#before finally actually encountering them. meeting them face to face... and seeing themself in their eyes.

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

i see a lot of interpretations of zor being this otherworldly, anomalous presence- larger than life, practically non-human. and i, too, like perceiving zor through this veil of anonymity. i think making them too tangible or perceivable really detracts from what's been established about their character.

but, i personally really, really like the thought of zor being human. mortal. but terrifying to the point where you'd be forgiven for forgetting it.

i think one of the things that i adored about ieytd before the third game dropped (and honestly made me a little disappointed when it was changed later on) was the fact that the agency never had a face. it just... was what it was. it had facets- granted, the EOD was always the only one of any relevance. but, really, think about what we know about the agency between all three games. compare that to how much we know about zoraxis.

there's something really appealing to me about zor being who they are... they're probably the most wealthiest person on earth. they had a monopoly that quite literally gripped the world in their first- as their emblem would suggest. they hire some of the most lethal minds in the world- chemists, inventors, engineers.

and yet... despite it all, they're just one person. to me, their anonymity is a shield against the fact they are a person. they hide behind the lethality and prowess of their elite operatives- not to mention we've seen how clever they can be when it came to manipulating prism. they're by no means useless.

but what would they be without their anonymity? what would they be without the weapons they didn't design, the lairs they didn't build, the employees they use as human shields? the second zor is gone, zoraxis crumbles. they are the support pillar of their entire corporation.

... but what's the agency's equivalent? even post morales being a character, can we be certain that he's the glue holding the entire organization together?

think about zoraxis' most lethal schemes. seizing control of the world's atomic weaponry. striking targets anywhere on earth's surface with a giant laser. exploding the brain of every telekinetic agent on the planet. are they really seeking to cause as much damage as possible- to the agency specifically, collateral, or otherwise?

or do they not know where to strike. zor's tactic- for as high the stakes have been escalating- has always carried a similar motif. cleave and strike indiscriminately until the threat is neutralized.

but it never works. zor is lashing at a hydra- sprouting new heads where the old ones have been lopped off. they don't seem aware of how to destroy the agency other than exterminating each and every one of them off the face of the earth, in whatever way is most convenient at the moment.

i just think there's something to be said about zoraxis- and by extension, zor- always being seen as this oppressive, near-otherworldly force, constantly applying pressure on phoenix... when for all we know, zoraxis could be perceiving the agency in the exact same light.

zor, ultimately, has one beating heart. the agency has thousands. and all of them are dispensable.

[lover-of-pastry-and-red-velvet]

Heya mind if I request some romantic Rye Cookie x Reader?

pairing: Rye Cookie x gn!reader

warnings: reader being held at gunpoint, guns, mentions of enemies to lovers, I think that’s it

a/n: when I got your request so many ideas were flying through my head with this one, it took so long for me to be happy with it but I actually really enjoyed writing this! I appreciate any feedback on this, and I hope you enjoy reading!

summary: y/n, the sibling and partner in crime of the notorious treasure hunter, Chili Pepper Cookie. They couldn’t keep themself from tagging along on their sister’s escapades, not for the bounty, but the rush of adrenaline that comes with the steal. Rye Cookie manages to corner one of the thieves after their most recent heist, but it doesn’t exactly go as expected…

word count: 608 words

It was the biggest bounty [Y/N] and Chili Pepper Cookie had acquired yet. The pair of cookies had scouted the location for weeks and the hard work had finally payed off.

Well, more or less.

A gunshot sounded from behind the pair of thieves as they attempted to make off with the treasure.

‘Right on schedule’ [Y/N] thought to themself.

They threw one of the the large sack full of gold and other valuables they had on their shoulders to Chili Pepper Cookie before sprinting in down the alleyway to the right of them.

Chili Pepper caught on quickly to their sibling’s plan and ran in the opposite direction. The gun-wielding bounty-hunter ran after [Y/N], hostlering one of her wholegrain-caliber pistols.

[Y/N] slowed a bit, almost looked back to be sure they were the one Rye Cookie chose to follow before a gunshot sounded, causing them to speed up once again.

It wasn’t long into the chase before [Y/N] had encountered a dead end, turning to see the barrel of Rye Cookie’s genuine wholegrain-caliber a few inches from their face. Their eyes widened at the sight, clutching their loot closer to their chest.

Rye soon lowered the gun, letting out a breath. “You really gotta get that sister of yours under control, [Y/N],”

[Y/N] let out a sigh of relief they didn’t know they were holding. “Jeez, Rye, I thought you were actually gonna shoot me this time,” They fell back slightly against the wall behind them, allowing the sack they’d carried to fall to the ground next to them.

“Now why would I do that, darlin’?” The usually stern bounty hunter had a light tone lacing her southern accent. [Y/N] let a breathless chuckle to escape their throat. “Well you were pretty convincing, could’a gotten me with the warning shot,”

“Well I didn’t, did I?” The cookie’s emerald eyes glanced over to the bag beside her bounty. “There’s no actual treasure in there, is there?” The treasure hunter gave her a sly grin, their tone teasing as they taunted the bounty hunter.

“Of course not! Whatdaya take me for? An amateur?”

“What am I gonna do with you, [Y/N]..” Rye Cookie shook her head, her had shielding her eyes as she tried to keep herself from smiling at the playful tone in [Y/N]'s voice.

"Well, you're gonna let me go and we're gonna do this all again pretty soon," Now they were just stating the obvious. Rye Cookie didn't have it in her to lock [Y/N] up, they had too pretty of a face for it to be hidden behind a jail cell. "You're right about that one, darlin', but just so we're clear, you realize I won't always be chasin' after you, right?" It was the harsh reality of being in a relationship with one of a pair of thieves, especially the Spice Bandits. She'd sworn to bring in Chili Pepper, and she would keep that promise no matter the relationship.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, just hoping to prolong the inevitable I guess," They walked past Rye Cookie, trailing a hand over her shoulder.

"Speaking of my little sister, she'll be wondering where I am soon, no-" They were cut off, "No following ya, yeah, I know, meet at the Juice Saloon soon?"

[Y/N] chuckled, "No promises, Rye,"

Though only a short conversation, Rye Cookie felt herself falling more and more in love as she watched her bounty walk away. This was all they could get, but it was enough.

A bounty hunter in a relationship with a thief...

who would have thought?

[mccoymccoymccoy]

Riker - No Drinks

A/N I KNOW a shift on enterprise d wouldn’t end at 1900 yes i looked at the shift times but… it’s my story and i wanted you to get off at 1900 so for god’s sake you’re getting off at 1900.

Edit: forgot ten forward doors slide open LOL changed that line.

Word count: 2399

    “Doctor!”

    You spun on your heel away from the ensign you were advising, snapping to attention to greet your commanding officer. You had to try really hard not to be too casual- Riker had such a friendly face and demeanor. It may be okay for him to be casual with his crew, he’s earned it, but you’re not commanding officer. You’re the head of the science department.

    “Yes, sir?” You replied, meeting his eyes. He smiled. “Ease up, Doc. I was just coming to ask if you’d care to head over to Ten Forward after your shift for a drink.”

    Huh? Why would he want to get a drink with you? He’s your superior officer, as you just reminded yourself. You did recognize that being the head of the science department aboard a galaxy class ship was a pretty big deal, but your self esteem had never been that high, and you tended to greatly overlook your worth. Taking a second to add that to the equation to solve the question of why would he ask me why would he ask me, you concluded that he may want to learn more about what’s going on in your department. Maybe he’s interested in the specs of the volcanic rock you had him beam aboard for you and your team to study the other day. This all ran through your head at the speed of a blink, and you responded, “Of course, sir. I’ll be off at 1900, will that be okay?” He grinned. “Great. I’ll see you there, then.”

“Aye, sir,” you finalized as he turned and walked back in the direction he came. Such a quick visit. Had he really waited for a peaceful minute in the bridge to run down to you? Why not use the comm? Sighing, you turned as well, facing the ensign once again who had started giggling by the end of the quick encounter- She saw how flustered you’d gotten, despite not showing it to the commander. Behind your back, however, the skin around your nails was being picked raw, all for the ensign to notice. You sighed again, this time at her, trying and failing to keep from smiling. “Hush, ensign. Let’s get back to the lab.”

    The rest of the day seemed to slip away from you like the beaker from your hands earlier. You had zoned out, something incredibly unusual for you. But then again, it was incredibly unusual for the commanding officer of the ship to invite you out for a drink after work! Let alone one you already happened to find particularly intriguing and attractive!  The beaker was empty, thankfully, but still a bit of a hassle to clean up. “I’m off,” you called from the doorway, nodding in the direction of the ensign from earlier. She giggled and waved you away, and you finally set out for Ten Forward. 

Regardless of the actual temperature, it always felt warm in there- it had such a positive atmosphere, as the only place people could truly relax most of the time. You entered quietly, trying to not disturb the dim and hum. Guinan smiled at you warmly as you walked by, which you returned, of course. Wouldn’t be the same without her here. Looking back in front of you, you instantly spotted Commander Riker sitting at a table close by, a drink in hand and one waiting on the opposite side for you. He looked pretty like a statue sitting there, lit up from the glowing table. You swallowed hard and tried to shove those thoughts out of your head. 

 “Y/N! Hey. Glad you came, I was getting worried you wouldn’t show.”

You tried not to blush as you slipped your lab coat from your shoulders and onto the back of your chair as you sat down. “And disobey my commanding officer? I think not,” you laughed. His usual pep faded for a moment, face growing slightly solemn. “Is that how you see this?”

That damn equation started running through the halls of your minds again. Commander. Friend? Superior officer. Date? You looked down. “Well, sir, I thought maybe you had called me here to ask about how it’s going in my department. Did I think wrong?” 

The smile returned to his face slightly, chuckling lightly before responding: “It’s not a work matter, Y/N. I was actually hoping to get to know you a little better, to be friends. I mean, if that includes talking about work, then that’s alright too, I just-” your chin tilted back up and to the side slightly, a confused look. “Friends?” So he did want to be friends? It makes sense, rationally. You were technically a very crucial person onboard, despite mostly keeping to yourself.

“Yes, friends. What’s wrong with that?” You looked down again. Friends. Friends!

“Nothing, sir, just surprised is all. I thought you only liked to hang out with your bridge crew.”

“I like to hang out with them because they’re there with me. If you had work on the bridge, I’d want to hang out with you. And hey, not at work. No ‘sir’. You can call me Will.”

The man emanated a warmth unlike one you’ve ever felt. You smiled at him, leaning back into your chair and finally taking your drink. You raised it to your mouth, but asked before sipping, “Alright then, Will. What were you hoping to learn about me?” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, at a loss. God, that was hot. “Christ, Y/N, never made friends before? You act like this is an interrogation.”

“A little direction would be nice, sir-” you shook your head, smirking as you met his eyes. “Will.”

He smiled that ever-charming smile, and his eyes seemed to glitter with what could’ve been anything- curiosity, wonder, lust? It didn’t matter in the moment. Leaning back, holding his glass by the rim, his voice suddenly seemed to be the only one in the room. “Okay then, how about this: What are you doing here? Why did you join Starfleet?”

Once he had gotten you talking, the only was he could shut you up was to talk in return and tell you about himself. The two of you continued like that for a couple hours until yawns started to invade every sentence, and Will had decided it best you called it a night. It was so exciting, you didn’t expect him to be so interesting! Cool, of course, but not all cool people are interesting. Will Riker was cool and interesting, and damn good-looking to boot. He had asked you all about what went on in the labs on a daily basis- considering he practically runs the ship, he did already know what happens, but he asked what you do specifically. On a daily basis, for fun, as challenges. He asked what places have been your favourite to visit, or rather maybe, get samples to study from. He asked what makes you tick and what unwinds you. Beyond that, he answered every one of his own questions and yours. You knew how he’d been offered his own ship but passed it up to stay here. You knew about how he loved jazz and played trombone and piano. You knew about how cunning he had grown to be in poker, how he’d outwit everyone at the table in the weekly matches, and even taught classes on it. 

The door to your quarters slid open, and as soon as you stepped inside you leaned back against the wall. How could you get so tired from just talking? It was late, sure, but you spent extra hours in the lab all the time. Maybe because of the dim lighting in Ten Forward? Or, more likely, the synthehol he seemed to be pumping into you. Perhaps he forgot he was a walking fridge, and you were not. You exhaled heavily, doing your best to take off your shoes and drag yourself to bed, and as soon as you got there it was as if you’d been hit by a tranquilizer. 

Many, many hours later- unknown to you, sleeping- the door chirped. It was well past your shift start, and someone seemed to have taken it upon themself to go check on you. The door chirped again, and was followed by a couple quick knocks. Met with no response, the knocker came in- what if you were hurt? Better to be safe and check, right? 

Riker entered your room. Over his arm was your lab coat, which you’d left in Ten Forward the night before by accident. Stepping cautiously, he said softly: “Hello? It’s Will.” He placed the jacket over the back of a chair at your table. “Y/N?” He called out, louder this time. You rustled-

OW. You were instantly met with the signature hangover headache, cringing and scrunching your nose in pain. Hissing, you squinted at the door arch of your room, and slid off the side of your bed. Riker looked in the doorway and saw you, shuffling towards him, messy haired and wrinkly-clothed, and smiled. Huh? What’s the commanding officer doing in your quarters?

“Oh no. Back to bed with you,” he said gently. What? You did your best to stand up straight while running a hand through your hair. “Commander. What are you doing here?” A pained groan escaped despite your best efforts to appear alright. He stepped closer, reaching out to gently hold onto your arms to make sure you stayed upright. His eyes didn’t lock onto you anywhere, rather flickered all around your face as if scanning you. He looked at you thoughtfully, and responded, “You left your coat on your chair last night, I came to bring it back. You didn’t answer the door so I, and excuse me, let myself in to make sure you were okay. You’re not. Go back to sleep, Y/N.” He half guided, half pushed you back to sitting on your bed. “I’m not fine, but I’ve been worse. I’ve got to get to the lab now, probably. What time is it?” Your head was in your hands at this point. Will was walking away from you, and it made you sad for some reason- you wanted him near you. You didn’t know until he had been, but now you did. 

“You’re not going to work, Doctor. You’ve got the day off today.” Your eyes darted up and you opened your mouth to object, but he cut you off right as your face twisted with pain- “My orders. Lay down.” Figuring you may as well take the opportunity, you complied. He walked back over with a hypospray and used it on you, causing the pain to almost entirely disappear immediately. You closed your eyes to enjoy the relief for a moment, and felt the bed dip next to you. Your eyes flitted open, and Riker was sitting there on the edge smiling, reaching out and petting your hair. “Commander? What are you doing?” His smile dropped slightly. “How much of last night do you remember?”

You closed your eyes again. You went to the bar. You talked. You had a drink. You had another drink, and another. Rubbing your temples, you sighed. “I remember drinking, but that’s obvious. I remember talking. Laughing. You were very pleasant, as far as I can tell. What happened?” He shifted on the bed, facing you better. “We really got to know each other, Y/N. And for that I’m glad. But if you can’t remember, I’d be more than willing to give it another go.”

His eyes had an unexplainable sort of glitter to them, as if he was really excited about what he was saying. Oh man, what did you say? You knew your headache would come back if you thought about it too hard, so you asked: “Sir, did I say anything I should know about?”

His features softened yet again, a seemingly impossible feat. He moved his hand from the crook of your neck to reach down and hold one of your hands, which in your groggy, sore state, confused you even more. “Well,” he started, barely above a whisper, “you did agree to call me Will now. And then we talked for hours. And…” He trailed off, brushing the back of your hand with his thumb. His hands were a lot bigger than yours, and it provided a sort of comfort you wouldn’t have been able to explain if asked.

“And?”

“And, well, you said you thought you might love me.” 

“I think I could.” It slipped out. Your eyes widened immediately, and you felt your face flush what was probably a deeper red than his shirt. It just slipped out! You barely knew him! Tearing your hand away from his, you brought both of them up to cover your face. “I’m sorry sir, that just slipped out, I, I’m sure it’s the headache, I-” He chuckled softly, and you peeked through your fingers. “Huh?”

“You’re adorable, you know that?” You stopped peeking and blushed harder.

“Hey.” He gently took your hands away from your face and held them both, tightly this time. “I think I might love you too.”

“Sir, er- Will,” you corrected, trying to look anywhere but him, “I hate to be frank, but we barely know each other, At least, I don’t remember getting to know you very well. Love is entirely the wrong word. Sure I like you, but one night isn’t much to go off of, and you’re my superior officer, and-”

And he kissed you. Still holding your hands, he brought them close to his chest, and pressed against you ever so slightly. He pulled away, once again smiling down at you, and once again presenting a whole new level of what now appeared to be love. “Everything’s alright. People date for a reason, right? To get to know each other and see if they’re a good fit?” You nodded, doe eyed and starstruck. “Well, Y/N. Would you care to head over to Ten Forward for a date tomorrow?” He had mimicked his initial invitation. You nodded again, grinning, still in a bit of a shock over all of this. He returned your grin and ruffled your hair before standing up and turning to leave. 

You grabbed his hand- “No drinks this time though, yeah?”

“No drinks.”

[bubbyleh]

Do I Know You? - Chapter 2

cw, bubby gets slapped. it’s offscreen, but it’s still heard.

Chapter 2: Further Interactions

Bubby is deeply disturbed by Coomer’s new coworker in a way that they can’t place. Maybe it’s the fact that, when they look at him, they see a slightly older version of themself, but to the left. Like how their hair’s the same color, but their cuts are different. Or how they both wear glasses, but Kleiner’s are squares and Bubby’s are more circular. Small details that make the two of them similar, yet not quite the same.

Still, though, Bubby doesn’t see a need to make a big deal about it. They don’t work in Anomalous Materials, so if they’re lucky, they might never have to interact with Isaac Kleiner again.

Of course, Bubby’s never been lucky.

“I think you’d like him, Bubby,” Coomer tells them. They’re snuggled up in bed together, Bubby attempting to drift off despite Coomer’s best efforts.

Bubby groans. “Stop trying to make me make friends.” They bury their face in Coomer’s chest in an attempt to drown him out.

“I’m just saying,” Coomer continues, “I would like to have some friends down here. And I think you could use one, too.”

“Fine, whatever,” Bubby shoves a spare pillow into Coomer’s face. “Stop talking, I’m sleepy.”

It wouldn’t be until the morning that Bubby would realize that, in their tiredness, they had actually agreed with Coomer.

- ○ -

It starts with a simple request. Coomer, while rummaging through his bag, realizes that he has both the keys to his Black Mesa issued dormitory. Which would usually be alright, he can always just let Bubby in with an apology.The complicating factor is that Bubby’s working a late shift tonight, which means that Coomer will be sleeping like a log by the time they make it home.

“You live in the singles’ dorms, correct?” Coomer asks Kleiner while the two are on their way out from Anomalous Materials.

“Yes, I do,” Kleiner replies. “Why?”

“Well, that tram line is on the way to Chemical Engineering, and…” Coomer dangles the spare set of keys. “I accidentally brought Bubby’s keys with me today.”

Kleiner glances at the keys, smiling a bit when he catches sight of the keychain. Bubby had seemed to be a bit of a misanthrope when they encountered each other a while ago, so the fact that they apparently had a cute little dragon keychain was amusing.

“You want me to bring them their keys?” Kleiner reasons.

Coomer nods. “If it’s not too much trouble…”

Kleiner’s really got to figure out how to say no to people, because he agrees without hesitation. And then, he spends the whole tram line towards Chemical Engineering nervous out of his mind. Bubby did not at all seemed to be pleased to meet him before, how are they going to react to him showing up out of nowhere with their keys?

So Kleiner practices what he’s going to say in his head. As the tram shudders to a stop outside its destination, Kleiner keeps his prepared greeting in the front of his mind.

It’s at this point that Kleiner realizes another flaw in his plan. He has no clue how to get around Chemical Engineering. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be too hard to find the only person working late, but really, he should have asked more questions before parting ways with Coomer.

When he hears muffled voices, Kleiner thinks, ‘Ah! This is the way to go!’

