#archer merlin for the win

[lavendersins]

merlin being adept at archery is definitely in my headcanon top 3

art by @sibbydoo

[merlinbbcolympics]

and that's a wrap!!

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the Merlin Olympics this year! Congrats to everyone who managed to publish in time, and for those whose lives or brains got in the way this year, hang onto your wips! We will be back!

Merlin Olympics 2024 MASTERLIST

ART

olympic kickoff by @gyrhs | Morgana, Merlin, Elyan, Gwen, Arthur

archer leon by @nivellesart | Leon

FIC

vaulting forward by @shana-rosee | G, drabble, Morgana

ahead of the crowd by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Merlin

a good day for a swim by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Gwaine

serve, spike, dig by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Gwen

all terrain by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Lancelot

rushing water by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Arthur

striding forward by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Leon

target acquired by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Elyan

penalty kick by shana-rosee | G, drabble, Percival

love game by shana-rosee | T, drabble, Merlin/Arthur

diving in too deep by @fifty-5ty | E, 3k, Merlin/Arthur

those who win (bronze medals) by @sauraunderscore | E, 5k, Merlin/Arthur, Gwaine/Percival, Valiant/OFC

see you in two years for the winter games!! 💙🥶💙

[cannedvampirejuice]

also bc im overthinking abt this - room situations with detailed notes

ROOM A - Oberon was originally rooming with Jalter - both of them didn't fill out anything on the roommate form - but he never cleans anything up ever which drove her crazy. Eventually they had a huge blow up fight so he lives alone in his garbage now. She will stop in to grab her mail since its still delivered to that room, but the atmosphere is never pleasant. Usually once a month someone will have to "save" Oberon from the trash because it starts stinking up the hallway.

ROOM B - Mostly normal and pretty clean, the only oddity is that Asclepius will essentially study Dantes like a bug in a jar. The Caster then of course updates our favorite Berserker Nightingale on the current condition of her favorite patient. They only argue when Dantes smokes in the room and not on the ground floor (Asclepius would prefer he quit, honestly, but there's some battles you just can't win). Asclepius will sometimes keep labeled specimens in the fridge and cabinets, but Dantes lets it slide because they are always properly labeled and away from the actual food.

ROOM C - While they have incredibly similar habits due to being the same person, Junao can get distracted and will accidentally leave food out or forget to take out the garbage occasionally. Fights are incredibly minimal, more a sigh and complaint and then a resolution to do better. Their room is the cleanest by far, though the competition isn't really trying. Its normal to want a good grade in apartment right? Archer thinks so. The two also have the most guests coming and going, from Osakabehime to Karna to Constantine to Parvati and many many more.

ROOM D - Originally inhabited by just Scathach and Murasaki, Jalter now sleeps on their couch. The room is organized chaos, with Jalter's stuff filling the living room, stacks of books everywhere that don't fit in Murasaki's room, and all sorts of hobby magazines from fashion to fitness to cooking on top of actual work out equipment from Scathach hiding everywhere. Sometimes there's arguments because someone almost tripped, or broke something that was left out, or didn't do the dishes, but the atmosphere stays consistently livable. Usually just called "The Girls Room".

ROOM E - Incredibly Suspicious Mage Room. It stays pretty clean, but theres a pretty clear dividing line between their stuff. Almost like the apartment is split in two. On one half is Douman's that essentially an evil mage workshop, and the other half is Merlin's where it looks and smells like a flowershop. While they definitely tease each other they never actually fight and both consider the other a "friend" by their own definitions. Little Shikigami also fly about the main living area and Douman's room, almost like pets.

ROOM F - Somehow both compatible and incompatible at the same time. Izou can be a rough roommate to handle (leaves garbage out, occasionally breaks things, sometimes blows the money he was saving for rent on a gamble) but makes up for it in having some ok skills in cooking and occasionally cleaning. Izou also has the courtesy to usually go out if he wants to be loud and party, giving Salieri much needed alone time where he can recharge and just listen to music alone for some hours. When they do argue (usually over Izou being too noisy or an issue with rent split) it's never catastrophic and they patch it up after a few hours (usually because ryouma helps izou out).

[earlgreyinpajamas]

modern au where merlin is irish? :)

It's a long way to Tipperary by TyalanganD (@tyalangand)

Merlin is on a winter holiday with Arthur, Morgana, Gwen, Elena, and Mithian. And he's feeling like a charity case.

Or,

Arthur is a prat with a hot arse, Merlin doesn't know how to ski, and the Alps are really nice. Especially if you have money.

~~~

so this is a cute fluff fic to warm your heart!!!

2. Not Every Win Gets a Medal by ingberry

It wasn’t that Arthur was obsessed; it was just that he couldn’t stop thinking about the Irish archer with those full, gorgeous lips. He’d nearly spaced out during an early qualifying heat thinking about what he’d like to do to that mouth (and also the rest of him). The opportunity to do anything about it had never presented itself and, shamefully, Arthur was pretty sure he’d sacrifice his medals for it to happen at this point.

