customer who lived in that city and ghostwrite for them. Benedict himself had several packages to deliver around the city. Once the work there ended, they would return to Leiden, where the submission of reports and delivery of more letters would be waiting for them. That was why Hodgins had ordered the two of them to go to that city. It was more efficient than going through the trouble of having Violet use public transportation, as it there was no fare and took less time.

The current time was right before noon, the tourists gradually forming a lively crowd.

“Where. Should. It. Be?”

Benedict’s sky-blue eyes traveled about in search for a good meeting spot. There was a bank, a bakery, a souvenir store, and a statue of a naked woman carrying a child. The bakery also seemed to have a café, and people could be seen enjoying the apparently warm interior and freshly baked bread from the glass windows.

“It’s settled. V, let’s make the bakery our meeting spot. No matter who arrives first, we wait inside.”

Violet nodded curtly. “You want to eat bread, right?”

“I do. That bakery’s bread is tasty. I never went inside to eat it, though. But it’s delicious enough that making sure to buy something there and bring it over if we have deliveries to do in Lontano is almost common sense among fellow postmen. That one with melted cheese on it... let’s make it a souvenir for Old Man.”

Hearing Benedict talk about purchasing a souvenir, Violet blinked. “I comply. But Benedict, did something happen?” Her reaction all but asked if he had gone crazy.

“You’re being the rudest possible to me with that, y’know?”

“I apologize... Well, did anything happen?” Benedict’s act of buying souvenirs for Hodgins purely out of goodwill seemed unbelievable for Violet. Therefore, she uttered her concern for a malfunction in either his body or mind.

Benedict struck the top of her head with a light knife-hand in an expression of sympathy. “Nothing’s up! You just don’t know it, but I sometimes give the Old Man souvenirs! Even Auto-Memories Dolls buy souvenirs to the agency if they go to some exotic place, right? It’s the same as that. The Old Man treats me to food and stuff before payday too... Like lunch, well, pretty often...”

“President Hodgins tends to give Benedict a special treatment.”

——Don’t wanna hear that from you who he treats like a daughter, Benedict thought.

He spoke while turning to the other side, “Welp, he went as far as taking in an amnesiac like me and giving me a name... He might be special to me, and I to him.”

He accidentally, unintentionally voiced it.

“Is that so?” Violet threw in an interjection quite like normal and Benedict was taken aback.

It was not as if he were hiding the fact he had amnesia or that the name “Benedict” had been given to him by Hodgins, but he had never talked about it to his work colleagues. That was because he had until now no trials of explaining he had amnesia in which he had received a decent response. He would either earn uncalled-for looks or have condolence-like words of pity spat at him. Whichever it was, Benedict was the kind of person who would end up irritated at the other party.

He already had a name and social position. No longer was he the “Blue” who had nothing. He did not want to feel ashamed of back when he had lived by his eye color’s name.

——I wonder...

He was not proud of it either.

——I wonder how she’ll react.

She would certainly not make a big scandal, but would probably say something annoyingly depressing. While embracing uncomfortable feelings, Benedict waited for her response.

However, no matter how long he waited, there was no reaction after that.

Their blue eyes repeatedly exchanged stares. A prolonged silence ensued between them.

Finally, Violet tilted her head slightly as if to ask, “Is something the matter?”

Benedict wound up delving into it without thinking. “Hey, anything to say on me having amnesia?”

Violet’s golden eyelashes batted. “‘Anything’...?”

“There is, right? It’s amnesia we’re talking about. That’s rare, ain’t it?” Saying it himself was somewhat embarrassing and pathetic.

Did that mean she was not too interested in his past? He felt a little let-down.

“That is not true.”

The next words he heard changed his feelings.

“It is indeed uncommon, but in my personal subjectivity, this is not odd.” Violet susurrated with a tone that sounded somehow happy, “I also do not have any memories from before a certain point in time. I did not know how to speak, either. Major bestowed me with the name of a flower goddess. Benedict, what meaning was yours given with?”

——That’s right.

It seemed that Benedict having amnesia was not a big issue for Violet.

——That was it.

The girl so-called Violet Evergarden also used to be not even a person, but a weapon, during the time she had no name. And she spoke of it without any pretension. She did not think of it as a shame.

“This is President Hodgins who we are talking about, so he must have given it with some sort of meaning. The two of us can be said to be very fortunate, right? If I had been used by anyone other than Major, I do not know what would be of me as of now.”

If anything, she thought of it as merely a process for until meeting the person she loved most.

“Oh.”

Violet, who was innocent and indeed lacked something somewhere, felt sorrowful and precious.

“So, what is the meaning of your name?”

“I forgot!”

“Then, let’s ask President Hodgins when we return. I want to know.”

“No, no, no! Don’t ask! Well, I’ll go do the deliveries, so you go to your client too! See ya later!” Benedict mounted the motorcycle once again and waved a hand at Violet.

“Understood. I shall leave the name matter for later as well.”

“You’re stubborn.”

Thus, the two headed to work, each on a different direction.

Benedict’s deliveries did not take too long. One house received a package with an assortment of supplies from a mother living in Leiden to her son working in Lontano. Three buildings received documents exchanged between offices. Five residences received letters. In case of absences, he would have a little bit of work either taking the delivery back with him or asking the person’s neighbors about where they had gone to, yet he finished earlier than he had presumed without the need for such things.

He soon entered the meeting-spot bakery, taking a seat from where he could see the situation outside through the glass and drinking coffee. It seemed Violet’s ghostwriting job would still take some time.

——Guess I’ll pick the souvenir first, then.

He was not able to imagine Violet enjoyably choosing a gift, so picking one by himself was probably more efficient. Thinking so, Benedict selected a few items that he had deemed savory from his own experience eating them. As per a request to the clerk, he had Hodgins’s part of the bread wrapped.

“Is this all?”

Sensing the plainness in color of the goods that he had chosen, Benedict tilted his neck. “Hn~, anything else you recommend?”

“How about a pie or tart? Also, these aren’t bread, but I recommend our cookies as well. There are people who come here just to buy them.”

“Ah~...”

“They’re popular among girls. The ribbons are cute, too.”

One woman surfaced in Benedict’s head.

“I’ve got someone who’d like them, but she’s far away now. All right. Just add this pie.”

In the end, he had an apple pie as addition. He then returned to his seat and calmly savored the coffee.

While observing the packet in which he had requested it to be wrapped, he faintly wondered if the person on the receiving end would be pleased with it. He was soon able to imagine Hodgins smiling broadly and taking into his hands the souvenir offered by his brusque self. He could picture the other being a little surprised, and then slowly breaking into a smile after being told what it was. Even the other saying, “Thanks, Benedict”, and himself turning to the side while replying, “It’s nothing”. He would have also been glad to take money out of his deserted wallet for the cookies if there were anybody to receive them, yet...

——She’s hella far away right now, huh.

The one who came to his mind was a girl of dark hair and purple eyes, Cattleya Baudelaire. Much like Benedict, she has been a colleague from since CH Postal Company’s foundation day. She liked sweets, was bad at dealing with hardships, was a scaredy-cat despite looking daring and fearless, and had a childish side as opposed to her appearance.

——Well, guess she wouldn’t be too happy if she got them from me.

They would quarrel as soon as they saw each other. Enough to turn it into a common occurrence within the CH Postal Company. It was easy to tell just by looking that they did not actually do it due to truly detesting one another, however...

——I wonder if she hates me.

...they could not tell it so easily themselves. Although they were in the same agency, they had different occupations, therefore missed each other often. Theirs was a repetition in which dawn would break after the previous time they had fought, and they would forget that the fight had happened and start another fight yet again. Regardless, they would end up talking to one another on sight, unable to ignore each other, and so he thought of pleasing her with something.

——I don’t hate her, though.

For Benedict, the sense of distance between himself and she, who was worthy of being considered a new breed of human being, was something complicated.

——Things just kinda don’t go well with us. I can’t treat her like other women.

As he had never experienced a proper romance, he had no way of knowing what that meant.

After he reflected on all sorts of things, a big yawn left his mouth. He stretched both arms towards the sky with a jerk and arched his body like a cat. And then relaxed once more. Thinking of taking a break from work had all of his strained feelings and body slackening up.

——I’m getting kinda sleepy.

As he had to work since early in the morning and his daily duties had overlapped, the sense of satisfaction from having a full stomach and the gently warm room caused his eyelids to naturally lower. His body was slowly, slowly stolen by drowsiness and he wound up unable to keep his eyes open. The scent of the shop’s interior was fragrant, people’s conversations sounding fun. The elements composing an atmosphere that could be understood from one’s heart loosened Benedict’s caution.

——Even though... V’s coming...

A golden-haired girl surfaced in Benedict’s head.

——If it’s her, well, guess she’ll soon find me.

The café inside the shop was crowded. Still, he believed that, since it was her, she would come to that place at full speed.

——She’ll... look for me.

After he became amnesic, no matter whom he asked, there was no one who knew him.

——It’s okay if I nap, right?

No one had looked for him.

——It’s okay, right?

However, Violet Evergarden probably would. Thinking so, Benedict closed his eyes. He yawned sudden and widely, falling asleep altogether as if he were dead. Consciousness distant, his line of thought floated into the air. He forgot what he was thinking about midway, invited into the realm of dreams.

Calling them “dreams” might be a faulty form of expression. In his case, they were reproductions of memory fragments that he had ended up shutting down. Once released from the real world, the past would come chasing after him and softly tap on his back.

A film that felt like an old friend returning from far away played in his mind. “Why, welcome back, my mate who no longer remembers his own name,” it said. The film would repeat itself over and over inside Benedict’s head.

His reunion with his friend named past would begin with a night sky.

It was a beautiful nighttime, in which a full moon had appeared. His memory version crawled out of an extremely, extremely dark place, and so he was startled at the bright light of said moon for an instant and shuddered.

There was a sandy beach under his feet. Stomping onto it, his shoes were blemished with mud and bloodstains. The dull ache in his entire body was agonizing. He might have earned himself a serious injury. Nevertheless, his legs moved without him being able to mind the pain.

His hand was holding onto something. Something smooth and small that had body temperature.

He looked back. A little girl came into sight. The girl had blond hair much like Benedict, but of a slightly different shade. Her hair was bundled up in a black velvet ribbon.

As their eyes met, she nodded as if to say, “I’m fine”. After confirming so, Benedict ran faster. He trusted the girl following him.

Eventually, his gaze moved ahead. A single boat was fluctuating on the surface of the sea.

——There, we can escape with that, he thought.

He did not know what they were fleeing from. However, if it was something frightening enough to scare him, whether it was someone horrifyingly strong or a large-numbers-against-small-numbers situation, their circumstances were that they had to run away. But that was not the issue.

Benedict turned around and said, “We’re escaping on that thing,     ”

As if having erased it, he was unable to hear her name.

“     , you’re coming too?”

He also could not hear his own name as spoken by the other.

“That’s right. I won’t abandon you. We’ll end up ————. ‘Cause that’s ————’s way of doing things. Without that drug, you ————.”

The color of her hair, eyes and lips – he could see those splintered things.

“But... But even if you ————, even I stop recognizing you as my little sister, even if you stop recognizing me as your big brother, it’s fine. We’re siblings, after all.”

But he could not see her face.

“Even if we forget, I’m sure we’ll recognize each other on sight.”

He could not tell how her face looked. The hues of her ribbon and orbs were fragmented.

“Isn’t that right? If we’re together, even if we forget, we can remember each other as many times as we need. If you find a man that you like or something, you can forget and throw me away. But until then...”

The shades of her hair, her voice and intonation – he could only tell those kinds of things apart.

“...don’t let go of this hand no matter what. If you do that, we’ll really end up forgetting everything,” the past Benedict said as if making a threat.

“I understand,     .”

The two boarded the boat and started rowing toward the open sea.

At last, things would always end at a point where he was looking up at the boat from the bottom of the ocean. And so, he would think that, aah, they had failed.

His body convulsed with a start. The film reproduced inside his head did not go for more than a few minutes, yet Benedict awoke accompanied by a sense of fatigue, almost as if he had gone on a long journey.

Eyes half-open, he looked about the surroundings. Violet was nowhere to be seen. He checked the shop’s clock. Not even ten minutes had passed since he had begun drinking his coffee.

Poising himself calmly, he took the only slightly cold coffee into his mouth. Upon drinking a mouthful of it, he became unable to settle with just a little and downed it in gulps as if it were water.

“One more,” he asked for another of the same thing, raising his hand to one of the shop’s waiters. He had wanted the bitterness of reality, enough for him not to be invited by sleepiness anymore.

——You’ve seen this so many times, yet you’re still scared of it?

Although he had been thinking until just a moment before that she did not have to come, he now wished to see that blunt girl very much.

——It’s fine.

Not even he knew what was fine exactly, but he told himself so.

——It’s fine.

He needed those words.

——I’m... fine. Ain’t that right?

He himself did not give an answer to the question asked.

Benedict wound up sneering. He did not use to be so agitated even back when he worked as a mercenary for the first time.

He looked around again. Nobody was a target of dread. Nothing was currently happening. It was not as if he were rushing through a battlefield in order to earn money either, nor had he been abandoned in a desert completely naked. He could tell as much even without sorting out the situation. He was blessed now and nothing was terrifying. Things were finally peaceful. Too peaceful.

However, Benedict did not know that, the more peaceful times were, the more often would the pain of the scars marking him end up coming back.

——Ever since he took me in, haven’t I grown weak?

Oddly enough, be it mental or physically, wounds were not curable. Their visible parts would heal. However, even if they healed on the surface, just by the atmosphere and the people and things involved when the injury happened overlapping with one another, the truth that “a wound was earned” would return. The figurative scars would chase after people forever like the Moon floating in the sky. And they would ache.

Even if the injury took but an instant, the truth that one had been wounded was eternal.

——When... will I get to remember everything?

The scar from forgetting the one person that he absolutely should not have forgotten was causing Benedict’s heart to self-mutilate without him realizing. If the replaying of his memories had already happened thousands of times, then for those thousands of times, Benedict had been attacking himself.

