#assuming i live long enough to see it turn into that. not planning on dying anytime soon but u never know.

[spacelesscowboy]

obviously not an original thought but it still strikes me out of nowhere sometimes. being dead is a forever thing. youre alive and then youre not. you existed for a brief moment in time and the world will live on. but you won’t. how strange.

[tripleglitchwriting]

Kinesthesis (Part 1)

Set in the same universe as Ignition and Combustion!

Part 2

I am working if requests I promise I just wanted to write something else along with them.

Synopsis: As the Arc crashes down to Earth, Jazz and Prowl are left without escape pods. Stranded on an unknown planet and gravely injured, the two seem lost… if it weren’t for a curious mechanic going to see what all the smoke coming from the sky was.

Warnings: Robogore I guess? Not too descriptive yet.

When the ship was hit, Jazz and Prowl were already on deck and preparing a counterattack. They’d tried everything to cloak the ship from the Decepticons, but unfortunately they failed. One good shot to the Arcs main thrusters and it was starting to look like game over. Luckily that desperate shot gave Prowl a great opportunity to strike back. He landed a near perfect hit on the Nemesis before Optimus ordered a retreat.

Most of the crew were heading toward the escape pods per protocol, which was just fine by Prowl, but the damage to the Arc was severe. Severe enough that without somebody staying behind to keep it flying for a little longer, nobody would make it out with their sparks intact. Now, Prowl was never one to go against orders, especially not from Optimus, but there were little other options he had. As third in command it was his obligation to do everything in his power to save the lives of his crew.

Jazz knew that too. He just wasn’t a hardass.

“Heya Prowler, got cherself in a tangle here, eh?”

“This is not the time for jokes!” He snapped.

“Hey, hey, no joking here. I know what you’re tryin’ to do. And I’m gonna help ya.”

“No, I can keep the Arc up for long enough-”

“Cool it hothead, I’m second in command, remember? You take orders for me. And I say I’m helpin’”

“What about Optim-“

“He’s helpin’ the rest escape. I’m sure he plans to do this himself if we don’t take the wheel.” The ship trembled around them. “I’ll take the thrusters, you protect the pods.”

Prowl mumbled something under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Please stop cutting me off.” With that the Arc began its final decent. From the windows Prowl watched as escape pods flew out of the ship one by one. He did everything he could to prevent his friends from being turned into scrap midair. In seconds the number of pods still in danger trickled out. Warning signs flashed on every screen in the room, but neither paid much mind. As long as their cause continued, dying here wasn’t so bad, right?

Fate had other plans, though.

As the thrusters finally lost power and the ship began to rapidly descend to the planet below, Prowl and Jazz watched as each system went down one by one. Life support: offline, shields: offline, warp core: offline, escape pods… offline. They could only hope the rest made it out okay.

The fact a stray shot from what they assumed to be the Nemesis was hurtling towards them wasn’t really ideal. Neither bot had the time to react before the entire room was engulfed in flame. The windows shattered from the force, sending everything inside out into the atmosphere, including Prowl and Jazz.

——————————

The Arc was gone. Gone as in nobody knew where it was at least, which might as well be nowhere at all considering this planet was entirely alien. Actually, where was this planet? Where were they? Wait… who’s they? What’s a planet…? Wait, no, wait- what?

Jazz was running dangerously low on energon. And his left arm, apparently. That was definitely gone. His optics were offline for the time being, as were most of his senses. Luckily that included pain! Unluckily, he could be literally anywhere right now. And so could the rest of the crew…. and Prowl.

Prowl landed hard upon a canopy of trees that immediately gave under his weight. He couldn’t hear much outside of the ringing in his audials. Maybe that was lucky, maybe he wasn’t actually falling through trees on a faraway planet. Maybe he was getting chewed out by Jazz for being stupid, or tuning out Swerve for being Swerve.

…Deep down he knew that was wrong. He should be dead. Maybe he was. Maybe death was better than whatever going on now.

No. No, that was the cowards way out. Get up, Prowl, open your optics. One step at a time. You’re a soldier, you’re a commander. This is no time to be sitting around and- HACK — his body lurched as he spit up energon.

Alright, ok, slower then.

He could feel his entire frame creak. Slowly his optics sparked to life. The world was dim and glitchy. Objects around him moved in ways nothing should ever move. He wished Ratchet were there. He wished anyone were there. Wasn’t there somebody else that was supposed to be there?

“Prowler?” A weak but familiar voice sounded from somewhere far, far away. Or was it very close? It was hard to tell. “P- Prowler, my optics- are you there?”

“Jazz…” He replied almost unconsciously. “A- a- affirmative.” Most of his professor was screaming system failure, warning him of what he already suspected. He couldn’t see Jazz, not in his immediate line of sight, but knowing he was there was comforting. Knowing he was there for the end.

“W- we need h- help, com’on, we n- nee-”

“It’s o- okay. I- it’ll be okay, J- Jazz.” It wasn’t often Prowl was willing to talk so openly to others. Not about how he really felt at the moment. But who was around to witness this anyway? Who would be there to see his vulnerability? Rules, regulations, laws, sanctions, they didn’t matter anymore. His job was done now, right? He’d done well?

“B- big talk for a b- bot that soun’s l- like a g- g- glitch ‘ouse.”

“Haha. F- funny.”

“We must b- be in b- b- big trouble if t- the mighty Prowl is l- laughin’.”

Warning: System failure imminent

“W- we m- must be j- just f- fine if you c- can still crack j- jokes.”

Stasis mode will activate in 5…

“G- got me t- there, P- Prowl- ler.”

4…

“…W- who gave you p’mission to c- call me Pr- Prowler…”

3…

“A- ah, there’s t- the tightass I kn- know.”

2…

“Y- you’re r- really g- going to go out like t- th- this, J- Jazz?”

1…

“N- no b- better way, Prowl- Prowl- Prowler.”

Initiating stasis…

“Goodnight.”

“G- Goodnight…”

Procedure successful.

——————————————

Camping. Frankly, you hated it. It sucked! It all sucked. You’d much rather be back in the garage working on whatever project you had going on at the time. Cars were your specialty, though you chose to believe you could fix anything if enough effort was put into it. Unfortunately, out here in the middle of NOWHERE, you were out of luck when it came to machinery.

It was still bright out when you went to set up your tent. A beautiful, clear sky. You picked some random clearing near a small stream to lay your things down. While camping wasn’t your strong suit, building definitely was. That’s why you were even doing this in the first place- “no better teacher than experience”, your mother told you. You didn’t see what kind of mechanical experience you’d gain from this bullshit, but you also knew better than to question her.

Whether you wanted to be here or not, time still kept marching forward, and you wanted to save every bit of daylight you could before the forest got too dark to traverse. It took about an hour to get your campsite set up enough to be livable. You were expected to do much before time was up, but you had a couple days to complete that. Ugh, days. You had to spend days out here.

The sky darkened a little earlier than you expected. Sunset was in an hour, yet the perfect blue you’d been enjoying before was slowly being dimmed. When you looked up you saw black clouds. The kind that roll over the sky when a thunderstorm happens. The forecast didn’t call for rain, and even if it did it’s not like you weren’t prepared, but those were definitely no good omen.

A strange, low droning noise became more apparent the darker the sky got. You were trying to ignore it before, maybe the forest just made that sound sometimes. But no, when you looked up, you could make out something else strange.

Those clouds were coming from… nowhere, it seemed. Like two very very very tiny planes were producing enough smoke to cover the sun like a volcano.

Then it got weirder.

Strange little black things begun to jet out from thin air. They went in all different directions, some producing smoke themselves. You finally came to your senses when something up there definitely exploded. Whatever the hell was happening in the sky was not normal and you were not going to be in a random forest when the apocalypse or whatever came. More sounds crashed above, each getting louder by the second. While most of the black things were headed far from your location, you didn’t want to be there when one landed.

The campsite was left abandoned. Your legs felt like someone put them through a taffy puller. Your brain was so focused on getting back to civilization you didn’t notice the glaring issue right above your head.

Well, it was less glaring and more hurtling. Hurtling towards you. From the sky.

Needless to say, you were not very happy when the ground shook and a shockwave of dirt and ash blew past you. You were surprised there wasn’t a crater or a forest fire or something. No, instead there was… well you were too far to see, but it was strange. White metal, maybe.

A terrifying thought passed through your panic stricken head. Somebody could be over there. Maybe it was a plane crash, maybe people were dying, or- or worse! Whatever you were witnessing wasn’t normal, obviously, but hell if you were going to sit on your ass while (assumed) people were in danger.

You just hoped that instinct was right, because most of your other senses told you to hightail it out of there. Suddenly, camping didn’t sound too bad.

[todomitoukei]

as something positive for a change from the gloom and misery we are all going through after this horrible ending, can you share how would you want Touya and Todofamily's ideal ending to go?

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my very detailed version of what the ending should be (I tried to keep it short but alas, I failed).

First of all, let's assume Shigaraki and Toga died (don't worry, I'm bringing them back!) and Touya is in that tank, supposedly almost dead. Here's a shortened (it's not short) version of what I the ending could be instead and no, I don't care if it's unrealistic, at this point anything is better-written than what Hori came up with anyway:

While Touya is still alive, he gets closer to dying, enabling him to see people that have died but haven't "crossed over" yet (yes, I was obsessed with Ghost Whisperer growing up don't @ me), namely Shigaraki and Toga, who are on the verge of being able to do so, yet believe that Shigaraki might be able to bring them back and also heal Touya (look, I haven't properly read this manga but something something the decay quirk was half of the Overhaul quirk minus the option to undo damage? So in this version, he can somehow undo damage now, yes, I make the rules<3).

Anyway, before doing any of this they actually need to contact Touya because people are about to perform an autopsy? cremate? Toga, so they want to stop that to make it easier to bring her back to life.

They explain all of this to Touya and tell him he needs to tell someone to bring Toga's body to where he is to make this whole thing easier. Fortunately, Natsuo is visiting him in that moment (he deserves to be included because he is best boy<3). Long story short, Toga's body is being brought to where Touya is (They also had to bring in the Chief of Police and Hawks for this special situation), and Shigaraki manages to resurrect her.

She also still had some of Twice's blood, which she uses to turn into him (probably insults Hakws as revenge<3) and create a copy of Shigaraki - the plan is basically for Shigaraki to find a way to take over the copy of his body. He manages to do so before also restoring Touya's body to a non-dying state again.

They then have to sit down with the Chief of Police and Hawks to discuss what happened and also to make a deal for the future since putting the villains in jail when the heroes get to keep living life despite the crimes they committed is bs etc etc, therefore Shigaraki pushes for all the lov members to be released from prison and also receive support from the HPSC (Idk what they changed their name to) - an actual second chance for them to start anew, a life without crime etc.

They settle on being given a building for them to live in and start a sort of shelter for kids like they once were; kids that are on the street, the kind of kid that their society doesn't deem worthy of saving, that people turn away from and that could potentially turn to crime as a last resort just like they did.

So in the end, Spinner and Compress get released from prison - and yes, Compress gets his ass back - and they all get to live and work together. They somehow also bring back Kurogiri.

Also, Touya has had enough of his father monologuing about how sad and pathetic he is so just like Natsuo, he decides to not talk to him anymore because he finally realizes that his father is simply not worth it. In other words, Endvr is out of the picture once and for all.

Rei will also be involved in the new lov project because you cannot tell me that this woman spent 10 years locked away in a mental hospital only to be released and push the man that put her in the mental hospital in the first place around in his wheelchair that he is more than capable of using on his own??? (It's so painfully obvious that a man wrote this story) So she becomes the lov mom and is finally free from her abuser too.

Fuyumi can move in with them too, she and Toga deserve to have a sister/female friend because I can only imagine how tough it was for Toga to only be around men after big sis mag died. Touya will try really hard to be a good big brother now so Fuyumi can finally relax. And by relax I mean Touya will annoy the shit out of her and let her forget all her responsibilities and feel like a kid again. Justice for all the bnha girlies who otherwise only exist to serve men or die because god forbid a teenage girl shows emotions and does a bit of stabbing once in a while.

Natsuo and his girlfriend will also move in with them. Once Touya hears about Natsuo's wedding plans he has a serious word with him and Natsuo promises him to wait a little longer and get married for the right reasons instead of out of spite because both Natsuo and his girlfriend deserve better. Besides, since Natsuo is studying something similar to social work, he can help the lov with their project (and gain work experience at the same time!).

Obviously there is also room for Shouto and he stays over for the weekend and also visits during the week. Touya learns to make soba for him (not like the failed attempt Natsuo and Shouto had in one of the light novels lol). Touya also teaches Shouto some social skills - it's unclear whether this is good or bad.

This way, Shouto can also finally spend some quality time with his family and be treated like the kid he still is instead of having to be a hero for his own family. Compress can become some kind of father-figure for him. Also, Shouto and Shigaraki bond over being the youngest sibling. Touya calls them out for being the youngest every chance he gets.

In summary, the lov and Todofam live together in peace and they all support each other in figuring out who they are etc etc.