~~~

arthur's one brain cell be like

3. Wedding Bells Ringing Out Our Fate by thenerdyindividual (@thenerdyindividual)

Merlin is Arthur’s best man. It makes sense, after all they’ve been best mates since uni. The problem? Merlin’s been in love with him almost as long as Gwen has.

~~~

merlin is northern irish here, so i hope that'll count, but i couldnt not rec this fic

[martuzzio]

Medieval 141 AU Ideas

This is a huge work in progress but here's the ideas I have for this so far! Feel free to send me an ask if you have any thoughts or ideas of your own :D

I made a tag for this AU so it's easier to follow everything

In general, there's some sort of war brewing (with who? No idea) because you can't have a Medieval knight AU without some sort of impending doom. Ghost and Soap start as enemies and eventually fall in love

Soap: Head Knight (aka Captain) of the King’s Guard, the youngest knight ever to hold the position. Dreamed of being a knight as a child. He lives in the castle with the rest of the Guard and hangs out with Roach and Gaz when he can, which is less and less now with the war approaching. His horse Brèagha ("Beautiful") absolutely gets way too many carrots and sugar cubes from him

Ghost: Infamous mercenary with a long list of kills. He was paid to assassinate Soap to cripple Price's operation and kickstart the war but Soap's charm wins him over instead. I don't know what his horse is named but it's either something endearing (like "Sweetheart") or incredibly stupid (like "Sir-Bites-A-Lot-Explosion-Murder"). Totally falls in love with Soap first but is too chicken to say anything about it so he just follows Soap and the other knights around like a lost puppy

Price: King of... whatever the kingdom is called (either England or a made up country). Always busy, always tired. Loves his crazy found family of knights and killers and academics. Adopted Gaz when he was a boy

Gaz: Price's adopted son and heir to the throne. Enjoys running drills with Soap and Roach more than sitting for his history lessons. Best friends with Roach because they pretty much grew up together

Laswell: An advisor in the King's Court, like a Prime Minister-level person who works alongside Price. Super well respected and loved by the people because she's awesome :D

Roach: Another knight in Price's Guard. Mute, communicates with sign language. Has been Gaz's personal knight (and best friend) since forever. Orphan vibes

König: A knight from another kingdom sent to Price as a sort of exchange/show of good will. Was an executioner in the past (sniper's hood -> executioner's hood) because he was tall/strong enough to physically subdue the prisoners. Carries around an axe instead of a sword

Alejandro: ??

Rudy: ??

Graves: Either a knight in Price's Guard or an advisor in his Court that betrays them for the enemy kingdom

Shepherd: King of the other kingdom they're at war with

Other knights: Nikolai, Yuri, Poet, Meat, Toad, Archer, Zach, Chemo, Merlin, Royce, Peasant, Worm, Scarecrow, Rook, Ozone

[kasunex]

Honestly in repose to your fate hot takes I’ve become more supportive of Shirou x Saber on each successive rewatch of the anime. Let me start by saying I’m not a huge part of the fandom Tsukihime, Fate Stay Night and Today’s Menu For The Emiya Family is the limit of my Nasuverse knowledge but on my first watch of FSN I also thought Saber x Shirou was forced and seemed to come out of nowhere to make the final fight more dramatic but on my last watch I honestly changed my mind. In the anime at least a big theme of Saber’s route seemed to be that she didn’t ever want to be King Arthur and her goal at become a servant was to go back in time and not become King Arthur because she failed, I think this is meant to contrast with Shirou whose idealism in becoming a hero is so strong as to make him purposefully pick fights he can’t win and fight them anyway. They’re actually pretty interesting mirror images of each other in that regard like other ships I’ve liked, then after Shirou starts to learn from the mistakes that turned him into Archer he becomes obsessed with saving Saber from herself since he thinks she did everything she could during her life time and wants her to choose a second life with him, something that the admittedly non canon cooking manga spin off shows that she really enjoys being a housewife in Japan as opposed to being king, but I digress at the end before the final fight against Kotomine Shirou and Saber end up with a common goal to prevent the grail from materialising again and plan to win the fight even though doing so will keep them apart and end with Saber’s death but Saber I think at that moment understands Shirou’s father and Shirou understands why Saber will never consent to shirk her duty as king which I understand was your main problems with the ship but I think are covered in canon at least implied to be resolved.

Yeah, I think most would more or less agree with that take.

My issue with the ship is the concept of pairing a shonen with the ghost of a pre-medieval King of England. I struggle to see how the two could ever really be on the same level, and nothing I've seen of the pairing can move me past this impression.

Seeing a badass, legendary, ancient king reduced to a blushing mess by someone as plain as Shirou just doesn't sit.

It also doesn't help that Fate/Zero establishes Saber pretty much hated Kiritsugu, Shirou's adopted father and role model. That they have such dissenting views of the most important figure in Shirou's life is a conflict that's never really addressed, and just further gets in the way. I don't know how much of that is on Fate/Zero and how much of it is on Stay Night, but even in Stay Night, Saber makes clear in Heaven's Feel that she was not a fan of Kiritsugu.

I think there's a lot of comparison to be drawn with my favorite Fate pairing, Nero x Hakuno. Why does that work for me when Shirou x Saber doesn't? I suspect part of it is the tone difference, Stay Night is much grittier and more grounded compared to the more over-the-top Extra. Part is also that Nero is established to have never had a geniune bond in her lifetime - her own mother tried to kill her - so it makes more sense why she'd attach herself so strongly to Hakuno.

Artoria, on the other hand, had a seemingly normal childhood, friends and allies in Merlin and the Round Table knights, and even Irisviel as a close friend in Fate/Zero.

I get why Shirou x Saber has some appeal, but personally I just don't see it.

[ekgfiction]

Olympus: Secret Services

GAME Information

Platform: Twine, Sugarcube.

Price: Free game.

Style: Interactive fiction, action, mystery, romance, fantasy.

Rated: 16+ (violence and possible explicit sex scenes)

Where to find it? On Itch.io.

Status: Prologue. (02/01/2022)

The Story

After years of being unseen, someone takes notice of you, of your special set of skills. They want you to work for them - or rather for Olympus, a mysterious global agency who seems to deal with... magic?

A chain of reactions begins, one that will free a beast of a magnitude you can't imagine, and that awakens the past horrors you tried so hard to forget. How will it influence you? And how will you influence it?

In this interactive fiction on Twine, you can choose your gender and pronouns, your physical appearance, and your job (art dealer, private eye, hacker, or street fighter). Choose your answers wisely, and you will have a few allies, plenty of enemies, and even some lovers.

The Romantic Options

Louis/Louise ARCHER

Archer was chosen as the leader of the first tactical team for a simple reason: they never betray their team. Easygoing, charming and fun, their personality shifts completely when they are in "work mode"; they turn into an overly serious person, whose mind is solely focused on one thing: their mission.  

They do everything with their heart on their sleeve, and their romance path is just as passionate as they are. When Archer falls, it is hard and fast.

Jai/Jaya MISHRA

Child of ZEUS, they were promised the title of team leader, until Archer was chosen by the Council unanimously.  Mishra's calculated nature is both a blessing and a curse for the team, as no one knows how far they are willing to go to win. They're certainly not above using their good looks and great acting to manipulate others.

Assertive and cunning, Mishra's romance path is full of teasing and tender moments, if you manage to go through their cautious nature.

Merlin/Nimue BOTHA

Although a genius first, Botha's skills with a sniper are remarkable and gave them a place in the first tactical team.  Their soft and quiet nature makes them a patient hunter.  The youngest member of the team, what Botha lacks in combat experience, they more than make up for in knowledge. 

In the romance department, however, Botha is denser than the Olympus guidebook. Their romance path is both fun and soothing, although painfully slow at the start.

NEZHA

The only person in the world who managed to go past Olympus security, NEZHA got their place on the first tactical team after their successful hacking attempt.  NEZHA is the most mysterious of your team members, as they hide their face and real identity behind their persona of a fun-loving hacker and a literal cartoon. You can only hear their voice through calls, but they do make sure that they are unforgettable.

NEZHA's romance path is full of mystery, intense realizations, and dramatically hilarious moments.

Rowan SMITH

Rowan is a thief, and a very good one, as they have become the only one who stole from the agency without going to jail. Although they were arrested, their deep knowledge of the art smuggling world gave them an out. Cocky, blunt and brave, they walk the fine line between complete asshole and extravagant genius. Their role inside your team, however, is yours to decide.

Rowan is a character that charms and annoys you at the same time, and their romance path is the same; if you can accept them at their impetuous worst, you might see them at their daring best.

Game options

Olympus strives to be a game where you can choose the personality, the actions, as well as the appearance of the main character. Your character has a set past, but you can decide their future.

The game is 16+, as it deals with issues of violence and has some potential sex scenes. Therefore, you can choose to see trigger warnings at the beginning of each chapter and avoid the explicit sex scenes.

You can see the Tumblr page of the game for more information on the world. You can also follow me to see the latest development, or to ask me some questions.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The transphobes with their impaired imaginations and empathy deficits are at it again, arguing that kids are so malleable and fragile that reading books with trans characters will make them trans and somehow this possibility must be suppressed, like our inner selves are mighty rivers that can be dammed (eco-update: the river always wins in the end). A sprightly joke has popped up on Twitter, responding that if this is what books do to the young, the tweeter must be a Very Hungry Caterpillar. Alexis Danzig has a wonderful post right now in which people are describing all the things they have been, hobbits and Black Beauty and Merlin and steam shovels. 

At the same time we all live in a thick soup of instructions on being straight, and clearly they have impact, and clearly also as the instructions have become less ferocious or other instructions exist and gender roles and sexual orientations have opened up a little, the young are refusing their assignments in many beautiful ways. My own childhood reading, beyond the picture books with Madeline and Curious George and Sneeches and such featured a lot of books with male protagonists in which women were irrelevancies, minor characters, cyphers, vixens, temptresses, mommies, baggage to be rescued, and not the wielders of the swords, the slayers of the monsters, the heroes of the quests. Men were sorcerers, women were witches. I was a bit shocked to go back to “The Once and Future King” and find something utterly misogynist in there about Guinevere, which I must have read dozens of times: "She no longer hopes to live by seeking the truth—if women ever do hope this—but continues henceforth under the guidance of a seventh sense." 

And here I am almost forty years into a career of such seeking. What did it do to me to be told that being a woman and having a mind and moral compass attuned to and equipped for such quests were at odds with each other?

Of course there were great exceptions. For all their problems, the Narnia books feature strong female leads, who take decisive action, have martial skills and courage (Susan and Jill are excellent archers), and so forth, and it's two boy characters whose moral weakness is a major plot device (even if Susan is slammed for getting too into girl things as she grows up). It was a bit stunning when writing Recollections of My Nonexistence to realize that Homer took more interest in Penelope than Kerouac takes in the female characters in On the Road. I wrote in that book: It might be a gift as well as an affliction for a reader to spend so much time being people who are not like her, but when the protagonists of most books are, or were, straight white men, the rest of us serve overtime at being them and seeing the world through their eyes. But being so often required to be someone else can stretch thin the sense of self. You should be yourself some of the time. You should be with people who are like you, who are facing what you’re facing, who dream your dreams and fight your battles, who recognize you. And then, other times, you should be people unlike yourself. Because there is a problem as well with those who spend too little time being anyone else; it stunts the imagination in which empathy takes root, that empathy that is a capacity to shapeshift and roam out of your sole self.

One of the convenient afflictions of power is a lack of this imaginative extension.The term double consciousness is sometimes used for black experience in a white culture. W.E.B. DuBois wrote in the last years of the nineteenth century (and wrote as so many men did as though all people were men), “the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.” 