Without knowing why he would become so flustered, he reproduced his recollections again. They were a repetition of the previous ones. As seen from the sidelines, things were obvious to those who knew of his circumstances.

A new coffee was brought over, but he did not feel like drinking it in that warm place. It was Benedict who had come up with the arrangement, saying that one should wait for the other inside, yet he had decided to wait in front of the shop mounted on his motorcycle. Breathing in amidst the coldness, he calmed down a little. The perfectly clean, icy air within his body cooled down his head. Even if his body shook, it was because of the chilliness.

Suddenly, Benedict looked straight to the side. It was due to him feeling a stare for some reason.

A short-haired blonde girl was standing there. Hers was an unnatural shade of blond, so it was most likely a wig. She was dressed in a milky white satin dress similar to the tone of her skin under a black trench coat. She seemed like the kind of woman who led a life of having her praises sung by men in that city of artists. With a cigarette between her fingers, she blew tobacco smoke out of her bright red lips. Being in a bar surrounded by men all around and laughing elegantly would suit her. The front of a bakery was not fitting of her...

“Y-You—” the woman mustered out at Benedict, with an aspect that seemed to say she had done so unwittingly. Her voice was husky.

Benedict returned her gaze. The woman gave him an odd feeling of déjà vu. Had they not met somewhere before, his sixth sense whispered.

Subconsciously, his eyes went to her hair. If that sister of his had grown up, was a woman with such appearance too old to be her? Still, women could change the age suggested by their looks however they wanted with make-up and clothes. Benedict knew the morning-to-night faces of the women he had spent time with until now. Should he not discard the possibility that she was his younger sister?

Perhaps because the glint in Benedict’s eyes had sharpened, the woman took a step backward, and then threw the cigarette away, leaving the spot. At first, she walked slowly, gradually going in small trots.

“Hey,” when he realized it, Benedict had hopped off his motorcycle and was calling out to her. “Hey, wait.”

He pursued the woman as she ran, grabbing her arm by force. Not liking it, the woman attempted to shake free from him, but Benedict bound her arms behind her back. As she smelled of sickly sweet perfume, it felt as if he was about to suffocate.

“Let me go!”

“You know me, right?!”

“I don’t!”

“You definitely do, don’t you?! No, I... I...!”

——I feel like I know you.

“You... Are you...”

He might have been jumping to conclusions. He was fine with it being a misunderstanding. However, if that was not the case, then he certainly did not want to lose such information by mistake.

“Are you... my little... sister?”

Upon being asked so, the woman covered her mouth with her two hands.

The way back was extremely quiet on that day.

Having finished the ghostwriting for her client, Violet called over to Benedict, who was exhaling white puffs outside. It took him a few seconds to react back, and his face looked almost as if he had seen a ghost. She noticed he had nothing in hands despite having said that he would buy Hodgins a souvenir, and as they went back into the shop, the clerk was looking after it. As Benedict said nothing, Violet was the one to thank her.

Even as she told him, “Well, then, let us go home,” while mounting on the backseat, he was out of it and did not take off.  And even as the motorcycle finally moved, he stopped driving without as much as one minute passing.

“V, my bad. I’m... feeling awful right now. I might cause an accident and get you hurt.”

Violet did not ask if something had happened. As he was certainly pale-faced, Violet changed seats with a, “Then, I will do the driving”, adapting to the necessities of the moment. She had learned how to ride horses and vehicles to an extent during her soldier days. Even as it had been a while since then, she had confidence that she could do it.

“Benedict. You will fall like this, so please hold tighter.”

“My bad...”

“No, if you feel sick from the swaying, I will stop. Please say it.”

“Aah. My head’s kinda hurting a lot. Can I... close my eyes for a bit?”

“That is all right.”

After saying so, Violet looked up at the sky. As dusk approached, the sky was shrouded in clouds, but it did not seem as if rain, snow or abnormalities in the weather would occur.

It was awfully rare of Benedict to candidly bask on people’s goodwill and apologize. Since he was feeling unwell, it was impressive that he had not yet lost only his judgement of having her replace him as the driver. However, the fact that Benedict, who normally had but a big attitude, stayed silent the whole trip, clung onto a girl younger than him and sat on the backseat would be considered a state of emergency by the staff of the CH Postal Company if they saw him.

Of course, Violet Evergarden also understood that it was an emergency.

Somewhat tired as he might be, drowsy as he might be, that man would never let someone else drive his beloved bike. It was a personal vehicle given to him by Claudia Hodgins when the latter was starting his business.

Violet merely spoke to him dispassionately, “Benedict, were you talking to anyone before I had arrived?”

“Yeah.”

“I have good ears.”

“Yeah, you’re like a wild animal.”

“‘I want to run away from here’. ‘I want you to buy me time’. ‘I want you to help me’ – things like that?”

Rather than being a poor talker, Violet was not as proficient at conversational skills as most people, and so she did not know the right way to speak to him at such a time.

“It’s got nothing to do with you,” Benedict replied coldly in a low voice that sounded as if he were repelling her.

As the talk ended there, a curtain of silence descended upon them once more.

Violet was deep in thought. She almost never put effort into conversations. If she was told not to speak, she would not speak. When asked a question, she would answer. She would inquire what was necessary. That was what conversations used to be about. For her, at least.

However, the grown-up Violet now understood things could not be that way.

She spoke to Benedict again, “That lady called you her brother, Benedict, but you have amnesia, right? Is that person your younger sister? Rather... did you really have a younger sister?”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“I was observing from nearby as you were binding that woman’s arms behind her back. I learned from President Hodgins that no one should intervene on male-female relationships. Therefore, I stood in waiting on the spot and watched over you, so as to mediate if it were necessary.”

“What’s the Old Man doing...? Speaking of that, this kinda thing’s called ‘eavesdropping’.”

“Was that person your younger sister? Your appearances when you were side by side did not strike me as...”

The motorcycle passed over a rock while she was speaking, and so the vehicle’s frame floated buoyantly for an instant. It landed roughly and started running once more.

“She did not seem to be your younger sister to me. This is but my assumption, but I believe she is older than you are. To begin with, you have amnesia, so even if you did have a younger sister living separately from you, is there no need for further investigation since you do not remember her?” Violet was much too indifferent. Without any compassion or curiosity regarding whatever was happening to Benedict, she levelly stated her conclusions. Even if should it rub Benedict’s nerves the wrong way.

“Shut up! You don’t know that! She might be the one!” Benedict hit Violet’s back with his fists. “I have a little sister! I have memories of her! That’s the only thing I’m definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely sure of!”

“How come? You don’t have memories.”

“I can tell!”

“How?”

When asked so, he had no choice but speak sentimentally.

“‘Cause I feel love for her!”

Violet dry-swallowed curtly at the word “love”.

“It stayed in me! Even if I don’t have my memories, I have this!”

It was embarrassing and foolish.

“It’s the only thing that’s definitely, definitely not a lie!”

He normally never spoke of love, yet he desperately resorted to it only for now.

——I mean, we held hands in the darkness. The only proof that we were alive was our body temperature. Whenever she’d say that she was scared, I’d reply with, “It’s all right”. “Your Big Bro will do something about this,” I’d tell her. The one who’d affirmed my existence was my little sister. I’d managed to get courage from the fact that I could be relied on. That, yeah, I was an older brother. That she was no good without me, so I had to keep on living. Still...

“I had a sister, and I don’t really get it, but I was protecting her! I was thinking about protecting her no matter what, no matter what...! I don’t know why I’m living by myself like this...! Memory—I don’t have memory!”

——I don’t remember.

“Protect her from what...?”

——I don’t know. Did someone break me? Did I break on my own?

“I don’t know! Could be anything... That’s—That’s not what’s important to me! I don’t care about how I used to live when I was a brat... I supposedly used to have a sister, and the fact she’s not here is a problem for me! I’m amnesiac, and when I woke up, my sister wasn’t by my side; I’d turned into an idiot who didn’t know anything about myself or my sister! I have nothing! But...!”

——I don’t know. But...

“But, I definitely... have a little sister.”

——She definitely existed. If I meet her someday, I’ll know it’s her for sure. Even if I forgot, even if I can’t remember her, I’ll recognize her if I see her. I want the same to be valid for her.

With that thought, all along, he had lived on as if praying.

“That woman said she knows me... I’ve also—I’ve also seen her before somehow. I don’t know whether she’s my sister or not. But even if she isn’t... when that time comes, I don’t wanna have regrets!”

After saying so, Benedict had his face slammed against Violet’s back. That was because the motorcycle came to a sudden, abrupt stop. Benedict’s nose, neither too high nor too low, was smashed, and he anguished for a brief moment.

Violet, the driver and the cause of his pain, turned backward and reached a hand out to Benedict. Their faces were close enough that her golden hair, burning against the madder red sky, brushed the tip of his nose. Violet gripped Benedict’s shoulder as if to tell him, “Don’t run away”.

“Benedict.”

Her eyes – her blue orbs – pierced him like a blade.

“Please listen. I have told you before that I am also an orphan, was taken in and raised, and do not know who my parents are, right? From my experience, individuals who ‘tend to presume on their memories’ will come in contact with vagabonds attempting to do inexcusable things. Those who invited me into the dark by claiming to know me and proposing to discuss it in detail were neither one nor two people.”

Violet Evergarden desperately trying to convey her own words to the other party was just as unusual as Benedict entrusting his beloved bike to someone.

“During my days as a soldier, Major always bore the full brunt of it and protected me.”

That was precisely why, with her rapid-fire speech, Benedict could not seal her lips using stern persuasion.

“After growing up, I was almost murdered by a cultist organization that claimed I was not a human being but a demigod. I know nothing of my past, so even if I am told such things, I find myself thinking that they might be true. Benedict, are you not the same as me in this aspect? There are probably many women who know you. The women that you have dated, the people you have spent the night with until now – do you recall every one of them? You and President Hodgins are similar. In the past, President Hodgins came to the hospital room where I was hospitalized in a state of having drunk his regrets away and talked torrentially. Have you never done something like this? Even if you leave out the likelihood of being deceived by that person... if you are still thinking about doing something...”

Violet’s words were not gentle in the slightest.

“Benedict.”

However, within her own possibilities, she was thinking, thinking and thinking.

“Benedict, do you need back-up fire?”

Currently, she was attempting to do whatever she could to the maximum degree.

“I do not... know whether or not I am your friend. Lux seems all right with being my friend. Cattleya called me a friend too. Benedict, I do not know about you. We spend a large amount of time together, but even now, I still cannot say for sure what definition I should give to others. To me, the people who have told me that I am their friend are my friends as of late.”

What lay between the two of them was their time spent together. From the moment they had first met until now, they had built a relationship of trust.

“That is why, for me, even if you are not my friend, in case there is anything troubling you...”

Just as the forgotten nurturing between Benedict and his sister, it was something precious.

“No, regardless of what the definition of our relationship is, I... I... if there is something causing you to be like this... and if... it is an enemy that I must fight...”

Even if he did not have a past, Benedict had a present.

“...then I will attack it with everything I have.”

He had an ally named Violet Evergarden.

Under the dusky sky, the still young duo lay themselves bare to each other and made one decision.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo,” the low whispering of birds staged the night as something somewhat eerie.

The evenings at Lontano were like those of night-less cities, in which the lights of bars did not turn off even in the dead of the night. What a place so resplendent needed were attention-grabbing buildings, high-grade alcohol and beautiful women. Until the men went to sleep, the women hired to entertain them could not sleep either.

At present, a lone woman was coming out of a bar that still had its lights on, clad in a black trench coat that could as much as melt into the nightly darkness. She was a captivating blonde beauty.

“Where you going?” asked a man who stood by the entrance of the bar with a fierce look.

The woman showed him an empty box of tobacco that belonged to a regular costumer of the bar. “Cigarettes.”

The women who worked in bars had to report everything they did. Their bodies themselves were the merchandize. Unlike normal goods, bodies could walk on their own will.

Should they disappear somewhere, there would be no business.

“Linda’s store is still open. I was told to go buy more. If you don’t hurry and let me go, you’ll get scolded for stopping me.”

She had intended to speak nonchalantly, yet her frame trembled underneath the trench coat. The man eyed her body from head to toe.

“It’s nighttime. That’s not like the middle of the day. I’ll go. Can’t let you go by yourself.”

“I want to smoke outside for a bit.”

“You, it can’t be that you’re planning to run away again, right? You were almost killed before, weren’t you? If you haven’t learned the hard way after that, you’re an idiot. Until you pay your debts, you’re the same as livestock.”

The woman’s lips trembled at being called “livestock”. “It’s not my debt.”

“It’s your man’s, right? He’s the worst kind of bastard who sells women from a continent he never even walked on.”

“I don’t care about him anymore.”

“Even if he no longer comes to see you, you brought this upon yourself. Got no choice but make up for it. Don’t go thinking of stupid stuff... Hitting women ain’t our thing either.”

The woman thrust the empty tobacco box at him as if to hand it over. “I really was asked to get the cigarettes. If you think it’s a lie, go ask about it inside. If you believe me, you can come along. Then I can breathe the air outside a little, and you don’t have to worry about me running away. We’re settled with that, right?”

The man clicked his tongue at the provocative wording, yet seemed to have complied. He asked another employee to take over his post and made an agreement.

“If you take too long...”

The woman waited stiffly as the men talked. Eventually, the two started walking down the stone-paved road illuminated by streetlights.

The woman observed the man. She was there due to being sold by the person she used to be in love with, but she suspected that the man was also being made to work in that shop because of some reason. She might be wrong.

Even if that were the case, in her present condition, she did not have the compassion of others. If she wanted to break free from her current state, which, as the man said, had unfolded from something that she herself had done...

“It’s cold... Aren’t you chilly?”

...she had to act on her own. Even if she was counting with the assistance of a savior, since she had devised the plan by herself, it was her own power.

The lights of the tobacco store became visible. Just a bit more and they would reach it.

——Please, please, please, help me, God.