The End.<3

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[mouthpoisons]

final(?) random additions to the theory. read the other stuff first or this will make zero sense

''why are you so set on viktor becoming the apocalypse wizard and this predetermined fate/fixed path in time that everything in the show is doomed to build up to to begin with'' - heimerdinger, primarily. also the tarot cards. cait's ''viktor's at the center of all this isnt he?'' trailer line-drop is very telling as well. heimer has seen it happen before, he knows exactly how it happens ''ive seen nations destroyed by a single seed and it looked exactly like this''. he is our wise old prophet that we dont take seriously because hes an out of touch hooty hoo ass who looks like a small annoying dog (hes my least favourite character on a personal level but the way hes written is genius). that scene where jayce is reading a book and he turns the page and finds a drawing of himself, too, is SO obvious. viktor is destined to end the world.

''if viktor was evolving into the apocalypse wizard then how come his power was declining in ep6'' - he was aware of his decline, and he sent salo to steal gems for him from the hexgate in ep5. jayce, very importantly, intervened. in any case i dont believe the apocalypse wizard form was to be super long lived, i described it as ''going supernova'' in another post. his power is finite and he has finite resources available to him. it also adds up that the hexcore will weaken/die along with viktors power burst which will even allow him the ability to ask jayce to go back in time and kill him to begin with. the presumed sequence of events if jayce never showed up is; salo steals the gems, ep6 mostly happens as normal, but then viktor has to Level Up and use the gems to Become The Wizard to defend his camp against ambessa and a raging warwick

''didnt warwick go all lava-y because viktor died?'' - i dont think so! im pretty sure singed finally managed to stab him with that mystery juice; we see him getting back up and standing in the shadows during viktor's speech montage. the fight was on the brink of happening with or without lava warwick but i think its a fixed point in the timeline either way

on singed suggesting that viktor needs shimmer to ''complete his work and stabilise himself etc etc'' - think about it. the first time he transmutated his leg (with shimmer) in season 1, it went well! it went so well that he immediately tried it again without having any shimmer on hand, and then it ended badly and his whole trajectory as a character changed for the worst in an instant. without the context of season 2 we're supposed to see this as kind of an icarus moment/the fatal consequences of his chronic risk taking behaviour but if you take into account the rest of my theory, theres a meta reading there. i believe that singed is right and viktor needs one final transmutation using shimmer, but he aint gonna like it and its going to be enough painful misery to make him hate jayce and loathe humanity. singed is likely to die smiling while being ripped to shreds by viktor as he Finally Gloriously Evolves and Completes His Work

''if viktor needed to be miserable and guilty to create the right trajectory for the apocalypse wizard to emerge then how come sky dying makes him almost kill himself? doesnt the arcanes plan completely unravel in that scenario?'' - it literally doesnt matter as long as viktor Dies before becoming The Magician. i think in that situation the hexcore wouldve found a way back to his body. ik this is a convoluted non-answer but think about it theres no way jayce wouldnt just do the exact same shit if viktor managed to die in a different way first. but if we can assume that viktor promising jayce to destroy the hexcore/let him die is going to be a HUGE plot point in act 3 then in a way that whole conversation is simply more important than the fact jayce just happened to walk in at the right moment there.

''but sky dying makes viktor resent the hexcore and wish for it to be destroyed so again how does that help the arcanes plan'' - again i think she was blindsided in that moment and had to act drastically. when she was walking down the hall she was formulating the next step in an entirely different plan but had to QUICKLY insert herself to keep viktor on course. it simply wasnt the best case scenario for her, and he resents the hexcore now, but so what? *makes him fall over to tell him off* and do u really believe in that fuck ass orb's ability to anticipate that jayce would stop being orpheus and do what viktor asks of him in order to truly save him? ya right. jayce has been an orpheus since day 1, That's His Narrative. the arcane is counting on it, and him breaking out of it will be his ''jinx''

[sio-writes]

Movie Night

I challenged myself to write a short blurb in under 1k words, and we capped in at 998 (hell yeah!)

I've been inspired by my writing buddies in the fantasci discord server, so have a bit of a Hero/Villain interaction. It's a bit out of my usual wheelhouse but I think I did the concept some justice! There's some mild swearing but that's all c:

The steam from the shower nearly chokes the small apartment, but Hero wouldn’t turn down the temperature if their life depended on it. It’s the easiest way to release the tension in their joints, ease the tightness of their muscles after beating back Supervillain for the third time this week. It was a victory hard-won, and Hero was still finding bruises and scrapes that they hadn't felt during the heat of battle.

The shower also acts as a ritual of sorts, one that started out of necessity - saving a city was a hard job, and then as Hero got better at that job, the ritual just kind of stuck.

Scrubbed and dry with fresh bandages over the worst of the injuries, Hero knocks back several ibuprofen and changes into pajamas. The fight took everything out of them, and they want nothing more than to relax for the rest of the evening.

Which of course invites a knock on their door, and Hero knows exactly who it is. They barely have a chance to unlock the door before Villain pushes past them and into the apartment. They pace the small living room as Hero closes and locks the door, then turns an accusing finger in Hero's direction. "I can't believe you!"

"You saw the fight, huh?" Hero asks, leaning on one shoulder against the wall. "I assume you have notes?"

Villain's eyes widen, indignant. "You bet your ass I do! Never fight Supervillain alone, your own words! And what do I see on TV first thing in the morning? You! Being flattened into the fucking Metrix high-rise!"

Hero cringes, hating that Villain is right. "It's not like I planned it. I did call for help, but by the time everyone else got there, Supervillain was long gone." They shrug, and the movement pulls at a nasty gash over their back that makes them wince. They kick off the wall to step around Villain, and then flop dramatically onto the couch, ignoring Villain's increasingly indignant stare. Standing takes effort, plus it hurts, so if Villain wants to yell at them more, they'll have to do it from down here.

"Don't you care that they might--"

"Wanna watch a movie?" Hero interrupts, reaching for the remote.

Villain sputters for a second, but this song and dance is nothing new for either of them. One gets hurt, the other gets upset, they brush it off and continue on. So after a long-suffering stare, an arm movement like they're a bird taking flight, and a hefty sigh, Villain drapes themself over Hero's couch as Hero fiddles with the channels.

“Anything but the news,” Villain says.

Hero flips to a channel playing a movie— they haven't seen a proper movie in months— and Villain grunts their approval.

Normally, Hero enjoys war movies, but those pain pills kick in fast, and before the opening credits are over, Hero’s already struggling to pay attention. It's an older movie, made in the 70's, something about the Cold War, and there's so much talking and so little action that Hero is fighting to stay awake, until Villain starts on a tirade.

"It's just like the government, eh? Fuckin' politicians, they just waltz all over--"

Hero groans, thumping Villains leg with their fist. "Knock it off. I heard nothing but this all damn day."

Villain scoffs, cutting off their rant but still broadcasting their frustration. They turn their attention back to the movie, and in sympathy, Hero pats their knee where it's draped over their own legs. "Things'll get better, you know they will."

Villain scrunches their face in displeasure, sinking into the couch as they cross their arms over their chest. "Not fast enough. People are dying."

Hero sighs through their nose, fond yet exasperated. This argument never seems to stale, no matter how often it comes up. They never reach an agreement, only until they run out of talking points and one gives up. Currently Hero is in the lead at 43-42.

At a commercial break, Villain reaches out to gently brush their knuckles over a large purple bruise on Hero's ankle. “This looks bad.”

Hero hums, noncommittal. Supervillain had actually broken that ankle, but with Hero's accelerated healing factor, it was back in place before they got home, and the bruise will be long gone before the weekend's over. “I mean, you saw the fight.”

“You should be more careful around Supervillain,” they say, serious. “They don’t have a conscience like I do.”

Hero scoffs, smiling. “Didn't you gut-punch me last week?”

“I was aiming for the senator," they mumble, looking down. They look back to Hero, eyes still hardened. "They’ll kill you given the chance.” Villain’s expression brokers no argument, and Hero holds their gaze for a moment. Hero’s easy smile fades, taking in the concern of Villain’s expression.

“Don’t worry about me,” Hero mumbles. “It’s part of the job.”

“An avoidable part.”

Hero rolls their eyes. "I can't just quit, and I--" Hero squints at the screen. “What the fuck is that?"

It's not a distraction this time, Hero genuinely can't make heads or tails of why this plane is sitting on its ass-end and taking off like the space shuttle.

Villain sighs, turning their head back towards the TV, and then they perk up. "Oh, that's a Lockheed XFV-1," Villain says easily before tossing back popcorn into their mouth. Hero didn't remember making popcorn, and couldn't recall Villain making any - they must've made it when Hero dozed off.

"It was made for vertical take-off and landing," Villain continues. "Like a helicopter, but shaped like a plane. Oh! That one's a Lavochkin-LA, super big during the Cold War."

Hero squints at them. "Are you a history nerd?"

Villain flushes. "Kind of? I'm not as keyed-in as some people." They snort, and their smile is lopsided. "Don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my street cred."

Hero recognizes an olive branch when they see one, and they smile easily. "I won't tell anyone. Hand me some popcorn."

[evilkitten3]

Hey, thanks for the reply! Also sorry for using comments instead of reblogging, I own only a blog with goofy fancomics and I don't want to mix plot discussions into it. I hope you don't mind. If you want, you can cite this whole reply in another post, but I'm ok with anything.

When it comes to narrator reliability, I go for "reliable unless proven otherwise" approach. I agree here, that picking Obito's statements was not the best way to prove things because he had been proved to talk nonsense before. On the other hand, with how few glimpses of Madara's PoV we have, they are consistent with Hashirama's tale except for VoTE fight where Madara intentionally tricked Hashirama about his goals and the outcome. So I'm going to consider Hashi mostly reliable, also because his account is the last one we get, so if Kishimoto planned it to be false, not showing Madara's contradicting PoV (or at least hinting at it, which we don't get either) would be plain bad writing (still doesn't give 100% certainty, but I'd take this over the "God of the gaps" approach).

Even if we don't consider the info on Izuna's dying words true, Hashirama says that Madara had claimed that Izuna had been killed by Senju (also states it as a reason for not being able to trust Senju enough to make a truce), and Madara later confirms that Izuna had been in fact killed by Tobirama (the "Tobirama pin cushion" scene in War Arc). Also, we were never given an explanation for Uchihas turning their backs on Madara other than

prolonging the war

Madara allegedly stealing Izuna's eyes. Both these things trace back to Izuna's death. One can try to give other reasons, but this would be entering headcanon territory at this point, so something that the reader wants to be true rather than something that the reader has actually been given.

As for Tobirama, he plays a way bigger role in his and Madara's paranoia than Madara, and his prejudice is largely ungrounded (however understandable because of his own traumas), but here are some things Madara did that could rile him up:

refusing truce for so long, stemming from Izuna's death (according to Hashirama)

pulling off the whole "it's either me or him" stuff twice (first one is when Tobirama calls Madara a lunatic, so this had started before the founding of Konoha): this also fits thematically with Izuna's death, because having no living brothers left would have put Hashirama and Madara in the same spot

attempting to nuke Konoha with Kurama (even if we assume that Madara didn't want to do it, he intentionally made this impression to lure out Hashirama, so Tobirama can't be blamed for believing it) which had been partially caused by Uchihas rejecting Madara which had been caused by… etc. Tobirama explicitly says that his persecution of Uchihas was to avoid the rise of another Madara, but this is Tobirama we are speaking of, so take this with a grain of salt. Also, through grooming Obito, Madara played a significant indirect role in Uchiha massacre, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it intentional on his side (we can't tell to what extent Obito was guided by "Madara's will"). So in the end, his actions do bear characteristics of a self-fulfilling prophecy, although I admit that it's debatable how much Uchiha opression could have been avoided without Madara fueling every bad stereotype, because the prejudice didn't start with him. No Obito and no Kurama attack could have at least remove a convenient pretext for the massacre from the story, but it's absolutely possible that Konoha elders would have found another one.

I'm not saying all of this to prove that Madara wouldn't have pursued IT with Izuna alive (in fact, it would be interesting to see BZ sway Madara without killing Izuna). My point is that there are too many factors that more or less directly trace back to Izuna's death to confidently state the opposite.

entirely fair! and don't worry, plenty of people prefer commenting for various reasons; no offense taken

honestly, i tend to be more or less the same, although i actually think hashirama's story was probably pretty solid; he doesn't try at all to make claims for the stuff he wasn't there for. he doesn't even say "madara was definitely standing outside the window" he says "tobirama looked out the window and i found a leaf that looked like the one madara looked at the village through"

having said that, from what i remember, at some point kishimoto did end up pressed for time, and that seriously affected the quality of his work (and... let's be honest, the war arc was never naruto's best writing. the war arc wishes it had what the wave arc had)

i think the reason we never heard hashirama's take on why madara's clan distanced itself from him is bc hashirama can't really,,,, comprehend that? like madara explicitly says "no one in my family likes me :(" and hashirama goes "i don't believe that" like he has any way of knowing XD

personally, i'm fairly certain that tobirama killed izuna, and i have no reason to think otherwise (i guess it's possible that black zetsu personally snuck an infection into his wound somehow just to make sure he kicked it and madara got his eyes, but like you said that'd just be headcanon territory, and also it kinda doesn't matter since neither madara nor hashirama would have any way of knowing that, so neither would we)

frankly i personally like the idea that tobirama was just scared shitless of madara, but it's also possible that he held a grudge over the whole "kill u or ur bro" thing. probably not the other stuff tbh, since tobirama never seemed all that invested in the idea of a village before it was founded (probably just. didn't think it could happen), and madara trying to nuke the village didn't happen until after he'd left, so while it may have affected tobirama's relationship with the other uchiha, it didn't really affect his relationship with madara.

obito's role in the massacre was,,,, really badly handled tbh. and also part of why i suspect that the original concept of "tobi" (from a meta perspective) was meant to be madara's ghost possessing obito's mostly dead corpse. madara had a reason to resent the uchiha clan (although i don't think the character we meet in the war arc would've done that, even if the character we met after tobi's "reveal" might have), but obito never really got one. there were fan theories, but not a lot of solid canon evidence. it might've happened, since both obito and madara were justifying everything they did with "well they'll all be fine when the infinite tsukuyomi kicks in, so whatever"

if you keep izuna alive and don't remove black zetsu from the equation, then it's less of a "would madara still do this" question and more of a "how long until black zetsu manages to cause izuna's death and lead madara to do this" question. zetsu needed madara to get the eternal mangekyou sharingan, after all. if it was possible to do that while keeping izuna alive then that'd certainly be interesting, but it's not something zetsu would particularly care to pursue, especially when izuna dying makes it much more likely that madara will take his eyes. but black zetsu is black zetsu, so i'm sure it could figure something out.

if you take out black zetsu entirely, then it's hard to say if madara would've come up with the eye of the moon plan on his own, but i do still think he would've seen the village as a failure and left in the end. like you said, it's hard to say for sure, though.