It’s a passage with an echo in John Berger’s 1968 “Ways of Seeing”, when Berger imagined, with generosity and brilliance, what it was to be something he had never  been: “To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women has developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage with such a limited space. But this has been at the cost of a woman’s self being split into two. A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continuously accompanied by her own image of herself. She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance of what is normally thought of as the success of her life. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another.”  

That's from the book. Back to today: We should all experience being lots of other kinds of people and we should all also bask in stories about characters much like ourselves, though that story may be about someone who shares your suffering or your love and hope who may be a child in a fairytale in a magic kingdom or a unicorn who lives all alone in a lilac wood or the mute Muslim boy from Morocco in one of my favorite childhood books, “King of the Wind” by Marguerite Henry, and also read stories like “A Hundred Years of Solitude” in which there is no one character to identify with (which I think is an overstated need) and a great unfolding family tree to be enraptured by. I was profoundly influenced by the non-Eurocentric fantasy world of LeGuin's “Earthsea”--in which only the barbarians in the north are blonde and blue-eyed and Taoism is a big influence-- and love seeing Marlon James and others take fantasy and speculative fiction further away from Eurocentrism. The world should give each of us mirrors and windows.

Rebecca Solnit

[akampana]

If Arturia were to meet Caster Gilgamesh In canon do you think he could become a potential love interest. Will he still be interest in her?!

I wrote this in my phone at first and it decided to screw me over hahahah but hold on let me pull out my ship glasses

If by canon you mean in the HGWs, He'd still be infatuated with her, definitely. Caster Gil and Archer Gil aren't all too different to me, and it is actually quite easy to replace him with his counterpart in all the scenes in fz, he'd only differ a little in conduct. He'd still criticize her in the Banquet of Kings for one, albeit his delivery would be less demeaning yet the same amount of harsh. Because yes, he still let his kingdom serve him, but it was for their betterment. And who literally died of overwork? He did.

everything else under cut cause it is a bit long.

Gilles is a Caster, so we'd have to replace him with someone else, but I think the battle at Mion River would go far differently. We know Arturia's presence alone sets a worthy enough stage for his feet, and Gil's fought off demonic beasts before, even if from afar. It wouldn't be just three weapons hurled Berserker's way to protect her, she'd have his full support from the river bank. (I don't think he'd unleash Melammu Dingir though, that's a little too much effort for a cleanup job. He'd let her have her moment and cement herself as truly worthy in his eyes.) Him being a support, however, diminishes Lancer's role a little, R.I.P. Diarmuid, I'm so sorry green boi.

I still think Arturia would be far too focused on actually winning to ever see him as a potential love interest, but he would still play the same role he did as Archer. Still the antagonist, but not one so antagonized. If he played his words right during the banquet and their final meeting, she might not even view the proposal as an insult. Maybe just a provocation to throw her off during their fight.

Ten years later, when she meets him again, and he's still spouting those words, that's probably when she'd realize he was being serious. I doubt she'd consider him a love interest, however, as long as they stood on opposing sides. If they were on the same side, however...that's a different story.

If by Canon, you mean the Babylonia Singularity, I've always hc-ed that his Clairvoyance let him know about her beforehand, which is the premise of my fic Past and Future, if you haven't read it yet.

Otherwise, without that, I imagine whatever he knows about her, he learned through Merlin, before Ritsuka came barging into Uruk with Arturia in tow. By the time she appears, Merlin would have already buttered up his new son-in-law enough for him to be curious about the selfless king who gave all she had for her white walled kingdom.

OR, instead of Ritsuka bringing Arturia, he'd be curious enough from Merlin's stories and bored enough managing his kingdom's tedious affairs that he'd summon her himself. It would take a LOT out of him, considering how crazy Arturia's mana usage can get, but he gets both a wave cleaner and a pretty thing with an interesting backstory to look at, so I imagine it would be a worthy trade-off. Arturia, being the gentlemanly servant she is, would likely treat him like she does Irisviel, because that is her role this time around. (If she remembers him, it would come with hesitation, but if this is her first time meeting him, it would go a lot more smoothly.)

If by canon, you mean in Chaldea, the Chaldea environment in general sets such an amiable stage that it's easy to imagine your Servants getting along. Especially since all the Servants are fighting together for a common cause.

In the Akampana Chaldea, its a general rule that the Servants remember their previous encounters. Which means within the universe of my android phone, Caster Gilgamesh is already painted in a bad light when she meets him. But for Gilgamesh (through clairvoyance or Merlin) knowing who she is, and what she is to his counterpart , means that she is a person of interest in his eyes right off the bat.

In the usual Chaldea, however, its a bit vague whether or not Servants remember their encounters. (AFAIK, its just as the plot or the creators demand, its not that consistent.) But going by My Room Dialogue, Arturia definitely remembers Archer Gilgamesh and he remembers her in turn. She wouldn't approach CasGil without reason and CasGil doesn't have reason to approach her either unless Ritsuka does something ahaha. Archer Gil's the one with the stronger connection to her here.

So will he be a potential love interest in canon? Maybe. Will he still be interested in her? Given the right circumstances, yes.

Thank you for the ask. :)

[violetfaust]

I'm interested in hearing more about why you think Margot should've been Rumbelle's daughter. Sounds interesting, but what would that mean for her enchanted forest life? I think her being Robin Hood's daughter would've been fine if not for Zelena

Okay, Nonny, since you sent this a few days before Mother's Day, I'm gonna finally take the opportunity to try to sum up and speed-run the Belle's Daughter Margot feelings that have haunted me for THREE YEARS. Buckle in; this will be more than you or anyone asked for.

Disclaimer 1: It's been, well, three years, so my memory of Curious Archer and their story is not perfect; could be off on some details here. And Disclaimer 2: I really loved Tiera Skovbye as Robin/Margot; she did a lot with not much screen time, and she and Rose had fabulous chemistry. So although she was well cast as Robin Sr.'s kid, Tiera would be perfectly believable as a Rumbelle daughter, too--maybe give her some low-lights and call it a day. We keep Tiera as Margot in this rewrite. Okay: onward.

(Since one of the few things that would have to change about Robin if she were Rumbelle’s daughter is her name, I’ll just mostly use her Hyperion Heights name “Margot” throughout this post for simplicity.)

First and foremost, the foundation of everything: Margot is so like Belle! She is so like her. They have the same love of adventure, a similar sense of humor. She took Alice on a date to a bookstore. Most of all, she has Belle’s ability to see past “the mask of the monster” to a person’s heart. There was a great scene where Tilly explained that she didn’t want Margot to see her “bad days” because she thought it would be “too much,” and Margot said words to the effect that she was there for the bad as well as the good.

Obviously, people don't have to grow up to be exactly like their parents (Belle and Rumple sure didn't)...BUT. In fiction, one of the fun parts of next-gen stories is for the audience to see how their favorites' personalities are passed down. It's just more fun to see a Henry who has parts of Regina/Emma/Neal than one who doesn't; it's fun to see Lucy resemble little Henry. And it would be fun to see Margot be like her parents (she is very like Robin Sr; not so much Zee). Seeing a character who has so many of Belle's traits becomes just more...fun...when she learned them FROM Belle.

The family feud Rumple/Hook angle turns Alice and Margot’s relationship up another roman tic notch. A classic trope! It’s about reconciliation and love remaking and erasing those old grudges. Which is even more important when we’re supposed to believe that the evidence of Rumple’s final redemption is his saving Rook.

On a more macro level: the entire claim that OUAT is "a show about hope" COLLAPSES because it ends with the annihilation of the Stiltskin family. Rumple, Belle, and Neal are all dead; Henry doesn’t acknowledge them as his family; and Gideon is a friendless and forgotten orphan in another world. I did my rants about this three years ago, but long story short: the show’s not about hope unless it’s hopeful for EVERYONE. And having at least one of Rumbelle’s children alive and happy at the end (with her True Love and friends and acknowledged as part of the family) would fix that. My objection has never been that Rumple (and even Belle) die, but the way it happened.

And of course, Rumbelle needed to have at least one other child because Kitsowitz managed to deny them even one single shared happy moment surrounding Belle’s pregnancy with Gideon and his birth. Even if the audience didn’t get to see it (and we could have gotten a glimpse in Beauty), we deserved to know it happened.

Finally: Zelena did not belong in S7, period. I know it was fun for her fans! (Although apparently there weren't enough of them to positively affect the ratings, meow.) I do know! But it was bad storytelling. She served no point in the larger season arc, and the serial witch killer plot that was invented to serve her was one of the worst and most stupid things Kitsowitz came up with in seven years, and ate up time that could/should have gone to develop other characters. (Driz and Ana come immediately to mind, instead of having them shunted off to another universe, but also Henry/Cinda/Lucy and of course Rumple since his plot was coming to a close.) Zelena didn’t even get any significant growth herself, or develop her relationships with Regina or Robin. She still didn’t express regret for the horrible things she did to characters we love (Rumple, Neal, and Robin Sr.); the only result of all that screentime was to give an unrepentant rapist a love story with a person--we barely see and have zero investment in. And even that was ultimately negated at the end of the season, because in the finale Zee’s back in Storybrooke sans Boo Bear.

So, all that said: what would have to change about Margot’s, and Curious Archer’s, FTL storyline to give us Margot Gold?

Her name—but actually very little else. (And frankly it would have been more respectful to have Belle name her daughter after Robin Sr., who was actually her friend, than for Zee to name her kid after the man she raped, manipulated, and ultimately got killed—but that ship had sailed.)

Belle and Rumple could have given their daughter any number of fairytale names after people they know, aka fresh take on a Disney character. My favorite possibilities are Aurora (and then Curious Archer could have been Curious Beauty, and done a riff on the Sleeping Beauty story as part of their FTL backstory, with a built-in TLK) and Merlin (very pretty for a girl, I’ve always thought).

But the character herself would have been very much the same: she could be Rumbelle’s jock daughter, trained in archery and swordsmanship by family friends (Merida/Mulan/Charming), but always feeling out of place in her family of scholars/sorcerers/nerds.

I am SO sorry for the length of this--there's even more under this cut!

Robin/Margot felt insecure about trying to live up to her father’s name; Rory/Merlin/Margot could have similar anxieties trying to live down her father’s Dark One rep. There could even be a similar story where she was born with magic (like Robin was) but loses it or chooses to give it up—something that would estrange her further from her family. Or, if she was Merlin, she could keep her magic but be reluctant to use it, and part of Curious Archer’s Hyperion Heights arc would be both Margot and Tilly discovering and accepting their magic. (Sapphic sorceresses for the win.)

Now, one of the cutest things about Alice/Robin’s FTL dynamic was Robin being a girl from the Land Without Magic finding her feet in an enchanted forest, with Alice’s help. But it would only take a little finessing of S7 Rumbelle’s story to get that for Rory as well. (Of course, any decent story would have a LOT of finessing of Rumbelle’s plot so that Belle didn’t die and put Rumple on a suicide mission, but again—assuming the ship has sailed…)

Say that Rory is five to six years younger than Gideon. The Rumbelle family spend a dozen years or so traveling the realms, but then Rumbelle decide that they want Gideon and Rory to be comfortable in the LWoM with their extended Charming family, so they settle back into the Pink Palace so the kids can get a LWoM education. They still take occasional journeys, often Rumbelle going to save some hapless souls, but Rory grows up primarily in SB with very few, vague memories of all the fascinating places they visited when she was a small child. This feeds her hunger for adventure along with some envy of Gideon for having so many more fairytale experiences—another thing that makes her feel like a misfit in her family. So, presto, when she moves to FTL she and Alice have pretty much the same meeting/adventures.

One of the key notes of Rumple and Alice/Tilly's relationship, showing his growth and making it so special, was how he chose to set her free of being the Guardian or whatever, allowing her to be free and get what he never had, the chance to grow old with the woman she loves. And that would be weakened if Rumple knew that by choosing Alice's happiness over his own, he was also choosing his own daughter's happiness (because we know Rumple picks his kids over himself ever time). But--he doesn't have to know WHO Alice's True Love is when he makes that choice. He could just know that there is someone, or simply realize that Alice deserves her freedom for her own sake. (Rumple's daughter also getting happiness would be a side benefit that he didn't learn about till later, and have the added perk of Rumple actually getting a narrative reward for doing something good. Which almost NEVER happened! Bonus.)