“You can smoke one cigarette, but we’re going back as soon as you’re done.”

——Help me, help me, help me!

The reason why the woman firmly squeezed her eyes shut was to deliver her wish to the God that resided somewhere out there, but even if she were not doing so, she surely would have closed her eyes either way.

That was because someone had abruptly come running from an alley and whispered, “Yo, the meeting spot was here, right?”

Since the one who had spoken was of a much shorter stature than the man, the kick lunged at him crushed his nether regions, and so the former immediately put a hand over his mouth. As she recognized the face of the person applying force so that the man would not let out a single scream, the woman said, “P-Please! Stop! He’s not a bad person!”

Until a while before, she had not cared for the other, but upon actually seeing something terrible happen to him, that feeling flew off the nest. Perhaps listening to her plea, the lout who had appeared so suddenly took her hand and vanished into the alley from which he had come.

The golden hair of the man running in front of her shone glisteningly even at night, within an alley that did not have illumination. Unlike her wig, it was a natural sandy-blond.

“B-Big Brother,” the woman called the man going ahead with a tone mixed in rapture.

However, what she received in return was gunfire, “Drop it; that’s gross.” While running, the lout – Benedict Blue – clicked his tongue. As the woman was slow at running, he pulled her forward roughly.

A shoe came off the woman’s foot. It was a high-heel one. She wore it because it made the shape of her legs seem bewitching and pleased men. It was not suited for running.

“My shoe came off!”

“Take off the other!”

Being yelled at, the woman did as told and took off the other pair while crying. They were shoes that gleamed silver of which she was fond. However, at the moment, she did not need beauty. She resumed running with all her might.

“H-Hey. W-Why... are you being so cold? You’re going to help me, right? I’m your sister, after all.”

At the question asked with restraint, Benedict answered with a disappointed voice, “Ah, about that: it was my misunderstanding.”

After taking off her shoe, she was fast at running. The woman increased her speed, as to be side-by-side with the one pulling her arm. “Eh?” Her voice reversed to her original one in lieu of the extreme course of events.

“I kinda thought I’d seen you before... but my colleague told me to trace back the few memories I have of my life, and when I tried doing that, you were there. I did know you. But you ain’t my sister.”

Silence.

“You’re the one who ripped off everything I had on me and threw me away in the Inkar-usi desert, aren’t you?”

Still silence.

“I remember until the point where I slept with a fine woman. I don’t recall her face. But, this... blond hair that looks fake... tangled in my fingers big time when I stroked it; that’s the only thing that stayed in my memory. I was mad drunk, wasn’t I? I’d earned the biggest amount of reward money until then, so I guess I got cocky.”

The woman tried to halt on the spot. However, Benedict forcefully pulled her along.

“Don’t stop! Run!”

“I don’t want to! You’re telling me you’ll make me yours next!? I won’t be anyone’s any longer! I hate men! I don’t want to live through being used by someone anymore! I want to go back to me homeland!”

There were tears surfacing in the woman’s eyes, but Benedict was not the type of man to falter at such a thing. He grabbed the woman’s dress by the collar, and after snapping his head backward at once, he followed the momentum and head-butted her.

The two writhed in pain.

“That’s why I said I’m taking you back! Who needs someone like you, shithead!? It’s not like I’ve forgiven you! If I hadn’t been picked up by one hell of a good guy after that, I would’ve killed you a long time ago!”

“If you’ve found out about my lie, then why...!? I pretended to be your sister and asked you to break me out, y’know!?”

“I just told you, didn’t I!? Thanks to you abandoning me in a desert, I’m the most blessed ever now! If I hadn’t met that guy back there, I wouldn’t even have a name and would be sleeping with women somewhere and waking up completely broke! All because I ended up scoring a fate good enough to rewind my life until that point from a shitty goddess like you! It only so happens that you almost tricked me, but I felt like saving you! Okay?! I hate you, so keep just that in mind! Once I help you out, be careful of the roads at night!”

After spitting out abusive language again with another “shithead”, Benedict made the woman run. The woman could not believe it. Up until now, she had told countless men who had slipped into her body about her personal history and attempted to earn their help. However, she had no one.

“You’ve got a terrible look in your eyes, huh. Mine’s pretty terrible too.”

She had no one.

“I have amnesia. I used to have a little sister... but I can’t remember her.”

She had no one.

“Hey, your hair reminds me of my sister’s; can I stroke it?”

She had no one.

“I’ll raise your pay if you stay until morning, so be here. It’s been a while since the last time I wasn’t alone.”

She had no one, and so, she had thought it would be all right to deceive somebody.

Her tears poured incessantly. They flowed down as if to block her mouth and nose. It was hard to breathe. Even so, she had to say it.

“I’m sorry!” while sobbing, the woman apologized to Benedict.

“Aah!?”

“I’m sorry for lying to you! I’m sorry for those two times!”

“Shut up! I told you I wouldn’t forgive you, didn’t I!? Those two times! I won’t forgive for the rest of my life!”

“But—But, I’m sorry! Sorry for pretending to be your sister!”

In the middle of passing through the alley, they heard gunshots from behind for some reason. The ones who monitored her – a merchandize – had probably come chasing the two. Benedict took a peek backwards, but continued running without minding it.

“They’ve come after us!”

Benedict was already replying to the woman’s shouts with a, “Shut up!” as easily as breathing.

Bullets went past their feet and sides. However, the gunning that was intense at first gradually diminished as the two rushed through the alley. Benedict shot back behind his shoulder as a diversionary action, but did not attempt to hit the other party at all.

Once they reached the end of the alley, Benedict kicked off the half-open lid of a skewer route and opened it fully. “Now, fall!” He kicked the woman into it. He did hear her scream, but having climbed the way up, he was aware that it was not too great a descent. Before going down as well himself, he looked at a certain direction. “V...”

Beyond his gaze was a comrade of his, who had promised to hit his enemies with all of her power as an interceptor.

She was on the top of a tree far away from the current position of Benedict and the woman. Violet Evergarden, who was sniping the group that chased after them, had taken aim upon confirming that gunshots were coming from said group. She targeted the firearm in their hands and pulled the trigger. The perfect trajectory of her bullets passed by Benedict and the woman’s sides, hindering the people that obstructed their way.

Realizing that his own gun had been flicked away by someone, the man who had fired the first shot raised his voice in astonishment, “You’re kidding me, right!?”

While he was in shock, the unseen sniper continued attacking. One of them attempted to target and shoot at the back of the woman, who was falling behind as she ran, but also had his weapon destroyed before he fired, and although he was attacked, he was easily able to defend himself against it.

“Don’t shoot without thinking! We’re under aim!” another yelled, but on such a dark night in an alley like that, the panic of having someone snipe only their weapons so precisely caused the men to lose their normal nature.

“STAY AWAAAAY!”

A legend of the battlefields, unknown to those who lived in cities through making women into food, was making them insane. They blindly faced the sky and shot at random. Bullets came flying to Violet’s direction as well, but did not as much as touch her body.

Guns had something called “effective range distance”. The guns used by the men were not suited for long-range shooting. Things also depended on the skills of the person using it, so differences in distance occurred even with that type of gun.

With a long-range rifle adopted by the military, Violet was taking aim from her position on a tree that the men absolutely could not see. “Target seized... Fire.”

The sounds of shooting echoed.

From far away, she could see someone’s gun falling down from his hand. “Fire, hit.” She moved mute and quickly, as if carrying out a simple job. “Fire, hit, fire.”

It would be fine if her face distorted in pain from the impact of shooting.

“Fire.”

However, Violet’s facial expression bore no emotion.

“Fire.”

Eventually, as everything became quiet, while exhaling a deep breath, Violet ceased to shoot and descended to the root of the tree. It would seem that the long-range shotgun she had bought just recently with her own salary had done a satisfactory work for her.

As she succeeded at the “back-up fire” in the literal sense of the term, she immediately left the spot.

The shooting battle that took place in the city of Lontano over the night turned into a much bigger occurrence than Benedict and the others had imagined, and the situation got to the point of the military police being dispatched. It so happened that people other than the woman behind the scandal had blended with the confusion of the turmoil and fled the city from the shadows, but those were stories unknown to Benedict and Violet.

A few hours had passed since the troublesome escape feat.

“Ouch!”

“Shut up! Hurry and put them on!” In a world wherein flowed the light of dawn, Benedict threw the shoes he had been wearing on the woman’s face.

While muttering complaints about him flinging the shoes at her, the woman tied them on. She had been running around the whole night and shaking off their chasers with Benedict, so her feet were injured and wet with blood. The pain was severe, but the exhilaration of managing to escape allowed her to feel as if it did not matter. Moreover, as she put on Benedict’s shoes, although they were too big, it became easier for her to walk in comparison to when she was not wearing anything on her feet.

Benedict was shoeless instead. He had cut wounds in his entire body. His clothes were ripped everywhere as well.

“Hey, why?”

“Shut up... Don’t ask so many times.”

“But, it’s just... I keep wondering why. Until now, nobody had helped me out, so it’s very strange to me.”

At those words, the face of Claudia Hodgins crossed Benedict’s mind. His good-natured employer and lifesaver. He, too, had bestowed Benedict with clothes and shoes when the latter was naked.

——I also kept asking why, I guess.

People who had never been treated kindly would think of unconditional love as the beginning of something terrifying. They firmly believed that everything others would bring them was either reprimanding or abuse.

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s ‘cause I was picked up by a good guy. That’s why.” A small smile escaped him.

“Benedict.”

His name called from behind, Benedict turned around.

With leaves on her head, their accomplice of the day, Violet Evergarden, was holding out tickets for the first train of the morning, which would now depart. “Also, take this as well.” Together with the ticket, she left in the woman’s hands a bag of freshly baked bread presumably bought in a nearby shop.

The woman eyed the bread and Violet alternately, tears forming in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Be careful on your way...”

“You’re the one that had least to do with this... Thank you, really.”

“No. It has to do with me. I was his ‘back-up fire’, after all.”

Hearing that, Benedict laughed loudly. When she had talked about being his back-up fire, the connotation was simply of lending a hand, and he had not thought she would actually put it to practice.

As Violet and Benedict were the only ones who knew the meaning of that, the woman tilted her neck. “Benedict... you too.”

“Use ‘Mister’.”

“Mr. Benedict, you too, thank you very much...!”

“Again, be careful on the roads at night,” Benedict replied with a threat incorporated to it.

The time of depart had still not come. The duo, having decided to leave her there and disperse, finished their farewells with a “see ya” and started walking away.

“H-Hum! Mr. Benedict.” Perhaps still having something to say, once Benedict turned around, the woman was smiling, her blond hair fluttering in the morning wind. “You see, I had an older brother... I haven’t seen him for years now, so I can’t remember him, but when I was a child, I used to call him ‘Big Bro’... I really did have those feelings in mind when I called you that.”

“So what?”

“If I were your little sister, I’d definitely search the whole world for a big brother like you!”

“You ain’t her, though.”

“I’m not! But one day, for sure—!”

One day, you will find her, the woman smiled faintly.

At that moment, Benedict’s sky-blue orbs opened wide. An indescribable, strange feeling rushed throughout his body. If so-called memories were provided to people by traveling across not only their souls but also the particulars of their bodies, and if they could be remembered through a small trigger in case something was forgotten, it might turn out as that sort of feeling, like a tingle from an electric shock.

The woman waved, still smiling. He did not tell her to shut up.

“Stu~pid.” His voice trembled. Turning roundly on his heels, Benedict started walking.

Violet followed him from behind.

——Aah, I…

His vision was shaky.

——Why? Why did I think she was my little sister?

He could now clearly tell. She was not at all like his sister. Firstly, although both were blonde, the shades of their hair were completely different, and although his sister was also fine-looking, she and that woman had different characteristics.

“Benedict?”

Yes, his sister was not such a lustful beauty, but instead had more of a fickle appearance. She had a well-behaved voice tone and demeanor, and was not the kind of person who would refer to others as “you”.

“Benedict, please wait.”

To begin with, she rarely ever called him “Big Bro” and mostly called him by his name. He did not remember that name, but he remembered her calling it.

“Benedict, you will trip if you walk like this.”

——Aah, out of all things... out of all things...

“Benedict, why are you crying?”

Out of all things, he just had to remember his little sister because of a smile from the woman who had knocked him off into hell.

“My, welcome back, my friend who no longer knows his own name.”

——She was a crybaby and a scaredy-cat. She’d always hide behind my back and follow me in trots. I liked the most when she’d come running at my direction after spotting me. That’s why I’d make her look for me on purpose sometimes. The times when we were together were happy, and he rest was hell.

I did have a little sister. She was there all the time. That’s for sure.

In my oldest memory, she was by my side. It was really cold when we woke up. We were in a place that was like a stone tower. She was the closest to me, and was shivering too. The adults hadn’t given us any blankets, so I called her over and the two of us clung to each other. When I asked, “Who are you again?”, her face looked like she was about to cry and she said, “Don’t forget me”.

I was told afterward that she was my little sister, so I thought, “That’s right”. She said I was in a pretty bad condition. That I’d almost died because of a head injury that apparently I myself had earned. That I was quick to want to die when my ego blew off. I’d get disposed of if I went crazy just one more time. That’s why she cried to me, begging me to stay sane.

My sister remembered a lot more than I did. We actually didn’t live in that place and we did have a family. But people would forget things little by little in that place. When I asked if she was certain that I was her older brother, she replied that she was. “You’re forgetting stuff too, right? How do you know?” I asked. When I pressed with a, “That’s right, how can you know?”, she cried even more that, “I have the feeling of love left in me, so we’re family”. She had a weird personality, but after those words, I thought I just had to protect my sister.

The adults called the tower “home”. At “home”, small children were recruited to do adult works. There were all kinds of jobs. Like delivering things, or retrieving them. Jobs in which someone would die when I performed that sorta labor. Those who were good at work were also ordered more direct stuff. It seems I’d gone nuts when they piled up. If you failed your duties, your little brother, little sister, older brother or older sister – the smallest numbers of each of our family members – would get killed. The people that knew and loved us were hostages. Well, that does make people go mad.