[fluffsoo]

Now let's talk about Hush. Can we talk about Hush please? I've been dying to talk about Hush with you all day, okay?

I have been working my way through the Redacted audios like a being fully possessed for the last few weeks since I discovered the channel. Hush and the mystery of what the fuck he is has overtaken my brain and I need to voice my thoughts so that they will stop plaguing my every waking moment.

This is gonna be long. It's gonna be erratic as fuck. It's probably not even gonna make any sense or be the littlest bit true, but theorizing gives my life joy and I wanna talk about it. Take my hand, join me.

So Hush. The two prevailing theories are that he is either a sovereign or a shade. To be honest I've jumped between both theories off and on... at this point though I don't believe he is a sovereign, and I really do flip flop on him being a shade, fully fed or otherwise. The way I see it is.... I think he's an experiment of the Sovereigns to become the ideal creature to serve their needs.

Sovereigns created d(a)emons out of pure arcana as beings to serve them. Made them dependent on their energy to live. But they made d(a)emons too powerful. They became rebellious. So the sovereigns went looking for others to serve them and found humanity. They gifted the humans magic, but not as powerful as d(a)emons in the hopes that it would keep them from being able to rebel, and this would have worked if the d(a)emons hadn't discovered that humans could fuel them like the sovereigns and the two teamed up to fight their rulers.

We know that the sovereigns have tried making other "races" before; when they tried to make humans with powers more similar to d(a)emons it turned them into the vampires, so the idea of them experimenting on finding the balance isn't too crazy. To find the happy medium of arcane power to be strong but not self sufficient enough to turn against them like the others did...

The sovereigns want out of their prison under the river of Death. They have messengers, shades, passing their demands for freedom to people like CloseKnit, but I don't see them as the type to wait idly by, hoping that the humans will listen and find a way to release them. What they need isn't a messenger, they need an enforcer acting in their interests on Elegy. A being formed to be more and less than their last creations.

Maybe it's just some of the wording used by Reticuli that gets my brain whirling with the ideas of Hush being an amalgamation of d(a)emonkind and humanity... The choice of "abomination" and "dissect" just really makes me feel like he is an experiment, one that the Chorus somehow has discovered and is trying to figure out too. Reticuli and Hush speak to each other like there is some sort of arrangement between the Chorus and him. The ultimatum of "You agree to the terms or you cease to exist." means there's something they're trying to get from Hush. I would assume it's answers on what the fuck he is. I don't recall there being much lore out there right now on the Chorus (though if I'm mistaken please shoot me those references I crave knowledge) so who knows what their plans are or what they could have wanted Hush for....

We know Hush is new to Elegy and he's come here for what we can only assume are devious intentions, given his multiple warnings that the listener saving may end up being the worst mistake of their life. To be new to Elegy, and having run-ins with the Chorus, would mean he possibly came from Aria, or passed through Aria at least. To have been on Aria means he has to be made of arcana like d(a)emons, but even the council of d(a)emons doesn't know what he is. He has an insane amount of magic at his disposal, given the way he was able to obliterate a fucking demon by pumping so much magic into him that he was eviscerated. But he doesn't have a magical core.

With the big blast of magic being the only like.... outward show of power we've seen from him so far it can't be confirmed but I wonder if maybe the "balance" of power for him is that he lacks the core he needs to use the intense amount of arcana he possesses. Like I feel as if that would be an interesting way for the Sovereigns to keep him from getting too out of hand (and one day rebelling like their other creations).

(jfc I typed out a whole paragraph about this and then tumblr ate it so here's my second attempt that will in no way be as good as the first was) The way my mind imagines it, it's like Hush used Doc's core almost in reverse. A human's magical core is supposed to like "purify" the raw arcana into something that they can use. Their threads connect up to Aria, pulling down the arcana through the hole they make in the Meridian and then into their core to turn it into the less powerful "magic" that won't just completely destroy their physical bodies. But with Hush it's like he has access to the full pure spectrum of arcana but no way to bring it past the Meridian, unlike d(a)emonkind that don't need to worry about their power passing through the Meridian. He needed to use Doc's core to squeeze it through their hole in the Meridian "like channeling the entire force of a river through a pinhole".

Like if that's what was really going on how the fuck DID Doc survive that? Enough arcane force to completely unravel a DEMON shot pure through a human's simple magical core... It seems like it would at least burn out their core, which we don't know if that happened to Doc yet so it's a possibility, unless his abilities were somehow designed with that in mind? Some sort of failsafe to keep from overloading the core he used? But like I said that's very much an out-there theory at the moment and idk if what I'm trying to convey makes any sense I just find the way his power was shown to be so interesting and I really wanna learn more!

Anyways to the last point in this insane rambling I wanna talk about Inversion. We have no way of knowing just where on the timeline Hush's video takes place as of right now. Considering some meta regarding videos being released recently I have some ideas on that. The channel right now is in a split, with more of the slice-of-life storylines having moved on from the Inversion and are now, according to the timeline, almost 2 years Post Inversion. But the more story heavy arcs (the Balance, Carpe Deus, Sovereign State, Project Meridian) are sitting around the immediate moments of Post Inversion or have not been given a canonical place on the timeline yet (Project Meridian I'm looking at you but I have theories on that too)

As of now Sovereign State still isn't up on the timeline but the last few videos in that series show that Avior and Starlight popped back to Elegy right before the Inversion and helped with the fallout. Carpe Deus has Vega and Warden heading to CloseKnit and according to the last updates on the timeline for them they are still in Pre Inversion. The Balance left off directly Post Inversion as well, Elliott left CloseKnit and went to the Department for help only to learn that it just happened. These are all falling close enough to each other in time that I feel confident putting the idea out there that Hush's appearance falls in this group moreso than the 2 year Post Inversion timeline.

So that idea leads to two options. Was Hush the cause of the Inversion, or was he the fallout? I can see both being plausible. If he came to Elegy with a mission Pre Inversion then that mission could very well have been to open the rift between Death and Elegy for the Sovereigns. It would definitely solidify his claims that he is not a good person and Doc would regret saving his life, especially if they learn that he's the reason all those people died. Personally though, I believe the Inversion had to happen in order to create Hush.

With my theory of Hush being an experiment of the Sovereigns, a new type of being they're creating to serve a purpose for them, I see Inversion as the proverbial lighting strike needed to give their Frankenstein life. Think about it. If it was just a feeding frenzy for the shades, why not open the rift on a more populated unempowered human city? Why was it so convenient that the rift opened on a stadium full of empowered humans during an event that made sure there would be a huge population of magical people there? Because they were feeding on immense power to channel into their creation.

Here's a quote from the timeline that fueled this idea for me specifically: "Brachium comes to the realization that this act wasn't meant as an invasion, but rather as a feast, where the forces below the river of Death could gorge on the magic and energy of those who died. He wonders how much time they have left before something greater than Shades breaks free."

Now could they have just been feeding on all this power to make themselves stronger in order to soon break out of their prison themselves? Yeah. Absolutely. Damn... maybe Hush did cause the Inversion then for the Sovereigns...

No no I'm gonna stick to my guns. I think the Inversion funneled enough power to the Sovereigns trapped under the river of Death that they were able to channel it into creating a being to enforce their will for escape down on Elegy.

And why would I stick to this silly little theory after I just sort of proved myself wrong with a different, more plausible theory?

Because that Frankenstein parallel I just made hit so good on just like a storytelling principle that I got lightheaded. and having the Sovereigns break themselves out now just wouldn't be as fun.

Anyways, in summary since this post has really gotten away from me at this point: I think the Sovereigns made Hush using the power they got from the Inversion. I think he's an experiment of theirs on how to better combine d(a)emonkind and humanity's power but still keep it in check so that they don't end up with another resistance. I think he's going to converge with a few of the current story-heavy characters like Blake and Avior and if so I am eagerly awaiting the crossovers of all the immediate Post Inversion storylines happening right now.

And lastly I just wanna say that every time I say Hush is an "experiment" I just picture him as Stitch. He is so Stitch coded you don't even understand.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

"It Now Belongs To You" by kazoosandfannypacks

Chapter 10/10: But With This Ring, It Now Belongs To You

Pairing: CaptainSwan

Rating: T

Word Count: (931/10.6K)

Summary: When Emma and Killian receive a pair of magic beans as a wedding gift, they take a voyage on the Jolly Roger for their honeymoon- but a wrench is thrown into their romantic getaway when they run into a notorious pirate who's staked a claim on the Jolly Roger.

Chapter Summary: Killian gets to the heart of why Emma's plan distressed him so much, but she reassures him that, while she understands his fear, neither of them have anything to be afraid of.

Tags: post-canon, canon compliant, fluff, no smut, suggestive themes, alcohol, gambling, self indulgent fluff with a sprinkling of angst

Author's notes: And that's all, folks! This has been the first fic that I've posted in the weekly serial update format, and I've enjoyed it! You guys' comments have been the highlight of my week; I treasure each and every one of you!

Next week I'll begin posting a somewhat anticipated Captain Swan fake dating canon divergent fic. I'll be posting a new chapter every Wednesday up until this summer, so be sure to stick around for it!

Taglist: @zahara @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @booksteaandtoomuchtv @jrob64 @tiganasummertree @anmylica @teamhook @undercaffinatednightmare @gingerchangeling @lonelyspectator @caught-in-the-filter @ultraluckycatnd @cs-rylie [if you'd like to be added to or removed from this list, hmu in my dms or askbox!]

Also on Ao3!

 Killian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

 "Where did you learn to scam like that?"

 "I don't see…"

 "Who taught you?"

 Emma bit her lip. "Neal?"

 She assumed Killian would be offended, but this seemed not to just be the point he was getting at, but a stepping stone to that point.

 "Where did he learn it from?"

 "I don't know." Emma said. "His dad is the dark one? He spend two hundred years in Neverland? I don't know?"

 Killian shook his head. "It's one of the skills he inherited from his mother."

 "Milah." Emma nodded.

 "That kind of plan was a page out of her book." Killian nodded back. "Plotting behind my back to help save me, swooping in at the last minute- to risk yourself for me- and scheming your way out of it so we could have it all together."

 Killian had never been one to play the comparison game with her before, and she wondered where this was going.

 "It's just what she would've done- just what she did- on the night that I lost her."

 Emma placed her hand on his shoulder. She looked at him as if to say, “please continue, I’d love to listen,�� and he nodded a little, but turned away from her gaze, either staring intently at the cobbled wall behind her, or he didn’t even see it was there.

 "When I first dueled the Crocodile, hundreds of years ago, I had one thought on my mind throughout the whole awful battle- if I fought hard enough, stayed alive long enough, held off the crocodile as long as I possibly could, it might save her. She could get away, my death could be her salvation. 

 "Sooner than I’d wished but later than I should’ve expected, I found myself on my knees, the Dark One’s scaly fingers grasping my heart, firmly, my life in his hands- and I knew that this would be okay, this was almost delight, almost joy, knowing my death was not in vain, that maybe in dying I could save my love.”

He glanced back at her, and she simply nodded.

 “And then she came back for me, and then I lost her.” Killian said. “Do you know what the hardest part of those hundreds of years I spent on Neverland seeking my revenge was?”

 “What?” Emma

 “Knowing that it should’ve been me. I was the one who took Milah from him, I should have paid the price, and I could’ve paid the price, and I would’ve.”

“Survivor’s guilt?” Emma asked. “Is that what this is about?”

 “Something bigger than that.” Killian said.

 “You don’t know how you’d live with yourself if you lost me the way you lost Milah.”

 “Aye.” Killian nodded.

“I get it.” 

 “You do?” 

 “Of course I do.” Emma said. “I’ve been there.”

 “You have?”

 “I’m the savior; it comes with the job.” Emma smiled a little, then placed her hand on his neck. “Of course, it doesn’t help that some guys just won’t stop sacrificing themselves to save everyone.”

 “I’m good at surviving.” Killian said. “I managed it for two hundred years, didn’t I?”

