#army's being run by a bunch of Adults Good With Kids--but why are there so many kids in the army to start with)

[loregoddess]

Let’s go with Narve for the ask meme

How I feel about this character He's cool! I definitely didn't use him to his full potential in my runs, although I'd like to try and figure out how to use him in battle for whenever I replay TriStrat. But narratively I think Narve's arc offers an interesting insight into the worldbuilding, helping to show Hyzante's current culture and approach to information (both acquisition and suppression) long before the player even gets to say, the end of Roland's route where Exharme reveals that if Svarog had not burnt the Archives himself, then Exharme would have destroyed them on orders from Idore. Like, even before that, we know from the beginning of Narve's character story that suppressing information that doesn't help Hyzante/Idore maintain power is just a Thing that happens regularly.

But his character story also gives us insight into the counter of this as well, in that despite Idore's best attempts to expunge Grandante from history, the people who Grandante helped after being exiled still remember him, and in this way his legacy still lives on (and of course, Narve himself is carrying out this legacy, and sharing the story of his grandfather, and making it even harder for Hyzante to fully stamp out the memory of Grandante; not unlike how Frederica continues to fight against Hyzante in the epilogue of Roland's ending).

So like, while Narve isn't my top favorite or anything, I still think he plays a super interesting role in how the narrative fabric gets woven, since he embodies some of the fundamental themes of the overall narrative--that there are powers that would seek to suppress information if it benefited them, and that it's impossible, or at least very difficult, to truly erase information so long as there are people willing to remember and share it.

All the people I ship romantically with this character No one at the moment, although if pressed, I might try to make an argument for Narve x Jens since they seem to be close in age, and mage x craftsman is an underappreciate ship dynamic.

My non-romantic OTP for this character I do like Narve's friendship with Geela like, of all the permanent roster characters who can show up in other character stories, I wasn't expecting Geela per se (esp. since Anna's usually the one who gets to hang out with the younger kids), but it's nice to see how supportive Geela is of Narve's pursuits (although considering that she plans on opening her own school after the war, maybe her taking to Narve isn't so surprising, since one of his encampment dialogues suggest he's going to open up a magic school as well).

My unpopular opinion about this character Underrated character by everyone, including myself before I sat down to start drafting this ask. I have to say, he's a pretty interesting character in his own right.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. As usual, more character interactions. Would Narve and Corentin have become friends over their shared love of magic? Actually, it would have been interesting to see a conversation between Narve and Ezana over the similarities and differences between their approaches to magic too. Narve's character stories focus a lot on his healing magic, so it'd be interesting to see him discuss healing magic with Cordelia. It would have also been interesting to see Narve interact with characters outside of the field of magic too like, would Narve and Medina bond over frustrations with Hyzante? And of course, now I'm wondering how character interactions between Narve and Jens would work like, they both share of love of knowledge and desire to become the best in their field (to similar but different ends), and Jens is The Army Blacksmith, so he should at least have some interactions with every other playable character anyhow...

So many possibilities, at the rate I'm going I should just draw up a chart of all the support/rapport-style bond conversations I wish had existed in TriStrat as a dual game/narrative mechanic.

[braveclementine]

Mrs. Davis

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do." Tony said as he walked towards one of the alleyways, "By the way, when you said your sister had a watch-" He slid his sleeve up to show the kid the dora watch on his wrist.

"Yeah?"

"I was hoping for something a little more adult than that."

Harley laughed, "She's six! Anyways, it's a limited edition. When can we talk about New York?"

"Maybe never. Relax about it."

"What about the Avengers? Can we talk about them?"

"I dunno. Later. Hey, kid, give me a little space." Tony said, lightly pushing the kid.

Tony looked at the memorial that was in front of him. Most of it was lit by candles, with lots of small notes and presents around them. There were several black figures on the walls, as though they had been painted there. They reminded Tony of the stories of the eruption of Pompeii or the explosions in Nagasaki. Where the heat was so intense, people were blasted into nothing but shadows.

"What's the official story here? What happened?"

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts. He won a bunch of medals in the army. And one day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up, right here."

Tony touched the wall where the black was. There was nothing to feel as though there was paint. These weren't painted.

"Six people died, right?"

"Yes."

"Including Chad Davis?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense." Tony said after a moment, looking around. He sat down next to the kid, "Think about it. Six dead. Only five shadows."

"Yeah. People said these shadows are like the marks of souls going to Heaven. Except the bomb guy. He went to hell, on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."

Y/N would've liked that theory, Tony felt. "Do you buy that?"

"It's what everyone says."

There was some more silence as Tony contemplated everything in front of him.

"You know what this crater reminds me of?"

"No idea. I'm not- I don't care." Tony sighed.

"That giant wormhole in, um, in New York." Harley said with enthusiasm. "Does it remind you?"

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it."

"Are they coming back? The aliens?"

"Maybe. Can you stop?" Tony asked, frustrated. He wished he wasn't like this, but he had never been good with kids. He knew subconsciously he was acting like his own father, but he was frustrated. He missed Y/N and Everleigh. He wasn't sure what was going on or anything that could help him find the Mandarin.

"Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?"

"Does this subject make you edgy?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?"

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hill? Do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?"

"No." Tony breathed out.

"Do you need to be on it?"

"Probably."

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so."

"A-Are you going completely mental?" Tony huffed. "I can stop. Do you want me to stop?"

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear that you're going to freak me out." Tony growled. Tony got to his feet, "Aw man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"

"What did I say?" Harley called after him. Tony ran away and Harley had to run to catch up with him. "Hey! Wait up!"

Tony ran and then slumped against the Stop sign, falling and sitting in the snow. "What the hell is that?" Harley asked as Tony pressed snow to his face. Tony took the snow and threw it as a snowball at Harley. "You're fault. You spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died. Relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"

"Where she always is." Harley sighed.

"See? Now you're being helpful."

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

Harley went home and Tony headed to the small town bar that Mrs. Davis would be at. Even as he crossed the street, he could hear the loud music playing from the bar. It was lit nicely with colourful Christmas lights and had a home-like feel for it.

As he went to enter the bar, he accidentally jolted shoulders with a woman as she walked past him. "Sorry." He said, before noticing that something had fallen out of her pocket. "Lady?" He bent down and picked it up. She turned back to him and he held it out, "Is this uh-"

"Thank you." She had a soft voice, very nice. Tony might've looked at her twice if he didn't have Y/N. She had a nice hair colour as well, and would've had a pretty face if it wasn't for the scars on her cheeks. Not that they made her ugly, just changed her.

"Nice haircut." He said to cover up the fact that he'd been staring, "It suits you."

"Nice watch." She said, nodding to the kid watch on his wrist.

"Yeah. A limited edition." He said.

"Oh, I don't doubt it." She smiled and Tony nearly kicked himself for liking her voice, "Well have a good evening."

Tony quickly turned, mentally berating himself. He was so happily married it was unbelievable. He really needed to get out of his playboy mentality. He could never hurt Y/N like that.

The bar was filled with mostly older men, sitting at the bar itself. The Sherriff was there as well, with his gun casually sitting in his holster.

The atmosphere was cheerful, farther back there were families sitting there instead. Some people had clearly been newly soulmated, with animals in laps or kneeling by their feet. Some children played in the corner as they waited for their meals.

Tony found Mrs. Davis sitting by herself, holding onto dogs tags. She had a folder on the table in front of her as well as an empty glass. He set his own down.

"Mrs. Davis? Mind if I join you?"

"Free country."

"Sure is."

"All right." She said, leaning back in her chair a little. For someone who was supposed to get drunk every night, she looked rather alert, "Where would you like to start?"

"I just want to say, I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened." Tony said sincerely.

She stared at him for a moment, contemplating, and then looked away, picking up the file to put in front of him. "Look. I brought your damn file. You take it, go." She made a slow shooing motion with her hands. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."

Tony opened up the file and saw pictures of her son in his military garb in another country. "Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Huh? Supposed to meet someone here?"

"Yeah." She said softly.

Tony lifted the pictures to scan the rest of the information in the folder. Names popped out at him, little bits of information. He closed the file and leaned forward, "Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself. I guarantee you, he didn't kill anyone." She gave him a sharp look. "Someone used him."

"What?" She questioned.

"As a weapon."

She drew herself up and then leaned forward to whisper, "You're not the person that called me after all, are you?"

So maybe she was a little bit more drunk than he had thought. But still, from one alcoholic to another, he could admit that she was definitely not a lightweight.

Suddenly, an object was slammed on the table and the familiar voice from outside said, "Actually, I am."

Both him and Mrs. Davis looked down at the badge in front of them, before the lady nearly ripped Tony's arm off as she twisted it behind his back. His face hit the table harshly and he grunted. The commotion brought the attention of the others around the bar.

"What's all this about? What the hell is going on here?" Tony recognized the voice of the Sherriff who he had seen when he'd first come into the bar. Using his free hand, he quickly tucked the dog tags into his inside jacket pocket.

"It's called an arrest." The woman above him said, tightening the handcuffs. She tossed him out of his seat and onto the floor, "Sherriff, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am, it is. And you are?"

"Homeland Security. We good here?"

"No, we're not 'good.'" The Sherriff gave a short chuckle, "I need a little more information than that."

Tony watched the scenario in front of him while his back was against the brick wall. Who the hell was this woman?

"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sherriff." She smirked.

Tony motioned to Mrs. Davis, you took the note and leaned back in her chair, putting the file on the floor and sliding it under the counter.

"Yeah? Well why don't you get on the horn to Nashville and, uh, upgrade me?"

"All right. You know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way. But uh," She took a few steps towards the Sherriff and Tony watched with widening eyes as he saw her hand start to glow around her badge. "the fun way is always good."

"Deputy, get this woman out-"

He didn't get to finish as she shoved her arm forwards, the badge sizzling hot against the Sherriff's cheek. Screams erupted. She yanked her hand away and the Sherriff looked dazed, before she grabbed the gun and shot both him and deputy.

Tony got to his feet and ran, his hands still cuffed behind his back. He managed to make it out of the bar and looked behind himself.

"Hey, hot wings, you want to party? Come on, you and me, let's go." He knew she must've known who he was right off the bat. Tony was going to run one way, before recognizing the man that Happy had facetimed him about was getting out of the car. He tossed his coffee to the side, raising his eyebrows at Tony.

Tony decided it was time to go in a different direction.

He ducked behind a car and saw that there was a man laying on the road, "Crazy huh?"

"Yep."

Tony looked over his shoulder and then said, "Watch this."

He ran, ducking through a glass window. When he rolled back and then got to his feet, his hands were now in front of him. He watched through the window for a moment as someone from the bar ran up behind the lady with his personal gun to shoot her. She grabbed it from him, butting him with the end of it, before aiming it at Tony.

Tony didn't hesitate for a second, running and leaping over the counter of whatever store or shop he was in. He heard the sound of the shotgun going off and the shattering of glass.

He could see her taking off her jacket as she approached him, he could see through the bullet hole in the wood.

He got into a crouching position, sliding along the counter. He went to hide behind the pillar, before getting a jump scare as she was right next to him. She grabbed him, slamming him against the wall before punching him.

The two of them fought- well she fought. Tony was mostly getting kicked and punched around. Finally, his foot found leverage on one of the counters and he managed to get on the other side of the counter, while also bring the handcuffs around her throat so that her head was against the counter.

She started to glow and he pressed down tighter with the cuffs. When they melted, he went flying backwards and he had to shake them off to avoid getting burnt.

He quickly grabbed a jug of gasoline, kicking it through the doorway to the room that she was in, sliding the still flaming handcuff in as well. A well lit fire was going immediately. Tony immediately set up his next trap, knowing that she was going to just walk through the fire.

"You walked right into this one. I've dated hotter chicks than you." Tony smirked.

She burst through the doors, her clothes and skin singed, but she seemed as though it hadn't hurt her at all. As she got back to her feet she said, "That's all you got?" He pulled out the gasoline. "A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?"

"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography." Tony replied. He quickly ducked out the door, slamming it closed behind him. He hoped that the metal dog tags in the microwave would do the trick as fast as he needed it to.

He didn't have to wait long, ducking behind the ice box outside and heard and also felt the explosion. He looked around, hearing people's screams when he thought it was safe enough to look, and saw her body lying across the electrical wires on the telephone poles.

Good. It was what she deserved after killing those Police Officers.

Suddenly, Tony became aware of a loud creaking sound and looked around for the noise. It was the water tower, which the man was standing under, melting the metal that was keeping it from falling.

Tony quickly turned, running into the Christmas tree farm to get away from it.

Tony jumped, landing harshly in the grass before it fell around him. He held his breath as the water rushed over him for five long seconds, before it was gone. He gasped, the cold and the water combined making it even colder.

His foot was trapped in the metal works, and he twisted his ankle until he heard a familiar voice cry out, "Let me go!"

Harley?

"Help me!" A mocking voice cried.

He looked to see that Harley was over the man's shoulder, grunting.

"Anyway." The man said, sitting down on the chair and putting Harley on his knee, wrapping one arm around him, "Hey, kid, what would you like for Christmas?"

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry." Harley cried as Tony tried to get himself free. There was no way that he was going to let this kid get hurt. Not after all that he'd done to help him.

"No, no, no. I think he was trying to say, 'I want my goddamn file.'"

"It's not your fault kid." Tony said. "Remember what I told you about bullies?"

It didn't take long for Harley to figure out what he was talking about, using the weapon to flash him in the eyes. The man grunted, letting Harley go and Harley took off.

"You like that Westworld? That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our ass." He raised his hands, bracing his right one in front of his left, and let the hand blaster go off. It shot him in the chest, and he flew back into the tubing.

Tony quickly threw the melted Limited Edition watch away from him before it could burn his skin, and grabbed a pipe to get himself free.

Once he was free, he checked the pockets, and grabbed the car keys.

Jackpot. 

[sunshine-zenith]

Last night I dreamed about Disney’s Frozen, except everything was different to the point it basically wasn’t Frozen anymore. I’m gonna keep the names though

So the two biggest changes in my dream were than Hans, instead of being a prince from a different kingdom, was Elsa and Anna’s brother, and their dad (who looked like my dad for some reason, so imagine Angar was a middle aged brown skinned man from the Middle East) was still very much alive

(It wasn’t super clear where Hans was in the birth order, but I think it makes the most sense if he was the baby of the bunch and Anna was the forgotten middle child. I have no idea where Iduna was, I guess she died in that shipwreck but Agnar didn’t?)

So in the dream, the king ran into Hans and Anna one morning while everyone was still waking up and waiting to use the bathroom (I guess running water was a thing), and told them he had an important announcement later. Anna and Hans were chatting, a little surprised the king actually took the time to speak to them, since he was always busy with Elsa (I think in the dream they were told growing up that Elsa had a chronic illness and that’s why she kept to her room all the time). Hans then started complaining that the king never had time for them and wondered what he had to do to get his attention — he had a hospital badge with his name on it saying he was a surgeon general that he kept showing off (I guess everyone was a bit older or Hans joined the military/got a public health degree/went to medical school when he was like three). Anna kinda kept quiet, having long since accepted that she wasn’t gonna get attention from anyone in her family. She spent her days sneaking out into the town and doing disaster relief/being generally helpful (I guess the gates were still closed but since everyone was an adult it was a little more lax? Or Hans was allowed outside for school and work and nothing else while Anna took matters into her own hands and broke out as often as possible)

When everyone got to the throne room, the king announced that he had made a hard but wise decision — Elsa was not fit for the crown. Instead, Anna would be the next queen. Also he was retiring, so Anna was gonna be queen in like a week

he didn’t explain why here, but it was later revealed that he and Elsa had focused so much on controlling her powers, they had majorly neglected her royal education. Since Anna had been hands on with their people for years (I guess the king just knew she was sneaking out all this time), she was more fit for the role.

Hans had an entire hissy fit about how he should be next in line because A) he was a guy (bruh) and B) he was super educated (I’m pretty sure Anna was also super educated, she just didn’t ask for daddy to give her a dandy job title, while Hans was a nepobaby who got the title because the king didn’t have time for an argument)

Hans ends up setting Elsa off with a major argument, which causes her to use her powers accidentally, setting off the movie plot, except Hans spends less time trying to convince the town he’s good and just goes straight to leading an army to Elsa’s ice castle, so Anna was racing against the clock to get to their sister first before Hans goes murder mode (the king kinda just disappeared by this point? I guess he made his announcement and jumped at the window onto a retirement cruise, leaving his kids to just Figure It Out).

Also Kristoff was a trans lesbian, and she and Anna made an impressive power couple. Also cameras were following them, like in The Office

[solarwynd]

https://www.tumblr.com/solarwynd/734669586321096704/giving-the-members-just-a-year-to-fine-tune-their?source=share

I agree with you completely but I'd just like to bring up one point. On the face of it Hybe + the members are all promoting a BTS return because they know that's their cash cow and yes the members probably have some emotional attachment to the group but internally I'm sure Hybe knows there's a chance BTS' return may not be as glorious as they hope which is why I believe they're hedging their bets by promoting Jungkook to hell so that he can be the new BTS once he's back if the old one doesn't work out.

ARMYs aren't that loyal - a bunch of them didn't turn up for chapter 2 at all, many of the ones who are remaining are chart obssessed or casual fans. I have doubts about how many of them will last for 18 months. The BTS of today just doesn't have that spark or special sauce they used to have. I think it's a 50-50 chance they'll be able to regain their audience over their next cb. They're also getting old - in 18 months are members like Jin and RM and Tae going to want to keep doing choreos like Run BTS when they looked like they were over it pre hiatus? Also ARMYs can gush about being accepting of the members wanting to date but a bunch of them subconsciously like the image of all of them being single and obsessed with each other. Are members like Jin and Yoongi who'll be pushing mid 30s once they're back really going to stay single and not start families themselves? ARMYs expect everything to return to its 2018 format once they're back but I doubt these adult men are going to want to do variety shows like run bts (not the song) regularly once they're back. Some members already look worse for wear without makeup and I don't think that's going to get better either and we know a lot of fans are just here for their looks. Another bunch of fans are just going to wander off and become stans of younger groups who'll still act like crack heads on camera. When Weverse said Jungkook was going to be the breakout star and the only solid reason they cited was his age - I think there's some truth in that being a major reason by he's the labels chosen one.

I think they'll keep the whole group thing going but I think theres going to be a fundamental shift happening once they're back. Solo projects are definitely here to stay and I'm really glad Jimin had such a good experience with Face because he's going to definitely carry that over to his future projects. If he had put out something like Layover or Golden before he left, I might be tempted to just give up on him and this whole kpop thing completely. Anyway all this rambling just to say that I think Hybe are going to project that chapter 2 was just a blip and things will be back to pure group work in 2025 but I'm almost sure that the reality is solo work is here to stay.

Mmm armys are loyal just when it comes to jk specifically. lol. The amount of account on twitter who were on “rest” prior to seven dropping and all of a sudden popped back up for that release? I mean I always knew that would be the case cause a lot of armys are just diet solos who refuse to admit it in public, but for it to be so blatant without anyone calling it out is funny.

I know that the kpop system really doesn’t allow for idols to age into their careers but artists who perform past the age of 30 exist. There’s so many artists in the western industry that are in bts’ age group or older that have flourishing careers, married and or have kids. Yoongi will be 32 and Jin will be 31 when they get out. That’s still very young. Some of y’all really have to dead that way of thinking that anybody past 29 isn’t vital enough to invest into. And imo, genuine armys have never been fickle in regards to bts getting older, that’s always been on akagaes or the people who never really had any serious attachment to the group and turned into kpop stans. Even now, jk akagaes are mad because he’s giving up “the best years of his life” to go back to the group. Which already shows me they see him as expendable. People with that mindset that idols are only worth stanning while they’re in their 20’s were never in it past superficial reasons to begin with and not the type of fans I’d want the person I stan to have anyway.

BTS getting older doesn’t mean they’re gonna be completely different people. Their personalities might change a little based on new experiences, they already have compared to when they were younger, but at the core, I don’t think they will change for the most part. And hybe’s narrative that they’re trying to hitch onto jk being the most viable since he’s the youngest will always be silly. There’s only a 5 year gap between jin and jk at the eldest and barely 2 between jk, th and jimin at the youngest. That’s nowhere near big enough a gap for anyone to buy into that.

Armys will never be content with the idea of bts being in relationships, but I do feel that with th and jk the reaction will always be more visceral than the other members because those two are the ones that armys have constructed the y/n fantasy around. I know armys hate jennie, but regardless of who the woman th ended with would’ve been, they’d still be uneasy. No matter how armys try to distance themselves from being different than the average kpop stan, they’re really not.

It’s perfectly normal to not like some of music someone you are a fan of puts out but the thought of potentially throwing in the towel on them after one album is kinda strange to me. Especially if it’s their debut. Like I can see if it was a jk or th situation where those two have made it clear that they’re not in tune with solo artistry or in jk’s case, not caring about it at all, but I don’t think that’ll ever be the case with jimin. His ear for music is too good and he’s too meticulous about his craft. If face hadn’t turned out as good as it had, at least I’d know that jimin has the drive and artistic capabilities to execute an album so I’d definitely allow him the room to grow musically.

Solo work will continue because even while in the group, rapline were able to put out mixtapes. Now will I solo work post chapter 2 will be in the same vein with focused promotion and comeback maps or if it’ll be more like mono or D2 I don’t know. But chapter 2 does feel like a blip because honestly what came out of it? Rapline have already shown their artistic prowess in the past so it’s not like they were giving anything new there. So ultimately it was really meant for vocal line to display what they could do, yet jimin was really the only one out of the 4 that put out anything significant of artistic value. (barring that jin only had the opportunity to put out a single.) It actually did the exact opposite for some of the members in regards to what chapter 2 was initially supposed to be about which was growth. Some either stuck to the same M.O or just flat out did nothing. And being told to expect their best and evolved selves when they get back together as a group, when only 3/7 have proven range as artists is so anticlimactic in a way.

Everything just seems so trivial because they were still on a timer even when they were supposed to be on break. I don’t have any genuine excitement for their reunion either like I did before all this. I mean I’ll certainly tune into their comeback, but jimin’s really the only one I’m seriously interested in anymore.

[deepest-dope]

I'd love to hear about your OCs.

OUGH oh BOY going to do some one piece characters because of your icon

to start with theres my old "retired" cipher pol agent who while not directly involved with the revolutionary army he does pop over to bother dragon alot. hes literally garps age but hes like the ary's horrible cat but instead of littering their bases with dead mice he brings them dead slavers and the occasional alive ex slave. he "retired" during fisher tiger's attack on mariejois taking a bunch of children with him. his name is Joliceur D. Grigor and hes hated almost every second of his life up until his "retirement" and opening an orphanage to raise the would be slaves he took with him from mariejois plus whatever kids get dumped on his doorstep. hes burned down a bunch of government buildings in particular the few that held any record of him being alive and working in cipher pol.

Dragon is over the years very slowly running out of excuses to NOT outright fold him into the revolutionary army with how much info about how the world government works at little to no prompting. the main reason he doesn't is because he finds Grig annoying. Grig gets why they dont want him in on actual revolutionary work completely and is fine carrying for random orphans they bring him and beating every slaver he sees to death with his bare hands on the side. that and teaching the children he raises to also beat slavers to death with their bare hands. he is actually the bio dad of one of my other ocs but ill expound on that more later. he adopts her like every other orphan put in front of him but doesnt realize shes his blood child until dragon stops to point out shes his spitting fucking image. or well a miniature of him more accurately.

Lily of the Valley of the kuja tribe, and former Greatest Swordsman in the world before mihawk. not that anyone was willing to acknowledge that. maybe because of all the murders. but if they were better swordsman theydve survived so. probably should not have had a child with grig but didnt anyway. making their daughter was a spot of joy in his otherwise depressing life so what can you do. at least she didnt train her because she does not understand limits in regards to adults, i wouldnt trust her to train a kid. shes not the worst mother at least, she dedicated the entirety of her time after daughter disappeared off the kuja pirate ship to tracking her down so. and lets her stay with her dad when she expresses that she wants to because she loves him and also enjoys learning to beat people to death with her bare hands. forgets to let the rest of the tribe know their sister is safe in her rush to get back to killing people with swords though.

Rose of Sharon of the kuja tribe later Joliceur D. Briar, and shes as obsessed with martial arts as her mother is with swords and swordfighting styles. significantly less murderous though. also inherited her dads tendency to care alot about peoples freedoms and follows in his footsteps of being somewhat of a menace to the revolutionary army. but sometimes she leaves them money with the dead slavers so thats nice of her. could technically join the revolutionary but chooses not to. an admittedly deeply selfish person but she has made something of a weapon of it for the greater good of the people she cares about. fucks around alot and finds out alot but thats fine she likes to know things.

[dzthenerd490]

Kingdom Hearts: The Brightest of Hearts - Chapter 4: Jungle of Darkness

Now the three were back in Traverse town but even after having a good meal they did not leave the ship quite just yet.

"What's the holdup fellas?"

"Yeah, you defeated the dark conduit, liberated the world, and locked it from the darkness! That's three whole worlds saved! it's the time to celebrate!"

"That's the thing, we didn't defeat the dark conduit he defeated us, yet Sora was still able to lock the world from darkness?"

"Gosh, this sure is confusing, no way that keyblade wielder of darkness helped us. they're bad by nature!"

"Hm, well we're not gonna find answers here!" Sora then got up from his seat and exited the gummi ship.

"Sora? what are you doing, we need to figure out what happened so that we don't mess up again!"

"Yeah, but we don't have enough information, when I want to know more about something I always just ask the adults of the island. so that's what I'm gonna do now."

"You think Leon has answers?"

"If he doesn't then his master Merlin might." Donald and Goofy then got wide eyed and looked at each other in shock as Sora left the ship unaware of their shock.

"Merlin! A-hyuk! as in THE Merlin!"

"Only one way to find out!" Donald and Goofy then ran out of the ship and after Sora, into Traverse town. The three of them passed through the gates and entered the town square where Yuffie was there. she waved at them and smiled while walking over to them slowly but then she stopped and looked at them in shock. Yuffie's eyes then started tearing up and she started crying as she was now running toward the three of them. Yuffie then ran past them and hugged Cloud. Donald and Goofy backed off in shock while Sora looked surprised but also quite relieved.

"I knew it! you really are a good guy despite being a keyblade wielder of darkness!"

"Keyblade wielder of darkness? Sora what are you talking about, this is Cloud! he was a hero back in our world."

"Mercenary, Yuffie, anyways, where is everyone?"

"Hey! don't you think you need to explain yourself!"

