#better call Isa to the rescue

[kuro-is-doodlin]

I have made a thing

And a wholesome one for once

[thealmightyemprex]

DIsney Month :Comic Version of 20000Leagues Under The Sea

The Fourth review of Disney Month ,we are looking at a comic adaptation.....Of my favorite Disney movie ,20000 Leagues Under the Sea

This 1954 comic follows Professor Arronoux ,his assistant Consiel and harpooner Ned Land are imprisioned aboard the Nautilus by the misanthropic Captain Nemo,and while Ned and Consiel seek to escape ,Arranoux seeks to learn Nemos secrets

So 20'000 Leagues Under the Sea is my favorite Disney film(Only competition might be Who Framed Roger Rabbit ).With great effects,set pieces,an interesting premise being a prision escape movie combined with sea adventure and science fiction,a fascinating villain and four amazing performances at the center with James Mason, Kirk Douglas . Peter Lorre and Paul Lukas ....But I am not talking about the movie ,I am talking about the comic version...Which is prett darn good ,despite wonkyness

The wonkyness is in the art ,not that it looks bad but....None of the characters look like the actors. Ned kind of looks like Kirk Douglas ,but Arronoux looks like a Victorian mystery reject , Captain Nemo looks like Walter Pidgeon as a supervillain (Complete with a big N on his chest ) and Consiell looks less like Peter Lorre and more like Jude Laws Watson (Thanks @goodanswerfoxmonster)

However for 54 the art itself is good,it captures many of the setpieces well .I also think it isa good adaptation.Stuff is cut ,Mainly most of the comedic scenes involving Ned Land and his bonding with Esmerelda the Seal,who is male here,never named .....And kind of blows up at the end.Also Nemos First Mate is cut so you dont get the fight between him and Ned Land . There are some changes.The big ones that stood out to me is that instead of Vulcania ,Nemos island is just called N and slight dialogue changes,the biggest being more emphasis on Nemos dead family(Changing the big speach about not considering murdering sailors murder ,from disgust at mass death this unamed country has caused,to just being about his family .Other then that its pretty close to the movie.I expected it to have the set pieces (Nemo rescuing Ned from the Shark ,The cannibal attack ,the finale on Nemos island and of course the squid fight .though that scene works better on film then in comic ) but it also had scenes I didnt expect like the weird dinner scene,Nemo lamenting his dead family and honestly most of the scenes and dialogue while changed are fairly close to the film .The purpose of comic adaptions of films initially was a substitute for home video,if you wanted to re experience a film you liked again you had to get a novelization ,listen to a radio adaptaion or in this case get a comic.And as a comic version goes,it nails most of the thematic and emotional beats of the story ,far better then I expected it to

OH fun thing ,the comic has a few promotional stills from the movie ....And when they were making the film they actuallly filmed two diffrent versions of the squid fight ,and the still in this is of the first clunky looking squid unused in the final film

Questions by @ariel-seagull-wings

1-How well the visuals of the movie translate to the comic?

Other then the Natilus the comic doesnt really try to copy the film.Some scenes dont work , the Squid fight feels underwhelming ,but the Rorapindi scene and the Nautilus attacks are pretty good

2- Does the comic has scenes that the movie didn't have?

All the new stuff I noticed :We see aboard the first ship that is attacked by the Nautilus ,we see Ned Land bring up Arronauxs gear onto their ship ,Ned trie to harpoon the Nataulus ,Ned brings Conciel and Arronaux aboard his long boat BEFORE they reach the Nautilus,Esmerelda the sea lion is how Nemo finds out about the heroes being aboard the Nautilus ,Arronaux sees one of the prisioners die on Rorapindi , Consiel finds a picture of Nemos wife and son ,a ship attacks while after they escape the cannibals , and a scene where we see deep sea creatures (That was actually going to be an animated sequence that didnt make the film ), those are all the strictly new stuff

3- Can the comic be judged as a work of art and adaptation of the novel on its own right, or primarily as promotional material for the movie?

I cant speak to it as an adaption of the book,....But as a work of ar in of itself....I think its honestly pretty darn good.Honestly this is one of the better comic adaptations of a film I have read .I can picture a kid in 1954 picking this up after watching the movie and enjoying it

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @the-blue-fairie @angelixgutz @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @goodanswerfoxmonster @marquisedemasque @filmcityworld1

[lindajenni]

mar 18

just as i am "and when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘live!’  yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘live!’" eze 16:6 that how God found us all, in our blood struggling to live.  i know because that's how He found me.  every since the fall we are all born into condemnation.  we know Father God has mercy on the young up to the age of accountability, but we are all born into a sinful world and sin forces all to make a decision between good and evil, light and darkness, between life and death.  "all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way." isa 53:6 i have recently started correspondence with a new prisoner.  i believe he wants to truly know Jesus but he obviously strayed from the path.  now i am left wondering this question: on what kind of ground has the seed been sown, by the wayside, stony places, thorns or good ground?  i obviously refer to the parable given by Jesus in matthew 13.  will his initial faith be choked out, distracted or finally mature and bear fruit. we all must come just as we are, but if we struggle just to live just a changed life, we will fail.  we must live an exchanged life - ours for His, "that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" 1 cor 2:5.  then the proof will be in the pudding, as they say. one, there will be inward evidence.  we will have a song in our heart, a melody that gives us the song and appeals to the inner spirit.  other religions have their mantras and almsgiving but they have not a song like paul and silas did in their jail cell. two, there is upward evidence.  here we find an attitude of gratitude; gratitude of being rescued from what we so richly deserve.  "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." eph 5:20 thirdly, there is outward evidence.  it will manifest itself in our relationship with others, our conduct mirroring our Lord's submission, lacking any air of superiority.  "let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." phil 2:3 we have a beautiful example by Christ as God incarnate stooped to wash His disciple' feet.  we all know how paul eagerly desired to be washed all over, something i would probably have done as we.  for Jesus had said, "if I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." john 13:8  following, "and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of olives." matt 26:30  they left with a song in their heart; a song even death could not mute. at the end of the letter from my new found friend he asked: "what's after this life, linda?  where do we go after this life?"  my answer must be: into eternity.  which eternity will be determined by each of us.  i only know Jesus said one would be outer darkness, filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth.  the other promising, "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 cor 2:9  we all have this tiny space of time called life to determine our eternity.  is any sacrifice too much? "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." titus 3:5  it's the conviction and guidance of the Holy Spirit that will lead into the presence of our Creator. the question, asked and answered: "what shall we do, that we may work the works of God?... this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” john 6:28-29 i pray we all find shelter under the shadow of His wings.

[god-whispers]

apr 23

eternity dwells in all our hearts

"He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." eccl 3:11

at one point or another, most all of us have wondered silently what job asked aloud: "if a man dies, shall he live again?"  in other words, is this all there is?  are we simply here today and gone tomorrow... nothing else?  or is there a life beyond this physical one?

God has instilled within the human heart a longing for a life beyond this earthly existence; some have descriptively called it a "God vacuum."  ancient cave dwellers depicted this hope in paintings etched inside their caves.  the pharaohs of egypt were buried within their tombs alongside weapons, eating utensils, and even servants - expecting a life to follow beyond death.  native american indians believed in a "happy hunting grounds" which existed beyond this plane.  yes, God has put eternity in our hearts.

more and more we are hearing about death experiences where someone describes a plane beyond this existence - sometimes described as heaven and sometimes described as hell.  i know these are all subjective, but sometimes the details retained boggle one's sense of perception.  i.e., meeting a deceased relative someone never knew they had.

while believers stand upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ as evidence of a hereafter, non-believers are left with a "this is all there is" attitude.  "so i commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun." eccl 8:15  seeing that is the mindset of an increasing number of people, is it no wonder their attitude is "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." judges 17:6

indeed, there are many famous tombs in the world today.  in the pyramids of egypt lie pharaohs, in westminster abbey lie the bodies of notables, in mecca one can find the tomb of mohammed - but there is one tomb that remains vacant until this day - the garden tomb where once lay the body of Jesus, the Christ of God.

in the scroll of the book, written long after job made his proclamation, we see Jesus presented to us in every book of the bible.  He was the sacrificial son abraham did not have to make.  He was the rock in the wilderness, satisfying their thirst.  He was joseph, unrecognized by His brethren until His revealing in the second coming.  He was our boaz, our kinsman redeemer who rescued a gentile from hopelessness.  He's there in every book.  "then I said, “behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me." psa 40:7

man, in all his futility, is seeking to make an eternity of his own; an extension of what they perceive as existence; meaning mostly their mind and accumulated knowledge, since they have no conception of soul.  the truth is, there is no existence outside of God.  "for in Him we live and move and have our being." acts 17:28  "before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me." isa 43:10  i emphasis once more: there is no existence without God.

job - a man driven to destitution of all earthly necessities, let alone comforts, remained steadfast in his confession of belief.  he did not say "i think" or "i hope."  there were no "ifs" or "buts" in his statement.  he was rock-solid certain and we can be too.  even as he asked the question theoretically, he followed quickly with his assertion:  "if a man dies, shall he live again?  all the days of my hard service i will wait, till my change comes.  You shall call, and i will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands." job 14:14-15

how descriptively He is pictured as the shepherd and we the sheep.  sheep tend to wander around aimlessly with no sense of direction.  in like manner, without Christ, we wander without any perceived purpose.  and another thing: sheep are defenseless.  rabbits can run.  dogs can bite.  cats can scratch.  bees can sting, etc.  men and women without Christ are helpless and hopeless against the wiles of the devil.  while mankind was created to "rule" the earth, when it comes to spiritual things after their fall, they are easy pickings in the spirit realm without a Shepherd's protection.  yes, "all we like sheep have gone astray." isa 53:6

we who know Jesus; we who are "in" the Christ, have a Shepherd and have a hope that no one can take away.  let us all proclaim with our brother job. "for i know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this i know, that in my flesh i shall see God, whom i shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.  how my heart yearns within me!" job 19:25-27  maranatha!

[doyouevermakeasound]

Warning Signs

Story centered around my OC Noah.  

CW: Kidnapping, knives, gun, death, stabbing

First Chapter 

Previous Chapter

The groundwork for an attack on the capitol was being laid out when the first transmission came through.  Ruby Knowles strong voice shattered the noise of the room.

“People of Ropral, I come to you as a leader to guide our nation through a dark time.  There has been an attempted coup by the Homeland party aided by the Insurgents.”

The people in the room drew closer to the radio.  Kylan and Noah stayed towards the back of the room.  They met each other’s gaze before looking at the radio once more.

It sounded as if Ruby was suppressing the urge to cry, “We have done our best to fight off this attack but we lost good people.”  Her tone turned cold.  “It will not be in vain.”

Isa checked the volume and ensured that it was turned up all of the way.  

“To start off, we have detained the senators that associated themselves with the coup.  Senator Rihanni has been detained.  The movement dies with her.”  She paused for a moment to let the weight of the situation set in.  “The political party is finished, the Insurgents will be too.”

Someone in the room began to speak but were quickly silenced.