When he realizes that the muffled voices are shouting, though, Kleiner stops dead in his tracks outside the office.

“You can’t fucking-” one voice says. “Nobody else here has to work these crazy hours!”

“You aren’t everybody else,” a second voice responds, cold and indignant.

“I can’t handle this,” the first voice states harshly. “I have a life outside of here.”

“That’s a privilege you’ve earned. Don’t make us reconsider.”

“Like you could fucking do anything about it,” the first voice spits. “What else are you going to do with me? The project’s dead! You couldn’t hurt me if you-”

Smack!

“You listen to me, you little brat,” the second voice suddenly shouts. “You were put in this department because we need you here, and you’re going to do the work we tell you to do! This is what we made you for!”

The first voice is silent. Without another word, the second figure storms out of the room, brushing past Kleiner as if he weren’t even there. As he leaves, an uneasy tension follows him.

As silence fills the hall, Kleiner waits for a moment. Then two. Then three. Gently, he raps on the office door in front of him.

“Y-yeah?” Bubby croaks out from inside.

Kleiner enters the office, finding Bubby sitting on the floor against the wall, their knees drawn to their chest. He holds out the keys. “Coomer asked me to bring you these.”

It takes a second for Bubby to respond, looking towards the keys and back towards Kleiner. There’s a clear red mark on the side of their face. With a sigh, they hold out their hand. “Thanks.”

But after dropping the keys in Bubby’s hand, Kleiner’s surprised to find that his first instinct isn’t to just turn around and walk away. Instead, he sits down right next to Bubby and waits.

Bubby retreats back in on themself, practically curled into a ball. After a long bout of quiet, Kleiner finally decides to speak.

“Are you alright?” he asks them.

Bubby peeks out at him from behind their arms. They squint, as if studying Kleiner, before looking away. “No,” they admit. “You… heard that, didn’t you?”

Kleiner doesn’t respond, but apparently the look he gives Bubby is enough of an answer.

“I was made down here,” Bubby reveals solemnly. “Well, not in Chemical Engineering, but… Black Mesa made me.”

The first thought Kleiner has is ‘That’s absurd.’ Because there’s no way Black Mesa has the capabilities to make an entire person from scratch. Hell, their cloning projects have barely taken off! But, strangely, he finds that some part of him trusts what Bubby says. So instead, he asks, “They have that kind of technology?”

Bubby frowns. “I don’t know the exact process. I’m not allowed to know a lot about my project.”

“Well, I think he was wrong,” Kleiner tells Bubby. “You deserve some time off.”

“Okay,” Bubby replies automatically.

“No, really,” Kleiner states. “I know we’ve never really spoken before, but you seem like a good person, Bubby. Coomer clearly loves you, he talks about you a lot.” He chuckles to himself at that. “You two deserve some time together.”

Surprisingly, Bubby laughs, tired but genuine. It’s almost familiar in a way that Kleiner can’t place, like something he heard long ago, but different enough that he can’t place it. Then, to his shock, Bubby leans against him, resting their head on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Bubby smiles, but Kleiner’s not sure what they’re so happy about.

It’s comforting, too. Kleiner once again has that sense of deja vu, as if something like this has happened before. Maybe that’s just the kind of vibe Bubby has. They were made in a lab, so perhaps they’re just familiar to everyone they meet.

Suddenly, Bubby looks up at Kleiner and glares. “Don’t tell Coomer about this.”

[deathisanartmetzli]

Hungry Teeth || Eilidh & Metzli

TIMING: Recent, at night

PARTIES: @braindeacl​ @deathisanartmetzli​

SUMMARY: Eilidh confronts Metzli. It goes exactly as planned.

CONTAINS: Domestic abuse, Emotional Abuse, Suicidal Ideation

Eilidh and Metzli had quite the fun together ever since they finally met in person. It was just the fun they needed to keep themselves occupied, keep lying to themselves that they were okay. Because there were times when the cost of truth was so high that the need to in-debt our own hearts to heartbreak was high. Distractions would be more than enough, which is why they were more than willing to meet when Macleod contacted them for another get-together. “This time I’ll find you.” She had a way of enticing them.

The walk from the parking area to the secluded part of the forest that Macleod had guided them to before was peaceful. The smallest sound could be heard by their keen hearing. They whistled, a loud and prolonged note that echoed through the trees. Nothing yet, so they continued. Based on the last two encounters, they knew Macleod was spry and mischievous—probably waiting for the right moment to leap out and begin the fun.

Leaves and twigs crunched beneath their tennis shoes. Steps were slow and calculated as they scanned the area for any anomalies, whistling loudly in short bursts. They were trying their best to not fall prey to any surprises their fun-friend may have.

Eilidh waited. High up in a tree, eyes and ears pricked for any signs of oddities. Her breath slowed, eventually becoming non-existent. It felt strange, that stillness. But it did not cause any urgency. Those rhythmic breaths were just a deep-seated instinct, not a cause for survival. She sat on that branch like a mere statue. Until that whistling. Motion finally returned to her as she looked. Darkness was all that met her, that which clouded the whole forest. But as whistling grew louder, so did crack of twigs. Closer and closer. Until a figure walked passed a piece of moonlight that broke through the leaves. Gave the sounds a source. A name. Metzli. A growl threatened to escape. But she swallowed it down.

Waiting, waiting still. Metzli continued their path, unaware of those eyes following. Followed when body couldn’t. Until they found themself below the chosen tree. It was Eilidh’s legs that now unfroze, feet pressed against that trunk. Quick jerk and she was propelled. Right onto Metzli. Bodies collided with a force, like the times before. But intentions changed. Her hands gripped into the flesh, nails piercing. Growl whispered into their ear. Only stopped when teeth decided to pierce as well. Right into their shoulder.

Teeth tore flesh, something that wasn’t out of the ordinary for the two. Metzli couldn’t help the smile that jerked onto their face the moment of impact. The two crashed to the ground as Eilidh appeared from the sky and continued her affections. Well, what they perceived as affections. She had mentioned she had been going easy before, proven by their last encounter that they enjoyed. But this was different. The energy behind the movements was malicious and held none of the pleasurable idiosyncrasies from before. In an attempt to determine what was going on, they tried to crane their neck to kiss Eilidh, only to be greeted with snapping teeth. She was definitely angry. “Macleod?! What the fuck?!” They yelled, getting a firm grip on Eilidh’s head and flipping her over.

They could already feel the black blood flow down their back as they huffed. “I know fun, and that wasn’t it. What’s gotten into you?” Metzli asked, returning a growl of their own. Fangs that had pierced Eilidh’s skin before were on display, ready to bite in hostility rather than enjoyment. Legs bent to get close to the ground. It was a common stance, one that could aid with maneuvering the opponent’s weight against them during an attack. If one good thing came out of being in the clan, it was the ability to fight.

Body curled on impact—switched from back to feet upon ground in a mere moment. Eilidh hunched low as well. Untamed and primal—formed by urges and practice not formal trainings. A lion in the grass. She hissed just the same, though teeth chattered with that touch of novelty. Hissed tempted to turn to laughter and found itself flickering between. A part of her enjoying the thrill. Anger had not completely burned away her fondness of Metzli. But actions had consequences. And anger needed outlets. Milo was dealing with enough. She would not settle for others adding to the pile. “Tip for tap.” Simple explanation managed to break free between intervals of hisses. “One more bite’ll do.” That brief semblance of civility was over. She lunged forward, teeth managing to snap with even more vigor. Hand slipped up her own thigh—swift and subtle movement. Secured one of her daggers, with intentions to slash, as teeth provided a distraction.

Confusion painted onto Metzli’s face at Eilidh’s explanation. “What the fuck are you talking about? As far as I’m concerned, all that rough stuff was consensual. We both liked it. We both—” But the final words couldn’t be spoken, couldn’t be said as teeth blurred towards them to attack. Legs lunged, arms cocked back, and their whole body tensed to avoid her attempt. While they had successfully maneuvered around in defense, Eilidh’s teeth still managed to graze them. She was ferocious, she was absolutely powerful. And while there was a part of Metzli that loved it and could appreciate it, they wanted it to stop so everything could make sense.

Grabbing at the bleeding crescents on their arm, they looked back at Eilidh. “I have enough shit to deal with, Macleod. I just came here to have fun. So please just explain this to me!” Metzli was almost angry, not pushed over the brink to fully see red. It would take more than a random attack to do that.

As two bodies met once more—brief but cutting—Eilidh quickly turned on her feet upon passing. Not letting the other out of sights. Blood touched her tongue, from that kiss of a bite. She spit it out, returned it to the ground with the rest. Seeing that blood, the fresh marks on their skin, it calmed parts of the vengeful ire. Some sense of balance seemed to be restored. But the wild would not release its grip on her. And though she seemed placated, there was still a fierce look in her eyes. “Explanation will cause retaliation. Just don’t fucking hurt kids.” There was a looming weight upon Metzli, more than usual. In another state of mind, she’d probably care to acknowledge. But instead she just took a fleeting note. Her mouth choosing another hiss over that acknowledgement.  

Kids? The word echoed in their mind, multiplying over and over again until they could find an answer. Milo. “Right. You're his “supernatural mom,”” Metzli made air quotes as they rolled their eyes. It felt so ridiculous that he tattled and sicked his mommy on them. So ridiculous that he had two maternal figures and probably took this one for granted too. Fists clenched, trembling with a mixture of anger and sorrow.

“He deserved that fucking punch and I’d do it again. You don’t get to play a fucking victim and treat your parents like shit when they’re actually just trying to love you.” Metzli paused to center themselves. Anger was a blinding emotion, but Eilidh wasn’t the center of it. They didn’t want to fight with her and ruin their connection to welcomed distractions. She was just doing her part in a story that was only partially told.

Metzli stood tall and released any defensive tension their body had. Though they were still on alert, they wanted to show Macleod that they weren’t looking to fight. Not with her at least. “And he’s not a kid. He’s a fucking bratty adult that has parents worried about him. He should only be so fucking lucky.” An air of jealousy and disdain tethered itself to each word, making their voice tremble with tears threatening to form.

Eilidh stared at them with a curiosity, a beat taken for understanding. Until the connection was made. A chip of her was miffed that they realized her intentions so quickly. But mostly she found herself feeling that satisfaction again, in the fact that he called her a “supernatural mom” to others. If Metzli had left it at that, she would’ve left. Culmination for the satisfaction of deed done and of that moniker usage had settled her enough to lose interest in further altercations. But then they had to continue. Anger returned with a new found purpose. Returned that growl to her throat, those teeth to the air. All this because of those fucking people who call themselves his parents? Those pesky old lives still trying to burrow in like termites. “Do it again. I’ll bite off fucking more o’ you.” As Metzli appeared to regain their composure, Eilidh was content on holding onto her tensions. Still hunched with all sharp bits exposed. Forced her forward, with those sharp bits aimed to cut and slice and bite. As the two met and passed for a second time, as her feet turned to face them again, there was a wondering. Curious nature meshed with that ferocity, causing her to bark out, “Why’s it matter to you?” There was something lurking in Metzli, this was obvious. Close to surfacing but still trying to conceal. Something… sad. Anguishing. Potential answers flowed through Eilidh’s mind, but they were muffled by the frustrations lurking in her own self.

Eyes narrowed and a harsh breath released in a scoff. “You think I fucking care if you bite me? Go ahead. Fucking kill me while you’re at it.” Death was something they cared less and less about. Life had never had meaning, being nothing and having nothing was a belief Metzli had since childhood. But with recent experiences, that belief was filled with dirt, muddying up their thoughts. “Because—” Their voice stuck in their throat like they had swallowed nails, cracking from holding back emotion that they hated. Emotion they had shown too often as of late.

“Because if he really knew what bad parents were—parents that didn’t give love, but lashes to the back and darkness, he wouldn’t be acting like an asshole to them. Not when all they’re trying to do is help with his health.” Metzli spat bitterly and a tear fell down their face. The bridge from their words to their heart finally forming and pushing everything out.

Eilidh blinked. Growl tapered off into a grumble then to silence. Anger replaced with a passing confusion, at seeing one that had been so lively and free, beaten down by an invisible force. Beating out any sense of survival in its wake. Instincts told her to take the opportunity, to strike while defenses were down. But instead, she faltered. There was already a deep wound, deeper and harsher than anything she could place with teeth. It would be like attacking an injured being. Not an uncommon thing for her, when food was in question. But she had no intention to eat them—at least, not in that sense. Only vengeance had fueled her hand, and she felt it slip. Eyes and hands softened, ever slightly, in that slipping. But it wasn’t to totality. There was still an anger in her, which caused a scoff. Another grumble. “So, what? You hit him instead?” Teeth made one more click. “Don’t fucking take your shit out on him.”

Metzli looked away from Eilidh to avoid more of their tears being seen. It was obviously too late, but they wanted to feel like they had some sort of control. “Yeah, I know it was wrong. My friend Bex already got onto me.” A sniffle escaped, a little muffled by being turned away. “Can’t really focus on anyone’s feelings without a soul sometimes. I was so wrapped up in the anger that I was a little blinded. While I won’t say sorry, I know it wasn’t the right thing to do.” Eyes shut tightly to seal away the tsunami that desperately wanted to break through.

“Rage is a quiet thing, especially when it has no tangible object to cling onto. But when I saw him lash out at the loving and caring treatment of his own parents, it made my skin burn until I did it. But even then, I didn’t feel better.” Metzli turned back to Eilidh and swallowed sharply. “Are we done? Here and for good?” Hope that this fun companionship wouldn’t end pulled at their chest. They had few distractions, and Eilidh had been the best one.

Eilidh perked at the familiar name. So, the two knew each other. Well based on the way Metzli spoke of her. Curious. Head overcome with another intrigued quirk at the mention of a “lack” of soul. The first suggestion that Metzli was someone who believed a person could be alive without one. A topic, a debate, for another time. She let out a huff. Not enjoying how each sniffle and tear peeled back a finger of anger’s grip. She held on enough to render it a slight annoyance, a sense of boredom at the occurrences before her. A part of her tried to feel sympathy, but that confined irritation shooed it away. Reduced to just watching silently, faced turned to mask of indifference in its motionless. With a consideration to just turn and leave without a word of goodbye. Until eyes met each other. And that implication hung in the air. Of a cessation, in all ways. The final decision placed on the words about to be on her lips. But first, a pause. Building of anticipation. “Maybe.” Mirth clung to each syllable. Too much fun had been made, too much fun yet to be, for it to end here. She’ll hold onto it. At least for a little longer. “If you try it again. Besides that. Think we can manage.”

Tears ceased, the hope they had held onto gripping onto the answer Eilidh gave Metzli. The answer brought relief, and that relief turned into need. It beckoned them forward. To take an unsteady step towards Eilidh so they could move on. “Don’t plan on seeing him again anyway. Nothing to worry about, Mama Bear.” Though the words were playful and even a small semblance of their usual tone, their voice still shook ever so slightly.

Another step forward. Confidence and tension tightening into one. Metzli wanted, no, needed this to happen. “Shall we continue, Macleod? Maybe we can go a little rougher this time. Put me on my knees.” The tremor in their voice wouldn’t go away, but even that wouldn’t stop them from trying. Anxious and painful energy shifted and melded together into desire, something more pleasantly felt. And though it left a hollow ache in their chest, it was better than the sharp talons of jealousy and longing digging deeper.

Eilidh watched them approach—legs tempted to lunge forward as former target grew closer in range. And they twitched with that thought. But the former was important; old urges washing away, same as the tears on their face. Instead, something else began to bubble inside her. She let out a laugh at Metzli’s proposition. Encouraging that shift in cravings. Blossoming into primal desires. “Gladly.” Without warning, her legs performed that wanted action. Flying forward, launching onto Metzli. Fingers digging deep, teeth exposed. Echoing the first. But when her teeth met flesh, instead of piercing they nibbled. Hands gripped and pulled—forced the two to join the dirt. And then those hands began to explore, as did teeth. Once again there was a deep rumbling. But it was softer and lighter, and still just as hungry. And she was about to feast.

[florbexter]

Hi, I was wondering if you could write Tharafrong fake dating.

Hey there, wonder no more, here is your TharaFrong Fake Dating story :D Thank you so much for your prompt ^^

it’s real if you close your eyes and pretend | [AO3 Link]

“I really don’t understand why it has to be now of all times.”

Frong turned around slowly, the key to his office already in the lock, and tried to smile his politest smile. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy because Dr Thara was his self-appointed nemesis and he wanted to strangle him on the best of days.

“It has to be now because up until now you have successfully avoided me.”

He saw out of the corner of his eyes how Thara made a “Who? Me?” gesture while having that damn kind smile on his face that drove Frong wild. Sometimes he wished Thara would frown at him angrily or snap some impatient words just to have the feeling he was more than just a colleague for Thara. That he evoked more in Thara than just mild annoyance.

The noise from the party flowed through the corridors of the administration building and as much as Frong liked to mingle he already planned to make up an excuse to go home after he had made Thara sign those damn papers. His team had been responsible for planning the opening ceremony of the new hospital wing, but he hadn’t been involved much despite nodding while his colleagues had presented their plans in their weekly meetings.

“Here and here,” he said and pushed the clip board against Thara’s chest. Thara’s eyes strayed from his bookshelves over the amount of paperwork on his desk towards the huge bouquet his mum had brought him just yesterday and Frong took the liberty and poked him with the pen.

“Oh yes, here?”

“And here,” Frong added because it would be in typical Thara’s fashion to just sign once and then Frong had to run after him again. After the last stroke he quickly took the documents and put them in a folder on his desk.

“Thank you!”, he said, the smile etched painfully on his face and he ushered Thara out of his office because maybe it was just an office but Thara took up too much space, not only in Frong’s head, and Frong didn’t need to come back on the next day and imagine to smell Thara’s aftershave because he had lingered too long.

Nemesis. He had to concentrate on Thara making his life harder, determined to be the most obnoxious doctor Frong had to work with in his career in hospital management.

Nemesis. As much as he wanted to kiss Thara he wanted to punch him just as much. So. He straightened up his tie and wanted to tell Thara that he would go to the toilet to avoid having to go back to the party with him but got pushed back against the wall as they heard a group of people laughing and talking coming their way.

“No! I tell you they disappeared down this corridor.”

Frong looked at the arm across his chest and then frowned at Thara who, with no explanation whatsoever, shuffled closer to the end of the hallway to peek around the corner.

“How old are the rumours of them dating anyway? No one ever caught them. They don’t have the same address. I checked with Khun Chaow in HR.”

“You don’t need to live together to date!”

“But they bicker all the time.”

“Yes, because they’re in love. Dr Preeda already thought about giving Dr Thara the rooms in the new wing so they would be closer together. Maybe then someone will finally get the proof of them dating.”

Before Frong could fully comprehend the horror of the hospital thinking him and Thara dating for what seemed like a long time a hand fisted in his white button-down and he had to swat at Thara’s arm to get it away from his clothes.

“What are you doing?”, he hissed and finally Thara looked at him but the shine in his eyes was disconcerting. 

“The new wing has the view towards the park,” he said and Frong got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“I know,” he answered because the new wing was an addition to the administration building and their look over the park had been overshadowed by the construction noise for the last year.

“A stress-free atmosphere for my patients, with the park and0 the parking lot nearby so they don’t need to walk that far.”

Frong rolled his eyes. Why was Thara always showing that he was a compassionate doctor at the worst possible moment? The new wing was perfect for Thara’s patients who had to process that they needed brain surgery or who came back for check-up’s nervous about their results.

“You really think they will give the new wing to Dr Thara just because he might be dating P’Frong?”

The voices were close now, they had to stand in the next hallway and Thara’s hand was fisting the fabric of Frong’s jacket and why would that crazy idea forming in Frong’s head hurt any less than his first day at the hospital and Thara smiling at him, congratulating him and telling him that he’s happy to have his ‘Nong’ working with him?

“We’re bro’s, right?”, he had said and had dared to pat Frong on the back as if he was some kind of father figure for him. Thara would never see more in him than a friend of his younger cousin Frong had realized that day.