“Home” was like a tiny military unit. We always went to different places. From what the adults would say, “home” was a temporary employee placement livelihood. They were preparing human resources able to endure any type of battle mission from scratch. Come to think of it now, they’d give me medicines and incense without a break every day for some reason.

My sister, myself and the others, who were forgetting a lot of things, were apparently human resource pupils. From what my sister told me, in that jumble of children, I was the most apt for those jobs. It seemed I was the one who took the biggest amount of medicine, so my forgetfulness was pretty bad.

Could humans be created from scratch after being made to forget everything? On top of that, could they be raised into the strongest human resources? The answers were “yes” and “no” – you could say both.

We’d end up going crazy at just one cogitation. We were quick to become suicidal. There was no meaning in soldiers who couldn’t be used for long. I was probably insane but pretended to be normal for my sister’s sake.

The adults would say that they’d hire us once we grew up. That, for the moment, we were livestock.

It seemed that the adults monitoring us had lived like us in the past. “Aren’t there only idiots here?” I thought. They hadn’t learned anything even after those horrible things were done to them.

I decided that, if we had to become adults in that hell, we’d better run away. My sister was crying. If we tried to escape, the adults would come to kill us for sure.

The feeling of wanting to die had always been in me. If I was gonna die anyway, I’d wanted to die for my sister. Whoever did something to her that she didn’t want to was shit. I wanted to kill them.

She was the only pretty thing in that pathetic world. I don’t know if she was really my sister. But even if we just happened to have the same hair and eye color, she was my everything. She was the girl I’d wanted to protect the most in the world. Even though she was all I had...

“Your Big Bro will protect you,     , okay?”

Even though she was all I had... I’d surely failed to set my sister free.

Tears poured from Benedict’s eyes.

“Shit…”

The tears that poured from them flowed continuously, eventually penetrating the earth and disappearing without fulfilling any purpose. They would nevermore return. Never would they go back to the eyes that had produced them. Similarly, the important person who had poured out of Benedict’s life would surely not return.

——Life... is shit.

In his memory of taking her by the hand amidst the night, running away and, lastly, watching the boat from the bottom of the sea, if his sister was on that boat, just how would her young self have survived afterward? Had she drifted and been picked up by some kindhearted person? Had his overprescribed sibling survived just fine after forgetting about him and about herself? Was she living well somewhere under that same sky even as they were unable to see each other?

That was but a dream story.

The world seemed filled with happy stories, but they were actually very few. Stories and real life were...

——I didn’t need a life like that.

At the very least, Benedict’s life tasted of the sea. It was too salty and undrinkable. Such was it even now. The tear droplets that spilled down his cheeks, passed by his lips and dripped from his chin had the flavor of the ocean. Benedict’s past was chasing him and strangling his neck, so as to kill him from sadness. He wanted to scream and break into wails, asking, “Why?”.

——End it right now. God, why’re you doing this? End it right now. God, there’s no salvation for me. Please help me. End it right now. God, I can’t breathe because of the pain in my chest brought by this sadness. Hurry, as soon as possible, right now, bring this life…

“Don’t go crazy; don’t die,” she had asked of him.

——...to an end...!

Yet he chose death. After all, surely, his sister had already died long before.

He had always fled from such truth. He had merely forgotten about it. Things such as wishing that he would not die in a desert and thinking about eating bread with someone had stemmed from his made-up other self. He was simply a fake that had pretended to be sane and survived somehow. Even if he was in the past, his original self had yearned to die for a long time. It was false of him to be currently living and showing gratitude to somebody. He certainly had forgotten what should not have been forgotten because it was easier that way.

The painful and the easy. When sorting them out, he had picked the easy. There was no mistaking that he had wanted to try forgetting everything and live freely.

He was cursed for it.

“Was it fun?” If he were asked so, he could answer that it was great fun.

——Yeah, all of it was fun.

In his new life, after meeting that man, the humidity and temperature of the of the continent he was brought to upon being picked up were different, and everything was fresh. The motorcycle that he was granted in place of holding onto a gun or sword had showed him many worlds.

He merely delivered things. He had thought it was only that, but upon seeing it for the first time, being a postman was difficult. Every day, he was at loss from being scolded by the clients or receiving excessive gratitude. It was strange for someone like him, who had never gotten a letter, to be delivering them.

Oddly enough, whenever he saw the smiles of the people on the receiving end, he would feel as if he were doing an extremely good deed. He had found it weird that a postal agency had been chosen for starting a business and was unused to it, but he had come to understand that the reason for being of such job was to perform labor.

It was simply delivery. If one was able to walk or to ride a motorcycle, be it a woman, man, child or elder – anyone could do it. It did not have to be him. It was not a work that only he could do. However, he thought that this mere delivery was not bad. He deemed it as fun. Deliveries in which he was able to please others were enjoyable.

No matter what he did, the sights he would see were unlike the ones from when he was a mercenary. The small discoveries that he would find during a delivery – minor things such as there being a delicious bakery or going faster by taking a certain road – were fun. But more enjoyable than anything else was that he had a place to go back to, no matter to what part of the world he went. Even as he returned in tatters, once he opened the office’s door, there was someone who would say, “Aah, welcome back, Benedict. Good work”.

In the world where he had started walking as if he had suddenly been born, ever since he had met that man, yes, it did seem foolish, but the world had gained colors as though he had met his fated woman.

——It was fun, it was fun, it was fun, it was fun, it was fun. I shouldn’t have enjoyed himself, and yet, I had so much fun. What have you been doing? Why were you enjoying it? You weren’t in position to. You’re a person who should’ve died without knowing what “fun” was. Be over, be over, be over, be over. Everything should come to an end. Let’s end this version of me now. Ain’t that better for everyone? There’d be no harm for anybody if there was one less person like me, with no family or lover, in the world. I’ve had enough fun. As for the people who’ll be sad for me, it’s enough if I can count them with one hand. I’ll erase myself and make this dirty world clean in the end. You shouldn’t be having fun. What you gotta do is just one thing: go face your sister, who’s smiling inside your head.

That was why Benedict impulsively searched for his gun with one of his hands.

Surely, people died that way. Sorrow would seal their throats and they would die unable to breathe. They would die from having more sad moments than happy moments.

He felt that he would not be able to live even if for another second. It was not that he wished to die. Rather, he was taking a decision for himself that he had to die.

Was there any living being that wanted to die as soon as it was born? Most of them supposedly wanted to live. Yes, they wanted to live. Live a wonderful life, if possible. A life that would make being born worthwhile.

However, it by no means went well all the time. Life was not something that one would prepare beforehand.

“Ugh... uuugh...”

As a result of choices made, there were countless changes. There were times in which only grievous things would happen. A series of things such as regretting being born.

Hardships were like gelid rain that God would pour over anyone. It would be great there was a place to take shelter from it or an umbrella, but there were times when one could not find them. The prolonged rain would cause one’s body to grow cold and the roots of their teeth to shake. For people, it was something difficult to endure. When it became impossible to withstand, people...

“Sto... p.”

...would crave death.

“St... o...”

When living became hard, they tended to look for what was easier. It was nothing strange. What was wrong with running away? The least amount of pain was better. The shortest suffering was better.

The purpose of living creatures was something that they decided on themselves.

“Sto... p.”

Still, yes...

“Stop.”

...the same had happened when he was in that desert.

“Stop it; why...?”

A certain number of people, beloved by the Goddess of Fortune, were able to filter out of such instance. If one thoroughly prodded into it, they would find it was but the result of something that had been piling up.

The work of the Goddess happened in a vivid way. If one were to ask what exactly that was...

“V...”

...it would be somebody showing up to hold whoever’s hand when they attempted to die.

At the cliff of his life, the one who had acted as his back-up fire appeared.

What the Goddess brought about was different for each person. For Benedict Blue, in the present moment...

“Benedict.”

...it was Violet Evergarden.

——Why’re you holding my hand, out of all things?

Just as the older brother who had grabbed onto his younger sister’s hand in the darkness, Violet gripped Benedict’s. Upon squeezing it once, she changed her hold into that of lacing fingers together and walked on, guiding him. “Benedict, let’s go home.”

Even though he had been unable to take a single step, he wound up walking.

“That is no good.”

He could not take his gun while she was holding his hand.

“If you are crying, you cannot see what lies ahead.”

Although he wanted to shoot a bullet into his head, he could not.

“I will pull you by the hand, yes?”

Upon being told by that girl, who resembled his sister, to return home…

“Let’s go home.”

...he wound up thinking that, aah, he had to live.

“V...”

The reason why he had not been able to leave her on her own one way or another from the first time he had seen her was that their appearances were similar. Both had golden hair and blue eyes, and were somewhat lonely. He felt as if he had always, always made of her something like a substitute for his sister.

“V... I...”

He was unable to take his eyes off her and even referred to her by a nickname.

“I... probably... killed... my little sister... I’ve remembered it...”

Although he had forgotten his sister, some part of him ended up thinking that, if she were alive, she would have turned out that way. His tears became unstoppable at his own idiocy. He would wonder, “Why did my past self fail if she was so important to me?”

“We abated halfway, and I got separated from her... U-Uugh... It’s... It’s like I killed her...”

Violet clasped his hand even tighter. “You do not know that yet, right?” Rather than like a younger sister, she was like an older one. “Just as that person said, you might meet her again one day,” she whispered as if to admonish him, as if to soothe him.

“Impossible... Impossible... I was definitely the only one... the only one who survived... I... I was...” He shed too many tears, the words cut off by his weeping. It was suffocating. He wanted that suffocation to end.

“Benedict, nothing is definite. My Major was alive too. Who can 'definitely’ say that your sister is dead?”

The hand that she had joined fingers with throbbed. However, were it not for that pain, it felt as if he would soon let go and kill himself.

“But... But y'know...”

“We have dealt with quite a lot today. We can deal with it from now on too. Is that not right?”

“I was... I was... better off dead...!”

Crying that way, just like a child, was foolish, Benedict thought. There was no turning back anything anymore.

“I was better off dead!”

Even if he cried, he had already lost her. He had no idea where in the world to look for her either. Should joined hands let go, if the other party was not nearby, they could not be joined again.

“Benedict.”

Violet’s legs stopped completely. Did the crying Benedict look like a little boy to her? She came closer, forcing his head over her shoulder. “Let’s go back, Benedict.”

“Where to?”

“To the company. You and I only have that place.”

Silence.

Indeed, they did not have anywhere else. The people who would wait for them and hold their ground without going insane were indeed nowhere but there.

——But is it okay for me to go back?

“I’ve... done horrible things in the past. It’s just nobody knows that I... when I was mercenary...”

“Yes.”

“I did a lot of stupid stuff. It’s not forgivable just ‘cause I was a kid.”

“Yes.”

“I... But...”

The face of Claudia Hodgins crossed his mind.

——I shouldn’t... go back.

The sense of exhilaration as he walked for the first time with the loose-fitting shoes that man gave him. The jokes the other would tell while spewing complaints when hanging out with him. The laughter from when they would drink and make a ruckus together.

——But...

His eyebrows lowering whenever he was troubled. His back arching whenever Lux was angry with him. The sweet voice he used only for women. The strength he showed to him. He was the only good-natured person in the world that could become attached to an amnesiac man who had nothing.

——I do wanna go back.

He wanted to return to that good-natured person so, so keenly that it filled him with tears.

“But even so, you will live, right?”

Benedict dry-swallowed. Those words almost felt like a bullet shot into his chest. He was so surprised that he became wordless. She was normally a taciturn and did not use decorated words. But she would sometimes boldly bring the truth to light.

“You will live, right?” A little bit of pleading was mixed in Violet’s voice.

The hand that Violet had joined with his. Her artificial fingers.

“Let’s count the things you have done and the things you will do from now on, so that you shall not forget.”

They were proof of the things she had lost and the things she had broken. As well as a symbol of regeneration. Such fingers delicately laced him in place.

“Until you die someday.”

The girl in front of him had accepted that agony much sooner than he had, without running away or averting her eyes from it, and simply stayed amidst the sadness.

“Today... For today, let’s go home.”

That was Violet Evergarden.

“Now, let’s walk. Do you recall that our shift was only until morning and that our day off would start at noon?” Gradually, but still by pulling his hand, she guided Benedict. “Yesterday, we wound up going back to Lontano without finishing our reports. We had promised Lux that we would submit them today without fail. We are too tattered to go to work looking like nothing happened. Surely, if we show up to work like this, there might be a huge scandal, right?”

As Benedict was told so, they surfaced in his head – his quarreling comrade from the founding day, Cattleya; Lux, who had been picked up from an isolated island; their colleagues from CH Postal Company; the city of Leidenschaftlich; his own past; his current occupation; his new name and the man who had given it to him.

“I wonder if Old Man will be mad...”

Claudia Hodgins. The man who gave him everything he had now. He wanted to see the other very much. As he reminisced to the other’s voice and face, his chest seemed about to burst.

In Benedict’s life, his past included, Hodgins had been the only adult to provide for and protect him.

“You were able to meet President Hodgins because you were alive. You can find your sister as well. Surely... People like us are no good if we do not believe so, Benedict.”

He had enough strength to live by himself, no matter where.

“Today was very tiring, right? Let’s go home.”

However, the warmth of having a guardian changed Benedict, who used to loathe ties of obligation. The CH Postal Company, which Violet said to go back to, had already become his place of return.

Benedict looked at the sky. The Sun was rising. Behind him, the shadow that the night had melted into was now reflected richly. The road ahead was brightly illuminated. Just like the past and the present.

“Hey, V.” As Violet asked what the matter was, he muttered while wiping his tears with the sleeve of his shirt, “The thing about me crying is a secret between us two.”

The figures of the two as they walked on holding hands probably looked like that of siblings who got along well.

   “Right now, your life is all you have, isn’t it? I’ll buy that.”

At those words, the man’s heart started making loud noises. He was supposedly used to exchanging his life for money, but he seemed about to stop breathing at being asked for it face-to-face.