“You have one chance to make things right,” Her voice came clearly across.  “I have a list of people who should turn themselves in, then we can rid ourselves of this whole Insurgents situation.”  She practically spat the word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.  “It will be better for everyone that way.”

“Is this being broadcast to everyone?”  Alen asked one of the people who first alerted them about the transmission.

They nodded.

She read off the names starting with Isa, the one who helped start the movement.  She continued onto saying other officer’s names including Kylans and Noahs.  “You have one week.  I suggest that you make the right decision or there will be consequences.”

Once the transmission ended there was a moment of silence as everyone weighed their options.  Isa’s voice cut through the silence.  “We need to remain strong.  This was to be expected, especially after we’ve been a thorn in Ruby’s side this entire time.  We continue making a plan on the Capitol to get to Renato.  We need to get pieces in place as soon as we can.”

Noah was on top of the building with Amiya who had their sights pointed over towards the Capitol.  He had his rifle in hand as he surveyed their surroundings and the other rooftops for other snipers.  

“How we looking Noah?” Alen’s voice spoke to him through the comms.  He was positioned across the way on the ground, ready to swarm in once the plan kicked into gear.

“Good, Amiya and I are in place.  I’m not seeing any other forces aside from the usual outside the building.”  He glanced over at Amiya who was still peering through the scopes.  “Are you in place?”

“Yes.” 

The time before an operation like this always had Noah on edge.  He resisted the urge to just continue pacing around the rooftop for fear of somehow drawing attention to the two of them.  He glanced over at Amiya who kept a close eye on things by the doors.  

“Why are you staring at me?”  She didn’t look away.

“Just making sure you’re good to go.”  Noah looked down at the front entrance of the Capitol building.  

She waited, “Yeah, I’ve got clear sights on the door.  If Ruby so much as peeks her head outside, she’s dead.  Isn’t there anything else you can do aside from just standing there?”

“Nope.  We just wait now.”

She let out a breath, “Well isn’t that just grand.  What time is it now?”

Noah peered at his watch.  “8:53.”  

She didn’t respond.  He watched her clench her jaw as she continued looking through the scope.  

On the ground Noah expected more guards, more soldiers, more security in general.  It made him nervous and this entire operation just felt… off.  He scoured the windows for anyone, they had some signs of life but nothing that was too ominous.  

He considered calling it right there but then again, when would they have another chance at rescuing Renato?  Sometimes once they lost track of someone, it was near impossible to find them again.  

A few more minutes passed, the doors opened up and several soldiers could be seen piling out of the building.  Noah could feel his muscles tense as they waited to see who would be making an appearance.  Renato appeared, head concealed by a bag.  

Amiya’s shot rang out and Renato dropped, Ruby hadn’t even made an appearance.

“What just happened?”  Comms descended into chaos.  

Noah turned to Amiya, “What the f-”.  She had pulled out a pistol and shot him in the chest, knocking him backwards, before running.  

He coughed and sat up as she started to exit the rooftop.  The bullet proof vest he was wearing stopped the shot but that didn’t mean that he didn’t just feel like a hammer had struck him right in the chest, knocking the air out of him.  “Amiya’s double crossed us,” He told comms.  He pushed himself up and began the chase as he unholstered his pistol on his right hip.  He ignored the burning of his lungs as he started to chase her.

She was going down the stairs as fast as she could, the sniper rifle banging on her back.  As soon as she realized Noah was following she aimed back with her pistol.  

He avoided shooting back but kept his gun out, he had questions that he needed answers for.  They reached the ground floor and the sound of a full scale battle outside filtered in.  He sprinted to tackle her.  Some shots rung out by his ears, nothing had hit but Noah focused on wrestling the gun out of her hand.  

She elbowed him in the ribs knocking him off of her, he wanted to curl up into a ball at the hit but continued fighting anyways.  The pistol went sliding across the floor, Noah still had his in hand.  He swung out and hit her with the butt of the gun.  That didn’t stun her as much as he would like.  

A punch landed in the square of his chest where a bruise was already forming from the gunshot, causing him to back off and triggered another coughing fit.  She scrambled for the pistol as he caught his breath.  He rolled onto his stomach and forced himself up onto his knees.  Amiya was grabbing the pistol and he lunged for her again.  The two of them fell onto the floor and Noah rolled on top of her.  The gun slid across the floor in the struggle.

“Why did you shoot Renato?”  He yelled before punching her in the jaw.  He ignored any pain in his hand as adrenaline coursed through his veins.  

She tried clawing at him and he fought off her hands before landing another punch on her.  It stunned her for a moment.  He then grabbed her hair and banged Amiya’s head against the floor.

“Why did you shoot him?”

Amiya’s hands gripped his hand in her hair.  “Fuck off!”

He lifted her head up again and slammed it down.  “Tell me!”

She grabbed his left shoulder and dug a thumb into the joint, he instantly recoiled, yelling in pain.  She was back on her feet and Noah was still on the floor.  She landed a kick on him before turning to grab the gun again.

He growled, “Get back here!” The moment he was back on his feet he resumed the chase and tackled her from behind.  She rolled underneath him to face him, he straddled her as he unsheathed his knife and stabbed right above her collarbone before twisting it.  As soon as the blade was sunk into her skin, Amiya was screaming.

“Fucking tell me!”

“I made a deal with Ruby!  Ahh!  Stop!”

He twisted further, “Why?”

She was trying to grab the knife from him, “This is a losing battle!  They have resources!  People!  You just have a bunch of people out in the woods!”

“What was the plan for today?”  He placed more weight on the blade and was sure it was now scraping the floor.  

“Renato dies, you and Alen captured!  Aargh!  Get off of me!”  She continued squirming underneath him.

“Should we be expecting back up out there?”  He referenced in direction of the gunfire by the Capitol building.

She nodded before hissing, “It’s a trap!  Renato came out too early though!  It didn’t go as planned!”

He punched her in the jaw before removing the knife and getting up to retrieve one of the pistols that had been displaced in the fight.  Before she had a chance to get back to her feet he shot her in the head.  

He placed a finger up to his ear, “We need to abandon this mission.  Back up is coming.  Amiya was part of a plan to get Alen and me captured.”  He grabbed the weapons from her body.

It was a moment before Isa came on the comms, “Abandon the mission.  Get out of there!”

He nodded and began to run towards the fighting to help give them a chance to leave together.  

[hedgiwithapen]

stargirl artemis meets yj artemis and they talk about family?

Artemis jogged down an unfamiliar street, heading for the high school. When she'd heard that on this earth, there was a version of herself still stuck with Sportsmaster, she hadn't hesitated before hopping through the rift on a rescue mission.

It wasn't hard to find her other self. She hadn't dyed her hair blond or anything, but she too took after her--their?--mom, and the last name CROCK was written in bright white on a blue jersey. Football, it figured. Small Town American was no Gotham, but some things didn't change.

"Artemis," she called out as the bell rang and the team scattered, heading for locker rooms or home. It felt weird to say her own name about someone else, a touch too much like when she'd been undercover.

"What do you want?" the younger Artemis asked, sizing her up. Artemis knew that look from far too many of her father's lessons, judging if this was a winnable fight.

"To make sure you're ok. That everything…at home…" Artemis cringed, it was too easy to fall into the same line of questioning too many CPS agents had tried on her. But this Artemis actually beamed, and Artemis knew it was genuine the way she knew her own bowstring calluses.

"Oh, I'm great. Also late, so--" "No, this is important. I'm… you. a version of you. so I know. I know about your dad, about… look, can we go talk. just for a minute?" "…Fine." The younger Artemis sighed, reaching for her phone. Artemis stopped her. "Don't tell anyone I'm here." "Fine," Young Artemis said, with attitude Artemis wished she didn't remember having. " But if mom kicks your ass that's not on me." Artemis winced, thinking of Paula in a wheelchair, so broken up over everything their family had been. The sat. "Do you know, about Dad?" Artemis asked delicately. "About what he does? what mom used to do?" "That they used to be part of the ISA?" Young Artemis nodded and shrugged. "Yeah. They told me after they got out of jail last year. It was legit, it wasn't just a loophole. But yeah, I know." "They're both out? and they're… still…?" "Oh, no, they both quit. well, I mean most of the ISA's super dead, but they Quit even before some of that. I'm going to join the JSA, they're being super supportive." "… Supportive. of you…" "Joining the Justice Society," Young Artemis nodded. "It's a good team. A little rough around the edges. And I don't think they like me all that much yet, but I just have to prove myself." "And… your mom supports you in that?" Artemis felt a little better about that, at least. "And Dad. He's been really great about it. They've always supported me, no matter what. Even when the team came in second in little league. Baseball's not really my game though. Can't score on defense. Anyways, everything's fine. I mean, other than it's a super weird that they've got crushes on Stripsey and his wife." Artemis felt her brain short circuit. "I'm gonna need you to repeat that because I think I'm having a stroke. On second thought, no. don't. I'm glad everything's good here. uh. Stay on that hero path. Stay in school. I need… brain bleach." "Let me know if you find some."

[the-sisters-madrigal]

Mi Héroe

Summary: Isabela and Mirabel are playing around when they stray too far and get too close to the river. Mirabel falls in, and she does not know how to swim. Isabela immediately dives in to rescue her, but the terrible part of the situation is that Isabela does not know either. Luisa ends up rescuing them but not before disaster ensues.

Word Count: 4372

A/N: Please do feel free to send in more requests, y'all! I love writing touch-starved stuff, cuddles, mindless fluff, angst and hurt/comfort, or even hijinks sometimes!

Warnings: Blood and Injury, Impalement

  “Mirabel, you better get your little behind right here this instant or I’m going to whip you with my vines all the way home!!!” Isabela threatened, and Mirabel laughed joyously from somewhere in the forest.

  Isabela narrowed her eyes playfully, grinning a little in spite of herself.

  Mirabel had dared to dip her hand in flour and sneak attack Isabela with it, pressing her hand on Isabela’s cheek and taking off running. Isabela had been so utterly surprised by the action and Mirabel’s unexpected audacity that she had not really had an opportunity to react as soon as she should have.

  So when she started to chase her sister, all manners of mischievous revenge floating through her mind, Mirabel had gotten a really good head start. She had actually ended up in the forest not too far from Casita and had been waiting there at the edge for Isabela when Isabela had finally spotted her. She had grinned widely and disappeared in the forest as soon as Isabela had drawn near.

  And while Isabela could have gotten her with her vines, she did honestly enjoy the chase and hearing Mirabel’s joyous, bubbling laugh in response to their game.

  They had been growing a lot closer, and honestly, the closer that they got, the more Isabela just wanted to hug and squeeze her. However, she had to very much hold herself back from that since she was not quite sure if Mirabel was comfortable with it just yet. She honestly was not even sure how to go about doing it in the first place.

   But nevertheless, she was after her now, and she was aiming on getting her back for the flour incident somehow or another.

  “Mariposa? Come here… Make this easier on yourself and just get your little behind over here,” Isabela called with a wicked smirk, moving further into the small forest as she looked around.

  However, it was dead silent. But she could not help but grin even wider as she noticed just the barest ruffle of the leaves of a small plant near a tree not too far away from her. She crept closer, keeping her steps light as she got nearer.