“Fine,” Frong said and he said it more to himself than anyone else and he ignored Thara’s “What?” and just said “Watch out,” before he pushed Thara slightly forward so that they stumbled slightly into the other hallway directly in front of the group of hospital staff gossiping about them.

Frong knew how appearance mattered. The truth was irrelevant when Frong’s shirt was crumpled up as if someone had pulled him against them for a deep kiss, when Thara’s hand was still on his jacket and he had a dazed look on his face because the thought about the new wing being his had overwhelmed him.

Frong cleared his throat, as if embarrassed and pushed his hands through his hair.

“Sawasdee khrap,” Frong said and did a Wai while he deliberately made a step away from Thara and everyone’s eyes latched onto Thara’s hand slowly parting from Frong’s jacket. Some did a Wai back while some just continued to stare at them.

“We should go back to the party,” Frong said with an apologizing glance to the group and put his hand on the small of Thara’s back to move him forward. There was an audible gasp from their audience and maybe they would have questioned their charade with Thara mumbling “What?” a couple of times but their attention was not on Thara’s face. It was actually a nice change of paths because more often than not it was Frong who was left speechless by Thara. Frong pushed Thara along until a few more hallways were between them and their colleagues.

“What happened?”, Thara asked.

“I just got you the new wing. They will tell Dr Preeda, who will want to see for themself but since we won’t confirm anything, they’re going to give you the rooms.”

“Confirm what?”

Frong rolled his eyes and buttoned his jacket up. The party was only one door away and he needed to say his goodbyes and go home to lay in bed and bemoan his poor life choices.

“Fake Dating, Phi, it’s a thing.”

+++

“It’s a food delivery. Love food delivery. Food, delivered with love.”

Frong had told himself that he wouldn’t look up. He had stuff to do and no time to play Thara’s daily game of ‘embarrassing Frong as much as possible’. As he heard the giggle outside, who could be anyone from his assistant to his supervisor – because Thara had that effect on people -, he couldn’t suppress his annoyance anymore and threw Thara a look who quickly closed the door behind him. Maybe he thought it would ruin their fake dating ruse when people saw that Frong glared daggers at him.

“I really brought you food,” he said after Frong just looked at him for a while and put a container on Frong’s desk atop some important documents.

“Thank you,” Frong said because his mum didn’t raise an unpolite man and he really was hungry.

“How is the move going?” Thara interpreted his question as a request to make himself comfortable in Frong’s office and he immediately flopped down on a chair and unpacked the sandwiches he brought.

“At this moment they are drilling big screws into the floor to secure the MRI and then no one can take the rooms away from me anymore,” Thara said and the faraway look of utter bliss on his face made Frong sigh.

“Congratulations.”

Thara stretched out his legs and took a huge bite from his sandwich.

“Thank you. What are you doing there?”

“Making it appear as if we have the money to buy a new autoclave for the lab.”

“We don’t have the money for that?”

Frong looked up and maybe he was now the one with a weird shine in his eyes because Thara raised an eyebrow at him.

“We will have the money for it,” Frong said because he refused to let the years studying boring business administration lectures be for nothing.

“Shouldn’t the lab chef make the proposal for new equipment?”

“I’m better at it,” Frong said and it wasn’t even bragging. He wasn’t going to let something like wording get in the way of the hospital getting the best machines possible. But he knew, that at this very moment, he was writing utter garbage in the proposal because Thara distracted him. The whole fake dating thing distracted him more than he thought it would. Which was just another proof that he needed to run his ideas by his brothers before he made decisions. They were really good at frowning at him and shaking their heads pitifully.

He leaned back with a sigh and took one of the sandwiches. Thara even thought about getting him some without tomatoes and he needed to stop this madness as soon as possible. It was disconcerting that he was getting warm feelings because of tomatoes.

“Do you want to fake a messy break-up or a quiet one?”, he asked and for whatever reason, his heart decided to pound quicker and he hated himself for that. It wasn’t like they had gone the full yard with this whole fake relationship. They never had met outside of the hospital for fake dates or had told their families about this. All Thara did was bringing him food while smiling brightly at everyone he encountered before he made a huge announcement to enter Frong’s office. Like the nuisance he was.

Thara stared at him now, a bit of lettuce hanging out of his mouth and Frong refused to be charmed.

“What do you mean?”, Thara asked.

“You said they aren’t able to take the new wing away from you now. We got what we wanted. We can stop this.”

“But I just bought the new terrarium.”

“The… what?”

Thara made a hand gesture that must mean something but Frong had no idea what.

“The new terrarium, for Cupcake. I thought it would live up my office to have him there.”

Frong squinted at Thara and refused to succumb to the desire to swear at him but the ‘what the fuck is Cupcake!’ already burned on his tongue.

“Cupcake?”, he asked instead, and he really shouldn’t have because the rest of his lunch break was spent looking at pictures of a lizard.

He later realized that Thara had successfully deflected the topic and that he had no idea if they were going to ‘break up’ or not in the foreseeable future.

+++

“Please close your eyes for a moment.”

“It’s just a bump,” Frong grumbled but did as he was told. Thara in doctor-mode was strangely compelling, and it didn’t even hurt much when Thara carefully palpated the swelling on his forehead.

“It was quite a sight seeing Nurse Fiat carrying you here.”

Frong snorted. “He didn’t carry me.”

“He had you flung over his shoulders.”

Frong opened his eyes to glare at Thara but got hushed and closed his eyes again.

“Do you feel dizzy or disorientated?”

“I’m disorientated, yes.”

“Really?”

Frong snorted again. “I’m disorientated because I thought they would bring me to the emergency room and not to you.”

“I guess they think my loving care will be more efficient than what they’re doing in the ER.”

Did Thara sound smug? Frong hadn’t seen him for almost two weeks because he had gone back to his old habit of disappearing the moment Frong saw him. Frong had the feeling it was about the whole ‘lets-break-up-our-fake-relationship’ thing and he wondered why? Was there more Thara wanted out of their fake dating? Was there another wing he wanted for himself? Did he want to transform the whole hospital in a centrum for treating brain diseases?

“Just give me painkillers should I get a headache later,” he suggested and then frowned. Was Thara massaging his temples? What kind of medical examination was this?

“Let me get you something cold for your bump. As long as you’re not dizzy or feel like you need to throw up everything should be fine.”

Frong finally opened his eyes and tried not to be too obvious about his curiosity about Thara’s new office. It was significantly closer to Frong’s own office than his old one, which should make it easier to track him down for signatures, it was also a lot bigger than his old one, fresh jasmines in a colourful vase, and a huge terrarium stood at one wall. The home of Cupcake the lizard.

“Don’t startle, this is going to be cold.”

“I can hold it,” Frong said but his hand hovered uselessly in the air while Thara put is chair closer to Frong’s and gently pressed a cold pack on his forehead.

Thara’s gentleness was, as always, the thing that undid Frong. He had witnessed it from their first encounter - years ago - while Frong had still been in university and since then on frequent occasions in the hospital. The way he talked to his patients, how he brought them flowers just to cheer them up for a couple of minutes, the way he endured the cold of the ice pack himself to take the strain from Frong. You felt like you were important around Thara and it could get in the way of convincing yourself Dr Thara was the enemy.

Frong knew that Thara thought of him as a spoiled cat which just needed to be scratched behind the ears to make it purr, which fine, was mostly true, but it was better for Frong’s state of mind to push the frenemies agenda than giving in and let himself be petted. Because he had no idea, or rather knew, that Thara didn’t want him as his favourite house cat and now he needed to stop thinking in cat metaphors; maybe the door had hit his head a lot harder than he thought.

+++

“This is on so many levels unprofessional and childish,” Frong hissed and involuntarily made a step backwards and almost crashed into the shelves behind him. Thara surged forward to grab him by the shoulders and they stared at the package full of something on the highest shelf, hovering, quivering dangerously close at the edge of the shelf. Frong had phantom pain about the package hitting his head.

“Why are we hiding from my mum in a supply closet? What madness is this? Why are they even so many supply closets in this hospital?”

“You campaigned for more supply closets between the stations to shorten the ways and to have them individualized so supplies don’t go to waste.”

Frong stared at Thara in utter bafflement. That had been a rhetorical question for god’s sake!

“What are you talking about?”

“I read the protocols of the management meetings.”

“What?”

“I’m in the mailing list.”

Frong wasn’t sure if they had stumbled into an alternate universe when Thara had grabbed him after he had found him to tell him that his mum had been in his office to talk about their relationship. It felt like it.

His mum had been about to round the corner and for whatever reason Frong had decided to comply with Thara’s childish plan to hide from her. Now he had no idea where she was and if she would see them when they would come out of the closet – ha! – and he really didn’t need that kind of conversation.

He knew where the jasmines on Thara’s desk came from and he knew that his mum always visited Thara when she came by to bring him his own bouquet but they never talked about it and he feared that his mum knew why, because he hadn’t been able to shut up about Thara when he had been in university. Oh, the horror of mothers who knew too much about their kids.  

“I just… I didn’t want to lie to her, so I escaped,” Thara admitted and the closet didn’t have much space for two grown men to do much in terms of movement, but he was able to convey his embarrassment with a little shrug of his shoulders.

“My mum has three sons, we lied to her plenty of times, she would have forgiven you,” Frong mumbled. He edged closer to the door. Would he hear something? What if she knew they were in there and stood in front of the door?

“This is a mess,” he sighed and stumbled again, stumbled forward as something soft fell against his back and then sighed against Thara’s shoulder because of course, of course, this was going to happen. Thara’s hand hovered over his hips and he nevertheless felt the warmth of them and wasn’t it telling that Thara didn’t even want to touch him?

“You okay?”, Thara asked against his ear, soft and careful and Frong just nodded.

“These closets are health hazards,” Frong said and straightened up. This was stupid. He was almost thirty years old; he wasn’t going to hide from his mother just because he made a dumb decision.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, “We just go with the truth and if she doesn’t believe the fake dating thing we say something along the lines of ‘our relationship was short but sweet and we are better off as bros’.”

“Bros?”

Thara’s hands were still almost around his waist and Frong would have liked to have some distance between them because he felt like he could feel Thara breath, but whatever had fallen off the shelf blocked his way back.

“I didn’t know you think of us as bros,” Thara said and whatever discomfort Frong was feeling got washed away when his irritation took over and he had to look at Thara’s face.

“I’m sorry? You were the one who declared us bros. My first workday, 15 September, I remember it clearly.”

Which was maybe not the best thing to do, Frong thought; to acknowledge that something like that was still a clear memory in his mind. He couldn’t suppress the grimace taking over his face and why where they still in this dumb closet? He needed to be able to hide his face from Thara, this was far too close for his comfort.

And then he felt Thara’s hands on his hips, warm and so unmistakable there and hands really shouldn’t feel like they were able to leave a brand mark on his skin. He warily glanced at Thara who just smiled at him and if he was going to do something in his life it was wiping that damn kind smile off Thara’s face but…

The warmth spread through him, from his skin to his bones and he felt the gentle pressure of Thara’s hand, like coaxing and knew that if he broke out of Thara’s hold, Thara would let him.

“Frong,” Thara said, his words on his ear, like a spell and Frong swallowed. Thara’s mouth almost touched his skin, and if Frong ever had to choose to remember one touch for eternity it was that of Thara’s lips grazing his cheek, from his ear over his jawline to the edge of his lips.

“Frong… We aren’t bros,” Thara murmured and the tiny little sound escaping Frong’s lips was a bit embarrassing but mostly the truest he has ever been around Thara.

And yes, maybe they really weren’t bros, maybe their relationship had evolved and the little forth and back they did all the time was more, more of running away from each other, but still orbiting around each other, and always coming back, more flirting than Frong would have ever admitted.

He tilted his head a bit, bringing their lips closer together and said: “We may not be bros but whatever happens next doesn’t happen in a supply closet in the hospital.”

Thara’s delighted smile was worth the possibility of stumbling out and running into his mother.

 end.

[song-of-storms162]

To Treasure a Treasure -Raihan X Reader-

Christmas is a time for giving but you have always had a hard time ‘giving’ yourself a gift. Meanwhile, Raihan’s not sure what to get you until a chance encounter stemming from your unselfishness gives him an idea. Part two “Mistletoe” is up!

“So remind me again why we’re doing this?” Raihan holds up the sprig of mistletoe and dangles it in front of Leon’s face. Leon who was checking his box of decorations grinned up at him.

“Well, we’ve both been so busy with everything, Sonia suggested we do these decorations,” said Leon as he nods at the box in his arms.

“You mean the ones that require...” Raihan makes a motion with his hand and Leon nods.

“Height? Yep. Do you see Allister trying to hang these?” Leon holds up a bunch of colorful streamers. Raihan chuckles before opening the door to the room they’re using for the party.

“I suppose not.” The two place the boxes on a nearby table and Raihan takes a moment to take in the room. It was odd to see Ballonlea’s stadium descked out in Christmas decorations, it wasn’t every year that Galar’s climate decided to do a white Christmas for the whole region. Most of the time, the usual Christmas Party the Gym Leaders held took place in Circhester, where snow fell all year round. But perhaps the clouds had decided to bring snow to other towns and cities this year, Ballonlea being one of them.

“Well, (Name) would sooner have them all placed with herself than see Allister fall from a ladder,” said Leon as he began taking out decorations.

Raihan perked at the name of the Champion’s cousin. “Oh, will they be joining us?”

Leon set a Pikachu ornament back in. “Of course, and they’ll be coming with presents too.”

Raihan hoped his face hadn’t betrayed him. “Huh, that’s sweet.”

“Yep,” said Leon before turning to Raihan. “You know there’s another reason why everyone else wanted you to help place these.”

“Oh, really?” Raihan raised an eyebrow at his friend.

“Yep.” Leon took out one of the pieces of mistletoe. “That way you’ll know where all of these are.”

Leon laughed as Raihan threw one of the streamers at his face.

Meanwhile you were getting ready to board your Salamence in front of Rose Tower, having just finished a meeting with the Chairman himself regarding the Battle Tower.

Salem the Salamence let out a noise of annoyance when you brought him out. “I know you don’t like the cold,” you tried to reason with your Dragon-type. “But I just need you to drop me off at Wyndon’s shopping center, okay?”

Your Pokémon let out a huff at you before lowering their wings so you could climb onto their back. You quickly mounted your Pokémon, kissing their forehead when it turned to glance at you. “Thank you Salem.”

Salem let out another huff before it took to the skies of Galar.

It didn’t take you long to gather up your presents. You had decided to leave them with the many shopkeepers to not only have them wrapped but to also keep them out of your apartment, where too many receivers of the presents you had bought frequented. You thanked another shopkeeper before heading out of the store to head to your next one and you spotted someone familiar.

“Is that Raihan?” You questioned as you watched a tall figure in a blue hoodie make their way into one of the shops in Wyndon’s shopping street. A shop that just so happened to be your next destination. Your Silvally, Amit, who was currently using psychic to keep all your bags afloat, gazed at where you stared before nudging in the shop’s direction.

You smile at your Pokémon’s behavior. “Right, we came here to get the presents. So what if one of the receivers just happen to be here?”

You let out a huff, tightening your scarf against the cold, momentarily watching the air turn into a little cloud before making your way to the store.

Raihan was confused. He just about had everyone’s presents figured out but he still wasn’t sure what to get you. He had walked through the stores in Hammerlocke dozens of times, browsing for the right gift for all of his friends. But you, you were a puzzle he had yet to solve.

The store he had just walked in was one selling Jewelry, from rings with stones the size of your thumb to earrings with too many details too count. The clerk perked up at the sight of a Gym Leader in their store and immediately began taking out rings and necklaces from the display.

“Is the person you’re shopping for a boy or a girl?” The clerk continued to busy themselves with the accessories on display.

Raihan’s eyes scanned the jewels. “A female.”

Raihan’s short response didn’t seem to deter the shopkeeper. “Well we have a wide selection for the ladies, but I believe all pieces of Jewelry are for everyone! Could you describe them for me?”

Raihan was a little taken aback at the clerk’s enthusiasm but hesitantly answered. “Well, they’re... strong.”

“Strong, you say?” For the first time since Raihan entered the store, the clerk paused and turned to look at him.

“Yeah,” Raihan nods before looking down at the gemstones again. “They’re a really capable individual...and I care for them. A lot.”

Probably more than he should a friend, said a little voice in his head.

The clerk frowned before watching the man intenly studying the display of rings. “Sir Raihan?”

“Hm?” Raihan snapped out of his trance to look at them. The clerk folded his hands and took on a serious expression. What came next was a surprise to Raihan.

“Who are you getting this gift for?” The clerk’s interest was piqued at who could cause such an expression on the usually wild Gym Leader. The clerk had thought it odd at first, they assumed Gym Leaders went shopping at other towns when their own didn’t have what they want. For their schedules were so hectic, it would be rare if one even left the stadium for a week. So the clerk had their suspicions when Raihan walked in.

“It’s—“ but the sound of the doors opening cut Raihan off. And Raihan felt like a Magikarp out of water at who had walked in.

You.

With your face a tad red from the cold outside coupled with your pastel sweater and scarf along with fur lined boots, Raihan wasn’t sure if he was allowed to look at you. But that didn’t stop him from doing the latter as he rushed to hold the door for you, Amit and the few bags held by psychic.

“Miss (Name)! Hold on, I’ll get your gift. Sir Raihan, please continue your browsing while I get the lady’s gift.” Swiftly the clerk left the room but not before catching the way Raihan stared at you. Chuckling to themself, the clerk went to the storeroom to fetch your gift all while thinking to themself. Ah, to be in love~

Amit placed the bags on the floor before settling down in the smaller space to tug it’s legs in, tired from using psychic so long. There was a silence in the room and you surveyed the countless little accessories before you. Your eyes had landed on a one of the jewelry sets before Raihan spoke up. “Shopping for Christmas or yourself?”

You tore your eyes away and met his. “Picking up a gift, so neither actually.”

“Picking up? Is there a reason you left it at the store?” Raihan’s brows furrowed and you giggled at the expression he made.

“Well, I can’t keep them at home because so many of you guys keep dropping by,” you replied. “That and, I haven’t been able to stay at home lately so wrapping them would be futile unless I wanted a messy job.”

“You could send a message to all of us, say how we’re to keep out for a few days.”

You snort. “And would you all listen?”

“No.” Raihan’s grinning now and he’s glad for less of a silence. “I probably wouldn’t be able to anyway, I’ve been leaving my Rotom Phone at home lately.”

You frowned at him, Raihan and his phone were usually inseparable. “Why?”

“I’ve been... busy lately.” The lie is there and clear to hear but you choose to ignore it. You opened your bag to take out a treat for Amit to enjoy. “Busy huh? Then what brings you out of your den Rai?”

“Christmas shopping.” Raihan hopes the Butterfree let loose by your sudden nickname would still soon.

You raise an eyebrow at him. “Really? I wouldn’t have guessed, you looked so tense for a second there.”

You hand out a Poké Puff for Amit and your Pokémon happily accepts the treat. It made another noise of happiness as Raihan went over to give it a scratch under its chin. “I don’t think I recognise your Silvally’s current color, what type are they right now?”

“Psychic as it strengthens their Psychic move but I’m wondering if I should have gone with ice so it’d be more comfortable with today’s weather. I hope it doesn’t snow till I get home, I saw the clouds looming over and thought it’d be best if I got the gifts now in case we get snowed in.”

You don’t seem to notice Raihan’s open staring but you do notice his unusual silence. “Uh Rai?”

“It’s snowing.”

“What?” You whip your head to the shop’s display window and sure enough, you see the soft falling of snow.

“Doesn’t seem like it’ll get heavier anytime soon but who knows with the weather we’re having this year?” Raihan shrugs and you frown at the window’s direction.

“Guess I’d better head home after this, I didn’t exactly come dressed for a snowstorm,” you gestured to your sweater and scarf.

“I don’t blame you. It was sunny this morning, as sunny as winter can get but...” Raihan trailed off but your Silvally nudged you for another treat from your bag. You opened your bag to take out another Poké Puff and was surprised to see Raihan in the middle of taking his hoodie off. His face hidden behind the blue cloth and his usual headgear on the floor.