"Follow us and I'll explain everything." Donald was still furious, but he huffed in annoyance and nodded. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all followed Yuffie and Cloud to Sid's shop where Aerith and Leon were as well. Sid, Aerith, and Leon all looked shocked at the sight of Cloud, Aerith quickly teared up and ran over to hug him while Sid walked over and started ruffling his hair and laughed out of joy but still shed a tear or two. Leon on the other hand just huffed and smiled at how happy they all looked and gave Sora a high five when he ran up to him.

"a-hyuk?! wait a minute how do you know this guy?! isn't he a keyblade wielder of darkness?"

"Yeah, this guy tried to kill us!"

"I wasn't trying to kill you, I was just holding up my end of the bargain. I was enslaved by Hades when I ended up in a different world. He said if I served him, he would eventually return me to my friends. Unfortunately, one of the deals he asked me was to defeat you guys, but he never said I had to kill or curse you into a Heartless so technically all I had to do was knock you out and I got my freedom." Yuffie then slapped Cloud on the back of the head.

"Idiot! Why would you work with the Dark Army?! Those guys are world destroyers!"

"Take it easy Yuffie, remember we didn't even know the Dark Army existed before those bastards had Sephiroth destroy our world." Yuffie simply huffed and pouted to which Sid just sighed.

"Um, that reminds me, Leon when I first met you and Yuffie you said your world was destroyed a while ago, what exactly happened?" Sid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cloud all became silent and out of what seemed to be depression.

"uh! sorry! I uh! I was just curious! you don't need to-"

"Nah it's ok kid, we might as well tell ya since you're probably going to have to face that bastard Sephiroth one day being a guardian of light after all. anyways here's what happened, our group here was originally a bunch of weirdos and losers all doing our own things in the world but as fate would have it when the world was about to be annihilated Cloud here found us all and united us in a fight against an evil trying to end all intelligent life on our world."

"the Dark Army?"

"No kid, the Dark Army is a threat to the multiverse yeah but there are plenty of bad guys out there that are just as bad as them. Anyways that bastard Sephiroth was the mastermind of setting it all off. him, a mad scientist, some mutant experiments, wild animals, and those power-hungry capitalist Shinra parasites! They all worked to get rid of us and destroy the world for their own goals but despite how different they were, it all led back to Sephiroth. That bastard was seemingly nowhere and everywhere at once, he was always showing up when we least expect it to ruin everything. Hell, one time he nearly killed our sweet Aerith, if it wasn't for Leon she would be dead now. But eventually we did stop the bastard and killed him once and for all to keep him from using the ultimate doomsday materia.

However just when we thought we won, that's when Maleficent and the rest of the Dark Army showed up. They somehow resurrected Sephiroth and started unleashing an endless flood of Heartless. we must have destroyed thousands of them, but millions kept pouring in, not to mention those keyblade wielder of darkness. Apparently, most of them are new recruits but I'll be damned if I don't say that they put one hell of a fight, nearly died several times just trying to run away from those monsters. kinda makes me jealous of you kid, anyways we quickly realized there was no way to defeat the Dark Army on our own, so we had no choice but to leave. I had to work fast to make our ship perform space travel, still can't believe it worked but it didn't go as perfectly as I hoped.

Those damn heartless were relentless and tried to keep us in the world, we all would have been turned into those cursed heartless freaks if Merlin hadn't shown up and teleported us here through his magic or whatever. Anyways it worked, we were instantly transported here but not all of our friends made it. Thanks to those Dark Army bastards and their Heartless freaks trying to keep us to stay, we lost some of our friends when Merlin tried to transport us away. According to Merlin they were lost in the darkness in-between worlds and were teleported into different worlds because of it. by the looks of things, he was right here's Cloud right now! Haha, didn't actually believe the old geezer but hey if anyone's going to make it back it would be Cloud!" Sid laughed while ruffling Cloud's hair again, but Cloud quickly got him to stop Yuffie then hugged him again and he sighed and let her continue.

"So, you're all united again?"

"Well not all of us kid we still don't have Barret, Red VII, Vincent, Cait Sith, and Tifa. thought I think Cloud kinda happy about that last one, get to live another day, am I right?" Cloud just rolled his eyes, but his face had a mixture of sadness and regret, he knew what Tifa probably would do if she saw him, but he still wanted to see her nonetheless. Sora on the other hand just smiled at the sight of them all being together and happy. The sight should have made Sora jealous since he still couldn't find his own friends, but he was happy instead because of how this was partly thanks to his work as a keyblade wielder of light. This was exactly why he took the job without hesitation so that he could help people and unite friends while stopping the Dark Army from hurting anyone else like they hurt him. Sora then quickly noticed that Donald still looked mad and was about to charge at Cloud but Sora quickly grabbed him and started hugging him.

"Hey come on, relax. They've been apart for a long time and are finally together. "

"Whaaah! even if it was to escape the Dark Army, he still buried us in the dirt! let me at him! just one punch! let me have just one punch!" everyone in the room just laughed at Donald as he tired but failed to get out of Sora's grip while quacking angrily. Leon then taps on Sora's shoulder and signals him to come outside. Sora nods, lets go of Donald and walks out with Leon while Donald tried running at Cloud but was stopped by the end of Cloud's boot. Now outside Sora looked all around Traverse Town and felt like something was different.

"Did this town get... brighter?"

"It's thanks to you Sora, ever since you started liberating Heartless more and more people have been turning back to normal and returning to their own worlds like this one. You even liberated three worlds including this one, that's good progress, even for the Dark Army, Keyblades are hard to come by. The less they have the more people are safe from being cursed. Even if you haven't saved as many as you hoped, you're making pretty good progress. And you're just one kid yet you already liberated three whole worlds, you should be proud of yourself." Sora then looked at his hands, Leon was right regardless of how he felt he was indeed making progress against the Dark Army. If he kept this up he would not only be able to save the multiverse but Riku and Kairi as well. Sora then made a fist and raised it high in the air while smiling in determination.

"Yeah, you're right! I'm gonna stop the Dark Army no matter what! Those jerks will get a taste of their own medicine for trying to destroy worlds all for stupid power."

"... heh, Merlin would definitely love to have met you."

"Oh! right speaking of Merlin I wanted to ask him, is it possible for a Keyblade wielder of Darkness to be good."

"Uh actually Sora, Merlin just left before you guys showed up, it will probably be a while before he comes back. As for Keyblade wielders of Darkness being good... hm, I never really thought about it but it should be possible, just extremely rare. Though Cloud's an exception because unlike the rest of them he just wanted to find his friends not more power. Also he was forced into it, all the others are power hungry thieves that will do anything to get it, for one reason or another, though I guess it's possible for someone to want power for a just reason though that begs the question. Do the ends justify the means?" Leon pondered on this question himself but then he realized Sora staring at him with a confused expression.

"Hm? oh, heh. sorry it's all really complicated that you get lost in the info and start going off the rails." Sora then laughed a little because of Leon's embarrassment, then Sid walked by heading toward the Gummi ship.

"Hey Leon! get your butt over to the Gummi ship! Chip and Dale asked me to upgrade the ships armor to better withstand Heartless ship blasts, I need someone to hold the heavy metal!" Leon sighed and waved Sora goodbye while running over to help Sid, Sora smiled and waved back. Sora then looked around and liked the sight of Traverse Town being brighter now than it did when it was attacked by the heartless, Sora couldn't see anyone in the town square, but he still smiled knowing that as long as he kept working hard, he would change that.

"You seem to be having fun." Sora felt like his heart sank when he heard that voice, he then turned around and started tearing up as he saw his friend Riku.

"Wow, seriously? when did you become such a cryba- woah!"

"Riku! you're safe!" Sora ran toward Riku and hugged him tightly while crying out of pure joy, he felt so overwhelmed, he thought he was going to have to save an unknown number of worlds before seeing Riku again yet here he was.

"Riku! it's you! it's really you! were you here this whole time?! I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner!"

"Calm down Sora, I'm fine!" Riku forced Sora off of him, Sora just smiled at Riku as he tried to wipe away his tears, Riku just sighed and ruffled Sora's hair while smiling at him.

"I wasn't here the whole time I just got here recently, someone told me you were here, and it turned out you are."

"Wha? who did- ah! never mind, is Kairi safe too?"

"... yeah, she's ok. don't worry, come with me and I can let you see her again."

"Wha- really! yes! this is amazing! we're gonna be together again! I thought I would have to stop the Dark Army first but it's happening now! I can't wait to introduce you and Kairi to everyone!" Sora was holding Riku's hands out of pure joy, but Riku looked at Sora in shock, let go of his hands, and backed away.

"Wha- what do you mean stop the Dark Army?"

"Huh? What's wrong, Riku? The Dark Army was what destroyed our world and destroyed other worlds too. That's why I'm using this keyblade to stop them once and for all!" Sora then raised his hand and his keyblade manifested right before Riku. Sora was smiling in determination thinking Riku was going to be impressed but instead he looked at him in horror.

"No... You're the champion of light!"

"Huh? Champion of light?"

"Hey Sora!" Sora turned around to Donald and Goofy who were walking toward him with Donald looking grumpy with a red bump on his head.

"ya about ready to go Sora? With Leon, Chip, and Dale's help, Sid should be able to get those upgrades done pretty soon. we'll need to keep liberating the world if we want to find your friends."

"Oh yeah, but hey look guys! I don't have to worry about my friends anymore because Riku is right here! Riku, this is Goofy and Do-" Sora turned around joyfully but Riku was not there, he was nowhere in sight.

"Wha?! Riku? Riku?! Where did you go?!"

"Huh? Riku?"

"wasn't that one of your friends taken by the darkness? why would he be here?"

"I- I don't know, but he was here! I swear... he was right here." Sora couldn't help but start to cry out of sadness, he just had Riku here and safe but now he was gone and again, Sora was powerless to help him. Goofy then put his hand on Sora's shoulder to try to show him that they were there for him. Sora then hugged Goofy and Goofy patted his back gently to comfort him. Donald felt disappointed at first but then reminded himself that Sora was still a kid and wasn't going to be a perfect guardian of light.

"haaa, don't worry Sora once we get rid of the Dark Army your friends will be free like the rest of the multiverse. we just have to keep fighting and liberating, I know it will be hard but if we don't stop them nothing will." Sora then let go of Goofy, wiped away his tears, then made a fist of determination.

"those rotten Dark Army Jerks! I'm gonna make them sorry for hurting me and the rest of the multiverse! for Riku and Kairi!" Donald smiled and nodded his head in approval, Goofy on the other hand was still concerned after seeing Sora cry so hard.

"Well then, let's go see how Sid and the others are doing, then let's pick up where we left off!" Donald then marched forward with a smile on his face while Sora followed and so did Goofy in the very back and still concerned for Sora. 

***

"You lost the keyblade given to you by Master Ansem?! and lost that warrior under your control?!"

"Uh ok, did that happen? yes. Do I need a reminder? NO!" Hades then unleashed scorching crimson flames to show his rage toward Maleficent while forcing the other four to back off due to the intense heat. Maleficent on the other hand stood her ground and unleashed her sinister green flames as she glared at Hades with anger.

"Champion please! you can't just-" the both of them stopped when they heard a panicked voice form the other side of the door, then Riku forced them open and stomped in with a panicked Keyblade wielder of darkness behind him.

"Ah! Lords, Ladies, and Master Maleficent! I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him but he insisted-" Maleficent raised her hand to silence the keyblade wielder of darkness, she then waved her hand away in annoyance, the keyblade wielder of darkness quickly bowed and ran out of the room.

"Oh great, the prodigal punk returns." Maleficent quickly wacked Hades in the back of the head with her cane, to which he growled at her while rubbing the back of his head in pain. Maleficent then reverted from her towering dark form to her normal form to be at a more normal height to Riku.

"What troubles you, dear child?"

"Why didn't you tell me Sora was the Champion of Light?!"

"Sora? the champion of light? Why, this is news to me. I assure you I had no idea."

"Grrr, you expect me to fight Sora! I only agreed to this Dark Army crap so that I could save him! I'm not going to be your Champion of Darkness if it means hurting Sora!" Riku then walked out of the room in anger leaving Maleficent frowning in anger but then she changed the image projecting in over the cauldron.

"What about the girl then?" Riku stopped and looked back to see an image of Kairi sleeping and floating over the cauldron. Riku was shocked and was about to reach out but stopped himself and glared at Maleficent in anger while she smirked at him.

"I. am. not. hurting. Sora."

"Then don't, instead help us collect the remaining princess of light and unlock the door to kingdom hearts. there you will find the power of infinity. Infinite time, infinite power, and infinite possibilities; meaning that no matter what happens you'll get everything you want and more, you'll even get the one thing you desire more than anything."

"... I don't have to fight Sora, right? I just need to get the other princesses and in return, you'll keep Kairi safe?"

"Yes, and with the power of kingdom hearts, Sora will be freed from the burden of being the Champion of Light, and Kairi will awaken from her slumber. you have my word."

"... fine I'll do it, but I'm doing this for my friends, not you!"

"Why of course my dear boy, I only wish for my fellow keyblade wielders of darkness to thrive in the infinite power of Kingdom Hearts just as our founder Xaler prophesied we would." Maleficent placed her hand on Riku's shoulder like a parent comforting their child, Riku however just looked at her with skepticism.

"Oh but of course from now on, your missions are going to get more difficult so we must give you the proper tools to work." Maleficent snapped her fingers and several Heartless fused together flew out of her shadow, flew wildly in the air, then plopped itself in front of Riku. The blob of Heartless constantly changed shape until finally, the handle end of a keyblade, with a crimson ring around the handle, appeared out of the heartless blob. Riku looked at Maleficent confused, and she smiled while waving her hand to the keyblade, suggesting him to grab it. Riku then slowly walked to the handle, grabbed it and pulled out a keyblade that resembled a black spear but mostly lacked any detail almost as if it was making a statement of being soulless and evil.

"This is your keyblade. it was forged out of the recently collected power of a destroyed world, use it well." Riku looked at Maleficent in horror knowing that a world had to be destroyed for this keyblade to be made. He could feel the darkness in the keyblade talking to him, trying to convince him to fight and destroy for power. Riku just closed his eyes and tried to shut it all out of his mind. ugh this sucks, he thought, but it will all be worth it in the end, please wait a little longer Kairi I'll wake you up, and don't you worry Sora, I won't let those Guardians of Light use you as a puppet! I'll save you, I promise.

***

"Alright it should be up and ready to go!" Sid finished the last of the Gummi ship's armor upgrades and stood proud while Chip and Dale, who were on his shoulders, jumped and cheered.

"Hahaha, alright you rats time to get off, go save the universe." Chip and Dale started laughing, then jumped off Sid, and ran toward the Gummi ship.

"Come on Fellas! Next stop is Deep Jungle!"

"And with the new upgraded armor we won't have to worry about Sora making a mistake again!"

"Hey! I've actually been improving lately!" Sora was a little annoyed but still joined in on the laughter of Chip, Dale, Donald, and Goofy. Chip and Dale then ran into the ship to get it started with Sora following after waving Sid and Leon goodbye. Donald was about to get into the ship but Goofy stopped him seemingly sad.

"Huh? What's wrong Goofy?"

"... are we doing the right thing?"

"Wah? Of course we are! if we don't stop the darkness then the multiverse will-"

"No, no. Donald. I mean... Sora's just a kid, he's not even as old as Max yet he's already having to save the multiverse." Goofy remembered his son Max and how he just recently became old enough to join the royal guard of Disney Castle. Goofy wanted to be against it but Max proved he was capable enough and was accepted into the guard, still Goofy couldn't help but be concerned for his welfare. Now Goofy felt like the same thing was happening with Sora only now it was worse since Sora was much younger and clearly not as experienced, yet he had a much bigger responsibility of protecting the entire multiverse rather than a kingdom. Donald felt bad, he was more focused on the mission than he was on the feelings of his friends, so he didn't bother considering Goofy's or even Sora's feelings, especially with all the responsibility he has. 

"*sigh* hey now, come on Goofy, Sora's not alone we got his back, right? If things ever get too hard we will always be there to help him out! So stop worrying, ok?"

"hm... I don't think I'll ever stop worrying, but you're right, we DO have Sora's back! And we won't let him face danger alone! a-hyuk!"

"ha! there's the happy Goofy everyone knows!" Donald then playfully punched Goofy's leg and smiled while Goofy smiled too.

"Who knew having a kid would make you such a worry wart! though guess that's what you get for having them!" Donald then joyfully walked to the ship leaving Goofy with a disappointed look on his face.

"Hmph! don't let Daisy hear you say that, especially when she's been waiting for you to propose.” It's become a subtle joke back at Disney Castle that out of all the royal members Goofy was the only one to both have been married and had a kid while king Mickey was just married, and Donald was only dating Daisy. it's because of this joke that Daisy typically got mad at Donald for not proposing to her since they've been together for so long. Because of this Donald got mad that Goofy brought it up and started attacking him by jumping on his head and started pulling on his ears. Sora noticed no one was following him to the ship so he looked back and saw everything and even started laughing at the sight.

"Hahahahaha! hey come on guys! we got a multiverse to liberate remember?!" Sora then smirked at the two while having hands to his waist as to playfully show how disappointed he was at them for fooling around. Goofy smiled widely knowing Sora was feeling better while Donald grunted and got off of Goofy but then secretly smiled knowing that the two of them were happy again. 

***

The Gummi ship took off to the darkness in-between worlds, after making the light tunnel Sora started dodging and shooting down heartless ships. Sora was handling the ship rather easily thanks to the new armor, it made any shot from the heartless ships feel like little bumps. Sora started relaxing since handling the Gummi ship seemed to be a lot easier with his current experience and the upgrades. However, a new heartless ship entered the light tunnel, it was larger than the others and the laser it shot packed more of a punch. Thanks to the upgrades the ship didn't take much damage but Sora, Donald, and Goofy could feel the impact from the laser blasts.

Sora was now continuously blasting at the large ship, but it was clear this one could take much more damage than the other ships. not only that but the smaller ships were still coming in and shooting at the Gummi ship making Sora have to continuously shift his focus between the ships. Finally, they made it to the other end of the light tunnel forcing the heartless ships to retreat, as the Gummi ship entered the world's atmosphere Sora, Donald, and Goofy sighed in relief. 

"Gosh, they must be getting desperate to get rid of us! They're already making new heartless ships in the Darkness in-between worlds!"

"don't relax too much Goofy, you either Sora! Once we're done here and move on to the next world, we're definitely gonna have to face that ship again and more like it." Sora couldn't help but groan in defeat, Sora was in no way a strategist and was bad at dodging. Thus, even he knew that the only reason the Gummi ship was still in one piece was because of the new armor. suddenly the Gummi ship was seemingly warping out strangely which scared Sora, Donald, and Goofy. then it stopped just as fast as it started.

"wha?! what was that?!"

"Sorry Fellas!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy then looked down to the control counsel where Chip and Dale came out to talk to them.

"This world is a little more advanced than the previous worlds we visited."

"As such we gotta stay incognito! what you Fellas just saw was this ship activating our new cloaking device! with it, the inhabitants of the worlds we visit won't see us and freak out, this will help us to not disturb the natural order."

"Wow! that's so cool!" Sora's eyes lit up with curiosity but then an idea popped up in his mind making him smile even brighter.

“Hey Chip and Dale, do you think it's possible to use this when traveling to new worlds, so we won't have to deal with those Heartless ships?"

"Ah, Sorry to say Sora, but Heartless typically find people through the magic energy in their Hearts. so hiding from them is actually pointless."

"Yup! the only way to deal with the Heartless is to fight or run but hiding is not an option." Sora couldn't help but be disappointed by this but he looked at his keyblade in his hand and tightened his grip on it. then I'll just fight so no one else has to run. Sora thought to himself with determination.

"Alright fellas here's the plan, you see that ship right there?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked out the front view mirror and saw a large ocean and in it a traveling sea ship. Donald and Goofy were impressed, they never saw such a large ship that wasn't powered by magic. Sora on the other hand was wide eyed with excitement.

"Woah! That ship is so big! man Kairi and Riku would have loved to see this!" Donald and Goofy got scared when Sora mentioned his friend's names thinking he was going to get upset again.

"I'm definitely gonna show them this when I find them!" Donald and Goofy then sighed, not knowing that they were holding their breath all while Sora was still staring at the boat in excitement. Chip and Dale were confused by Donald and Goofy's reactions but quickly brushed it off. 

"Ahem! Anyways, now that we are invisible to the inhabitants, we should be able to get on the boat undetected."

"According to our radar, the keyhole of this world can be pinpointed somewhere on the island where the boat is heading so you fellas need to blend in with them to get to the keyhole!"

"Sounds good to me!" Sora then held out his keyblade, spun it around, and finally let it rest on his shoulder to show he was ready for anything. Donald then got in front of Sora and stopped him by pointing his magic staff at him.

"We need to be careful Sora, for all we know the Dark Conduit is on this boat trying to blend in with the inhabitants of this world too. It isn't uncommon for the Dark Army to infiltrate and manipulate the inhabitants of a world to getting what they want." Sora knew and experienced how selfish and evil the Dark Army was but still couldn't help but be surprised that they would use such horrible tactics to achieve their goals. Still this only hardened his resolve to stop them so he faced Donald with determination and nodded to show he understood and was ready. Chip and Dale successfully landed the ship in a place that was away from the inhabitants and hidden. The Gummi ship was still invisible but Chip and Dale knew better than to rely solely on the cloaking. 

"Alright fellas, now get out there and blend in with the crew, and make sure to get with anyone who is going into that island." Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded and left the Gummi ship, and quickly found the boat buzzing with life. Sora couldn't help but look at it all in awe, people busy moving around supplies, all working while wearing clothes he didn't recognize. no one was wearing any fancy clothes, but Sora didn't care, it was just so interesting to see people from another world doing their own thing. Sora didn't exactly get a good chance to observe much of Wonderland and he didn't even get to go anywhere interesting back in Greece, so this was a breath of fresh air. 

Sora, Donald, and Goofy left the Gummi ship and walked into the sea ship; Sora and Donald just walked normally, while Goofy tried too hard to walk casually. Some of the workers looked at them for a few seconds but then just continued going along with their work. Once it was clear that they wouldn't be exposed as otherworlder's and therefore disrupting the natural order, Sora started getting a better look at everything. 

Sora was amazed by his surroundings; sure, everyone was just busy doing work around the ship but that was just it, it was a sea ship! Sora had never seen a ship so big that people would just be working like this as if it was normal. that made Sora wonder, were there other ships like this? what did they have on them? was it possible to have a small town or city on a ship? Are there ships bigger than this one? Sora had so many questions about this world, and as he thought of more to ask it only filled him with excitement. This was the essence of adventure, to find new things and learn from them. 

"Of course, we'll be safe on this expedition, you have my word." Sora's attention was then pulled to a large man with a rifle talking to an old small scientist and his daughter.

"We uh, I'm actually more worried about that gun of yo-"

"With my rifle here, any predator will be scared away from just the sound."

"Uh, yes but also the gorillas that's why-"

"So, as I said you have my word that you and your daughter will be safe on this expedition. In fact, my men already put a camp on the island and all you need to do is follow me as I escort you there."

"Uh right of course..." Donald noticed Sora staring at the three and listened in as well, he couldn't help but quack when he heard the subject of the matter.

"Expedition! That means they’re heading to the island, we need to convince them to let us come with them."

"I hear ya, Donald, but how do we-"

"Hey, can we come with you guys?" Donald and Goofy went speechless as they stared at Sora in shock, they knew Sora was young and naive but to be this upfront and foolish was still surprising.

"What? no! this is not a field trip young man go back to your father right this instant!" 

"But we need to get to that island to uh... ah! to protect you from the Heartless!" Donald and Goofy were now speechless no one was supposed to know about the Heartless yet Sora was just talking about it so casually.

"Heartless? This is no time for made up stories' boy!"

"But it's not made up, their real creatures, their uh... they're very dangerous and typically roam around these parts of the world." Goofy's ears raised up for he finally caught up on what Sora was trying to do so he walked up to stand beside Sora and put his hand on his shoulder.

"that's right, we're professionals at hunting them down!" Clayton still looked at them in skepticism and anger but Professor Porter quickly jumped in the conversation.

"Uh might I ask what exactly you use to hunt these Heartless because of its rifles-" Sora quickly pulled out his keyblade and Goofy his shield, though thanks to the Gummi ship to them it looked like a regular but shining sword and shield. Clayton looked at the weapons for a short time before laughing at them, he was about to reject them but Porter quickly started shaking Goofy's hand.

"Wonderful! wonderful! nothing too noisy and nothing too violent! true I don't condone you giving your son the sword, but he is your son not mine! very well then let us head off!" Porter and his daughter Jane then headed for the boat, Sora and Goofy smiled at one another for managing to get access to the island with no issues. However, before they could Clayton lowered his rifle in front of them to stop them. He then leaned in closer in a threatening manner.

"Listen here, I don't know why you hunt but for me its profit, which is why I'm telling you now. stay out of my way and keep your mouths shut during this expedition! and maybe in return I'll see to it your payment is, let's say, extended."

"but we-" Before Goofy could respond Clayton quickly leaned closer to his face to show his anger.

"BUT! for any reason you decide to make things worse for me, then I'm afraid I can't guarantee your safety or that of your boys, especially the younger one back there. it would be a shame if, oh I don't know, he encountered a hungry leopard. we wouldn't want that would we." Goofy shook his head and Clayton smiled mockingly while patting his shoulder. Clayton then walked away, leaving Sora and Goofy to look at one another in confusion.

"Gosh, he was a rude fella."

"You don't think he's the keyblade wielder of darkness, do you?"

"Probably not, but that doesn't make him less dangerous, be careful around him, Sora."

"Why me..." Sora and Goofy turned around to see an increasingly angrier Donald.

"Why... why... Why am I always seen as a kid! I'm a grown man for crying out loud!"

"But then why are you so short?" Donald glared at Sora then walked to the boat while smacking Sora on the back of the head with his wand to show his annoyance toward him. Sora looked at Goofy in confusion, but Goofy just raised his arms and shook his head, showing he also had no answer.

***

The expedition was not going as well as anyone had hoped, they had been wandering for a few hours and every so often Clayton would just shoot at whatever was moving. Not only was the noise driving away any animals but also it caused ringing in Sora's ears. Goofy eventually noticed this and walked to Clayton to stop him.

"uh Mr. Clayton sir, could you uh, not shoot your rifle anymore." Clayton then grabbed Goofy by the neck and pulled him closer.

"I thought I told you not to get in my way..."