  As soon as she was within range, she reached around the tree swiftly, her hand swiping at the other side of the tree.

  “Aha!!!” she cried excitedly, grinning like a madwoman. She felt her hand graze Mirabel’s blouse, and Mirabel shrieked excitedly with a laugh before taking off again. Isabela laughed, following after as she ran along behind her as quickly as she could. She was catching up fast until Mirabel dodged around behind large tree and managed to throw her off just a little.

  However, Isabela continued to chase her, the both of them soon reaching a sudden clearing. Isabela’s eyes went wide as she realized that they had reached one of the strains of the river that ran nearby their home, and to her horror, the river was far closer to the edge of the forest than she had remembered.

  And even more horrific, a loud splash suddenly resounded.

  “ISA!!!” Mirabel cried, and Isabela felt her heart stop in her chest, her jaw slackening.

   Her feet carrying her without her permission, Isabela ran to the edge, spotting Mirabel as she floated down the river flailing helplessly. Isabela’s eyes were wide, and she quickly realized that Mirabel did not know how to swim.

  Most of the younger Madrigals did not really know how to swim. After all, when they were little, everyone had assumed that they would learn when they were a little older, and after Mirabel’s ceremony, everything had changed, and they never really seemed to have time to do anything frivolous or useless like swimming.

  In light of this, Isabela swiftly took action, using her powers. She tried to shoot a vine out to Mirabel, but Mirabel had not even seen it from the water threatening to come over her head. Isabela cried out to her.

  “Mirabel!! I’m going to throw you a vine!” she yelled, and Mirabel fought as she tried to stay above the water. The river was moving more quickly today than it used to when she remembered it, and she figured that it was likely because of the rainstorm that their aunt had brought in the previous day.

  Isabela swiftly shot another vine in her direction.

  However, Mirabel was struggling so much and was so far out into the river that she could not catch it. Isabela’s eyes widened in terror, frozen for just a moment as she took it all in.

  This was the river that Abuela had said had a waterfall. And that had tons of sharp rocks at the bottom. And given the fact that neither Isabela nor Mirabel knew how to swim, that was not a good combination.

  It was then that Isabela fully realized the extent of the danger that her youngest sister was in.

  And even though she was worried as soon as she spotted her in the water, she now found herself nearly petrified with the discovery of precisely how bad the situation was.

  But she swiftly forced herself out of this block, having to physically shake herself from it. Her baby sister could not swim and was in mortal peril, and here she was standing around like some kind of an idiot, failing her all over again.

  With just a short, small glance at the water, Isabela took in a sharp breath, leaping into it herself.

  She instantly found herself floundering as much as Mirabel, but she nevertheless did her best to fight the water as she tried to make her way to Mirabel as soon as possible.

  “Mirabel!!!” Isabela cried loudly, the river water flooding into her mouth as soon as she shouted her name. She coughed violently, hacking as her eyed watered.

  “Isabela!!” Mirabel sounded like she was being drowned out, and Isabela felt the fear clasping its freezing clutches around her heart.

  She flailed as quickly as she could toward her baby sister, trying to get through the water the best that she could even though she had no idea how to truly and realistically save her considering that she would not even be able to save herself. All Isabela knew was that she had to save her, and she could not let her down again.

  However, she was beginning to wish that she had thought through a bit more of this.

  Before long, Isabela managed to grab her. Mirabel immediately locked around her, and Isabela tried her best to get her footing in the river. However, it was simply too deep for her to reach her feet to the bottom, and she ended up submerging the both of them a little in her attempts.

  They resurfaced finally with much struggling, gasping for air as she coughed.

  “Isa, use your vines,” Mirabel somewhat weakly yelled over the roar of the water, and Isabela reached her hand out, trying to get her vines to reach out to the both of them. However, they were too far out for the vines to effectively get to them.

  Isabela’s eyes went wide in horror, and she tried to keep her hand firmly locked around Mirabel as she looked down the river.

  She knew that a waterfall was approaching, but she was not sure how soon it would be. She was honestly having a hard time keeping both of their heads above the water at this point, and she could not really think entirely logically outside of her own fear and desperation.

  However, she did manage to see the log approaching them, and her eyes widened as she spotted it and the very inconveniently placed dagger leftover by a broken branch. She grabbed Mirabel as she shoved her to her other side, knowing that she would not be able to dodge the tree but aiming to save Mirabel anyway.

  Just as she had expected, she felt the searing pain scrape her side horridly and even stab into her a little, and she let out a pained cry. Mirabel’s eyes went as large as saucers, and her scream was blood-curdling.

  Isabela could hardly focus on all of that, the pain making her a little dizzy and disorienting her a bit. It hurt extremely bad, and she could not even really focus on Mirabel or anything around them now.

  She instantly moved toward Isabela, and Isabela tried her best to hold onto the log alongside her as it was knocked loose and started to float down the river as well.

  “Isabela, are you okay?!” Mirabel sounded on the edge of panicking, and honestly, it was not really helping Isabela’s own temptation to completely freak out.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay, don’t worry,” Isabela hissed, reaching her arm out despite the scream of her side as she tried to pull Mirabel closer and keep her safe.

  Mirabel moved nearer, but she tried her best to get a look at Isabela’s side. She reached out, softly touching the area that was now shiny with not only water but also far too much blood, and Isabela instantly cried out despite her best efforts not to.

  “I’m sorry!” Mirabel apologized quickly, and Isabela shook her head, gritting her teeth as tightly as she could. She knew she had to pull herself off of this tree, but she was not sure what was going to happen when she did. There would likely be even more blood, but she was not sure how they were going to get out of there if she did not remove herself from it.

  She purposefully avoided saying anything to Mirabel, knowing that it would just freak her out more. Mirabel needed to believe that things were going to be okay. Or at least as okay as they could be considering the fact that they were heading toward a waterfall.

  And speaking of that, Isabela knew that she had to tell her. Especially since she was in the state she was now.

  “Mirabel, a waterfall is coming up. We’ve got to get out of this,” Isabela told her, figuring that she would be completely honest at this point. Mirabel deserved to know the situation. She had to help them out of this.

  “I can’t—I can’t help us! I don’t have a gift! Isa, you’ve got to try your vines again,” Mirabel desperately told her, shaking her head.

  Isabela swallowed hard, trying to straighten enough and move her arm to call another vine. Similarly, to last time, they missed it, and it was not quite long enough to reach them.

  Mirabel looked back at her in terror, and Isabela positively hated the fear that she saw in her eyes. She wanted more than anything to take it away. She had been a horrid sister, and now they were in terrible danger.

  Isabela had not had enough time to salvage their relationship and bring them back together like they should be.

  “We’ve got to call for help. You’ve got to yell for us,” Isabela told her, doing her best to remain as calm as she could both to slow the blood flow and to keep Mirabel calm as well. Isabela figured that she would wait on pulling herself away from the log until help came or until she had to. She was already feeling light-headed and was losing too much blood.

  Instantly, Mirabel started to yell as loud as she could, grasping onto the log as she desperately cried out for help, the both of them drifting ever closer to the impending waterfall.

  However, to their shock, they suddenly heard a loud thumping noise as footsteps rushed nearer. They could almost feel the vibration, but before they could even think of what the sound could be, they spotted Luisa suddenly popping up alongside the riverside and running as quickly as she could. There was a panic in her eyes but also a determination, and Mirabel let out a loud call.

  “Luisa!!! Help!!!” Mirabel screamed, and Isabela felt the pain increasingly growing.

  “Hang on!!!” Luisa yelled, and Isabela painedly reached her arm out, conjuring another vine to keep Luisa from having to come into the water as well.

  Luisa’s eyes widened just a little at the sight of it and she took in a sharp breath, stopping to grab it. She ripped it out of the ground from the roots, and she ran alongside the river, pausing directly at the edge as she threw the vine toward Mirabel. Mirabel desperately reached out, trying to grab it.

  Just as she did, it barely slipped out of her grasp, and Luisa looked horrified. She continued to run, waiting for the right moment as she tried to find a way to throw it to them again with a better chance of success.

  Isabela was trying her best to hang onto the log, and it was becoming a difficult fight despite the fact that she was literally somewhat hung onto the log where it had partially impaled her side.

  Before she knew it, however, Mirabel’s arms were around her, her heavy breaths panting next to her in cold, hard fear. Isabela looked up, and her eyes went wide as she realized that they were almost at the waterfall.

  Isabela let out a sharp breath, steadying her hands and tugging herself painedly off of the log where it had stuck into her. She let out something akin to a scream, pure agony rippling through her.

  She looked back at Luisa, painedly maneuvering her arm around Mirabel. Luisa and Isabela met eyes, and Isabela knew that Luisa was about to jump directly in. Isabela knew that Luisa was not entirely aware of how to swim either, simply relying on her strength to get her through most water situations. And it usually worked, but Isabela could not let her do it this time. This current was wicked, and they were far too close to the edge of the waterfall.

  Isabela could not help but somewhat bitterly remember Abuela warning them to stay away from the river their entire lives. She could not help but find herself cursing her carelessness.

   Luisa and Isabela locked eyes, knowing they were moments away from going over the edge of this waterfall, and Isabela nodded. Luisa took in a deep breath, throwing the vine once more, and Isabela reached out quickly, grasping it as she locked her fist around it despite the hurt.

  She wrapped it around Mirabel and herself as well as she could, knotting it up even though her waist was practically screaming with protests. Mirabel held onto her, and Luisa firmly took hold. The log drifted away from them, falling down the waterfall, and Luisa tugged quickly on the vine, pulling them quickly to the bank.

  As soon as they were close enough, she pulled them up, lifting them out of the water. Despite the fact that Luisa’s hands were tender, Isabela still felt like she was going to pass out as soon as Luisa touched her side even remotely. She let out a cry, and Luisa’s eyes shifted down to her quickly where she had placed her on the ground as she brought Mirabel up.

  Isabela was trying to catch her breath, the injury at her side burning and aching. Everything hurt at this point, and she felt almost like her head was floating despite the grounding pain.

  As soon as Mirabel was up on the bank, she scurried over to Isabela’s side.

  “Isabela, Isa,” Mirabel breathed hard, her hand touching Isabela’s neck. Isabela could not help but find herself focusing on the sensation, enjoying the touch as things started to get a little blurrier around her.

  Luisa moved nearer to them, still breathing heavily with an undisguised panic in her eyes. She looked even more freaked out as she took in the ridiculously large amount of blood coming from the hole currently in Isabela.

  “Isabela! Why didn’t you tell me there was a literal hole in you?!” Mirabel demanded, and Luisa was looking terribly sick, paling more every second in utter horror.

  “Isa,” Luisa barely managed to get out, looking as if she might pass out or puke, and Isabela reached out a hand softly, extending it the best she could toward Mirabel. Mirabel quickly grabbed her hand, helping guide it to her face.

  Isabela stroked her thumb along Mirabel’s face somewhat weakly, the softness of her baby sisters’ full cheek beneath her thumbpad. She smiled gently, finding herself at peace with the fact that she had actually been able to save her baby sister. She had not redeemed herself, but she at least rescued Mirabel and made another step toward that redemption that she would never reach even if she tried her whole life to make up for her actions.