“R-Raihan, what are you doing?” You asked with the treat in your hand halfway to your Silvally’s mouth. When his head finally reappears with his headwear for once not on, he grinned at you.

“Here you go,” said Raihan as he thrust his signature blue hoodie in your face. Confused, you reach out for it after settling down the treat. Feeling the soft material, you stare at it in puzzlement before looking back at Raihan who’s trying to wear his orange headgear again.

“You can wear that till you get home,” said Raihan. “That way, you won’t have to worry about the cold for awhile.”

“What about you?” You asked and Raihan chuckles. “Well if you’re that worried for me...”

You don’t realise where his hands went until your scarf is dangling from them. “This is fair trade.”

You watch with your mouth agape as Raihan wraps the too short scarf around his neck. Raihan grins again when he finishes and his smile doesn’t falter when he realises when he realises his hoodie is still with you.

“Well now, are you going to put that on or not?” Before you can answer, you feel the blue hoodie move. But not by Raihan’s doing.

You can only watch as the familiar pink glow of Psychic surrounds the article of clothing as it floats up in the air. “See? Amit certainly agrees with me!”

Raihan’s delighted smile turns follows his hoodie and it stays on until Amita makes an attempt at putting it on you.

By shoving it straight down to your body.

Your head’s soon covered in the dark material and your muffled noises of distress have not just your hands reaching up to get it off but Raihan reaching out as well to right your Pokémon’s act. Amit probably realising what it’s done, stops the Psychic and soon the hoodie is no longer wriggling aound. Raihan’s hands are careful where he’s touching and he’s relieved when your head finally pops through the fabric.

“Never again,” you sighed in relief but you don’t notice how Raihan’s staring at you. With your hair adorably ruffled from Amit’s stunt and the oversized hoodie on you, Raihan regrets not bringing his phone so he can snap a photo.

You get your arms through the sleeves but you have to roll them up because they keep hanging off your hands. Amit grunts at you and you turn to face your Pokémon to scold it but pause at the expression of sadness on it face.

“I can’t get mad if you look at me like that, no more using Psychic to force me in clothes okay?” You Pokémon nods at you while still giving you Deerling eyes. “Raihan are-“

Your words fade as he reached out a hand to pull the hoodie’s hood out of the collar. You stay silent as he pulled the rest of it out, feeling a flush flood to your cheeks. Raihan grins as he admired his handiwork, his hands pulling away after what feels like more than a few seconds.

“There we go, now you’re all set to face the snow.”

“What about you?” You questioned as you fingered the material of the hoodie. “I thought Dragons didn’t like the cold.”

“Well, that may be so, but this dragon’s warm enough to rival a Flareon,” said Raihan as he tried to brush off the the blush from your concern. “And besides...”

Raihan reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind your ear. “This Dragon is much more concerned with his Treasure’s well being.”

“I’m back with the gifts!” You and Raihan jolt away from each other at the clerk’s sudden return. The clerk had a bag in this arms that you both assumed was yours but Raihan doesn’t fail to notice the small velvet pad in the Clerk’s other hand.

And you recognise it immediately.

“Here are your gifts, miss (Name)! All wrapped of course and Sir Raihan, have you picked out a gift for your friend?”

You wordlessly take the bag and set it next to the others and you certainly overhear Raihan asking the clerk about the piece of jewelry in his hands.

“Well, I was hoping miss (Name) would change her mind about this little gem,” said the clerk. “She was looking at it the last time she was here.”

Raihan takes the accessory in, it’s not something overly extravagant, it’s not fancy enough that you could wear it everyday. Most of all, Raihan’s eyes dart to your nervous form, it suited you.

And Raihan saw the expression you made when you first saw it. Like you were shocked it was still here.

“You never actually gave me a response,” said the clerk with barely concealed excitement. “Miss (Name)! The season of giving applies to yourself as well, not just others you know.”

Raihan sees the hesitation in your eyes, and he wonders why you chose not to buy it for yourself before remembering how your job always had you putting others first. And now he sees it affecting you from treating yourself. Raihan opens his mouth to say something but then your Rotom Phone floats out of your bag, an incoming call showing on the screen.

Without hesitation you answer before briefly mumbling an “Excuse me” to both Raihan and the clerk. Your eyes widen at the call and you quickly gather your bags up, Amit quickly standing up at seeing its trainer’s rushed behavior. You’re almost out the door when you pause.

“I’m sorry I have to leave! Thank you for wrapping up my gifts again! And thank you Raihan for your hoodie, I’ll be sure to return it!”

With that, you rush out of the store with Amit trotting behind you and Raihan can see your retreating figure rush down the streets.

It’s quiet in the jewelry store again and Raihan hears the clerk put away the accessories they had brought out. Raihan surveyed the numerous accessories in the store once more before his eyes land on the jewelry you didn’t buy.

“Wait.” Raihan called out as the clerk reached a hand to it.

“How much for that piece of jewelry?”

[valhallanrose]

In the Blue Hours of Morning

The beginning of a promised second encounter between a poet and an adventurer. 

1.1k. No CWs apply. 

Astoria/Milenko. Milenko belongs to @sunrisenfool. 

Fic Title: In The Blue Hours of Morning by The Oh Hellos

It was a sunny day in Vesuvia, and Nathaira was a very good girl. 

Or at least Astoria thought so, which was why they’d set down their work early and dug Nathaira’s favorite ball out of their desk to go play in the gardens. 

Nattie had pranced around their feet, weaving between Astoria’s ankles until they finally made their way down to the gardens and chucked the ball the first time out into the maze. So now they stood, boots kicked off into the grass and sleeves shoved up around their elbows, and whipped the ball off into the open field for Nattie to go tearing after as it bounced across the ground. 

They’d stood out there for a while, the sun traveling slowly through the sky and warming Astoria’s freckled cheeks until they realized with a start that they’d definitely been out there longer than the thirty minutes they’d intended. So when Nathaira came bounding back again, dropping the ball into Astoria’s waiting palm, they’d gone to put it away - relenting when Nathaira’s ears drooped and she let out a pitiful whine.”

“Alright, alright, one more throw and then we have to go find the fountain. It’d be rude to leave company waiting, and I’m worried I might have left him doing just that. 

“I was wondering if you’d forgotten about me.” 

Astoria paused and looked over their shoulder, lips pulling into a slightly sheepish smile as she spotted Milenko standing a little ways behind them - hands tucked loosely into his pockets a brow quirked to match his teasing tone. 

“Not at all. Though please tell me I haven’t kept you waiting, I’d feel absolutely terrible if I did.” 

“Oh, no, I’m actually a little early. I went by your office, but the librarian said you’d likely be down here.” Milenko took a few steps closer, extending a hand and gesturing toward the ball. “May I?”

Astoria nodded, chuckling as Nathaira bounded over to him and tried to snatch the ball from his hands before he had a chance to throw it. Milenko didn’t seem to mind - he gave her a quick scratch behind the ears before he pulled his arm back, whipping the ball down the field with enough force that Nathaira nearly fell over herself trying to chase it. 

“You’ve created a monster.” Astoria laughed, shaking their head slightly as they watched Nathaira disappear over the small crest of a hill. “She’ll beg you to throw that thing until your arm falls off.” 

“There are worse fates.” Milenko turned back to Astoria then, his hand falling loosely to his hip and opening his mouth to say something, then pausing when he noticed Astoria’s eyes had fallen very clearly onto the ground between his feet. 

“Milenko, are you going to introduce me to your friend?” 

He grinned as he looked down, reaching to scratch between Ursula’s ears where she sat between his knees. “Of course. You’ve heard of her, if I remember what you said you’ve learned from my uncle. This is Ursula.”

Astoria tried to contain their noise of absolute glee as they crouched down, digging in their pockets for a treat and waiting for Milenko to give them a nod of approval before offering it to the pup in question. 

“Such a bonnie little thing.” Astoria beamed as Ursula stepped forward, carefully taking the treat from their palm and happily munching away while Astoria reached up to scratch behind her ears. “Yes, you, you’re absolutely lovely, but I’m sure you know that, don’t you?”

“Oh, she does. I don’t let her forget it.” Milenko chuckled, something...soft, almost, visible in his face when Astoria looked up mid-scratch behind Ursula’s ears. Their eyes lingered on him a moment, then two, before their gaze fell back to meet the dog’s warm brown eyes where she looked up at Astoria from the grass. 

There was a long pause between them before Nathaira came barreling back, completely ignoring Astoria and bringing the ball directly to Milenko for another throw. He didn’t bat an eye, praising her before 

“I’ve been looking forward to this.” Astoria said after a moment, letting their hand fall away from Ursula’s fur and smiling a little as she trotted back toward Milenko to sit between his ankles. “It’s been a long few days. Exciting, surely, but long. Not every morning I get to piss off a foreign government - but being able to step away from my desk is a welcome distraction.”

Milenko raised a brow, clearly fighting back a look of amusement. “Things get tense in archaeology?”

With a laugh, Astoria shook their head, reaching for their boots and tugging them on as they spoke. 

“Not usually. I was sent a set of bones a few months ago on behalf of the Zadithian government, but I’m holding them hostage. I told them they’d get the bones back when they returned my original notes on a dig site I surveyed, but they’re claiming they own my originals since it was a private site - so no bones for them.” Astoria accepted Milenko’s outstretched hand, hauling themself to their feet and blowing a strand of hair out of their eyes. “Pissing contest, really, but I don’t bluff. I’ll keep their bloody bones until I’m dead if I have to.”

“Suddenly I see why you and my uncle get along.” Milenko chuckled, and Astoria nodded, hand slipping out of his as they turned to take the ball from a panting Nathaira and tucked it into their pocket. 

“Atanasie is a delight.” Astoria set a hand on their hip, tugging idly on the beaded chain of their glasses with the other. “But I digress. You came here to follow a creative train of thought, not for me to bore you with the details of my job.”

He smiled at that, shaking his head as he took a step closer and offered Astoria his arm. 

“Trust me, there is nothing you could possibly say that would bore me while in your company. However, I have much I wanted to ask you. Shall we?”

For a moment, they couldn’t tell if they were relieved or disappointed that they’d left their gloves on that day when they looked at the bare skin of his arm. His river-heart sang in their mind when it wandered, and they’d be lying if they weren’t wondering if it sounded as lovely the second time - but that could be answered another time. 

So they set their hand in the crook of his elbow, giving him a warm smile as they let him escort them toward the fountain a little ways away from the garden. 

“We shall.”

[lee-do-hwas]

dodanru university oneshot

@bookishserendipity03 requested a platonic dodanru university fic so here it is! i’m sorry for taking so long, but this went in a direction i wasn’t really expecting and it ended up longer than originally planned. it’s around 3k words and mostly fluff + a lot of lee do hwa (because i love him). thanks for reading!!

When Eun Dan Oh finally found Haru amongst the seemingly endless crowd of familiar faces at Seuli University, it felt like a miracle. She’d searched for him ever since she’d been reborn, even if she hadn’t quite known what (or who) she was looking for at first. They spent hours walking around campus in circles, recounting the events of their previous lives and catching each other up to speed on their current character setups. Eun Dan Oh was relatively the same in this story. She was the sole daughter of a wealthy businessman and engaged to a fiance who would never love her back— the author really hadn’t put much effort into that one. The main difference now was that instead of a heart disease, Dan Oh’s conflict revolved around taking over the family business. She was cutthroat, goal oriented, and constantly focused on how to get ahead in the world. In contrast, Haru was a psychology major and Oh Nam Joo’s stoic but sweet best friend. He was always in the library and spent most of his time tutoring other students. Compared to the eccentric and naive Oh Nam Joo, he was the “mature” friend who kept both their heads on straight. It wasn’t lost on Dan Oh how suspiciously close Haru’s setup was to his actual personality.

The author’s newest comic was an attempt at more mature storytelling, following the lives of various university students as they made their way through the trials and tribulations of adulthood. To put it simply, it was drama bait. But the dramatic tone of “These Fragile Hearts” gave the characters way more freedom than the predictably cheesy plot of “Secret”. Not only were there multiple protagonists this time, but a much larger cast of named supporting characters meaning…they were safe. Eun Dan Oh’s days were no longer numbered due to a heart condition and Haru wasn’t unnamed Student 13. Outside of Dan Oh’s ongoing family theatrics and Haru’s chemistry void romance with Yeo Joo Da (now a biology major and nothing more than an extra herself) they had all the time in the world to meet up in the shadows. Even on stage, they had a lot of scenes together— sometimes entire conversations. They were fine with playing their parts. In comparison to before, they practically had all the alone time in the world. 

Eun Dan Oh became a regular visitor of Oh Nam Joo and Haru’s cramped studio apartment. They only had one pullout couch, a coffee table, and a few foldable chairs, but that was more than enough furniture for three people. Oh Nam Joo was surprisingly chill with Dan Oh’s presence after she was introduced as Haru’s “friend from middle school” and eventually just gave her the extra key so she could let herself in. If she got off first, Dan Oh usually hung around and cleaned up to keep herself busy until Haru got home. After inevitably helping him lead his overly emotional (and sometimes drunk) roommate to bed, they would head out every night without fail. Some nights they went on roadtrips in an attempt to map out just how far their small, fictional world went. Others, they sat in front of their tree and stared up at the stars. Whether their time together was full of conversation or entirely silent, Eun Dan Oh appreciated all of it. Haru was the one to finally put into words how it felt to be in such a fortunate situation, how lucky the two of them were to have one another after going through so much: extraordinary.

It felt greedy to ask for more. But something was missing. Something that felt like it should have been obvious given the fact that Eun Dan Oh remembered almost everything about both “Secret” and “Trumpet Flower”. The small gaps in her memory mocked her, just specific enough to feel significant. After she found Haru, most of her memories came back in waves. There were only a few things that didn’t click and Dan Oh hated it. What could she still be missing? Sometimes she encountered a new, vaguely familiar face and wondered if they were the key to unlocking everything. She’d stomp over to the large library near her apartment and scour the shelves for an explanation. Maybe it was another lifetime she’d lost. Maybe it was something even scarier. Whatever it was, Eun Dan Oh didn’t want to be caught by surprise ever again. Even finding the hardcover copy of “These Fragile Hearts” hidden deep within the psychology department’s library didn’t help much. For days and then weeks, Dan Oh kept an eye out for something strange. She all but gave up…and then one day an extra ran past her, the angle of the sun’s rays just bright enough to shield his face. Someone who was probably not only nameless but also faceless. Without knowing who he was she knew. This was the person she’d been looking for.

After that day Eun Dan Oh kept her eyes out for any and every extra that walked by. She could recognize almost all of them after a week of people watching. There was one girl who had a very obvious (and unrequited) crush on Oh Nam Joo, another student who loved to feed the pigeons every morning, a man who held the door for the main characters during almost every scene without ever being acknowledged otherwise, and many more. None of them had names. Dan Oh went out of her way to speak to them but of course none of the extras she befriended were ever the extra she was looking for. When Eun Dan Oh did finally find him, it was entirely by chance.

“Watch out!” A student carrying a large pile of books and loose leaf paper flew down the library hallway and directly into Eun Dan Oh’s line of sight. 

The man scurried out of the way just in time to not knock her over, but his stack of books wobbled precariously. Dan Oh couldn’t even see his face behind the comically tall barrier of reading material. In a single moment, her curiosity got the better of her and she made the decision to try something dumb. Moving one finger closer, Eun Dan Oh poked the stack of books. It immediately toppled to the ground and into a pile beside them.

The man sighed and stared at his books dejectedly. “I can’t believe this…I’m gonna be late to my nine thirty.”

He ran his fingers through his fluffy blondish-brown hair and glared at the pile through huge, circular glasses. He was…pouting? His facial expression could only be described as similar to that of a kicked puppy. Eun Dan Oh almost felt bad. He quickly looked back up at her with panicked eyes.

“None of those hit you, right? Are you okay?” Both his hands were in his hair and he looked like the picture book definition of “stressed college student”.

Eun Dan Oh stopped staring and crouched down, handing him the book closest to her with a smile. “No, I’m fine. What’s your name?”

“I’m—uh, why do you ask?” he replied meekly. So he didn’t have a name. Eun Dan Oh looked him up and down once again.

This wasn’t one of the extras she often saw around campus. The pastel pink button up and grey jeans he wore both seemed to be in pristine condition, as if he hadn’t worn them for even a day. He wrung his hands together awkwardly and refused to look Eun Dan Oh in the eyes. Just based upon their first meeting, she could tell this character didn’t have many friends. He was probably a studious type, only around to ensure that the main characters were conveniently partnered with a genius during group projects. Nothing particularly interesting stood out about him until Dan Oh glanced at the papers scattered around them. Was that sheet music?

“Do you play the violin?” Eun Dan Oh asked suddenly.

“Yes…?”

“Do you have an older brother?” She picked up another book, some manhua with a smiling couple and cherry blossoms on the cover. “And do you read cheesy comics like this often?”

The boy scoffed. “Cheesy? I’ll have you know these ‘cheesy’ comics actually give really good pointers on how to navigate young love, and you sure weren’t complaining when I let Haru borrow one back in high sc— wait. Who’s Haru?”

Eun Dan Oh covered her mouth with both hands and gasped. Everything fell back into place.

“Lee Do Hwa?!”

Her shout rang throughout the halls and several students looked up in annoyance. She didn’t care. How could she have forgotten him? Lee Do Hwa, the second male lead of “Secret”, one third of A3, and most importantly, one of her best friends. She threw herself into the taller man and hugged tight.

“I finally found you! I can’t believe it took this long!” Her words were high pitched and brimming with joy.

“Wait,” Lee Do Hwa briefly pushed her away to get a better look and his eyes widened in recognition. “Eun Dan Oh?!”

She bobbed her head excitedly. “In the flesh!”

Lee Do Hwa looked around the room with heightened awareness, slowly putting the pieces of his past back together. “Shit. Does this mean I’m not the main character?”

- - -

Haru was just as excited to meet the freshly reborn Lee Do Hwa— almost enough to forgive him and Eun Dan Oh for getting banned from the library for excessive noise. Dan Oh could hear him fussing through the phone the moment she announced the good news, undoubtedly rushing to clean his flat and cook a meal big enough for four people. When they arrived the once unnavigable space was spotless and a military sized pot of spaghetti was cooking on the stove. Dan Oh didn’t even remember them owning any dishes that big. Haru wasn’t one to be underestimated on a regular day, but a worried, nagging Haru? The author themself probably feared him. 

Lee Do Hwa immediately made himself at home, plopping down next to Eun Dan Oh on the tiny couch and sighing dramatically.

“Haruuu!” He whined. “I haven’t seen you in ages and this is the greeting I get?”

A light turned off in the bathroom and Haru’s head of wavy black hair peeked through the doorway. He wore neon green rubber gloves and had probably just finished deep cleaning every corner of the room.

“Dan Oh, is that you?” Haru dusted off his baby blue hoodie and looked up, mouth gaping. “Lee Do Hwa?!”

“Are you that shocked? I know I’m not the adorable second male lead anymore but can’t a man wear glasses every once in a while?” He started pouting again. Eun Dan Oh rolled her eyes.

“No, it’s nothing bad,” Haru smiled reassuringly. “You just look…different.”

Do Hwa fell into Dan Oh as if he’d been shot in the chest. “That’s even worse! Just say I look like a nerd, it’ll hurt less!”

Haru sauntered into the living room and squoze his way into the middle of the couch, immediately putting distance between Eun Dan Oh and Lee Do Hwa. Do Hwa's pout only widened.

“You look like a nerd.” He stared at his friend’s face for a few seconds. “And your hair’s brighter now. It’s basically blonde.”

“It’s chestnut brown…” Do Hwa replied heavily as if the words pained him.

“No, it’s blonde.” Eun Dan Oh said, reaching over to pat his hand with a smile. “And you do look like a nerd—”

“First you tell me I’m an extra and now this? Is nothing sacred?”

“That being said, I think it looks cute! And we missed you! So who cares if you look like a labradoodle.” She reached her arms around Haru for a group hug. Do Hwa hummed annoyedly.