 “So did someone else.” Emma said. “Sometimes your luck runs out.” 

 “Baelfire?”

 Emma bit her lip and nodded. “He died the way he lived- a hero.” 

 “He gave himself to help save us all.”

 “Sounds like a certain former Dark One I know.” Emma only half laughed.

Killian nodded sagely. “That’s why you went to the Underworld for me.” Killian said. “You couldn’t lose me the way you lost Neal.”

 “I went to the Underworld for you because I love you.” Emma said. “And love is sacrifice. Love means that every day I’m going to wake up and say ‘I chose Killian Jones today,’ because love is also trust, and I trust you’re going to wake up every morning and say ‘I chose Emma Swan today.’ And sometimes we’re gonna doubt each other, and sometimes we’re gonna lose each other, but at the end of the day, it’s always gonna be you and me.”

 “Aye, love.” Killian nodded.

 “And I am sorry.” Emma said. “I should have let you in on my plan from the start. It wouldn’t’ve changed whether I won or lost- but if me helping you ended up hurting you- then I guess I lost either way.”

 “All is forgiven, love.” Killian said, and he took her hands in his hand and his hook. “And I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

 “I forgive you.” Emma stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips, just a quick little peck. “And I love you.”

 “And I love you too.” Killian bent down a little and kissed her lips, just a little bit of a longer peck.

 “And we’re all good now?” Emma asked.

 “Better than good, love.”

 “Excellent.” Emma said. She let go of his hands and draped her arms over his shoulders. “And do you happen to know if the famed Captain Hook has any plans tonight?”

 He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Only if a certain wench is available.”

 “Her schedule’s pretty clear.” Emma smiled.

 “Really?” he teased. “Heard a rumor going ‘round the tavern- something about Black Beard.”

 “Not really her type.” Emma shook her head. 

 “You mean that?”

 “Absolutely.” Emma smiled as he wrapped his arm around her then reminded him, “Wax mustaches and perms aren’t really my thing.”

 And with that, the Captain and his wife walked back to their ship arm in arm, ready to face their next adventure the way they had faced and would face all their adventures- together.

[the-casbah-way]

Will you do me a favor and rant about anything you want?

omg ok let me tell you about andrew moray and why william wallace ended up getting credit for his military victories when moray was in fact a far better soldier and tactician who would likely be even more infamous than wallace had he survived the battle of stirling bridge. i will preface this by saying that there is very little research let alone primary sources on this man but he's been an interest of mine for a decade now and i hope to publish a book on him when i graduate. anyway

i always say that william wallace was the churchill of the scottish wars of independence. what i mean by this is that he was seen as a fantastic war time leader at home; as far as we know and can assume he apparently had a way with words and winning people over, and knew how to keep up morale among the people and the soldiers. now while churchill did have military experience, he wasn't really suited for anything other than wartime office. he didn't have what it took for anything that lay outwith being the voice and face that people needed during a war. and similarly wallace was (supposedly) a great orator and exactly what the people needed during a time of hardship, but he really didn't have what it took to do much else. in this case what i mean is that william wallace was not, in my opinion, a particularly strong military leader at all. there's no evidence that he had any military training and his tactics in battle don't always seem particularly strong or well thought out to me. in the leadup to stirling bridge he got by and did well, but i absolutely stand by the notion that this alone was just not enough. he needed a true soldier to secure him his victory at stirling

ENTER ANDREW MORAY. now this guy was born and trained to be a knight. as the son of an influential nobleman he almost certainly received formal military training when he was young. not long before the battle of stirling bridge he and his father were imprisoned by the english but moray managed to escape. the fact he was able to do this and also somehow get back to scotland is already pretty telling of his survival skills i would say. he started up a pretty successful rebellion in the north of scotland and was clearly a real threat to the english if their correspondence among each other is anything to go by. i won't go into too much detail but moray managed to get a lot more done in the north with less support than what wallace achieved in the south with the aid of the feudal leaders there. moray ended up combining his army with william wallace's to fight the english at stirilng in 1297

now we do not know every detail of this battle of course and i want to make it clear that i'm not trying to state any concrete facts here. but when you look at the tactics deployed at stirling bridge (the idea of 'trapping' the english and ambushing them rather than moving to fight in schiltron formations on open ground), we see a game plan FAR MORE reminiscent of the fighting style of a trained and experienced knight; not the usual tactics of wallace. again that's just a little theory of mine, but i think it's very notable

now here's where things go to shit. the scots win at stirling bridge, but moray is wounded in battle and dies. there's no doubt in my mind that he was the driving force behind the victory at stirling, and i think it is EXTREMELY telling that after his death william wallace's military career began to rapidly decline. he lost his first major battle (falkirk) after moray's death (surprise surprise, by using the schiltron formations that were pointedly avoided at stirling) and while this is in part due to the advantages of the english army i think it's worth noting. this loss had a profound impact for wallace and he never fully recovered, dying around seven years later or so

i am fully convinced that if moray had lived everything would've turned out entirely differently. maybe wallace himself would've survived longer too. wallace just did not have the background and skills needed to maintain his pattern of success. he and moray made the perfect double act and without moray there just wasn't enough left to keep the scots standing. moray never received any of the credit he deserves for his role in the war and the fact that almost no one has even heard of him infuriates me because he was SO MUCH BETTER as a military commander than wallace. but i have always said in regards to history that people want a good story more than they want the truth. they'd rather hear about the rebellious underdog who came from nothing and took a more unconventional path toward victory than a bog standard knight with formal training and a textbook background. but i still think moray could've been a lot more than wallace was if he'd survived at stirling, and i think the fact that he's more recently been referred to as 'the greatest threat to the english government' during his time is telling. i hope one day i can access the sources i need to be able to write more about him because i WILL become the Token Andrew Moray Historian if it is the last thing i do

[rescuefield-a]

Is Neil really that bad for Claire tho?

i... can't tell if this is a crack ask or not lmao so i will give a few reasons anyway:

- first of all neil is even older than chris, and even though he and claire both in their 30s we can assume that neil has been leading the ngo for a whole lot longer than 2011 ( he moved after fbc was disbanded so he was around at least since 2004-2005 ) and had a very unprofessional relationship with claire specifically. i think lure her closer to him was always part of the plan but at some point it was just a somewhat real relationship kept hush from HR ( claire never says he's her boyfriend in front of any of the other terrasave members for instance, but every now and then she says stuff that earn some bombastic side eyes AT IT SHOULD )

- claire undermines his leadership in so many ways and while he never speaks on it he seems kinda annoyed. he pulls her aside in a corner to ask if she has any information on stuff he knows nothing about even though he's the leader of the organization and should have direct contact with washington. even on sejm island with all his little obstacles and shit, claire always comes through and rises above. the fact that he thought he could make deals with alex wesker and walk away with no repercussion already says everything about he's not as cut to be a leader as the people at terrasave thought and the other organizations probably caught on that too

- in the hq party scene claire looks slightly exhausted and miserable, and sure it might just be that the years of fighting are catching up on her but considering her last appearance before this whole ordeal is supposedly infinite darkness, the contrast is so stark. i might be biased on this but i will still blame it on neil lmao

- neil has ALWAYS done weird shit that people let slide in favour of keeping him as their leader. claire herself says that sometimes she doesn't understand him and what he does but he's just like that so yeah, which is bullshit excuse for her pretending not to see all the red flags leading to his betrayal. her judgement was clouded by many factors but ultimately being as close as they were, the fact that she never thought to investigate on him is disappointing ( for her ). at least considering her dating record, you know

- as far as affection and love go, at the end of the day neil was okay with claire dying on that island. or maybe he thought natalia wouldn't have worked and she would have been next. that rises a point of what would have happened next like, was he going to use uroboros and live forever with claire AND alex? he miscalculated everything clearly. the only moment he showed an ounce of affection to her when he tried to reach for her face while transforming just to shove her away ( a direct parallel to CV though steve did it better in my opinion )

- he proves to not know her at all by suggesting for them to rule together while turning into a BOW. claire had already checked out of their relationship the moment she saw alex infect him "as punishment", and after that things only got worse. he tried to kill moira which like, is also a big no no to claire for obvious reasons. claire is not power hungry, and fighting bioterrorism with BOWs is just not something she's interested in. her i love you to death switch apparently turns off so fast when she's not met with the idea of the relationship that lives in her head, we've seen it happen before so again it was naive of neil to even suggest that since she basically almost ended a years long friendship for similar reasons ( but that's a whole other story i think i have given enough reasons lol )

[aubzikins]

Alaskan Darkness

Please read the original story written by my amazing friend Rahsindri

When your absolutely amazing talented friend writes a Zombie Apocalypse Fic and adds ya into the mix, what else would you do but provide your POV?

Work Text:

It was a regular day; I had signed onto work and was busy typing away. Checking my discord from time to time to see the updates from Rah at the meet-and-greet VIP event that they had been able to get tickets for. I wanted to go to the meet-and-greet and the concert that night but unfortunately, I had already had my vacation planned beforehand. It all went to hell in a handbasket and then put through the shredder. Not that any of that matters now.

It’s been a week now since the world was turned upside down. We always made jokes about the zombie apocalypse and what we would all do. But no one could have predicted that we actually end up living through it. Being up in Alaska was a blessing and curse. We were lucky enough to be far enough west of where the NEO had hit in Canada, also far enough east to not have to deal with the crazy storms going on down in the lower 48. We were still dealing with snow since Break up season wasn’t due to happen for a few weeks. The temps were in the teens, so things were starting to thaw.

The first five days were the hardest. It was just Nick, me, and our youngest kiddo Gabriel. Without knowing what was going on, all we could do was stockpile the house with supplies and equipment. We had our greenhouse, our 3 extra generators and enough preserved food to last a long while. Nick and Gabriel had made a few trips around to pick up extra stuff.

Being one of the youngest couples living in the estates, we had many elderly neighbors. We started checking on everybody. At first everyone was okay, scared but okay. They had also been prepared for the worst because we never knew if we would be snowed in and possibly stranded.

After the first 24 hours, we witnessed a couple of neighbors had started to have seizures and then started dying. We had originally wanted to bury them, but the permafrost made this very difficult. Instead, we had started putting the bodies we found into one of the storage containers that a neighbor who passed had on their property.

Something was killing off our neighbors and we couldn’t figure out what, so we assumed it must be some type of virus. After six of our neighbors had died, we were concerned. We made sure to use precautions when moving the bodies. Nick had been able to get onto post and had grabbed what he could, including a few hazmat suits. When yet another neighbor had died, we went to put them in the storage container along with the others but found the storage container empty.

“What the fuck babe? Where are bodies??” I asked Nick panicked.

“I have no clue; they were here last night before we went home…” Nick says.

“That is so creepy… Maybe we should lock the container tonight?” I ask.

“Yeah, we can lock it tonight and see what happens tomorrow. Let’s do another round in the neighborhood and see if everyone is okay.” Nick suggests.

“Alrighty” I reply.

We moved the body into the storage container and locked it. After another round of checks, we found nine more bodies. About 90% of our neighbors had died within the first two days. We used one of the neighbors’ trucks to transport all the bodies to the storage container. Once we had unloaded all the bodies, we locked the storage container up. We also drove the truck to the middle of a field, but still within walking distance and set it on fire. We then took off the hazmat suits we were wearing and started our decontamination protocals.

On Day three, we had done another round of checks in the neighborhood. Our last remaining neighbors had left a note at their house saying they were heading south to go find their daughter who was in college down in Anchorage. It was officially only the three of us left in the neighborhood. We then went and checked on the storage container, finding the door had been wedged open somehow and all the bodies were missing.

“Um… yeah this is getting a bit too weird babe,” I say to Nick.

Nick steps a little closer, making sure not to touch anything in case it was biological. He looks around and then suddenly stops. “Babe, we need to go back to the house now.” He grabs my hand, and we start running towards our house, not stopping until we get inside.

“What was that about?” I ask.

“The door was wedged open… from the inside of the storage container.” He says.

“Huh? How? They were dead! No one else was in those containers. You don’t think we may have mistaken someone’s death?” I ask worryingly.

“No, they were all dead. Whatever it is, lets just stay inside unless we absolutely need to leave.” He suggests.

Day Four was the quietest day. Without actual data or Wi-Fi, we had no way to check on anything. I had a slight cold, so I spent the day sleeping.

We finally got cell service and internet back on Day Five. I immediately checked on the two older kids who were down in Anchorage. Both were fine and said they were hunkered down. They insisted they were safe, but I made them promise to head north if they had any sort of trouble. I then sent messages to all my friends and extended family.

While waiting for everyone to check in, I started trying to check for news. TikTok was a buzz about the NEO, the Zombie Apocalypse, and the evolution of Zombies. We seemed to have been lucky because the Zombies didn’t seem too interested in Alaska currently.

I was only able to really get into contact with a few friends on Discord.

Rah let me know that a bunch of our friends had met up with them and that they were safe. Then they dropped the bombshell that they were also with the Stray Kids. I about died. We kept each other up to date with the stuff going on in both areas.

Day Eight:

April 11, 2029

Discord Notification:

Writer’s Collective – Rah: Hey @Aubz, how would you feel about helping out some friends?

Me: hey Rah, Always Happy to be of service.