  “Mi mariposa está a salvo,” Isabela whispered, her vision going black around the edges.

  Mirabel was shaking her head and yelling something, and terror was etched into Luisa’s face as everything suddenly just went dark, and Isabela lost all senses of consciousness.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

  Isabela slowly opened her eyes, squinting a little as she took in the atmosphere of the room. Surprisingly, it was nighttime, and she could hardly see anything. The only thing that she was fully aware of was the fact that this was not her room.

  Everything came flooding back to her suddenly, and she furrowed her brow as she realized that her side was not hurting anymore. She reached her hand down, softly touching it as she realized it was entirely healed.

  Their mother must have found them somehow or her little sisters got her to their mother.

  A sudden snore resounded nearby her. Isabela instantly flinched a little, her eyes widening as she looked in the direction of the sound.

  Luisa was leaned against the wall nearby the window, sleeping from where she had plopped down on the floor. The sight was enough to make Isabela’s heart melt, and she just looked at her sister adoringly.

  She then took the time to fully look around her at everything in the room, and it was then that she realized that she was in Mirabel’s room. She took it all in slowly, honestly surprised at having been placed in here. However, she found it to be exceedingly comforting since everything surrounding her had that Mirabel sort of feeling to it.

  She raised up a little, furrowing her brow as she realized that the owner of the room was not currently in there with her. There was a chair next to the bed, however, which led her to believe that Mirabel must have been here before. It would also explain why poor, sweet Luisa was sitting and sleeping in the floor.

  Just as she had this thought, the door slowly eased open, and Mirabel slid her way into the room, shutting the door behind her softly. As soon as the younger girl turned around to face her, her eyes widened. Isabela let out a deep breath, surprised at the realization that she had been holding it.

  It was good to see that Mirabel was okay and unscathed. Nothing meant more to Isabela that ensuring that her little sisters were safe, and Mirabel’s incident today had positively scared the ever-living daylights out of her.

  “Isa,” Mirabel breathed, rushing across the room softly on bare feet as she moved toward Isabela and locked her in a tight hug. Isabela’s eyes widened at the sudden affection given to her, but she swiftly melted into it, burying her head underneath Mirabel’s chin since it was the best that she could do from her position sitting in the bed, and Mirabel’s standing up next to the bed.

  Isabela softly guided her down to sit down next to her on the bed, and Mirabel held onto her tightly, her fingers grasping tightly at the nightgown that someone must have changed Isabela into. Isabela brought her in closely, shifting as she moved up to press her nose into the side of Mirabel’s head. Her baby sister’s wild curls surrounded her and consumed her senses, and she could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, so utterly thankful that Mirabel was actually okay.

  Isabela may have been jealous for many years and had been a horrid sister that did not care nearly enough, but she truly did always care about Mirabel’s wellbeing. She just did not always have the ability to look beyond the end of her own nose to check in on her youngest sibling and look past her own problems.

  But now that she was free to be herself and the jealousy had disappeared, all that was left was guilt, protectiveness, and an endless desire to give Mirabel all of the love that she deserved. All of the love that Isabela had neglected to give her all those years.

  “Why did you jump in after me? You can’t swim,” Mirabel questioned shakily, her voice wavering as she tried to remain strong. She held onto Isabela even more tightly as she seemingly fought the urge to cry.

  Isabela paused, surprised that Mirabel even had to ask the question. However, she could not help but chalk it up to the fact that she had been such a failure of a sister before and despite the fact that they had started trying to patch things up and heal, Mirabel apparently still could not believe that Isabela truly did care so much for her.

  “Obviously because I care about you,” Isabela answered immediately, and Mirabel quieted, seeming slightly taken aback, and Isabela internally cursed herself for her carelessness. She had been trying to be reassuring, but it had come out a little too harshly for the moment. She just was so hasty and determined to make sure that Mirabel knew how valuable she was to her.

  Isabela took in a breath softly, letting it out as she reevaluated her words and rephrased them. She shook her head, stroking the back of Mirabel’s neck as she let out a soft sigh.

  “Look… You’re my baby sister. And I love my baby sisters more than anything in the world,” Isabela admitted, pulling back slowly and just enough to trail her hands up Mirabel’s arms and cradle her neck on either side with her hands as she brushed her jawline just barely.

  Mirabel’s eyes were filled with tears and awe, and Isabela felt her heart breaking at the sight. Mirabel reached up to grasp Isabela’s wrists softly, and she started to speak. However, Isabela shook her head, continuing in what she had been saying.

  “I may not have always showed it, and I may’ve made you think the opposite, but, Mirabel, when I apologized to you and promised to be better, I meant it,” Isabela expressed, referencing the time that they had spent one day a couple of months ago when she and Mirabel had a heart-to-heart and sorted quite a few things out between them.

  Mirabel sniffed, and Isabela swallowed hard, stroking Mirabel’s face with her thumbs.

  “I can’t lose you, Mariposa. Not when I’ve just gotten you back. Not when I haven’t been the best sister I can be to you,” Isabela admitted, allowing some of her guilt to show despite her inner desire to hold back any admittance of failure.

  Failure had not been acceptable in her world for a long time, and she still found it extremely hard to admit to. She quite obviously had an issue breaking the habit of bluntness when speaking to Mirabel, which she hated more than anything about herself. However, she was working on both of those things every day and hopefully improving upon them.

  “Isa, I don’t want to lose you either,” Mirabel whispered, drawing closer with a momentary hesitance, and Isabela wasted no time in pulling her nearer, kissing her forehead as she tried to remember how to do all of this correctly.

  She felt horridly awkward doing it and she honestly did not know if it was anywhere akin to the correct way in which to do it, but she was giving it her best shot. It bothered her immensely that something that should come so naturally to her was something that was so foreign.

  “You won’t. You’ll always have me,” Isabela reassured, and Mirabel swallowed as she swiftly slid her glasses off before burying her face in Isabela’s neck. Isabela felt her heart swell with the feeling of her youngest sister so close to her and so utterly warm and safe against her.

  It was a feeling that she still did not believe that she deserved to ever experience again.

  “Te quiero,” Mirabel expressed, and Isabela felt a lump forming in her throat at the genuine emotion in Mirabel’s voice.

  “Yo también te quiero,” Isabela replied to her, the same tone in her own voice.

  To her utmost surprise, she suddenly felt a tentative touch to her back. Isabela turned quickly, Mirabel still huddled against her, and she realized that Luisa had apparently woken up. She was looking at Isabela worriedly, and Isabela could not help but look at her softly, opening her other arm as she drew her other baby sister close.

  Luisa was immediately hesitant, resisting her immediate urge to wrap her arm around her as she cast a glance to Isabela’s side.

  “Are you—”

  “I’m okay,” Isabela assured her, trying to get her to come closer, and Luisa softly drew nearer, her every movement slow and careful. Mirabel remained tucked against Isabela closely, and Isabela grasped Luisa’s neck the best that she could. She sometimes missed the days that she could have both of her baby sisters pulled in her embrace where she was the largest of them, but this was perfect in its own way.

  “Gracias, mis heroes,” Isabela whispered to the both of them gently, and Luisa let out something akin to a whimper as she tried to draw nearer, hunching over as far as her form would allow in an attempt to look smaller. Mirabel just held onto Isabela more tightly, her nose pressing hard against Isabela’s neck.

  These were her baby sisters and her true heroes. And she would gladly sacrifice herself for them in a heartbeat despite the past.

  She was going to do right by them.

[oc-magazine1]

OC Interview with Desmond! 🤩

Created by Isa @isayandere

Tell us about yourself: "I'm Desmond. I'm actually suuuper in demand so you're, like, so lucky to be interviewing me right now. Let's see... stuff about me. I'm 21, my birthday is October 2nd, and I'm a Libra. I'm the lead guitarist for my band, Bringing Back December, I also do vocals sometimes. We have 3 albums that you should totally stream, like, right now. Anyway... yeah, there's that. I love dogs, (I've got a Doberman that I adopted from a rescue shelter), I love monster energy, (monster please license me), partying, cute girls, aaaand... myself, obviously~ Oh, yeah. and I guess people would call me "emo" or "scene", which is fine. I like the style."

Where would you take a date?

"Where would I take a date, huh? Hm... I'd probably take her shopping. Somewhere like... a mall. Who doesn't like spending money? Plus I can buy her stuff like clothes and make her totally love me... then we'd get something to eat after. It'd be cute as fuck. If it was an evening date, I'd probably take her to a club, and then we're going straight to one of our places after for the real fun.

What is your idea of paradise?

"I don't... really know, I've never given it much thought. Maybe when I'm really popular because of my band, so I have all the money I could want 'cause of fame, and I've got the love of my life living with me so I can wake up with her every day. Yeah, that's probably it."

What do you love about yourself?

"Ummm, everything? Every time I look in the mirror I get reminded of how fuckin' sexy I am, like, if I could I'd kiss myself. It's a combination of everything that makes me so desirable, you see. I've got all these other guys beaten by FAR. I guess if I had to pick something specific though, it'd probably be my hair and face... and my body."

What are your bad habits?

"I like gettin' wasted, I guess. I do some drugs to make my nights better. That's about it."

Do you have a favorite phrase that you say a lot?

"Uhh... probably "f"**k you. Just kidding, probably "haters will be haters", I live by that!"

If you had $1 million, what would you do with the cash?

"Adopt every dog that needs adopting, get 'em out of the shelters, then give them all away to people as pets for completely free. ...and maybe use the leftover money to buy a lifetime supply of Monster. And whatever my girlfriend wants."

Do you have any enemies?

"Not really, my enemies are just insecure people who are, like, sooo jelly of me. It's funny to watch them. Though... I guess I'd consider any other guys that try to hit on my girlfriend my real enemies. If I see that shit, things just got real, dude."

If you could appear in any popular movie or book, which one would you choose and why?

"Ooooh, I'd TOTALLY be a character in the SCREAM movies. I'd be, like, the hot side character that everyone likes, but at the end of the movie, it's revealed that I was the killer's accomplice and was one of the guys using the mask the entire time to kill people with 'em. Yeahh... but people would still love me, 'cause I'm hot. Think about it for a sec, confident and SEXY emo guy turns out to be the killer? It'd get me even MORE fans. I'd have entire accounts dedicated to posting gifs of me online."

What’s your relationship with your creator? "I don't really mind her... sure, she put me through a lot of shit, but I know I'm her favorite and she loves me more than almost anything at the end of the day. She gives me a lot of attention, AND she gave me a totally cute girlfriend and awesome bandmates. She's kinda cute herself, so I guess I can forgive her... yeah, she's not half bad."

Do you have any advice for other character creators?

DO whatever the HELL you want with your characters, it's all about having fun and doing what you love baby! Wanna make overly sexy guys or girls? Overly powered teenage characters who are loved by everyone and the stars of their story? Neon emo furries? The most CLICHE romance, even if it's a self-insert character with a canon character you love? DO IT, you'll be so much happier, and most importantly F**K everyone who thinks it's cringe, they need a life, live your life! I SUPPORT YOU!