"but- but! A-hyuk! but your shooting is hurting Sora's ear's hurt!" Clayton then let go of Goofy and looked back at Sora, who was still covering his ears.

"Hmph, a rifle is a symbol of a man's strength and determination, if your boy has a problem then it's not my fault but his, or perhaps it might be yours. I wouldn't put it past you since you gave him such a feminine name like Sora. boys are meant to grow into strong men, not fragile women." Goofy couldn't help but be shocked by how blatantly Clayton was willing to blame Sora for his own ringing ears and then make fun of his name. Goofy didn't know what else to do so he just shook his head at Clayton's rudeness but as he did, he caught a man in a black cloak wandering the woods.

Goofy quickly ran back to Donald and Sora but made sure to cover their mouths. Goofy then quickly pointed to Sora's keyblade, then used his ears to mimic wearing a hood, finally he pointed to where he saw the black cloaked man was wandering. Sora and Donald looked at each other in confusion, then they both realized that Goofy was talking about a keyblade wielder of darkness. but just then Clayton fired again causing Sora to cover his ears again, this caused Jane and Professor Porter to ask him to stop in vain.

Goofy and Donald used this opportunity to get out of sight and escort Sora since his head was hurting due to the noise. Once they were a good distance away Sora's ears finally stopped ringing.

"Ah... man that thing was so loud!"

"Hm? Sora do you not know what a gun is?"

"Goofy! What kind of question is that?! Sora's like 10! Of course he wouldn't know what a gun is!"

"I'm actually 14."

"Oh... well still that's too young to be handling a gun!"

"RAAAH! THAT LOINCLOTH FREAK!" the three of them then raised their heads to see a keyblade wielder of darkness; in other words, the Dark Conduit leading the Heartless into this world. Donald quickly signaled to Goofy and Sora to stay low so that they could sneak up on him. 

"I can't believe he managed to kill my adorable pet! all I needed was to find Sabor a mate and his children would have enacted enough chaos throughout this entire island to begin the invasion! but instead that ruffian killed him off before I could enact even a little bit of chaos! damn it!" Suddenly Sora jumped out of the bushes and confronted the Dark Conduit with his own keyblade drawn. The Dark Conduit turned behind to see Goofy with his shield and Donald with his wand both leaving the bushes as well, the three of them were now surrounding him. 

"and the good news just keeps rolling in!" The Dark Conduit then unleashed his keyblade; it was silver and blue, seeming to be crafted elegantly except for the bit part of the key being a large spear-like spike resembling ice. 

"Though now that I think about it, it's more like a blessing in disguise. Once I kill you all I might finally be recognized for my talents via promotion to lordship!"

"Ha! except there's three of us and one of you!" Donald stood proud but was confused when Goofy facepalmed and Sora looked at him in confusion. 

"Stupid duck, the darkness never wanders alone!" Just then a banana peel fell from to the ground, out of caution Donald, Goofy, and Sora slowly looked up to see what dropped it and saw several monkey looking heartless hanging from the vines and tree branches above them.

"Powerwilds! Destroy them!" the Powerwilds started yelling like monkeys and jumped down to attack Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Sora panicked and started swinging his keyblade at the Powerwilds as they instantly surrounded him. Goofy was having a hard time as the Powerwilds surrounding him attacked both his shield and his back practically pushing him around. Donald on the other hand managed to hurt the Powerwilds quickly by casting a lighting spell electrocuting the ones surrounding him. Sora saw this and smiled in pride, Sora activated his own thunder spell to shock the Powerwilds surrounding him. 

"Goofy watch out!" Goofy understood and quickly jumped out of the group of Powerwilds surrounding him and not only raised his shield but enhanced it with magic making a large forcefield in front of him. Sora and Donald then cast lighting at the remaining Powerwilds knocking them all out and on the ground. Since they were Emblem Heartless the only thing left to do was liberate the hearts and stop the Keyblade Wielder of Darkness.

"Hmph, you really are quite powerful despite being a novice. It's no wonder even Lea lost to you, which is why I realized the best way to combat strength is to tire it out your opponent!" the keyblade wielder of darkness raised his arms to show that there were even more Powerwild heartless hanging from the trees. Sora was shocked at how many there were, but he smiled knowing that magic could hurt them but before he could cast another lightning spell the keyblade wielder of darkness cast an ice spell covering his keyblade in ice. 

"Ha! Lightning is powerful but it's not a good matchup for ice, especially when it's controlled by a powerful modifier like me!" Once again the keyblade wielder of darkness raised his hands and ice grew all around him. The ice was so cold it made the air around Sora, Donald, and Goofy feel super cold. Sora had never felt such intense cold before, it made him want to go back to the beach on his island. He remembered how much fun he, Riku, and Kairi had together during those days. suddenly while remembering his happy memories everything got warmer, Sora then looked at his keyblade and it was turning red with heat while the ice was melting off. 

"What! What how?!"

"Haha! Fire magic is awesome!" Soon all the ice melted and Sora's keyblade was covered in fire. Sora was scared at first, but the fire didn't burn his skin. He was even able to touch it and hold a flame in his hand. Sora laughed at how cool this was. Sora then looked at the Dark Conduit, who was backing off in fear, and smiled. Sora then pointed his keyblade at the Keyblade Wielder of Darkness and his Powerwilds and shot several blasts of fire balls. The jungle surrounding the Dark Conduit was instantly engulfed in flames burning the Powerwilds and the Dark Conduit.

The Dark Conduit screamed but not in pain, he screamed in unstable rage. He covered his black robes in ice and glared at Sora in pure anger. Sora was shocked at first to see how unscathed and angry he was, but Sora calmed down and smiled knowing he had both lighting and fire magic and the keyblade wielder of darkness only had ice. Sora, by only thinking about it, ignited his keyblade and charged, The Keyblade Wielder of darkness growled in anger and raised his keyblade ready to strike back in defense.

When their keyblades clashed it released an explosion of energy that instantly changed the temperature of the air. Everyone was hit with a quick wind blast of both hot and cold air. It was enough to knock both the keyblade wielder of darkness, Sora, and Goofy on their backs while it made Donald fall on his head. Thankfully it was also enough to put out the fire and destroy the already weakened Powerwilds thus releasing the Hearts within. Sora was thankfully not hurt by the blast and was able to get back up quickly; however, once Sora was up, he saw the Dark Conduit being helped up by the Powerwilds.

"Ah! grrrh! I don't need help you worthless monkeys!" The Dark Conduit then slashed the heartless thus releasing the hearts trapped within while also pathetically almost losing his balance and falling. Sora was kinda glad the stupid Dark Conduit made his job easier but was also very shocked to see him so easily annihilate the heartless he used as allies.

"Ah... hm, you dark army jerks really don't have any real friends do you?"

"Ugh... eh? friends? How old are you?"

"I'm 14."

"Ha! You really are a pathetic little child! a stupid little brat that daydreams about friendship and rainbows! well guess what, you dirt stain! The only way to get anything you want in life is power! and I will get plenty of it as long as I am with the dark army! And Lady-! ahem! I mean Master Maleficent! will reward me plenty once I give her your keyblade and your heart."

"... but can you? you're the one struggling." Goofy and Donald both covered their mouths to hold back the laughter, while the Dark Conduit's shock quickly turned into seething anger.

"I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!" The Dark Conduit then practically slammed his keyblade on the ground, unleashing a barrage of growing ice right toward Sora. Sora tried activating a combo of fire and lightning magic to combat it but overestimated his ability to control magic and wasn't able to conjure a powerful enough counter. Thankfully Donald jumped in front of Sora and unleashed his own barrage of powerful flames completely canceling out the ice, evaporating it out entirely. 

this pushed the Dark Conduit back once again, he quickly got back up and ran into the forest as quickly as he could. The remaining Powerwilds stood in front of his path to hold back Sora, Donald, and Goofy but since they were injured it didn't take much for the three to finish them off. They quickly chased after the Dark Conduit, but he managed to outrun them, and it wasn't long before they couldn't find any trace of him.

"he's gone! Dang it! if we got him then all we would have to worry about left would be to find the world's keyhole and lock it."

"don't worry Donald that Dark Conduit wasn't much of a fighter anyways, thanks for the save by the way." 

"Your welcome Sora, though it seems you won't need it soon. You're showing great talent for multiple magic types. with proper training you might soon be able to properly call yourself a Head Wizard." Sora smiled because of Donald's praise but then he started hearing singing as well what sounded like wood smashing and glass breaking. Goofy heard it too and since it was the sound of destruction Sora and Goofy knew it meant that it was the Keyblade Wielder of Darkness. Sora smiled and readied his keyblade, Donald looked confused but Goofy signaled him to be quiet, allowing him to realize what was going on. 

Sora walked through the large leaves and bushes as Goofy got his shield and Donald got his Wand and followed him. sure enough as they got closer both the singing and the smashing was getting louder and louder.

"hm, these Dark army jerks sure are weird. why would they be singing while destroying stuff?"

"um Sora, there's no singing."

"wha- but can't you hear all that weird singing and that instrument playing. I think that's what my dad called a trumpet."

"I just hear gorillas making noises and an elephant too."

"Gorillas and elephant noises... that can't be right? all I hear is *gasp* wait what if that jerk is turning innocent animals into Heartless!" Sora quickly jumped over the bushes with his keyblade ready to strike but was instead surprised to see a bunch of gorillas singing while breaking plates, glass, and furniture.

"what? the Gorillas are the ones singing?" quickly Donald and Goofy followed Sora, but Donald was shocked to see all the Gorillas.

"wah! Sora, we need to get out of here! These Gorillas are clearly berserk smashing and yelling all over the place! if they see us, they could kill us!"

"They're not Berserk, they're just singing. can't you hear it?"

"wah? no. Sora they can't even speak English."

"English? aren't we speaking Japanese?" Donald looked at Sora in shock, Sora was confused by this but quickly his attention was shifted back to the Gorillas when they stopped making noise. Sora then noticed all the Gorillas were staring at Jane and Tarzan, Sora was confused when he saw Tarzan, he looked like a regular person but the fact that he was wearing a loincloth said otherwise. 

"she- she looks like you."

"I know, I think I finally found another of my species." Sora was shocked, Sora was no scholar, but he understood now, Tarzan was a human of this island but never met other humans and to him these Gorillas are his family. Before Sora could ponder more Kerchak showed up right behind Jane and was quite angry to see her.

"What is this thing? why is it here?"

"uh, she's a human, like us!" Sora walked over to Kerchak carefully hoping to deescalate the situation. Kerchak however just looked at him in a mixture of anger and confusion. 

"wha- what? how can you... things speak our language?"

"what? but aren't you-"

"Enough! Everyone to me! We're leaving, as for you creature! If you can really understand me then understand this! Stay away from us! I don't want conflict, but I will do what is necessary to protect my family. Tarzan! Trek! Everyone! Away! Now!" Tarzan and the Gorillas all started fleeing as quickly as they could while Trek had to take Tarzan's hand and force him away. Sora just watched, he wanted to explain that he was here to help them, but Kerchak seemed ready to fight and the only one Sora wanted to fight was the Dark Conduit.

"incredible! uh, Sora was it? did you actually understand those Gorillas?"

"huh? Well yeah, they were speaking Japanese like we all are."

"wha- what? Japanese? I can't speak Japanese."

"uh. Sora, we've all been speaking English this entire time." Sora looked at both Jane and Goofy in confusion wondering what was going on. Donald looked at him a little with great curiosity, he had heard of people being able to speak to animals, people, and beings of other languages but thought that such a feat was actually impossible. In fact, as far as Donald knew, the princesses of heart were the only ones who could do such a thing, but they have been extinct since the Dark Army's rise to power. before Donald could ponder any more Jane's Dad and Clayton showed up.

"Ah! Jane you're alright! Thank goodness! oh! I see Mr. Goofy and his boys were the ones to find you! Well done men!" Professor Porter quickly hugged Jane, then Jane started explaining everything that happened to her with great detail. Clayton, the Professor, Donald, and Goofy all looked at her in confusion while Sora had to cover his mouth to hide the laughter. Then she started talking about Tarzan which quickly caught Sora's attention.

"So that was his name, Tarzan."

"Hm? Who is Sora?"

"That guy in the loincloth! He was talking to the gorillas and telling them he found more of his kind."

"You could really understand him?"

"What did he say?" Donald wanted to know how Sora could understand the Gorillas too but knew it would take extreme focus and now was not the time. hence why Donald interrupted Goofy and chose to focus on anything that would help them on the current mission. 

"He was talking as if he had never met another human before. I think he's lived on this island all his life without knowing anything about the outside world... kinda like me. uh maybe we could-" Donald quickly placed his staff in front of Sora to stop him from talking.

"Sora, we can't interfere too much into the natural order of the world. If this Tarzan guy was raised as the only human in an island of animals, then that's his fate. We need to respect that." Sora nodded to show he understood but he still grunted in knowing that his fate was changed for the worst, and he didn't get a say. it just felt so unfair to be unable to help more than just stop the Dark army from destroying worlds.

"A-hyuk! I'm still quite surprised that you could talk to animals, Sora."

"... well, I mean I can talk to you guys." Goofy and Donalds went wide-eyed at Sora's statement. Goofy then looked at Sora and disappointment, while Donald started growling and steaming red with anger. Donald then harshly hit Sora on the head with his staff and walked off, Goofy walked with Donald away from Sora.

"Ow! What?! What did I say?!"

***

After cleaning and fixing up the camp, Jane started telling her father about Tarzan and how he moved around like a gorilla. Sora was listening as well joyfully, he thought Tarzan was actually kinda cool, a man that lived in the jungle like he was a gorilla. It was strange but Sora admired how strong it seemed to make him. Sora wanted to know more about Tarzan, what kind of life did he live, what adventures did he have, did he really not know about humans other than himself.

Sora was watching Jane as she was sketching Tarzan and even started giggling when Jane was trying to show how Tarzan moved around and her father was trying to mimic her. Goofy covered his mouth while laughing too while Donald looked at them with concern. Donalds attention was grabbed by Clayton when he stabbed the large knife he was using to shave onto the table next to him.

"hmph, take a good look lad, that's what happens when you let women have their way in life." Donald was now looking at Clayton in concern wondering where this negativity toward women was coming from. 

"oh it's so amazing Daddy! imagine what we can learn from him!"

"Yes indeed Jane! a man who's lived life and spoken the language of the ape! truly the discovery of the century!"

"oh that does it!" Donald actually jumped in fear when Clayton yelled in anger and started stomping toward Jane and Professor Porter.

"Professor you're here to find the Gorillas, not to indulge some girlish fantasy!"

"wha-! fantasy?! Tarzan is real! Mr. Goofy! and his sons Sora and Donald can attest to it! you all saw it didn't you!" Sora and Goofy were confused by the family dynamic everyone kept assuming they were in, but both just nodded to Jane's question. All while Donald fumed in anger at being called Goofy's son again.

"Ugh, trust me when I say Professor, they are not reliable sources." Now Goofy was grunting in annoyance at Claytons constant hostility and rudeness. Sora however was not going to stand for it.

"But we did see him! he was right there with Jane just as she told you!"

"Oh really? then by your account, what did he look like?"

"well-" just then Tarzan jumped in right between Clayton and Jane.

"... uh, well he looked exactly like that."

"Gah! everyone get back!" Clayton was quick to grab his gun and aim it at Tarzan but thankfully Jane pushed the gun away making him fire into the air. The noise hurt both Jane and Sora's ears but strangely after that what caught everyone's attention was Tarzan talking.

"Clayton! Clayton! that sound! Clayton!" Sora was now shocked as well as confused, when he said Clayton, it was like he was struggling to speak but when he said anything else it sounded natural.

"Uh have we met?"

"He thinks it's the sound of the gun Mr. Clayton."

"Clayton! the loud scary noise! that's what it's called right?" Sora smiled and was about to tell Tarzan what the sound actually was, but Tarzan was quick to rush toward Jane. he seemed to brush her hair and brush his hand on her cheek very softly which made Jane blush but also made her uncomfortable with how close he was. Tarzan then looked at everyone else and his eyes lit up with excitement. He went to Professor Porter and was quick to pull on his mustache, the professor was obviously in pain but more excited to see Tarzan. Tarzan then went to Goofy, in his eyes Goofy's ears were his hair so he pulled on it so hard that once he let go it slapped Goofy in the face making him dizzy and almost knocking him out. Donald tried to run away but Tarzan instead stole his hat and tried to wear it, Donald angrily tried to get it back but Tarzan kept quickly out maneuvering him. eventually Donald on the ground face first while groaning in disappointment. Tarzan then looked at Sora and dropped the hat on Donalds butt, Sora laughed but stopped when Tarzan got close to his face and looked at his hair.

"Wow... so much fur... so spiky." Tarzan then playfully ruffled Sora's hair which made Sora laugh because of it.

"Hahaha! hey! knock it off! it's my hair, not fur!" Tarzan quickly backed off and looked at Sora in shock.

"You- you can understand me!" Sora smiled brightly and nodded, all while Professor Porter was laughing with excitement.

"Hahaha! he's amazing! he could even be the missing link!"

"... or maybe our link to the gorillas!" Clayton then walked over to Tarzan and pushed Sora away, making Sora glare at him in annoyance.

"Where are the Gorillas?" Tarzan looked at Clayton with disinterest and then focused his attention back to Sora. but Clayton quickly grabbed him by the chin and made Tarzan face him.

"GO-RI-LLAS?!" Tarzan then smiled and grabbed Clayton by the chin as well thinking it was a game.

"GO-RI-LLAS!" Sora covered his mouth but still laughed quite loudly due to the funny scene. Clayton glared back at him, but Sora just continued to smile while he looked the other way.

"Mr. Clayton, he doesn't understand English."

"Hmph! then I'll make him understand, he may be a savage but he's also clearly a man, and everyone knows English is the most universal language of man." Everyone except Tarzan looked at Clayton in confusion because they were sure that wasn't true. Clayton then started drawing on the chalkboard a very basic picture of a gorilla that looked like a six-year-old drew it. 

"This is a Gorilla." Tarzan looked at the picture then looked at the chalk piece and grabbed it to look at it closer. 

"Gorilla... the white powder stick!" Everyone else seemed to think Tarzan somewhat understood but since Sora could understand him he knew better.

"Um, I don't think he understands you."

"Quite boy! He needs to focus if he is to take us to the gorillas." Clayton just smirked thinking he got Tarzan to understand but his jaw dropped when he saw Tarzan just scribbling all over the chalkboard. Clayton looked back at Sora to see him crossing his arms and looking at Clayton in disappointment. Clayton was now fuming with anger and quickly took the chalk away trying to scold Tarzan. Tarzan thought it was another game and started mimicking Clayton which only annoyed him but also made Sora, Donald, and Goofy laugh at Clayton. After a while of what looked like goofing off Jane took the chalk and declared that she would be the one to teach Tarzan from now on.

***

Now everyone was in a tent, getting ready for Tarzan's first lesson, while the others weren't looking Sora explained to Tarzan that they were going to teach him about normal human life.

"Yeah Jane, The Professor, and Clayton want to explore this island, but they need to understand you first. So, they're going to try to teach you all they can so that you all can understand each other."

"Wow... so uh, what are they going to teach me?"

"I don't know... language, books, grown-up stuff. I'm not too sure. I grew up kinda similar to you. I was on an island where there wasn't much for me to do but my parents always told me when we were old enough, we could leave and learn about the outside world. So, if I'm being honest, I'm kinda excited too."

"Sora! Is Tarzan ready?!" Upon hearing Jane's voice, Tarzan rushed into the tent and was quickly mesmerized by the flame on a table. However, Tarzan's curiosity was quickly squashed with excitement when he saw that the flame was just used for lighting a device to show an enlarged image of a gorilla. Jane then changed the image every so often to show something new. 

Tarzan was obviously excited to see every new image but so was Sora. jungles, cities, castles, people with strange but cool clothes and inventions. It was all so overwhelming but also so amazing, this was exactly what he, Riku, and Kairi wanted. They wanted to explore the world and see all it had to offer. it made Sora sad knowing that he was the only one to be learning, if only Kairi and Riku- no! Sora thought, I should learn all I can and so that I can tell them when I find them.

Sora smiled as he made sure to pay attention to every detail he could. Soon Professor Porter and Jane started teaching him so much more and so many other things about the outside world and how to read books as well. Sora only ever heard fantasy stories form Riku or his parents but these books had knowledge about this world so he read as many as he could. Some were boring but others were very interesting, so he just read more and more. Both Tarzan and Sora eventually became study partners over it all, they both knew so little about this world so wanting to know more was something they had in common.

Donald was annoyed to know that Sora was slacking off on the mission but Goofy didn't let him interfere with their learning. Goofy couldn't help but smile seeing Sora laughing and learning with Tarzan about this world and all it had to offer. Goofy still felt bad that Sora had to be the one to bear the burden of champion of light at such a young age so at times like this when he could smile and be happy assured Goofy it was all going to be ok. 

As the days went on Donald and Clayton got more annoyed but for different reasons. Try as he may, Clayton could never get Tarzan to focus on showing him where the gorillas were. Donald, on the other hand, was angry that they weren't making progress on the mission.

"I mean the longer we delay, the closer this world is to collapse!"

"Gosh, Donald, look around. There haven't been any heartless attacks lately and I'm guessing it's because the Dark Conduit knows he can't take us."

"All the more reason to go looking for him! you know as well as I do the Dark Army is like mold! If you leave it alone it might look insignificant now, but it will grow and soon become so large of a problem, nothing can stop!" Donald was now so frustrated with waiting that he was red and his head was steaming. Though he stopped when Goofy started calmly patting his head, Donald then looked at Goofy with confusion.

"Don't go losing your head Donald, A-hyuk! it's not like we're going anywhere." then suddenly several men showed up and started taking furniture and packing everything else up. Goofy was looking at the men taking everything dumbfounded only to look back at Donald who was glaring at him in disappointment. 

"You were saying?"

"Guys!" Sora then came running for Donald and Goofy.

"Professor Porter said they're leaving tomorrow! Once they do, they'll never come back! none of us will!"

"Hm, we're under the guise of being their bodyguard escorts so in order to not arouse suspicion we have to leave with them. meaning we need to find that Dark Conduit now!" Sora knew this was true but still couldn't help but feel bad about the situation for another reason. He looked back at Tarzan who was trying to ask Jane to stay and her who was sadly refusing him. Sora then looked back at Goofy and Donald wondering how they would even find the Dark Conduit since he hasn't shown himself in days. 

Then like a silently granted wish, Sora saw the Dark Conduit at the edge of the jungle staring at them with icy fog surrounding him. The Dark Conduit turned around and walked into the jungle and out of sight, Sora then summoned his keyblade and ran after him.

"Donald! Goofy! I found him, follow me!" Donald and Goofy were confused and as such stumbled around until Donald tripped and headbutted Goofy in the stomach. Goofy then landed on Donald and crushed him but didn't notice and as such quickly got up and ran after Sora. Donald just groaned in anger and cast a cure spell on himself, though he actually cast it on the ground around him making flowers grow but leaving him still hurt, thus making him more annoyed.

Sora continued to run after the Dark Conduit deeper and deeper into the forest with a dazed Goofy and an annoyed and hurt Donald followed him. finally in an open area lit entirely by the sun but there were monkeys, birds, snakes, and other animals around the area all looking at the Dark Conduit standing there surrounding himself with cold air and fog. Sora knew if he was to defeat the Dark Conduit, he would need to use fire and if he did that some of these animals might get hurt.

"Everyone! Please evacuate at once! If you don't you will get hurt!" Some of the animals were now looking at Sora in confusion wondering how they could understand him. Thankfully they understood him nonetheless and started leaving. Soon all the animals were gone, and Sora got into his fighting stance to face the Dark Conduit now that no one else was in danger.

"Interesting, are you able to speak to animals? Each animal has a different language and thus it's almost impossible to speak to all of them with such ease, yet you pulled it off. the only ones who could do such a thing were the princesses of light but their... Well, we don't need to worry about them. For now, let's focus on you, when I turn you into a heartless will you still be able to do that? And if so what kind of Boss Class Heartless could I make with that kind of power? It's bound to be grand, especially when you already know what I can make with regular Heartless!" as on command Powerwild Heartless jumped out of the bushes as well as a new variant similar to Powerwilds. They were so similar to one another, but Sora could tell they were different especially with these new ones holding slingshots. 

when Sora looked to his left some of them shot pebbles at him from the right, thankfully Goofy showed up just in time to protect Sora with his shield. Then Donald came to Sora's right and shot several of the Powerwilds with lighting. 

"Sora! we got the Heartless, deal with the Dark Conduit!"

"Heh, round two twerp, and your stupid duck is too busy to save you this time." Sora glared at the Dark Conduit with both determination and annoyance.

"Unlike you I don't slap away a helping hand just to prove how cool I am."

"so much like a kid, thinking friendship matters more than pride."

"I am a kid! What's your excuse?!" Sora then charged at the Dark Conduit, quickly he felt the cold air being emitted from him. Since Sora already knew that the Dark Conduit could control ice, being cold would be a disadvantage. Sora quickly jumped up and smiled at the Dark Conduit as he ignited his keyblade with fire magic and pointed it at the Dark Conduit shooting out a fireball. The Dark conduit made an ice shield rise up from the ground only for it to melt once hit by the fireball, though it did also cancel out of the fireball. what the Dark Conduit did not expect however was for Sora to follow up with a lightning bolt blast to follow up.

Sora landed on the ground and slashed the Dark Conduit making him shatter into ice and his keyblade disappear. Sora was confused by this since this was not how Dark Conduits were normally defeated. However, Sora's attention was taken by the fact that the World's keyhole appeared on a tree in front of him.

"Sora! we the Heartless are retreating did you... oh! you did it! you got him!"

"a-hyuk! you found the world's keyhole as well!"

"yeah... it was... almost too easy..."

"no such thing in our line of work! c'mon Sora! go ahead and lock it." Sora felt uneasy since his past fights were never that easy but still the World's keyhole was right in front of him. Sora then concluded that even if there was more to the Dark Army's plan then they wouldn't be able to achieve it without the World's keyhole, so Sora quickly put his keyblade in and locked it. Then just like Traverse Town and Greece a shot of blue light shot into the air and made a forcefield over the sky surrounding the world. Once the forcefield lost visibility Donald patted Sora on the back for a good job while Goofy playfully ruffled his hair and Sora playfully pushed him back. However, the moment was ruined when they heard another gunshot deep in the forest.