“I guess I missed you guys too. Even though you keep rubbing your happy relationship in my face.” Do Hwa said, completing the hug. Haru squirmed in place and patted his friend’s head awkwardly.

- - -

In the days following their reunion, Lee Do Hwa had somehow weaseled his way out of a two year lease to, in his words, “the shittiest apartment known to man” and made preparations to move in with Haru and Oh Nam Joo. Eun Dan Oh couldn’t begin to explain how he managed something like that. Oh Nam Joo shouldn’t have even remembered him in the first place? But they’d hit it off immediately and under a week later Do Hwa was sleeping on the pullout couch. He claimed it was his natural charm, but Dan Oh was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that they were lifelong friends in a past life. No other character really remembered anything past Do Hwa’s name, but that didn’t stop him from giving a running commentary before and after every scene.

Eun Dan Oh’s fiance in “These Fragile Hearts” was, of course, Baek Gyeong. As always he didn’t like her back, but unlike before her character was almost entirely to blame for it. Where he was kind and vulnerable, Eun Dan Oh was cold and constantly toeing the line between oblivious and downright cruel. There were more scenes than Dan Oh could count where Baek Gyeong planned a lovely dinner or picnic for the two of them only for her to stand him up for work. It wasn’t surprising that his character arc revolved around a secret romance between him and the much more affectionate Shin Sae Mi (and yes, they were the main couple). Eun Dan Oh had absolutely no interest in dating Baek Gyeong, but every time the two leads exchanged knowing glances right in front of her she wanted to gag. They could at least flirt in private! Why was infidelity okay just because it was the main characters sneaking around?! When Lee Do Hwa found out her predicament, he laughed so hard he got a stitch in his side.

“Oh my god, stop talking. Please, I’m gonna fucking choke,” Do Hwa wheezed out in between his laughter.

“Is my life a game to you?! I have to watch Baek Gyeong and Sae Mi make googly eyes at each other everyday. Everyday!” Eun Dan Oh exclaimed, throwing a fluffy pillow at the taller man’s head. “My character’s too cool to get cheated on, I made my own uncle step down from Eun Enterprises with one threat and a glare. But somehow I’m too blind to see the extremely blatant PDA going on right in front of me? What kind of writing is that!”

“Maybe you just don’t mind it? Your character’s kind of in a metaphorical love affair with work so—“

“Please don’t ever call it that, I’ll actually gag.”

“And in their defense…” Do Hwa started, clearing his throat. “Aren’t you kind of in the same boat? You and Haru are like, fated soulmates. And you go on secret journeys every night. And basically live together.” He smiled knowingly and Dan Oh shoved him to the other side of the couch.

“Me and Haru have tried breaking up with our canon counterparts a billion times. We used to do it every other day in hopes they’d remember somehow. Baek Gyeong and Yeo Joo Da just aren’t self aware yet so until then we have to wait.”

Lee Do Hwa nodded and opened his mouth to reply before shutting it. He suddenly looked up to stare at Eun Dan Oh.

“Yeo Joo Da?” Do Hwa’s eyes were wide and Dan Oh was sure that if he were a puppy his ears would be raised in attention right about now.

“Yes, Yeo Joo Da. Her and Haru are the second most important couple in the entire comic.” Eun Dan said, frowning sympathetically. Do Hwa forced a laugh to relieve the tension.

“That sounds…boring.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” Haru’s muffled shout came through the bedroom door where he was studying. Lee Do Hwa shrugged.

“I mean you’re not wrong.” Dan Oh agreed. “They’re super vanilla, who wants to read about a couple with no conflict?”

“Do you think—“ Do Hwa looked down. “Do you think I should talk to her? Introduce myself?” Eun Dan Oh scooted closer and pat his shoulder. She honestly felt for him. At least in ”Secret” Yeo Joo Da was aware that Lee Do Hwa existed. There was no telling how much she knew of their past life or if she’d even be able to remember Lee Do Hwa between scenes. But if Do Hwa was anything, he was likeable. Dan Oh knew that if he put his mind to it he’d make himself known soon enough.

Lost in thought, Dan Oh didn’t hear the telltale sound of Haru opening his bedroom door and coming out to the living area. He gently moved Eun Dan Oh to the side and inserted himself firmly in the middle of the couch once again.

“I think you should do it.” Haru said, opening his notebook and getting right back to studying. “You have a name now. That’s a start, right?”

Haru was smiling brightly at Lee Do Hwa and Eun Dan Oh could tell he was trying to convey his approval and other unsaid emotions in just that look. How thankful he was to have Do Hwa around even if he didn’t say much, how well he personally understood such a tragic situation. And just like Haru had Do Hwa and Dan Oh back then, Do Hwa had them now. They were the Three Musketeers and even if Yeo Joo Da didn’t recognize him at first they’d help him through it. Just the three of them had done things way more difficult. They’d changed fate multiple times, in comparison this was nothing.

“Thank you, Haru. It’s not that I still like her but…She’s important to me, you know? I still feel kind of responsible to make sure she’s okay. I know that’s selfish of me.” Do Hwa sighed and stared at the ceiling. “Why are feelings so complicated. I wish I could just have an affair like everybody else.”

Eun Dan Oh grabbed the pillow and reached across Haru to whack Do Hwa again.

“Asshole.”

“But you guys love me!” He pouted.

Haru hummed but didn’t make a single move to stop Eun Dan Oh’s onslaught of pillow attacks. “I guess you’re right about that.”

Eun Dan Oh finally put her weapon down and glared. “If not for the fact that I love you and it would make Haru sad, I would smite you where you stand.”

Lee Do Hwa stuck out his tongue, only to hop off the couch and dash away when Dan Oh grabbed one of Haru’s three inch thck textbooks. They chased each other around the cramped apartment and Haru closed his notebook in defeat. His studying would have to wait until another time.

[eriisaam]

Something something Tarot Card Project something.

---

Context under the cut, in order of appearance:

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Kyo - The Fool (  Hear me out.)

Symbolizing new beginning, adventure, opportunities, pleasure, etc. It reflects how when Lifonse and Kamui first met him (from his perspective), he suddenly took a drastic turn in his life with opening new opportunities (becoming a summoner, stabilizing his power to go from a ditto to a ditto-mew, getting his first legendary in Zacian and encountering others, finding his ex and making amends to be on surprisingly good terms with him, having lovers who immediately love him, etc), of which his stinkiness nearly self-sabotaged in his apprehension, his guardedness, and (more sympathetically) him managing his past experiences and traumas, of which had Lifonse and Kamui not been so patient, supportive and loving as they had, there were so many opportunities he could've ruined for himself. This incarnation of him even gained more lovers than his past self (in Eclair and then Kaze), and in a moment of humbling himself and realizing in full of the weight of his failings and foolishness, it had a profound effect in Zacian for her to knight him, proclaiming herself as his to officially train.

For the reverse, this also winds up heavily symbolizing his past-self, who became present-Kyo's fallen alt, who did wind up self-sabotaging things by causing a lot of trauma that lingered in Kamui and Lifonse, who went a completely different direction in life from the present Kyo, and was woefully apathetic and uncaring to Lifonse and Kamui as a whole compared to present-Kyo not only opening up and genuinely loving them more, but making strides to change himself for the better for their sake, too. There were many scars he left behind in Lifonse and Kamui that negatively impacted even present-Kyo’s relationship with them, and the only moment he had a saving grace was just before his death, and ruined just as quickly when Hel claimed him as one of her new cohorts. Worth also noting that unlike the present Kyo, whose power stabilized his ditto genes to be mew-like, past-Kyo didn’t develop nearly as pronounced a bond to do the same, and thus, lacked their connection to a mew.

---

Ephrel - The Chariot

In reverse, the feeling of defeat, being vanquished, lost, etc. Were all feelings that reflected how Ephrel was in the eyes of Sparrow's Order of Heroes prior to Sparrow's official status as summoner (of which Chrom's was unofficial before her). They were completely forgotten to the point they didn't even have a name attached other than "former summoner/previous summoner", the circumstances of why they were gone were almost entirely unheard of or guesswork, and there seemed far too much haste to try to forget them as much as possible in favor of moving on with Sparrow, satisfied to keep their fate unknown with very few to give a fuck otherwise (like Chrom, then Sparrow based on Chrom's own unwavering hope to find out what happened once learning Ephrel had a life after their robinsona).

The process of finding Spectabilis, then deciding to redeem them rather than kill them (which would be far easier and inconsequential), was what flips The Chariot upright: Reflecting the long, rocky road Chrom persevered to press forward to, and meet up to free Ephrel from a fate of stagnancy, rather than just leave it at accepting his replacement Robins and moving on without them like everyone else. This action was what allowed Ephrel's live to continue forward, and to reveal more of themself they didn't flesh out even in their robinsona days.

Initially, I debated on whether or not Chrom and Ephrel fit to be literally riding something, but I find it even more fitting that Chrom himself served as “the chariot”, having carried the toils and burdens from the point he lost Ephrel, to the long, exhausting journey to retrieve them again. 

---

Erin - The Hanged Man

As her supports (but especially Lif, Ryoma, and to some degree Camilla from the start) knew too well (and Hrid eventually caught up on and was rightfully horrified of and clingy afterwards about), Erin came from a very harsh life prior to being a summoner, where she was suffocated, controlled, manipulated, and worked to the ground, to the point she nearly made a very costly, risky mistake of her own self prior to her Breidablik summoning her (of which I'll remain brief and vague here as it's not the biggest point this time). The damage was still done, as she still was left a broken shell, fully welcoming anyone to pull her strings as she was heavily conditioned to expect, all with a weak will, self-worth and agency. All of which line up with the reversed Hang Man's meaning of useless sacrifice, unwillingness to change, and knowingly heading on to bad decision after bad outcome. The arms of her past try greedily to drag her back to the life she had once escaped from.

The upright version of this reflected readjustment, improvement, and rebirth: All of which carried the same elements to how her supports could see she was a completely different person underneath the broken mess she was initially left as, and needed support, love, and gentle coaxing to come out in her own accord. This then led to a very massive shift to what she later turned into presently from where she started off before: As someone bold, brash, more willing to show herself, and more engaged as her own self with her own decisions. Even in free-fall, she gained her freedom, and more, thanks to her supports, gained her wings figuratively and literally (as a manakete) to take flight by her own will.

---

Teru - Death

In reverse, Teru had indeed followed a lot of relationships that couldn't fully serve him or be as realized as he needed them to be at the time he needed it most (Kyo, before The Incident nearly ruined even their friendship, and definitely ruined their relationship. Then Ryoma, before Garon took that away from him as well.). His Order of Heroes failed him, his initial Askr was doomed, and he had to be a pillar of strength and protection to his pokemon and them in a time he himself desperately needed someone to rely on and protect him instead in his ailing strength and health. In the form he took prior to decimating his former connected World of Fates, one prominent feature in the missingno form he took at the time was carrying the fragmented headgear of his fallen past lover.

Upright, even in the point where Teru changed his life for the better, it took massive sacrifices and struggles on his part to get there. He has a chronic illness that can make him incredibly godly in power in the best of times, but also worryingly and critically frail and weak in most other times, all through his missingno powers he's still not able to entirely control. He had done the impossible in cheating death so many times from being a missingno, to surviving Conquest, to taking the Heart's Rite head on and living to tell the tale, but such bragging rights rang hallow for the sacrifices he made and the unspeakable levels of agony and pain he endured while subjected to them. He cheated death, yet at what cost? But even when he reached his lowest, his life did start anew as he grew past his traumas just enough to learn to grow and feel again, and for the better. After all, "third time's the charm".

---

Sparrow - The Star

Where she started, she was homeless, abandoned by the world, and left to die. Forgotten. Uncared for. Unconcerned. Just another number and another sad life wasted. Like the reverse, she started in a point she was made acutely aware how little her skills mattered (it certainly didn't spare her the life of poverty), how bad her luck was (despite her best efforts, she still failed), and her only future was one that was coming to an end (crushed dreams unrealized in favor of being left to starve to death to the harsh elements outdoors). In her hands were the concept of a Crest of Fate bestowed to her, marking her as a digidestined. But even this “blessing” was in actuality a fake crest of the Grimeal, and what led to long-term damage to her and her digimon when the ruse was up.

It was Chrom who summoned her, and it was because of his patience to help save her and get her on her feet again did her hopes turn around, and her card meaning with it. Upright, she had a second chance in a new life, a new environment, and with opportunities she only barely touched the surface of that were fully realized in looking to it again in Askr (her digimon, who she didn't physically interact with until Chrom upset her digimon partners upon realizing why Sparrow didn't check up on them (of which she downplayed her life cuz, well, she thought it was a game), revealing themselves in full). She found love, she found insight, and she found a new power she learned to harness to make a better use of her skills when she thought a more direct approach was lacking (a healer, when she wasn't physically strong enough to take up another weapon yet). She stayed calm, positive, hopeful, and tried to extend the same hope Chrom shared to her to others she found along the way, which led to Robin, Lyon, and then Ephrel finding their own hopes as well. In her hands was a digi-egg of Destiny (sometimes alternatively known as the digimental of fate), which manifested itself when Breidablik resonated with both Sparrow and Ephrel. As a united force, they finally gained the hard-earned role of digidestined as a duo legendary-mythic unit.

---

Eclair - Judgement

A lot of Eclair's point of major growth in power and character all fell back on Thorr's most powerful ability: Judgement. This power was the power that could completely and utterly decimate entire countries with the single swing of her hammer, and she isn't afraid to flex, and in ways Eclair saw for himself are fickle and self-righteous (particularly as she and Teru declared war on one another for the sake of protecting Nohr or wiping it off the face of Fates, but did nothing to interfere with the Nohr Teru himself destroyed in his own world). This fickle nature, this self-serving attitude and logic path Thorr decides when to enact her judgement or not, struck the biggest fear in Eclair and caused untold amounts of stress, worries, and panic attacks of being his greatest failure of seeing everyone wiped away from his life (like the fate he himself escaped as a forma) if he couldn't successfully stop his own mother. All of which are fears of the reverse Judgement. Even when she left her mark in other timelines and what-could’ve-beens, she struck fear in Eclair’s supports making such outcomes prominently known for them to stew on. Including an alternative outcome of her taking hold of some manner of Alfonse and overloading him into a temporal threat.

But upright, it also reflects awakening, renewal, a better health and mind fully realized. The point Eclair began fearing his mother and aunt most was also the point his powers started manifesting the most when his family, friends and supports made their own will clear of wanting to protect him. It was also the point he fully realized that form of will that comes from love and the power it held that heavily contrasted the will Thorr took interest in that comes from despair. This eventually was fully realized in his fully powered form, Magni, and his power as the Divine Shield to completely cancel out Thorr's Judgement attack, and thus, force her to bring herself down to the same even footing as the mortals when she can't simply delete them off the earth with a swing anymore. This resolve is also what resonated with why Zamazenta similarly trusts him, and thus, fully established Eclair's mythic alt.

[toku-explained]

A Southern Swordsman

Heroes' Odyssey: After a quick lookin at Z's battle with Destrudos, we witness the arrival of Zogu on earth, and how on the face of overwhelming destructive power, XiG stood with the Kaiju of earth and enabled Gaia and Agul to be reborn and overcome the odds.

Saber: Sneaking in to meet Master Logos is definitely a bold play, but that first scene does confirm Reika is getting orders from him. Zooous' rampage gives Storious a way to sneak in. While Yuri, Rintaro, Ren and Zooous all fight, Storious encounters the current Master Logos, who identifies him as one of the The First. A Southern Base Swordsman leads Touma to where Storious appears after finding his book. Storious' attempt to use the book knocks even himself down, allowing Touma to grab it, and as Legeiel attacks it activates and configures into Primitive Dragon, Touma, not himself, places Brave Dragon within, and transforms into the wild Primitive Dragon. And this is exactly what Master Logos wanted. Yuri senses this and rushes to the site, followed by Rintaro and Ren, and then Zooous, and all are witness to his destructive power.

Kiramager: Juru is dead, and they skipped the OP even though it isn't the final episode, we're getting serious here. Yodon sends Yodonna to retrieve the other Kanaema Stones. Energia to empower Oradin, Reversia to revert him to the Yodonna of 10 days ago, enabling Oradin to seal her, but as they go to use Destoria to destroy them, Yodon kills Yodonna, allowing his escape. Just as Yodon's victory seems assured, Crunchula grabs Illusia and Jouki appears, bringing Juru with it. OK, we're 3 for 3 now of members of the royal family placing their souls in Kiramai Stones rather than dying, but now Garza IS Jouki. But his soul gets burnt out by it, leaving Jouki in Juru's hands, dying wishing for a better relationship with Oradin.

Decade Vs Zi-O: So according to something I read, I've been watching these in the wrong order up until now, so let's try the correct order for these last two parts, where it'll matter most. Anyway, tensions are fraying amongst the survivors. Yusuke tries to keep the peace, nobody sees Oma Zi-O in the mirror behind him. The final round is announced, trying to find a treasure while avoiding being killed by Another Ryuki. Tsukasa finds a blade, Heurue finds a musket when Ora charges him with a cutlass, losing her nerve when he spots her, she then gets jumped and killed by Another Ryuki while he runs, only to be killed by the axe. While Sougo sits in melancholy the axe is thrown at him and he falls to his death. Tsukasa finds Yusuke, who shows the blade he found before attacking from behind with the axe, which Tsukasa blocks, I'm pretty sure he says this isn't his Yusuke, but Yusuke manages to stab him. As he gloats, Sougo appears, revealing himself as a robot, as does Heure, who reveals himself as Uchu Ninja Demost and flies away, and Misa reveals she was a spirit all along and vanishes. Yusuke rushes into the house to demand the reward, while Sougo helps Tsukasa in, where the masked jester arrives, revealing themself as Narutaki. He explains he was forced to organise the game by the True Sougo. Yusuke goes to attack him, but is killed by Oma Zi-O from the mirror. Narutaki explains that he brought Tsukasa here in the hopes he could stop Oma Zi-O, before Tsukasa and Sougo both Henshin, and Decade and Zi-O leap into the mirror. The pair fight with Oma Zi-O, tho is overpowering them when Diend, Kuuga and Kiva-la arrive to help, and Sougo hands Tsukasa the Saber Ridewatch. Despite the Riders' efforts, Oma Zi-O is victorious, and uses an attack that appears to unmake the world, and Sougo awakens, in school, to find it isolated in another world.

Zi-O Vs Decade: Swartz dubs Punk Sougo as Sougo D and Cute Sougo as Sougo E. Woz observes. Tsukuyomi and the boy are attacked by Inves, she defeats them but her leg is injured. The Sougo's continue their competition. Misa makes a move on Sougo C. Heure reveals Sougo C is actually Sougo A, C took his place to read the letter for him, but when Heure noticed he wasn't his Sougo C knocked him out, leading to the end of the previous episode. A explains C was only killed due to an unseen attack from Decade. B and D arrive as Tsukasa makes his presence known, explaining he intends to destroy the True Sougo, interesting D, who becomes Zi-O to challenge him, but Tsukasa defeats him and he vanishes. At night, Tsukuyomi tells the boy about Sougo and Geiz, who decides he wants to be named Sougo. Tsukasa looks like he might be vanishing. A helps Swartz prepare meat for the next day. The boy at A's festival stand finally gives up, but Geiz comes to see him. In the midst of the Sougo votes, Tsukasa let's the Inves into the school. Geiz fights the Inves while A goes to where B and E are confronting Tsukasa, who explains he's fighting to stop Oma Zi-O, the True Sougo. Sougo A and Tsukasa fight, while Sougo B stops E from joining. Tsukuyomi and the boy Sougo arrive at the site of Decade and Zi-O's battle, the site of Sougo awakening the boy's memories and power, as I understand it the world reset at the end of Decade Vs Zi-O reduced his power significantly, but when Sougo E becomes Zi-O and attacks him he still destroys him effortlessly. He tells them they must fight for the chance to acquire his power, but when Swartz appears and announces Sougo A has won the election, Sougo B decides not to fight and leaves, watched by Heure and Ora. The True Sougo becomes Oma Zi-O, his first attack at Sougo is taken by Heurue, who dies after giving Sougo his letter at last, Sougo then becomes Zi-O, and Tsukasa pulls out the K-Touch 21, transforming into Decade Complete Form 21, and Swartz also rejoins the fray, becoming Another Decade again. Despite the combined power of Zi-O and Decade, Oma Zi-O continuously overpowers them, and eventually deals a lethal blow to Tsukasa, who passes to Sougo the Saber Ridewatch, which he uses with the Decade Ridewatch to become Zi-O Decade Armour Saber Form. I'm not one to criticise the forms used in specials, but I really feel like they should have used Dragonic Knight for the undersuit here. As the two Zi-O's finishers meet, Tsukuyomi calls out for the boy Sougo to stop, his memories of their time together giving him enough pause that Zi-O manages to defeat to Oma Zi-O. Tsukasa vanishes from the world, seeming satisfied, and the world is restored around the school. Sougo B and Misa leave after some parting words. Sougo, Geiz and Tsukuyomi make their plans for the future, unaware that Swartz and Ora are watching them, both of them now in their Time Jacker attire. Ora asks about Heure, but gets little response, and they both vanish, observed by Woz, who awaits his King's next move.