Rah: KCON goers are trapped in LA. The storms are going to decimate the coasts, we need to get to the north of Anchorage. You got room up there?

Me: Yeah, unfortunately we’re kind of isolated up here. A lot of the old people died. They left a long time ago, though.

Rah: Left?

Me: Bodies just kind of vanished. No Walkers, no Runners, no Crawlers, no Flyers.

Rah: I... Okay. We’ll have to revisit that later.

I turn to look at Nick, "Looks like we may need to start getting these houses cleared out and prepared for guests…"

[eriexplosion]

You've articulated something I was struggling with on the stakes argument - that the stakes haven't changed at all. You get people saying "Now we know that the batch can die" like one of the primary predictions for the endgame isn't "everyone gets Rogue One'd." Death was always on the table and, yeah, in universe death was the expected outcome. None of them ever operated under the assumption that they'd live a long and happy life and die peacefully of old age.

You can tell because they have a plan called plan 99 to begin with. Even if we assume it's not just a Sacrifice Plan because dying isn't a plan (but asking to be left behind is) that they have that plan is enough proof that to them this was always an option.

Which is why I can't see his death moving anything forward. Everyone is sad, it HURTS, sure. But it's not something that is going to rewrite their understanding of the universe. Because the universe was always one that didn't have room in it for all of them to live.

That funnels into the "weight of his sacrifice" thing - clones dying to self sacrifice is not new. It's just not. It's a major cause of clone death in fact. Clones were made to throw themselves into the gears. They're trained to see it as a positive in many ways.

Tech dying here is narratively uninteresting because it is the classic clone story, dying for the greater good and being remembered and honored for their sacrifice is one of the most positive outcomes a clone trooper can hope for because living in peace was surely never an option for them.

You brought up Mayday's death and I think that the impact of his storyline is a good example of one way that this gets subverted. His entire unit is sacrificed For The Greater Good, but it turns out it was only for some armor that couldn't possibly be worth so many lives, all those men reduced to helmets and, with Mayday's death, their memories gone for good. His death was a sacrifice but not a dramatic one - just a split second choice not to lose one more man and the long, slow, preventable decline that followed because Nolan didn't care enough to save his life.

It hurts, it's agonizing, and it lingers because it was all so, so painfully unnecessary, it takes the self sacrificial and heroic clone trooper story where we watch heroes going out in blazes of glory and scratches away the shiny narrative exterior to show the bodies that prop it all up. It's similar to how Umbara still lingers and hurts after all this time.

Tech dying heroically with a badass final line and Omega learning that his sacrifice was good and necessary is.... well its a choice but it's not a new one. And in a story that's been so focused on living with the consequences of your choices - of your choices, not of someone else's - it falls rather flat.

Meanwhile if he survives and is permanently changed by his choice, if he has to reevaluate who he is and what his existence means, and at the end of it he can still look Omega in the eye and pull an Echo, say he regrets nothing and made the right decision and he would do it all over again? Tell me that doesn't hold more narrative weight than any sacrificial death could.

Tech’s Alive, Part 6: The Matter of Weight (cw for discussions of death, suicide mention, genocide mention)

AKA, why “Tech should stay dead for the stakes” and “Tech should stay dead so the moment he sacrifices himself retains its weight” are arguments I will not be entertaining in this household. And by this household, I mean my blog. But also probably my actual apartment here in real space.

So, this isn’t really an argument for why Tech is alive, per se. It’s more just me trying to counter the two most common arguments I see people making for why he should be dead, whether the person making the argument thinks he’s dead or not.

Stakes:

The first argument, that Tech should stay dead for the sake of the “stakes” is, to me, the most nebulous. On this here interwebs we tend to talk about “stakes” purely in the negative; everyone’s going to die, the villains are going to win, everything is going to be sad forever, etc. But stakes in a story are really just about potential consequences—what could happen if the characters succeed, and what could happen if they fail. And while it’s true that killing a character can raise the stakes in a story, it’s best accomplished by killing off a secondary character, and it can really only raise them in a story in which death was never a potential consequence.

Death has always been a potential consequence for these characters, not just for failure, but just for existing in the world in which they live. Scratch that, dying is quite literally what they were made to do. This is a series in which two genocides have already taken place—that of the Jedi, then of the Kaminoans—and which has us watching a third ongoing—that of the clones themselves. Almost every new named clone we’ve met has died, and died violently. The clone force 99 characters have all almost died about once an episode so far, and every time they do, the show tends to treat it as a serious close call.

So killing off Tech doesn’t raise the potential consequences of failure to “death” because that potential was always there. Killing off a secondary but known clone character like, say, Howser could have made heightened that risk more effectively. Heck, Mayday’s death does a better job of raising that risk for Crosshair, for example; the only reason Crosshair wasn’t the one who died in the avalanche was was because Mayday noticed the rock and pushed Crosshair out of the way. Killing off Tech and leaving him dead, by contrast, would actually, in a way, lower the stakes—because, again, the risk of “potential consequences” is gone (it’s just reality now), AND stakes are also about what could happen if the characters succeed and get what they want. Meaning that if Tech’s gone for good, the potential positive consequences are much, much lower. The positive consequence of the clone force 99 family reuniting—the thing the story keeps making us want—would just be gone. There’s only so far you can ratchet the spring of tension before it snaps.

That said, when some people argue for Tech’s death in favor of raised stakes, I don’t think the above is really what they’re talking about. They’re mostly making a somewhat edgelordy argument about death needing to feel real in the star war and darkness being the “mature” option. Let’s say I bought that argument. Let’s say I actually thought “the reality of death” and “maturity” were valid reasons to kill off a main character. Let’s even push aside all the reasons why I think killing off any one of the bad batchers permanently would break the story. Let’s do this thought experiment. Killing off Tech in this season and leaving him dead still doesn’t work, specifically because so much time this season was spent on developing and helping the other characters to understand him better.

You can spend time building up a character and developing them for the sole purpose of killing them and giving them a send-off if your show has an unserialized format. Think Gray’s Anatomy or Bones; unserialized shows are just taking the characters and putting them in different combinations or scenarios until the end of time without really worrying about arcs or narrative threads, so in that format spending time with a character before killing them off makes sense. Spending an entire season of a serialized show building up a character and their relationships, using them to develop certain themes and narrative threads, using them to push certain parts of the plot forward, and then killing them off in which a way which does nothing to resolve any of those arcs, themes, or narrative threads, though? That’s just a waste of time. Of limited time—because fully serialized shows have an ending. I’d be more willing to buy into this line of argument if it was Wrecker, not Tech, simply because he hasn’t had the kind of development Tech has.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d still absolutely hate it and would see perma-deathing Wrecker as just as story breaking as perma-deathing Tech. But if we’re doing the thought experiment where I’m talking about stakes the way some people seem to be doing, I could see it working better in that context than perma-deathing Tech. People can make that argument about Tech’s “death,” sure, but what they’re really advocating for is bad writing. And hey! Maybe we’ll get to the end of the show and it will turn out to have been badly written! I just…don’t really buy that right now.

(Of course, this is all moot anyway, because I fundamentally disagree with the definition of stakes being used by some people making this argument and see this line of thinking as somewhat edgelordy bologna anyway. But! Moving on.)

Wanting Tech’s Sacrifice to Have Weight:

So, I’m more sympathetic to this line of thinking. I don’t agree with it, but I can kind of respect where it’s coming from. I’ve mostly seen this from people who really hate the idea that Tech is dead, but don’t see a way for the moment in which Tech sacrifices himself to maintain its emotional weight if it turns out he’s alive, and who want the writers to respect Tech’s choice. And I get that. I’ve watched more than one show that had some big emotional moment that got completely ruined by being undone or having some other development come up later on. So it’s not that I think this argument is invalid; I just don’t think it applies in this specific case.

Because…okay, first, when it comes to the writers respecting Tech’s choice, I want us to think really hard about what he’s choosing to do. Because he’s not choosing to die. Not exactly. He’s choosing to do something extremely risky that will probably get him killed, and he knows it, in order to save his family. And I know it maybe doesn’t seem like there’s a distinction there, but there is one, and it’s important, because—I mean—listen to that last heavy sigh he gives before his last line. He doesn’t want to do it. He doesn’t want to die. He just doesn’t see any way out for the others if he doesn’t risk it. (Also I feel like the “the writers need to respect his choice argument” really kind of…not…real great bad, actually, it’s real bad guys, even if he was choosing to die, specifically, because that’s way too close to advocating for suicide for comfort. I don’t think that’s what anyone is intending by this argument but….)

Second, I don’t agree that Tech’s “death” is what gives that moment its emotional weight. Let’s say that Tech does die here. Let’s say he really isn’t coming back. In that case, his death is kind of meaningless, because he was going to die anyway. If we’re saying he died, then it was either all of them die, or just him. Which means that the thing that gives that moment weight can’t be his death, because he had no way out of dying, if we’re looking at it that way and accepting that he’s just gone for good.

The thing that gives that moment weight—just a warning, I’m about to get tooth-achingly schmaltzy here, and I’m not sorry—is love. It’s everyone in the batch’s love for Tech shattering into a million little pieces of grief and horror as they watch him fall. It’s Tech loving his family so damn much he refuses to even consider letting them fall with him. It’s Tech, not knowing that he’s a character in a story, looking at the situation, knowing what he’s about to do will probably kill him—because if he wasn’t a character in a story, it probably would—knowing that if he does it he’ll probably never see Crosshair again, never see Echo or Hunter at peace, never get to hear Wrecker laugh again, never get to see Omega grow up, and still choosing to take the fall for them because there’s no chance he’d let them take the same risk. That’s why that moment has meaning. And because that’s where the meaning comes from, I can’t see how that meaning or weight would evaporate if he came back.

I mean—let’s say you were waking down the street with a friend. You step out in front of a bus, purely by accident. Your friend notices and pushes you out of the way, and in so doing steps in front of the bus, gets hit, and miraculously survives. Does their survival do anything to decrease the fact that they were willing to get hit by a bus for you? Are we really going to argue “death, or it doesn’t count” when it comes to self-sacrifice?

Furthermore, the “Tech has to stay dead for his sacrifice to have weight” argument seems to be made at least partly from the point of view that “dead” and “fully abled” are the only two options. They’re not. Other people have covered the possibility that Tech will come back with a physical disability that he has to adjust to way better than I ever could, but that’s a very real consequence the show could deal with.

I don’t really have a conclusion to this. Basically, while I have seen the stakes and weight arguments floating around, I don’t really see either of them as valid narrative arguments for keeping Tech dead, and I wanted to explain why.

[heliads]

Iced Out Mind (Part Two)

Based on this request: "A second part of Iced Out Mind. Snowstorm is still an active superhero. Y/N and Isaac watch John Walker become the new Captain America. Sam, Bucky, and Y/N see John use the shield to kill one of the Flag Smashers. Y/N calls Isaac and gives him an update. Sam invites Bucky, Y/N, and Isaac to the pier."

part one / masterlist

Isaac Lahey was not supposed to get this far. No, really, he wasn’t.

The way he thought about it, the way he has always thought about it, Isaac was destined for an early grave. That’s what it means to be anything but human, after all, to know that your life is on the line every single time you draw breath. Isaac always assumed that a hunter or other rival werewolf would get him at some point, so he never much bothered with making future plans. Why think about the life you could have if you know you’ll never be able to stick around long enough to make it real?

So, when Isaac blinks one day and realizes that he’s only a handful of years away from thirty, long out of high school and somewhat distant from his college graduation, he has to take a moment or two to steady himself. This is defying the odds to the max. Isaac was meant to die the second he received the bite, and yet somehow, he hasn’t. How do you go about your normal life with a declaration like that?

It is enough to drive anyone a little mad, but fortunately, Isaac has a fairly good support system set up to keep him from losing it. He still stays in contact with the Beacon Hills clan, even if he doesn’t see them all that often anymore. Most of Scott’s pack still stays on the west coast, pretending they can escape that life just long enough to come spiraling back down when yet another attack happens. 

Sometimes, Isaac wonders if he’s unreasonably selfish to think that he should be the one to get to leave it all behind when everyone else has to stay there forever, trapped in that cycle of healing and hurting, protecting and dying, all in the same strains as before. Surely he is not be the one to deserve a release. Surely the free man should be Scott, whom the world owes everything, or Allison, who should have gotten the chance to live into her twenties, or any one of those friends who Isaac sees more often on a Christmas card than in real life.

Yet it’s him nonetheless, him standing in an apartment in New York City and wondering how he got this lucky. Members of the pack come up every now and then, it’s not like Isaac is totally cut off. They’ll visit about once a year or so, every trip up the same. Some old friend stands on Isaac’s streets and murmurs something about how wild the city is. They’ll stay a few days then send themselves back down to exile in the hunter’s land of Beacon Hills. Isaac always offers to keep them longer. At least here, they’re mostly out of danger, but no one ever takes him up on it.

He’s been able to shrug most of his survivor’s guilt from his shoulders through the slow realization that all of his friends want the danger, in some way. They feel called to it. If they cannot protect others, how can they protect themselves? It may end in their early deaths, and for some, it already has, but they would choose that path over and over again anyway.

They’re not the only ones to share in such a fate. Isaac turns and walks further into his apartment, where his eyes rest on another survivor. Y/N L/N, once a stranger he’d seen on the news and then a friend he’d wanted to keep more than any other, is now more to Isaac than he ever imagined possible. After that first meeting in a diner after Isaac had accidentally realized that she was Snowstorm, one of the Avengers, they kept crossing paths.