***

Tarzan told Sora, Donald, and Goofy how he let Jane, the Professor, and Clayton find the gorillas and Kerchak didn't take that lightly. Kerchak gave him an ultimatum to either abandon the humans or abandon the gorillas. Tarzan is going to make his choice tomorrow morning after his mother shows him something she told him she should have shown him years ago. Sora felt sad about the choices that Tarzan was put through; he could either stay with the gorillas that became his family or go with his people who he barely knows but desperately wants to. Sora's heart strings tugged at that because it was similar to how he felt when he, Riku, and Kairi were asking themselves when they wanted to leave the island. Sure, they would no longer have to wait for the amazing things that their parents told them they would only get to see when they were old enough. But if they did go through with it, they would probably get lost and never get to see their parents again. Donald and Goofy didn't understand but still felt bad for him none-the-less, Sora then walked up to Tarzan and placed his hand on his shoulder. 

"... May your heart be the guiding key." Donald and Goofy both looked at Sora in shock then at each other, wondering if they both heard that correctly. Tarzan nodded to show he understood and patted Sora's shoulder back and smiled to show his thanks for being a friend. Tarzan then went to see what his mother had to show him waving the three of them goodbye for possibly the last time. Sora then walked back to the camp site with Donald and Goofy following him.

"Sora, where did you hear that phrase from?"

"Huh? oh it's just something Kairi used to say, she uh. I think she learned it from her grandmother... why?"

"hm... well it's just... that's something the original guardians of light used to say... right before they were destroyed by the Dark Army." Sora paused when he heard that, Sora knew absolutely nothing about the guardians of light or the Dark Army. Yet he knew a phrase commonly used during their time, or to be précised Kairi knew that phrase and she learned it from her grandmother, in fact that was why she wanted to leave the island. Kairi sometimes remembered things about her grandmother yet on the island she had no grandmother, according to her parents she died before Kairi was born. Kairi insisted she had a grandmother and believed that she was somewhere beyond the island and as such that was her reason for wanting to go with Sora and Riku.

Now Sora had learned something peculiar relating to both Kairi's grandmother and the guardians of light. Sora, Kairi, and Riku who had nothing to do with any of it were dragged into the conflict relating to the Guardians of Light and the Dark Army based on pure coincidence. However now with the revelation of Sora's discovery, it didn't seem like a coincidence anymore.

"Sora? Are you ok?"

"I... I think Kairi's grandmother was a-" suddenly Sora was grabbed and pulled into the bushes, Donald and Goofy quickly turned around only to see Sora gone.

"wha! Sora! Sora, where are you?!"

"Sora! What happened?! What-" just then Goofy was hit on the head with a rock and Donald was stuffed into a bag before he could get his wand. 

***

Sora woke up with Donald and Goofy both tied up beside him, just as he woke up Clayton threw an injured Tarzan into the large storage room they were in. 

"Hehe, oh you're awake! Hello there Mr. Goofy! I must apologize, I did promise your original payment would be increased had you listened to me but well... I got a better deal from someone who wants you and your boys out of the picture.” Clayton then stepped aside and showed his hand to a dark hooded figure revealing themselves in the sunlight. It was the Dark Conduit, the same one of ice, Sora could tell because he was holding the same Keyblade.

"Wha! he's alive!"

"But how?!"

"You stupid child! That was an ice dummy you crushed and that little keyhole you locked was just an advanced illusion I made with illusion magic! and now you fell right into my trap!"

"haha! Yes, quite magnificent, isn't he? you know when he first told me he could cast magic I called him loony but sure enough he proved me wrong when he created the Heartless! Now correct me if I'm wrong, that's what you and your boys were trained to hunt, right Mr. Goofy?" Goofy and Donald glared at Clayton in anger while Sora stomped his foot on the ground hard to express his frustration with being trapped by the Dark Conduit.

"So of course, we both had a problem. I needed to get the gorillas and have nothing in my way and this man wanted you gone so I helped him and now he will help me!"

"And of course, after we get to gorillas, we will go to London, right?"

"Of course! and there we'll all receive good coin from the gorillas, and you'll get your own cut with that interesting magic of yours."

"Yes... I'll get something out of it all right."

"Clayton, you can't trust him! He's trying to destroy the world!"

"Bah! nonsense boy! Why would someone want to destroy the world they live on? The only way that would make sense is if he had another world to escape to and spaceships don't exist. It's time to stop daydreaming and grow up, boy." Clayton then left while his henchmen closed the door, the last thing any of them saw was the Dark Conduit grinning at them. Sora just banged his head at the steel wall behind him, it hurt but he didn't care, he was so mad that despite everything the Dark Conduit won and if nothing was done soon this world would be destroyed.

Tarzan quickly got out of the ropes that tied him and quickly started ramming himself to the walls in hopes of getting out. it was clearly hurting him more than it was providing results, but Tarzan didn't care, even when Jane pleaded with him to stop.  Tarzan eventually did stop but only to collapse and start blaming himself for leading Clayton and the hunters to his family. Sora even started silently crying, getting the attention of both Goofy and Donald.

"This is all my fault... I wanted to learn so much about this world... but now it's gonna be destroyed because I fooled around and took an easy win... this world will be destroyed just like my home was destroyed... I'm sorry Donald, I should have listened to you..." Sora kept crying while Goofy hugged him, trying his best to comfort him. Donald now understood what Goofy kept talking about, Sora was still a kid and despite that he still was given the responsibility of Champion of Light and even took it wholeheartedly. Yet now he was about to experience loss and was falling apart. a battle-hardened warrior would take this loss and either find a way to fix it or accept defeat but this was too much for Sora. Donald felt ashamed for not realizing it sooner, he thought him and Goofy being there for Sora would be enough but clearly it wasn't.

"Oh! Those poor wonderful beasts, shivering in those horrible cages. Clayton that horrible bast-" suddenly the boat started shaking left and right so suddenly nearly making everyone pile on each other. 

"What was that?!" Suddenly an elephant busted through the roof door of the room making everyone scream in terror, but Tarzan was instead filled with joy!

"Tantor!"

"Ha! Tarzan, we found you!" Tantor then used his snout to help Tarzan out, then he did the same for the others with Sora, Donald, and Goofy being the last. Everyone looked around to see Claytons goons all beaten up and knocked out.

"Wow... Tantor right? you're awesome." Tantor laughed, seeming proud of himself from Sora's compliment but before the conversation could continue Tarzan ran off the boat and into the water to swim back to the island. 

"Ah! Come on, we have to help him!" Sora was the first to run off with Goofy and Donald quickly summoning their weapons and running after them. Jane was surprised to see Sora, the boy she thought only loved reading and learning with Tarzan, run so fearlessly into battle. But her shock was quickly overshadowed when her father climbed onto Tantor with pure determination. 

"Well come on Jane! we need to save those gorillas!" 

***

Clayton's men just started surrounding and capturing the gorillas, but they were proving to be difficult with Kurchak and other gorillas trying to defend the pack. however not only did the weapons Clayton's henchmen had proved to be too powerful for them but the Dark Conduit surrounded them with ice and used his Powerwild Heartless to threaten the safety of the other gorillas and gorilla's children. 

"My word... ha, you will be the life of the party my good sir, stick with me and I could even arrange you a meeting with Queen Victoria!” The Dark Conduit merely huffed in pride knowing that Clayton was going to lead him to every major civilization in the world thus making conquest so much easier. However, just when the Dark Conduit was about to respond Kurchak showed up and tried to crush the Dark Conduit. However, with his keyblade alone the Dark Conduit was able to halt Kurchak's attack. Clayton and Kurchak were shocked at the clear display of the Dark Conduit's keyblade while he himself just scoffed in delight.

"hm? oh! I remember you, your little brat proved to be a nice little snack for my adorable Sabor." Kurchaks shock only increased but it slowly turned into anger, he roared at the Dark Conduit, slapped his keyblade away and punched the Dark Conduit in the chest with all his might. Had Kurchak punched a normal human all their bones would be broken but the Dark Conduit was just standing there as if nothing had happened. the Dark Conduit smiled as he saw the fear in Kurchak's eyes, the Dark Conduit then grabbed Kurchak's large fist and started slowly crushing it.

"Then that freak Tarzan killed my adorable Sabor. All so he could make you proud. but it's ok, because just like everything that gets in my way... he will be destroyed." The Dark Conduit then punched the side waist of Kurchak, thus launching him toward the other gorillas and allowing the hunters to wrap him in nets. The Dark Conduit continued to smile, feeling proud of his display of overwhelming power, completely unaware of Clayton shivering behind him. I knew this strange brat was powerful, Clayton thought but I didn't think he could reach the point of ridiculousness that only exists in fairy tales! Clayton then tried to bring back his composure while loading up his gun and pointed it at Kurchak, I at least can't let this brat forget who's in charge he thought. 

"I think this one is better off stuffed." Clayton smiled with pride again as Kurchak glared at him in anger and frustration. However, before he could pull the trigger everyone stopped when they heard Tarzan's cry throughout the jungle. Then suddenly Tarzan came swinging in and kicked Clayton into a ditch while a hoard of elephants, rhinos, and hippos came running in attacking the henchmen and Powerwilds. The Dark Conduit started yelling in anger he then tried to freeze the first rhino he saw but Goofy quickly jumped in front and used his shield to deflect the ice blast. The Dark Conduit grunted but quickly turned and created an ice spear to stab an elephant, but Donald quickly jumped in front and used a fire spell to melt the spear and save the elephant. Before the Dark Conduit could do anything, Sora showed up by swinging on a vine and did a jump kick to the Dark Conduit. As Sora landed, he summoned his keyblade and stood ready to fight with Donald and Goofy quickly running to his side. 

"It's over Dark Conduit! you're not destroying this world!"

"Ugh! ok first of all, I have a name! second of all-!" Sora then blasted the Dark Conduit with a fireball making him fall deeper into the Jungle. Donald and Goofy couldn't help but laugh at the sight, Sora laughed a little too but then waved his hand to them so they would follow him to go after the Dark Conduit. As they ran through the Jungle, they saw Tarzan and the gorillas with the other animals fighting back against the hunters and henchmen. The sight made Sora smile proudly as he ran toward the Dark Conduit, the Dark Conduit got up in anger and shot a barrage of ice toward Sora. Sora managed to jump up in the air fast enough though he soared in the air higher than he thought he would. Sora didn't mind though, instead he readied another fireball and shot it at the Dark Conduit.

The Dark Conduit laughed as he quickly made an ice shield which countered the fireball but also melted right away. Despite the ice shield melting the Dark Conduit still laughed but quickly stopped when both Sora and Donald cast a lighting blast at him. With the Dark Conduit dazed, Goofy powered up his shield and bashed into the Dark Conduit. His body was now glitching to show that he was close to defeat, the Dark Conduit then screamed in anger and fear as his shadow grew and Soldier heartless jumped out. Goofy was quick to use his shield to bash them while Donald used his ice magic to stop them.

Sora smiled knowing how easy it was to deal with these kinds of Heartless, Sora quickly slashed through the three standing before him as he rushed past them. Sora then readied another fireball and shot it behind him toward the injured Soldier Heartless, blowing them up and releasing the cursed hearts within. Sora then went straight for the Dark Conduit to secure the kill, but he managed to recover and block the strike with his own keyblade. 

The Dark Conduit smiled as he covered his hands with ice that quickly grew into a wall separating him from Sora. Sora grunted in frustration and shot the wall with a fireball melting the wall instantly. However, this turned out to be what the Dark Conduit wanted as he charged past his own melted wall and raised his keyblade to strike Sora. Sora managed to use his own keyblade to block in time but was now being pushed back by the Dark Conduit. 

At the same time the both of them noticed leaves falling from the above and noticed that Clayton and Tarzan were fighting in the trees. Sora was relieved at first but quickly noticed that Tarzan was injured and seemed to be losing to Clayton; the Dark Conduit started laughing as Clayton was gaining the upper hand. 

"hahaha, that meat head is arrogant for a reason I suppose. Once, I've dealt with you and he gets rid of Tarzan all I need to do is help him get the gorillas and he'll lead me to London, there I'll use the denizens to create an army of Heartless and fill this world with so much darkness and chaos no one can stop me!" Sora grunted in anger and pushed the Dark Conduit back; Sora then raised his keyblade ready to strike back. The Dark Conduit scoffed in amusement and managed to block the first strike; however, he stopped smiling when he felt the amount of force that was behind the strike. Sora then strike'd again and again, each time the Dark Conduit blocked but was pushed back further. 

Donald joined in on the fight by hitting his back with a lightning bolt. The Dark Conduit yelled in pain and anger while trying to hit Donald with an ice blast but Goofy quickly bashed him with his shield, launching him toward a tree. With the Dark Conduit now severely weakened and injured he was no longer able to move allowing Donald and Sora to both cast fireball and shoot it at the Dark Conduit, finally defeating him one and for all.

Sora cheered in triumph as he raised his keyblade as they finally managed to defeat the Dark Conduit forcing the remaining Heartless to retreat. Just then Tarzan fell from the trees seeming hurt but mostly ok, Sora ran to him to tell him the good news but then he saw Clayton's hanging body. it was a dead body; Sora never saw one before and it wasn't a pleasant sight, Sora felt his heart sink as everything around him started spinning. Sora could barely comprehend what was going on around him, all he could hear was Goofy and Donald talking to him, but he couldn't process their words. Sora quickly lost his balance as he passed out.

***

Death... such a burden of all beings of light... regardless of whether they are good or evil... this will be your fate... your constant... BURDEN... Death will follow you everywhere and never leave you alone... this is the fate of you will be cursed with should you stay with the light... but the darkness can set you free... after all... all light fades eventually... but darkness... darkness is ETERNAL!

"STOP!" Sora woke up in a tent with his eyes filled with tears; he still couldn't get the sight of Clayton's dead body out of his head. It reminded him of all the past Keyblade wielders of darkness he defeated, did he kill them too? they didn't leave a body behind but there was no proof they were still alive. Sora didn't like thinking that he could be a murderer, he tried to shake the thought out of his head by running out of the tent and focusing on something else. 

Sora then noticed a large blue butterfly land on his head. Sora wanted to focus on something else, so he tried to wave the butterfly away, but it was persistent on sticking with him. Sora wondered what was up with the butterfly but now that it had his attention it started flying away. Sora smiled only a little, following a butterfly was childish but maybe that's just what he needed right now. Sora followed the butterfly now realizing he was on top of a treehouse, thankfully the butterfly showed him the safest way down. Once finally on the ground Sora noticed the butterfly flying into the tree. Sora was confused but when he followed the butterfly into the tree, he saw more blue butterflies surrounding the world's keyhole. 

Sora smiled in delight knowing the last part of his mission was complete he then finally wiped away his tears and held out his hand for the blue butterfly that led him here. he waited for it to come and when it did it stayed on his hand for a little while then flew to his nose which made him laugh at how ticklish it was. Sora summoned his keyblade and walked to the keyhole while the butterfly flew to a side of the tree's wall to watch him from a distance. 

"Thank you, my friend." Sora wasn't sure but it seemed like the butterfly nodded and then flew away. Sora smiled as he watched the butterfly fly away, he then put his keyblade in the keyhole and locked it, making the tree grow. The tree seemed to be absorbing energy and once it had enough it fused it into the keyhole and then the energy blasted into the air to make the magic shield over the entire world. Sora smiled for a moment but now that this world was saved, he realized he was going to have to go to another world and do the same thing again. 

Sora wasn't sure if he could do this again now knowing the potential loss of life from it. However, before Sora could think about it any further Goofy showed up and hugged him while Donald did the same with his legs.

"Sora, thank goodness! you're ok!"

"And you found the world's keyhole and locked it! good job Sora!"

"uh yeah, but wait where's Tarzan and the others?"

"they're all right! Jane and her dad decided to stay here and live with Tarzan now that he's the pack leader of the gorillas."

"The treehouse you were in is where they'll be living! they wanted to let you rest there to help them defend the gorillas from the darkness." Sora was happy to hear that Jane and Tarzan would be together but Tarzan being the leader seemed strange to Sora.

"wait what? but I thought Kurchak was the leader?" Donald and Goofy looked at each other with concern then looked back to Sora with sadness.

"Sora, Kurchak is gone." Sora knew what Donald meant by then and it made him tremble in regret.

"His dying wish was for Tarzan to become the new leader and protect the gorilla family."

"And with you locking the world's keyhole he won't have to worry about the Dark Army anymore!"

"... yeah..." Sora had his keyblade to the ground with both his hands on the handle and his head down with his whole body trembling in frustration. Goofy was the first to notice but Donald ended up being the first to speak up.

"Sora? What's wrong? we did good!"

"I know that I just... I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this... I know I told you guys I could do this until I got my friends back but... I want to see my friends now... I want to see my mom and dad... I want to see Riku and Kairi... I want to see everyone from Destiny Islands... I want to go home..." Sora was only trembling a little but he was also silently crying out of grief and loneliness. Goofy felt great shame knowing this would come eventually, no matter how strong his determination was Sora was still a kid and the weight of the multiverse was too much for anyone, especially a single kid. However, before Goofy could offer any words of comfort, once again Donald was the first to step forward. 

"Sora, I know it's hard, but try to hold it in for now. The only way to find your friends is to stop the Dark Army. you can't give up now. if you want to see your friends again you have to push forward." what Donald said wasn't wrong but Goofy still couldn't believe he said it, it wasn't the words of encouragement Sora needed but instead just saying suck it up and move on in a gentle tone. Sora wiped his tears and sighed tiredly, he then stood up straight and nodded to Donald though the sadness was still clear on his face. 

"... I'll try."

"That's all anyone asks. Now come on, Chip and Dale managed to park the Gummi ship at the edge of the island but they're waiting for us to get back to them so we can leave." Sora nodded again and heading to the direction of the ship, Donald was about to follow but Goofy stopped him with a stern look on his face. 

"Donald, how could you say that to Sora! He's not used to this like you and me! He needs comfort or else he'll start to become distant and depressed!"

"I just said the truth, Goofy; we need him to be ready to fight the Darkness. I know he's a kid, but we can't wait for him to grow up. There are no more keyblade wielders of light, remember? If Sora can't do it, then who will?" Goofy was now silent, it was true, all the original keyblade wielders of light were wiped out by the resurgence of the Dark Army. Sora is the last hope of the multiverse, if he gives up then it's all over. Goofy couldn't deny this though he still felt guilty that it had to be Sora to bear the burden.

"Now come on Goofy. we were entrusted by the king to protect Sora so at least he's not alone when fighting the darkness, as long as he has us he'll be ok." Goofy still thought Donald was being too harsh but knew he wasn't wrong, so he nodded and followed Donald and Sora to the Gummi ship.

***

The butterfly flew quite a distance and landed on the hand of Riku who was standing on a large tree branch with a Keyblade wielder of darkness standing behind him. Riku was glaring angrily at Donald and Goofy as they were following Sora back to the Gummi ship.

"Maleficent ain't going be happy when she hears ye helped the champion o' light, Lad"

"Pfft, how's she gonna find out?"

"She has her ways, she's an overconfident witch for a reason, Lad. Yer on her good side now, best ye make sure ye bade there."

"Stop worrying, Doxcrum. Besides, can't a guy help his friend out?"

"Sorry tae break it tae ye Lad, but the champions o' darkness 'n' light are nae supposed tae be pals."

"I know that! grrr... but that will change once we open the doors to kingdom hearts... Sora won't have to put up with this nonsense anymore and... he, me, and Kairi can be together again."

"hm... Kairi, Sora, and Riku... Kind o' lik' Aqua, Ventus, and Terra"

"Who?"

"Ah, dinna fash yirsel about it, Lad. Noo c'moan, we're behind schedule tae get the next princess."

.

Part 5

Part 3

[nevermindirah]

part 3, "Kid": How every character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood relates to the main character, Nile Freeman

Stop writing people calling Nile "kid" 2k4ever

Andy calls Nile a baby one time, minutes after first dreaming of her. Andy then calls Nile "kid" three times, all to her face, all in the first few hours of their acquaintance. Booker calls Nile "kid" once, on the porch outside the bar. That's it. The context for these lines is super interesting, and calling Nile "kid" in fic doesn’t make any sense without the original context.

When Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker wake up from first dreaming of Nile, Joe and Nicky immediately start sharing facts they noticed, and Joe starts sketching. Booker is in his feelings but he contributes a few things to the saying-facts-out-loud rally.

Andy is 100% in her feelings. She starts the conversation with "No, not another one." Then once the boys have gathered a bunch of facts and Booker says "I felt her die" Andy comes in with this:

Andy: [stares at nothing straight ahead, voice is remote, detached.] She’s a Marine. [Joe and Nicky look up together.] Combat. Or near combat duty. Afghanistan. [Shakes her head slowly, wearily.] It’s been over two hundred years. [Whispers, anguished, buries head in hands.] Why now?

Got it. Joe and Nicky are the competent soldiers, Booker is the semi-competent drunk, Andy is the boss. Andy is the fucking depressed boss. It's in this context that Andy, having analyzed the information her direct reports just gave her, made the determination that Nile is a Marine in Afghanistan, and let her team have a brief back-and-forth about whether to change their plan to go retrieve the new one before announcing the decision that is ultimately hers to make, refers to Nile as a baby.

Andy: Get to France. Use the Charlie safe house. I’ll meet you there. [Joe examines his sketch, blows pencil-dust off it. She stares at Booker.] Find Copley. [Joe tears out the page and hands her the sketch. Andy stares at it.] Jesus. She’s just a baby.

Andy's metric fuckton of I AM BEYOND DONE just leaps off the page/screen. Keep that existential exhaustion in mind as we see her early interactions with Nile.

Nile: [stands, panting, regards Andy suspiciously.] Who are you? Andy: I lead a group of immortals. An army, I guess. Soldiers. Fighters like you. [softer tone.] Look... [Andy steps toward her; Nile steps back.] You’ve got questions, kid. I get it. [tiny smile, small nod.] You want answers? Get back in the car.

Andy: [lightly] And I was the one who cut your throat. Right? [stares at Nile, who stares back, then looks away; she has no answer for that.] Listen, kid. You already believe in... [points upward, follows it with her eyes.] You should just keep following that illogic. [Pulls her jacket over her shoulders as a blanket, turns on her right side, back to Nile, lies on the pile of duffel-bags like a reclining chair.] You’re already on board with the supernatural. [Speaks with eyes already closed; it makes no difference to her.] If I were you, I’d get some sleep.

[Nile stands slowly, glaring at Andy, sets her body as she prepares to continue the fight.] Andy: You really want to do this, kid? [Andy’s eyes are bright, her expression relaxed but anticipating; she looks like she thinks this will be fun.]

Andy is looking at this retrieval mission as something that must be done, but quickly and with as little disruption as possible to her team's ongoing mission to find Copley and protect themselves from exposure. And then here comes Nile Freeman, competent as hell, taking no shit, questioning everything, stabbing her and escaping a moving vehicle and just fucking fighting her at every turn.

"Jfc kid will you just get in the goddamn car" feels pretty reasonable in that context, yeah? At least from Andy's perspective. From Nile's, you're fucking right you're gonna ask some goddamn questions before getting on a drug-smuggling plane with someone who just shot you in the head.

It's worth noting that Andy doesn't precisely say "jfc kid will you just get in the goddamn car" — she says "I need you to get back in the car please." She says "can you please not do that again" when Nile fucking stabs her. She's exhausted and frustrated and just trying to get through this and back to her main mission, and from what we see of her so far she's generally gruff as a person, but she's not an asshole, and she’s really showing Nile some respect here, all things considered. I mean, imagine being this polite when someone stabs you. This is a tired adult trying to get another tired adult on board with a sensible plan.

Andy: Argh! [Andy grabs Nile’s knife hand.] Fuck! [throws it violently aside, forcing Nile back a step. With the knife still in her, Andy sighs deeply and looks at Nile. Nile recovers her balance and stares that Andy is hardly reacting to having a knife in her.] Can you please [grabs the knife with left hand, yanks it out] not do that again? [throws the knife on the ground.]

Once they fight on the plane, Andy never calls her kid again. Andy is already starting to regain some of the energy her long life has worn away from her after just 10 minutes on screen with Nile. Andy went into this retrieval determined to be someone Nile can rely on, and that still stands, but by the time they’re in France she’s realizing she’ll come to be able to rely on Nile too. She introduces her to the boys as Nile and that's that.

The only other time we hear the word "kid" in the entire movie is near the end, outside the bar with Booker.

Nile: Yeah. [takes a breath.] Talked to Copley. Said he could fix it. Make it look like I was killed in action. [nods gently to herself] My family will mourn, but, uh... [tiny shrug, head-shake.] ...they’ll be able to move on. It’s just like what we did with my dad. [sighs. Turns to look out over the water. Voice wavers.] I just really want to hear my mom’s voice one more time. Booker: [looks down, pauses, turns to lean next to Nile.] You’re a good kid, Nile. [looks at her, speaks earnestly.] You’re gonna be great for the team.

Sébastien le Livre, whose greatest tragedy is that his children disbelieved and rejected his love for them, would be very moved by Nile's concern and love for her mother. "You're a good kid, Nile," in the sense that she's honoring her parent in a way he, a bereaved parent, appreciates.

There's also the fun shippy reading that he's preemptively friend-zoning her because there's about to be several lifetimes between him and spending any more time with this woman he was having an obvious "oh no she's hot" reaction to over dinner in Goussainville, but I, a feral BoN shipper, like the first reading even better.

But the point is, calling Nile "kid" is an element of the movie that says a lot about the characters using that word. When it gets repeated in fanfiction, it says something about the author.

If you're reading this and reflecting "oh shit I wrote the team calling Nile kid without thinking about it at all beneath the surface" I have a really cool suggestion for you: just edit it. Or at least consider not doing it again. We all make mistakes. We all run with things that we pick up in canon or see in other people's fic that seem funny and harmless, and once we think about those things more deeply we might find that actually it's kinda fucked up, or not what canon was trying to say, or fine on the surface but not fine if it becomes The One True Fanon. Having characters who are either white, men, or both call the adult protagonist who's a young Black woman "kid" all the time carries a weight to it. Please let's let that weight fall off Nile's fully-grown shoulders.