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

Saint Jude's Miracle: A Javier Peña x OFC (Isa) Fanfiction. Chapter VI

Summary: Javier and Steve reunite and reflect on their past and their present and the hurtful memories they have to carry from their time in Colombia. Meanwhile Isa struggles with her everyday life and not having news from Javier for days is starting to worry her.

Word count: 2,6k

Warnings: PTSD talks, mentions of violence. (This is me trying to solve one plothole from season 2 from a character I really liked and hated at the same time👀)

A/N: So this took longer than I thought, I completely lost the inspiration and words didn’t flow I had to restart this many times. I guess I will look at this in a few weeks and think I should have revised even more, but I promised to post this today, so there it is. This is plot and more plot with a little bit of angst and fluff at the end.

Series masterlist

Chapter VI: Old Friends

Time is a curious thing; here they are many years after: Their bodies are not the same; the jeans are tighter around the belly and the hair is already grey in some parts, wrinkles around the eyes bear witness of the years that had pass through them, but nonetheless the conversation flows as if not a day has passed.

The empty beers sit to the side of the table leaving a small pool of their condensation over the wooden table. The music is loud at the bar and Javi and Steve had been quite for a few minutes now. The question floating above them making the air thicker every second it passes without addressing the matter.

“I should have reach to you sooner” Javi says holding his half bottle, is it the fifth or sixth he has finished?

“Don’t worry about it” Steve shakes his head and leaves his bottle on the pile “I called a few times, but I thought you needed time to process it all”

“The thing is I didn’t” Javi shows half a smile “I really fucked up and when they gave me Cali I thought I could redeem myself. Tried to do it by the book, tried to outsmart them” he leans on the table “and what happened? It was a fucking charade” he snarls

“You did well getting all that shit on the news” the blond agent taps on his friend arm “Shit! I wanted to quit myself when I saw it”

“They didn’t give me another option. But...” Javi crosses his arms over his chest when he feels that familiar feeling, the words and feelings choking him

“You didn’t want to”

“Fuck, I’m a middle age man! This is what I’ve been doing for my whole life? What was I supposed to do?” he exhales deeply, a burden is lifted out of his chest

“Everybody said it was unfair if it helps” Steve consoles

“I guess not Stechner” Javi scoffs

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Steve comes close “He disappeared. For real, MIA. Nobody has heard from him in years”

“Well, I don’t wish death to anyone...” Javier shakes his head:” who am I kidding? Fuck him!”

The two of them laugh out loud for a few minutes; the waiter guessing that their laughs deserve another round; leaves two cold beers on their table with a wink

“For Stechner, I guess”

“May he rot in hell” and they drink together

“So...about that wife of yours” Steve has been dying to ask more about Isa and Connie has tasked him with getting all the information he can gather.

“Isa” Javier reaches for his wallet. In the small plastic pocket inside it, there’s a picture of the three of them on a photo booth, the same day they had to go to the mall to get Elvi’s photo for her school application.

Elvira is seated on their laps while Javi and Isa smile at her

“Oh, she’s gorgeous. You’ve been always lucky with the ladies, Javi”

“Well, I am. I don’t know how she bears with me. I give her too many headaches”

“Connie was happy when they stopped asking me to go on field operations. Not gonna lie, it felt good for a bit getting back to a desk and just do paperwork. But then...” Steve blue eyes look glossy in this light and after too many beers “I saw myself reflected on the glass doors of the office and shit, it hit me; I was old and dying on a desk. And then you called”

“I understand”

“When you said you were married with a kid, I really couldn’t believe that you and I were once those dudes in Colombia”

“It feels like a million years ago”

“And just a few days ago at the same time” completes Steve and Javier nods

“What does she know? your wife, how she handles all that?”

“She doesn’t. When I met her she was...first of all she had left Laredo before everybody knew me for the Escobar shit, so when we met, we were just two strangers. We could talk and I could kick everything under a rug and let her form an opinion about me by herself without interferences” his gaze wanders over the tables: families having a quite dinner; a couple that has an untouched plate in front of them while they kiss and talk in whispers.

“And after you married?” Steve asks interrupting his thoughts

“I just told her the necessary” he shakes his head the necessary is almost nothing.

“Well, it’s better that way, but I couldn’t hide it from Connie. Man! I was out control; everything and anything could trigger me. I was anxious, paranoid all the time. I woke up in the middle of the night, got my gun out of the safe if I heard a car tire exploding or any loud noise and I’d had my heart beating fast for hours. And let’s not talk about the nightmares”

“The helicopter?” Javi asks, his voice is thin almost a whisper remembering the extreme methods the police used when the hunt for Escobar was on its peak

“Yeah...and many others. I keep on seeing the two of us entering that house, but instead of finding Olivia crying, she’s dead, shot dead as her mum” Steve sniffs and coughs moving uncomfortably on his chair. “That’s when I looked for help”

Javier nods remembering so many nights where he thought his brain could kill him, reimaging that kid in the ally, rescuing Helena, all the things he saw when Los Pepes were unleashed. By your hand.

“We should call it a night, amigo”

“I see your Spanish has not improved. Just the two words you knew back in Colombia” Javi scoffs with a grin

“Cabrón”

“Yep, that’s the second one”

Isa

It’s been two days since he left and he hasn’t called. Isa tries to focus on everything she needs to do before Elvira starts the new school year. She has called Chucho every afternoon thinking that maybe he had some news, but nothing.

“Ese marido tuyo aguanto mientras Elvi era chiquita y ahora que pudo se largo” (Your husband stayed with you while Elvi was a baby and now that she’s grown, he has left you) her mother commented once she got the news that Javi was away and he hadn’t call in three days. News travel fast in a small town and she hears the comments about her, about Javi: he did it again, he left another woman and run away, he left her as he left Lorraine. Every day Isa had to struggle with her own thoughts and the constant reminder from her mother and the ladies in Laredo that something was wrong with Javier.

Her brain repeats the same litany:

He must be caught up in something

Maybe he’s somewhere where there’s not a good connection

Maybe he cannot call for security

Maybe he did run away

Maybe he’s in danger

She tries to stop her mind when it gets that fast spiraling down towards the darker scenarios she can imagine. On the third night after he left and hadn’t called she had a terrible nightmare and she had to keep her little night lamp on as she does every night he spends away and every day since then, the lamp is on while she rests, sleeping just for a few hours and then spending hours turning back and forth trying not to think about the worst possible things she can imagine. What would she do if he never comes back? What would she do if something bad happen to him? Even though they had made peace by making love in that old truck before parting she could not forget their arguments and the things left unsaid. He would never leave them like that, would he?

Isa tries to be calm, not to project her fears and worries onto her daughter but each day she’s challenged with the never ending things she has to do at home each day: laundry, cooking, cleaning, and every time she thinks she’s finished there’s something new that has come up. Elvira is stressed, as any kid her age, watching the summer slipping away with its long days of freedom on top of her dad being away. So she’s more agitated than usual, sassy and misbehaving just to get her mother’s attention.

The trip to the supermarket is a long chant of demands: I want Cereals, I want Ice cream. All Isa can hear is IwanIwantIwantIwant and the wheels of her shopping cart screeching on the ground. She thinks her wrist is about to snap open just trying to hold Elvira’s hand so she sticks to her side.

“It’s really crowded, cielo, stay with me” she sighs trying to be patient.

But the moment, Isa hesitates and looks down to read her shopping list, she’s out

“I’m gonna get my cereal”

“Elvi!”

Isabel gains a few complaints from some old lady that she almost railed over trying to run for her daughter.

“Oh, you want that one?”

“Yes, please. I can’t reach” Isa laughs softly watching her daughter acting polite and looking like an angel towards the stranger woman. The lady gives her the colorful box and Elvi jumps excitedly until she sees her mum at the end of the aisle.

“¿Qué te dije de que te separases de mi?” (What did I tell you about running away from me?” the little girl pouts and answers

“I thought you would say no if I ask for this”

“Ay, Elvi. I’m sorry if she bothered you” Isa smiles to the woman. She is on her 40s, Isa guesses, she has a beautiful elegant visage framed by a brown with blond highlights mane. She smiles widely with her scarlet lips: “No hay problema” (No problem) she answers in Spanish, her accent seems different to the Mexican-American accent Isa is used to listen to in this part of Texas.

“Gracias igualmente. Está obsesionada con esto que está lleno de azúcar” (Thank you anyway, she’s obsessed with this sugary thing” Isa ruffles her child’s hair

“La comprendo, mis hijos son igual” (I understand, my kids are the same)

“¿De dónde es? tiene un acento muy bonito” (Where are you from? you have a very beautiful accent) Isa asks, for a moment she thinks that she might be overstepping but the woman laughs softly patting Isa’s arm with her hand stylishly decorated in elegant gold and diamonds rings, her manicure is perfect.

“Colombia,pero ya llevo unos años acá en los Estados Unidos” (Colombia, but I’ve been here in the USA for a while now)

“¡Oh! me han dicho que es muy bonito” (I’ve been told it’s very beautiful) Elvi grabs her mum by the hem of her dress rushing her to finish the boring conversation, mainly because she wants to get back home and open the box of cereal “Bueno, un gusto” (Well, it’s been a pleasure) Isa waves

“¿Cómo se llama?” the woman asks when they’re leaving

“Isa, ¿y usted?” (Isa, and you?)

“Judy. Un placer” she grins

The TV has already passed to that late night teleshopping advertising stupid stuff with even more stupid people repeating again and again the same lame catchy phrases. But there’s silence at this hour, Elvi is sleeping soundly and now Isabel can rest on the sofa, eyes fixed on the stupid people on TV and her longing for Javier.

She took the laundry out of the dryer today. Mixed in all the clothes an old “University of Texas” t-shirt that Javi rarely wears around the house and that she has stolen as pajamas. Without even realizing it, she smelled the fabric only sensing the sweet scent of the softener she uses so she had rushed to the bathroom and sprinkled the t-shirt with Javi’s cologne. And now hugs herself silently praying that tonight will be the night he calls.

The TV volume is set to the minimum and when the strong ringing sound surrounds the house Isa thinks is coming from it until she realizes that is coming from the kitchen. She runs, stepping on Elvi’s toys and bumping her knee over the sofa. Limping she runs and picks up the phone

“Hello?” her voice is shaky

“Isa is me” Javi says on the other line

“Javi, thank God, where were you? You told me you will call when you’d arrive and it’s been three days and I...” she babbles

“I’m fine, I’m sorry...it’s been a little bit crazy” he sounds tired and he’s speaking softly as if he cannot raise his voice

“Are you okay? Are you in danger?” Isa sniffs, the tears rolling down and she leans on the cold tile wall of the kitchen

“No, it’s just we have to go to different places, meet a bunch of people. I didn’t have the time. I’m sorry Isa. Elvi’s sleeping I guess?”

“Yes, but she will be really happy to know that you called”

“I’ll try to call earlier tomorrow”

“Yes...please, she’s being a bit difficult lately”

“Why?” Isa can hear how the bed creaks on his end and his deep grunt

“I guess it’s the end of summer, you’re not here, my mum...”