Finally: I do understand that Robin's presence on the canvas was important to fans of Robin Sr.--getting to know he's remembered and having someone carry on his legacy. Of course I get it--Rumbelle and their family not having that is my biggest complaint (of so so many).

But we don't need a grown-up Robin Jr. to be Robin's legacy. Let her stay a cute background kid with perennially baby Prince Neal. There's already a character, one we're invested in, to carry on for the Hoods: Roland. And again, it would be satisfying for the audience to learn that a five-year-old orphan wasn't shunted off from what family he had left (Regina and Henry) into another universe and never heard from again. If Kitsowitz didn't waste time with Zelena, they wouldn't have needed the idiotic Jack-is-Hansel-the-serial-killer twist, and we could have have had Roland filling the role of Henry's best friend/little brother (and therefore Lucy's fake HH dad--God, that plot was bad all the way back in season 1; why Kitsowitz why?). We'd see Roland onscreen, part of the family, at the end of the show, perhaps with his own True Love (Drizella, maybe, or better yet Gideon) and happy future.

So, that's it: the combination of Margot Stiltskin-Gold and Roland Hood tightens and heightens the storytelling throughout S7, closes some plot holes, and actually fulfills some of the show's stated themes. Who knew!

Anyone else want three years of OUAT theory vomit? 😋 Shoot me an ask!

(I actually have another one, god help us all, but I might save it till Father's Day...)

[docgold13]

365 DC Comics Paper Cut-Out Villains - One Villain, Every Day, All Year…

September 17th - Merlyn 

Arthur King was a performance archer of near peerless skills. His abilities with a bow and arrow acted as a source of inspiration for a young Oliver Queen who would go on to become the hero, Green Arrow. Once The Green Arrow made a name for himself in Star City, Merlyn challenged him to an archery competition. Merlin ended up winning this dual and it led to his deciding to utilize his abilities as a mercenary. He disappeared for a number of years, ultimately resurfacing as a master killer for Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins. One of Merlyn’s assignments as a member of The League was to assist in the cruel training regimen endured by Cassandra Cain (who would go on to become the hero known as The Black Bat). Some time later, Merlyn and The Green Lantern crossed paths once again when Merlyn accepted a contract to assassinate Batman. Green Arrow was able to fire an arrow that struck Merlyn’s shot, saving Batman’s life. Thus began a longstanding rivalry between the two archers. Along with subsequent battles with Green Arrow, Merlyn has additionally gone up against The Flash, The Justice League, Young Justice and Black Lightning. A version of Merlyn plays a prominent role in the Arrowverse series of television shows, where the character is portrayed by actor John Barrowman. Merlyn first appeared in Justice League of America #94 (1971).

[seriouslyhooked]

Nothing Can Hurt Me

CS one-shot that rewrites the ending of 4x23. This has the angst of a would-be goodbye and none of the follow through. if you do not like overly fluffy happy endings, this fic is not for you. If, however, you want a solid dose of hope and a much needed true love’s kiss, please enjoy! Available on FF Here and AO3 Here.

A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you are all well and surviving as best you can in this strange and stressful time. I know I personally have needed some hope and light and love, and writing has been one way for me to try and find it. That’s what motivated this little drabble, which is a rewrite of the end of season 4. I once shared a rewrite for the reunion in that episode (4x23), but this is the final scene where Emma sacrifices herself to the darkness. I know it has been AGES since I rewrote a scene of Once, but this song (’Nothing Can Hurt Me by Frida Sundemo) gave me the idea and… well, you can all be the judge of how I did. Anyway, thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy!

Running from Gold’s shop to the center of town, Emma felt the weight of all this chaos gripping her tighter and tighter. 

So much had happened – so much was always freaking happening – and the crazy train in this town never showed any signs of stopping. Apparently, they needed Merlin (you know, like the magical wizard from the legends of Camelot) to be rid of this dark force, but there was no indication of how to go about finding him. They had nothing but yet another vague clue, and if Emma gave her thoughts any space to dwell on that, she’d probably go mad. Instead she channeled all the frustration and fear into running. They had no choice. They had to fight. It was the only way.

“Where is it?” she asked, sprinting towards the center of town with Killian hot on her heels.

“We don’t know,” her father answered, scanning her over, and seeing she was no worse for wear despite this latest upset.

“It just disappeared into the night,” her mother affirmed, gazing to the skyline for any trace of the magic that was hunting them all. Her archer’s instinct was on full display, and if anyone was going to see movement in the dark of the night it would be Snow White. Emma for her part looked out there and saw nothing but the inky black sky and the eerily quiet streets of Storybrooke.

“What’s going on?” Regina asked, appearing from down the way with Robin at her side. Killian explained to the best of his ability, allowing Emma to keep watch.

“The Dark One, it’s no longer tethered to the Crocodile.”

“What? Where the hell is it?”

The edge in Regina’s voice was reminiscent of tones Emma had heard from the Evil Queen, but Emma knew it was not just anger that made for the change in Regina. It was fear too. Still, they had to keep searching. Emma’s eyes traced over everything, hoping for a sign even while praying this was all just some kind of bad dream. Then it dawned on her, they couldn’t see it because it was everywhere. This force of nature was as smart as it was evil, a malicious magic intent on harming anything that wandered into its path or stood in its way. Right now it had no need to show itself, and instead it was spreading as far and wide as it could. The presence of it stopped the air from circulating. The darkness hung just out of sight, but it stifled everything. The only thing Emma could hear for a moment was the crackling of the electricity flowing through the powerlines and her own heart, thumping at a faster rate than normal, pumping adrenaline to every part of her.

Distracted by the silence, Emma missed the tentacled approach of the magic until she heard the breath leave Regina’s lungs. The Queen’s gasp was swift, but the magic was swifter, circling her, and strangling the very life out of her in seconds.

“Regina!” Robin yelled, but Emma barely heard him. Her instincts were crying out to her to help. Use magic! Do something! But she couldn’t. Her panic was winning over and she felt untethered to anything like hope. Moments passed where they all looked on helplessly, and only when Robin realized his efforts were futile did he look to Emma. “What’s it doing?”

“What darkness does,” Emma said, watching Regina grow dimmer and colder. “It’s snuffing out the light.”

“Well I’m not going to let it,” Robin said, running towards the woman he loved only to be thrust back full force to the ground. It was no use. They couldn’t break through. The Dark One’s magic was too powerful.

“That’s not going to work on this thing!” Emma said, wanting to keep Robin from hurting himself anymore. “The apprentice told me we have to do what the sorcerer did. We have to tether it to a person to contain it.”

And then it hit her, That person is me. It has to be. It’s the only way.

Finally, her body caught up with her mind. She walked towards the darkness, repellent as it was, as her parents cried out for her not to go. The only thing that stopped her, however, was Regina’s desperate plea.

“Emma, no!” she forced out, barely holding the darkness at bay but trying with all her might. “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t,” Emma said, the sick feeling of acceptance washing over her.

The truth was Regina simply wasn’t strong enough to resist the magic’s pull, and despite her attempts to change of late, she wasn’t good enough in her heart to stave something like this off. She had already shown how easy it was for evil to corrupt her, changed intentions or not. With the power of the Dark One… Emma shuddered to even imagine Regina. She’d be even more murderous and deranged than she had been years ago when she was trying to kill her parents and everyone who questioned her power. No, they couldn’t risk Regina being given this curse. They wouldn’t survive.

So this was the moment, then. The one where, after finally feeling like she had a real freaking chance at being happy, Emma was going to give it all up. She was going to trade in this life of promise and positive what-ifs and take instead a sickeningly scary magic that would likely eat her up from the inside out. But it was the only thing that would save them all. Her parents, Henry, Killian… when she looked at it that way, it was a simple choice.

Maybe I live, maybe I don’t, but my life for theirs… I’d make that deal with nothing like regret.

“Emma, no!” her father yelled as she moved towards the darkness. She looked to him and her mother, seeing Killian beside them. Her heart ached, but she shook her head at him. There was no debate in this. It had to be this way.

“You figured out how to take the darkness out of me once. You need to do it again. As heroes.”

“Emma! Emma, please!” Killian begged, running towards her and holding her hand, a final tether to the light. God, she loved this man. And here she was, breaking him apart in a million tiny pieces. “Don’t do this, love. Please.”

Looking in his ocean colored eyes, she saw a flash of everything they could have had if things were different. She knew, in her gut, that this was the only man for her, the only one who could tear down her walls and bolster her up in one fell swoop. He loved her unconditionally and without fail. He’d surrendered so much sooner to the feelings between them, showing her vulnerability that she needed to feel safe and sure, but they were both caught in the same blissful and scary as hell current. He was her soulmate, and this may be the last time she ever saw him.

“I love you,” she confessed, seeing the moment of recognition in his eyes. He’d already known her feelings even if the words never left her lips. They were impossible to hide even though she’d tried so desperately, but the words were coming at the most excruciating time, and even to her ears, they sounded an awful lot like a final goodbye.

Just one more kiss, she thought to herself, pulling him into her and letting the touch of his lips and his warm embrace breathe life into her. For a moment the darkness was nowhere in sight. It was just them. Just their love. Just the hope they shared together, and the dedication of two wills that would give anything to be together. Breaking away was the hardest thing she’d ever done, made all the worse by the fact that she had to take advantage of his distraction to push him back. When she did, she flung herself into the darkness and felt the magic swarm from Regina into her.

The feeling of it coiling around her made her blood run cold, as if she were submerged in ice water. She wanted to shiver from the chill, but could barely move. It was like being stuck in a vat of cement as the darkness descended. An anguished cry sounded out around her, and Emma realized that was her own pain emanating from her chest. The sharp sides of this magic were slicing into her, and unbiddenly she closed her eyes. A montage of the worst memories of her life flashed before her, ripping at old wounds that had never really healed.

It started with the slow crescendo of her childhood, a silent kind of torture where the defining part of every memory was the way she was always left behind. Families she was placed with, other kids in the system, teachers, case workers, all of them abandoned her in one way or another. None of them stayed, and in the end, it was always Emma left standing on her own, lost and forgotten and never ever chosen.

The memories flashed forward to Neal and the heartbreak of giving her love only to have it destroyed and tossed aside like it was nothing. The betrayal of his choices and the sting of losing yet another person, this time in a more malicious way made her as angry as it did sad. Still that was nothing at all to the realization that she was pregnant and the choice she knew she had to make to give Henry up for adoption when she was in jail. That sadness and that heartache was a bone deep one she was sure would never heal.

Only it did, in part, when she came back to Storybrooke. She was finally getting the chance to build a life, reconnecting with her son, but that was mired down by recent memories of Regina being a certifiable nightmare and the jarring moments she’d faced, like Graham’s sudden death. Emma had the comfort of Henry always, but even that had put so much pressure on her. She felt like a failure as a mother, always doubting she could be enough for her brilliant boy and torn between wanting him to have Regina in his life and knowing that Regina had also been deeply flawed in trying to raise her son. Oftentimes it felt like the only thing that got her through that initial time in Storybrooke was finding a true friend in Mary Margaret. She was the first real friend Emma had in her life.

Then she felt the moment that the truth was revealed. Of course, she was shocked with the news that Mary Margaret and David were really her parents, but along with the revelation that she had a family who loved and wanted her, there came a lot of pain, pain that they’d ever given her up in the first place, and pain that she had now lost that special friendship forever. It would never be the same for her and Mary Margaret when she was really Snow, and while she may love her parents dearly now, and had made more peace with their decision to make her a savior instead of a stable and securely loved little girl, it still inflicted so much pain on her and let a little more darkness creep into her heart.