Next up, orders, suggestions, assistance, and other flavors of mentoring Nile and/or telling her what to do. Credit and appreciation to StarWatcher for transcribing the movie here on AO3, all my line quotes are pulled from there.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 296: Ngl, This One Pissed Me Off

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all, “p.s. I actually activated yet another quirk several chapters ago when Kacchan got stabbed.” Compress was all, “[gets captured and passes out].” Spinner was all “[rifles through Tomura’s pockets and slaps a random Charbroiled Hand onto his friend’s unconscious face].” Tomura was all, “SOMEHOW THAT ACTUALLY WORKED” and woke up again, except it wasn’t really him, it was everyone’s favorite Final Villain, AFO. AFO was all, “time to escape finally” and summoned a bunch of Noumu and Absconded with Spinner and the DabiMarble in tow. Skeptic was all, “Horikoshi forgot I existed, but I’m actually Absconding in marble-form as well.” Deku was all, “ATTENTION WORLD, I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT I OFFICIALLY WANT TO SAVE SHIGARAKI TOMURA.” And then the arc just sort of ended lol.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all, “but when you think about it, do we really need literally any female teachers at U.A. at all?” and for whatever reason doesn’t stop to wait for an answer. Midnight, who absolutely did not need to die, Dies, and I’m pissed about it. Ochako wanders the ruins of Jakku for what feels like hours, rescuing small children while her adult hero compatriots fall to pieces around her, because apparently the U.A. kids really are the only people who have their shit together. The citizens of Japan are all “damn that’s wild, wonder how fucked we are now,” but are actually super casual and chill about it which is oddly realistic. The chapter ends with AFO in Tartarus being all “lol time for the prison break arc,” without giving us so much as a chance to catch our breath, like holy shit. Are we on the clock or something now, goddamn.

lmao it’s like 7pm on a Sunday night and this is out already. this is like the worst possible timing lol. there goes my nice, relaxed evening. unless of course this turns out to be a nice, restful, soothing chapter, as chapters coming on the heels of traumatic, earth-shattering battles so often are. yeah, break out the Pina Colada song and the little drink umbrellas, I got a good feeling about this one

(ETA: I mean, I was obviously being sarcastic here but damn, Horikoshi.)

-- fff why did I laugh

it’s the crumbling city ruins in the background that really does it, I think. JUST LOOK AT THIS MESS THAT YOU HAVE MADE, EVERYONE. FOR SHAME

also, the title is dramatic af and I am so fucking excited you guys, like holy shit. BnHA’s In-Between arcs have always been my favorite part of the series, because it’s when all the character development and angst and/or catharsis happens. just, those little breathing spaces in between the action when everyone gathers to recuperate and compartmentalize their fresh new traumas lmao. bring on that angst!! but also, let’s please have some Comfort to offset all of this Hurt too, please and thanks

blah blah blah so the survivors were evacuated, good good, can you actually show us though?

AHHHHHHH

PIXIE BOB SURVIVED!!!! WASH IS STILL ALIVE LMAO HOW. THIRTEEN’S FACE, OMG SHOULD I LOOK AWAY. IS IT LIKE MANDALORIAN RULES. IDK HOW IT WORKS

HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY ALIVE. LOLS ANYWAY I’M HERE FOR IT. FEEL FREE NOT TO KILL ANYONE ELSE HERE HORIKOSHI, I THINK WE’RE GOOD

(ETA: it’s like talking to a brick wall.)

oh my god do we really need exposition about how the heroes tried to stop TomurAFO from escaping and OF COURSE failed completely because they suck lmao. oh my god I am shocked, that is such shocking news

wow they only managed to defeat three of the Noumus. holy shit. again, all of the Not-Kid Heroes are only slightly more useful than cardboard cutouts of heroes at this point, MORE AT ELEVEN

so Tomura may have lost the PLF, but he still more or less has an army then, huh. I really don’t know how anyone could expect a timeskip with that threat looming over everyone’s heads

oh nvm lol there are only seven Noumus left. wait so you’re telling me there were only ten Nearly High Ends in that last chapter?? felt more like fifty but whatever lol I’ll take your word for it

COMPRESS YAY YOU’RE ALIVE TOO

MAYBE THEY CAN EVEN REATTACH HIS ASS. I’M SERIOUS LOL, BECAUSE HE STILL HAS IT, DOESN’T HE? OR IF NOT, THEY CAN REBUILD HIM WITH A PROSTHETIC ASS. he’ll be more powerful than ever

WHAAAAAAT YEAH BOIIIII

WOOO, EDGESHOT, WOOOOO. THAT’S HIS WAY OF THE NINJA

YEAHHHHH SUCK IT, PLF

(ETA: for the record I don’t think Cementoss is dead here, just badly wounded. if he had died he would have been included in the forthcoming In Memoriam page along with the others.)

GET BENT LOL. TRUMPET I FOR REAL FORGOT YOU EVEN EXISTED. I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANY OF YOU LOSERS AGAIN PLEASE. ONLY INTERESTING CHARACTERS MAY PROCEED PAST THIS POINT

dsflksaldkh;l

that’s... holy shit. that’s a bigass mansion, that’s what that is. also so does this mean there are still eighty thousand PLF members still at large, because that’s a plot line I very much do not care about in any way whatsoever lol. can’t we just retcon to say that Re-Destro was exaggerating? I mean hell, a CEO criminal pulling some Enron-type bullshit is pretty believable, isn’t it? those poor bamboozled shareholders

“makeste, here’s an idea, what if you scrolled down to read the rest of the page” lol gtfo of here with your logic and your sense

well those 132 people have made it onto my enemies list, but at least it sounds like they more or less took care of the rest. good riddance

and Toga escaped, as we knew already, and is now on the lam. hopefully she reunites with the League again at some point. although her doing her own thing could also be very interesting. idk what I want lol

anyway so there’s another big panel showing how fucked up the city is, just in case it hadn’t already been hammered into our skulls yet. there’s a car dangling off a roof somehow. how does that even happen. did Machia pick it up and put it there or

NOOO OMG RANDOM SMALL CHILDREN IN PERIL WHAT IS THIS

OCHAKO PLEASE SAVE THEM OMG

“if it falls on me, I want you to have my Endeavor pouch” OH MY STARS. HIS MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION. NO MY CHILD YOU CAN’T GIVE UP HOPE YET

LMAO

“FOR THE LAST TIME NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR DUSTY-ASS POUCH, KYLE” fffff these children are dying and I am cracking up so hard my eyes are tearing up what is wrong with me

YAY THEY SAVED THEM

but listen. not that I don’t love seeing the girls kick ass, because you know I do. but I also really, REALLY need to know what’s going down with the Musketeers, and I’m not looking forward to waiting three whole weeks for that so please Horikoshi. please hurry this along so we can get to them

goddamn it Tsuyu is saying she’ll take the boy to the shelter to get first aid, and I was all “okay great because that’s probably where Kacchan and the others are too”, but now someone else is shouting for help and Ochako’s all “I’ll go” and it’s like OKAY BUT PLEASE? this chapter is already more than half over omfg. ‘bout to start wringing some hands here

oh my god

is this Toga again??? WHAT THE HELL, THIS CREEPYASS HALF-DEAD DUDE BETTER BE LEADING UP TO SOMETHING INTERESTING, I AM REALLY GETTING IMPATIENT

OR, I GUESS, WE COULD DO THIS INSTEAD

“SO AS IT TURNS OUT, NOT EVERY CHARACTER WHO NEEDS HELP SAVING THEIR SPOUSE FROM FALLEN RUBBLE IS ACTUALLY TOGA IN DISGUISE” HUH, OKAY. DULY NOTED. FILED AWAY FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

but fucking... okay, look. I love Ochako, I do. but I like her a whole lot more when she’s interacting with other characters I actually care about, as opposed to running around in the rubble rescuing random people while the fate of my other children is still up in the air. like okay, I get it, shit’s bad, now if you don’t mind we really don’t have to spend all day here though

...anyways but nope, we’re still staying with her. she’s bouncing around rescuing all of these other people. omg. I literally have no patience here at all and it’s terrible, I know, but oh my god

omg finally something interesting is happening!!

look at that, an adult hero standing around being useless while the kids are busy getting shit done. why is this becoming a recurring theme

MY DUDE, THIS IS SERIOUSLY NOT THE TIME THOUGH

I GET THAT IT’S OVERWHELMING AND THAT YOU’RE TRAUMATIZED AND SHIT, BUT GUESS WHAT, SO IS EVERYONE ELSE. THAT’S WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR. JUST LOOK AT OCHAKO! SHE’S SO EXHAUSTED HER HAIR HAS EVEN LOST ITS FLOOF, AND YET SHE’S STILL OUT HERE DOING HER BEST. ONE SAVE AT A TIME MY MAN. GET IT DONE. LITERALLY A SMALL CHILD IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CALLING FOR THEIR MOMMY AND YOU’RE JUST STANDING THERE ALL “WAHH IT’S TOO MUCH” LIKE COULD YOU PLEASE POSTPONE YOUR CRISIS UNTIL AFTER YOU SAVE THEM PLEASE

OH MY GOD

MAYBE YOU SHOULD!! oh my god I really cannot, like wow. oh no I actually have to save people and do my job, god forbid. jesus christ, at least the other heroes tried. but Moping Hero: Bellyache here is just throwing in the towel and fuck everyone who still needs his help I guess. you are like the anti-Deku my dude

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD NO OH FUCK

THAT’S MIDNIGHT’S HAND OH FU -- SHE BETTER NOT -- HORIKOSHI I SWEAR TO GOD --

I’M GONNA LOSE IT I REALLY AM!!!!

HOLY SHIT HOW INTENSE OF A RAGE DO I NEED TO BRACE MYSELF TO BE FEELING HERE. THIS CHAPTER WAS ALREADY TRENDING TOWARDS DISAPPOINTMENT, DO WE REALLY NEED TO GO AND COMPOUND THAT

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

you’re telling me Tomura wasn’t brought back by that electric shock, but by his “fuck you” attitude? why are you explaining this to us now, again??

......

HEY, SO UM, FUCK ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS, THOUGH. (: OH MAN. OHHHHHH MAN. I HAVE... I HAVE GOT A LOT OF WORDS FOR THIS AND HERE ARE SOME OF THEM

FUCK

THINGS THAT SHOULD BE IN THE DICTIONARY NEXT TO “SOME BULLSHIT”: THIS

FUCK

GET FUCKED HORIKOSHI

AND ALSO PLEASE FUCK RIGHT OFF!!

AND SERIOUSLY THOUGH FUCK YOU

NO BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THOUGH!! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED OFF ANYONE. LITERALLY ANY CHARACTER. YOU HAD TWELVE FEMALE PROS. TWELVE. YOU COULD HAVE MADE MORE OF THEM. PROBABLY, IF THERE ACTUALLY WERE SUPERHEROES IN REAL LIFE, THERE WOULD BE MORE THAN TWELVE OF THEM IN AN ENTIRE NATION. BUT NO, YOU WERE ALL “TWELVE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.” AND THEN WHEN IT CAME TIME TO KILL PEOPLE OFF, YOU WERE ALL “WELL ALL RIGHT THEN, LET’S SEE, I PICK... THESE 18 RANDOM SIDE CHARACTERS WITH LITTLE TO NO DIALOGUE, PLUS THE ONE SINGLE FEMALE U.A. STAFF MEMBER WE ACTUALLY HAD. YEAH THAT OUGHTA DO IT”

AND BY THE WAY, HORIKOSHI, I PICKED SOMETHING UP FOR YOU ON MY WAY HOME, HERE IT IS, ┌П┐(・＿・) do you like it it was on sale. I saw it and was like, “Horikoshi would really like that.” so there you go. sorry it wasn’t gift-wrapped

p.s. I hope y’all can tell that that’s supposed to be a middle finger and not... something else lmao. er. anyway

(ETA: so I got a few asks from people who were really put off by this part of the reaction post, and so I’m just adding an extra note here to make it clear that I do not actually wish harm on Horikoshi in any way or even particularly dislike him. I wasn’t happy about Midnight’s death and I wanted to convey that, and so I went with my usual LOUD CAPSLOCK REACTION tone, but looking back on it I can see that it’s kind of a lot, lol. 

so just to be clear, the “fuck you” stuff is almost entirely tongue-in-cheek. that’s on me, I forget sometimes that there are people who share these sentiments unironically and so I didn’t think to make sure my intended meaning here was clear. anyways, killing Midnight was still a really problematic decision for numerous reasons but it is what it is. Horikoshi is not perfect, the story isn’t perfect, and I’m not gonna pretend like it is, but again just to be clear, I don’t harbor any actual ill will toward Horikoshi here.)

shit. and wow this man really went and killed off fucking Mystic too on top of that. have you ever seen a character fail so spectacularly at living up to their hype. r.i.p. Mystic you were like the Star Wars sequel of characters

(ETA: I have no fucking idea why I keep thinking Majestic’s name is Mystic lol. rest in peace you old scarecrowy bastard.)

and poor Momo, though. fuck. lost two mentors in a single day. and do not even get me started on Aizawa holy shit

so now we’re cutting to some random townspeople who are gossiping about the Todoroki drama. this is actually interesting in spite of my newfound determination to hate this chapter lol

ngl I am kind of heartened to see that not everyone fell for Dabi’s bs hook line and sinker though. Jeanist returning from the dead literally two seconds after Dabi was all “I SWEAR ON MY HONOR AS A VILLAIN THAT HAWKS MURDERED HIM” probably helped with that a bit! but there will doubtless be many other people who do believe him, or are at least still inclined to side-eye the heroes in general either way given how much they sucked in this arc. very, very interesting

so it seems though that even more than the whole Endeavor reveal, at the end of the day it’s going to be the heroes failing to live up to their end of the “put your faith in us and let us use our quirks and in return we’ll protect everyone and keep them safe” implied social contract that’s going to have the biggest impact on people’s opinions moving forward. basically this was always going to be a disaster no matter what

OH MY GOD FINALLY AHHHHH

Horikoshi really tapped into some of the real-life political energy of the past few years huh. Fuck Him Still for killing off Midnight, but I will admit that so far this is hella intriguing and I am really, really curious to see where things go from here

OH MY GOD THE LITTLE KIDS FROM THE BABYSITTING ARC

“FIVE PEEPEE MAN WOULDN’T LIE TO US” YES CHILDREN YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. at least the little ones still have faith

UM

 ( •̀ へ •́  )

that’s great. that’s really keen. all we need right now, amirite

GOOD FOR YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT

let’s just wait for him to explain what he feels. you know he likes to drag it out

is that Dabi crouched down there next to Spinner? looks like they got him out of the marble after all. but why has his hair changed colors again lol what

anyways. your turn to what??

:’) excuse me what

hahahaha are you fucking kidding me. and that’s where we’re going to end the chapter then. lol okay

so let’s recap. Midnight died. we spent ten hours watching Ochako dig people out of rubble for no apparent reason and were then introduced to my new least favorite character, and because Ochako is so nice she didn’t even punch him in the face even though she really should have. we did not get any Kacchan or Shouto. we got one panel of Deku, who is Finally Asleep. and the chapter ended with AFO ordering his Noumus to go set free, AND I QUOTE, HIS “MAIN BODY.” and now I gotta wait an entire week for Caleb’s translation to confirm that last part. omg

but it sounds like a prison break is imminent, which is very, very interesting. ...and actually, is it weird that I’m actually rooting for it to be a success? I have no idea what this guy is planning, but I do know that as long as the main part of his soul is still residing in Tomura’s body, Tomura’s chance of surviving the series is close to zero. and villain though he may be, I’m still rooting for his redemption (nice to have Deku on my side now too), and so yeah. so like if AFO feels like using some latent Exorcism Quirk or something that he’s been saving for just such an occasion, be my guest lol

meanwhile this doesn’t bode well for All Might though. or anyone else aside from Tomura, really. shiiiit

anyway. [slaps roof of chapter] this baby can fit so much bullshit in it

[the-ghost-king]

So I'm not going to start like an Anti-Chiron tag because I don't find that enjoyable personally, but every so often people ask why I dislike him so here's essentially a "masterpost" of my thoughts on that situation for when anyone asks, just so I have it to explain some...

This isn't nearly a full list, and there's many more "incidents" that make me less than fond of Chiron, I don't hate the old man but he leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I'm not a fan of that. He's a very twisted character.

- The Lightning Thief

This quote is literally just after Percy's mom "dies", they're all sitting on the porch of the Big House right after he's finally woken up after days of sleeping, and that's the line Chiron pulls out on him.

That's straight up emotional manipulation which was entirely unnecessary in the context of what Chiron was trying to explain. There wasn't a single reason for that, in the slightest.

Immediately following that, and Percy, who canonically has anger issues, does his best to remain calm, he is immediately threatened by Dionysus, and Chiron doesn't even tell Dionysus off for doing that; Chiron just let's it happen. It's Grover who has to speak up to tell Dionysus off...

The only reason Chiron comes out looking like a old guy in this scene is because Dionysus was so much worse in his behavior, at one point intimidating Percy with his power over madness.

- The Titan's Curse

This is the aftermath of when Nico ran away upon confirmation of Bianca's death. When Percy is telling Chiron about the situation, Chiron wishes Nico had been eaten alive rather than recruited into an army.

He'd rather a child be dead than fight against him, and he openly tells this to other children he's in charge of. If Percy went missing would he have said "I hope he was eaten <3" as well?

I don't blame Perry for not delivering the truth here, it was done in an effort to protect Nico; which wasn't something Annabeth had planned on doing... I don't blame Annabeth for that though either, she's been beneath Chiron so long that she probably doesn't realize the shady stuff he does, and to her "going to tell" probably was the "right" move because she was a child...

But the fact that Chiron believes Nico truly would be better off eaten than alive :/

- Tower of Nero

This quote from Tower of Nero shows that Chiron lied to a bunch of young children (most of them were young because the older campers are largely dead because of the war or too old for camp now). It wasn't just a little white lie that adults sometimes tell kids either; they were walking into battle and he told them it was a field trip.

Did he even begin to explain the danger he was putting these kids in? Did the children understand their situation? And how dangerous it was?

Kayla has been blindsided over the years into thinking that telling children they're going on a field trip instead of fighting a battle is something to make a joke of and not be questioned... (Again, I don't blame her she's only like 12 in the book, but still)

Apollo also agrees, which isn't on Chiron but it's a whole mother reason why I can't stand Rick's interpretation of Apollo...

<><><><><>

This isn't me being like "oh Chiron is the worst most evil character ever" I just think that he has numerous flaws which are largely ignored in favor of the "perfect wise teacher" narrative when in fact Chiron and Dumbledore share a lot of.. Offputting qualities.

I do think that some of the situation is simply a result of Chiron having his hands tied behind his back by the gods some. And he even goes so far as to confirm this in a scene of TLT

However many of the scenes in which he exhibits behaviors like that in my first three screenshots are not related to anything the gods require and are, in fact, of Chiron's own free will.

Some things I would blame Zeus and the council for, such as how he withholds information from Percy to an excessive amount for long periods of time even when Percy straight up asks about things. I could easily see that being Zeus trying to prevent Percy from claiming the prophecy as his own, and I could see reasoning that maybe Chiron had sworn over the River Styx or something similar.

But those things don't apply to Chiron making such an unnecessary comment about Percy's mother so close to her "death". It doesn't explain why he would say he hoped Nico had been eaten out loud, and it doesn't cover the fact that he led children into a battlefield without telling them that's what was happening.

I think the context of Chiron's choices and comments would be different if the campers were older. If they were in their late teens or early twenties for the most part, I wouldn't really have much to say about how Chiron handled the situation.

But this man is in charge of children and extremely young teenagers, Percy is only 12 in TLT, maybe if he would have been 16 or 17 then I could give Chiron a pass, but he wasn't. Within the context of the comment he made in the Titan's Curse, Percy is only 14 and Nico is 10 at the beginning of the book... You don't wish a 10 year old had been eaten alive by a monster no matter how bad you think the alternative is, and if you do wish that you don't say it out loud to a group of other children. In the battle from Tower of Nero we get a quick look at the battlefield, and although Ben's age, and the age of another girl fighting alongside him are never confirmed they are implied to be fairly young, and we know Kayla is only 12 at the time too; yet Chiron told them it was a field trip instead of a battle, limiting the time they would have to mentally prepare themselves for what was coming.

On top of that, the nods the reader gets to the fact that Chiron can't act out against the gods depletes over the course of the series. After TLT the amount of times the situation involves the gods interfering with what Chiron is allowed to say lessens, and by the time the Heroes of Olympus series comes around, these limitations on his speech is almost entirely gone. Yet as seen in Tower of Nero he still does morally questionable things in regards to how he treats the campers.

Like I said, I recognize that in many scenes Chiron's hands are tied behind his back because of the gods.. But there are undeniably things he does of his own free will that are, in the nicest manner, very :/

This also isn't a full list of comparisons just a few notable scenes. I don't think Chiron is equally as bad as Dumbledore, but I think it undeniable that Chiron has some significant flaws built into his character design.

A good character has flaws, and there's nothing wrong with having a character that doesn't always conduct themselves properly or have good intentions- it's actually good writing, and I can appreciate that, but for some reason I find myself personally rubbed the wrong way by Chiron. This doesn't make Chiron badly written, or poorly designed, in fact I would say Rick's Chiron is very well designed in lots of ways, but I just don't like how it's never acknowledged by anyone in the series.

Like I said, I'm not starting an anti-Chiron situation, I just think little events like those mentioned, the way he's built a child army, and how he doesn't even try to plead with the gods over raising the ages on campers being allowed to battle is a little sus. But it more so bothers me that there's no attention payed to this problem anywhere in the books, not even by a side character or Luke, nowhere.

I don't actually care that much and this isn't that important to me, but sometimes people ask why I don't like Chiron and this is basically just my explanation to hand off to them... It's not even so much that I dislike Chiron entirely, he's well written and has his "good" moments, I just don't like the way other characters interact with him and his actions.

It's more a personal beef with him rather than an aspect of poor writing or him "being bad"... PJO in general (and HoO/ToA to a much lesser extent) shows that there's not such an inherent good vs bad in the world, and that sometimes people are victims of circumstances in some situations, or they're horribly misguided in their actions, but the series does a good job of showing those people as human still, and I applaud that.

I don't really know how to tie this up in its entirety, but there's nothing wrong with having a morally grey character who does questionable things and in many aspects it is good writing. I think Chiron is a result of Rick not thinking through the implications what he's doing in lots of situations, and I can see a fairly consistent drop in Chiron's characterization from PJO-ToA which is consistent with most other aspects of Rick's work.

I also want to clarify that if you like Chiron and disagree with me, that's absolutely 110% okay, I just personally dislike Chiron and that's on me. Like my problem with many of Rick's other immortal characters, I think he missed important aspects of them in some manner and slightly (or entirely in some cases) mischaracterized them in comparison to their original myths.. Some of these characters he came around on and fixed their character in many aspects to their more "correct" characterization (like Hera), while others (like Chiron and Apollo) he never quite figured them out. Which is a running complaint I have with Rick so I'm just adding this to his tab.

But yeah, I don't hate Chiron I just dislike him and those are different things, and I don't think it's a bad thing to have a morally questionable character, Chiron just personally rubs me the wrong way and I just wanted to explain that more fully because I've been asked about it multiple times.

Also I apologize for not adding a [read more] to this, it's a complaint of mine often when scrolling through the tags but I'm on mobile currently and don't have immediate access to a computer so~

[imgoingtocrash]

my teen angst bullshit has a body count

by @imgoingtocrash for @hailxhydra

Rating: T

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, Jim Morita, Hydra Agents

Summary:

“Correcting people all the time, sucking up attention with the whole goody two-shoes act. I’m saying you’re a teacher’s pet, loser. And one day, everyone’s going to see it for the act that it is, and when they do—”

Peter’s hearing blanks out.

Pet.

It echoes.

Two years ago, Peter Parker escaped Hydra's control and was taken in by the Avengers. Traumatized from the experience but healing, Peter's starting to get a hang of this whole normal teenager thing. However, when Flash brings up a happily forgotten trigger from his past, Tony comes to give comfort and remind Peter that he's worth more to his loved ones than Hydra could have ever dreamed of.

Read on AO3

My fic for @friendly-neighborhood-exchange! Hopefully you enjoy it @hailxhydra!!!

Full fic under the cut as requested by the exchange:

“—But I’m asking if it’s a good movie.”

“I’m telling you, it was either picking Selena for the third time or Rio, which is a stupid animated movie about birds.” Ned shakes his head dramatically. “Everybody else will fall asleep, and if everybody falls asleep, then Misses Rodriguez will give us a pop quiz instead of letting us have a movie day.”

“But I like animated movies. We like them. We watched A Bug’s Life like last week!”

“Because you hadn’t seen it before! Your film under-education is criminal, and if I don’t help you fix it, who will?!”

Ned has a point. Being kidnapped and raised by Hydra after the age of six really limits a person’s entertainment consumption, as he’s learned more than ever now that he’s surrounded by other teenagers who grew up with movies and tv shows to watch at their fingertips.

“I mean, Steve does have a list…” Peter points out weakly.

Steve keeps it in his little notebook along with other things he doesn’t understand the references to yet. He tried to encourage Peter to start something like that in the beginning, but Peter’s never really considered himself a list person. He just sort of soaks up the world now, like a curious sponge. Sometimes it means he has to Google things he doesn’t really understand the meaning of, but it also means a lot of movie nights with both the other Avengers and Ned, which is actually sort of a bonus.

Ned stops them in the hall. “Yeah, but are they cool movies or are they movies for old people and war veterans who haven’t been alive for the last 100 years?”

“...You know that I don’t really know the difference.”

Ned gives a sad shake of his head. “You’re lucky you liked Star Wars, bro. Otherwise we’d be in a very different place right now, like, friendship-wise.”

“You still didn’t answer the question.”

Peter got to pick the movie for their classes’ Cinco de Mayo party. Peter’s not sure what either movie has to do with the Mexican Army’s historical defeat of the French, but he only picked Selena because Ned suggested it. Maybe he should be regretting that choice, if the other option was harmless little Spanish birds.

“You know, Parker, I have a question,” comes a very annoyingly musical voice from behind them.

Peter just barely resists to roll his eyes. Every time with this kid. Not that Peter is any less of a kid than Flash Thompson, technically, but he definitely feels more mature.

Ned, also more mature than some of their other classmates, completely ignores Flash.

“You’ll be humming the disco medleys for weeks, I promise.”

“Wait, wait, disco? I thought you said this was supposed to take place in the 80s and 90s?”

“Music endures, dude.”

“Hey, el idiots, I’m talking to you!” Flash interrupts again.

“That’s not even how you—” Peter starts to correct, only to realize he’s stepped directly in it when Ned groans.

Flash laughs obnoxiously to himself. “Just can’t help yourself, can you, Penis?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Peter grumbles. It doesn’t really matter what he says now. Flash has the attention that he wanted, which means he won’t bug off until the bell rings and until he has the last laugh. And that always happens, because he’s really the only one entertained by all of the poking and prodding at Peter.