He huffs

“Elvi told her we didn’t know where you where and you can imagine”

“She hates me even more”

“Don’t worry about her. Tell me about the job” Isa sits on the ground holding the phone on her shoulder

“Isa...I rather listen to you”

“I haven’t done much. Nothing interesting”

“It doesn’t matter” he answers

And thus she begins telling every tiny detail, Javi was silent on the other side and when she asks if he’s listening he just hums.

“Anyway...I guess that’s all. And I hope you’re not mad but your old university t-shirt has a new hole in it which somehow makes it even more comfortable”

“You’re wearing it now?”

“Yes...I miss you so it’s just like having your arms around me”

“I miss you too, Isa. I only have this old dude on the medallion and the picture I keep on my wallet to remind me of you...not that I need anything to remember you”

“That old dude...” she laughs “he’s a saint and I think he’s doing a good job for the moment”

“Really?” Isa smiles widely when she hears his deep chuckle on the other side

“You’ve said I miss you for the first time, I will say it’s even a miracle”

“What? I’ve told that plenty of times” he says a little bit offended “ but we’ve never been parted that much since we’re together”

“You don’t say you love me that much either...” Isa adds

“That’s not true” he says firmly

“Yes it is, I’m not mad, you express it in other ways. I’ve accepted that when I marry you”

“I’m sure I say it many times...”

“You can say it now...” she whispers

“I love you, Isa, and I miss you” he mutters

“See? Saint Jude is working its magic” Isa laughs. Her heart is full and she feels like an enormous weight has been lifted. He loves me, he’ll be back

“So I’m not a lost cause anymore?” Javi replies with an amused tone

“We’ll see when you get here”

“And you won’t say it back?”

“What?”

“That you love me and miss me”

“Ay, Javier” she sighs “I sleep every night waiting for you with the lights on, praying that you will get back to me soon, I sleep with your t-shirt and even if I don’t believe in it really, I keep praying and praying that you will be back to our bed, that I will turn and you’ll be there, so yeah, I miss you and I love you. Te amo”

“Yo también te amo”

“Good night, mi amor”

“Good night”

(taglist: @sara-alonso)

[razorblade180]

Ok I gotta ask this now since I just saw your post. How would you have written ddd and kh3 to make it a tighter more impactful plot? (Also would love to know how you would write narusaku or any other naruto ship

[please comment below. This took so much time and it would suck if no one read this😭💀]

I can already tell this will go beyond the line limit so buckle up everyone. We’re only focusing on KH right now. Let’s start with DDD

Dream Drop Distance

Let’s get the major change out of the way, Kairi is on this adventure. Why? Because there’s two previous games where they express how she wants to actively help and KH2 has lines of her saying she refused to be left behind anymore. This works out just fine for Yen Sid, since this test is supposed to be a relatively safe. Sora and Riku are officially taking their mark of mastery exam but for Kairi, this serves as a hands on learning course. Going the sleeping worlds together for them to learn proper keyblade wielding sounds perfectly fine. All three get out on the island, fight Ursula in the tutorial, and then Xehanort starts his shenanigans just like in the game. Here’s the difference! Sora and Kairi are still together, while Riku still accidentally dives into Sora’s dreams.

Immediately the trio would know something isn’t quite right but the only option is press on start figuring things out while completing their task from Yen Sid. This is where gameplay is now a bit different. You play as Sora with one dream eater and Kairi as your support characters while Riku plays the same. The drop system is still the same everything. Sora and Kairi go through worlds together and get to interact. At the beginning Kairi doesn’t know much but gains abilities/confidence as you progress. Sora ends up serving as a mentor for her and guides her through the troubles of going on your first adventure. It’s a good way to put Sora in a more mature role. He’s forced to keep his wits about in order to keep Kairi safe because he doesn’t know the organization is actually after him.

We get a couple of scenes of Kairi getting better and helping Sora through the worlds which still play out the same basically. Bad guys show up and say mysterious things before leaving and the two deal with Disney problems. Riku’s doesn’t change at all because. Things only start to get really different after Symphony of Sorcery. Young Xehanort shows up at the very end of it and goes after Kairi to bait Sora into rushing to save her. Sora ends up getting hurt in the process and Young Xehanort kidnaps him here and immediately leaves before Kairi can do anything. She’s now angry at herself for not being able to apply what Sora had taught her when it truly mattered. She couldn’t protect him or herself. Kairi almost wants to give up but meow-wow lifts her spirits and she finds the resolve to fight before. Sora would never give up, especially when it came to saving his loved ones. Kairi is now a playable character and able to do all the commands that aren’t character exclusive. His dream eaters stick around and become her party members.

You go through The World That Never Was as her back in KH2 attire, fighting her way through it and she’s the one that gets told how the organization has been tracking them and all the other plot things; including why they want Sora. Kairi ends up being the one to have to fight Xemnas and even though she’s outclassed, she’s gonna give him all she’s got. On Riku’s side he sees all the weird dream imagery in Sora’s head since he’s in Sora’s dreams with the added glimpse of Kairi trying her best against Xemnas; motivating him even further to hurry up and make it to her. He still confronts Ansem and makes peace with himself. Riku finally makes it out of Sora’s dreams but retains his dream eater powers like in the game and rushes to help Kairi. He makes it half way through the fight and Kairi tells Riku to back her up. The two of them fight together with you still playing as Kairi and manage to push him back. Riku is extremely surprised by her progress and both of them go together to save Sora because he knows telling her to stay back is not an option. Riku and Kairi both fight Young Xehanort together.

Everything is mostly the same after that in terms of plot and everything that happens in the cutscenes. Including Axel showing up. Riku convinces Kairi to stay when he jumps back into Sora’s dreams, telling her someone has to make sure everything goes fine in the real world and that person has to be her. Riku comes back out after is boss fight and those cutscenes and he sees those two slackers having a tea party. Yen Sid commends all three for their bravery, especially Kairi. He also apologizes. Riku gets named a master, Sora doesn’t. Sora thankd his friends and told Kairi he was proud of her before he left to go thank the dream eaters. Even though she did well, Kairi knew without Riku, the dream eaters, or Sora, she wouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. She wanted to be strong enough to protect herself and others. So Kairi asked Yen Sid if she could have further training. Yen Sid told her and Lea about the dimension where they could train and they both accepted. Riku asked what he should do now and then the 0.2 conversation happens off screen. Boom, DDD rolls it’s credits.

Kingdom Hearts 3 [internal screaming]

Okay! So I gotta tackle this one a little different. First of all, let’s live in a world where ReMind came apart of KH3 (as it should’ve) now let’s put the cutscene between Luxord and Xigbar where it belongs at the beginning of the game, and then let’s put the cutscenes of MoM/ the organization discussing the members somewhere in in middle of the game. Like after Monsters Inc. Because that information had no reason to be hidden. It reveals nothing, but explains how people are back which is important. This knowledge doesn’t even spoil the Luxu reveal!

Second, I have to explain my two major problems that really hurt this game for me. Plot pacing and only setting things up halfway or not at all. So I’m going to tell you what changes narritive and gameplay wise I would’ve changed. Then I’ll go through the game including those changes.

Sora getting his power robbed consequence will be in every world and weigh on him.

The time characters get rescued/revealed

Ventus and Roxas’s heart influence

Isa’s plan

Aqua’s trauma

Xion, Vexen, and Demyx appearances.

Multiple playable characters.

Kairi and Lea contributions.

Also if I don’t mention something then assume it happened just like in the game.

Okay, let’s get started at Olympus. Everything is the same except one thing that I will continue to do for the other worlds. Sora will try to be proactive in stopping an Organization member, triggering a 1v1 boss fight. He’ll fight Xigbar and lose so bad that his friends have to save him. This puts in perspective that Sora really has lost his powers and is frustrated about it. This will do two things. One of them is make him slowly get more upset when someone brings up him failing the exam, being a half pint, or not being able to do things on his own. I’ll come back to the second thing later. Sora is order to continue to gain the power of waking while leaving finding Aqua to Mickey and Riku.

Twilight Town is also basically the same. However, the Demon Tide really roughs him up. Ansem and Xemnas bring up how they hope Roxas didn’t get this weak as well just to anger him. Sora wants to put them in their place but is convinced not to by Donald and Goofy. Now he’s doubting himself internally a little. Also Merlin shows up now instead of later. The trio bump into him and He tells Sora that Lea and Kairi actually are almost done training because they trained in a place where time didn’t matter. The moment they went in should’ve technically they came out but I’m being generous. Sora is shocked to realize his short time at Olympus might’ve equaled months of training for Kairi or even longer.

Toy Box is the same with the addition of fighting Young Xehanort and losing to him before a gigas piloted by his friends intervene. We still get the comment about putting hearts into vessels of their pleasing. When the world is over Kairi calls to tell him she’s finishing training and wants to see him back at Yen Sid’s tower.

Kairi and Lea are both really jazzed about how strong they’ve gotten and ready to help. Before they do, Kairi asks for a friendly spar against Sora. While he does win, he is amazed by how strong she’s gotten. Kairi comments on how she’s still lacking the real battle experience and skill he’s gain over time and he actually starts to feel better, until she asks if she could go to a world with him to get it. He wouldn’t mind it if wasn’t for one thing, he’s worried he might not be enough to save her if she needs help. Not with all his strength gone. He keeps this to himself and Kairi and Lea end up tagging along to Kingdom of Corona. On this world you get the option to be Sora with Rapunzel Flynn has mandatory party members and the choice to choose Kairi and Lea or Donald and Goofy; Or you can play as Kairi which automatically makes the party during gameplay Flynn, Rapunzel, Sora, and Lea. This works out fine because half this world has Rapunzel and Flynn leave your party so the other two characters can fill in during those sections.

So the Disney plot in this world doesn’t have to change one bit. The changes that happen all occur with all the Kingdom hearts characters. For example, Marluxia now meets Sora, Lea, Kairi, Donald and Goofy when he first reveals himself. We get sassy and rude dialogue between Marluxia and Lea about being alive and who’s actually the traitor this time around. Lea can also fill Sora in on CoM since no one does it. What makes this scene important is the moment Marluxia directs his attention towards Kairi, she starts getting really nervous and Namine’s voice comes out unexpectedly, telling him to stay back. It’s Namine who’s actually nervous, terrified even. Sora might not have the memories, but the entire exchange is enough for his heart to remember the intense desire to protect Namine from Marluxia. Sora and Lea get in between the two. Marluxia only looks at everyone and can’t help but get a little nostalgic. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for one...” he says that vague response referring to how Lea and Rikuplica switching sides, then he leaves.