Soon enough, Isaac realized that he didn’t ever want to go through another goodbye at the end of a wonderful date, that he wished they could have a world in which he connected one hour after another, an endless string of moments in which it was just the two of them. Nothing more, nothing less. He wanted her forever, even if Isaac’s forevers tend to find themselves broken after a matter of years.

Nothing has happened to ruin them yet, however. Even daring to voice the thought in his head seems like a great temptation of fate to Isaac, but he stands by it anyway. Let this be a promise to a world that has only ever hurt him:  Isaac chooses the good now, the happy ending. He will have what he wants, and that will be the love of his life. He can have his contented resolution with Y/N L/N, and there is absolutely nothing that can get in the way of that.

That won’t stop Fate from trying, though. For now, they’re alright. Isaac holds out an arm to the girl he loves, and she leans into him. He’s long since learned to stop taking it personally when Y/N’s heartbeat flares for a brief instant of panic every time someone comes as close to her as Isaac dares. Those are just the habits of a bygone era, if one that still haunts her every time she thinks about it. Y/N is a product of the labs, and Isaac will never hold that against her.

They’ve gotten better, the two of them. Y/N may never forgive the world for loving the torture she was put through all in the name of receiving super powers. Isaac may never stop flinching away from full moons and even the barest hint of someone who could be a hunter. The system made them like this, and the system stops them from being fully human, both in physical composition and mental habits.

They’re used to it, though, and they’re used to each other. If you have to be an outsider in a world that was once your own, Isaac has found that it’s best to do it with someone you care about by your side. That’s why Isaac is able to look at Y/N’s left hand and smile at the ring on her finger. It’s a promise he made to her about a month or two ago that he would never stop trying to make her feel at home, even on the days when she’s sure that she would never belong anywhere but a battleground. It’s an oath that he intends to take to his grave.

He spent a fair amount of time picking out the ring, too. Everything had to be perfect for Y/N, you know? The stone itself is crystalline white, one bit of ice and snow that Y/N can accept by the virtue of her own choice instead of being shaped only from bad memories. It’s a way to reclaim all that she has been through, a way to make it her own. Isaac intends to be with her throughout that journey, and this ring symbolizes his decision to make that permanent.

He doesn’t entirely know when the wedding will happen. With lives like theirs, important dates tend to get sidetracked. He does know that it will occur one day, though, and even such a casual promise as that is enough for Isaac. They’re both looking forward to it and that’s enough for now.

Isaac would be fine with spending the rest of today, and perhaps all days after it, in standing here in easy tandem with Y/N, breathing in and out in unison. They can push off the world and its difficulties for another month. It will find other martyrs to damn in their absence.

However, the call to action is impossible to ignore, especially when it comes in the form of the alarming news broadcast currently radiating out from the TV in the corner of their apartment. They have a habit of leaving it on in case they see something related to either the supernatural world or the Avengers or some combination of both, and they aren’t disappointed now.

A man named John Walker looms onscreen, proudly decked out in stars and stripes. He carries a round vibranium shield, the very one that was supposed to be in a museum as dictated by Sam Wilson. That declaration doesn’t seem to have stopped John Walker from being appointed as the new Captain America, however.

Y/N tenses. “This isn’t good.”

Isaac tilts his head to the side. “Because it’s disrespecting Steve’s legacy?”

Her lips press together as she thinks. “Partially. Also because it’s disrespecting Sam. If this Walker guy has the shield, it means Sam wasn’t consulted on this in the slightest. People are just setting up heroes as puppets whose strings they can pull whenever they decide on it. I have a feeling that this isn’t going to end well.”

As if to prove her point, Y/N’s phone goes off. She checks the screen and reads off a few disgruntled messages from Bucky Barnes, no surprises there. If there’s one guy who’d hate to see Steve’s shield tossed around by some imposter, it would have to be the original Captain America’s childhood friend.

Isaac would like to think that this whole situation would blow itself over in due time. Maybe Walker would realize that the spangled uniform isn’t worth the risks, or that being Captain America is a dream that no one other than Steve Rogers can actualize.

However, the passage of time only brings with it more problems, not less. The arrival of a mysterious group called the Flag Smashers tears Y/N from her quiet epilogue with Isaac and towards the fight once more. Isaac can see it in her face, how much she hates the fact that she will never be free of conflict. Y/N has tried to wash her hands of all this blood more than once, and no matter how many times people promise that this one will be her last job, really, they just keep calling.

It’s not even Sam or Bucky’s fault this time. The unhappy fact of life is that peace will always need to be defended, and there’s no one better for the job than Y/N. The world will always be some desperate thing one inch from death, and it rewards its protectors with yet another cause to hurt. Isaac insists on going with her, and it takes Y/N reminding him on about a dozen occasions how bad it would be if he was revealed as a werewolf on camera for him to be convinced to stay at home.

The least Isaac can do is take up the mantle of neighborhood protector while Y/N is out. They’ve done this a few times before, actually, patrolling the streets of the city in search of criminals to punish. With Isaac’s reflexes and skills with fighting, he makes a decent hero. He never thought of such a title, but Y/N makes him want to pursue it more than ever.

Such is the life of Isaac Lahey without his best girl; he stops carjackers, he beats thieves into more of a pulp than is strictly necessary. He’s just stressed, that’s all. Stressed and terrified that this might be Y/N’s last war, not because she’s finally no longer bound to the unspoken rules that Avengers will fight until their last but because she will actually be at her last. Isaac can’t lose Y/N. He doesn’t even want to think about it.

Y/N will not be the one who is lost, however. She calls him, dazed, just a short while later. She doesn’t even have to explain the cause for her concern, Isaac already knows. It’s hard to think about anything other than the fact that the latest Captain America pretender has brutally murdered a man, and that the clips are spreading like wildfire across the Internet. The second Isaac saw the news, he just pulled out his phone and waited.

Y/N called about thirty seconds after Isaac found it out. He can hear from her stuttering responses, the way his usually confident fiancée is now tripping over herself in a failing effort to relate just how horrifying all of this is, that she’s been severely affected. Who wouldn’t be affected, after all? To see that in person? Isaac feels sick to his stomach and he wasn’t even there. Y/N had to watch all of that go down.

In a way, she says at last, she was expecting something like this to happen. Clearly not on the level of bloodlust that she just witnessed, but something. Walker was bound to snap. That’s what happens when you spend all this time surrounded by people who aren’t human and feel like you have to convince yourself that you’re fine with it, after all. Isaac saw it with the hunters, and he sees it with John Walker now. At some point, you get so desperate to prove that you’re human that you do something to show that you’re anything but. Walker may have set out to change the world as a regular man, but what he has now done has made him a monster.

They’re only able to talk for a brief while before Y/N has to go. Damage control has to make its rounds, and now Sam’s finally in agreement with Bucky and Y/N that they need to take back the shield before Walker does anything worse. Y/N texts a while later that the deed is done, no specifics mentioned. Isaac doesn’t need to hear the intricacies of her heartbeat with the clarity of supernatural hearing to know how rattled she is by the whole encounter.

Despite his strongest, deepest fears, Y/N does come back to him. A little quieter, a little more shaken, but she is there nonetheless. That’s all Isaac could ever ask for. He has had years of watching his friends shrink away into nothingness because they felt like they could only ever walk towards their impending sacrifice. If he can provide a home for Y/N to return to at the end of missions like that one, well, Isaac would give his own life to make sure it would happen.

The situation does have a happy ending, after all, or at least the closest any of them can truly come to a happy ending:  peace. Sam Wilson has a place out in Louisiana, a corner of the world where the sunsets are always golden and the laughter always flows free and long. There, undisturbed, Isaac and Y/N get to experience a Wilson family dinner out on the pier. They talk for hours. Isaac may never have met some of these people before, but he walks away from it all thinking that this is it, this is what a home should feel like.

It reminds Isaac that they’re going to be okay. They are all destined to die at some point, heroes and supernaturals alike, but somewhere in between their rude awakenings and their eventual last breaths, there are moments like these when all is well. Perhaps Isaac will meet his fate tomorrow, or in a month, or not for many years. Regardless, he can face it with open arms. It might be the first time in his life that such acceptance has come over him, but he can guess at why. Isaac is not alone, nor will he ever be alone. No claws or fangs have ever protected him as much as that blessed knowledge.

requested by @thornyrose463, i hope you enjoy!

teen wolf tag list: @thatfangirl42, @rogueanschel, @lovesanimals0000, @rafecameronswhore, @bellabadacadabra, @watchreadfangirlrepeat, @23victoria

[rubysunnday]

bloody hands | k.b

A/N: this is my first time writing for ye old kazzle dazzle and i'm terrified, lol (i'm also shit at summaries)

Summary: Kaz never feels the need to explain his entire plan. He knows that, whatever happens, it will inevitably go according to plan. But when his plan goes wrong and Y/N is injured, Kaz is suddenly forced to comprehend with the skeletally hand of death once again.

"So, was the gunfire part of the original plan?"

Kaz shoot Y/N a withering look - one that would have anyone in their right mind turning around and running. Y/N just beamed at him.

"No, it wasn't," Kaz replied, glowering at her. "Jesper shouldn't have started so early."

"He's on time," Y/N reminded him.

"For Jesper that's early."

"True."

Y/N and Kaz ducked back behind the wall as bullets whizzed past them smashing into the houses behind them.

"So, we are being fired at because you couldn't be bothered to explain the full plan," Y/N said, trying not to glare at Kaz.

"No, we're being fired at because Jesper's timing is horrendous," Kaz snapped.

Jesper, as if summoned, suddenly appeared at Y/N's side, sliding to a stop on the slippery cobbles. "Right, that's that, then."

Y/N narrowed her eyes. "What -"

She was cut off being a tremendous explosion from inside the warehouse they'd all just being chased out off. Smoke billowed into the air and flames rolled up into the sky. The men who had been firing at them all exclaimed and ran off to the warehouse, leaving the alley empty.

"Well, you could have done that sooner, Jes," Y/N muttered stepping out from behind the wall.

"Well, of course, but then what's the point, love?" Jesper asked, winking at her,

Y/N began to laugh but was cut off as a more gunshots echoed through the street. She ducked and Jesper pulled her behind a barrel as he fired back at the lone gunman, hitting him in the shoulder as he ran off.

"You alright?" Jesper asked, panting. He glanced at Y/N who was nodding, albeit shakily.

"I'm fine," she said, peeking her head over the top of the barrel and slowly standing up. "Nearly died, but I'm fine."

"You didn't nearly die," Kaz drawled, walking over to them.

"We all nearly died, Kaz, all because you can't explain any plan in full detail!" Y/N yelled. "Inej almost got stabbed!"

"But she didn't," Kaz replied, glancing up at the roofs where Inej was inevitably haunting.

Y/N glanced over at Kaz and let out an exasperated sigh. "Would it kill you to actually explain a plan in whole? It would make our lives so - ah."

She cut herself off with a gasp of pain. Y/N lost her footing as she stumbled forward. and Jesper grabbed her, wrapping one hand around her waist, the other snaking around to rest on her back.

"Hey, you ok?" Jesper asked, his dark eyes full of concern as he supported almost the full weight of Y/N.

Y/N glanced down at her side and noticed a dark patch spreading from just under her right breast, staining her waistcoat. She raised a shaking hand to the blood stain and let out a surprised gasp as her hand came away wet with blood.

"Oh."

The sight of the blood on her hand seemed to push her over the edge and Jesper exclaimed as her legs buckled. His grip tightened as he caught her and gently lowered her to the cobbled street, kneeling down with Y/N and putting her head in his lap.

"Inej!" Jesper yelled, unable to see where the Suli girl had vanished too.

Kaz stared as blood dripped onto the cobble stones. His mind was still watching Y/N yell at him for being him. It wasn't meant to happen like this. His grip on the crow's head of his cane was almost crushing and he could feel the tiny, delicate beak cutting into his hand through his gloves.

Y/N was dying because of him.

If he'd told them what his actual plan was or if he'd just told her.

Y/N's hand was pressing against her right side, Jesper's hand covering hers as he helped put pressure on her side. The blood was seeping over both of their hands, staining them red.

Inej suddenly appeared out of the shadows, hurrying over to Y/N's side in silence. She unwrapped her scarf from around her head and began wapping it around Y/N's side as Jesper moved Y/N's shaking hand away from the wound. Jesper carefully lifted Y/N up as Inej meticulously wrapped it around, trying to slow the bleeding.

"We need Nina," Inej said aloud as she tied her scarf in a knot, securing it around Y/N's side. She looked expectantly over at Kaz.

Kaz was clenching his jaw tightly. He forced himself to swallow the fear and the mental image of Y/N lying next to Jordie on the Reaper's barge. "She's at the White Rose. Bring her to the Slat."

Inej nodded. She cast Y/N a worried glance before she climbed up a drainpipe and vanished into the clouds, leaving no sign she'd ever been there except the now bloody scarf around Y/N's side.

"Jesper, your face looks weird without a smile on it," Y/N said softly, her left hand finding his, their fingers entwining.

Jesper forced himself to smile down at her. He smoothed back her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "Sorry, love."