Peter breathes in, steeling himself. He’s survived worse. So much worse. Bullies with electric prongs and steel cages and control over every other aspect of his life. This is just high school. Normal kids survive it all the time, even when there are bullies and bad test grades and cliquey subcultures. This is just one privileged asshole who thinks Peter’s an easy target.

In some way, Peter’s actually proud of that. No one has ever seen him as un-intimidating before. Even his Hydra captors knew that if they lost control of him as an asset, he could easily turn on them.

(Part of him always asks why he never did. If he wasn’t evil, if he wasn’t like them, then why didn’t he just fight back? But Sam says that’s just his mind trying to deal with trauma, and Peter is trying really, really hard to get better at ignoring those kinds of intrusive thoughts.)

Speaking of talking to himself, Flash snaps his fingers in Peter’s face to get his attention back.

“You’d think for such a genius, you’d be a lot quicker on the uptake.” Flash shakes his head like he’s disappointed.

“Please just get to the point already,” Ned begs, throwing his head back.

“Correcting people all the time, sucking up attention with the whole goody two-shoes act. I’m saying you’re a teacher’s pet, loser. And one day, everyone’s going to see it for the act that it is, and when they do—”

Peter’s hearing blanks out.

Pet.

It echoes.

C’mere, Pet.

Stay down, Pet!

He was property, he was an animal, he was a weapon, their weapon, he was a mutant and he deserved it, needed it, he was the Spider, a mongrel, nothing, he was nothing and no one and Hydra was the only home a no-good runt like the Spider would ever have and he should be grateful—Kneel, Pet, be a good boy and kneel for your masters—but he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t—

Foolish Pet, you wouldn’t survive out there.

You need us, Pet. You’ll always need us.

“Peter?”

He returns to the moment with one heaving breath, only to realize he can’t take in another.

His collar is too tight, they always put it on too tight and if he complains they hit him and if they hit him he bleeds and it gets on his clothes and he won’t get any more until his bath and he hates bath time because they water is cold and stings his skin and the soap is so harsh it burns his nostrils and they’re watching him he knows they’re watching because they never leave him alone because if they did he would try to escape, he would—

“Peter, what’s wrong, are you—?”

He did. He escaped and ran away but now they have him again and he can’t live like this, not when he knows about best friends and pizza and friendly ribbing and how warm he feels when Tony pulls Peter close on the couch and presses a kiss to his head and tells Peter that he’s proud. He can’t be here anymore, he has to go, he has to run.

“Peter, wait!”

Tony is, to say the least, nervous when he gets a call from Midtown Tech’s front office.

He trusts Peter by now. The kid has come a long, long way since he snuck onto the Avengers helicarrier during the chaos of a Hydra raid. Skinny as a rail, scared, brainwashed...abused.

The Spider.

Peter didn’t like being with Hydra since they were the ones that made him enhanced, but he sure as hell didn’t want to be locked in an enclosed space with a bunch of Avengers at the time either.

As was evident by the fight he put up until Steve knocked him out. Steve still feels bad about cold-clocking a kid when Peter jokingly brings it up now, but Tony’s never shamed Steve for the decision. It was that or some kind of drug injection with the way Peter fought back tooth and nail, confused and defensive. Practically feral, from the well-fitting clothing to his lack of speech.

It was all for the better, though, once they got him back to the compound.

Peter was a talkative kid once he let himself be. Funny, too. Almost normal, if you forgot the mutant spider genetics and years of torture from a bunch of descendant assholes that seemed to hate and resent the very thing they created.

That’s why Tony agreed to let Peter start school. Real, normal, human school just like every other teenager in America attended until they finished all twelve years of it.

Because he needed to be normal, sometimes. He needed movie nights, [other things], and most importantly, friends that were his own age rather than a bunch of adult superheroes that often acted like children.

But also because Peter wanted to go, and Tony had a really, really hard time denying anything that the kid wanted when he could so easily provide.

Peter had such a hard time wanting anything, in the beginning. What did Peter want to wear instead of the plain, grey, dirty sweatpants from Hydra? What did Peter want to eat now that he could have an adequate amount of calories for his enhanced, still growing body? What did he want to watch? Listen to?

All of these choices were suddenly available to Peter, but shaking years of being denied any kind of want, any kind of choice took a toll on him that took a lot of work to get through.

Peter had put in the work. Unsurprisingly well. He was smart—tactically from years of being trained for missions, academically from whatever education Hydra must have thrust upon him. Not so much socially, but they were doing better as Peter spent more time around people that actually cared about him and lobbed insults around to tease rather than to actually cause emotional harm.

But was that enough...training, of sorts, to be around a bunch of teenagers? Sure, Peter was technically also a teenager, but they’d found him at 14. Tony still looked at Peter and saw the wide-eyed little kid sitting in the corner of a containment cell, flinching every time Tony moved.

Two years later and a lot of growth physically and emotionally, but was it enough?

Tony was hesitant about it, wish-washing the entire summer with maybes and I’ll think about its until the deadline arrived and Tony had to actually make the call.

Peter had pleaded, citing an extensive, cheesy list of films that made him want the high school experience himself for some reason. He very genuinely enjoyed shopping for school supplies. He passed Midtown’s entrance exam with results that faked years progressing in homeschooling that Tony knew would have been true, if Peter had gotten the chance to grow up like he was supposed to.

So, Tony eventually said yes, knowing that one day this call might come and Tony would have to be prepared for whatever was on the other end of the line.

An “incident” of some kind. Whatever that meant. The secretary was entirely unclear, only insistent that Peter’s family should get down to the premises immediately to handle things.

That was Tony.

Part of Tony couldn’t fathom why Peter chose him out of everyone on the team to latch onto. Another part wasn’t exactly shocked. Trauma recognized trauma, after all, even if the context was entirely different.

Tony knew what it was like to be belittled. To be seen as something you weren’t. To be abused by someone you never really trusted in the first place.

He and Peter talked a lot in that little containment cell. Hours of Tony blabbering like he always did when he was uncomfortable and Peter just sitting and waiting, waiting, waiting for the strikes to start coming.

When he said his first words.

When he told Tony his name—not Spider, but Peter Parker, a little boy from Queens who lost his parents and his whole normal life in the same night, according to FRIDAY’s records.

When he touched Tony’s arm for the first time and got a smile instead of a reprimand.

He waited and Tony was patient and it was a rough road, but...Tony was kind of a parent, now. A parental figure, at least, among others of varying degrees of quality and influence on a scarred teenager.

He was Peter’s family, whether either of them was any good at it in a traditional way or not.

And also, you know. His money was paying Peter’s tuition. His time went into helping Peter study for the entrance exam. His name was technically on Peter’s manufactured birth certificate because he was the one forging it and it wasn’t like anyone else was offering when the subject came up.

And maybe, a little, because he cared about Peter. Loved him. Wanted to be what Peter needed, what he deserved, and what better way to do that than to write his name on a piece of paper that signified the job he sort of kind of wanted?

Tony slams the car door behind himself after pulling into Midtown’s parking lot, putting on his sunglasses for the brief trip into the early afternoon sun. He’s checking security cameras, exits, and also preparing a hefty sum of cash to go into Principal Jim Morita’s bank account as well as a handful of government officials, if that’s what it takes.

Again, not that Tony doesn’t trust Peter, it’s just...when you get this kind of call and your kid is a highly trained former assassin, you prepare exit strategies on multiple fronts.

It’s been two months and Peter has only made one friend at this place. The kids can’t all be angels like Peter proclaims Ned Leeds to be. If one of them touched Peter out of nowhere or said the wrong thing, maybe Peter lashed out. Maybe Peter forgot to hold his strength back like he’s been training to do. Maybe something was broken.

Maybe it’s something far worse.

Tony has to be ready for that. He has to be ready for whatever it takes to protect Peter.

At the very least, the police aren’t on site. That’s probably a good sign that they’re willing to leave this as an internal matter for now.

The unhelpful secretary of before leads Tony out of the office by the arm at a quick pace, not explaining the situation at all before they arrive at the scene. Whatever it is. Tony was definitely expecting more blood or yelling or...anything, really.

A small crowd stands outside of a door, marked by a golden plaque to be the janitor’s closet.

Leaning on the door itself with his arms resolutely crossed is a kid about Peter’s age. Short black hair, light brown skin, dressed so similarly to Peter that Tony’s starting to wonder if that’s where Peter’s new obsession with those geeky little t-shirts has come from.

“Mister Leeds—” An older Asian man pleads, dressed in a suit and standing up straight with all of the authority he can seem to muster against the stone wall that is the teen in front of him.

The kid shakes his head in response. So this is Ned, then.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not moving. If he wants to stay in there to calm down, he should be allowed to stay in there.”

“I’m sure his parents—”

“He doesn’t even have—you don’t even know what he’s gone through!”

“And you do?”

“Well...kinda? No. But—but he’s obviously freaking out and everyone crowding around him is only going to make it worse!”

The adult rubs a hand across his forehead, stressing at a fold of wrinkles that settles there from the stress.

“Ned, I recognize you’re just trying to be a good friend, but this is a problem for—”

Tony clears his throat, catching the attention of both parties.

The older man sighs. “Oh, good. Thank you, Theresa, you can go on back to the office. We’ll take it from here.”

The secretary nods, brusquely turning around and heading off, leaving Tony there to be examined by both Ned and what must be the principal.

“Mister Stark, I’m glad you could come down, though I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. I’m Principal Morita.”

“Obviously you know who I am,” Tony replies, shaking the man’s hand. “What did happen, exactly? Theresa was sparse on the details.”

“I told you, it’s Flash’s fault! He was being a dick and—” Ned shouts.

“Mister Leeds.” The principal interrupts, stern. “Another student apparently said something...unkind to Peter. He didn’t take it well and locked himself in the closet. I haven’t even been able to assess the situation properly yet. Normally I would start with asking Peter’s side of the story, but...”

He looks to the closet, where Ned still stands, defensive.

“The bouncer is a real stickler, got it,” Tony jokes, aiming a small smile at Ned. “Peter does seem to attract the protective type.”

“Oh,” Ned says, suddenly meeting Tony’s eyes and gaping like a fish. He seems to have finally realized exactly who he’s talking to. “Oh, wow. Mister Stark, it’s an honor. I’m a huge fan, like, so huge. Peter tells me to shut up about you at least three times a day. When he showed me a picture of you guys I was like, ‘Oh my god, your dad is Tony Stark!’ and he was like ‘Oh. Yeah, I guess you’d know who he is, huh?’ like he totally didn’t get how awesome it is that you’re Iron Man. And I know you’re only kind of his dad, but still—”

“It’s suddenly become very clear to me why you two are friends,” Tony responds, keeping his smile on.

It’s actually kind of sweet to see that Peter’s found someone to confide in, even if he’s seemingly left out the more traumatic elements. But he also knows that Peter can hear them through the door, and he wants to get to the kid as fast as possible instead of dawdling for time.

If Peter wants to see him, that is.

He does, doesn’t he? Tony has been there for everything, so far. Every breakdown when the choices became too much, when the world outside of Peter’s little cell and all of the things he did that he wishes he could forget attack him at night. He hasn’t gotten old enough to not want Tony around when he’s upset, right?

“Sorry, Mister Stark. Sorry,” Ned apologizes. “I’m just nervous and worried about Peter and—”

“I get it, kid. You’re good.” He gives a reassuring grasp to Ned’s shoulder. “But if you wouldn’t mind, I really need to see Peter now. You can ask him yourself, but I’m usually the exception to any rule about Peter wanting to be alone.”

“Right, yeah. I’ll just—”

Ned turns to open the door, but gives Morita a shifty look, like he doesn’t trust the man not to dive bomb in if given the chance.

“Peter—”

“Let him in,” replies Peter’s strained voice. He’s definitely been crying. Poor kid.

Ned pulls back and nods at Tony, stepping aside to let him through.

“You did a good job protecting him, Leeds. Thank you,” he says to the teen before stepping into the dimly lit closet and shutting the door behind him.

The room smells musty and over-powerful at the same time thanks to the potent combination of cleaners and the mop cart sitting so close together. Out of anywhere Peter could have picked, this probably isn’t the kindest to his sense of smell if it’s making Tony already scrunch his nose.

It’s lit by a single pull-chain light bulb, and in the shadows of it sits Peter, curled into himself and leaning against a rusty metal shelf filled with paper towels, cleaning equipment, and a few bottles of product that have to be expired.

“Hey, Pete.” Tony frowns at the cracked floor tile, but settles himself next to Peter anyway. His back catches some kind of spray bottle sitting on the shelf that digs uncomfortably into his back.

Peter sniffs, not looking up from the cradle of his arms. “Hey.”

Tony heaves a sigh, for the drama. “So, I hear you got your first bully.”

Peter shrugs. “Guess so.”

“That Ted kid is pretty nice. He’s a good friend.”

“Yeah. And his name is Ned.”

Tony stops beating around the bush. “What happened, Peter?”

“It was fine. It was good, you know? I got an A+ on my Spanish test, and Misses Rodriguez offered to let me choose the movie we were gonna watch for the Cinco de Mayo party as a reward. I didn’t even know any of the movies, but Ned said Selena was good because Jennifer Lopez is hot, so that’s what I picked. It was a good day, Tony!”

“...But?”

“But then Flash—”

“I meant to ask, is that his actual name? Like, legally?”

“No.”

“Oh thank god.”

“Flash said…he said I was a…” Peter’s hesitant to let it out.

“Pete, a lot of kids at this age are testing boundaries. They’re going to say a lot of stupid, insensitive, offensive—”

“He said I was a teacher’s pet.”

There’s a long minute of silence. Tony blinks curiously a few times. He doesn’t want to belittle what Peter’s feeling, but he also doesn’t understand why it’s caused him so much stress.

“I know, I know it’s—but they used to—” Peter swallows hard, probably only delaying another wave of tears. “Sometimes, before, they would call me…”

“Pet.”

Peter nods, starting to shake next to him on the floor, their arms lightly touching at just Tony saying the nickname.

“They liked it. I think it made them feel better about themselves if they acted like I wanted it. Like—like being locked in the cages or collared or—or being muzzled was good for me.”

“You need to learn a lesson, little pet. Be a good pet and eat your dinner. Stop your crying, pet. No more of your barking, pet.” Peter quotes with venom flinging from every syllable. “But I didn’t want that, Mister Stark! I promise! They gave me these powers and I didn’t want to be their pet and they made me—”

“Peter, I know. It’s not your fault. None of it is your fault, I know.”

Tony curls Peter into his side, rubbing his back consolingly.

“When Flash called me that I just—I felt the collar around my neck again and I couldn’t breathe though the muzzle and they kept kicking the cage even though it hurt my ears and I could never sleep in there because it was so small and—”

“Peter—” Peter’s hyperventilating. He’s panicking, Tony realizes. Probably just like he did initially. A flashback that triggered him into having a panic attack.

“And I know that’s not what Flash meant but I was back there and I can’t—I can’t stop—”

Peter breaks into sobs, burying his face into Tony’s shirt and clutching on tight.

“Oh, Pete. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Tony soothes.

He presses a kiss to Peter’s hair, unsure when he became this tender. Probably the moment he realized this was the way he wanted someone to treat him in the midst of his worst, most vulnerable moments.

“Sometimes the bad memories come back unexpectedly, it’s alright.”

“But don’t wanna think about it anymore!” Peter cries childishly.

If it wouldn’t break Tony’s ribs, Peter would probably start banging at his chest in frustration.

“What if it gets bad and I don’t talk anymore and I can’t go to school like a normal kid and I lose everything and then you won’t want me anymore because I can’t get over this and stop being a stupid animal who needs its owners to—”

“Peter Parker, no. Absolutely not.”

Tony pushes Peter away so he can hold the boy’s face in his hands. So that he can fucking imbue into this kid how much he is loved and cherished and human.

“You’re not property, and you’re not an animal. What they did to you was wrong, and you know that now. I know that you do.”

Not just because Peter’s been to therapy since integrating with the Avengers, but also because he’s talked to all of him during his recovery from the horrors of his earlier childhood. About how his life felt before and how it feels better now. How he wouldn’t have left in the first place if he really wanted to be a part of Hydra like they raised him to want.

He’s not the child soldier they raised anymore. He’s so much more than they ever allowed him to be in that awful place.

He loosens his grip on Peter’s face only to bring him back again with an arm around his shoulder. Maybe if Peter feels him, touches him, the kid will remember all of the growth he’s made, the family he’s gained.

“Buddy, you are getting better. I know it. I’ve seen it. You know we’re all so proud of you and the progress you’ve made.”

Tony sighs. Part of him wants to sugarcoat it. That Peter has seen the worst of the world and now he’ll just be able to move on from it scott-free. It’s what he deserves, but Tony knows from experience that nothing in life is that sort of kind.

“That doesn’t mean you won’t have setbacks. I have had setbacks. Healing from the bad stuff is really, really hard, but it doesn’t make you anything that they said you were. You’re a wonderful, good kid who deserves everything he’s worked so hard for. And you’re going to get it because you have me and the team and your new best friend behind your back. You’re not alone, you’re not in a cage, you’re—you’re home, Pete. You understand?”

Peter sniffs, a sign that he’s worked himself up again, but his weak nod into Tony’s chest tells him that some of them at least might be happier tears.

“Listen to me, Pete. And I mean really, truly listen.” He looks down at the snot-covered, tear-stained teenager practically in his lap. He does love Peter. He wouldn’t have gone this far for any other kid in the world.

“It doesn’t matter what happens—hitches, mishaps, a dumb teenage mistake. You’re our kid now, Peter. You’re never going back to Hydra. Never. Not with me around.”

He knows it means something to say it out loud rather than leaving it to be assumed. He doesn’t have as much of a problem admitting it as he thought he might.

“I’m never giving you up, or letting you go, or treating you like anything other than a person. Do you understand me? That is something you never, ever have to worry about. Not from me.”

Peter sobs against him. This time it feels a lot more like relief. A release in the safety of Tony’s arms that Peter hasn’t really allowed himself, even after two years of being free of Hydra.

Peter didn’t tell the team everything. He may never even tell Tony everything. But this is one more thing Peter doesn’t have to carry alone, and Tony is happy to help their kid navigate the horrors it's brought back into his improving life.

They sit there for another minute, Peter’s whimpers muffled in Tony’s dress shirt. He’s sure the principal and Peter’s friend are getting antsy. But all the same it gives Peter another chance to calm down, and this time he seems a lot lighter when he picks his head up to look at Tony.

“Feel better?”

Peter gives a sniffle, but accompanies it with a nod and bright, attentive eyes.

“Look, I think school’s a bust for the day. Let’s go home. Whatever you wanna do, just you and me. Nobody else needs to hear about this unless you want to tell them, okay?”

“And if you wanted, I guess…”

Peter tilts his head, expectant.

“We could...nah, it’s probably offensive, right?”

“What?” Peter insists. Tony tried to warn him, but Tony also can’t resist an idea once it pops into his head.

“I just thought, you know, if you wanted—if you thought it would help, we could get you a—“ He almost ruins it, but catches himself.  “An animal. Like a dog or something.”

Peter is silent. He bites at his lip, contemplative. Looks in the direction of a mop bucket in the corner.

“Is that bad? You don’t have to, I just thought it might make you associate that word with good things, but if not—“

Peter finally meets his eyes with a tentative grin on his face.

“What kind of dog?”

[themollyjay]

I’m Not An Imposter (But I Sure Feel Like One).

CW: Homophobia, Transphobia, Trans-misogyny

Two days ago, I started work on a new novel called ‘The Defective Paragons’.  It took me a little over a day to write the first chapter, because I wanted to get it right.  Actually, I wanted to get it perfect.  I wanted to capture a specific feeling, but I struggled with it a lot and I want to talk about why.

‘The Defective Paragons’ is not the novel I had planned to write after I finished Transistor.  I thought I would finish Transistor, do revisions on The Master of Puppets, circle back around and do revisions on Transistor, and then move on to my first Fantasy novel, The Long Way Home.

Instead, I finished Transistor, did revisions on The Master of Puppets, did revisions on Transistor, then I pulled out an old manuscript I had started back in 2015 called ‘The Caster of Shadows’.  I retitled it ‘The Inevitable Singularity’ because it was a better thematic fit for the story, then I went through, made a bunch of revisions, adjusted some character dynamics, cut a subplot that just didn’t need to be in the book, and banged out the last five chapters or so of the novel.

It’s a good novel, and I’m happy with the way it turned out.  In fact, I’m really proud of it.  I think there are a lot of deep, interesting things said about free will verses determinism, about the primacy of the individual verse the primacy of the state, about the ethics of child soldiers, religious indoctrination, the ways love can become a toxic force in your life and how hanging on to an unhealthy relationship can be a form of self-harm, as well as how religious doctrine can poison family relationships.  I also think the series that the novel will eventually be part of has a lot more to say on some very deep topics, and I am really looking forward to writing the rest of the books.

But there was something missing when I was writing it.  It was a work that was conceived, and mostly created at a very different time in my life, when the things I wanted to examine in my writing were different.  In the books I’ve been writing lately, Mail Order Bride, Scatter, The Master of Puppets, and Transistor, gender has been a theme.  Scatter is more subtle about it than the others, though it is there if you look closely enough.  Coming off of The Inevitable Singularity, I found myself very much wanting to step back into a universe where I could talk about gender and The Long Way Round just wasn’t that book.

Instead, I decided to jump into The Defective Paragons.  I’m not go through the full elevator pitch, but the basic idea is that aliens came in and recruited a bunch of teams of teenagers to be superheroes.  They ran around in costume, drove giant robots, and fought off invading alien pirates and bandits.  Then, when the time came, the aliens who recruited the teenagers used them as an army to annex Earth.  Except one team fought back.  They lost, but the novel picks up ten years later when they get a second chance to fight back.

Now, you’re probably asking how this relates to gender, and that’s a fair question.  The thing is, the team that fought back has been separated for a decade, and during that decade, the team leader transitioned from male to female, so when someone comes looking for the Team Leader, they spend the first chapter of the novel talking to said team leader without realizing who she is until the very end of the chapter.  Through the course of the novel, this woman is going to have to meet up with four other people she used to be incredibly close with before.

I’m not going to lie. I was nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs the whole way through the first chapter, and those nerves haven’t gone away.  But why am I nervous about writing this?  This is literally a part of my life.  This is something I’ve lived through, something I’ve experienced firsthand, more than once.  That experience of meeting someone you knew before, or having to introduce yourself after… That’s my reality, but I still hesitate to write it, because of something that affects a lot of queer people, and trans people I think most of all.

Imposter syndrome. Queer people have our identities invalidated all the time.  “Are you really gay?”, “Why don’t you pick a side already?”, “It’s just a phase.”, “The homosexual lifestyle.”, “Transgender Ideology.”, “Sex not gender”, “Adult human female.”, “Trans trender,”.  It’s hard to keep track of all the ways people question our identity, and when you can’t go a single day without having your identity questioned, you start to doubt yourself.

I doubt myself every day. I was fourteen years old when I figured out I was transgender.  All the signs were there before that, but I didn’t really have that ‘I want to be a girl’ moment until I was fourteen years old.  Why did it take me so long?  You hear about trans kids who seem to know from birth.  Trans girls who want to wear dresses and play with dolls and scream and make a fuss about it from the time they are old enough to talk.  If I’m really trans, why wasn’t I like that?  Is my body dysmorphia really part of my gender dysphoria, or is my gender dysphoria a result of body dysmorphia caused by my weight issues and my eating disorder?

It is so, so easy to get lost inside your head, to doubt who you are, when the whole world is telling you that you’re wrong, that you don’t know yourself, that you can’t be who you claim to be.  Some nights, I lay awake, lost in that place.  Some nights, I lay awake feeling like a fake, a fraud, an imposter.

I know the truth.  I do.  I know that cis gendered men don’t dream about waking up as a woman.  They don’t sit around daydreaming about how if they ever got three wishes, the first wish would be to be a woman.  They don’t have elaborate fantasies about the life they would live if they were a woman.  They don’t cry with joy and relief the first time they see themselves in a dress and makeup. I know I’m a trans woman.  But doubt is a hell of a thing, and so is cis-heteronormativity.

I wrote a chapter, and I felt afraid.  I felt like I was stealing someone else’s story, even though this was my own lived experience.

If you run into the same thing while you’re writing, I wish I could tell you that there’s a magic fix. That the imposter syndrome will eventually go away, and that you’ll get to the point where the voices don’t whisper fear and doubt into your ears, but I can’t.  If there’s a magic fix, I haven’t found it yet.  When I’m writing stuff that deals with being trans, I show it to other trans people, and I sit there, waiting for them to read it, afraid the whole time they’ll tell me I got it wrong.

Someday, I hope we live in a world where no one feels this way, but until then, all I can do is fight through the fear and the doubt, to tell myself that what I feel is real and valid, and to tell the stories I want to tell and hope that people will read them and know that they aren’t alone.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Kinks

The Devil Wears Nada

Summary: Steve’s fed up of getting cock blocked during what was supposed to be bit of alone time and would make a deal with the Devil herself to get some alone time with his wife… Warning: SMUT SMUT SMUT- (NSFW, 18+) Like seriously, if you’re under 18 get off my blog.

Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark.

A/N: This is possibly the filthiest thing I’ve ever written...and I’m not even sorry. It follows on directly from Bumps In The Night which was written by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ as part of Stark Spangled Banner’s Birthday Party. Give it a read, its wonderful!

SSK Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

 Katie and Steve headed back inside, Katie diverting into the lounge to go and retrieve the candy off the kids before they ate too much of it in one sitting. Steve had to snort at the various cries of protests that rang round the lounge and his wife’s stern voice telling the three children in there that she didn’t care if it was Saturday, they weren’t consuming enough E-numbers to fuel an army before bed. He made his way into the kitchen and was completely unsurprised to find Bucky already had his head buried in the fridge.

“Make yourself at home.” He deadpanned and Bucky looked at him, thrusting a beer in his direction. “Gee thanks.” Steve’s dry sarcasm still present as he looked at his friend who was offering him his own fucking beer. Bucky grinned and shrugged as he passed one to Sam as well as he strode into the room, the three men popping the tops. Steve took a long pull from his as he eyed Bucky “Why are you here?”

“Rude much?” Bucky asked, his eyes still checking out the contents of the refrigerator. “We were concerned uncles…you weren’t with the kids.” “They were with Emmy and Queens” Steve arched an eyebrow “Perfectly safe.”

“They showed up on Tin Man’s doorstep.” Sam grinned “We were halfway through studying a couple of files and they basically swamped us and said it was their last stop of the night. Bucky thought it would be fun to come back with them.”

“To bug the crap out of me or…”

“I wanted candy.” Buck shrugged.