The next major change is Soar and Kairi spend time at the festival together and share a moment during the lantern scene. It’s at this time Sora expresses the doubt he has to protect her and the others with his current strength. Kairi tells Sora that he can do anything he puts his mind to and to never lose that smile of his. She tells him how they will protect each other and that his heart will never steer him wrong. This touching moment is ruined when Donald screams off camera. The Nobodies shown up. Everyone quickly jumps into action when another hooded figure appears. Sora goes off to pursue them triggering Lea to follow him. Sora is evenly matched with the figure back and then hood falls off. It’s Xion. Immediately seeing her causes an intense reaction from Roxas’s heart that screws up Sora in the fight and he his taken out by her. Xion planned to take him but Lea intervenes, causing both of them to get a painful reaction to each other. Marluxia shows up to retrieve Xion, who was sent there for a test run and leaves Axel in pain because Kairi caught up to protect both of them despite the fear from earlier. All he can see is Namine finally taking a real stand against him before finally going. Sora wakes up that morning on the outskirts of the kingdom where he sees Flynn riding Maximus with Lea still out of commission. Donald and Goofy looked after him while Kairi helped resuce Flynn. He tells Sora about what’s happened to Rapunzel and they all go rushing to the tower, except for Kairi who’s understandably tired, and chooses to look after Lea since he’s also still recovering. The rest of the world stays the same.

Sora and the gang try collecting their thoughts and info while in the gummi ship. So many things were happening so fast. Sora tried to apologize to Lea and Kairi but they told him there was no need. They end up going to Yen Sid again for answers to things like the new seven princesses. While there, Donald ends up taking another jab at Sora for still not having the power of waking. Sora actually gets fed up this time around, frustrated with himself mainly. He yells how he’s doing the best he can and it’s not like Donald is being of any real help either. Sora claims that he can do this on his own and takes off to the Gummi Ship before anyone could really get a word in.

Monster Inc ends up being the next world he finds himself in but not by choice. Sora had been so worked up he had forgotten the ship ran on smiles and crash landed to the nearest world. That’s not all, Kairi had actually manage to sneak aboard by surprise. Now he felt bad about endangering her but didn’t get to apologize before Kairi bonked him on the head. She reminded Sora about their conversation on the pier and expressed how determined she was to knock Sora out of his funk. They’d be stranded here otherwise. Through all of that it slipped their minds that they were monsters now and decide to look around. One thing that immediately stirred something within Kairi’s memories was the unversed which convinced them that this place was now definitely worth looking around. The plot points of this world are pretty much the same. As you go through the factory making Boo laugh. Sora is also gaining his cheerfulness back and opening up more to Kairi about how down this situation had gotten him. He was happy she was here to cheer him up. Vanitas shows up and still gets thrown through doors. Sora wonders about his desire to save Aqua so quickly stems from the possibility of Ventus’s heart sleeping in his. Kairi tells Sora about how Namine’s heart reacted to Marluxia which only made his thought more valid. He tells Kairi how he really thinks he can save her and Kairi agrees, but tells Sora it would be easier with more people. He needed to make up with Donald and to some extent, Goofy. As if on que the gummi phone rings with Chip and Dale telling Sora that they’ve lost trace of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. What’s worse is Donald and Goofy acted rashly at the news and took Yen Sid’s star shard, sending them to who knows where. It was possible that they actually got sent to the Realm of Darkness! Sora calls Ienzo to ask if he knows a way there but he only knows about the corridors of darkness.

Kairi tells Sora that he really is connected to Ventus then maybe he can open a gate. Even if he can’t, Sora’s connection with his friends might do something. He just has to do what he did to get to Olympus. Sora opened a gate that brought him and Kairi back to Destiny Islands where they found Donald and Goofy. More importantly, an unfimiliar keyblade. Sora uses it to create a door and heads off. The others try to follow him but he tells them that they need to stay behind just in case. He also apologizes for his outburst which prompts Donald and Goofy to apologize for not seeing how much the teasing was getting to him. Kairi tells him to be safe and Sora smiles truthfully. He just has to believe in himself like she said. He can do this. Sora goes through the door.

Sora drops right in the middle of the Riku vs Aqua fight and things play out normally until the halfway point where the darkness in her becomes almost too much for Sora. Just like with Vanitas, Ventus’s heart starts to react to seeing Aqua in such a state. Suddenly Sora summons Master’s Defender again and holds it back handed. Aqua is left shocked, she can only see the friend she promised to wake up. With a heavy heart she manages to ask for help and Sora nods. You play the remainder of the fight with attacks and even a command style used by Ventus. He’s calling the shots now. You beat Aqua and she gets saved. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s crying.

Aqua takes Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi to go wake up Ven while Riku and Mickey rest up. Sora gets more strange feelings at the sight of Castle Oblivion. He can’t help but think of Namine, as well as fuzzy memories of Marluxia and a few other people but he keeps it to himself. Aqua remakes the Land of Departure and they make their way to Ven. Vanitas shows up and Aqua challenges him alone. Instead of her loosing because she blocked a fireball with her body, We get Aqua losing because she’s still very tired and the PTSD she has from the realm of darkness. Everyone panics. Sora activates the power of waking to wake Ventus (I’ll cry when he thanks Sora) and he saves Aqua. Vanitas leaves.

Everyone regroups at Yen Sid’s tomorrow again. Finally, progress is being made in collecting guardians. Ventus and Aqua need more time to recover and choose to rest. Kairi keeps them company to learn more about them, her past, skills, and also take a break. All this adventure has gotten her really exhausted. Mickey goes looking for Ansem the Wise and Sora manages to convince Riku to tag along with him. Maybe they’ll find Terra? Onward to frozen!

Sora and the gang meet else Elsa and Riku empathizes with not being able to control power and being scared of hurting people close to him. Sora emphasizes with Anna when it comes wanting to help someone important to you but they keep running away and create things that make it harder to reach them. It’s one big moment of reflection and growth in this world. Larxene still shows up and Sora knows her by name surprisingly. The feelings of anger he gives her is all he needs to know that she cannot be allowed to do whatever she pleases. He tries stopping her but fails. He’s not too upset though. His previous accomplishments and encouraging words from Kairi push him forward. Unknowingly, Vexen shows up and has an argument with Larxene. She complains about why he’s heat and he tells her that he heard memories are extremely malleable here (trolls) and he’s come to look into it before leaving Larxene to her own devices. Elsa starts really thinking her powers are nothing but darkness but Riku convinces her otherwise. Elsa thanks him but that moment of weakness creates the boss of this world. Sora and Riku fight it with Snowball while Elsa goes to save Anna. Things work themselves out the same from there. Riku and Sora feel closer than ever and Riku tells Sora he’s a master in his own right which makes Sora’s day. Vexen got valuable data.

Ventus finally felt like his body was used to moving again and was ready to start getting back in the swing of things, but Aqua was still feeling down. The guilt of taking so long and trauma was weighing on her heart. Kairi tried everything to cheer her up but nothing helped. Kairi has no choice but to pull out the big guns. She called Sora. Through lot of persuading, he convinced her to tag along with him and Ventus to go traveling with him to get them up to speed. Part of the agreement was Riku and Kairi go finding more clues about Terra’s whereabouts so they stayed behind. Checking Radiant Garden again seemed like a good idea. Kairi hadn’t been so it would kill two birds with one stone.

Pirates world was next on the list. This time we there’s four organization members! Luxord goes looking for the box and Demyx is forced to help because Isa wants him to prove his worth or why even be around? They’re on the water so he should be decent muscle. Vexen is intrigued by Davy Jones but also dropped Xion off with Luxord to see if his recent research on memory would have her perform better than earlier. Aqua and Ventus marvel at the stars, thinking of Terra. Sora told the two of them about the first adventure he went on to look for his friends. Sora praises both of them by telling him that he was at least half as skilled as they were back then, telling them that they’ll find Terra way faster than he took finding Riku and Kairi. They came across the waterfall fell. Aqua nearly panicked at the thought of being trapped when they woke up in Davy Jones’s locker but Ventus calmed her down. Sora needed to find a way to build her back up. The plot of this world doesn’t change but gameplay does a little. Ven and Aqua will grant the pirates ship most of its abilities by controlling the wind and sea while Sora navigates. More fights by boat grant them more abilities and gets them back into the swing of things. Ventus and Sora team up during the air skirmish against the flying heartless. This invigorates Aqua not just because she wants to protect them, but they looked like they were having some fun. Yeah they were fighting a heartless but they were doing it together and trusted that they had each other’s back. Aqua had missed that feeling, it had been so long since it wasn’t her vs everything. She quickly got her chance to be apart of a team again in the underwater fight. Her nerves weren’t completely calm but Sora taking her hand and being excited about getting the treasure pushed those feelings away. She had friends again, friends that wanted treasure and to sail the seas with her. How could that not be fun. Sora happily let Aqua take the lead and supported her alongside Ventus.

The crew bumps into Luxord and the black box conversation happens that leads into the race but with the added wager of Luxord willing to tell them about Terra if they win. The race has still has the heartless boats but as well as the water nobodies to personally attack your crew and hinder your abilities. After you win, Luxord still cheats and you have that boss fight. Things change when you board the boat. He still leaves but Demyx and Xion stay behind with some Nobodies to by time. Halfway through the fight, Xion starts clenching her head again and Sora does the same with his chest. Seeing Ventus’s face and feeling Roxas’s presences is just too much. Luxord takes the opportunity of the chaos to nab is companions and attack the ship. Fortunately Aqua was able to protect everyone. Vexen orders Demyx to take Xion back and that he might as well not come back either. Demyx really doesn’t want to face Isa since he was basically told not to comeback without anything useful. So he drops Xion off and plans to avoid him altogether.

After the ship is repaired and Phantom Jack leaves, Aqua takes a minute to think. They were about to head into what sounded like a war. Their fun treasure adventure had turned a serious matter. She confessed that she might not be up to the task. This one, or even the keyblade war. Ventus pulled out his wayfinder and told her even if she decides not to go, she’ll always be fighting beside him as long as he had this. He believed Terra was still fighting and got his strength from them. Aqua pulled out her wayfinder and simply held it to her chest. He wasn’t wrong. All that time in the darkness and a piece of her never felt truly alone as long as she held this. Their unbreakable connection to her friends was something Aqua would never doubt. To top it all off, Sora had remembered he still had Kairi’s good luck charm from before the exams. He said he couldn’t count how many times this simple thing had driven him to keep going. Aqua joined them on the boat. It was only after seeing the other pirates did her resolve really hit its peak. All of them were ready to face staggering odds to fight for what mattered most to them, despite the fear. Aqua was sure of it now, she’d stand with her friends when the fated day came. Aqua raised her keyblade a creates the whirlpool for the Kraken fight. For the first time since she arrived, she looked at Sora and completely immersed herself in the moment. She calls him captain, and says she’s ready whenever he is. He couldn’t be more thrilled and Ventus was happy to see Aqua ready to go. The rest of the world plays out the same all the way until the very end. I would personally add a scene though of three sailing alone for just a little longer. Sora can’t help but think about how this was his dream with Riku and Kairi once. He wondered if is the only one who even rememberers or cares about a thing like this. Suddenly another ship Sails by them. They get ready to fight until they sea a papou fruit flag. Riku and Kairi unexpectedly reveal themselves on it with smiles on their faces. Apparently the gummi phone had really included all of information Jimmy had written. Riku explained that he just knew without question Sora would come here of all places to try and cheer someone up. Riku and Kairi told Aqua they hadn’t found much info on Terra but they did find her armor and keyblade thanks to Kairi’s foggy memory of certain places and Ienzo’s participantion in those lab areas. They all were about to continue their journey but since they were here, something had to be settled. Sora wanted another race to decide who would be captain. Riku laughed and told him they both have ships and that didn’t matter. However, he vaguely mentioned another reason to race, the real reason Sora tried so hard that day on the island. Riku pointed at the symbol on his flag and Sora immediately pouted. He grabbed the wheel of the ship and told Kairi to countdown for the race. No one knew what they were racing for except them and a giggling Kairi, who had a pretty good idea on what it was about. She says go and then the cutscene ends.