“How much?”

Upon being asked, the man was at loss. “Dunno.”

As he answered seriously, Hodgins laughed, “What a fool; give a high price.”

“Why?”

“You could give a sum that I can’t pay for, so that I’d have to hire you for the rest of my life.”

For an instant, he had not understood what was said, and so he answered after a moment, “Don’t wanna! Whatcha saying!?”

“I mean, you have nothing, right?”

“Don’t keep saying 'nothing’!”

“We’d be like a family if we’re together, even if we aren’t related by blood. Just give a price that I can’t pay.”

“Hah?”

“Like I said, we could be like a family. Well, that’s fine. More importantly, your name.”

“No, no, hey, you’re definitely a weirdo, right?”

“It’s come to me!”

“Old Man! It’s like you’re not listening to what I say, ain’t it!?”

“All right. Listen ve~ry well.”

“You listen well!”

With an extremely happy-looking face and little shyly, Hodgins said, “It might be a bit pretentious. I understand his feelings now. Ah, no, y’see, it’s my own feelings, so to say. I’m putting into it my wish of wanting a young one like you to be this way.”

At that second, the only one in the world who witnessed the shine in those blue eyes was Claudia Hodgins.

“It means ‘blessed’; how about ‘Benedict’?”

He knew for the first time the joy of having his life blessed by someone at that moment.

“Let’s take it after the god that administers divine protection. Leave ‘Blue’ to be your surname. The name you gave yourself plus my ‘Benedict’. ‘Benedict Blue’. Yup, it’s a good name. Nice to meet ya, Benedict.”

Even as he became hurt when replaying his memories, he would be blessed whenever someone called his name.

“Stu~pid.”

 He did not want to let go of that blessing ever again.

“Aah, Benedict and Little Violet. Welcome ba... Hey, this isn’t okay! What happened...!? You two come here! Little Lux, the first-aid kit!”

Albeit a little long, that was the story of Benedict Blue.

[karazetian]

What’s happening is that Disney is not doing its job.

I ended up doing an essay lol. I obviously appreciate someone reading it but given that is really lengthy, I don’t expect anyone to do so. I’m also not Asian so, there’s that. And my English leaves a lot to be desired (I corrected the orthography but I’m prone to grammar errors). 

I do recommend checking out the sources I linked, especially 1 (youtube video made by a Chinese person), 2 and 3 (the descriptions are below).

I talk about what Disney is doing is not out of naive idleness. Idleness yes, but naivety no. 

I keep thinking, where the hell did this movie go wrong? Because yes, this is not the first time nor the last time Disney is going to deliver a less than mediocre live-action remake, but, despite all of their track record, I still had hope for this one. 

Because, while the other movies are classics, they had certain aspects that didn’t age perfectly, which it is understandable. Beauty and the Beast, although arguably the best Disney animated movie, had these “Stockholm Syndrome” connotations* (bear with me) and we also had to consider how much of Beast’s personality could stay in the remake (since he could have been read really wrong if he lashed out on Belle too much, not only because of his appearance but for the power dynamics of him being the one in calling the shots of Belle’s wellbeing, hope that made sense). 

Cinderella could have made some* audiences criticize her for her apparent submissiveness, Aladdin is a whole can of worms in the subject of orientalism (which they kept in the remake, anyway), etc., etc.

*This is not the post to discuss whether or not Belle suffered Stockholm Syndrome during her movie, nor to discuss whether or not Cinderella was actually submissive in the original. Many people have already done that, my point in bringing that up is, Disney used that as an excuse to change scenes and plot in the remakes. 

But Mulan, aside from minor problems that come from an American company writing an eastern story (and the values and trends present when the movie was made), had a very strong plot that still holds up to this day (I say that like the movie was made in the 30s lol). 

Not only it is a “feminist” movie but also, the story is very well written and made, in my opinion. There was not a lot that you needed to change. The main character had already a well-rounded personality (unlike, for example, my girl Aurora), the story was already very rich, etc. The removal of Mushu (and the whole dragon symbolism), although sad, it’s understandable how it was necessary.

However, is not just the removal of important and nostalgic characters like Mushu or grandma Fa, but the removal of the soul of the movie.

Mulan 2020 is a soulless movie. 

This is not unique to this remake, as this is not even unique to remakes, imo. But it is one of the most painful ones, because this movie meant a lot to a lot of women (and people) and the beauty of it all was that you didn’t need to be Chinese, or a woman, to appreciate it (that’s a good thing in the sense that is good when you can relate to a story, even if you don’t share some of the traits with the main character. Not that it’s good despite being the story of a Chinese woman, is that clear? Sorry if it’s not).

And it’s also painful because it could have been so easy to... not do that. Other people have already talk about this (and in a much briefer, better way) but yes, what made Mulan so great in the original was that she was your average girl, even worse because she lived in a very conservative society yet she managed to become a badass while, not only discovering who she was in the process, but also staying true to that. That was the reason she was great. She had flaws, she couldn’t adapt, she was the underdog but she, through her unwillingness to give up, her tenacity, wits and compassion, overcame that, eventually becoming a hero. 

It was not because of her qì. Again, I’m not going to do a deep dive in that because others have already talked about how they made her a Chosen One. What I want to discuss is how sad it is that they went for that route and my confusion as to why they did it. 

And I think it was more than laziness. It’s definitely a lack of motivation but, when you dwelve on it, I don’t think that laziness goes hand in hand with carelessness. But first, with the laziness, a google search would have made them see what progressive crowds now deem as feminist values. Both eastern and western crowds. 

Because yeah, sure, I doubt the Chinese government is well versed in intersectional feminism. Yet, there are movies both the Chinese government and its people have liked and appreciated. Weren’t they the ones that, upon watching Kung Fu Panda said something like “how did we not come up with that?” 

I saw this video made my Chinese youtuber Accented Cinema (links below: 1, I highly recommend watching it) and he even mentioned his school taking his class to watch the original movie in theaters. So, yeah, believe it or not, you can make a feminist movie set in a third world country (I also come from a third world country, sorry if this sounds like I’m being mean to Chinese people). 

So, why did you not do your homework, Disney? Again, I understand they couldn’t have made the most leftist movie, not only because it’s Disney, but because they wanted to appeal to both governments, however, you could have made the remake be satisfying enough for that audience and the rest of the world. But they didn’t even satisfy the Chinese audience, with a lot of them saying how the movie reinforces ideologies the Chinese themselves have already moved on from (the “devotion to family” inscription in the sword has received a lot of criticisms: 2).

This means that they failed to do even the only thing they seemed to compromise on. You could have had still appealed to the government. That is to say, I don’t expect Disney to be the wokest of them all and go full anarchist on their movies because that’s not even what Disney wants anyway.

They could have still done some things that wouldn’t have anything to do with western or eastern values. For example, they could have given Mulan’s sister a personality. Giving your character one is not a western/Americanized value, it’s part of what means to make a well written story.

Without that, her character seems completely pointless. Seriously, I keep thinking what was the point of her character, besides being a disappointing replacement of the grandma. I’d like to think that she was the movie’s way to represent how more conservative values are still valid, if the woman chooses so. Her wanting to get married and have a traditional family doesn’t diminish her value as a person. They could have made a scene with the two sisters still being able to bond with each other, even if they had very different views of the world.

But since we never find out about her motivations or desires, it is left unknown whether this is what she chose for herself or if she is just another victim of her circumstances. And I ask myself why, since it could have been so easily to do that. You could have replaced the scene where kid Mulan is combing her sister’s hair (which, for what I can remember, only serves to further stablish the sister’s fear of spiders… which they make clear in other two scenes) if the movie’s duration was a problem.

Being left with no logical answers, I can only conclude that it was out of laziness. But it doesn’t end there, does it? Because I think “ok, so they were lazy, then they could have done what every lazy student does when they don’t have any motivation left and copy-pasted the original. Didn’t they do that with the Lion King already?”

And I get that it didn’t work with that one, but that’s because you shouldn’t somber up a movie that has anthropomorphic animals, that also heavily relied on being an animated movie. Mulan doesn’t rely on that; Mulan was inspired by a legend. Live-action Mulan had already been made with good results, so what couldn’t they have just copy pasted their own original? If they didn’t have the energy to give it a proper, well-made twist (i.e., Maleficent), the least they could have done is respect its predecessor.

But they took away all the things that made Mulan great in the first place, to made her what every writer will tell you not to do. Making her being born with extraordinary skills, which then results in her not having to work for her merits, is something even I, a nobody, knows not to do. I’m not even going to address how taking agency away from her sends the wrong message to the little girls that are going to see this sad excuse of a movie.

What I’m trying to say, it may not be comparable to a lazy student copying the homework of one of the most accomplished students, but it is as if they based their work on that, just butchering all the parts that made the accomplished student’s work good. And, unlike with the lazy student whose reasons might be justifiable, Disney had no excuse to do so, because it is their job.

It is their job to deliver a well written story or, if that’s too demanding, to at least make a movie with a happy-go feeling (is that grammatically correct?) that sends a well-meaning message. Instead, the message this movie (I would say, purposefully) delivers is that you can only accomplish great things if you’re born special.

Us, regular folks, especially regular women, especially regular women born in less than ideal circumstances, are doomed. And that’s what’s sad.

 Links to sources used:

1.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZccG-wtt5FA&ab_channel=AccentedCinema

2.    https://twitter.com/tony_zy/status/1302743527240142849

Why “boycott” Mulan 2020 (not only because of what the lead actress said):

3.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/07/why-disneys-new-mulan-is-scandal/

4.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/whats-happening-in-xinjiang-is-genocide/2020/07/06/cde3f9da-bfaa-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html

5.    What the actress did say: https://time.com/5653973/mulan-boycott-liu-yifei/

[warlordgab]

NaLu analysis: Context, Substance, and Chemistry

Many FT readers find, one way or another, multiple moments that showcase the strength of NaLu and highlight their chemistry.

However, not everyone is capable of perceiving how the story nourishes this relationship, not only by means of obvious moments but also by the context of several scenes.

This is one of the reasons why wankers are prone to ignore or completely disregard context to fabricate something to make implausible premises (cracks) seem as solid as a semi-canon pairing.

For example, some use the following scenario as a sign of a rising romantic relationship: the female lead slaps a character she and her partner are familiar with because he trash-talked the values the guild stood for, something that hurt her a lot.

Granted it was all an act and the guy apologized at the end, but the slap and apology are still overhyped by wankers as something as big as what NaLu may offer.

However, when this scene is put in the context of what Lucy’s character was going through, the story points in a different direction.

The scene was painful to Lucy because she was struggling against the fear of the FT guild, which she considers her family, not coming back, and having a member of that family bad-mouthing the guild only confirmed her fears... until it was revealed that was all an act. And this isn’t just speculation; right after everyone returned, Lucy expressed to Natsu, Happy, and Wendy this fear she had

But the context also offers something else. Let us ask, what gave Lucy the strength and hope she needed to, at the very least, fight this fear?

Instead of “what” we should ask “who.” The answer? Natsu, who not only provided Lucy with the hope she needed in a passive way. He also took action in response to her desire to get the guild back together and brought her to an adventure to reunite their scattered guildmates.

Again, this isn’t mere speculation. Natsu worked in the idea of getting the guild back together right after this scene:

While not explicitly romantic, these actions are far more meaningful than an overhyped slap/apology.

It’s safe to say that this element is quite unfriendly with less likely premises. Still, context not only refutes non-sensical arguments, but it also enhances NaLu moments when factoring it into the equation.

For example, the movie storyboarded by Mashima himself, Dragon Cry, features a moment previously analyzed in another post. The moment by itself looks strong, but it’s the context that further solidifies the scene as “NaLu.”

At the beginning of the story, we get Natsu asking Lucy in a curious manner “What do I look like?”. This line will be repeated at the end in the form of a "meaningful echo" as Natsu beats the bad guy with a new transformation (which made him look more like a dragon and less like a person for a while).

So, the context now gives the scene a deeper meaning as it shows how much Natsu values the perspective Lucy has of his person and how it affects his character the way she sees him.

More often than not, context allows readers to grasp the substance of a relationship and, in some cases, even individual characters.

On the other hand, there’s another underrated element many either disregard or misinterpret. It is something we already considered in an earlier post, but given how wankers try to twist this concept to downgrade NaLu, we’re going to touch this subject once again: Chemistry

As we explained before, many readers can admit NaLu has several moments throughout the author’s works, but wankers or haters still deem this bond as something lacking in “real chemistry.”

Some of you probably read my previous “rant” before and realized, one way or another, wankers promote arguments to say “implausible” premises can easily match what NaLu has. And one relatively new argument relies on the claim of certain cracks having “real chemistry” while NaLu doesn’t have any...

Does this claim hold any merits?

Short answer: No. Logic and evidence refute such arguments

First, let us consider the term “chemistry” once again. To truly understand this concept in the context of literary works we need to what true chemistry is not

True chemistry is not about commonalities. Usually playing the straight man or woman in crazy situations doesn't automatically makes you a match for someone who may do the same.

True chemistry is not about saving the girl or getting rescued by someone. A typical advice about writing chemistry indicates that it should never be implied that a character owns the other a relationship because of favors done. Saving the girl is not enough to claim a pairing has the "superior" chemistry.

Now that we cleared that up, we can answer the question: What is chemistry?

In the context of relationships, chemistry is related to mutual trust/faith; it’s a natural connection, "a bond, or common feeling between two people." In fact, "real chemistry between characters happens when they affect each other in big ways." 

So, we can measure chemistry, not by commonalities, not by the characters' overall intelligence, but by how the moments they share leave an impact. When meaningful gestures and significant moments result in an emotional attachment.

But, despite all of this wankers may insist on their premises being just as solid as NaLu. What do they use as “evidence” for this claim?

The first thing many of these shippers tend to use is a “Freudian Slip” to prove a Mr. Fanservice character is seeking a romantic relationship with Lucy. The line goes something like this: “She’s kinda cute.”

Does NaLu have something better than that?