“Then you should have gone Trick Or Treating.” Steve replied “And let’s face it, with a face like that, who needs a mask?”

“Ouch, Stevie…” Bucky looked at him as Sam chuckled in the background, before he turned his attention back to the fridge “Oooh, your Missus made a cheeseboard.”

“What are you a fuckin’ mouse?” Sam asked as Bucky pulled out the platter, setting it on the side.

“Just ‘cause I appreciate the good things in life, Seagull and you can’t.” Bucky shrugged, unwrapping the film from the cheese. “You know, Steve was just like this growing up.”

“Yeah, well, now I have better taste and I’m also big enough to kick your ass so stop eating my food and go home before I throw you out.”

“What’s got into you?” Bucky looked at him.

“You’re disrupting my plans.” Steve said simply.

“What pl-ooooooh!” Buck’s question morphed into a noise of acknowledgment as he looked at his friend “Then you should have taken advantage of the empty house earlier.”

“School boy error, Cap.” Sam smirked and Steve let out a growl of frustration.

“Well our various attempts to were thwarted one way or another, and now you two punks are ruining it again.” Steve glared at them “Put the cheese back and piss off.”

Bucky smirked. “Imma tell Katie you’re being nasty to me.”

Steve narrowed his eyes knowing full well the soft spot his girl had for Bucky and Sam. If she got so much as a sniff he was being a bit of a shit to either of them he’d be in for it. “You wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?”

At the sound of his wife’s voice Steve jumped and turned to see her clutching the huge bowl that had previously contained their candy by the door and now sported the combined content of their kids’ bags, Harry toddling behind her, his eyes fixed on the prize.

“Oh this is gonna be good.” Sam smirked, leaning off to the side unwrapping a Reeses which he pulled out of his pocket, slowly chewing as if watching a movie.

“Hey Doll Face” Bucky grinned at her “Steve won’t let me eat the cheese.”

“Ignore him, you help yourself Buck.” She waved to it as she passed Steve the bowl of candy “Stop being so moody, stick that up high somewhere.”

“You know that won’t stop Jamie, Rori or him don’t you?” Steve looked at her as she picked Harry up who watched shrewdly as his dad placed the bowl on the top shelf of one of the cupboards “All 3 of them had scaled the refrigerator by the time they were 2.”

“No but it might delay them enough for us to catch them.” She shrugged, her eyes moving to Bucky who was eating a block of cheddar like it was an apple “Buck, do you want some crackers or…”

Bucky nodded but Steve cut him off. “No he doesn’t.”

“Yes I do.” Bucky smirked as Katie looked at Steve, arching an eyebrow at his unusually frosty nature towards his friends. She set Harry down on the counter by Bucky who grinned at the toddler, offering him his hand in a hi-five. Harry grinned and slapped his Uncles palm before he looked at the cheese.

“Absolutely not pal.” Steve said to him and Harry looked up.

“Dinosaurs don’t eat cheese.” Bucky shook his head at Harry who stared at him and blinked before he shrugged.

“But I hungry.”

“You can’t possibly be.” Katie looked at her son

“I am Momma.”

“Now look what you’ve done.” Steve glared at Bucky.

“Me?” Bucky scoffed, his mouth full “What did I do?”

“Set him off, look, why don’t you go and eat Jen’s cheese?” Steve asked and at that there was a pause before Sam, Katie and Bucky all burst out laughing. Steve groaned “Ok, that came out wrong.”

Sam snorted “that’s what she said.”

Katie laughed harder and Bucky grinned, swallowing his mouthful as Katie headed into the pantry. “Innuendo aside, I can’t. She’s got something going on at the coffee shop. Bunch of teenagers doing Halloween activities or something, I don’t know. She won’t be free until later.” He turned to Katie as she walked back in, handing him the box of crackers and he thanked her “So I thought I’d come see my best friends for a beer seeing as it’s not even half 8 on a Saturday yet.”

Katie smiled at him “You two are always welcome here, you know that. Isn’t that right Steve.”

Steve fixed a smile on his face and glared at Bucky who was positively beaming at the fact he knew he was being a cock-block. “Course it is honey, course.”

“Right my little Jurassic baby…” Katie picked Harry up and he giggled, the hood of his dinosaur costume falling over his eyes. “Bath time.

“No bath Momma” he shook his head furiously, looking up at her as she pushed the clothing back off his head “I have one tomorrow.”

Katie looked at him, “Your face is filthy.”

“Wash my face then.” He looked at her and Katie raised her eyebrows and looked at Steve who chuckled.

“Wanna help me out here daddy?” Katie asked and Steve looked at his son.

“Ok, how about momma washes your face tonight but you’re having a bath first thing in the morning.” Steve looked at Harry as his son considered it for a second. It was late after all. Skipping bath night one evening wouldn’t kill him.

“Deal” Harry nodded, holding his hand out. Steve shook it as Bucky and Sam both gave snorts.

“You need a hand?” Steve asked.

“No, I got it.” Katie shook her head “I’ll get him sorted. You can send Rori and Jamie up in 15 though.”

“Sure.” Steve nodded.

“Say goodnight Harry.” Katie said, turning round so Harry could see Sam and Bucky.

“Goodnight Harry” he grinned, before he cackled at his usual joke. The tot had no idea why it was funny, but when he had first said it, it had cracked both Katie and Steve up so now he seemed to say it every night. Bucky and Sam obligingly laughed as Steve dropped kiss to his son’s head, before pecking Katie’s cheek as she carried him out of the kitchen.

**** Half an hour later, after Rori had done one final parade around the kitchen in her princess cat outfit, beaming when Bucky had declared her the “prettiest kitty cat in all the world” and Steve had once more told her “no, you can’t have a real cat”, all 3 kids were clean and in their rooms. Harry and Rori were both tucked up in bed, lights off, whilst Jamie was watching TV with a warning from Steve that he had 30 minutes before it was time to turn it off. Steve knew Jamie would listen, it was part of the deal that he got to have a little time like that in his room as he was the eldest one now. Jamie took it seriously, knowing full well that abusing said privilege would mean it was revoked just as it had been a few weeks months when he’d been giving Steve some serious back chat and cheek. Steve had sent him to his room and Jamie had simply shrugged responding sarcastically “Fine, I’ll go watch my TV, what a huge punishment.” Steve had seen red and headed straight into the garage before coming back with a pair of pliers. He’d walked straight into Jamie’s room, cut the plug off the TV leaving his son staring at him, open mouthed as he breezed out of the room with a simple “watch it now, smart ass…”

The 4 adults were all sat in the lounge, sprawled across the various sofas with a drink each as the fire roared giving the large living room a cosy, homely feel. Stark was stretched out on the rug in front of the fire, snoring slightly, and the stereo was on playing a little background music whilst the rain pattered against the large ceiling to floor windows. Steve adored this time of year for precisely this reason. Katie snuggled under his arm, her back resting against him as she lay stretched out down the cushions, his arm looped around her crossing her chest. The hand that wasn’t holding her wine was gently rubbing over his forearm, her nails softly skating across the skin. Steve dropped a kiss to her head as they both listened to Sam who was recalling how Bucky had ended up with a load of candy stuck on the hand of his metal arm without realising, which he had then stuck in his hair when he’d run his hand through it.

“He cried like a bitch when I was pulling the gummy bears out.” Sam grinned and Steve tipped his head back, a huge laugh rumbling through his chest as Bucky glared at him.

“Punk.” He looked at Steve who simply smirked and took a drink from his bottle

“You know, I gotta say that these kids take it to the next level nowadays.” Sam swallowed a mouthful of beer. “I mean, some of those costumes are awesome. We saw a really cool Iron Man who had the reactor in his chest all lit up.”

Katie smiled “Yeah, Tony does seem to be a popular choice.”

“We got a Captain America.” Steve offered, not one to be out-done and Katie smirked to herself, “And by that I mean when it was me, or I was it, whatever. He may or may not have gotten extra candy.”

Sam and Bucky chuckled and Katie sipped her wine before she tilted her head back and looked up at Steve.

"At least we got no clowns this year..." Katie smirked and at the mere thought Steve shuddered and Bucky let out a huge snort.

"What...you're scared of clowns?" Sam looked at Steve but before he could answer Bucky jumped in.

"He ain’t just scared man, he's petrified. When we were about 8 and my folks took us to Coney, this guy dressed as a clown tried to give Steve a balloon and he ran away, but the best thing was…” Bucky leaned forward, his words coming between his howls of laughter “this clown kept doing it up until Steve was about 18 because he was so small and looked like a 10 year old.”

“Fuck you.” Steve narrowed his eyes at Bucky as he and Sam fell about laughing. Katie kissed his arm and sat up, pointing at Bucky.

“Stop making fun of him…he was cute when he was a smol bean.”

“Thanks sweetheart.” Steve grinned, pressing a kiss to her head. 

“Coulrophobia” Sam nodded sagely, “Quite common actually.”

“I’m not surprised.” Steve shook his head “They’re horrible. I mean, who on earth ever thought they were suitable as entertainment?”

"I dunno, it was kind of entertaining when Jamie dressed up as one.” Katie smiled and Steve physically shivered at the mere memory of that particular Halloween.

“Wait, what?” Bucky asked, looking at Katie and Steve groaned as he steeled himself once more to be the brunt of a joke.

“You seen IT?” Katie asked, “As in the newest one?”

Bucky nodded, grinning “A particular favourite of mine and Jen’s….although last time we watched it we kinda got distracted.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Katie snorted.

“Don’t wanna know,” she shook her head as Sam Hi-fived Bucky “but anyway, we had a Halloween party about 9 years ago at Tony’s. Emmy asked if she could be in charge of hers and Jamie’s outfits so we said yes. Little did we knows she’d had a little help from my dearest brother and just as we were about to set off…” she snorted and started to laugh “they come down the stairs and Jamie’s dressed in the BEST Pennywise outfit I’ve ever seen.”

Bucky’s face split into a huge grin as Katie continued to laugh, shaking her head. “So he’s toddling towards Steve and his face…” she stopped talking, as her laughter was now uncontrollable and she shook her head and Steve sighed.

“It’s not funny.”

“It is.” She stuttered, wiping her eyes. She took a deep breath “You stood there stock still, this look of utter horror on your face and I knew you were fighting the urge to turn and run…”

At that Bucky and Sam both burst out into laughter and Steve shook his head. “He was so upset when I wouldn’t pick him up.”

“You stopped the car at the top of the street because you couldn’t drive as you kept seeing him in the mirror…” Katie howled, tipping her head back in absolute, unadulterated laughter and Steve shook his head.

“You heard Sam, it’s a phobia…” he looked at her “I can’t help it, any more than you can about spiders.”

“Horrible eight legged bastards.” She shuddered as her laughter died down and she glanced up at him winking, as her voice dropped. “But you know the way to my heart…”

“Kiss you often, fuck you well, feed you snacks and kill the spiders.” he intoned, grinning as she chuckled “I know Doll, I know.”

**** Despite his best laid plans going to shit, Steve had to admit it was a nice evening as all 4 of them chatted and laughed but by the time Bucky and Sam left some 2 hours later, Katie had already gone up to bed about 15 minutes prior saying she was tired which meant Steve was now very doubtful he’d be fucking her well at all. Cursing Trick Or Treaters, counter surfing dogs, hungry babies and cheese eating, beer drinking friends he cleared the empty bottles off the coffee table and dumped them in the recycling before he let Stark out into the back yard so he could do his business. Steve stood watching him, the cold October air biting at his skin a little as he glanced up at the now clear sky, the rain having stopped roughly half an hour or so ago. He couldn’t believe it was November tomorrow. Another year almost done with. They were flying by, far too quickly for his liking. This year had marked 7 years since they’d reversed the snap and it still seemed like only yesterday since he’d walked away from it all and passed the shield to Sam, settling down into the domestic life he’d never dreamed in a million years he’d get. He was jerked from his thoughts when Stark walked back up to him, nudging his hand with his cold, wet nose and he smiled, petting the dog’s head as he walked past him into the little laundry room and sat obediently waiting for his paws to be dried. Steve shut the door, locking it and then towelled the dog down before the tan and white mutt shot off through the kitchen and into the hall. Steve heard his collar jangling as he bounded up the stairs to Jamie’s room whilst he himself made his way through to the lounge. The fire was still going, but he knew it would die down over night and he was just moving the grate to the front of it to avoid any embers spilling onto the floor when his ears picked up footsteps on the stairs. He instantly knew they were Katie’s and found himself smirking a little. Maybe he was gonna get a little frisky after all. And then he heard her walking across the hall and frowned, because it sounded like she was in heels.

“Honey?” he called, standing up straight and turning to see his wife leaning against the door frame, one arm extended above her head, the other hand falling to her hips as she looked at him, biting her lip. Steve felt his mouth drop open as he took in her appearance. She was indeed wearing heels, a pair of sparkly, high heeled red Jimmy Choos- her “Ruby Slippers” as Rori dubbed them, and his eyes scanned up her bare legs to the hem of the sheer, red negligee which finished mid-thigh. He could see the outline of a pair of matching, red lace panties underneath as he continued to take in her appearance. The top of the garment was low cut, her cleavage amplified somewhat as her breasts swelled over the lace cups and he swallowed as he felt his cock twitch whilst he simply stared at her, slack jawed. Fuck, she was the sexiest thing he had ever seen in his entire life and when she did stuff like this…Jesus.

He glanced at her face, her hair falling over her shoulders in waves and it was then he noticed that on the top of her head sat a pair of fake red horns. Steve’s mouth curled up in sinful grin as Katie gave a dirty giggle, her green eyes sparkling with mischief as Steve strode towards her purposefully, one thing on his mind.

“Read to sell your soul to the Devil, Solider?” she asked and Steve let out a chuckle as he stopped in front of her, his hands gripping her hips

“I sold it to you years ago, Doll.”

She grinned at him as he pulled her closer, his fingers curling against her gentle curves, tangling in the soft material of the negligee as he dropped his head to hers, kissing her deeply. Her hands smoothed over the top of his grey Henley coming to rest on his chest as he curled one arm around her waist, pulling her closer. At the feel of her pressed against him, Steve let out a soft moan

“God I’ve been waiting for this all night” he mumbled and Katie grinned against his lips.

“Well like I tell the kids, a little patience goes a long way Stevie.” she purred and Steve shrugged, his hands dropping to the back of her thighs as he easily lifted her, her heel-clad legs wrapping around his waist.

“And as you know when it comes to you baby girl, I have very little self-control.”

“Don’t I know it, there’s reason we have 4 biological kids.” she pondered for a moment and Steve laughed as her lips met his again and her hands raked into his hair, her nails biting gently against his scalp.

With steady strides, Steve carried her over to the spot in front of the fireplace where he gently set her on her feet and knelt in front of her. The light of the fire cast a bronze glow against her smooth skin and taking his time to simply enjoy the moment, his hands traced up the back of her calves to her thighs, his touch feather light as he reached up to her ass. He gave her flesh a squeeze before pulling her forward a little and her hands reached out to rest on his shoulders for support as he pushed his head under the bottom of the lace garment, nose skimming along the waistband of her panties. He peppered hot, open mouthed kisses across her soft skin, before he dropped his head lower and nudged his nose over her covered mound. She whimpered a little as he brushed her nub and her hips moved forward, seeking him out.

“Now who’s impatient?” He looked up at her and she glanced down, arching an eyebrow.

“It may have escaped your notice…” she took a deep breath “My self-control is also pretty non-existent around you too.”

“Well, I’m not one to keep a lady waiting” Steve smirked and in a swift movement he hooked an arm round her waist causing her to shriek a little before she laughed as he deposited her gently on the rug, caging her with his arms. He glanced down at her, brunette waves fanning out over the light grey and black of the soft tuft wool and leaned down, his nose nudging against hers.

“You know I love you, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” she frowned a little, as Steve brushed his lips over hers.

“Good, now remember that. Because I’m about to fuck you like I don’t.”

Katie barely had time to register what he said before he’d moved down her body, hands skating up the outside of her thighs where his fingers bunched in her panties. With a sharp tug he’d snapped the elastic and tossed them to one side, grabbing her ankles and moving her feet so they were planted on the floor, the heels she was wearing caused her pelvis to raise up off her floor slightly. Without another word he pushed her knees apart and his mouth was on her, and he wasn’t holding back.

Katie’s body jolted as she let out a soft sigh of his name which was laced with satisfaction as he set his mouth to work, devouring her with the enthusiasm of a man starved, which in all fairness he was. He was low key horny around her all the time and he’d been sporting a fucking semi pretty much since the first time they’d been interrupted that evening. Having her so close yet out of reach all night so to speak had driven him wild.

His tongue licked, and lapped, flicked and curled over and over and Katie’s groans and pants grew louder and louder as he worked her into a frenzy. She curled the fingers of one hand into his hair, the other gripping at the rug underneath her as she arched her back even more, pushing herself against his face as her head began to spin. The contrast of his short beard scratching at her sensitive skin to his soft tongue and mouth was sending her entire body into overdrive and Steve could tell. He gently grazed her bud with his teeth, inserting 2 fingers inside her, both actions causing her hips to violently buck, her nails dug further into his scalp and he gave a chuckle which vibrated against her clit causing her to groan loudly.

“Jesus Christ Steve…” she panted, looking down at him. He peeked up from between her legs, a cheeky glint in his eyes which shimmered in the light of the fire, full of a blaze of their own as he continued, his tongue flicking at her entrance, before he sucked on her bud and then she was gone. Her legs trembled as her hand pulled his hair, almost to the point it was painful as she gave a loud cry, her other hand reaching to his head as she used both to push him away from her sensitive sex. He moved his head back but his fingers stayed exactly where they were, curling against the soft sponge of her walls as she clamped down around them, giving a little groan as she did, her legs flopping down flat on the floor. With a smug sense of satisfaction at having undone her to the extent he had, Steve pushed himself up, wiping his wet face with the back of his forearm and crawled over her, cupping her cheeks, kissing her again, his tongue tangling against hers. Katie moaned wantonly into his mouth as she could taste her arousal as his mouth dominated hers before he pulled back, his thumb and forefinger gently gripping her chin making her eyes open and lock onto his.

“On your knees sweetheart.” His tone was low as he used his Captain’s voice to issue the instruction, telling her not to argue. Not that she would, as mouthy and stubborn as she was this was the one area of their relationship in which she was always willing to surrender to him completely. With a graceful movement she pulled her legs back towards her and turned her body, rising to her knees, palms planted on the floor.

Steve pushed the waistband of his sweats and boxers down before he moved his hands to her hips, pulling her back with a swift action, placing one palm on the base of her back. With the other he took his throbbing cock in his hand, gave himself a few quick strokes before he lined himself up. With a snap of his hips he buried himself in her heat, balls deep, jolting her forward. The rumble from his throat slipped out of his mouth at the relief of finally being inside her, drowning her cries out.

His pace was relentless from the outset, just as it had been when he’d worked her with his mouth and his hands gripped her waist tightly as he drove in and out of her over and over, in fast, deep movements, pulling her back onto him with each thrust he made. He watched her face as her head fell forward between her arms, her bottom lip clamped between her lip, eyes closed in pleasure, those dirty little noises she made joined the sound of skin slapping skin as he did just as he’d said he was going to do, and fucked her hard.

It was raw, animalistic even, and a far cry from the usual way Steve liked to love on her but hell, it felt just as good to Katie as anything he ever did and after a particularly deep drive she cried out, fisting her hands into the rug, as she felt him bend over her, his large frame crowding hers from behind.

“God you feel so good baby…” he groaned, his chest was pressed to her back, his mouth nipping at that spot on her neck as she felt the heat pooling in her belly again. In an almost automatic movement, her head rolled to the left, allowing him access to her neck where he nipped and sucked at her skin, her gasps growing louder as he continued to thrust. “So fuckin’ good…”

As he spoke, Steve reached up and wrapped one large hand around her neck, tipping her face round to his so he could kiss her. It was all Katie could do to kiss him back, allowing him to control the pace as she was completely gone, the sensations lancing through her body had left her totally pliant to his ministrations.

“Captain…” she panted softly against his mouth as Steve gave an almost pathetic whine at the sound of that name slipping from her throat as he continued to push into her, driving deep before he stilled, his hips flush to her ass. Katie gave a squeak as he rotated his hips, letting go of her neck and pushing himself back up as his hand slid down her body, between her legs drawing a long wail of delight from her mouth as he fondled her bud, “Shit…I’m…Steve I’m gonna...”

“Go on, come for me baby…” he hissed, his jaw clenched, the sweat beading on his brow as he rutted forward again, once more grinding against her “Give it to me, let go…”

With a last, loud, filthy lament she came, hard, her knees almost buckling, but Steve’s arm quickly looped around her waist holding her up as she blissed out completely, the entire world fading around her as she felt nothing but the familiar hot, warm pleasure as her abdomen contracted and relaxed as her walls spasmed around him over and over.

“Good girl.” he praised as he continued thrusting through, the heat in his own belly now beginning to spike even more, “Such a good girl for me.” Katie preened at his praise, relaxing slightly as he bent over and kissed her neck once more, picking up the pace slightly. And then, she pushed back suddenly catching Steve off guard, sending him sprawling onto his back. She went with him, his cock still stuffed inside her, her back sliding on his chest as he continued to fuck up into her, his knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Katie’s head fell back against his shoulder, her face tilting to kiss his as she lay on him, legs spread, feet planted either side of his hips. His hand crept over her stomach, dipping into her folds as his fingers and palm furiously toyed and played with her, brushing against his shaft as he rocked in and out of his wife.

“Steve…” she whined “I can’t…it’s too much…” “You got one more in you.” he all but growled, “I know you do. And I’m taking it, whether you want me to or not.”

True to his word he continued his unyielding assault on her senses and before long her breathing had risen and his name was slipping from Katie’s lips in that familiar staccato pant. She gave in, and this time the climax almost feeble but still just as pleasurable as she fluttered around him. At the feel of her round him, and the sound of the exhausted, sultry groan she let out into his hear Steve was done for, and with a final, violent buck upwards he came, biting down gently on her shoulder, muffling the noises of satisfaction and pleasure that rolled from the back of his throat.

The pair of them lay still, chests heaving  and Katie licked her lips, eyes closed as she waited for her body to gain some form of control over itself. After a little while, she felt Steve’s hands gently slid up her side to the outside of her arms, giving a gentle rub as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

“You ok?” he asked.

Katie hummed a little and grinned, tipping her face round to look at him “I’ll say…that was…”

“Yeah…” Steve nodded, the pair of them chuckling. “It was worth the wait.”

Katie’s head lolled back against his shoulder and she closed her eyes again. Not wanting to move just yet, the feeling of her lay over the top of him whilst he was still buried inside her was too nice, Steve wrapped his arms around her front as he shifted slightly so he could press a kiss to her lips. She wiggled her hips a little and he gave a low grunt at the sensation and he looked at her as she arched an eyebrow.

“You want more?” he asked, his voice low and she fixed him with a look that was half suggestive, half apprehension as to whether she could actually take anymore. Steve grinned and pressed his lips back to hers, the kiss deepening as he felt himself starting to grow hard inside her again, and just as he had pushed her up into a sitting position, backwards on his lap, the security system sounded and the front door clicked open.

Katie’s head turned back to look at him over her shoulder, both faces sporting expressions of utter horror as Emmy and Peter’s voices drifted up the hall.

“Shit…” Katie jumped up, glancing down at herself as Steve scrambled to his feet, tucking himself into his pants, hastily yanking at the crotch in an attempt to make them a little less snug, so to speak.

“Give me your shirt…” Katie hissed and he reached over, grabbing a fistful of it in his hand. Yanking it over his head he tossed it to her and she shoved it on over her skimpy little outfit, before she kicked off her heels, and she’d just smoothed her hair down when the door to the lounge opened. Emmy and Peter stopped dead. Peter hastily turned away as Emmy’s eyes roved over Steve’s shirtless form, then to Katie who was stood in his Henley which thankfully was big enough to cover her body down to the middle of her thighs, hiding the red lace garment underneath. Whilst they might have hidden their modesty for the most part, there was no hiding the fact both of their faces were flushed with exhaustion and sexual gratification…nor was there any disguising the fact Katie was stood with her legs crossed in a desperate attempt to stop Steve’s release from dribbling down her leg. And then just to make it even more obvious, Katie’s shredded red lace panties were dumped in the middle of the floor right by her discarded heels…

“Jesus Christ…” Emmy mumbled, backing out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Katie and Steve glanced at one another, and Katie burst out laughing at the look of utter horror on Steve’s face.

“Cheer up Steve…” she patted his chest “Could have been worse.”

“Seriously?”  he blinked “What could be worse than basically being caught in flagrante by our daughter and that boy?”

“Ok, first off, his name is Pete…and actually I can think of a few things.” Katie shrugged, bending down to pick up her shoes and her destroyed underwear “Had she come in like 2 minutes earlier she’d have caught us in a much more compromising position…or even worse than that, we could have walked in on her.”

“Doll, just don’t!” Steve held his hand up, giving a groan.

Katie laughed and made her way to the door. “I’m going upstairs to clean up and get in bed, can you bring me a bottle of water up please?”

Steve sighed and nodded, watching her go. Taking a deep breath he wandered into the kitchen were Emmy was stood scowling, leaning against the kitchen counter as she glared as his topless form, Pete hastily averting his eyes.

“You two are disgusting.” Emmy shook her head “It’s bad enough hearing you in your bedroom but…fucking hell Dad!”

“Watch your mouth Emily.” Steve said sternly as he felt the heat rising in his neck. He made his way to the fridge, pulling out two bottles of water before he straightened up. “We weren’t expecting you back so early.”

“Clearly.” Emmy arched an eyebrow.

“You know what?” Steve’s temper flared a little “This is mine and your Ma’s house, and well, frankly, we’ll do what we want, where we want.”

At that Peter gave a little cough and pushed himself up off the counter, “I’m gonna…yeah…” he said, pointing to the utility room door “I’ll be in the cabin Em.”

Neither Steve nor Emmy paid him any attention as he scuttled off, the door clicking shut behind him.

“Dad!” Emmy spluttered, her face in her hand as she shook her head “That was so embarrassing!”

“Well it wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs for us either you know Em!” Steve groaned “Like, seriously, why did you even come in here anyway? You don’t need to come through the house to get to your annex!”

“We were hungry.” She whined, “Mom said she’d leave us something in the fridge although frankly, now I’ve lost my appetite.”

Steve wiped a hand over his face before he shook his head, taking a deep breath “I’m gonna go up to bed. Can we just forget this happened, please?”