Y/N's eyes fluttered shut and Jesper moved his bloody hands to either side of her pale face, shaking her as gently as he could.

"Hey, hey, stay with me, love," Jesper said, not so gently, as he tried to keep her conscious.

Y/N blinked her eyes open and looked up at Jesper, the world spinning around her, the buildings around them looking even drunker than usual. "Hey."

"Hey, beautiful," Jesper replied, stroking her cheek with his thumb, both of them choosing to ignore the fact that Y/N's blood was all over Jesper's hands and was now on her face.

Kaz felt a pang of jealously rush through him. Jesper could comfort her and carry her to safety. Inej could hold her hand and hug her. Nina could heal her and touch her without feeling like she was about to pass out.

Kaz wanted to run to Y/N. He wanted to kneel down next to her and hold her hand. But he couldn't. He physically could not force himself to.

As he stared at her, at the woman he'd taken for granted for so long, he just saw her dead, lying on the street like Jordie had. The nightmare spiralled from there as he remembered the Reaper's Barge, the cold, bloated body of his brother. The hands. Drowning in a sea of rotten bodies.

No.

Y/N wasn't dead. She was still alive. She was still awake and wasn't dead.

A small voice inside him added the word yet to the end of his sentence but he refused to listen to it.

"Jesper," Kaz said, his voice rougher and croakier then usual. "We need to move her to the Slat."

Jesper recognised the pain and unfiltered emotion on Kaz's face. It wasn't normal to see his boss so openly show emotion but when Y/N was involved, Kaz was an unknown entity.

The man would never admit to himself that he had feelings for her. Kaz was in denial. He refused to acknowledge the emotions inside him. But he'd taken Y/N for granted. He just assumed she would always be on his left side, walking just behind him.

"Ready?"

Jesper's voice snapped Kaz back to the street and he looked at Y/N, her skin pale and sweaty, her hands shaking. Kaz nodded, gripping his cane tightly.

"Right, love, your knight in shining armour has arrived," Jesper said, a teasing tone to his words that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Y/N chuckled softly as Jesper moved to her side, his arms going under her legs and then around her back. Y/N let out a groan of pain and squeezed her eyes tightly shut as he lifted her up. She dropped her head onto his chest, feeling the warmth radiating from him, the soft material of his coat rubbing against her face.

Kaz's cane clicking against the cobbles was the sound Y/N focused on as Jesper carried her towards the Slat. She wanted to fall asleep, to just close her eyes and burrow into Jesper's jacket for warmth. But Kaz's cane kept clicking and Y/N focused on it, the sound alone reassuring her of his presence.

"Hey, don't doze off on me," Jesper said, glancing down at Y/N as her eyes shut.

"I"m not," Y/N said softly, her eyes opening sluggishly and looking up at Jesper as she re-wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm not."

Jesper squeezed her leg as he noticed her eyes droop slightly, her head dropping back against his shoulder. "No sleeping on the job, Y/N, Kaz will have your head."

Y/N's laugh was weaker and Kaz felt a pang of pain in his chest as he looked over at her. She was dying. She couldn't be dying. But she was dying.

Kaz forced himself to reply, playing along in an attempt to keep Y/N awake. "You fell asleep on a job once, Jesper, and yet you're still here. Unfortunately."

Jesper let out a bark of laughter and Kaz caught Y/N smiling, albeit small. Good.

"We're nearly there, love," Jesper said quietly, spotting the towering, drunkenly slumped shack that was the Slat.

Y/N hummed a response but the blood loss was beginning to hit her. Her sight was speckled by black dots and her ears were filled with a high pitched ringing.

Jesper glanced down at her, noticing her silence ."Y/N, hey, stay with me, darling, we're almost there."

Y/N wanted to reply. She wanted to reassure Jesper, because she could hear the thinly disguised panic in his voice, that she was still with him but she was so tired and her eyes weren't letting her stay awake.

The urge to sleep won over her need to reassure Jesper and her eyes rolled backwards. Jesper felt Y/N's arms slip from around his neck, limply hanging to the sides, as she lost consciousness and felt panic grip his entire being.

Kaz slammed open the door to the Slat and the Dregs loitering around looked up, hands flying to weapons.

"Nina!" Kaz yelled, his voice doing a fairly good job at hiding his fear, his worry, the panic that Y/N was dying.

Nina rushed out the side room and met them halfway across the room, eyes running over Y/N, the blood seeping through Inej's scarf, the blood on Jesper's hands, on Y/N's hands.

"Quickly," she said, ushering Jesper into the room.

There was a table set in the middle of the room and dozens of candles had been lit to provide enough light in the dark room. A large, heavy oak chest of drawers was shoved up against the window and Inej was hovering against the far wall, her eyes locking onto Y/N's body as soon as Jesper carried her into the room.

"On the table, Jesper," Nina ordered, opening a drawer, numerous bottles clinking as she rummaged around.

Jesper gently set Y/N down on the table, carefully laying her down and moving her arms to rest on the wood. He took his jacket off and bundled it up, lifting Y/N's head up and setting the material underneath her head.

Kaz stood in the doorway, hands tightly wrapped around his cane, the metal beginning to cut through his gloves and into his hands. In any of building, in any other city in the world, he would've looked like an omen of death.

He forced himself to stare at Y/N as Jesper helped Nina unwrap Inej's scarf from around Y/N's side.

Kaz shuddered as his mind shoved Jordie to the front, the feeling of his brother's cold, bloated skin against his, drowning him. He was drowning in Jordie; in Y/N dying on the table in front of him.

Nina was muttering to herself as she worked, one hand around Y/N's wrist, the other holding a pile of gauze to her side. Kaz watched her intently and could see her counting Y/N's heartbeat as she tried to stop the bleeding.

Which is why, because Kaz was watching Nina with such intensity, that when Nina paused her muttering and looked down at Y/N, her eyes slowly widening, did Kaz feel his own heart shudder and almost stop.

Nina let go of Y/N's wrist, dropping her hand onto the table. She brought her hands together, her first two fingers overlapping each other, and then brought them down onto Y/N's chest.

It was as if Kaz could hear Y/N's heart slowing down and not speeding up. He watched as Nina repeated her movements, determination and panic and fear written on her face as her eyes welled up.

Kaz swallowed and felt the ocean overwhelming him again. He saw Y/N staring back at him, lifeless and dead just like Jordie. Her beautiful eyes staring emptily back at him, void of life. He'd failed her like he'd failed Jordie. The most important thing in his life was dead.

Inej was frantically praying, clutching her knife, Sankt Alina, tightly. Jesper was still for the first time since he'd carried Y/N in, his eyes red with tears as he stared at Y/N's limp, bloody body.

Kaz took one look at Nina and saw the dwindling hope in her eyes, the tears streaming down her face and turned around, walking out the room, his cane clacking loudly against the floor.

Nina sobbed and repeated her movements one more time, desperately trying to get Y/N's heart to start beating again. She'd saved Matthias in the middle of the ocean, during a hurricane, she could save Y/N.

Nina brought her hands down on to Y/N's chest once more with, perhaps, more force than needed. She kept them there and willed the organ inside her friend to not give up.

To keep going.

Second by second, Nina felt it slowly begin to beat again. Nina kept her hands on Y/N's chest, scared that if she moved even an inch it might stop beating again. Second by second, the colour began to slowly come back into Y/N's skin and Nina sighed, dropping her head in relief.

Inej let out a happy sob and closed her eyes, praying to her Saints once again and thanking them.

"Jesper, come here and wrap her wound, stop making that face, it's a bullet wound, you'll be fine," Nina snapped, glaring at Jesper when he balked at the thought, all thoughts of death and misery gone, their usual banter slowly returning.

Jesper walked around to stand next to Nina and took a clean wad of gauze and drenched it in alcohol. He pulled Y/N's bloody shirt up and gently pressed it to her side. His other hand reached up to Y/N's face and with a clean, damp cloth, he began wiping the dried blood off her skin.

"Oh, Saints, Kaz!" Inej exclaimed suddenly, making Jesper and Nina jump. She flew out the room like a breeze and dashed up the stairs to Kaz's office where he'd inevitably retreated.

Kaz was stood hunched in front of his mirror, his gloves off, his head hung. Inej walked in slowly, making sure to announce her presence by stepping on the creaky floorboard by the door.

"Don't," Kaz said, his voice croaking and Inej realised that he was crying. "Don't say it."

"Kaz," Inej said softly, slowly approaching him.

"No, Inej!" Kaz snapped, whirling around to stare at her. His eyes were red and his hair was a mess and his hands were shaking. "I took her for granted. I never," Kaz took a deep, shaky breath in, "I never told her or even showed her just how much..."

Even now, even when she was dead, he couldn't bring life to the words. They sat dead on his tongue, poisoning him. He hated his brother for making him this way. Hated Ketterdam for being the way it was. He even hated Y/N for being so fucking perfect that he had to fall in love with her. He was a fool so desperately in love that it scared him endlessly.

"Kaz," Inej repeated, slowly, gently, laying a hand on his arm.

The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up but Inej made sure to place her hand on the part that was still covered. Kaz flinched but didn't tell her to remove her hand or move back.

"Kaz," Inej said again. "Y/N isn't dead. She's alive. Nina brought her back."

Kaz turned his head and locked eyes with Inej. He didn't say anything but Inej understood. She nodded, reassuring him that she was being honest.

Perhaps, if Y/N hadn't been around, they would have fallen in love. Maybe it would be Inej he was crying over. Maybe it would have been Inej lying there, injured. Maybe Kaz would have torn the city apart to find the man who had injured her.

But he had Y/N. She was alive, three flights of stairs below, with Nina and Jesper at her side.

"I'll find him," Inej promised, dropping her hand from Kaz's arm and pulling her hood up.

"Leave some for me," Kaz said lowly, his eyes following Inej to the window. "I feel like ripping an eyeball or two out."

Kaz slowly limped down the stairs to Y/N's bedroom. He could hear numerous voices from inside and hesitated outside the door. Kaz Brekker, Bastard of the Barrel, heistated.

"Kaz, just come in already!" Nina yelled from within.

Kaz rolled his eyes and opened the door. "Stop spying on me, Zenik."

"It's difficult not to when your heartbeat is so loud," Nina replied, raising her eyebrows knowingly.

Y/N snorted and Kaz looked at her. She was sat on her bed with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Jesper sat next to her, his arm around her shoulders. Y/N was half leaning on Jesper and half on the wall and looked so alive.

Inej had found the man who'd shot her and, together, they'd ripped the man's eyes out, slit his throat and thrown his body onto the Reaper's Barge. It had helped quell the ghosts threatening to haunt him once again but they hadn't truly abated until Kaz had gotten to look at Y/N and see her talk.

Y/N gave him a smile and Kaz nodded back at her, trying to hide his relief at how alive she looked.

She was alive. She wasn't dead. She wasn't Jordie. She wasn't going anywhere. She was still here, with him, in Ketterdam. And he wasn't going to let her go.

"There's blood on your shoes, Kaz," Y/N said, gesturing to his black shoes with her head, her voice almost startling him.

Kaz looked down and eyed the single drop with distaste. So there was. A single drop. All that was left of the man who'd shot her.

Y/N laughed at the look on Kaz's face. "He looks like he just sucked a lemon," she said to Jesper, albeit loud enough for Kaz to hear too.

"No, that's his normal face," Jesper replied, smirking as he winked at Kaz.

Y/N laughed, throwing her head back. Her hair fell over her shoulder and her eyes sparkled in the dim, orange light of her room. Her laugh was like music to him.

And Kaz Brekker realised with a sudden, painful thud that he was completely and utterly besotted with her.

[visionofhope04]

Hii I was lowkey wondering if you would do something maybe like a one shot of neglected where reader is older (18-20) and dipped out of the house and became a singer and one of her songs basically exposed them for how they treated reader and in like an interview she full on tells them how she doesn’t even talk to them and like only Jason

This is literally perfect. I love this idea! I was planning on making a singer batsis reader anyway so here you go! I'll be making this part 4 of the series instead of a one shot. There’s a bit of angst. Btw, thanks so much for your support everyone! I'm glad you enjoy this series! Feel free to request anything you'd like besides smut as well!

This is the longest thing I have ever written so there will be a part 5. I planned on this being the last part but it's just so much. It’s not proofread and neither are all of the other parts because I post at 1 am most of the time lol. Hope you like it!

f/n = friend name

Y/G/N = your group name

N/S = news station

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (Current) Part 5

---

You were sick of it. Sick of how even after confronting them about how you felt and almost dying because of it, they still neglected you. You couldn't wait to move out at the age of 18, even if it proved to be a struggle. You had taken mini jobs since you turned 15 and saved up since then. You just couldn't see them anymore as it would remind you of how they treated you that day at that hospital. None of them apologized either. They just pretended it never happened and continued to ignore you. The media had a field day with speculation of what had happened but eventually stopped because Bruce had claimed it was “just a bad case of the flu” which they believed.

Jason was always the only one that would talk to you. He was the only one that actually cared enough to make sure you were taking proper care of yourself and that you wouldn't have a repeat of what happened. He took you places, spent time with you and gave you advice. You even had a tradition where you'd always meet up at the manor's library every week at the same time that same day every week and just have a mini book club together. He always made time for you and never bailed on you.