He deemed Lucy as “precious” to him as he battled the one who killed Lucy’s future self. His tears along with his actions made his words far more meaningful than a mere “Freudian Slip.”

Another moment that wankers may use involves this setting: Lucy powering through a great deal of danger and pain to save Natsu’s life with the assistance of the guy wankers promote as her would-be lover.

Does NaLu have an answer to that? Yes! All thanks to the context

The epicenter of Lucy’s emotional and physical struggle is Natsu and his potential fate after releasing him from the one thing that ties his life to Zeref’s existence.

What wankers used to justify their premises in this point of the story, turns out to be more supporting evidence of the strength of Lucy’s bond with Natsu when we factor context!

All that these shippers have left are very occasional “saved the girl” scenes and a few displays of “concern.”

We already mentioned how the reasoning “saving the girl means she owns her savior a relationship,” doesn’t match what a natural chemistry between characters should be. But, for the sake of debate let’s consider these moments anyway.

Wankers use these few showings to claim their favored character should get the 1st spot in Lucy’s heart. Because he shows “concern.” Doesn’t Natsu show a lot of concern for Lucy?

He’s pretty open about it and displays “concern” for her pretty often too, sometimes becoming hard to contain when it comes to the prospect of saving/protecting Lucy

So, if “concern” is the factor to claim a guy should be the girl’s lover/boyfriend/husband, then why wankers hype other characters over Natsu?

What about “saving the girl” scenes?

Natsu protected and saved Lucy...

...multiple times

If saving the girl = we’re a thing now, then why wankers still say their favorite option is the one who has the romantic relationship with Lucy instead of Natsu?

When all arguments are exhausted all that remains is one overhyped instance of Lucy teaming up with a cool sexy guy to parry several sand projectile attacks and claims of “wonderful friendship.”

If teamwork is a factor, then why the “most compatible team” as stated by the manga doesn’t get the same hype?

When analyzing the author’s works, we can see Natsu and Lucy displayed how well they worked together several times

When it comes to their relationship, in a previous post we also considered how their companionship and their potential to become a canon pairing can easily be described as “wonderful,” or as Lucy said: it’s always more fun when we’re together

At the end of the GMG arc, we could see how their bond, the “common feeling” between them could transcend time and space

So, why cracks are the ones deemed as “wonderful” while NaLu gets discarded?

The point is that even when several shippers claim the “saved the girl” scenes from their favored premises hold more merit, NaLu casually matches and surpasses the best they have.

This comparison is not meant to imply that saving the girl cannot be used to advance or enhance the romantic potential of a relationship. Some stories may resort to such a trope to build particular bonds, but what makes such scenes stand out is the context.

For example, one of the first NaLu moments seen in the series is when Lucy gets rescued by Natsu during the Phantom Lord arc. NaLu benefits from this scene not because Natsu was saving Lucy, but for the overall context of her situation...

...as some readers may realized by now, hearing Natsu’s voice as all that Lucy needed to jump off, taking what we could consider a “leap of faith.” This scene helps to stablish a great trust that’s growing between the characters involved.

It becomes even more meaningful when considered as part of a much bigger whole; this “whole” being the progression that created the emotional attachment that Natsu and Lucy share for one another.

Still, despite everything we’ve seen in the author’s works, even some NaLu shippers use this flawed logic to throw Lucy to the bed of a “better-looking” character or having her marry someone “cooler.” All while keeping Natsu, in the case of those who still remember he’s there, as the “other guy.”

This little exercise is meant to illustrate how, even when playing with some particular shippers’ “rules,” NaLu remains as the choice that makes the most sense and has the better chemistry. Unlike what some wankers/haters may say or think, NaLu is more than just a bunch of lovely fanarts.

Some shippers may disregard Natsu as the logical option because of his personality. He’s a good-hearted thrill-seeker; someone upbeat with a fondness for pranks and collecting mementos, as well as someone who’s prone to let out his emotions.

Several shippers don’t find such traits attractive or “worthy” of Lucy, while they favor the archetype of a stylish Mr. Fanservice character who has a cool, calm, and collected personality.

But, a potent relationship is not about what shippers consider “worthy” or “best boi.”

A potent relationship is about meaningful gestures, multiple impactful moments, consistent bonding, and a solid emotional chemistry.

One last thing to consider is this little detail: Some wankers decided to use the cover of chapter 379 not only as a sign of their crack being “semi-canon” but also as a tag for their premise.

When a hater tried to use the cover to attack rival shippers, even casual readers laughed at how delusional was claiming that cover contained anything that could support a pairing.

Then again, if we play by these wankers rules, we could mention two little pieces made by Mashima himself that when put together give us a pretty obvious message:

And as that MJ song says: “Who’s bad?”

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

I watched Endgame yesterday, and as a fan of Steve and Bucky's relationship (platonic or romantic), it really bothered me how the movie ended. I'm not sure if you know what happens, but since you said you were okay with spoliers and rants, here it is: in the end, after little to no interaction with Bucky, and their little moments being very downplayed (and very 100% no homo "dude"), basically ignoring their strong bond, Steve goes back in time to stay with Peggy, breaking the...

2/2 … newly stablished time travel laws of the MCU, and worse, letting it implied that he abandoned Bucky to his fate as a Hydra puppet for years, as well ignoring all the world problems that were happening, just to live a married life with Peggy. And there’s also the fact that the children Peggy would have had won’t have existed anymore. That was completely OOC for Cap, and a complete disrepect to the character development and story archs of these three characters, who deserved so much better.

Sorry it took me so long to answer this one. I know I said I was okay with spoilers but I figured answering this would be best to leave until after I actually saw Endgame so I can have context. Well, I saw Endgame this weekend so now I have context. And the whole Steve situation did bug me too.

Well, my first main gripe with this and it’s really a gripe I have with the entire movie, is how they went about time-traveling. I kind of understand how time-travel in the MCU works but it’s really messy and very confusing and vague. And I think they made it messy and confusing and vague on purpose so they could theoretically do whatever they want. Most times whenever a story introduces time-travel, it never really makes sense but it feels like the MCU went out of their way for it to not make sense. And then, they don’t even follow their own pre-established rules. According to their own rules, we shouldn’t even have met Steve as an old man because when he went back to live a life with Peggy, him going creates a mini-timeline within the main-timeline that has no bearing on the main timeline. If Peggy had originally married someone else in the main timeline and had children with that person, that family line would still exist in the main timeline because Steve going back doesn’t change what’s already happened in the future. And of course, these time travel rules are actually built to not leave our characters any consequences for mucking around with time (but that’s a discussion for another time). But my point is, how did he pop up in the main timeline? I guess the only thing that makes sense is that at some point the timelines merged together again? It’s weird. Like I said, the writers made the logistics of time-travel vague and messy on purpose to basically facilitate them doing whatever they wanted. And I suppose with the logic of the main timeline not being changed when you time-travel, theoretically Steve may have stopped Hydra from taking control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and saved Bucky from years of torment, that all just happened in a mini-timeline existing somewhere along the axis of the main timeline. Like I said, it’s really messy and in the end, it still doesn’t make sense for why we met old Steve. The MCU would’ve been better off just using multi-verse theory. It’s much cleaner to just say that everything you change when time-traveling creates a parallel universe.

And it was weird that over the past movies, so much was being put into the relationship of Steve and Bucky (platonic or romantic) and they were basically an afterthought in both Infinity Way and Endgame. I never really shipped Stucky in any platonic or romantic way, as I’ve said before, I’m just a casual viewer of the MCU and so I never really had too much of a stake in the franchise. But I did admire their relationship and I don’t hate the idea of them being romantically involved. I’m not really surprised they “no homo’d” Stucky, but I am surprised that with the amount of work that went into building this friendship that lasted over 70 years and fought through brainwashing, that Endgame didn’t focus on it at all. Especially when you consider what they did with Clint and Nat. The writers went out of their way basically to show that a male and female can be just friends with no romantic entanglement. The writers showed through Clint and Nat that you can have this incredibly deep connection with each other and still keep things platonic. I can understand the writers not wanting to take Stucky in a romantic direction but it doesn’t mean they couldn’t have something that’s similar to what Clint and Nat had.

Although in the ending scene, it did seem clear to me that Bucky knew that when Steve went back to return all the infinity stones, that he wasn’t going to come back. So it kind of implies that he and Steve least had a conversation about it. But still, I hate that we didn’t get that conversation especially considering how much Steve means to Bucky. It can’t be easy for Bucky to now have to live in this timeline without Steve around. They both were put into this era where they really didn’t belong so without having Steve around, without having someone who understands that, I feel like it’s going to be really hard on Bucky. And it certainly is weird that Steve would just sit out the next few decades with the knowledge that Hydra is currently infiltrating Hydra and that Bucky is being tormented and he doesn’t do anything about that.

And I just feel very weird about Steve showing up to begin his new life with Peggy because it basically devalues the life she had without him. She lived an entire timeline without him, she had a husband and children and presumably she was happy with that life and taking away that happiness she had originally found in the main timeline just so Steve can have his happily ever after, Peggy’s happily ever after be damned. Granted, I’m certainly not saying that she was truly happy with the life she ended up having. We really don’t know. But I got to imagine that someone like Peggy married whoever she did and had children with that person because she was genuinely happy with that person.

I think the only character that was really treated well by any standard was probably Tony Stark. A lot of emphasis was placed on him and his Endgame. Avengers Endgame was less so about the Infinity War Endgame but Tony Stark’s Endgame.

[spockina]

teeny tiny au where link does indeed go to film school and rhett takes business instead so that they could be a team, but then link is a shit lmao i love hurting. thanks to the beautiful @mythicallyrhink for the handholding. i’m truly scared of this one so gimme your thots lmao

-

Oh the dawn won’t stop weighing a tonne I’ve done some things that I shouldn’t have done But I haven’t stopped loving you once 

.

After a short, but hard time of tears, screams of anger and frustration, sadness and fake laughter to fill the room, they decided, collectively, that Link would, in the end, go to film school, and Rhett would take business. “We’re gon’ be a team if I have to kill someone, Link,” Rhett had said, and Link had laughed, and replied with blood oath, as they did when things got rough.

Coming of age was difficult enough all on its own, hormones doing the Devil’s work on his body – and doing enough of it to send Link into overdrive sometimes. Link shied away from thoughts of Rhett’s body when they were down by the river; craved the nights where he’d fall asleep with his head pillowed on Rhett’s extended arm; tried to stop relating Rhett to the stars in the sky.

College brought them closer – literally, they were living together. Link felt as if he was supposed to learn something new about Rhett, what with actually living with him, but he ended up only learning about himself: he would mold to be whatever fitted best with Rhett. It was that way about dishes, socks left everywhere around the apartment, Rhett writing his papers at the last minute and Link having to annoy him about it.

It was Rhett giving him a shy, quiet peck on the lips, and Link having to do a double take, because that wasn’t on the script. Link could feel Rhett’s breath in his own lungs, they way Rhett’s breaths stuttered, waiting for Link to decide what the future of this was going to be. Having just learned something about himself, Link took the plunge, arms around Rhett like he could stop his best friend from shaking, lips seeking Rhett’s like he hadn’t allowed himself to think about for so long.

They never talked about it. They never settled an agreement, it was just what it was: behind closed doors, in the darkest hours, in hidden spots. It felt so natural, so good, real, but it was wrong, wasn’t it? Isn’t that what Link heard his whole life? It was a sin, and Link, a God-fearing kid, found himself sinning in the dark, all thoughts abandoned for those nights where laying with Rhett, listening to his breaths, was all Link wanted, and he was gonna get it.

Link was very funny (is very funny), and he had all the improv groups and drama clubs to show for it. Film school was fun, and he liked the technical part of it, but he was made for comedy. From the gangly, skinny, long body that made for great punchlines out of himself, to the dumb southern hick vibes; from the genius mind that could come up with jokes on the spot, to making and then laughing at anything resembling a fart or a dick. Link was funny, and so was Rhett. No one ever asked, and so Link never told, but most of his improv practices was rehashing Rhett’s jokes. (Rhett knew. They were a team – they are a team.)

And then, one day, Link met a girl. He met a girl because he was funny, and she was funny, too, and that was the pattern of Link’s affections: funny. Link wanted to think it didn’t mean anything, but he knew on that first night, in that deep, undeniable way, that she was gonna change everything.

She did, but she didn’t mean to.

Link just… couldn’t. He couldn’t, in his right mind, keep going like that. He never retreated from Rhett, he just introduced them. And Rhett, gorgeous, smart, sharp Rhett knew. Took the interaction for what it meant: Link’s kindest way of telling him we’re through.

They never talked about it, but Link never stopped loving Rhett.

When they graduated from college, Rhett said, “we should move. Hollywood is gon’ do you wonders,” and Link said, mirth in his voice, “it’s gon’ do us wonders,” and Rhett smiled down at him just by virtue of being taller – any bystander would tell you that Rhett meant, in fact, to be smiling up at Link, because he was always looking at Link like Link hung the moon. Link knew it, too.

They couldn’t just move, though. Link got married, and didn’t dare ask Rhett to be his best mean; it felt like casual cruelty, and he wouldn’t. Rhett got married after that, and didn’t ask Link either, but made sure Link knew he was just returning the favor, except – except Rhett didn’t take his kindness at all, except Rhett thought Link’s kindness was its own kind of cruelty, and he made sure Link knew.

There were rocky times between the conversation and the wedding, but wedding day, when it was just the two of them, Rhett looked at him, and said “I still love you,” and Link, this time, recognized it for what it was: a chance for them. Rhett wasn’t offering to walk out on his own wedding; he loved her too much for that. But Rhett was offering them another chance, and Link knew. He could have said any variation of words: me too, I love you, let’s fix this. Instead he said I know, and Rhett nodded, and again, understood it for what it was: I love you, but we ain’t doing this.

They move to California. It was, simultaneously, the easiest and the hardest thing Link did in his life. The easiest, because Link shot to stardom in the blink of an eye, already having a well stablished base back home, and the hardest, because the larger he got, the farthest he got from Rhett.