When she’d made the choice to be back in Henry’s life again, she promised herself and her son that she would never do the same. She wouldn’t leave him, not when he deserved her love front and center in his life. But here she was going back on that promise. She didn’t want to leave, but she was barely even here anymore. The darkness had overtaken her. In one last show of strength, she opened her eyes and saw something that broke through the mind-numbing pain of this evil torture – Henry was out there, holding onto Killian and looking on in horror at her being consumed by this.

The tears rained down Henry’s face and she could see him yelling for her, but she couldn’t hear it. The whip of the magic’s winds was too strong. She realized he was actually trying to break through to get to her, but it was Killian holding him back. Looking to her pirate, Emma saw the pain in his gaze, as well as the determination. Determination to keep her son safe even though his own instincts must be screaming at him to try and help her too. God how she loved him. She only wished she’d been brave enough to tell him sooner.

Hold onto the love, Emma, a voice said to her, one that was vaguely familiar but certainly not hers. She did as it said, thinking of the possibilities for her and for Killian. In admitting her feelings, she had opened the door to wanting so much more. She could see things that she never imagined would ever come to pass – a real relationship with dating and affection, a marriage, a family. It was all so picturesque, and yes, it was what she would call a happily ever after, but at the heart of it all there would be one basic ingredient – true and everlasting love.

As if the thought alone sparked something, Emma felt the dark magic flinch. Curious, she continued her test. Finding strength from within, she spoke aloud, finding a command in her tone she never expected. “I love Killian and that love is true. Nothing this darkness does is ever going to change that.”

As if she’d whispered out a spell, magic burst forth, this time in her own familiar shade of bright golden white. It was small at first, but it created a barrier around her, letting her breathe in deeply and recenter herself. She was in awe at the display of power here, amazed that she was able to put up any kind of fight, so she kept going, knowing she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t try.

“I love my parents and my son so much more than I ever thought I could. I used to be afraid to care so much, but I’m not afraid anymore. Not with Henry. Not with my family.”

Again, the magic grew brighter and this time it began to merge with the darkness, touching the blackness that was trying to destroy her and neutralizing it. The color shifted from midnight to onyx, from cobalt to lighter gray, then the darkness was nothing more than a silvery shimmer. Slowly her lighter magic worked through the attacking succubus, and though there was a sound in the air crying out like a wounded animal, Emma knew it was the dying of darkness that was making that cry. The threat, miraculously, was fading, and it was love, and her, that made it possible.

“And most importantly, I can love and accept love because I learned to love myself. I didn’t know that was possible, but now I know that real love, true loves, require that. Because I love myself, I let love guide me. Because I love myself, nothing can hurt me.”

That was it, the last of the darkness was extinguished and the dark one’s dagger fell to the ground, no name etched in its blade any longer. Then they all watched as Emma’s light magic burst forward in a glorious gust, washing out over all of them and beyond. Emma felt it extending to the outer limits of Storybrooke. Her magic had created a layer of protection, a spell made to safeguard all the people she loved. She only had a few seconds to appreciate that, and then she felt Henry lurching towards her in a back breaking hug filled with relief.

“Mom, you did it! You destroyed the darkness, and you saved us all.”

“You think it’s really gone?” Snow asked and Regina and Emma replied at the same time with a resounding “Yes.”

“There’s nothing left of it,” Regina said, flicking her fingers towards the air and pushing her own magic out to test the waters. It’s just…gone.”

“But how?” Killian asked, still standing at somewhat of a distance, his shock so palpable it had frozen him in place.

Emma could see his resistance to believe that this had all concluded this way. He knew the moment she stepped forward the choice she was making in sacrificing herself. She was supposed to leave, supposed to be lost. They were going to be separated through time and space and whatever other fresh hell the Dark One had in store, but here she was, still alive and still very much in one piece. Instinctively she moved towards him, wrapping him up in a hug and loving the feeling when he held her close. They became each other’s anchors to this miraculous moment, and despite the exertion of what had just happened, she felt energized and ready.

“I don’t understand,” Killian murmured, looking into her eyes once more and shaking his head. His hook came to push a strand of her wayward hair back as he gazed at her in wonder. “Merlin was supposed to be the answer. The Apprentice was clear. How did you do it?”

“Love,” Emma said with a smile before rolling her eyes at herself and letting out a groan. God that sounded so freaking cheesy and even if she was eternally grateful for the magic in their love, it was still too much for her to really stomach. “Wow, that sounds corny, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t think it sounds ‘corny’ at all,” her mother said with a bit of huffiness, defensive of the true love status she and David had.

“So in the end all it took was true love’s kiss?” Regina asked, shaking her head as Robin pulled her in his arms and whispered in her ear to be nice. She laughed and then softened her commentary. “I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to be done with this, but we had plenty of that to spare. You think someone might have mentioned it.”

“I don’t think it was that simple,” Emma said, explaining what had happened to her inside that force field. She explained that Killian and Henry and the others were her tethers, but the magic was only complete when she believed in herself.

“You were right then, Swan,” Killian said, holding her hand tightly. “It had to be you. No one else could have handled that as you did.”

“Well except Merlin,” Henry said with a shrug. “But you know what, I bet it was never even about Merlin in the first place.”

“You think?” Emma asked, intrigued and Henry nodded.

“Yeah. I mean every time heroes get sent on a quest it’s about learning a lesson, right?” They all nodded. “And every time anything happens in Storybrooke it’s all of us who have to fix the problem starting with ourselves. The answers are in us the whole time. Especially you, Mom.”

“You know what, kid, I think you may be right.”

“Well you know what that means,” Henry said though no one hazarded a guess. “Since we saved the day we get to celebrate. Cocoa at Granny’s. I’m paying.” Emma looked at Henry quizzically, silently asking where he would have gotten that kind of money. Henry only laughed. “Okay, actually Grandpa’s paying.”

“Works for me,” her Dad agreed, clapping Henry on the shoulder affectionately. From there everyone headed towards the diner, but Emma and Killian lingered a moment more.

“So, it’s really behind us then?” Killian asked.

“Yes, it’s behind us. Can’t promise how long it’ll stay calm and collected here – we haven’t got a great track record in that department – but the Dark One is done. That much I know.”

“And what you said earlier…” Killian couldn’t bring himself to ask the words aloud so Emma moved in closer, running her hand against his jaw and offering him a smile.

“I meant it, Killian, and I am not taking it back. I love you. I really, truly do.”

“Thank the Gods for that, love.”

And with that the two of them kissed, sharing a moment of sheer pleasure and joy. They had averted a crisis and they still had the chance to make this thing between them work. This was a new day for the two of them, and the start of something Emma was eager and a little anxious to explore further.

At the corner of her mind she heard something. Like the sizzle of pancakes on a griddle, or the popping of air in a bubbly drink. She and Killian broke apart, and there it was – that rainbow tinted magic she’d only seen a few times before.

“True love’s kiss,” she whispered, and then the two of them watched as the dagger that once was deteriorated before their eyes. Soon it was nothing more than ash, and as it blew away in the breeze the magic of their embrace rid it from the world entirely.

“Finally,” Killian said, as if he’d been waiting for them to share such a moment forever.

“Been waiting on that have you?” she joked and he looked properly chastised before letting his boyish grin go free.

“Perhaps. Though can you really blame me, Swan? In this town it’s practically a right of passage. Your father and mother certainly talk of little else, and since there is no way anyone loves their partners more than I love you, I just thought –,”

Before he could ramble on about his competitive pirate nature, Emma pulled him by the collar down for another kiss. That successfully silenced him and distracted them both, grounding them in how lucky they were to have this and to have each other.  And though they couldn’t steal more than a few more moments together before rejoining the others, Emma knew that they had so much more to live together. For in choosing love, she’d cemented their future, and that future was looking bright, and hopeful, and so much happier than she ever could have dreamed.

……………

Noises from the window Flashes from the street Tired in the backseat And nothing could hurt me Surrounded by the talking Swallowed by the rain Sleeping in the backseat I know that nothing could hurt me It was a long time ago I'm far away but feel like home We're all awake in stereo Keeping the moving ground aglow And nothing can hurt me Yeah, nothing can hurt me I know that nothing can hurt me Yeah, nothing can hurt me I can see you with my eyes shut It flickers past me now Listen to distant chatter I know that everything's alright It was a long time ago I'm far away but feel like home We're all awake in stereo Keeping the moving ground aglow And nothing can hurt me Yeah, nothing can hurt me I know that nothing can hurt me Yeah, nothing can hurt me Nothing that they'd ever do Could never dim any light from the view And any gravel that gets in my way Could never break me apart anyway

Post-Note: So there we have it. I know some of you may be wondering why I felt the need to rewrite this scene, when it brought us to all of the season 5 storylines, but to be honest, I had a very difficult time with this episode when it first aired for two reasons. The first was that yet again Emma was sacrificing herself for everyone, and she just couldn’t have a happy moment. I literally watched the show for Emma. Yes, also for CS, but mostly for Emma herself and as an Emma stan it was just brutal to watch her get the short end of the stick every damn time. But more than that, the written dialogue in the original scene has Emma sacrifice herself in Regina’s place because Regina, ‘worked too hard for her happy ending.’ I always thought that was kind of ridiculous, and I liked Regina as a character. It just wasn’t really true in my estimation. I felt like Emma had worked much harder and had been so much kinder to people, overcoming trauma that was really bad and which made her so guarded and always made her second guess her own worth. But she was still forced to just continuously sacrifice herself and to undermine her own growth for the sake of Regina’s getting some other-character endorsement. I don’t know, like I said, complicated, and many of you may not agree. But I hope you’ll all read this as what it is – an attempt to give EVERYONE a fluffier, nicer outcome. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and see you all next time!

The Captain Swan Mixtape oneshot series:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10,Part 11, Part 12,Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24,Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31,Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38,Part 39,Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45,Part 46,Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53,Part 54,Part 55, Part 56, Part 57, Part 58, Part 59, Part 60,Part 61,Part 62, Part 63, Part 64, Part 65, Part 66, Part 67, Part 68,Part 69,Part 70, Part 71, Part 72, Part 73, Part 74, Part 75,Part 76,Part 77, Part 78, Part 79, Part 80, Part 81, Part 82, Part 83,Part 84,Part 85, Part 86, Part 87, Part 88, Part 89, Part 90,Part 91,Part 92, Part 93, Part 94, Part 95, Part 96, Part 97, Part 98,Part 99,Part 100, Part 101, Part 102, Part 103,Part 104, Part 105,Part 106, Part 107,Part 108, Part 109, Part 110,Part 111, Part 112,Part 113, Part 114, Part 115,Part 116, Part 117, Part 118,Part 119,Part 120, Part 121, Part 122, Part 123,Part 124, Part 125,Part 126, Part 127, Part 128,Part 129,Part 130, Part 131,Part 132,Part 133, Part 134, Part 135, Part 136, Part 137, Part 138,Part 139,Part 140, Part 141, Part 142, Part 143, Part 144, Part 145,Part 146, Part 147, Part 148,Part 149, Part 150, Part 151,Part 152, Part 153, Part 154, Part 155, Part 156, Part 157, Part 158,Part 159, Part 160, Part 161, Part 162, Part 163, Part 164,Part 165, Part 166, Part 167, Part 168, Part 169, Part 170,Part 171,Part 172, Part 173, Part 174, Part 175, Part 176,Part 177, Part 178, Part 179 , Part 180, Part 181, Part 182, Part 183, Part 184, Part 185, Part 186, Part 187, Part 188, Part 189, Part 190, Part 191, Part 192, Part 193, Part 194

[herrscher-of-trash]

Some random FGO servant headcanons because that’s what this blog is now:

The Avenger servants act like a family with Dantés as the father. They fight among themselves like a family but are usually really supportive of each other. Salieri wrote a new piece everyone is getting together to hear it if he found a way to play it on a computer in Chaldea. Gorgon does little home improvement things and everyone loves them. When they fight they insult each other and almost always have to apologize before a NP is being thrown at them.

Merlin is not allowed anywhere near the kitchen or allowed to deliver food. Nobody trusts him to not slip anything into it.

Edmond Dantés knows how to help with panic attacks, wether it’s servants or living humans, he knows how it feels from all that time ago when he was first put into the Chautte D’If.

Every servant is just always hoping and praying that they don’t have any alternate versions of themselves get summoned. Carmilla is just sitting in the summoning room and whenever she thinks a Liz is going to get summoned she just starts kicking it away and aggressively hissing, and Liz will do the same if Carmilla isn’t summoned in Chaldea at that point.

Enkidu goes out and meets new Servants everyday and is considered one of the best to welcome new servants, because if Enkidu can calm down Gil, Enkidu can do anything.

Atalante made Chaldea buy board games to be more inclusive in game nights for the children servants. Before all that was available was available were dirtier games like Cards Against Humanity. Unsurprisingly it ends worse when playing board games. Merlin wins a lot of Monopoly because of all his money “management” as Magi Mari. Queen of Sheba exclusively plays Monopoly because it’s money. The children servants are under the watchful eyes of Atalante and far away from the adult servants who are screaming over Uno as they come close to having a full out war after having +4s stacked until Cú had all the plus fours in the deck stacked against him.

Moriarity tried to have a “fuck Holmes this is an chaotic” club to watch movies. It ends poorly because most of them are taking but he gets to spend time with his adopted daughter Fran so it wasn’t a total waste.

If Fate ever had a crossover with another franchise outside of the Type-Moon universe, and specifically with Epic Seven the singularity would be absolutely chaotic. The singularity is essentially the acolytes accidentally created it and then the Chaos Gates picked it up and spread it and suddenly the Master is dragged in. The Acolytes are like “who is this?” and the Master (I’m going to say Ritsuka) is just freaked out and the Servants won’t let that happen. So like a bat out of hell an Avenger rushes in because of the vibes the Acolytes give off and just threaten the hell out of them. Ritsuka just continues summoning servants and eventually Ras, Arky, and Mercedes show up and just see this Mage summoning all of these heroes to fight the Acolytes and they’re a little amazed. And suddenly Vildred just shows up out of nowhere with Romani (because I miss him) and they explain everything. And like the singularity has all the major bosses of FGO and it just starts dragging in characters with grudges and forces them to work together against the bosses. So like Cecilia, Luna, Yufine, and Alencia for example are all fighting Tiamat alongside the Babylonia servants. It’s just pure chaos. It doesn’t to have all of the characters in the other game just a certain set of them: so for example in Epic Seven you could get Mash (Knight), Artoria (Warrior), and Archer Emiya (Archer). And for FGO you could get Ras (Ruler), Mercedes (Caster), Kayron (Avenger or Foreigner), Tenebria (Avenger or Foreigner), Vildred (Saber). I just thought that would be interesting.

Dantés is always mad at Sherlock because of Sherlock posing as himself in Shinjuku. Dantés will randomly appear in front of him and just break his focus and then be rude as he leaves.

Every morning there’s always a rush to the cafeteria for the staff to get coffee/tea/hot chocolate to get ready for the day. Dantés makes the best coffee just no matter what, no other servant can make coffee except him. Different servants make the tea every morning depending who gets assaigned what day. The Santa servants make the hot chocolate. None of them really want to be there but they do it because Master will go on each line and get something and the servants get happy seeing their master.

Merlin eats anything put in front of him as long as whoever made it made it with love for someone. He eats the emotions within the food rather than the food. He tastes the joy and love and he feels it’s even better when his Master made it, though he has no fact behind it.

Ryouma and Oryou are intrigued with all the different types of Oreos available. Oryou brings you frogs every time you order her new types of Oreos to try.

[cyborg-squid]

Okay, so that post about Saber got me a little riled up.

In her life, Artoria was forced to live as a man and live up to the ideal of “The Ideal King” and was denied a normal life. Merlin even says that when she draws Caliburn from the stone, that once she draws that sword she will no longer be human, and she does anyway, determined to save Britain. And as she progresses through her life, she is forced to suppress her emotions to live as the ideal king. She denies Mordred the throne because she does not want Mordred to inherit the burden of kingship, but does not understand that Mordred just wants to alleviate his father’s burden. She is unable to truly express herself and love Guenivere, which pushes her into the arms of Lancelot. In fact, Lancelot and Guenivere initially bond over their shared love for their king. Laater on, after Lancelot’s betrayal and escape, he receives a letter from Artoria forgiving him for his actions and inviting him back to the Knights. This is what ultimately breaks Lancelot and makes him realize that Tristan was right. All of the repression culminates in Tristan’s infamous “The king does not understand human emotion” speech, which we can see echoed in Iskandar’s criticisms of her in Fate Zero. Just like Archer and Shirou, her dedication towards a destructive ideal is what kills her, dying with regrets, alone on a hill of swords. And when she’s summoned in Fate Zero, her ideals and notions of chivalry are pushed near their breaking point, by her master who holds a similar ideal as her but is willing to do anything to achieve it. 

And then she is summoned as a Servant in the 5th Holy Grail War, and like Kiritsugu was, she is saved by Emiya Shirou. While it initially comes of as sexism, Shirou’s insistence that Saber shouldn’t fight because she’s a girl is simply an extension of his unwillingness to have others die on his behalf, that’s his job. And for one of the first times in her life, she is treated as a woman and as a normal human. She is not treated as a king, nor as a tool to simply win the Grail, but as a friend and later a lover. 

The shedding of the unhealthy ideal and the connections she makes is what allows her to pass on to Avalon in the ending of Fate route (where she and Shirou will eventually reunite) and stay with Rin and Shirou in the Good End of Unlimited Blade Works. In fact, Archer comes from a version of the Fate route, where Shirou and Artoria won the War, but never emotionally connected. The connection and love they share is what allows both of them to realize the inhumanity of their ideals, and while Fate route Shirou will still become Archer, he becomes a version of Archer that eventually reunites with Saber and Avalon, where both of them find peace. 

[lo-55]

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 5

Heart Breaker

(Spoilers for Fate/Apocry[ha Inheritors of Glory.

Also Achilles is Gay and you can’t change my mind)

Mash was turning out to be a real heartbreaker.

Right outside of Alcatraz and they’ve been accosted by Fergus and Diarmud, who is a Lancer her and not a Saber like Ichigo was used to. Not only were they now fighting two servants, but Fergus had the gall to propose to Mash.

Which is how Ichigo ends up breaking all rules of a holy grail war and he, the master, stomps over to their opponents and punches Fionn on the head as hard as he can. He would have done more damage to the brick walls but he thinks he gets the point across because -

“She’s a kid! Don’t go proposing to someone like that you goddamn creep! I’ll kick your ass!”

Medusa has to catch him in her chains and forcibly drag him back to the group while he threatens bodily injury to the opposing servant.

“And for that matter stop being a dick to Diarmud! Asshole!”

“Well now that’s a foul mouth. Are all masters like you?” Fergas rubs his head, looking unruffled and honestly? Ichigo’s pretty sure he just broke his damn hand. Totally worth it.

“There are no other masters,” Ichigo scowls. The ground rumbles as a whole army of celtic warriors crest the hill. They’re caught, between the sea and the army and the servants. And to top it all off, there’s a crack in the sky. Along with the ring of solomon, a jagged smile rips through the sky and crawls with dark teeth. A monster crawls out and Kyo grimaces.

“If you keep releasing your reitsu like that, you’re going to summon a whole army of them here,” he said frankly. Ichigo stares at him.

“Huh?”

“You didn’t even notice, did you?” Kyo looks him over, something thoughtful in his eyes. “I suppose you wouldn’t. You’re only human, isn’t that right?”

“Uh yeah. Just human.”

“Master,” Cu elbows him, “It’s time to fight.”

“Right,” Ichigo turns to the living and clenches his fist in front of his chest, his command seals burning against his skin. “Let’s take them down! Rama, show us what that sword of yours can do!”

“Yes!” Rama helfts his blade and fire erupts, scorching and hot. He grins, a king and a warrior at one and-

Throws it like a frisbee.

Ichigo stares, mouth open, as it rips through the enemy like an overpowered saw blade. That was on fire.

“So that’s his Noble Fantasm, huh?” Ichigo runs his fingers through his hair. He can feel it draining his mana, but he could probably stand for it to be released a few more times before he collapses.

“Okay,” Ichigo focuses on the battle again, his mind whirling. Two lancers, and they have one Saber, one Berserker, on Lancer, one Rider, one Shielder, one Caster and Ichigo himself. Lancers were weak to Sabers, and strong to Archers, which they don’t have.

He can work with this.

“Mash, get ready. Cu, you too,” he keeps his plan quiet, his directions firm and the world focuses down to this point, this battle. Diarmund and Fergus are stronger than them by far but Ichigo will not accept defeat or failure. Together, they can drag victory out of their jaws.  

By the time the fight ends he realizes that Kyo is staring at him intently. Ichigo scowls at him in return.

“What?” he asks irritably.

“I was just wondering… What on earth is happening here?”

“Huh? It’s a holy grail war,” obviously. But the ghost just stares at him, and Ichigo realizes that he’s going to have to explain. About the singularities, about the incineration of humanity. About the end of the world that they’re trying so hard to prevent.

By the time he’s done, Kyo is pale and his mouth is drawn tight.

“That’s- that’s insane! If the living world ends, so will the worlds of the dead!”

“Oh yeah?” Ichigo hums. “That’s fucked up. But, we’re not gonna let that happen. Even if our assination attempt failed, we’ll just have to meet them head on.”

“You say that like it will be easy,” Rama comes to his side and looks vaguely in the ghosts direction. “The truth of the matter is, even with all of us, our chances at winning are still going to be slim.”

“So?” Ichigo crosses his arms over his chest. “This isn’t our first rodeo. We’ll win. We have to.” He says it like it’s simple. And to him, it is.

“If that’s the case,” Kyo eyes Ichigo speculatively. “You might want to suppress your Reitsu. How you still have it when other people are eating it is beyond me… You’re like a fountain, still bubbling up even as everyone drinks from you.”

“Couldn’t you make a less weird analogy?” Ichigo frowns at him. “And how do I do that?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? You take your reitsu and draw it into yourself.”

“... I have no idea how to do that.”

“Well, if you don’t figure it out you’re going to keep attracting those monsters,” he nods towards the fading corpses he’s left after his fight. Ichigo recognizes the dust they leave as a type of magic ingredient. Void dust. How weird…

“Fine then. I guess until I figure out how to do that-” Ichigo grabs the ghost by the wrist and starts dragging him towards the east. They need to find Robin, fast.  

“You’re coming with us.”

*

“Sorry but, uh, who the fuck are you?” Ichigo asked when he finally regained consciousness. “And more importantly why the fuck are you in bed with me?!”

Which is a sentence he never thought he’d have to say. But here they were. Because fuck everything.

Instead of answering him the man, one of Urahara’s associate’s if he remembered, started shouting right next to Ichigo’s ear for ‘Tenchou’. Whoever that was, Ichigo planted his foot into the man’s chest and shoved him viciously off. A twinge of pain shot through his back, but he pushed past it. He was well on the mend, and he’d always healed fast.

He closes his eyes and takes a breath. The coldness of Rukia’s energy inside of him is gone, and he’s only a human once more. A human with high reitsu, but still a human nonetheless. What had happened?

Ichigo looks up when a more familiar face walks into the room. Urahara.

“You shouldn’t move around too much. Your injuries could still kill you.”

Ichigo snorts derisively. “Not at this point. If I was gonna die, I already would have. You were the one who saved me, right? There was someone else there too, another kid about fifteen-”

“He’s fine,” Urahara interupts. “I fixed him on the spot and he left. In fact, he asked me to take care of you.”

“Huh? Uryu did?” Ichigo can’t help the start of a smile. “I knew he liked me. He was just in denial.”

“He also said, ‘the only one who can save Rukia is probably Ichigo’.”

“Ah? That’s a lot of faith,” Ichigo crosses his legs under the sheets, staring down at the wrinkles in them. Uryu didn’t even know everything he could do, everything he had done. No one alive did and he was starting to regret it. To save Rukia though… How was he going to do that? “I’ll have to find a way to Soul Society… And, I couldn’t do it on my own. I wonder…”

He didn’t have enough mana to keep a servant around full time. Normally the holy grail maintained most of them. And during his tenure at Chaldea Chaldea’s system had managed about eighty percent of the upkeep. He definitely didn’t have the mana for a summoning, which took more all at once than just having a servant by his side. Otherwise, he’d have called someone to his side ages ago.