“I’d love to.” Emmy practically growled as she made her way towards the rear of the kitchen. “God, I need to scrub my eyes with bleach…once you’ve finished using it to mop wherever you were…you know.”

Steve arched an eyebrow and that little devil on his shoulder reared his, or her as the case may be,  head and he couldn’t help the sarcastic response as it flew from his mouth “I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but I’d need a lot of bleach to wash down each surface of this house I’ve had your mother on.”

Emmy’s mouth fell open and she looked at him, before she let out a loud groan. “You’re disgusting. Like, I can’t even…”

She shook her head and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. Steve shook his head, watched as the security light clicked on whilst she stormed across the back garden to her little annex and with a chuckle he made sure the door was locked and turned off the lights.

All in all it had been a damned good day now he thought about it. He’d carved pumpkins with his kids, seen them all have a great time, eaten Italian, drunk beer, chatted to his friends, fucked his wife exceptionally well and now embarrassed his eldest.

“Mission accomplished…” he snorted to himself as he took the stairs two at a two, padding across the hallway and entering his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

[midnightsnyx]

Consequences - Matthew Tkachuk: epilogue

summary: you absolutely hate Matthew Tkachuk so it’s just your luck when you wind up pregnant with his child.

a/n: this is the end! i don’t even know where to start! i wanna say sorry real quick for how long its taken me to post the epilogue. i just wanted it to be as perfect as i could manage for you guys! 

i want to thank every single person from the bottom of my heart who read this little series i wrote and took the time to like, reblog or send me a message! it truly means to world to me and i hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as i did writing it. 

so thank you all, so, so, so much! 

also, here is a poll that @hannahmb​ did up for me because im literally a grandma when it comes to some stuff and it’s ideas for the next series im going to write.

anyways i’ll stop rambling now lol

- allie 

Epilogue

“Henry Eli Tkachuk!” You yell. “Get your little butt down here right now.”

The patter of tiny feet echos through the hallway and you watch your five-year-old slide into the kitchen, nearly crashing into the wall. He’s as clumsy as his father, which you didn’t think was possible.

He looks at you curiously, eyebrow raised and hands on his hips - the spitting image of Matt.

“Yes, mama?”

You point to a plate of cupcakes on the countertop. “There were twenty cupcakes here ten minutes ago.”

“Yeah.”

“There are only fifteen now.” You raise an eyebrow. “Do you know what that means?”

“That someone was hungry?”

“Henry.”

“Mama.” 

“Who ate the cupcakes?” 

He shrugs his shoulders and giggles before running off towards his bedroom. It’s possible that he ate them but there are seven other people in the house who could have. You can eliminate at least three, maybe four out of the seven which is why you find yourself calling out to your husband and his other half. Unlike Henry, Matt actually crashes into the wall when he comes running down the hallway. Though to be fair, you’re pretty certain that Brady pushed him. 

“Yes, dear?” 

“The cupcakes.” You raise an eyebrow, eyes darting between the two Tkachuk brothers standing in front of you. “Who ate them?”

“Not me,” Brady says, hands raised defensively. 

“I didn’t either!” Matt says and you’re pretty sure that one of them is lying but then Johnny walks into the kitchen, two cupcakes in one of his hands, and is taking a bite out of another one.

“Dude, these are-”

“Johnny!” The three of you exclaim at the same time. 

“What?” He mumbles around a mouthful. “They were just sitting there.”

“They are for Nell’s birthday!” 

“Ellie’s birthday party is today?” He asks in confusion and you sigh, shaking your head. Why did you think it was a good idea to invite a bunch of constantly hungry hockey players to your three-year-olds party? 

“Everyone, out.” You say, waving your hand dismissively. They all clear out with the exception of your husband who slowly walks towards you. 

“Will you hit me if I touch you?” He jokes and you roll your eyes but let him wrap you in a warm hug. The two of you have come a long way, you’re the perfect epitome of enemies to lovers story but you wouldn’t change anything. Especially because of what you’ve gained along the journey. 

“How’s the bun in the oven?” He asks and you pull away, raising an eyebrow.

“I hope you mean the baby and not Eleanor's birthday cake because I think it may have burned.” 

His eyes widen and he rushes over to the oven, pulling the cake out. Luckily, you caught it in time and there’s only a little black on top that can be brushed off.

“Why didn’t you just order one from the store?” He asks, picking up a cupcake and taking a bite. You sigh, realizing that you’re going to have to make more due to the fact that everyone is eating them.

“Homemade cakes are the best.” You answer quietly and he just nods his head, not questioning the vagueness of your answer.

“Attention everyone! I found a wild child in the backyard!” Brady calls, walking in the kitchen with your toddler sitting on his shoulders. She’s laughing loudly, clinging onto his hair. 

Curls as wild as Matt’s and eyes just as blue, Eleanor Ruth Tkachuk graced the world with her presence 3 years ago. After Henry, you weren’t sure you wanted more than one kid because life with just him and Matthew was absolutely perfect but you didn’t know that it could get even better until she arrived. 

“There’s my princess!” Matt says, taking Nell from Brady. She happily goes with him, grabbing a hold of his hair too. You watch your husband wince but the look of pure love in his eyes when he looks at her isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen.

“Warrior Princess.” Brady corrects and Matthew nods seriously. 

“Daddy, cake!” She squeals, pointing to the cupcakes and reaching towards them. Matthew spins around and starts walking away to get her attention off them. “Let’s go find nana.” 

You watch the two of them walk outside, hand unconsciously resting on your belly. Baby number three was kind of an accident. You and Matt weren’t exactly trying for another but you weren’t doing anything to stop it. You both decided that if anything was meant to happen, it would. And it did, obviously but you weren’t surprised because you’re pretty sure Matt secretly wants an army of Tkachuk’s due to the number of times you’d had sex before you became pregnant again. 

But it didn’t bother you, the idea of a bunch of mini you and Matt’s running around. It certainly wasn’t something you really envisioned in your future and you never realized how much you really wanted a family until after Matt.

“How’s Brady Jr.?” 

You grin at Brady who’s leaning against the counter.

“Still not named Brady Jr.,” you say, starting to get the cake ready to be decorated. “But he’s doing great.” 

Brady smiles and opens his mouth to say something but Chantal walks in the room, cutting him off. 

“Honey, go help your father finish decorating.” She says, shooing him out of the room before starting to help you get the last of the food ready. The two of you work efficiently and in silence, something you’re used to when getting things done with Chantal’s help. You’ll never be able to thank her for everything she’s done for you since she came into your life. Being with Matt meant gaining an entire family who was the most tight-knit, caring, and encouraging family you’ve ever known. 

They didn’t have to accept you as easily and quickly as they did and you’ll always be grateful for them. 

. . .

Long after the birthday party settles down after the kids are asleep, Henry curled up with his head in your lap and Nell tucked in Matt’s arms, and all the adults sitting around the fire pit in the backyard, you take a minute to reflect on how much your life has changed in the last six years. Longer, if you count how long you’ve actually known Matt. You never would have guessed that this is where life would have led you, how crossing paths with Matt changed you as a person, and changed your entire world forever.

How you learned, loved, and gained so much in these past years. 

How lucky you are.

“What are you thinking about?” Matt whispers, nudging you gently. You turn to look at him, his eyes warm and smile gentle.

“You. Us.” 

“All good things, I hope?” He jokes and you smile, pulling him close so that you can kiss him softly.

“Always.” 

[dooodle-bug]

Pmtok Human AU, but get this: they’re actual humans and everything is all minor inconveniences and is mostly mundane, slice-of-life stuff. 

-Plot focuses mostly on Olivia because I say so.

-Craftsman adopted Olly and Olivia, Olly being around 14 while Olivia being around 7. He lives the same reclusive lifestyle as prior, living on the island while doing origami-related work. Why he adopted kids? Because he was growing lonely and thought having kids would be a Great Idea! Oh it turns out having kids is a lot harder than anticipated, especially considering how Olly an Emo Teen and Olivia a Hyperactive Kid.

-So Craftsman be teaching them about origami and stuff and it’s going pretty well! They quickly (mostly Olly because he’s more invested and passionate about it than Olivia) become origami pros. Meanwhile, the two also enjoy playing “royalty” in which Olly is the king and Olivia is the princess. They made their own little crowns and everything.

-But as Emo Teens do, Olly eventually grew restless from being isolated on the island for so long, feeling misunderstood and less cared for as Olivia was given more attention. He was also pissed at the Craftsman for not really giving him the time or energy to listen or understand him, writing him off as just being moody. Idk where the writing the message part comes in because Olly is not made of origami so just forget that part. So instead of hating on solely the toads, he hates on everyone and everything.

-One night, Olly deadass runs away, having Olivia tag along because he told her “We going on a secret field trip”. Why? Because he eventually can’t stand being at the Craftsman’s and just wants to get away and live on his own. So they board the Sea Captain’s boat at 1 am and leave.

-Turns out his idea was terrible because he has no idea how to live on his own. So Olly reasonably learns how to fight and starts a gang, folks joining either by force or because they legit want to. Olivia obviously realizes how messed up this is and thus tries to stop him. He frickin dumps her and continues with gang and crime stuff. >:,o(

-Then Mario rolls around and decides to help her because That’s What Mario Would Do, Olivia explaining everything and Mario deciding he’d help reunite them and bring them back to the Craftsman.

-They embark on an Epic Quest that’s more or less the same as the og, but this time trying to find Olly and convince him to stop doing all this crime. Of course, you read the title and know the stuff that happens is more laid back and mundane. During this Epic Quest, Mario and Olivia grow a strong bond and become Good Friends!

-Bobby’s plotline is pretty similar, working in the army for Bowser until he and his bob-omrades go on vacation and get attacked by a squid or something. His death is also kinda the same. Olivia gets trapped under a rock fall caused by Olly (She’s not squashed, just stuck) and you know what happens from there.

-Professor Toad’s plot also practically the same. He becomes Olivia’s other unofficial caretaker while also doing research about the ancient ones and stuff. Oh yeah Captain T.Ode also there for some reason and profesode ensues.

-When they get to Mushroom Island, Olivia happily reunites with the Craftsman and meets Mario. They catch up on everything and agree they should continue their Quest in finding Olly.

-Kamek and Bowser Jr. are also sorta similar, Kamek being the Tired Grandpa and Jr. being the Annoying Kid. Jr. gets the everloving crap beaten outta him and they gotta restore his health with those springs. 

-Oh I forgot about the Legion of Stationery. They are also normal humans that work for Olly’s gang because they feel bad for the kid. They’re just a bunch of terrible adults that don’t know how to act right or take care of themselves. What Mario and Olivia do is try to ask them where Olly is. They say “No we’re not telling you get lost or we’ll beat you up.” So they fight, Mario winning of course by annihilating them to the point of unconsciousness. They then are sent to the hospital and later jail. 

-Colored Pencils is an annoying 17 y/o high schooler who commits vandalism because he thinks its fine and the cool hipster way of exposure. Rubber Band is the entitled Karen who got a gig at Big Sho’ Theatre and took it too far. Hole Punch is this annoying reclusive brat who punches and bites people when he doesn’t get what he wants. Tape is a legit gangster who does serious crime and is a wanted criminal, hanging out at sea for the peace and to get away from the law. Scissors is this professional fencer who acts sorta as Olly’s guardian figure who is also lowkey messed up and likes arts-and-crafts. Stapler is this feral stray who Olly picked up on the street and is a feral bastard to everyone but him.

-Mario and Olivia eventually make it to Olly’s hide out along with Bowser, who tagged along because He’s a Dad and knows about this stuff. So then there’s this big fight and stuff with Olly threatening to kill everyone. Of course Olly loses and the gang reunites. 

-The aftermath is basically where everyone learns their lessons, Craftsman gives Olly more love and affection and lets them go outside and explore the world more. Mario becomes a legal guardian for Olivia and Olly, the crew going out whenever and happy ending!!

Anyhoo, thanks for reading this silly idea and feel free to ask me anything about this au!

[voidsentprinces]

FGO is a mythological fanfic clusterfuck...

Prologue: You are an unassuming man or madam who briefly meets their classmate, Mash. And angers their tsundere superior in Chaldea. An organization made to stop the end of the world. The one guy standing around and dressed like “I am an evil villain”. Turns on Chaldea and all the people suppose to go get blown up before they can embark on their first mission. This explosion sends you flying into Fuyuki with your Tsundere Superior and your classmate turned servant. You are the worst choice to save humanity from the end of the world. But now the only option.

Storyline of Fuyuki: Ah, good to be back in OG Fuyuki. Except everything is one fire, most of humanity is dead, and you have to escort a tsundere superior around while your classmate learns how to be a servant. Everyone is evil except Cu Chulainn who is a wizard and is your drunk uncle here to impart wisdom and snark.

Storyline of Orleans: Jeanne D’Arc comes back as Darth Vader leading an army of other historical villains including Elisabeth Báthory , Dracula, Marie Antonette’s Executioner, the Phantom of the Opera, and Darth Lancelot. You team up with Jedi Master Jeanna D’Arc as well as a younger for some reason dragonkin version of Elisabeth Báthory (just to make thing confusing), Marie Antionette, Motherfuckin’ Mozart, Kiyohime and Sigfried to stop her. Also dragons are everywhere. Darth D’Arc exists because Bluebeard wanted to give her catharsis.

Storyline of Septem: What if Emperor Nero wasn’t completely off his fucking rocker, came back as a fashionable wife, and has to fight previous Roman Emperors to get back Rome? Including a rotund Julius Caesar, an incoherent batshit Caligula, a young Alexander the Great and his hapless future successor who is an adult and just as confused as you, and Romulus. Whose death spawns Attilla the Hun as a space dressed waifu. And just to make their roles in history null and void. You enlist the help of Boudica and Spartcus to aid you. Also Jing Ke and mecha Lu Bu are there too.

Storyline of Okeanos: What if Francis Drake was a big tiddie pirate wife. Alright what if previously to your arrival she 1 v 1′d Poseidon and WON!? Alright now what if after getting her help, you fought Eric Bloodaxe, got trolled by Euryale to re-enact the myth of the Minotaur. But then the Minotaur turned out to be a good boi and joined you. Also Artemis carrying around Orion, Atlanta and David, King of Israel is there. So is Jason and some of the Argonauts but like just Medea and Heracles. Replacing the other Argonauts with Hektor from the Trojan War. Also you have to punch Blackbeard with Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

Story of London: There’s fog every where. You have to join forces with Traitor Knight, Mordred, Doctor Jeckyll, a kid Hans Christian, and Frakenstein’s Bride. Contending with Jack the Ripper, Mephistopheles, Hoienheim, Mecha Babbage, a bunch of Mannequins, and then the Mist of London just sort of summoned Nicoli Tesla and Darth Arthur to fight too. At the very end Tamamo no Mae and Sakata Kintoki arrive just to exit stage left immediately.

Story of E Pluribus Unum: Medb wants to fuck Darth Cu Chulainn but he’s not that interested. So she decides to fuck up Wild West America instead. Making Beowulf the Warden of Alcatrez, Fergus mac Roich the Heavy, and then kidnaps Rama’s Wife before mortally wounding him. Also she has to fight against Lion Headed Mecha Edison, Helena Blavatsky. The two of which are using  Karna, Son of the Sun as the Bouncer. You convince a germ manic Florence Nightingale to aid you, pick up a wounded Rama on the way, as well as Robin Hood, Billy the Kid, young  Elisabeth Báthory again, Geronomo and Nero who is trying to be an actress to fight them all. Also Scathach, Fionn Mac Cumhill and Diarmid are there too. But they just do things at random and Li Shuwen randomly shows up too.

Story of Camelot: What if the entire round table was just a bunch of psychopathic zealots who worthship the ground Arthur walked upon. And then got into a fight with Ozymandius and Nitrocris for the lulls while launching a magical tactical nuclear strike on the entirety of Crusader State Middle East. All the legends of Hassan is trying to stop them but Arash is there too. Tawara Tota is also there to distribute a shit ton of rice. Nothing you do here really matters. But Bedivere shows up to aid in the lackluster ending. Xuanzang Sanzang is also there.

Story of Babylonia: Not Enkidu answers to giant Medusa who is pretending to be Tiamat. Bringing about a massive army of demons and monsters to wipe out humanity in prehistoric Mesopotomia. Leonidas, Ushiwakamaru, and Benkai are doing their best to fight off the hordes. After three Demons go out like bosses before your arrival. Also young Medusa and Merlin are there cause why not? After befriending a woman in a tiger kigarumi, Quetzacoltal, Ishtar, and Ereshikigal. You find out defeating giant Medusa was a ploy to summon the real Tiamat and shit goes down. You eventually drop Tiamat into the Underworld where the First Hassan dewings her after which Ishtar, Ereshikigal, and Gilgamesh work together to defeat her. Ushiwakamaru is captured and comes back as an evil version of herself but with the aid Nekai and Quetzacoltal going out in a blaze of glory you defeat them all.

Story of Saloman: Every servant shows up to fight off Soloman and his Demons, turns out Soloman is the daemon Goetia possessing the corpse of Soloman. And the true Soloman is actually your acting director and base medical doctor. After your classmate sacrifices herself you defeat Goetia and Soloman decides he’s good for now and peaces out taking Goetia down with him and restoring humanity. Bringing your classmate back to life in the process.

But wait THERES MORE! The remaining Demons who survive the Goetia fight decide they’re mad they lost. So create some singularities to air out their grievances. Trapping you and the staff of Chaldea in a time space continuum until you hunt down and take them all out.

Story of Shinjuku: The League of Evil comprising of James Moriarty, Yan Qing, Darth Emiya, the Headless Horseman riding the Spirit of Vengeful Wolves, and the Phantom of the Opera take over 1990s Shinjuku for the fun of it. You have to enlist of the aid of James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes, Darth Jeanne D’Arc, Darth Arthur Pendragon, and Edmond Dantes. Turns out Moriarty that was your ally was actually the true Moriarty and the one leading the League of Evil was the Demon you’re looking for. Summoning the power of all Fictional Detectives you defeat Moriarty. I shit you not.

Story of Agartha: Welcome to the Center of the Earth. Where the vast open plains are ruled by Darth Francis Drake, Penthesilea, and Wu Zetian. You are joined by Astolfo who takes the form of a cute anime girl but retains his gender, Chevalier d’Eon, and a young Fergus. Fighting the Queens and their respective empires with the aid of...sigh, Christopher Columbus. Surprising no one, Columbus turns out to be the true villain and with the aid of Shahrazad and a Demon almost Colony drops the Center of the Earth on top of the actual Earth, Age of Ultron style. But the power of friendship you win. Also Godzilla Heracles is running around.

Story of Shimosa: What if just after or before the Warring States period: Ashiya Doman, Yagyu Munenori, Minamoto no Raiko, Tomoe Gozen, Mochizuki Chiyome, and Shuten Doji showed up to fuck everything up? Including corrupting Hozoin Inshun just to be absolutely asinine? You get the power of a time traveling woman using the legend of Miyamoto Musashi to get into shenanigans. Also obtaining the aid of Fuma Kotaro and occasionally a robotic mecha Kato Danzo. The Demon sort of just appears backing Ashiya Doman.

Story of Salem: The Salem Witch trials but if done like the VVitch in a horror film manner. Not so much about the battles but about the atmosphere. As you, your classmate, Robin Hood, Charles Henri-Sanson, Nezha, Mata Hari, and the witch, Cirice posing as Medea for a few seconds there. Have to pose as a traveling circus of storytellers and entertainers. While the suspicions of the towns people grow darker. Ghouls and spirits begin to haunt the night. There are executions and the Demon turns out to be the one you least expect. The soul of a child is used to open up a gateway for an Outer God and shit goes down.

But wait there is even MORE!

Story of Prologue: You’ve hunted down and killed the demons. And now the world is back to normal. When a new force arrives to take over Chaldea in your stead. One of those new arrivals brings along an army to slaughter Chaldea and activates the end of the world by way of Alien Invasion. You get out of there in the nick of time via a magical meguffin mobile and now have to track down Lostbelts. Each one controlled by a King, a Master who was your former colleague who previously got blown up and now is now revived by the Aliens, and their servant as well. Good fucking luck chuck!

Story of Anatasia: Russia is fucked. Russia is SO FUCKED! That its been stuck in an Ice Age since the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The Russians are forced to use a magic to turn them into anthropamorphic beings and have been surviving barely due to the machanations of Saleri, Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romonov, the Master of this Lostbelt, and a particularly sadistic fox woman. With barely anything to go on and running out of fuel. You have to venture out into the eternal Russian Blizzard to get the aid of one of the locals, Avicebron and Darth Atlanta to defeat Anatasia, Ivan, and tear down their cosmic eldritch tree to restore humanity in that sector.

Story of Gotterdammerung: You made it out of Russia and into the Netherlands, where it seems on the cusp of Ragnarok. You are immediately facerolled by Sigurd being possessed by Sutr. Who is under the command of a master there. Enlisting the aid of Napoleon Bonaparte you fight back against Frost Giants, Valkyries, and Sigurd. Also enlisting the aid of Brynhildr to do so. You also have to contend with a girl made up of several goddesses and Scatach taking on the manter of Skadi.

Story of S I N: Out of the frying pan and into the China if it never left or evolved beyond the Qin Dynasty. Except for the Emperor who has become a giant space base, artifical intelligence reaching immortality. After having close calls with mecha centaur Xiang Yu, Qin Langyu, an older Li Shuwen,  Lanling Wang. The Emperor sees you teaching peasants how to read and coloney drops a piece of himself on the village. You send Spartacus to punch to meteor...I shit you not. And with the aid of Mordred, Jing Ke, Red Hare, and Chen Gong. You impress Emperor Qin to come out of his shell and reveal his butterfly god form. Also the Master in this Lostbelt is actually a fucking vampire.

And that’s all I’ve gotten to so far.

[sekaisstuff]

Headcannon where young Dragon traveled with Shanks and Buggy in Roger's shipp, because why not?

Dragon is younger in here, being only 3 years older than Shanks and Buggy. So he passed from 55 to 42 (after time skip age).

Garp just went to Roger one day with a freaking baby on his arms and said "here, take my baby. I have no time to take care of him and what better training he can get than just leaving the kid with a bunch of pirates." And Roger, who never even taked care of a child before just said: "okay".

Garp had no ideia that his stupid kid would grow attached to these pirates and end up hating the world government after seeing the horrible things they do.

I like to think that Rayleigh freaked out when Roger just said "okay". He never taked care of a child! How the hell is a crew of pirates is going to take care of a freaking child?????????

But when Ray saw the baby, he melted, he took the kid. After all, what kind of irresponsible adult would let a child be abandoned?

Nobody knows who the child's mother is, only Garp. So Roger knows that he will probably never talk about who she is so he doesn't ask Garp about it.

Although Dragon has an addiction to sweets, nobody says anything about it.

Every time Garp attacks the Roger Pirates, he demands to see how Dragon is and they have a good time.

Dragon is the one who finds Buggy and Shanks. He's a three year old kid messing around in a random town when he finds a blue haired baby abandoned in the middle of nowhere and he just takes him.

The same can be said for Shanks, except that he was with Rayleigh this time.

Dragon, Shanks and Buggy are pretty close, Dragon acting as an older brother to both of them.

Dragon is normally the one who takes them out of trouble.

Shanks always manages to put himself in dangerous situations and Dragon has to take him out of it, causing him to get hurt sometimes.

The same can go for Buggy, since he is always on the search for treasures maps and gets himself in traps and Dragon - like the good older brother that he is - saves Buggy all. the. time.

He eats a devil fruit on accident (just like Buggy) and gets the ability to make storms and everything that can come out of it.

He hates it in beginning but learns to live with it after some time.

Roger is THE father figure.

Being there for his kids whenever they need him.

Dragon included.

Although Dragon is pretty serious in recent time, Dragon used to be like Luffy in some aspects.

Both in appearance and personality.

He is, however, much calmer and way more patient than Luffy.

Actually THINKING BEFORE ACTING.

(most of the time)

Dragon was a pretty talented Haki user.

Managing to use Armament Haki when he was around 16.

But Dragon was a cabin boy and would not fight (most of the time)

Dragon l o v e s food.

So every time Whitebeard and Roger had those resources stealing plays, Dragon would always go to the kitchen or to the storage.

And he would always take an enormous amounts of food.

That became so commun that Whitebeard begun putting guards in the kitchen and storage so that Dragon couldn't take the food.

It never worked.

He always managed to get out of there with enough food for three months for three people.

Although Dragon loved his food, he loved his brothers even more so he would give part of the food to Shanks and Buggy.

(I can make individual headcannon posts to Dragon's relationship with Buggy and Shanks, cause I have a LOT OF THEM)

Dragon was one of the first to know about Roger's sickness.

He overheard a conversation that Roger had with Rayleigh and he was devastated.

When Roger realized that Dragon already knew that he was sick, he had to tell the truth.

He was completely sincere, telling Dragon everything he had to know.

Dragon cried. A lot. To the point Roger cried too, realizing he was going to die, leaving his kids all alone, his crew all alone.

When everyone found out, Dragon forced himself to stay like the usual, for Buggy and Shanks.

When Roger died, Dragon was already beginning to plan the Revolutionary Army at the young age of twenty.

Dragon stayed by the side of his younger brothers in the execution.

He only knew about Ace because of Garp.

But he couldn't bring himself to actually see the child, so he left him with his father.

He knows Garp is a good person and is trying his best to give Ace a happy life, so he trusts his father to take care Ace.

When he has a child when he's only twenty-three, he has no ideia how to tell Shanks and Buggy about him.

So he doesn't.

Luffy is a complete secret, the only person who knows is once again Garp.

(He loves his son, btw)

He really hopes his son and brothers are alright.

He really, really does.

He misses them.

A lot.

He misses the Roger Pirates a lot.

He never really minded being alone, he used to like it actually. Being all alone in one of the rooms in the Oro Jackson, reading a random book.

But sometimes that intense feeling of loneliness just.. hits.

And he just wants to go home to his brothers, his child... his family.

Of course he has Kuma and Ivankov, and God, he loves them but they could never replace the home that Oro Jackson was.

He really hopes that he can find them some day.

And be, well, sincere with Luffy, tell him everything.

Stories, tales anything.

He really hopes to find Shanks and Buggy one day.

Have a drink with them and just talk to them.

He hopes to find Rayleigh, Garp many others.

He hopes that one day he can tell the truth to Sabo.

One day he can go to a random bar with Ivankov and Kuma and talk to them like the old days.

But that will stay in his head for now.

And maybe, one day, he can do all of that.

But not right now, he has a Revolutionary Army to run and being alone or not he still has to be strong.

I hope you liked this, I will do more, just have patience with me, lmao.