Not literally, either. It would have been easier if he were literally away from Rhett, but he wasn’t. Rhett was right there, literally his manager, from the start. That was the reason why Rhett took business in school: he always said, “you’re gon’ be a star, and I’ll be there.” So, not literally. Rhett was always right there, his manager, with an assistant, an agent; Link’s right-hand man. But Link could feel it happening. Link could see in the contrast between Rhett’s booming laughter and his dry eyes, his loud voice and the emptiness in his tone.

Rhett was living in a house just down the street from Link, with his wife and his children, and Link was living in a house down the street from Rhett, with his wife and his children, and they both had dogs, and they were best friends. The best of friends.

Best friends. Blood oath brothers. Two halves of a whole. Except for the bit where Link killed a little bit of Rhett every day. Except for the bit where he made sure he had to add a like a brother, every time he wanted to say he loved Rhett. Except for the part where he would only ever touch Rhett if a camera was present, to make sure nothing could be deconstructed. Except for how he never forgot how Rhett’s lips tasted, or how Rhett’s skin smelled, or how Rhett’s heartbeat skipped a bit when Link was laying with his head on Rhett’s chest and ran his nails up Rhett’s belly, and to try and purge those memories, he pushed Rhett away when Rhett needed his best friend.

Link was (is) a comedy genius, Rhett by his side every step of the way – more often than not, guiding his steps. Link won awards, starred in movies, was the face of campaigns. Funny to die for, and handsome to boot.

Link was a powerhouse, and Rhett was the driving force. Not everyone knew that, but Link did. Rhett did, too. Rhett ran an empire called Mythical, with Link Neal center-front, with creations far and wide away from only Link, but, truly: an empire. Link’s name attached to it, but Rhett’s work behind it.

They worked hard, and worked well, and worked together. And Rhett still loved Link, so deeply, like it had never started so that it could have never ended, but he also resented Link, and Link could see that in the lines around his eyes. Link didn’t take offense; he allowed Rhett his resentment.

Link still loved Rhett, he never stopped.

But being a comedy genius and a good man didn’t come for free. And when they parted ways in the late afternoon, each going for their own car even though they lived down the street from each other, Link couldn’t help thinking of what could have been.

[donaldresslerfanfic]

Christmas Time.

Rating: M

Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Content.

Word Count: 3439

Donald Ressler X OC Maggie Waters.

Chapter: Forty Two. 

Chapter Index

Story on Wattpad

Ressler.

I discovered that Liz had kept digging into the files that Mags had taken to my office, and we had some cases to take over to ensure we got Maggie's old clients and possible threats covered.

I worked with different other task forces to follow their daily activities and to make sure they were under surveillance 24/7.

Soon enough we had out holiday break and when I got back home from the post office right before lunch, I saw Mags with a bag, and was standing on the side of the stairwell. She removed a hidden panel and I could see the distinctive stacks of money she had hidden under there.

I closed the door, making her look at me and give me a smile.

"You're early" she said, then took two handfuls of stacks and dumped them in the bag.

"Yeah, I just had to sign off for the holidays" I walked and saw another couple of stacks drop on the bag "okay Walter White, what's all this?"

She smiled at me and my reference, then continued loading the money.

"Since we're going to my sister's place for Christmas I decided to take the money to buy the house from her. I called a realtor from Rhode Island and my dad's house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an attic, basement, and 1.024 square feet was valued by him on 345k. The half of that is 175k, it's 45k more than what I have but it'll be enough for my sister to buy anything in here, she could buy a terrain and build in it, have a costume home for her a my nieces and nephew"

I stood there watching her unload all of her hard work on a bag, I could never understand how people got so attached to some things

I assumed my face mimicked my thoughts, when Maggie got a glimpse of me as she finished she gave me a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just upsetting seeing this" I motioned at the bag "you're giving up so much because you can't let that house go"

She gave a lip tight smile and closed the compartment in the staircase.

"Someday I might sell the house just not today"

A little unsettling thought invaded me, and while she picked up the heavy bag I took it and carried it upstairs.

"But you're not thinking to buy it and move there right?" She was walking in front of me towards the bedroom, and I could see her shoulder shrugging.

"I don't know, why?" She said over her shoulder.

I stuttered at first, leaving the bag on the floor of our bedroom and pacing the room.

"Mags if you move out to Rhode Island I.... It's a large travel from there to here and couldn't go with you until I finish this Reddington thing, maybe if I get transferred but that-" in the middle of my rant I turned to her, finding her with a big mocking grin on her face. I undid my tie and gave her a little smile as well. "Oh you think it's funny, scare me like that?"

I think she wasn't expecting me to jump on the bed and go at her, she screamed and chickened out in the corner of the room, when I got her up my arms and flew her to the bed and attacked her ribs, knowing that if there was something Maggie was, it was ticklish.

She screamed whem my finger attacked her ribs and she tried to fend me off with her legs, she let out a large laugh and I downed my lips to hers, drowning her laughter, accompanying her with my own little chuckle.

I pulled back slightly, but this place on the bed and between her legs was possibly my favorite, she hugged me by the neck while she took a deep breath and ran her hands on my hair, she loved to mess it up for some reason.

"Is the prospect of living without me so terrifying?" She said, I didn't hesitate in nodding, and downed my lips on hers one more time "you've got nothing to worry about, I'm not going anywhere, and specially not without you."

I pulled her to a sitting position while still holding her by the waist.

"Do you have anything to do now?"

"Christmas shopping" I made a disgruntled sound and stood up, still holding her in my arms, I left her on the floor and began to undo the buttons on my shirt. "you don't have to come if you don't want to"

"It's not that, it's just that I was already getting excited to do something else" she smirked and placed a little kiss on my lips.

"I'll wait for you downstairs"

Everyone had a favorite holiday, and Mags was definitely Christmas. I didn't mind it that much, I don't remember the last time I celebrated it,  but it has been longer that five years, that I knew. I think one reason why they gave me the Reddington file was because it was too straining to follow him. I remember spending New year's eve's overseas following him, and it definitely made my relationship with people bad. With Audrey, my mom, my brother. The only friends I had were my unit.

One distinctive point of difference between my relationship with Audrey and now Mags, was that Mags understood why I did what I did. Why it was so important for me to catch him, and why is it so important for me to continue in the task force.

We did our Christmas shopping and had dinner at night, getting up early to head over to Maddie's house. Since we couldn't clear airport security with a bag full of cash without raising suspicions, we had to take the long route and drive 6 hours minum to Rhode Island. I didn't mind at all to drive, especially if Mags was my copilot.

I hadn't had a holiday vacation in years, and if I had it at some point, I bet it wouldn't be as memorable as this one.

Before christmas Mags presented her sister the money for her to buy half of the house, and they spent a day, two at most, getting all of the paperwork done so they could pass the deed of the house on and put it to Mags name. After that they spent a lot of time house hunting in DC, Mags was over the moon her sister was coming to live near her. But since they couldn't move until the girls finished school, they decided to buy a terrain and have a house built costume, and of course, Maggie was going to design it.

Christmas came and went, Maddie made a little joke about how the present boxes were getting smaller and smaller when I presented Mags a set of earrings I saw her eyeballing a long time ago.

After Christmas, and since Maddie had to spend New year's Eve with Ethan's family, Mags and I drove back to DC, and in there I planned a little something for New year's Eve.

I had Maggie dressed for a night out, and after we settled in Alexandria, we ate in the local food post, then ended up in the rail of the river to wait for the fireworks.

Mags was propped up against the rail and I was hugging her by her waist, pressing her back to mine. I led my lips to her neck and kissed, she moved her face to the side and I could kiss her on the lips before she smiled and broke the kiss.

"Any new year's resolution agent Ressler?"

"Mmmm, let's see" I pressed her to my chest and sighed "I want us to travel more, I want to live in the moment, stablish date nights and stick to them, learn how to cook for you" she smiled while I placed a little kiss on her cheek.

"You forgot be happy"

"I already am happy" she smiled sweetly at me, and turned to look ahead, I placed my chin on her shoulder. "And you?"

"Oh, god, do you have a minute?" She joked, I followed and looked at my watch

"4 minutes until New years."

"Okay quick. Get married, have a baby, those are like the standard every year resolution, but also totally travel, stop worrying so much, get another tattoo"

"Another one?"

"Yeah, you're supposed to have them uneven, what? Are they a turn off?"

I shook my head no, because they definitely weren't, I loved her tattoos, they were minimalistic and delicate, they fitted her perfectly.

"I've never had a new year's kiss before" she mentioned, looking up at the sky.

"Who said you were getting one?" I joked, making her nudge me in the ribs scoldingly, but still with a smile on her face.

I turned her around for her to hug me by the shoulders. I pressed my forehead to hers as I heard the countdown begin. Her smile grew wider at the sound of people cheering down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

I pressed my lips down on her when people around us began to cheer Happy New Year, my hands moved from her waist to her lower back and the space between her shoulders.

That night, while I watched the fireworks reflect off her eyes, when we made love, when I had her sleeping on top of me, there was only one thought in my mind.

I wouldn't let it go past this year, I was going to ask Maggie to marry me.

Maggie.

After a memorable Christmas time and new year's Eve with my family and my amazing boyfriend, I put all of my focus on my sister's new house.

Being an architect had it's perks, I knew a lot of the people in the industry and me being me I had a lot of friends and friendly faces everywhere I went, getting the terrain for my sister's house wasn't a challenge, in a good neighborhood, close to school, it was sold to me pretty cheap.

The building itself took time, and while I supervised all of it I also worked in my firm, so to say the least I was very busy, maybe even busier than Don, and that was saying a lot.

I had three projects to oversee, plus the one that I was already checking out, my sister's sketch needed to be finished for her to give me the thumbs up and I had it all in a deadline.

I had settled in the kitchen table after I got off work and I didn't realized how late it was until Don came back from work and plopped a bag next to me.

"Hi gorgeous" he said, I left the pen in the table and looked up, waiting for him to lean down and kiss me "busy?"

"You have no idea" I complained, he finally gave me a kiss and I continued down with my work.

"It must be important if you're willing to pass on ice cream" he tapped the container and took the bag.

"And by the look of it, pass on sleep too"

I heard him put the ice cream on the freezer, then do something else.

"Don't forget about the date tomorrow" he said placing a cup of coffee next to me.

I gave him a smile and took the bag, and as soon as he sat down on the couch and turned the TV on, I quickly checked the date on my phone. Time really flew by, tomorrow was our first year anniversary. Thank God I preemptively bought stuff to gift to Don, when I was out and I saw something he might like I bought it and kept it hidden until it was time for me to give them.

I was summed in my work, only getting past the first project when the doorbell rang, Don stood up and went to get it, coming back with a flat box.

He left the box on the table, the smell of pizza slowly getting to my nostrils and making my stomach rumble. He got a beer for us and sat down next to me, I moved my stuff a little out of the way and sighed, rubbing on my forehead.

"I'm getting a headache"

"You can't do this later?" He passed me a slice of pizza and opened the beer for me.

"No, I'm super delayed, and now that you reminded me that we had to go out tomorrow I really have to crank it and finish at least 3 projects tonight"

"Sounds like that new position is a bit overwhelming"

"It's not, I've just taken a lot of jobs thinking I could do it. And I can, I just need time"

"And why have you taken so many jobs?"

"Because I still need to give my sister another 30 grand, and not to mention I don't have-"

"Money for your wedding" he interrupted me.

"I know that it sounds very cliche to you, but I have big expectations for my wedding and not having money for it makes me angry." I replied a little annoyed, I'd never liked it when people joked about me saving for my wedding, people save for years for their children's tuition, is it because it makes me sound selfish?.

"We'll figure this out Mags, I have money I can-"

"No, thank you" I interrupted this time "I can work something out, if you want to help, just keep me fed. But preferably healthy fed" I said taking another slice of pizza "I couldn't fit a pair of jeans this morning, and I'm also unhappy about that too"

"Buy bigger ones" he presented as a solution, that made me chuckle, as if it was that simple.

"What did you do today?"

"Nothing interesting, followed a missing child that turned up yesterday"

"Missing children sometimes turn up"

"Not if they were declared dead"

I frowned and twisted my lips.

"Okay, weird. As much as I would like to hear about his conspiracy theory, I have to get back to work."

I cleaned my hands on my jeans, something Don always looked at me scoldingly for, then got back to work.

He really tried to stay up with me as long as he could, but I insisted on him going to bed, he still had to work tomorrow and I could sleep in for a few more hours before going to work myself.

I didn't went to bed until 4 am that night, and even though I could sleep until 7:30, that wasn't enough rest time for anything. The following day I was a zombie, I was still the same energetic me but it took a lot of coffee.

My sister had approved of my design and I took care of buying the materials to start building,

I squeezed some time and got off work early, when I got home I threw myself in the couch, exhausted. I woke up to soft kisses on my jaw, an overwhelming scent of cologne and aftershave. Even though I was conscious I couldn't open my eyes.

"Should I cancel the reservation?" I head Don ask me softly in my ear. I forced my eyes open, it was 7pm.

"No, I'll get up now, give me 20 minutes" I got up, thinking that I was down on the couch, but I wasn't, I was on my bed.

I showered and got into a nice dress and a pair of heels, not that high but still high enough to accentuate my legs, then got on Don's car.

"Did you finish what you had to?" He said while driving, placing a spare hand on my thigh, touching the bits of skin that weren't covered by the dress.

"Yeah, thankfully, told you I just needed some time"

We parked outside a building and I couldn't help but gasp when I got off the car.

"You didn't bring us to Sakerum"

"We can go somewhere else if you don't want to" he said grabbing me by the waist and leading us to the entrance.

"I freaking love Sakerum"

I really did love Sakerum, it's a rooftop restaurant in DC and ever since I found out about it, it was my favorite Asian fusion restaurant, the ambiance outside, the decor, the food, everything was perfect, and I wouldn't pick other place to celebrate one year with Don.

He had made a reservation and we sat in a corner piece, placed our picks and waited. I held Don's hand while I got comfortable next to him, placing my head on his shoulder since we were sitting one next to the other.