Dogengers: The show makes sure to tell us all 5 heroes split the rent. Tanaka is forced to give a strategy meeting, he also had to give Yuki the rundown. Yabai Kamen heads his own meeting, and recalls the Insurgent Power Harassment that lead to his broken arm, though in a way he's glad only he was hurt by I-Doll. Fukuokaliber discusses the idea the Golden Seal could give them the edge up they need, while I-Doll decides to attack the heroes directly. Yamashiron recognises the Golden Seal from when he was upgraded into Tsuyobi Mode, but none of the other heroes remember seeing it. A package is delivered, and after Yuki signs for it the heroes notice I-Doll upstairs. The 5 heroes fight, but she's overpowering all of them, but Rookie, remembering all he's learnt from the others, asks them to leave things to him, asking I-Doll to explain what her worries are so he can help, angering her further. She goes to deal with the others when he calls out, saying he won't allow evil, she pauses at being told to wait, then charges, but Rookie manages to knock her down with a pinch. And then a change happens. And so the worried Yuki rushes to the door to greet Tanaka, to find him there holding the unconscious figure of a girl very much like I-Doll, in a school uniform.

Super Sentai Movie Ranger: Just going off vague summaries

Memory of Soulmates: Sounds like just a nice little interlude, the Gaisoulg Soul saves the day by absorbing something to do with the Minusaur involved. Kinjo Mana RIP.

Bebop Dream: Set around the time this would have originally come out, resolves the Minjo plot hook, establishes Garza still thinks of Crystalia. Apparently the Red Shovellow isn't important to anything happening, but Zabyun is used in a new Kiramazin formation.

Red Battle! All Sentai Battle: Reportedly set after episode 7 of the series, but I imagine there will have been some stuff introduced by then not featured in the movie. The main villain is a Tojitendo monster called Super Warumono World, who incorporates features of main villains of the 44 previous Sentai, list below, who summons an army of past monsters, most notably Basco ta Jolokia, Izayoi Kyuemon, Bangray and Zamigo Delma. After being defeated the Zenkaigers manage to summon the past 45 reds, who help them defeat the villains.

Villains: Kuro Juji Soto, Shuryo Iron Claw, Satan Egos, Queen Hedrian, Hell Saturn Soto, Soto Taboo, Teio Aton, Doctor Man, Seio Bazeu, Daitei La Deus, Chiteio Zeba, Daikyoju Bias, Dai Boma Teio Lagorn, Ginga Choju Vulgyre, Kyodaiju Raguem, Majo Bandora, Gorma XV, Daimaou, Bacchus Wrath, Sochi Gynamo, Dr. Hinelar, Zeihab Seicho, Meio Zylpheeza, Don Dolnero, Kyukyoku Org Senki, Shuryo Tau Zant, Jameishin Dezumozoriya, Agent Abrella, Zettaishin N Ma, Daishinkan Gajah, Long, Soridaijin Yogoshimacritein, Chimatsuri Doukoku, Kyuseishu no Brajira, Ackdos Gil, Messiah Reboot, Hyakumen Shinkan Chaos, Z Shin, Kibaoni Gengetsu, Shin Ginis, Don Armage, Dogranio Yabun, Eras and Yodon Kotei.

[kanene-yaaay]

What is it?

Kanene’s note: Heyioooo!!! How are you all, my dear lollipop? Gooooosh! I really missed to post something dfghjukioljuhghgf. Well, I was talking with the incredible @cefsticklestoo and she said one of her favorite Tickle-Tropes was Alien/Robot discovering about tickles, and then I got really inspired asdfgyhujuhgfghj. xDD.

Hope you all appreciate the story as much as I loved to write it!!! Thank you for your time! Have a wonderful day and a wonderful life! Never forget how much special you are, lollipop! <3

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* Lee!Logan and Ler!Roman (It can be seen as Romantic or Platonic if you want. There is some kind of flirt but only if you squint).

* Hmmm… This is a Tickle-Fanfic! If you don’t like this kind of stuff, please look for another blog, there are plenty of amazing art in this site!! ‘u’).

* Something around 1500 words. -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any advice is very very welcome!

* I wrote a big part of it during my class. I could feel the adrenaline in my veins and almost had a heart attack when my friend asked me ‘what are you writing’ dfghjhgfdfghjhg.  D a n g e r. 

* Vou tentar escrever a versão em português! Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Watch a fun video, take a good rest, talk with the one that you love, drink water and be careful with your creations, they can easly get very curious, ya know! Byeioo!~

                                [~*~]

Logan smiled, for the first time in a really long period, as he watched his creation finally became alive. Their metallic, shiny eyes blinked and the android focused them in his form, their face, even if mirrored his, opened in one of the most perfect and bright smiles Logan had even seen.

- It’s a pleasure to meet you, my dear subject! - Roman (What he could do? Logan always kept a secret love for the Roman Empire) spin in the same place as if testing out his movements. The mechanic and scientist opened his mouth, ready to answer his question until all the exhaustion and tiredness took over the entirety of his mind, suppressing the adrenaline of, after all this time, presence his creation finally works.

 And then he passed out.

 …

 He blinked a few times. His head didn’t hurt, which probably meant that the android managed to catch him before his expected encounter with the floor. Thank to Newton that Logan didn’t spared efforts to apprimorete his reflexives responses. He sat, appreciating the feeling the cozy fabric of his bed’s comforts (how much time was since he actually slept in it?), before being tossed in his initial position, again.

 - WHAT IS IT?? - In Roman’s hands diverses paint cans struggled to not fall from their firm grip. The strength of their arms, which one day were known as white, was completely colored in a mix of various colors and shades.

 - P-paint cans. - Logan cleared his throat while the colored let themself fell, sitting on the scientist’s legs, their vision unfocused, probably accessing on his internet the meaning of his words, their smile increasing more and more. - How much time I was unconscious?

 - It’s beautiful. - Their glare returned to stare only the painting and cans, their nose wrinkling in a disgruntled expression. Logan didn’t remembered doing their features so adorably. - It’s awful. I'm going to need to redo it. - Their face then gleamed, as if Roman had the most brilliant idea in the whole world. - Can I practice on you?

 - Pardon me?

 - ‘Practice makes perfect’ it’s a pretty common saying, you know?

 - I didn’t mean...- The one with glasses sighed under the expecting, excited and slightly confused look of the other. It was against his principles to deny knowledge in any and every form to anyone. - Yes. However, I plead you use a paint brush.

 - Paint brush?

 - Small object used in order to applying paint.

 Roman took the said out of a small compartment in his shoulder.

 - I thought it was a kind of ornament. - Wet the object first in the red can and started to work, their ability of improvement was almost mesmerizing, the shapes gained more complexity and precision as the drawing danced across his forearm, so much that Logan didn’t even noticed it inevitable destiny as its bristles lightly touched the base of his neck.

 The mechanic nearly jumped, a yelp escaping from his lips while his body jerked, but not much, from the sensation, a wobbly smile taking over his features without his permission.

 - Hey!!! You made me blur it!!! - Angry pout. Their eyes met. - Wait. You did it again.

 - What? - Logan was too much occupied controlling his impulse to rub the tingling sensation in his neck to acknowledge the shine, which spread in Roman’s eyes, joyfully mesmerizing his smile one more time. 

 - That. You made that thing when I woke up. - Then they stared their brush. - What did I do?

 - T-this was o-only an involuntary response of my nervous system. - ‘It’s not a big deal, Logan. It’s NOT a big deal. Stop blushing and smiling in that EXACT moment!!’ - It’s called - Come on, Logan. You are a responsible, serious, rational, respected, mature male human. You made an android, you definitely can say this only one word without stuttering. - T-t-tickles. - …. I gave up.

 - Tickles? - Unfocused eyes and suddenly the one with glasses notice how much their creation in his legs could incapacity him from runni- I mean, strategically move away. - Your search history has plenty of results to that word. You are addicted.

 -I-I'm not 'addicted'! I'm just… a little fond for the subject. - His face clouded itself in a frown. 

 -Wait, no! Do that thing again! - Roman scribbled again the brush on his neck, making Logan close firmly his lips and eyes, trying to stop the freedom of all the tons and tons of bubbling giggles that spin and accumulated themselves in his chest, his body shook with the struggling. - Why aren't you doing that sound anymore?

 Their hand let go of the object and the scientist breathed again, ignoring the heating that only increased further in his cheeks. The android's fingers dig in his armpits, releasing a high pitched squeal from the other.

 -Ouch! Whahahait! That hurt! - Roman retreated, a confused expression in his face. 

 -But… I did exactly as the human in that video…

 Logan tried to ignore equally the fact that the Android really was interested in that human activity and this look of slight sadness and curiosity as Roman stared their hands. The one with glasses signed, defeated.

 It was against his principles to deny knowledge in any and every form to anyone. 

 -You need to do it like that. - He raised his hands, wriggling his fingers and not realizing the wobbly smiling showing in his face when the other started to mirroring his movements, tingles and shivers running all through his body and waking up the excited butterflies in his stomach. - And you can't put all your strength in this, the nerves are sensitive to the most light touch.

 -Like that? - Roman deflected from his hands, finding way to his neck, their fingertips barely touching under his chin as they tickled and tracing shapes as the went from a side to another, Logan muffling his fast giggles behind his hands and trying to not move (just because of the lesson, sure. It wasn't like he was liking this or anything like that.) away from the unbearable feeling that made his smile spread more and more.

 -ExhahahahahaHA - Roman found a particularly ticklish spot right behind his ear, Logan almost could see an evil grin in the android's features, even if he haven't programmed that expression on them. A malign thought hit him as well. - E-e-hehehehexactly! But, thahahahahat… - He fought the urge to squeak as Roman tried again the paint brush, each bristle slowly scratching his sensitive spot and leading the giggly-flow to fall quickly. The good was that the, as it seemed, artist was too much distracted to notice Logan's hands getting dangerously close. - … can also works as well! 

 The scientist, just for the sake of the lesson of course, suddenly attacked their ribs, his fingers quickly spidering up and down, sometimes poking, multiples of times even when the Android jumped, exploding in a loud, melodious laughter that, for a moment, stopped everything else. 

 Their eyes met, a smirk beginning to form in his face-

 But then Roman's fingers decided to tickle his tummy, and Logan automatically lost it, his hands clapping firmer in his mouth as real laughter, together with some snorts, started to float from his lips. Roman unfairly skilled squeezes spread across every single inch of his so, so much ticklish spot, kneading and scribbling his right, his left, up, down, just to repeat all of this again and again and again… 

 -It's working!!! - Their fast, unbearable tickles found that exactly spot right under his navel that leaded to the current flow of squeals and snorts that fell from his mouth, his giggles getting higher as his ticklish, softly scratches almost made him want to jump from his skin, squirming more profusely. - I didn't even knew that humans could make these sounds!!

 -SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUT UP! - His whole face was boiling, his smile so big that it was possible to see even behind his hands. - NahahahaHAHAHAHA!

 -Hey!! Stop it right now! It's not fair, I'm working hard here!! Show me your smile! - An only one damn finger poked curiously his belly button, making his hands really get of his mouth, flying to hold the others wrists. Roman couldn't stop smiling, even more when they fixed their eyes in Logan's face, his glasses askew, wrinkled nose, wobbly smile and infinite giggles. Each little poke resulting in a shriek. - Cool! This is your squeaky button!

 His blush spread to his ears.

 -Thihihihis is NOHOHOHOT how th -sTOP- ihihihis called!!!

 Roman began to scribble the most ticklish spot, their index finger dancing inside his navel and Logan fell in an explosion of laughter, crackling, snorting and squeaking, legs bouncing and head shaking, as if he could deny the sensation.

 -Sure it is! I'm poking and you're squeaking!

 -Thihihihihis is nOHOHOT HOW THIHIHIHihihihis wORK! - Roman leaned down their head, a suborn look of determination in their eyes. -  Nohohohohoho!! DohohOHOHOHON'T!

 -IT. IS. - And then they blew a raspberry directly in his tummy button. A scream escaped from Logan's lips before he fell in a silent laughter. The Android stopped, eyes widen open as they stared him. 

 -I'm sorry. I thought I…

 -N-nohohoho. - The scientist took off his glasses, wiping the tears from his eyes. - It's ohohokahahay, you stohohopped in the rihihight moment. - He let his gigantic smile remained in his face, his giggles floating in the air, showing he was truly okay.  As soon as Roman realized, they let a proud smile took over his features. 

 -See? I told you it was a squeaky button!  

[gundamthey17]

Find What Fits

This is prompt 2 / 2 for the @transwizardtournament! Thanks to @lifetoanother for commissioning me (again!) This one is a les mis/marauders crossover.

Read on AO3

The Gryffindor fifth year boys’ dormitory was filled nearly to capacity as thirteen students sat laughing, talking, and drinking butterbeer and contraband firewhiskey. (In fact, it was entirely possible that the room had been filled to capacity, and then had simply expanded to accommodate more people as they entered. Remus was reasonably sure that he had never seen at least one of those chairs before.)  It was a Friday night, and the Beauxbatons exchange students would be heading back to France that Sunday.  The fifth years were making the most of what little time they had left together, now that winter break was starting and they had no assignments to complete.  

Bahorel, James, Sirius, and Peter were playing a drinking game. Remus wasn’t sure who had started it, but he suspected all four of them would be spending some quality time in the bathroom before the night was out. Marius and Cosette were laughing with Dorcas and Marlene; Lily, Enjolras, and Combeferre were engaged in an intense-sounding discussion of Wizard-Muggle relations in France. That left Remus sitting at the edge of the room alone, nursing his firewhiskey, but he was quite content with that arrangement. He was still recovering from the full moon earlier in the week, and he would likely find himself dozing off soon.  Suddenly, the room’s final occupant appeared at his side.

“May I sit with you?” Jehan asked. They had been flitting from conversation to conversation for the majority of the night.

“Of course,” Remus replied, moving over to make room on the small couch.

Jehan settled back with a sigh and took a delicate sip from their half full glass of firewhiskey. Their long auburn hair was coming out of its braid, and it spilled over the back of the couch. Their inquisitive hazel eyes roamed the room for a moment before coming to land on Remus’ face. “Hard to believe the semester is over already,” they said, with just a trace of a French accent.

“Yeah,” Remus replied. “It’s been great getting to know you all. We’re going to miss you.”

“Will you write?”

“Sure.”

“All of you,” Jehan clarified. “I am trusting in you to remind the others if they forget.”

Remus smiled. “Lily won’t forget. She’s fascinated by wizard politics. I’ll give the others some gentle reminders now and then. Or not so gentle.”

“Good. Enjolras and Combeferre seem to have met their match in Lily. I honestly did not think it could happen. And everyone else has been wonderful too.” They paused, and seemed to choose their next words carefully. “I wish the rest of our friends could have come as well. They would have liked to meet you.” Remus hummed in response. Jehan continued, “I should put you in touch with our friend Feuilly. You and he have… some things in common.”

“Oh? Is he in your year?”

“Not exactly. There were certain… factors… that prevented him from becoming a student. Our headmaster is perhaps not so accepting as yours.”

Remus turned his head sharply, more curious than offended. His eyes flicked about the room warily, but everyone was intent on their own conversations. “Your friend… you’re saying he’s got a similar… problem? Like mine?”

“I do not want to assume anything about you. But there are certain similarities. I wonder if you two can perhaps encourage one another. He has never encountered anyone whose case is quite the same as his. I could put you in touch with him. If you want, that is.”

“I’d like that.”

“I’m sure Feuilly will appreciate it. And Bahorel too. He and Feuilly are together.”

“That must be hard. I can’t imagine what it would be like for Sirius and me if we – “ Remus cut himself off quickly, realizing what he had said. The fact that he and Sirius were – whatever they were – was not common knowledge. But Jehan merely nodded.

“You would find a way, I am sure. My… what is the word? Significant other? He does not attend Beauxbatons. For reasons mostly of his own choosing, unlike Feuilly.”

Remus couldn’t help but admire the way Jehan spoke about themself and Bahorel having boyfriends. “Is it easier in France?” he asked suddenly.

“Is what easier?”

“Being… you know…” he gestured vaguely.

“Gay?”

Remus let out a startled laugh. “Yes, I guess that’s what I mean. Or – or bisexual, or – any of it.”

Jehan sighed pensively. “Some things, perhaps yes. Others less so. Being entirely yourself will always take courage, no matter the setting.”

“Sirius is always telling me to be myself. But I’m not even sure I know who I am. Or… or what I am.” He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly saying all of these things out loud. Jehan was easy to talk to, and it was entirely possible that the firewhiskey was helping as well.

“That is all right. It takes time. And it’s different for everyone. Sirius may know who he is and be comfortable with that, but you are not him.”

“How did you know that you were…?” Remus trailed off, realizing he actually wasn’t sure how Jehan identified. He finally settled on, “That you wanted to be called they, instead of he or she.”

“Ah,” Jehan nodded. “In some ways, this is easier in English. In French, everything has a gender, he or she.  There is very little room for someone who is a different gender, or many genders, or no gender.” Remus listened attentively. Jehan gave a knowing smile.  “But this is not what you asked.”

“No, I guess it’s not.”

“How did I know that I am non binaire? Well, how is it that I know anything else? Let us look at you, for example. Would you say that you are gay?”

“I’m – I’m bisexual, actually.”

“And how do you know this?”

Remus paused, a furrow appearing between his brows as he considered the question.  “I knew I liked Sirius,” he said slowly, “so I thought at first that I was gay.  But that… I don’t know, it didn’t seem quite right. I think that I like some girls as well. Or I could. Bisexual seemed to fit better.”

Jehan’s face lit up.  “Yes, this is it exactly! Gender is the same. You try something for a while, and maybe it does not fit. Then you try another thing. It is okay to keep trying until you find what fits.”

Remus took a long sip of his drink and nodded.

Jehan laid a hand on his shoulder.  “I can see I have given you much to think about, my friend. I will go and make sure the others are not drinking themselves to death. Thank you for your questions. It is nice to be able to speak openly about such things.”

“Thank you for your answers,” Remus replied earnestly.

 It was well past midnight by the time the last of the guests left the dormitory. Peter and James were both snoring loudly on James’s bed. Remus had taken a seat by the window and was watching the stars. Sirius came up and nudged him from behind.

“You coming to bed?”

“Hm?” Remus said, startled out of his reverie. “Oh. Yes, I’m coming.”

“I know that look.” Sirius took a seat across from him, the expression on his face not quite a grin, but carrying a playful air. “What are you thinking about?”

“Something Jehan said.”  They were both silent as Remus considered whether or not to elaborate. His eyes drifted from Sirius’s face back out the window. “Would you still like me if I wasn’t…”

“Wasn’t what?”

“Wasn’t a boy,” Remus finished softly. “I’m not saying that I’m not! Or that I’m a girl. I’m just not sure… that I’m either.”