It didn’t help that he didn’t really have any catalysts. Almost everyone he’d ever summoned had been pure luck. And now he had nothing of any of theirs. Waver might have something, but still.

Would he even be able to take his servants into the afterlife? Or would they be drawn back to the throne of heroes?

What about Ereshkigal? Where was she in all this? The age of gods was over, and they had faded from the earth, but was she toiling away in the afterlife? Trying to bring beauty to Kur?

“I should have asked Rukia…”

“If it’s any consolation, I know a way into Soul Society.” .

“Do you?” He wasn’t even remotely surprised. No, this guy seemed like someone who would know a way to traverse dimensions.

Ichigo made a private vow to never let him anywhere near Merlin.

“I do,” Urahara was giving him a strange look from under his mask, but Ichigo was too tired and in too much pain to care. The only thing that mattered was saving Rukia. Once he figured out how to get there, he could set about figuring out how to get his servants too. If Renji and Byakuya were any indication, he should be able to make it with most of his closest allies. Assuming he could summon them.

“Alright. And what do I have to do to get you to tell me? I doubt you’ll do that for free, even if she is a regular of yours.”

“Oh my, do you really have such little faith in me?”

Ichigo just gives him a look, and the airy smile starts to fade.

“Alright. The condition you have to meet is simple. Starting now, for ten days, you have to train with me.”

Ichigo cocks his head. “Do I have that much time? Rukia’s supposed to be executed.”

Urahara breaks down the timeline for him. A month, he has one month to get strong enough to beat Byakuya without Rukia’s powers to help him. Ten days to train, seven days to get there, and thirteen days to save her. There’s something else going on, Urahara has no need to help him this much, but he’s learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

There’s definitely something going on here that he doesn’t understand. And Urahara is using him for something else. But…

‘A scumbag who will do anything to win.’ That was what Roman had called Merlin. And this man, his eyes are just the same. Willing to do anything to win. To win what? He’s missing something big. Had Rukia had something important to him? Was she more than just a customer?

So far, Urahara has done nothing but help him. So Ichigo has no reason to distrust him.

“Alright. How do you plan on training me? With weapons? Or magic?”

“Shinigami call it Kidou,” he says helpfully, but Ichigo knew that already.  “And if you must know, I plan to restore your shinigami powers.”

“That’s not possible. Rukia’s powers are gone from me now. I can’t feel them anymore. It’s not cold like it used to be.”

“Cold? I see. So you could feel her zanpakuto the entire time. That’s quite impressive.”

Ichigo just shrugs. “If you say so. I was only a demi-shinigami, so it’s only natural that I can’t feel her power inside me anymore.”

“A demi-shinigami? I’ve never heard it called that before. Substitute is the proper term.”

“I don’t really give a shit. The point is, I don’t have those powers anymore, so there’s no way to ‘restore’ them.”

“That’s true. Perhaps I should have put it this way. ‘I will make you into a shinigami in your own right’. Without Rukia’s powers. Only your own.”

Ichigo freezes. Because what? How will that even work?

“My own power.” He repeats. He’s never-

The concept is so foreign. Never has he fought only with his own power. It’s always been someone else's. Mash’s, Cu’s, Medusa’s, and the dozen other servants that have fought at his side. Rukia’s power, snow through his veins.

To fight with just his own power… To go toe to toe with Byakuya and Renji using his own strength.

Is it even possible?

“Aren’t Shinigami dead?”

Urahara is strangely quiet.

“Yes. They are.”

“So for me to be a shinigami, you would have to kill me.”

“Yes.”

He’s honest, at least. “Give me a day to consider it.”

A day to talk to Waver, a day to try and summon his friends, a day to decide what he’s going to do. Because Servants run on Mana, life energy, and if he’s dead-

Will he ever see any of them again? Will he ever dream of Merlin again? Will he be able to keep his promise to him, and break him out of his prison at the end of time?

“Of course. Go to school, have some time alive. Then come back tomorrow, and give me your answer.” It sounds like Urahara thinks he already knows the answer. And maybe he does, but Ichigo needs a while.

He leaves an hour later, wrapped up like a mummy.

* *

Ichigo is a time traveler. He is in the middle of time travel right now. So, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that alternate timelines, along with time travel, are a thing.

That doesn’t mean that he expects to be pulled into one in the middle of an already difficult singularity. He’s still not one hundred percent sure who is one his side, if anyone is besides the three he’s come with, but Nightingale seems to be willing to follow him, and Rama as well. And Liz is here, again, and as much trouble as she can be she’s still pretty reliable in a pinch. And Kyo was at his side now too.

So there’s a few people on his side, and he’s glad for them, but the american’s are a pain in the ass and the celts are trying to end the world, and he’s had a hard enough time falling asleep when an honest to god dragon appears before him (in his dream, he thinks) and whisks him off to a castle and a city and an alternate timeline where apparently Fuyuki never even happened and instead a bunch of giddy millenials (or whatever the fuck their names was) stole a grail and fought a saint and now inside the grail the war is starting again.

Which - what?

How is this even his life?

But the dragon turns into a human, and then there’s a sorta-centaur trying to teach them how to fight and Achilles is so. Very. Gay.

“A chariot isn’t meant for just one,” and a cocky smile and Ichigo is pretty sure he wants to punch him. But he takes his hand instead, stands at the head of the chariot with one arm buffering him on each side and they fly.

They’re lightning in the sky, all divinity and invincibility and power. They mow down the opposing faction like they’re cutting down grass instead of heroes from ages past and Ichigo knows at once that as soon as he can he needs to find a way to summon this hero.

Even if it meant dealing with bad flirting. And his weird aversion to fighting with women. And his stupid, cocky attitude.

Ichigo can work with a lot of things. Plenty of people (mainly Kiyohime) are already trying to get in his pants. What’s one more person? Especially such a powerful rider.

Powerful Rider.

And that puts mental images in his head that he did not need, thanks all the same. He can’t look at Achilles for a full three hours afterwards.

The dragon, Seig, turns out to be a homunculus, created by the Young Millennials or whatever as a sort of battery to power their mage craft. Which is beyond fucked up, and Ichigo privately vows to strangle any of the ones he meets.

On top of that, when he wakes up the next morning there’s a little kid at the edge of his bed, covered in scars, not wearing any proper clothes and calling him ‘mommy’ and Ichigo decides then and there that alternate universes are more trouble than they’re worth. This kid, he's met her before. Jack the Ripper, and she calls him 'mommy', again.

“I’m not even a girl damn it!”

But the kid’s persistent, and cute in a really creepy way, so Ichigo can’t really do anything besides constantly telling her not to call him ‘mommy’. But that works as well as trying to get anyone else to use his given name instead of ‘Master’.

They end up having a picnic in a garden hosted by a berserker and a Saber he’d met in london. There are a lot of people he'd met in London here. The little girl, Jack, the Saber, Mordred, and Fran too of course.

They didn’t recognize him. Why would they? These were memories of servants, and technically they’d never met Ichigo at all being from another timeline. And only existed in the dream he’d been having for like three days.

He was going to make his head hurt if he kept thinking of all this.

They fly to the Hanging Gardens, and take their owner onto their side. Ichigo is starting to get used to the idea of beating someone’s face in and them being his friend afterwards.

Together, they finally reach the center of the chaos. A mad man who had turned himself into a servant before being killed. Darnic Prestone Yggdamellenia. One of the people who had made and tried to kill Sieg. Ichigo has to fight not to strangle him when he offers to fulfill the wishes of all of his friends. Bribing them with what they want most, if they only surrender to him.

It’s Achilles who steps forwards.

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m gonna have to pass. I woudln’t really be a hero if I went along with you now, would I? We’re meant to live life to the fullest. If we stumble along the way, that doesn’t invalidate what happened before the fall, or after. And reproduction or now. Servant or not. As long as I’m still me…”

“I’m not doing anything a real hero wouldn’t do!”

Mordred scoffs at Ichigo’s right. “For once, you carrot looking weirdo, we’re on the same page.”

“Carrot looking weirdo?!”

“I can’t exactly say I got the cleanest hands around here, but there’s still no way I’d side with you! Even I’d feel gross going along with your plan, asshole.”

They each step up, one after the other. Denying their dreams, denying immortality, for the sake of staying true to themselves. What is a dream worth if you lose yourself along the way?

They fight. They fight against the castle, they fight against themselves, they fight against reproductions that will not quit spawning, one copy after the other until even Mordred is nearing exhaustion. But they do not falter, they do not stop.

And in the end, they are saved by a vampire. The Gardens collapse and the dream has to end, but before they leave, they say their goodbyes, their thanks.

Achilles even goes so far as to pull his orange sash off and drape it around Ichigo’s neck like a scarf that matches his hair.

“You know, it’s kind of nice,” he says, his smile half cocked. “Even though this is the end of our time together… When I was alive, I never could relax after a battle because I knew there was always going to be another one on the way right after. But now…”

“I’m satisfied. We won, and there’s no civilians around so we didn’t have to worry about massacres or any other atrocities. That’s nice. Oh, and Hektor’s not around! That’s good.”

Hektor. The one who’d shot him down.

“You must hate him, huh?”

“Not exactly,” Achilles frowns, “But if you ever summon us at the same time, I’ll find a way to get around it. We’ll work it out, we just have to think positive. But,” he shakes his head, “That’s not what I really want to say.”

“Then just spit it out already,” Ichigo orders. Achilles grins at him.

“I’m trying to say, I hope you summon me again. It’s been fun fighting alongside with you! So if you ever find yourself in a tight spot in Greece, just call for me and I’ll come running no matter when or where you are. And that’s a promise!”

Achilles grins at him, and disappears in a cloud of gold glitter.

When Ichigo wakes up, the scarf is still around his neck, and Kyo is staring at him like he’s grown a second head.

* * *

There’s a cat across the street from his house.

Not his house, but the house that is his and not his families. The one that is empty, and not meant to be lived in. It’s… hard, to be around his family. To be around people who don’t understand war and pain and loss and trying, trying, trying, and still losing so much even if you win in the end.

There’s a cat across the street from his house and a plain brown package on the doorstep.

Ichigo pauses, the keys in his hands, and turns to the cat. Pitch black, with gold eyes. It trots across the street towards him, neatly avoiding the only car coming along, and Ichigo kneels down in front of it. He offers his hand, and the creature gives him a dainty sniff.

It doesn’t have mana.

Any mana.

That is… not normal. No mana but reitsu. A soul in a body?

“Oh. Are you a familiar?” he runs his fingers along the crest of the cat’s head, scratching carefully behind the ears. “You’re not Wavers. Or anyone’s local. Are you from the Mage’s Association?”

Ichigo stands and moves to the house, picking up the box on his way in. The lock turns with a click and hums with magic before it let’s the door swing open.

“I hope this isn’t a bomb,” he says idly. “That would be a really sloppy way to assassinate someone, don’t you think?”

How mad must he look, standing on his doorstep and talking to a black cat.

To be fair, the cat seems to nod at him before making his (?) way into the house. A discrete glance and Ichigo changes his assessment. Probably a her cat. A lady cat? Did female cat’s have a particular name? Like a bitch or a cow or mare?

He shuts the door firmly behind him and makes his way into the kitchen, where he sets the package on the table. He puts a kettle on to boil water and pulls out a small carton of milk from the fridge for his impromptu guest.

Ichigo does not have a familiar. He had been lent Fou for a long, long time but he’d never had one of his own. They’re an extension of their master, an extra eye and ear and, Ichigo privately thinks, a way to battle off loneliness.

Mage’s are strange creatures.

Typically, they only have one or two children. An heir and a spare, no more. And even then, only the most promising of the two is taught the family mage craft and given their magic crest. Mage’s are viciously protective of their secrets and their magic, even amongst their peers, and Ichigo has seen the life as lonely.

Ichigo, contrarily, is a pack animal.

He’s no chatterbox. He’s not bubbly or outgoing or honestly all that talkative, but he thrives on other people being nearby. They give him purpose and drive, they strengthen him.

That might be why he’d clung so hard to Rukia Kuchiki.

She had given him power, yes. Power to fight on his own, power to save his family, and for that he would always be grateful. But she was also a warrior, a survivor, and something in her was jagged and fierce. She was a survivor, even if he didn’t know what of.