"What'd you do today? Caught the bad guy?"

"Yeah, I did. Those missing children? We found more, tracked a full colony of presumed missing children. Turns out the guy who got them missing was actually a guy who worked on getting these children a new place if the parents gave them up for adoption"

"That's horrible. So he faked the children's death and got them to this colony?"

"Yeah, and then when they turned 12 they killed them"

"Okay, that's ultra fucked up. Thank god you got that guy"

"Woman" he corrected.

He cupped my cheek with his hand and brought me in for a kiss.

"And by the way" I said running my hand from his waist up to his chest "I like you a lot in black"

He smiled while I leaned again and kissed him one more time. We got interrupted to be served some wine, then were left alone again. We both picked up our glasses and held them up.

"Happy first anniversary Mags" he began, looking at me in the eyes, I could see a different glint in them while his eyes moved on top of mine "you've uh..." He stopped for a second, and I could feel his other hand curl up to mine "you've made me really happy. All I want in life is to pay you back with more happiness. All of those things that you want? White picket fence, marriage, children, I want to give you all of that if that means I'll get to see you smile everyday. I-"

I stopped him, because at this point I was holding back tears and I couldn't help to let one drop on my cheek.

I had placed my hand on top of his chest to make him stop, and I had to put down the glass to clean up my cheeks. When I was a little more composed I grabbed the glass again and gave him a little embarrassed chuckle.

"I love you" he finished, and I leaned to kiss his lips again.

I ran my hand on his shoulders and pulled him in, giving him another short kiss before I said

"I love you more Don, you have no idea how much you've changed my life" he smiled over my lips and kissed me again, being interrupted when we got served our order.

"Where's my gift?" He said, leaving the glass on the table and leaning over to start eating

"It's at the house" I said, doing the same.

"Ah, it's one of those gifts?" He said suggestively.

"No" I rolled my eyes at him playfully "it's not that kind of gift, it's just a big box"

I saw him look on the inside of his suit jacket and give me a little smirk

"Want mine now?" I nodded eager, I loved gift exchange, which is why Christmas was my favorite Holiday of all. He took out a little brochure and handed it to me. I enthusiastically took it and opened it. Inside there were plane tickets and promotional photos of Beach resorts.

"What?" I asked with a big smile.

"It's a cash in vacation, I know that you can't take that much time off with your new job, but whenever you want we can take a week off in Maui"

"Are we going to Maui?" I asked in a high pitch voice. Before he could confirm I held myself to the slopes of his suit and pulled him to me, kissing him again. He chuckled against my lips and placed his hands on my waist, holding me closer.

I thought that we really should stop kissing and get to the eating part of the dinner, so I very reluctantly pulled back and handed him the envelope back for him to store in his suit, but boy didn't I want to skip on this dinner and fuck him in the car.

[moonraccoon-exe]

*steps up to mic* *clears throat* .... Gladnis marriage proposal and wedding. *walks off stage*

YES

COME BACK TO THE STAGE, ANON

COME BACK AND TELL ME MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE SUGGESTING, DAMMIT, I NEED MORE OF GLADNIS PROPOSAL + WEDDING BECAUSE

IT’S SO FLUFFY

I LOVE domestic Gladnis, but you know what’s necessary to reach maximum domestic feels? That they’re married. And you know what’s necessary so they’re married. A DAMN WEDDING THAT REQUIRED OF A PROPOSAL.

AGH, Gladnis is going to ruin my life and I’ll let it because it’s perfect and my heart is so full of it, I like this ship more than I like myself, apjsdposfj, they need to be married, goddammit, WHY ARE THE TWO OF THEM SO PERFECT TOGETHER I DON’T UNDERSTAND 

AH

*deep breath*

I HAD ALREADY CALMED DOWN BUT I JUST REMEMBERED

ONE OF MY FAVORITE FANARTS FOR GLADNIS AND IT’S COINCIDENTALLY WEDDING THEMED AAAAAAH LEMME LOOK FOR IT

HERE HAVE IT APSJDPSODJFSD http://moonraccoon-exe.tumblr.com/post/164471651343/dreamyblossoms-amicitia-scientia-he-said-i

Ignis in white would look so handsome!?!? Then again- nO WAIT I SKIPPED THE PROPOSAL

Who do you think proposed, apsjfpsofj, it’d be extreme fluff either way, so how do you think- ahahaha, I’m panicking so much because I’m so excited I can’t word, gladly I haven’t forgotten english at all but my fingerstickleandIamsoexcited apsjdp

Anon, this is completely unfair. You pushed one of the maximum fan feels in me. I’m super sensitive to this ship, it’s so unfair you also add this quantity of fluff. It’s not first time anyone mentions or shows me anything Gladnis wedding/proposal related, but apparently I’m badly triggered at the vague mention of it no matter how little? XD

Gods, this is life.

The proposal would be so different from each of them.

Gladio would definitely play a prank to propose. You know, the viral sort of proposal like the guy who faked to fall off a roof, so when his girlfriend looked down he was all safe with the huge ass sign of “Will you marry me?” and yes (tried looking for the video, didn’t find it, but know the idea’s not mine).

How do you think Gladio would do that? I think that that one would be pretty accurate for him, hahaha.

He would take Ignis for dinner somewhere that they have a balcony to themselves. It may be some anniversary, or maybe he just asked Ignis to go there with the excuse he had saved up enough to be a bit fancier than they usually are (nothing extravagant or super elegant, just a slightly more formal dinner than just going to the skewers stall). 

So they’re there, and Prompto appears at some point with the excuse that Gladio told him to snap a pic or two, because he had a ‘surprise’ for Ignis, so there’s Prom filming, right? And then Gladio stands up and he’s like “Ladies, gentlemen…Ignis” and Ignis is just sat there in his chair, legs crossed and cup of coffee in a hand, watching his boyfriend as he steps back, raising the arms to his sides. “In this lovely, wonderful night in which you, Ignis, bless me with your presence, bla blablaa”

As he speaks, Ignis sees he’s getting dangerously close to the edge of the balcony, and he seems to want to warn him, but Gladio’s still speaking and not letting him talk,so Ignis thinks it’s all fine.

“…and so I wanted to tell you, Ignis, if y-”

And, suddenly, Gladio “stumbles” with something, ends up crashing with the edge of the balcony in a way so that, as he can’t control his stumbling (”” ahaha) he’s suddenly falling back and down the balcony.

So, of course, Ignis loses his shit and he’s like “WH- GLADIO!” and rushes to the edge to get a look down-

-and there’s Gladio, lying on an inflatable stunt bag, all grins and joy, with friends holding up signs so that from the balcony’s height they read “Will you marry-” and, of course, Gladio holds the “Me?”

Needless to say, Ignis is saying out loud “WHAT” before getting away of the edge while messing up with his own hair and sighing like he’s super done, and he finds Prompto trying not to laugh wihle still filming him and Ignis goes like“You were part of this all along, you knew and you let him do that, what is wrong with you people, I almost have a heart attack, sweet Astrals, stop filming me!”

But really Ignis is asking to stop filming because he feels his face burning hot and  he feels silly because he fell full for the prank, but he’s also starting to laugh and he can’t stop messing with his hair and face because this was unexpected, creative and GLADIO’S PROPOSING TO HIM WTF

You know what would be super fluffy? Ohmygod HEAR ME OUT FOR A SECOND I’VE GOT THE OUTCOME OF THIS AND THIS IS MY ADDITION AND I’M- okay listen

So Prompto’s asking Ignis if that’s a yes and insisting, and Ignis, still not knowing how to react and panicking (the good way), he’s telling Prompto yes, and then he’s like“But I need to tell him. I have to-”

So Ignis starts heading for the door to go downstairs….…but stops there. He looks at the inside of the restaurant and he’s frozen for a moment, and Prompto’s asking him if he’s okay. Ignis turns to look at Prompto for a second before smiling and starting to walk the other way.

And then, Ignis calmly throws himself off the balcony, too.

He’s made sure Gladio’s not lying on the inflatable bag so it’s safe, but nobody was expecting him to suddenly throw himself and land there, so it’s panic down in the street because not only is this man saying Yes, he’s also doing it the best goddamn way ever and everyone’s freaking out. 

And Gladio, of course, rushes to help him get down the inflatable thing and he’s so shocked because IGNIS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

So while he’s helping him down and receiving him in arms, Gladio’s like“Ignis! That was, that was….not neccesary! I-I didn’t mean to make you-”“You didn’t make me. I wanted to jump.”“But why? Ohgods, you could come downstairs! I could wait!”“Hey, you jumped off a balcony for me? I jump off a balcony for you. That’s what husbands do, right? Always together?”

So Gladio’s holding this super smiling Ignis in his arms and he’s shocked yet again, because he was not expecting to be given a surprise during his own surprise for Ignis. So none speak and just stare at each other for a moment.“I-is that a yes?”“I’m pretty positive I would not have had jumped off a balcony would I reject your proposition.”

And it’s all smiles,and hugs, and they kiss and everyone’s happy and everyone’s so happy and clapping and sinadspifpajdfpoj[Imagine Prompto selfie-filming himself as he runs downstairs while screaming the entire time to be in time to film the kiss and the going-down-on-a-knee-and-ring-slipping, hahahahaha]

GODDAMMIT I’M GOING TO MAKE THIS A FANFICTION AND NOBODY’S GOING TO STOP ME DID YOU ALL HEAR ME

If Ignis proposes it would be probably a bit more traditional, I guess. I don’t think he would make a whole public scene like Gladio, not because he doesn’t like that, but maybe he’s just a bit more reserved in the stuff he does. Yet, I think he would also dislike the idea of it being too cliché, like putting the ring in his drink (”besides, I know my boyfriend, and he’s probably going to drink the entire glass with the ring in it and won’t even notice he just swallowed it”) or just doing it out of the blue at their porch or something. 

Or maybe he DOES some little “prank” because he’s playful too (he is, even when his seriousness tends to shadow his playful side most of times),but nothing as flamboyant as what Gladio would do. 

Maybe Ignis will phone him one night. Maybe Ignis will ask him for a date, something normal, just going out somewhere, and as Ignis had something else to do that day outside the Citadel, they can’t leave it together so they arrange a meeting point. 

But Ignis doesn’t arrive.

Still, Gladio waits because he doesn’t want to pressure Ignis. Fifteen minutes past their meeting time (which is quite a lot, as Ignis never arrives late to his appointments no matter what it is), his phone rings. It’s Ignis. 

“Hey, sweetie, what’s wrong?”“Hi, Gladio. I’m afraid I’m a little late. Could you please start walking?”“Sure thing, sweet ass, where to?”“To your left.”

And there’s a small pause before Gladio’s grinning and looking around.

“Oh, so you’re watching me.”“Maybe.”“I see. It’s one of your mental games, isn’t it? You love to mess with me.”“I do.”“Alright, left it is, then.”

Gladio starts walking while still at the phone with Ignis. It’s some odd play. Ignis threatened him on not hanging up until Ignis said he could do it, like some criminal, but he speaks soft and has a casual conversation with him, like any other day. They joke and talk as Ignis guides him. “Left”, “Right”, “That’s one nice jacket you’ve got, have I told you?”, “Turn left in here again.”

Gladio subtly watches his environment, and even though it’s already dark and there’s not many people around, he doesn’t seem to be able to spot Ignis. His strategist boyfriend is both intelligent and dangerous, and he likes that. 

“Alright, darling, you’re doing fine.”“That same thing you told me last night, you know?”“Focus, Amicitia.”

Laughter.

“Alright, now where, Iggy?”“Just keep going. That’s it. And now…stop. Turn to your right but don’t walk. What do you see?”“Hm…well, there’s a ramen stall. My favorite. Are we having dinner here? That’d be fantastic. Where are you?”“Not telling you yet. Okay, go to the ramen stall.”“Okay, I’m here?”“Now tell the owner ‘The weather is nice, I didn’t need an umbrella’““*laughter* What?”“Do it.”

So Gladio does.

“Okay, the guy gave me a paper?” he says as he walks back to the outside according to more directions from Ignis.“And what does it say?”“Free noodles. It’s a cupon. So we ARE having dinner here? Can I turn now?”“What does it say on the back?”Gladio turns it, and reads before laughing a bit with a little “aaw”“It says ‘You are the Noodles of my Cup. Ignis, you romantic idiot. Can I turn now? I want to kiss you.”“Not yet. Do you see the little bridge behind the stablishment?”“At the small garden? Sure.”“Go there.”

Gladio’s obeying.“So now what Iggy?”“Look at the railing of the bridge, please. You can hang up now.”

Gladio laughs to himself and hangs up. He looks at the railing and there’s a note pasted there. So he carefully takes it and unfolds it to read it.“Please, put your phone in your pocket. After you do, you can read the rest:Dear Gladio,Thank you for these wonderful 7 years of relationship.I wouldn’t change them for anything,But I also think I don’t want you to be my boyfriend anymore.(Turn around)”

So Gladio, with the heart a little broken but also beating fast, hesitates only for one second, because he’s not sure he wants to lookat Ignis to the eyes, not after reading that.  He knew he sometimes annoyed Ignis, he knew he was not the perfect boyfriend, but he tried. He thought this was a game. He didn’t know Ignis was serious on this.

So, a bit scared and with the heart breaking, Gladio turns around. At first, Ignis is not there.But then he looks down.And he finds Ignis to be in front of him, down on a knee, looking up at him like a knight to his king or like a believer to his god. And he, too, looks a bit scared.

“So, be my husband, instead?”

Gladio cried and nobody can convince me otherwise. ❤

Holy fuck I’m mAKING A FANFIC OUT OF THAT TOO AND NOBODY’S GOING TO STOP ME

AAAHAHAHA *evil Gladnis laughter*

                                       MOON RACCOON

                                                                                 IS

                                                                      SO

                                                                                           TRIGGERED

[Edit: Shit, I forgot the wedding. I was so excited, ahahaha. But this is already too long.

So have this shameless self promotion of a Gladnis wedding fanfic right HERE: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11115198