Sirius took Remus’s hands in his own. “Rem.  I like you for who you are. How you identify isn’t going to change that. And it’s okay if you don’t know yet. We can find out together. Keep trying different things until something sticks.”

Remus ducked his head and smiled.  “That sounds like what Jehan said.”

“Then you have it on good authority that I know what I’m talking about.”

“That, or you were eavesdropping on me earlier.”

Sirius clasped a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I would never! You impugn my honor, good sir!”            Remus grinned. “I didn’t realize you had any to begin with.”

“How dare you! I demand you cease this chatter at once!” Sirius rose and, in one fluid motion, swept Remus out of his seat and carried him across the room, depositing him onto his bed. Remus tried and failed to suppress his laughter, but James and Peter were sound asleep and did not stir.

Sirius leaned down and pressed a kiss to Remus’s temple.  “Good night, Remus Lupin.”

“Good night, Sirius Black.”

[cotillion-the-rope]

Not Hollow Chapter Six: Family

I tried really hard to write a proper fight scene, it's why this chapter took so long to come out, but it just wasn't happening. And the harder I tried to force myself through the more frustrated and discouraged I got so I settled on handling the Radiance fight the way you'll see in this chapter. It's not as epic as I wanted it to be but the focus of he story has always been more about their relationships anyway so it's not the end of the world.

Hornet was taking longer to return than she’d said she would, a lot longer. Which should’ve been fine but… Hollow was lonely. Since dragging themself out of the Black Egg, they hadn’t been alone for any significant length of time. Though compared to how long they’d been alone in the Egg, this was nothing. So they were fine, this was fine!

They stood up anyway and walked over to peer out the window. Maybe they should go look for them? Hornet was more than capable of taking care of herself and Grimmchild had to be with her so they should both be perfectly fine. But… if the Pale King could die then so could Hornet. Hollow couldn’t bear the thought of losing her especially after just learning of their father’s death. So… they side stepped to the door and opened it to poke their head out.

Normally they didn’t leave the house unless Hornet brought them out either for a walk or to train with their nail for a bit. But like it or not, they had emotions and thus they were worried about their sister and Grimmchild. They were worried about their chained sibling too as well as the entirety of Hallownest. … They were worried just in general.

So, unable to stay still for any longer, they stepped outside. Now… where to go to find Hornet? She was working on finding a way to access the Dream Realm, where would she go to do that? … Hollow had no idea. Their entire world consisted of the Abyss, the White Palace, the Black Egg, and now Dirtmouth, they’d never been anywhere else except for while passing through. They’d heard of places like the City of Tears and Teacher’s Archive but didn’t have even the faintest clue where they might be or how to get to them. So… the only starting point they had was down the well into Hallownest proper.

They started for it, not letting themself look right or left in an attempt to at least hide their worry from the outside world since they couldn’t bury it within themself. Not that there were many people out and about right now, just Elderbug next to the bench, even Zote was currently inside somewhere.

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out and about all by yourself,” Elderbug said when Hollow inevitably ended up passing by him. They could’ve gone around and snuck past him but they were so used to faking to themself that they didn’t care about such things that the thought not to take the shortest past hadn’t occurred to them until just now. Alas it was far too late.

They gave him a small shrug in response because how else were they expected to respond? They preferred being primarily ignored like how the knights and dignitaries at the White Palace had treated them.

“It’s good to see. Don’t hesitate to rest on the bench if you need it, I wouldn’t mind the company.” … Well at least he was kind, that was honestly kind of nice even if Hollow knew even less how to respond to that.

They nodded at him before moving on.

Upon reaching the well, they looked down it, hoping against hope that maybe Hornet would be down there, about ready to start ascending. Alas, they had no such luck. So, after double checking to make sure that their nail was attached firmly to their back, they vaulted over the edge. They landed at the bottom with a small thunk. Getting back up would be hard with only one arm but that was a problem for the future that hopefully Hornet would be there to help them with like she had when they’d gone up initially. For now, they picked a direction and started walking.

They ended up going to the Black Egg Temple. They hadn’t intended to, it just kind of happened in part because so nearby. Ghost was in the Egg inside, chained and suffering and it was Hollow’s fault. … They should’ve tried to tell Hornet that their sibling wasn’t hollow sooner, insisted that she help them. Then they wouldn’t have been chained up in there alone for so long and maybe they wouldn’t have cracked. It was too late now though but at least Hollow had finally said something.

And now that Hornet knew and was working on the problem, she would fix it. … But then again, Hollow had had that same kind of confidence and unwavering belief in the Pale King and that had turned out like this and with him dead. So… maybe Hornet couldn’t fix it? She was a demi-god but even gods could fail and die as proven by the Pale King. Having complete confidence in her might just lead to more disappointment, sadness, and possibly even suffering. … Hoping she could fix it was fine though, right? Maybe, maybe not, either way it was all Hollow had left. … It wasn’t much.

They turned and left, more eager than before to not be alone with their thoughts. It wasn’t long before they encountered an Infected husk. They cut it down with ease. It actually felt almost good to use their nail for something real for once. Enough that following that, they may have even gone a bit out of their way to find and take down more husks. They didn’t know where they were headed anyway so they might as well relieve some stress along the way.

They’d just finished taking down a group of them when…

“Hollow?!”

They looked over to see Hornet approaching. Good! Their search for her was done and she was safe. But where was Grimmchild?

“What are you doing out here?” she asked. “Besides killing husks.”

They didn’t reply. They’d left the parchment and quill back home so they couldn’t answer properly even if they’d been inclined to. Which they weren’t because admitting they’d been starting to worry about her wasn’t a confession they wanted to make because they weren’t meant to feel anything at all. And it was a rather silly thing to be worried about, Hornet was probably better at taking care of herself than Hollow was.

She looked like she was going to say more but was interrupted by a blue bug and Grimmchild coming around the corner. “You sure do like to go fast, huh?” the blue bug said as caught all the way up. “And ah, the Hollow Knight themself. It is nice to meet you. Your sister has told me a fair bit about you and your sibling’s plight. I’m Quirrel.” He gave Hollow a slight bow.

Hollow bowed back because, judging by the fancy nail at his side, he was a knight and therefore that was the proper response.

“Now,” Quirrel said as both of them straightened. “Let’s go kill the Radiance, shall we?” Oh? He was going to help with that? That also had to mean Hornet had found a way to access the Dream Realm. Good! … Now all they had to do was kill a god. Hopefully both of them were up to it, Hollow certainly wasn’t even if it was possible for them to try.

Hornet nodded before leaping to lead the way back towards the Black Egg Temple.

Quirrel, Grimmchild hovering behind his shoulder, fell in step with Hollow as they started following her. But counter to their expectations, he didn’t say anything. He seemed content to walk beside them in silence. It was a nice change of pace from most people Hollow knew/had known, they liked him already.

It didn’t take long to reach the Temple again; Hollow hadn’t strayed far from it. Hornet was waiting for them inside, standing by the Egg itself.

“This is where you come in,” she said, looking at Hollow. “None of use can afford to spend any significant amount of time in there. So we need you to go in, free Ghost of their chains, incapacitate them and then bring them out here. Do you think you can do that?”

Hollow would rather never go into the Black Egg ever again but… they didn’t have a choice. They were the only one who could go in safely and they had to save Ghost. If was their fault Ghost was in this mess and Ghost had saved them. So, resisting the urge to hesitate, they nodded. They could do this for their sibling.

“Good. I have some thread you can use to tie them up. You’ll probably have to knock them unconscious or at least stun them for a while too.” She pulled out a long string of thread out of one her dress’ inner pockets and held it up towards Hollow. “Once they’re out here, we’ll handle the rest, okay?”

Hollow nodded as they wrapped the thread loosely around their neck so they wouldn’t lose it. They then turned back to face the Black Egg and pulled the door open.

“Good luck,” Quirrel said, his tone strangely cheery when considering the seriousness of what they were all doing here. Grimmchild mewled in seeming agreement, flying a quick circle around all their heads.

Strangely encouraged by such tiny things, Hollow stepped into the Black Egg. The long hall to the center quickly proved to feel much shorter than dragging themself along it had made it seem thus it was far too soon before they were facing Ghost again. Their mask was cracked, their eyes filled with the poison light of Infection. … Hollow couldn’t bear to look at them.

They felt almost sick with shame and sorrow. This was their fault; Ghost shouldn’t have been made to go through that. If Hollow had been as pure as they were supposed to be, as the Pale King had believed them to be, then this wouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have! … Despairing about it wouldn’t help fix it though.

Hollow forced themself to look back up at Ghost. If only they had a way to assure them that it would be okay; that Hornet and her new friend Quirrel would do their best to save the day. But even if they had a way to speak, Ghost wouldn’t be able to understand much of their words anyway, their mind was too full of the Radiance’s light.

They unwound the thread from around their neck as they approached at last. With the chains in the way and only one arm to work with, winding it around Ghost proved to be rather difficult. But it was thin enough to fit under the chains when pulled the right way and they were quite used to having only one arm by now so they eventually got something that should be good enough, tying it tight in the back. It wouldn’t do much more than bind Ghost’s arms to their sides but that should be enough to prevent them from attacking at least.

Speaking of that though, Hollow bent down to collect Ghost’s nail on the floor. It was small enough that they could mostly fit it in one of the inner pockets in their cloak. Ghost would probably want it when this was all done, might as well save them a trip back into this wretched place.

Next, after checking once more that Ghost’s arms were bound tight to their sides, Hollow drew their own nail and struck the nearest chain, breaking it. They had vague memories of watching Ghost break with their chains, making this feel a bit weird but they didn’t let that slow them.

After breaking the final chain, Ghost fell to the floor with a loud clatter. The Radiance released a roar from within them, making Hollow flinch and tremble. Ghost at least was thoroughly bound, straining uselessly against Hornet’s thread.

Steeling themself, Hollow approached and crouched down beside them. They hated to do it but it had to be done so… they shifted their grip on their nail so that the butt of its hilt would be pointed straight down. They struck Ghost with it, right where the crack in their mask was. They went still for several moments but alas, only stunned, they soon started struggling again. So, Hollow struck again, a bit harder this time. Thankfully they went limp; thoroughly incapacitated just like how Hornet wanted. How long it would last was impossible to say with the Infection coursing through them, so Hollow should probably hurry.

They quickly hung their nail on their back before grabbing Ghost by a horn. They would’ve preferred to carry Ghost in a more dignified way but there was no way to pick them up like that with one arm that wasn’t slow and awkward and they’d prefer not to have to knock Ghost out again even more. So, holding them close but awkwardly, they straightened and fast walked out.

***

The Radiance’s burning bright light and anger drowned out everything else, especially Ghost’s own thoughts and feelings. So, when much of her attention turned away from them, they noticed. But even with their thoughts back, they were disorientated and thus it took them a bit to realize what was happening.

Hornet was here? So was Quirrel and Grimmchild? … Why though? And how? It didn’t make sense. … The Radiance hated them, she wanted them gone; she was trying to kill them. … Oh no! Ghost needed to help them. … They couldn’t though, the Radiance still had them in her thrall. Which meant Hornet, Grimmchild and Quirrel were going to…

Actually no, they were fighting back. More than holding their own too based off the Radiance’s slowly growing fear and desperation as well as increased anger. She refused to fade away and die and refused to be killed. She was going to kill any bug that got in the way of that.

Despite her determination, she was slowly but surely pushed steadily back. She was losing! Ghost’s joy about that made her angrier, distracting her and causing her to take a slash strong enough to deflate Ummu from Quirrel straight to the face. Half blind now, the wound gushed essence as she retreated but not fast enough to avoid more fire from Grimmchild and a barrage of spiked balls from Hornet.

The three of them chased her, clearly intent on killing her. … That’s what they were here to do, wasn’t it? Kill her and save Ghost. … No one had ever done anything like that for them before, they hadn’t thought anyone ever would either. They probably wouldn’t have believed it if the evidence wasn’t undeniable before them.

The Radiance eventually reached a point she couldn’t retreat any further. There wasn’t much room to fight up here but Hornet and Quirrel somehow managed anyway, taking turns attacking her and dodging with Grimmchild right beside them providing backup via a constant barrage of fireballs.

It was Hornet who delivered the final blow, leaping up high and tossing her needle into the large slash made Quirrel’s nail earlier. The Radiance roared in anger and pain as Hornet dashed forward to push it in deeper, twisting it inside her and pulling it down but not out, making the wound to her core even bigger. Essence poured out of it like a like a geyser, fill the Dreamscape with light as the Radiance died.

The next moment Ghost was awake, staring up at the ceiling of the temple. Their head pounded, making them feel a bit dizzy even before moving. Trying to move a hand up to touch where the pain radiated from resulted in them learning that their arms were bound rather tightly. Why would…

A happy mewl came from beside them a half second before they were engulfed in exceedingly warm wings. It was Grimmchild, he was much bigger and apparently very happy to see them as he nuzzled them while making happy sounds. If only Ghost could return his affections because they were quite pleased to see him again too.

“Grimmchild, I know you’re happy to see them but you need to move so I can untie them.” That was Hornet. She sounded exhausted but relieved.

Grimmchild made a noise of complaint but moved aside, allowing Hornet to lean in and untie whatever was keeping Ghost bound. She helped them sit up so she could unwind it fully. As soon as it was off it though, she… hugged them.

Ghost froze. They’d never been hugged before, what were they supposed to do? And it was Hornet! She was their sister yes but… she wasn’t the type to hug people, even those important to her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, seemingly unbothered by the fact that they were stone-still in her arms. “I shouldn’t have… let you do that. I just didn’t think there was another way. Or… at least I should’ve done something sooner. I’m sorry.”

Ghost nodded as they relaxed, even returning her hug as they’d seen other bugs do when hugged by a loved one. With another chirp, Grimmchild’s wings were suddenly around them again and Hornet too this time, forcing them a bit closer. It was a bit awkward but… nice; hugs were nice.

***

“Why don’t you join them?” Quirrel whispered to Hollow who was staring at their siblings and Grimmchild hugging. What they were thinking was impossible for him to know but if he had to guess, it’d be that they wanted in on that group hug. They certainly deserved to be included in it.

True to that guess, Hollow only hesitated for a few seconds before crouching down beside them. They had only one arm so it was bit awkward but they managed to pull their family close, the three of them even adjusted themselves to help Hollow join them.

It was honestly one of the most beautiful things Quirrel had ever seen. The dregs of a broken family reunited at last, long overdue for sure. As nice as it was, Quirrel was a bit of an intruder here though. This should be a private family moment.

So, even though he was eager to talk to Ghost again and express he was happy that they were all right and that the Radiance was defeated, he turned and left for now. He, like them, Hornet and Hollow, could finally move on from his past as well as Hallownest’s. All of them were at long last free to do as they pleased. … He had a lot to explain to Lemm first though.

I was contemplating writing an epilogue about how Ghost, Hollow, and Hornet start moving on from all the Radiance stuff as a family (with Grimmchild there too of course) but I think I actually like it being more opened ended. Y'all can imagine for yourselves how they might start putting their lives back together.

[nelvana]

In which the god of space is met

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which part of a curse is broken Previous: In which the dungeon of space is explored

Warning! This chapter has descriptions of blood and stronger depictions of violence! Reader discretion is advised.

   Dialga gasped as they hit the ground, landing on their side, but they barely felt that pain. This fall was barely a pinprick compared to the deep claw marks in their skin, dented and torn armor, and bruises that would only grow to feel worse when this encounter was over. But even that was nothing, nothing compared to how their throat throbbed from their yelling and screaming, to how their pounding heart ached and cried out for their friend. Tears clouded their vision, making the dark caverns appear fuzzy and almost dream-like in how the light refracted in the water in their eyes.

   How had everything gone so wrong?

   The beginning started out alright, as alright as something like this could go. Once all those from Team Galaxy and allies had jumped through the portal, Dialga paused, and then went right away to readjusting the portal for themselves. They wished that it would be as simple as to allow everyone to skip the dungeon, but there was no sense in arguing against how their powers connected for portal making; it was simply easier to transport themself and Celebi, and arguably Ceebee as well, but they knew she would want to stay with her friends, directly through, but taking mortals would cause problems.

   “Well… here we go,” Dialga had murmured to Celebi, who still fluttered beside the larger pokemon.

   Celebi had simply nodded, but to Dialga’s surprise, then they smiled softly.

   “I am glad to be fighting for the world’s balance by your side,” Celebi told them.

   And that, that alone gave Dialga so much more confidence. Maybe things could be alright. They could bring Palkia to their senses, and finally, finally Dialga and Celebi could enjoy the future together without any worries. Dialga smiled back, thanking their partner and returning the sentiment, before stepping through their portal. Once Celebi was safely across, Dialga closed the portal behind them.

   At the back of their mind, Dialga worried about how long it would take the others to complete the dungeon, and what state they would be when they did come out, but Dialga knew that they had promised to help weaken Palkia until the group arrived, and they were committed to that promise.

   How had everything gone wrong? How had it all gone so wrong so fast?

   Palkia… was not open to negotiation, as expected. Part of Dialga had still hoped though, hoped that they had not been too late for that option to be completely gone. Palkia was, at first, furious to see Celebi and Dialga arrive, blaming them for bringing back the “anomalies”. However, afterwards they offered the pair a chance to team up, to destroy the “anomalies” together and “fix” the world’s balance. Trying to explain that Palkia was wrong, trying to negotiate, only brought the space god to the conclusion that Celebi and Dialga were enemies to them again, and thus Palkia charged into battle, starting the actual fight far sooner than Dialga would have hoped for.

   Palkia wasted no time in utilising their signature move, as they glowed, glowing pink and orange before releasing a pink crescent-shaped blade of energy from their arm at the pair, tearing apart the cavern and space around it to utilize the attack. Dialga growled, acting swiftly to counter the spacial rend with their own signature attack, charging up a beam of energy and blasting it at their sibling’s attack, reversing time and repairing the damage of the area in the process.

   “I’ll back you up,” Celebi had told them quietly.

   The pixie pokemon darted away so fast that Dialga couldn’t keep track of where they had disappeared off to; though this didn’t worry them, they knew they could trust Celebi. Sure enough, it hadn’t been long before several whirlwinds of bladed leaves were sent out at Palkia, scratching the hide of the legendary, who let out a sharp hiss.

   The battle only started well. It only started that way. Palkia only seemed to grow stronger as their body glowed a stronger and stronger burning red-orange and the parts that didn’t grow began darkening as they lose control over themself to going primal.

   Plus, typing wise, Dialga only had dragon-type moves for super-effective damage against Palkia, and their best move for that was their roar of time, which often missed the target completely. Celebi, unlike Ceebee, did not know dazzling gleam, and could only deal neutral damage to Palkia. Palkia themself, however, knew just the right moves to counter both Dialga and Celebi. Dialga resisted many types, but was severely weak to fighting-type moves, so Palkia made sure to make use of the aura sphere attack, which never missed. Palkia didn’t have any type advantages on Celebi, but the size of any attack coming from the space god was hard to dodge and dealt immense damage, and though Palkia already seemed slightly distracted in the heat of the battle, they still seemed to know enough to choose the right moves to target the mythical with.

   Celebi and Dialga had put up a good fight, but now, Dialga weakly wondered if that really mattered in the end.

   Celebi was dead. Their body, discarded just across the room in such a direct way that while Dialga lay prone on the ground they could not turn their gaze away no matter how much they wished to. It had been a swift end, gored by Palkia’s teeth, leaving their corpse in an almost unrecognizable state from being bitten from something so much larger than them. What could be recognized as the same green that had once been bright, were dulled and wilted, like a leaf in autumn.

   Dialga’s throat felt like it was swelling up as they gasped out another sob. Celebi died, died to Palkia as they had to Primal Dialga in the dead timeline; by the teeth of a primal after opposing them.

   How Dialga had been so happy for Celebi’s second chance when the meteor had been destroyed. Guilt constantly ate away at them once they were aware of themself again for killing their friend in the other timeline, despite not being in complete control of their own actions, and Dialga had vowed to make things right for Celebi again now that time had been altered. Celebi had not lived as long in this timeline as the other, but would they have been happier? To have less days where they could see bright colors and the warmth of the rising sun, than to have more days in a dark world of despair? Dialga didn’t know, and they would never know for sure now.