She was, just a little bit, like him. In a way that no one else he knew was.

Ichigo was alone.

He had his friends. He had his family but they didn’t understand, they couldn't understand.

They wouldn’t understand his sudden need to sit with the door in plain sight and the window’s far from his back. They wouldn’t understand the abrupt change in his priorities list, that put ‘survive’ on top of everything else when it used to be ‘take care of the girls’. They would not understand the sudden feeling of weightlessness that comes from stepping out from under the weight of the world for the first time in years and loss that came with that same victory.

He has no servants. He has no Romani, no Da Vinci. No Mash.

Ichigo is utterly alone.

He is alone, and Rukia had alleviate that in a way that even Chad, his best friend, his partner, couldn’t.

War has alienated Ichigo from the very people he fought in it to protect and doesn’t that just fucking figure?  

Ichigo stands in the kitchen, watching the cat finish her milk.

“I’m going to bed,” he announces. Maybe Merlin will have some ideas.

He completely forgets about the package that is hopefully not a bomb.

* * * *

Ichigo is getting sick of all of their potential allies trying to kill him at first.

It seems like every time they turn around someone wants them to ‘prove their worth’ or test them in battle or something equally annoying. It doesn’t help that this is scathach and the second she showed up Cu started acting like a totally different person.

And by that, he means he’s jumpy like a beaten dog and ramrod straight like a student on the shit list.

And, she can totally see Kyo.

Even if all she does is throw him a wink that had him bristling.

She’s… bewildering. She’s fierce and vicious and Ichigo is very glad she’s not the enemy. She’s one of the only people he’s seen that might be able to go head to head with Cu Alter and win. Instinct tells him that she’s dangerous, that she’s darkness in a way that threatens to draw him in. He can see, in the way they move, in the way they fight, how she might be Cu’s mentor.

The queen of the shadow lands, and doesn’t that have Kyo’s attention?

“That fool,” she looks to the east, “That pitiful fool. I’m sure he’s only this way because of the wicked queen’s wish. He found one thorn unbearable. To be covered in them must be torture. He must he out of his mind, burdened with a thousand.”

“But by paying that price, he has surpassed even me. They say an idiot without hesitation is strong, don’t they?”

A warm hand lands on Ichigo’s shoulder and he looks up, to his Cu, his faithful watchdog, his Caster. “All power has their price, Master. Think about the weight of a sword before you draw it.”

All Ichigo can do is nod. What is he meant to say to that? His heart hurts for the Cu so alike and so different from his owns suffering. He didn’t ask for his position anymore than Ichigo did. But, he will not hesitate when he has to fight him. He needs to win. He needs the grail.

If he doesn’t win, he’ll never see his friends again. He’ll never see his family. His father, his sisters. They’ll all be gone. And he won’t let that happen, no matter what kind of sympathy he might have for the enemy.

“Right. We should get moving soon. Before the enemy catches up with us.”

It still doesn’t sit quit right with him.

“You’re troubled,” Kyo notes, falling into step with him.

“Yeah,” Ichigo can’t deny that. “Each one of these wars gets more and more complicated, and each time the people we face are stronger. I feel like I’m trying to pull apart headphones from my pocket sometimes.”

“...excuse me?”

Ichigo ends up explaining to Kyo, and apparently to everyone else too, how headphones work, what a cell phone is, how they work (and honestly all he knows is there’s satellites and that brings about a whole other conversation) and by the time he’s exhausted his already limited understanding of radiowaves and electric currents they’re in the desert and Scathach wants him to fight a pack of wyverns off with his bare hands.

He (somehow) manages not to die, and he suddenly understands Cu’s attitude towards his teacher.

* * * * *

“Do you know-”

“I’m in a dream, Merlin,” Ichigo interrupts him before he can even get the full sentence out out, and the mage cocks a brow in question. Ichigo sits up and leans on his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“My, your life never is dull. Why don’t you tell Merlin all about it?”

“...Are you going to start talking in third person if I do?”

“No. You’ll probably hit me.”

Ichigo manages a wan smile. “You know me so well.”

Ichigo does end up telling him what happened with Rukia. About almost winning but getting his ass kicked and his borrowed power ripped away. And Urahara’s offer to kill him.

“If I die, would I even be able to see you again?”

Merlin cocks his head. “Well. If you’re asking me what happens after you die, may I remind you that I am one of the least qualified individuals to answer that question, being an immortal. If you had more time I would suggest you make a trip to scotland, or even greece. Places where the afterlife have been reached in the past. But, I suppose that’s out of the question.”

“He said I have a month before she’s executed.”

“You’ve done more with less time. ”

“And significantly more backup.”

“True. You could always ask that Quincy boy to give you a crash course in your mother’s powers. Although…”

“What?” Ichigo narrows his eyes at him.

“This man said he can give you Shinigami powers. I doubt that they’re something that can just be taught. Like mage craft, I’ll bet it has to be inherited, or brought on by mutation. Perhaps it’s only a lingering spark from your little friend, but in any case, I don’t see why you’d need to die. You’ve projected your soul out of your body a half dozen times before.”

“This isn’t ray shifting. And even if it was, I don’t have Chaldea or a coffin to help me.”

“No. But I suspect that the answers are somewhere inside of you, instead of merely with this shady shopkeeper.”

“... like you have room to call anyone shady. “

Merlin laughs, a soft breath on the wind.

“No, I certainly don’t. “

He’s still staring at Ichigo.

“What?” It makes his skin crawl when Merlin does that. When he seems to read Ichigo like he’s a book. Easy to flip through and find the information he wants.

“That’s not all that troubles you, is it? I know you’re not afraid of dying, but you’re hesitating. You never do that. “

“It’s just like I said.” Ichigo draws one leg up to his chest. “If I die for real, I don’t know if I’ll ever see you, or any of the others again. I don’t have enough quartz to summon someone to help me, and if I let Urahara do what he wants, it might not matter. I can’t summon my friends if I don’t have any mana. “

“But if you don’t, another friend might die. Quite the dilemma. “

“You could stand to sound a little more torn up about it!”

“Huh? But I don’t even know the girl! Besides, you’re not exactly weeping yourself. “

Ichigos mouth shuts with a click and he looks away, his stomach turning. Merlin isn’t wrong. He’s not crying. He’s not even panicking.

“... Ichigo?”

“It’s. It’s pretty fucked up. But when she showed up I was relieved. For the whole tone between Chaldea and her I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the next disaster. Like I was gonna get a call saying there’s another singularity, or someone else was trying to end the world. Going to school? Eating dinner with my family? I just felt lost. I didn’t know what I was doing. I don’t even remember what I wanted to do when I graduated anymore.”

“But then Rukia came. And I fought hollows but they’re not strong enough to give me a real challenge. And then she was taken and everything is just-“

“Clicking into place. It’s horrible, but it’s been so long, I don’t remember how not to fight anymore. I don’t know how to not be at war. And this… this choice between life and death. This mission to save her. It’s almost comforting. Isn’t that fucked up?”

A warm hand cups his cheek. Long sleeves, heavy with the smell of gardenias, brush across his shoulder.

“Ichigo,” Merlin begins, his voice strangely genuine. “Whatever happens, I know that you’ll figure it out. And that eventually, you’ll find your place. You always have one more crazy idea, one more play, one more chance. Once you get your friend back, you’ll figure out how to be human again. Or, something close to it. In the meantime, you can always find me here. I can’t exactly leave.”

Ichigo is so struck by Merlin, if all people, being candid and complimenting him that he wakes up catching flies. But, he at least has an idea on what to do now.

* * * * * *

[arthurjr]

Tournament

Not to be confused with Tourney. Tournament in Camelot is a full fledged tournament that includes Jousting, Archery, Melee fights, and ends with Duels. This is Camelot’s main sport. Ant it is held twice yearly, once for the school specifically, and once to open it up to anyone. Smaller Tournaments can happen depending on the occasion. Smaller Tournaments tend to have shortened for of all competitions and last only one day. Additionally the faire aspect of the Tournament is not present. A faire is held for the big tournaments, to help people who journey in to understand the combination of the 1930s and 40s aesthetic of Camelot proper, and Medieval traditions. Often times the Faire will have a blacksmith making little trinkets, and glass blowers. There is also typically fun games to play most notably is Cricket.

The Tournament itself has four major events. The Joust, The Archery Tournament, The Melee, and the Duels. No one can win the entire tournament as that would require a bracket system for duels which Camelot does not typically utilize as they prefer the duels to be much more random and unpredictable. Typically a Tournament lasts three days. With Archery and the Joust happening on Day one, the Melee happening on Day 2 followed by a feast provided by camelot for all particpants, and the Duels happening on Day 3. However the duels have been known to run longer than a day, and can make the tournament last longer.

The Joust is what you expect, a typical joust, with riders going at it until one remains. Art is predictably good at jousting, but this is possibly because his steed is rather fast, and very strong. Additionally, he Jousts bareback as his steed, a unicorn named Wynn, refuses to have a saddle put on it. The fact that Art doesn’t loose despite being bareback is a feet in itself. The award for winning the joust is a small silver jousting pole, but Art typically gives his to one of the kids who are watching.

There is a second part of the Joust which is the Ring Race, it is not part of the official joust, and is geared more for children too little to joust, and people who do not want to partake in the real joust. a group of kids or whoever are each given a jousting pole and they run down a racetrack trying to grab as many rings on the end of their pole before they reach the finish line. The winner wins a a flowered ring, or a flower crown if you will. There is a more grown up version of this that takes place after the Official Joust, and it is for all the participants of the Joust. The winner gets a silver ring which is typically fastened onto their horse’s saddle. In Art’s case he just gives it to a child who is watching.

The Archery Tournament is what you would expect with archers going about the targets at different distances getting awards for those. But also they have trick shots, and a final portion that is similar to that of the tournament seen in Robin Hood, which is where they pay homage to Robin himself. The award for winning the Archery Tournament is a silver arrow.

The Melee is the most brutal event, and is held second to last, only to ensure the duels do not go on for days because the Melee takes out many men and women. The Melee is a free for all more or less. All the participants are prepared with their own armor, shield, and sword and they all fight each other til one remains standing. The circumference of the arena is lined with fresh weapons and shields should the men and women who compete need new ones. Once these weapons are gone, they are gone and are not replaced. The final blows of The Melee have often times been punches. Melee is dangerous and it is warned before hand that you can get seriously injured to the chaotic nature of the event. The winner of The Melee gets a small silver sword and shield on a plaque.

The Duels are the last events and held on the final day. The duels are the most intense as this is how many in Camelot like to settle arguments so they wait a full year to do so. The duels even for the School Tournament are open to all in Camelot. The duels are traditionally ended by King Arthur himself throwing down his gauntlet for a challenger when the duels have seemed to wrap up. Or if the duels are going longer than desired, he will pick up the final gauntlet before the desired opponent can. Anyone may pick up a thrown gauntlet, even if their is a desired opponent. Anyone can fight anyone in the duels. Additionally the rules of the duel are entirely dependent on the two fighters. Typically the one rule that all duels follow is that there is no death. Magic was outlawed in Duels, much to Merlin’s huffyness, because of the laws of Auradon, but with the laws changing it may come back. Many want to see Merlin duel with magic as they all know the story of his duel with Madam Mim, whom Merlin always says is very skilled with magic even if she is rude.

The winner of their own duel is gifted the gauntlet that was thrown. There are special gauntlets for this as to not ruin anyone’s armor. Additionally, the winner of the duel against Arthur, or if Arthur is not available, Art, gets a golden gauntlet.

As you can expect there is plenty of a food and music surrounding the main events, and as stated above if it is one of the official Tournaments there are plenty of things for people to watch or do.

On the topic of favors and heroes, a competitor in any of the events is allowed to have a trinket from someone as a favor. This is typically a flower tucked into armor, or a saddle, or a scarf tied somewhere like the saddle, the jousting pole, or the armor. It is very typical to see wives, mothers, husbands, boyfriends, and girlfriends do this for their loved ones. Guinevere always gives Arthur a purple scarf, and gives Art a purple flower.