So on your 18th birthday, he helped you move out. You managed to rent a small apartment in Star City with the money you had saved up. It wasn’t that close to the manor which was a good thing. The neighborhood wasn’t good but it wasn’t as bad as Gotham’s neighborhoods so you would be fine. You could handle yourself with your assassin training if needed. You also managed to get hired at a cafe which was about a five minutes walking distance from your apartment.

It had taken a while but eventually, you had packed all of your belongings into color coded containers and moved them into Jason’s car with his help. You didn’t say goodbye to anyone as you had no friends to say bye to and you knew that your so called “family” couldn’t care less about what you did with your life. ‘This is it, hopefully the last time I’ll ever be near this place.’ You thought. You didn’t plan on stepping foot in Gotham ever again after you left. It would bring back too many memories you prefer to keep buried away deep inside your mind.

The car ride to Star City was entertaining. You and Jason conversed the whole time, telling jokes and listening to his funny tales with the radio playing softly in the background. Eventually, a song you both loved came on and you both started yell-singing along to the lyrics. You wished those moments could be permanent. You were both so carefree and nothing else mattered besides having fun and enjoying yourselves.

You now stood in the doorway of your new apartment, admiring your new home. Jason and yourself had just finished unpacking all of your belongings. You really liked how it looked and thought you both did an amazing job at designing the place perfectly according to your style. Jason, unfortunately, had to leave in order to avoid raising suspicions. Once you both said your byes, he left you to your apartment.

Jason drove back home in silence. He hated to admit it but he would miss you dearly. You were always there for him and helped him with anything. You tried your best to always comfort him and make him feel better on his darkest days and it would always work. Somehow you seemed to always have the right words to say or knew exactly what to do to help him. Out of everyone he was closest to you. He assumed it was because he could relate to you the most. More so how you felt. He’d felt like the black sheep of the family before you came, and he was. When you came, you took that role from him. It pained him to see how much their insults would affect you, even if you were good at hiding it. He could just tell.

Jason made it back to the manor after a while and went straight to the library. He didn't want to deal with the others. After the whole hospital situation, he'd never really bother interacting with them. He hated how they treated you as if you didn’t exist and hated how much pain they had caused you and that they didn’t even care. He guessed that they'd probably be doing something for Damian's birthday and forgot that you were his twin. They probably couldn’t even remember that Damian had a twin.

He made it to the library and pulled out one of his favorite books. He’d read it so many times you’d often joke that he could probably recite the whole book by heart at this point. Sitting down in a chair, he started to read. However, he couldn’t bring himself to stop thinking about what it would’ve been like if they treated you how they did Damian. The both of you were Bruce’s real children. You both even looked like clones of him! At first, Jason thought you would’ve been the favorite twin due to your personality. Even though you were twins, your personalities were polar opposites. You even refused to kill! You were trained by the League so why didn’t you kill as Damian did?

Jason knew you would benefit them greatly if you joined. You had self control, didn’t kill, could act perfectly, lie perfectly, do well under pressure, and not to mention your skills. Being raised by the League may have been torture, but you managed to gain incredible skills out of it. You could take on at least ten guys who doubled you in size and beat them within five minutes. You even bested Damian in spars and he was supposedly dubbed the “better twin” by Talia, so why hadn’t they let you join their nightly crusades like they had let Damian when the both of you first arrived?

Damian passed by your room but noticed something was off. He decided to take a look. He twisted the doorknob and pushed. The room which was once occupied by you now looked extremely plain and bare, stripped of all of its accessories. The only things left were the bed itself, multiple dressers, and a vanity. It looked as if it had been vacant the whole time. It might as well have been. Damian couldn’t really remember what it had looked like since he’s never paid much mind to it but he could tell there was a drastic difference. He knew that you disliked just leaving your room plain unlike himself and wanted at least something to make it look less boring.

He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. Had you finally been kicked out by Bruce? Did you get shipped off to a boarding school like he had been suggesting to your father for years? He decided to go ask. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, taking off for Bruce’s office. Walking down the hall, he suddenly remembered that he had seen you leave with Jason. This meant that you were not at a boarding school like he had originally thought. But then why was your room vacant?

Instead of going to see Bruce, he decided to go see Jason and bring up the matter with him instead. He changed directions and headed to the library where he knew he’d find Jason. It was no secret that Jason was a book worm so Damian had a fifty percent chance of finding him there.

He entered the library and was immediately greeted with the sight of Jason sitting comfortably on a chair, legs crossed with a book opened in his hands. Jason didn’t bother to look up from his book as he spoke.

“What do you want Demon Spawn?”

“I’ve come to obtain the whereabouts of my sister.”

“You mean my sister?”

“She’s not your sister!” Damian exclaimed.

“Well I act more like a brother than you do.”

“Where is Y/N? Her whole room is bare.”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“Just tell me, you imbecile!” Damian said, growing increasingly frustrated by Jason’s blunt answers.

“She’s not here.”

“Then where is she?”

“Not here.”

“Just tell me already Todd, I have no time for your foolish games!”

“She moved out.” Jason said, giving in.

“What?! Where.” Damian demanded.

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because I demand to know!”

“Okay and?”

“Tell me!”

“No.”

“Why not!”

“Because you don’t even care.”

“And you do?”

“Yes, I actually do Damian! I’m there for her when she needs me the most. I’m there for her while she’s watching you live the perfect life that she’s just a background character in! While you and the others ignore that she even exists! I’m there for her when she breaks down and has panic attacks! And what were you all doing to try and help her? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” Jason snapped.

“Y/N’s fine, I know my twin!” Damian screamed.

“Do you even know what her favorite color is?” Jason questioned in a harsh tone.

“...” Was Damian’s reply.

“Exactly! You don’t! You and the others have never cared about her, so why all of a sudden do you care now? You don’t know anything about her so don’t act like you do!” Jason then stood up and walked out of the room in a fit of rage.

Damian stood there, shocked. Had Jason just refused to answer his question? He was about to follow him but decided against it. Why was Damian going to chase Jason down just for her? She was just an annoyance, a mistake, imperfect. He had been wanting to get rid of her for so long, so why doesn’t he feel relieved? Why does he feel guilty? He decided to stop dwelling on it and get on with life. He figured it would happen eventually if it hadn’t happened then.

---

It had been a year since that day. The day you left your old life behind and started a new life, a better one. One where you weren’t constantly ignored. One where you actually had more than one person care about you. Instead of seeing yourself as a failure and disappointment, you now saw yourself as an amazing person (which you always were). You had been going to a community college in Star City. You made many friends there and started up a music career with three of them.

Their names were f/n, f/n and f/n. You all started off by taking random gigs anywhere you could. You performed covers of songs and would receive standing ovations all the time. Seeing as your group was well liked, you decided to write and produce your own songs. At the age of 19, Y/G/N released their first album. It went viral within a day and everyone was talking about it. After a week, several articles were posted, praising your work. News Stations talked about all the records Y/G/N managed to break. People started to stream it like crazy, and you couldn’t be happier with all the positive feedback you were receiving.

You had been a Wayne once, meaning you had experience in dealing with the media. Since you had already been used to it, you knew you’d all eventually be invited to interviews. So, when you had received an email stating how N/S wanted a one on one interview with you, you weren’t sure how to feel. You weren’t looking forward to interviews with your whole group, let alone one where you would be alone. You knew how unfiltered interviewers could be and didn’t feel comfortable with it.

However, you decided it would be best to go. So here you were, sitting in front of the interviewer in an uncomfortable chair preparing for the interview to start. You had somehow managed to keep a smile plastered on your face the entire time while you were a nervous wreck on the inside. You hoped none of the questions would be sexist as they usually were towards women. However, you had no more time to think about that. You heard clicking, signaling that you were about to go live. Once you heard the last click, you knew you were live and the interview had begun.

“Hello everyone, welcome back to N/S. My name is Jerald Tangleberry and I’m here today with songwriter, singer, and celebrity, Y/N Wayne! How are you?”

You waved to the camera and then answered, “Hello everyone! I’m doing good, how about you?”

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking! So by now I’d assume everyone knows that you’ve released an album with your group. How does it feel to gain more fame?”

“It doesn’t feel any different. Fame wasn’t our goal when we released the album. It was to express ourselves.”

“Mhm, well Ms. Wayne, what inspired you to write songs?”

“Well we know people may be in a tough spot in their life right now and want them to know they aren’t alone.”

“That’s so true. Some fans have been speculating that every member has three songs that specifically relate to them since there are twelve songs in total and three of the songs have the same group member as the introduction part of the song. Is this true?”

“Yes, it is true.”

“So all three of your songs relate to family issues of some sort. Is that hinting that you have family issues?”

“Yes, actually. My family isn’t the best. They ignored me all the time, even when they weren't busy. The only person who didn’t was Jason.”

“You’re saying it in the past tense.”

“I moved out about a year ago. When I was around 14, I suffered from anorexia. My family would always ignore me since they were either busy doing work or hanging out with each other. The only family member that acknowledged me was Jason. I assumed it was because there was something wrong with me. I started to hate myself so much to the point of starvation. One day, I passed out right before a gala and my oldest brother Dick found me passed out on the floor. They took me to the hospital and when I woke up, Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Damian started fussing about how I’d ruin their image if the media knew what actually happened. They started to yell at me and told me how I was a useless burden. I started to have a panic attack so I kicked them out. Jason stayed behind with me and comforted me. Ever since then I made a planed to save enough money so I could move out when I turned 18, which I did.”

“Oh, wow. So Jason was the only one who interacted with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like the Wayne family isn’t as perfect as they seem.”

“No family is actually perfect.”

“Did your family try contacting you at all after they found out about Y/G/N?”

“Not yet. They’re probably too busy or don’t care.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright, I got over it. What’s the next question.”

“Oh-” He cleared his throat and continued the interview. (So basically I don’t wanna bore you all lol)

---

Jason had woken up late into the afternoon that day. Patrol that morning had exhausted him. There was a huge breakout at Arkham they had assisted with. They successfully locked up every escapee, so today, Jason just wanted to relax until it would be time for patrol again. Even though he was exhausted, he knew he couldn’t take a break. The others wouldn’t and it would be unfair to them if he did.

He headed over to his couch with his phone and a bowl of popcorn in hand, ready to watch random movies the entirety of the day. He set down his phone on the coffee tables and grabbed the TV remote. When he turned on the TV, he almost dropped the popcorn and remote. You were sitting on a chair, giving an award winning smile while you politely answered the man’s questions. He was baffled. He didn’t know why you were being interviewed, let alone on TV at all! You made it clear you didn’t want to have any relations with your family any longer and you couldn’t stand publicity, so what were you doing?

He placed the bowl down and snatched his phone off the table. Unlocking his phone, he quickly dialed your phone number. However, he realized that the interview was live and that he would be interrupting it if he called you then. Deciding to wait, he placed his phone back down, picked up the bowl, and then got comfortable.

---

Tag list: @fake-id-69 @pepelachanel @loxbbg @what-0-life @yoongi-holland @omnivorousfangirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @sexysamsungl @iceddonuts @buginetye @portrait-ninja @azazel-nyx @alculai

[my-soul-stays-silent]

The thing with my au is uh. Um. I have not written like anything completed for it (except for like. One thing and about 7 WIPs. I also have a document that’s 12K+ words of just ideas and tidbits about it) but I can definitely tell you about it! I hope to write something in the future and maybe put it on ao3? I’ll have to see how it goes.

But it’s future!Donnie-centric (obviously) and I’ve planned out a few arcs already I think. I have three (maybe four?) versions of how it ends (because my brain can never stick to one idea ever) so I’ll probably turn it into three/four separate aus?

One where Donnie dies purposefully because the only way they could win is for him to do something that he won’t come back from (pretty much like how it was in mutant ninja midlife crisis! That was the first longfic I read for this fandom and I was obsessed I love that Donnie).

The next one is where he dies accidentally (where he didn’t plan to), but he built a robot replacement for himself long before because he was paranoid about dying anyway.

Third one is he’s the last one alive with Casey, and both of them go back to the past using a time machine that he had to destroy pretty much their entire base (and Shelldon) to build. Donnie planned to help stop the invasion, but because of something going wrong on the way back, he ends up in a coma for the duration of it and for a few days after, so it’s just Casey, who shows the other turtles when they get back to the base. I’ve written a complete scene for that one and am in the process of writing another one but honestly Void (@/thevoidisscreamingbackatyou) helps me brainstorm for this one a lot.

Fourth one is the newest one I’ve thought of, and it’s the same as the previous one except Donnie then feels guilty that he wasn’t able to help, and so travels to another alternate universe to stop their invasion, leaving Casey behind to live the rest of his life happy with the present turtles (at least he assumes Casey’s happy with that. He’d be wrong, but, ah). After that, he decides one universe isn’t enough, and he could be more useful, do more. So basically he hops between as many universes as he can, reliving the day of the invasion over and over again, trying to save as many worlds as he can.

I’ve decided that I am indeed abnormal about the Cass apocalyptic series and most Definitely hyperfixating on it how are you!

Hello!!! Every time Future Donnie shows up I am mentally doing a little dance he’s so good. Peak expressions. And Raph is so lovely :((( I can’t wait till we get Leo back I imagine that will be a Time. Disaster twins reunion. Mostly it is just giving me ideas for my own future timeline au but god yeah I can never get enough of Cass’s Donnie