   Did Celebi know that they wouldn’t make it out of this fight? Dialga was certain that the pixie had attempted singing the perish song, right before being cut off by their untimely death and failing to set up the move. It was hard to piece together the exact memory now between the pain, but if that were the case, Dialga supposed it could have been a good strategy, only as a last resort to knock out the legendaries, but it would have killed Celebi in the end anyway. They didn’t even get that sacrifice now.

   Suddenly, Dialga was torn out of their thoughts as Palkia shoved their upper body weight onto them, pinning them to the ground. Dialga hadn’t even felt the willpower, much less the energy, to get back up again before then, but if they were to try, they had just lost their window to do so.

   “How the mighty have fallen,” Palkia hissed, leaning down to Dialga’s face to utter their twisted words. “You tried to STOP ME! And you have FAILED! Don’t worry, dearest sibling… I will FIX everything, FIX what you wanted to DESTROY. You may hate me now, but you’ll understand later, you’ll SEE! YOU’LL SEE! I am only trying to do what is RIGHT! I will SAVE us all!”

   Dialga could only choke out a weak cough in response. They wanted to argue, but their heart ached and their throat was still sore and Palkia’s claws digging into their neck didn’t help.

   “SAY SOMETHING!” Palkia demanded, “is that it? You’re just going to GIVE UP?” they snapped, digging their claws deeper into Dialga’s skin. “FINE. That makes this easier for me. You will thank me later for this.”

   “They won’t thank you! You aren’t fixing anything!” Ceebee cried out, flying out from the shadows as she rounded the corner to enter the room of the fight.

   “You brought OTHERS here?” Palkia shrieked at Dialga, who could only desperately stare out at the other celebi, the shiny one not their Celebi but the next celebi generation afterwards.

   Ceebee didn’t react to the corpse of Celebi, though she seemed already aware of it despite not even looking at it. She knew Celebi was dead the very moment it happened; had she not been brought back to existence then this would have been her birth in this timeline. So, she stubbornly did not look down at the body, as to not scare herself at the sight.

   As the rest of the group entered, however, it was hard not to look at their fallen ally. Dialga’s stomach only seemed to twist further at the audible reactions of horror, and how the concern and fear and confusion was all brought together only to see Dialga pinned against the very pokemon they were supposed to beat.

   “YOU BROUGHT THE ANOMALIES HERE? HERE, in MY domain?” Palkia roared.

   “They aren’t… anomalies,” Dialga wheezed, doing their best to lift their head defiantly.

   Palkia let out a low growl, watching as everyone entered, though fortunately, the legendary did not attack them straight away, and only studied them for a few moments, unintendedly giving them time to take in the scene in front of them instead of being caught off guard by being involved in battle right away.

   “You will be stopped,” Dialga continued, twisting their gaze to stare Palkia in the eyes.

   Palkia laughed, “by WHO? These MORTALS and ANOMALIES you have brought with you?” they sneered, turning to meet Dialga’s gaze again.

   “By them, yes. By them or by Arceus. You know that they will not stand for this, you are destroying the balance that holds space together,” Dialga responded, baring their teeth boldly.

   “By ARCEUS?” Palkia repeated, something unfamiliar crossing their expression. “Do you REALLY think they will come to help YOU? Arceus will never arrive here! You know WHY? You know WHY Arceus cannot come to stop ANY of us?” they yowled, “Arceus is DEAD!”

   Dialga paled, and they could already feel their throat tighten again and head spin.

   “You’re lying,” they managed to hiss back.

   “I’M NOT! WHY DO YOU THINK THEY NEVER SHOWED UP WHEN YOU SENT THE WORLD INTO DARKNESS FOR CENTURIES?” Palkia cried out, their rage melting momentarily into something far more desperate and mournful. “I SAW IT MYSELF AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE AND I COULD ONLY WATCH AND DO NOTHING!” they howled, eyes welling up. “YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! ARCEUS IS GONE AND I’M THE ONLY ONE TRYING TO FIX THINGS!”

   For what felt like ages, Dialga could only stare blankly back at Palkia. The illusion vision they had been warned about… had already happened, long in the past it seemed. How could Dialga have not known before? In hindsight, it made sense, it made sense that that was why Arceus had never helped fix things in the dead timeline, but Dialga still could not wrap their head around the idea. Arceus had always been there, the only being to have come before them being Mew themself. Legendaries of their kind had never died before at any point in history, and the idea that something out there could kill gods of this power sounded both impossible and terrifying.

   And yet, and yet, the raw tone in Palkia’s voice, the heartbroken look in their eyes… Dialga knew they were being honest, that this wasn’t something they had been tricked to believe as a strange result of beginning to turn primal.

   “How… How did they die?” Dialga asked quietly, finding themself looking at Palkia with a far gentler expression than they had in a long time. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped.”

   Palkia turned away, screwing their eyes tightly shut in an attempt to rid them of the tears that had sprung up during their outburst. They swallowed a breath, hiccupping slightly as they seemed to consider what to say. As they did this, the weight pushing Dialga lessened slightly, making them wonder if maybe this could be it, if they could turn things around.

   Finally though, Palkia looked back down at Dialga, and though it was hard to see at their angle, Dialga could make out their sibling’s face turn into a scowl.

   “You cannot help. Not anymore. I will deal with this… You are fortunate you cannot die… at least not by me, not that I would want that, I still need you, but… I at least need you out of my way for now, which I can do,” Palkia grumbled.

   With that, Dialga felt dagger sharp teeth sink around their throat. They struggled feebly for a few moments, eyes widened in horror, but it didn’t take long for their eyes to shut and body to go limp as darkness overtook them.

   Palkia stood up, stepping back from their unconscious and wounded sibling and looking down at their handiwork. After simply staring at Dialga for a few moments, they opened a hole in space below the god of time, dropping them into the void and sealing the tiny portal behind them, sending Dialga off to some unknown place in the Spacial Rift. There were a few quiet gasps from the group, though Ceebee was quick to assure them through telepathy that Dialga had not been moved far.

   Finally, Palkia turned back to the group, licking the blood from the lips, smearing the crimson liquid on their face instead of cleaning it in a few spots. Their orange eyes were sharp as they stared down at the group, and glowed dimly in the darkness of the cave.

   “I suppose…” Palkia began, “…that having you here isn’t THAT bad. I can REMOVE the ANOMALIES easier here MYSELF. Especially seeing as my own allies seem to have FAILED me.”

   At being mentioned, the Lake Guardians cautiously floated out from another corridor and into the room. The ditto trudged along much slower behind them, dragging themself across the ground to join the others. It was evident they had been here for awhile, as at the very least, Ditto could not enter the Spacial Rift on their own and would have had to have been brought here by Palkia before all this, though whatever the quartet had been doing before entering was beyond the party.

   “We apologize, Master Palkia,” Uxie told them, “we failed to locate them before they arrived here, but we returned as quickly as we could to help you; as you know. We were unaware that they would come here to disturb you…”

   Palkia narrowed their eyes, “…I will give you three… you three and that THING you’ve gotten another chance to help me make this RIGHT. This time. But you better not fail me here.”

   “We will not fail you, Master Palkia,” Azelf assured them, bowing slightly towards the legendary.

   “Good,” Palkia growled back, barely glancing at the trio floating beside them.

   Turning to focus on the group again, Palkia let their gaze wash over the eight pokemon momentarily before smiling and speaking again.

   “There are… MORE of you than I need to REMOVE. Though only…” They trailed off, eyes darting from ‘mon to ‘mon, and then a second time as if Palkia had forgotten how to count. “…only four of you that are here are PROBLEMS.” They focused their gaze on Ceebee for a moment. “I suppose now that that other celebi is gone, YOUR existence isn’t as PARADOXAL. So, let’s save some trouble, Celebi, Torchic, Absol, and Duskull, if you wish to LEAVE now, no harm will come to you. If you choose to stay and fight with these ANOMALIES, we will be forced to REMOVE you with them,” Palkia offered.

   Keahi, though with shaking legs after what zie had already witnessed, stepped forward and held zirself high, glaring against the powerful being with only a stubborn determination that burned in zir eyes.

   “We’ll never leave them! They are our friends, not anomalies, and we will prove it to you!” zie yelled.

   Tsuki stepped up beside the torchic, “they are not what causes the imbalance of the world, you are. We will fight you to fix the disasters that have befallen this world.”

   “Y-Yeah! We didn’t come this far to just give up here!” Edgar added, voice wavering slightly, though he did not back down. “We aren’t going to abandon our friends!”

   Ceebee’s expression hardened, “what you’re doing here is wrong, Palkia. You may not see it, but your ‘help’ is only tearing everything apart further. We’ve already seen it firsthand.”

   The four of them stood in front of their remaining allies, staring defiantly up at Palkia and their own allies. They were well aware of the risks, but they knew that before coming here. Seeing Dialga and Celebi both fail to come close to beating Palkia had certainly hammered that home, but at least that pair had weakened this legendary. They weren’t going to suddenly turn around now, even with the stakes displaying so horrifically in front of their faces. Behind them, the other four felt a newfound confidence at being backed up.

   Palkia snarled back at them, “you are all FOOLISH! I offered you a chance to SURVIVE and you choose to stay and DIE? You will all DIE for the wrong side? Dialga is foolish too; they have lied to you. I am FIXING everything! You are all only RUINING what I am trying to FIX! All for what? FRIENDS? You are FOOLS! I offered you a chance and you THREW IT AWAY!” they snapped, and then seemed to calm slightly. “Fine, you’ve made your choice. We will offer no mercy now!”

   “We expect that, and will offer you none either,” Ceebee growled, eyes and antennae already glowing with intent.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which part of a curse is broken Previous: In which the dungeon of space is explored

[diveronaevents]

AUTHOR: Liz (minor edits by admins)

MENTIONED: Paris, Tybalt, Volumnia, Regan, Edgar, Miranda, Hippolyta, Helenus, Diana, Orsino, Rosaline, Mercutio

TRIGGERS: Violence, Murder, Grievous Injuries

Using VIOLA’s funeral as a distraction, the Capulets, led by PARIS, rescue ORSINO from the Montague captivity and teach them a lesson in the process.

TIMELINE — 

April 1st - ORSINO is taken.

April 4th - ROSALINE asks VOLUMNIA to have PARIS look for ORSINO. Unable to reach him, VOLUMNIA reaches out to PARIS and asks him to head the rescue operation.

April 6th - PARIS and TYBALT start to look for the possible captor.

April 7th - PARIS enlists REGAN to tail MERCUTIO without detection and find the location where ORSINO is held.

April 8th - PARIS plans the rescue mission and further entlists EDGAR, MIRANDA, HIPPOLYTA, HELENUS & DIANA.

April 10th - The team rescues ORSINO.

PREPARATIONS —

The call from the capobastone raising alarms about missing ORSINO prompted PARIS to retrace the man’s last known location and find some clues as to what could’ve happened to Capulets’ notorious hitman. Crossing the line once again, PARIS used his security clearance to personal, or rather, Capulet benefit – he went through the security footage of various locations throughout Verona, courtesy of local law enforcement and his company’s facial recognition software the government was using. 

After a sleepless night of staring at the screens, PARIS found a potential witness. The time was of the essence, thus abandoning his usual tricks of persuasion, he enlisted the tiger of Verona to make the witness bird sing. When TYBALT was done with the prey, his knuckles were bloody and the information – obtained. TYBALT and PARIS now held the key clue to the puzzle of ORSINO’s disappearance: he’d been taken by none other than MERCUTIO themself.

Shadowing the Montague harbinger of war was no easy task, it required stealthiness of a night wind and lethal touch of a masterful marksman. Who was better suited for the task than mighty REGAN? Per PARIS’ instructions, she waited for the dusk to provide her cover and followed MERCUTIO like their own shadow. Around midnight, REGAN came bearing the good news: the Montague captain had led her to an abandoned orphanage at the outskirts of Verona. Her observant eye clocked the rough estimate number of soldiers that may be guarding the precious captive. Sudden flashback to the Capulet Anniversary night gave PARIS an idea: the looming funeral for the fallen VIOLA shall be the perfect distraction to arrange a prison break. He spent the next two days flashing out his plan, and called upon MIRANDA, EDGAR, HELENUS and HIPPOLYTA.

THE MISSION —

The morning of April 10 arrived with grey skies and a weakened Spring breeze. The grief-stricken Montagues slowly gathered at the funeral, with heavy hearts and teary eyes, to say goodbye to one of theirs. DIANA, an unwelcome guest, made her way to the ceremony, dressed in a beautiful black dress and a lacey veil – doing a little to hide the darling of Verona, but her social status granted her the safety of not being attacked out in the open. The purpose of her being there was simple, yet crucial – she would be PARIS’ eyes and ears. Should Montagues have got alerted of the attack and left the cemetery to provide back-up at the orphanage, DIANA would warn her team straight away.

PARIS had split the Capulet team in three groups. Each had their own role to play.

The first to arrive at the orphanage – a run down building, out of commission for nearly forty years, with grass sticking out from the cracks in the concrete – was the ATTACK team. PARIS had chosen TYBALT and REGAN on his side, and three of them would unleash hell on the Montague soldiers, weakening their defense and drawing all the attention to themselves.

The heavy iron door would be the first obstacle they encountered, but thanks to REGAN’s intel, PARIS came prepared. He set up the explosives and blew up the door. TYBALT and REGAN rushed inside through smoke and shambles, starting a cacophony of gunfire to provide cover for PARIS to join them. Once he did, TYBALT was first to break Montague line of defense, leaving fallen soldiers in his wake – using his gun, blade and bare hands interchangeably to wreak havoc. PARIS followed him closely and helped thinning the herd with his pistol. The hawk-eyed REGAN took a position behind the duo, providing cover and picking off Montagues one-by-one with her rifle, making sure they wouldn’t outnumber TYBALT and PARIS. Not all Montagues were brave enough to face the Capulet forces, and rushed to the door, only to be gunned down by REGAN, life leaving their bodies before they could leave the building.

As Montague forces started to flock to the main entrance, upon PARIS’ singal, the DECOY team pulled up in the driveway. HELENUS sat at the steering wheel of a shiny vintage Stingray and HIPPOLYTA in the passenger seat, gun ready. They remained in the driveway long enough to be spotted by the Montagues, and then drove towards the back exit. A carefully planned and perfectly executed move that would create confusion amongst the Montagues later.

Back inside, as the attack trio advanced in the building like a plague on a medieval ship, PARIS came face-to-face with a Montague, his eyes meeting the barrel of the enemy gun. Despite making a good use of his pistol earler, he had yet to actually murder someone. The mastermind of the mission hesitated for a second, but TYBALT shook his friend out of it. Encouraged by TYBALT, PARIS committed his first murder. There was no remorse in his eyes as he examined the body hitting the ground with a thud. Not that he thought there would be.

Watching the scene unfold, one of the Montague soldiers seized the opportunity of TYBALT being distracted and emboldened, snuck up on him with a knife, injuring the Capulet captain in the arm. A grave mistake on Montague's part – TYBALT, turned into a steaming, burning rage, shot him in-between the eyes five times. The main hallway was now cleared out, as REGAN shot the soldier who struggled to get on her feet. PARIS advanced deeper in the hallway.

Whilst the attack team were arranging a Montague massacre in the mail hall, the RESCUE team - EDGAR and MIRANDA made their move. They climbed to the second floor through the thick vines snaked all the way to the roof and snuck into the building from the balcony. Their steps were quiet, like feathers falling on the ground. Silenced pistols clutched closely, they searched the building for ORSINO. None of them intended to go back to the Twelfth Night until they found him, even if they had to leave no stone unturned in this cursed orphanage.

Gunfire had quietened at the moment, as the attack team was moving towards the staircase. The sound of PARIS’ phone buzzing cut through the silence. It was DIANA, giving him a heads-up that Montague reinforcements were coming. The plan PARIS laid out to the team two nights prior had accounted for this. 

TYBALT and REGAN headed back outside to deal with the reinforcements, and PARIS stayed behind. He intended to sweep the building one last time, for the rescue team to navigate safely. More confident with his gun now, PARIS took down two Montague soldiers during the sweep. The first one had been hiding behind the door and managed to shoot PARIS in the left arm, but he retaliated quickly, shooting them in the head. The second kill was easier. The third? Even more. Lady luck had been kind to the emissary, the bullet had only grazed PARIS. With careful steps, PARIS ascended on the stairs and spotted another Montague at the window. A quick shoot in the back, and the enemy was none the wiser – they didn’t even see PARIS coming.

EDGAR and MIRANDA rushed through the empty hallways, encountering dead bodies and injured soldiers on their way. Finally, they discovered the basement where ORSINO was held, guarded by two Montagues. EDGAR with no hesitation, eager to free his friend, engaged in hand to hand combat; After a brief scuffle, EDGAR pistol-whipped the first guard across the temple, effectively knocking him out. A second Montague came to his companion's rescue right away. MIRANDA’s bold attempt at intercepting the enemy got her punched in the face, but before she could have been seriously wounded, EDGAR shot Montague in the leg. There were only three of them in the dingy, dark basement now – EDGAR, MIRANDA and barely conscious ORSINO. They unshackle him in haste, it’s about time they leave the building.

Supporting ORSINO, EDGAR allows him to use his shoulders as a human crutch as the trio heads out of the orphanage. They had almost made their way out of the basement, when one of the two Montague guards, staunching her wound and hungering for revenge, straggled up the staircase with a gun, only to meet her rather grim end. MIRANDA threw a knife in one swift motion, and the blade landed right in the forehead of the Montague.   

The three of them left from the back entrance, set out to escape through the woods until they reached the car they'd hidden the night before. Halfway to the car, ORSINO fainted from the pain. From here, EDGAR and MIRANDA carried him to the car, doing their best not to exacerbate the wounds on his torso. They drove away quietly, choosing a longer route to Verona.

After EDGAR and MIRANDA left, PARIS joined TYBALT and REGAN outside, who were engaged in a fight with the Montague reinforcements who emerged from the first car that arrived. Soon, the second car followed suit. HELENUS and HIPPOLYTA, with a Capulet soldier who looked deceivingly a lot like ORSINO with his soft, dark curls, seating in the back, took it as their cue to enter the scene. As a part of PARIS’ orchestrated plan, HELENUS made the engine roar, and sent pebbles underneath the wheels flying in all directions. An intentional act to lure the second car. 

Their stint worked. Montague’s put the car into ignition, and set out to chase after them, but HELENUS left no chance to get close enough. Whilst speeding on the road, the Montagues opened fire from their car and HIPPOLYTA in turn, shot back from her passenger seat. Right before they reach the main highway, HELENUS made a quick 90 degree turn and halted, making it possible for HIPPOLYTA to aim her shots. The emissary managed to crack the windshield of the Montague car, making it difficult for them to keep up.

Back at the orphanage, the dust began to settle. Per PARIS’ calculation, they only had a few minutes left before Montagues arrived in full force from the funeral. It was time to get back to the Twelfth Night, but not before leaving a message behind for the Montagues. The message was simple – the Capulets will break any cage they try to put them in, whilst the Montagues will be left to bleed out – like VIOLA, whose death they were morning that day. REGAN and TYBALT nailed the dead (and some alive) Montague soldiers to the windows, re-enacting Viola’s demise, and in another symbolic gesture, PARIS destroyed the place where ORSINO was held with a sledgehammer. 

Soon, DIANA sent them the final warning. High on their success and in spirits, PARIS, TYBALT and REGAN took one last amused look at the orphanage before they left. 

THE AFTERMATH —

HELENUS and HIPPOLYTA, who were driving in the opposite direction from where EDGAR and MIRANDA were headed, eventually lost the Montagues on their tail. They met with DIANA, PARIS, REGAN and TYBALT at the Twelfth Night. ORSINO had been saved and in MIRANDA and EDGAR’s care. The two of them later joined the rest of the gang at the Twelfth night, where PARIS threw a little celebration for a successful end of the mission.