Big Hero Six is exactly the same except Sora sees Riku Replica and is pretty sure he’s from castle oblivion. Vexen uses the knowledge Rikuplica favs him about making Baymax filled with suffering so he can fix Xion to her absolute peak. When he’s done, Isa informs him that a Demyx has ran off and orders Vexen to go bring him back. Which is actually code for “good job, now escape while you still can.” Vexen informs him that it would take an extremely strong connection for Xion to have any “unfortunate” memories of the past to resurface. Things play out normally until Zexion meets Ansem the wise. What happens this time? He tells Sora and friends that he’s back with Vexen. (That’s kinda important.)

Everyone rests up for the final battle. The Sora and Kair scene on destiny islands is now longer. Kairi asks if Sora is feeling like his old self again. Sora tells her that he is thanks to her never giving up on her. Both of them get quiet for a moment before Sora speaks again. He does confess that he’s still worried a bit. Every word he went to had one thing or another that ended up being too much for him alone, and couldn’t help but feel like it would’ve been different if he truly regained all of his power. Kairi tells him that he isn’t alone but he shakes his head because she’s missing the point. Sora wasn’t scared of the organization overwhelming him, but he was terrified of that he’d try protecting someone and fail. He admitted he was scared of losing her. Kairi admitted that tomorrow scared her too. Every adventure they went on together was filled with so many enemies and left her exhausted by the end of it. Now she was joining the war. Kairi felt more than a little unprepared despite all the prep she tried squeezing in. Sora tried asking if by any chance at all that she could wait here one more time and she refused outright. No matter how nervous she was about the whole thing, Kairi told Sora that she would never wait again. That they will protect each other no matter what. And for added luck, she hands him a papou fruit. Sora was shocked. Kairi simply smiled and placed it in his hand before grabbing another one. Sora pulled out her good luck charm to give it back but she said it’s basically his at this point. The two smiled gently and finally shared the fruit. You get OathKeeper

Keyblade war time! Woo! This is by far the easiest to put into words. Riku and Kairi are your party members for the 10,000 enemy battle because it’s a literal crime that the Destiny trio didn’t work together. You get past that and Terranort still bodies half the team. Aqua’s resolve starts the crumble as she races to Ven, he isn’t moving at all. Sora is left in a state of disbelief as Goofy and Mickey try getting Donald up, and Kairi checking on Axel. In no time at all, his fear seams to be coming true. They need to regroup. Unfortunately the demon tide appears and blocks the exit. Riku gathers the remaining forces to try and fend it off but seeing Ven taken out by Terra really shook Aqua. We see the shadows turn into Anti-Aquas as the real Aqua starts to slowy panic. She doesn’t even hear the others screaming her name, telling her to look out before Mickey and Goofy try saving her, but they’re all swept up. Now it’s the Destiny Trio vs the Demon Tide in a fight the player is forced to fight, but can’t win. No music plays, just the sound of the fight and the sight of the organization watching from above. Eventually Kairi slips up due to the overwhelming odds. Sora quickly tries to outrun the Demon Tide coming towards her but can’t. Sora screams for Riku’s help but turns to see nothing but his friends hand reaching for him before being swept away. He can’t hold it in anymore, Sora drops to his knees and screams. He wouldn’t have made it this far without all of them, but now they’re gone. Sora drops his keyblade, then is swept away.

He arrives in the final world and gets his task from chirithy. In the beginning he feels so defeated, then encounters Namine. Instead of her telling him that Kairi is keeping him together, Namine says that she can feel everyone connected to him doing their part. Sora has done so much to try and keep everybody safe and spent all this time with them during their adventure that it’s only natural that they would believe in him. Now Sora feels a twinge of guilt, he gave up way too soon. No way he can let that slide. He was going to make it up to them for this second chance. Sora tells Namine about all of these flooding emotions he’s had involving her and everyone else in castle oblivion. Namine is genuinely shocked. Despite the chains being broken, Sora retained the key events. He didn’t look at her like he did back in The World That Never Was. Sora had been talking to her like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Sora told Namine that he was going to save everyone, including her. He promised that they were going to get her a body and she had to wait just a bit longer. Namine believed him and said she will try to get in contact with Terra. For a moment it felt like Sora could actually see Namine smile at him instead of just being a star. Sora smiled back and told her thank you, for everything. He ran off to do his job. Namine simply watched and tried not to cry. Their promise really found a way for them to meet again in a way she would’ve never dreamed of. Instead of it fading away. You get oblivion.

Before Sora really starts piecing himself together, he encounters the mystery star, and then an extra star. This extra star follows him around and surprises Sora when it reveals himself to be Roxas. He tells Sora he should’ve expected this since Sora was barely hanging on himself! Sora sheepishly apologizes but Roxas isn’t too bothered by it because he knows it’s temporary. What bothers him is Xion. He tells Sora who she is and the reason he feels hurt when they’re around each other is because of Xion’s connection to himself. Roxas asks Sora to face Xion and embrace that hurt so they can save her. Sora agrees but wonders if he can handle it. So far all fights against her didn’t go well. Roxas tells him not to worry. All he needs Sora to do his try his hardest and Roxas will make up the difference. Sora has no doubt Roxas will and thanks him before heading off. Roxas continues to follow you just so you have someone to talk to. Sora puts himself together and opens a gate to go find the others. Chirihy tells Sora that for future reference not to use the power of waking like he’s about to and explains how incredibly dangerous it is. Sora nods and leaves.

Sora beats up The Lich like usual and Young Xehanort calls him dumb. Everyone gets rescued from the cusp of death, now thoroughly frustrated by how sloppy they were. They’re going full throttle this time.(Oblivion obtained!) The team runs towards the fight again. Aqua and Ven are ready for Terranort but Lingering Will beats them to the punch, taking Terranort away as they fight. The Demon Tide arrives again with heartless and you fight it with the Destiny Trio. The fight has custom team attacks and even a trinity limit. You win and it turns into the hurricane again. Union X keyblades show up. (It’s so cool.) Ventus puts his hand on his heart. He feels oddly happy. All the scenes leading up to the boss rush are the same.

Sora and Riku vs Xigbar and Dark Riku goes off without a hitch. Nothing changes with Xigbar but Dark Riku is different. The original Riku Replica takes over the vessel. It’s clear the other’s could use the help and Vexen is on the good guy’s side so they can make more, is his reasoning. The original Riku goes off to chase Ansem while Rikuplica stays with Sora. He tells Sora it’s nice to see him again and Sora couldn’t agree more. The two of them don’t even have to speak to know exactly where to go next. They rush over to help Mickey, swiftly beating Luxord and freeing him so he can go after Xemnas. Suddenly the war feels like an old grudge match. Sora and Rikuplica vs Larxene and Marluxia. The heroes point their weapons at their foes and tell them this one is for Namine. Marluxia is actually happy Sora finally remembers him. It makes this fight all the sweeter. The fight ends with the heroes win, but at a price. Larxene and Rikuplica had struck each other down at the same time. Sora rushes to his friend who was starting to fade. Rikuplica told him not to feel bad about it. He planned on giving up this vessel after the fight anyway. The only reason he took it was to make sure those two wouldn’t hurt Namine and to fight by Sora’s side again at least once. Rikuplica tells Sora to take care of her before fading away, leaving the vessel. Sora finally remembers Castle Oblivion in its entirety. He simply clenches his fist and accepts the hurt before pressing on.

Ventus and Aqua catch up to Vanitas and Terranort. Aqua demands to know what happened to the armor that appeared earlier and Terranort simply laughs. Enraged, Aqua summons Master’s defender and rushes in to fight. Ventus follows her lead and Sora joins in a few minutes later. While that’s happening, Riku rushes through the maze towards Ansem until he hears a familiar voice. It leads him to dark chains that suspend and crush Lingering Will until he cuts them. The armor is cracked but still functioning. He thanks Riku and starts heading off before Riku stops him. Riku hadn’t told Ven and Aqua but he found something else at Radiant Garden. He pulls out Terra’s wayfinder and gives it to the armor. Riku tells him to go protect what matters and heads off. Things aren’t going to well back at the battle. Terranort manages to break Ven’s keyblade and Vanitas rushes in after Aqua as she tries to save Ven. Sora is quick enough to try and take the hit for both of them but Lingering Will swoops in again to save them. They’re all stunned to see him. Terra thanks Sora for looking after his friends but he can take it from here. Sora nods and manages to escape the battle. Terra tries to convince Ven and Aqua to leave too but they flat out ignore him. They pull out their wayfinders and each one starts to glow. Aqua tells Terra from this point forward they fight as a team. She tosses Ven Master’s Defender and summons her original keyblade. Her and Ventus bring out their armor and stand beside Terra. Now the real fight begins. The fight gives you the same team attacks from the Mirage Arena and each character gets their original command style that transforms into their character exclusive one from bbs. Wingblade, Ghost Drive, and Rockbreaker; while Terranort uses Dark impulse and Vanitas loses his mask and fights like he does in the final phase against Ventus. Vanitas is the first to fall. He nearly beat a Ventus until the boy gained a boost of strength from seemingly nowhere, his swords of light turning into starlight keyblades and striking down Vanitas. He simply laughs, giving Ventus no answer to his many questions about Vanitas. The entire wayfinder trio is know souly focused on Terranort. Refusing to give up, the man summons the chains again and captures them. He goes after Aqua first who almost managed to break free. The others scream her and The Guardian rises from the shadows to save her. It breaks the chains and rips off the bandages. Ven quickly uses the keyblade to wrap Terranort in chains while Lingering Will holds his body down for The Gaurdian to fire his heart out. A massive beam of light shoots up before fading and only leaving the armor. Ven and Aqua are speechless until the armor lifts its helmet to reveal Terra underneath in tears. Ven and Aqua throw their helmets off too and ran into their friends arms. All three of them hugging and crying.

Sora runs right into the middle of Saix and Xion fighting Axel and Kairi. Instinctively he screams out Xion’s name and everything goes quiet. Axel is confused by the name until she finally takes off the hood to reveal the white hair and yellow eyes. His memory starts to reform bit by bit and he grabs his head. Sora and Kairi’s chest both feel heavy but for the first time, Xion doesn’t react. Because of all the experiments, the only thing she has is broken memories and the suffering from them. You begin fighting her alone but to no effect. Sora rememberers Roxas’s words and lets in the pain. Xion comes at him again but stops at the sound of her name, this time with Roxas’s voice coming out of Sora. Xion’s head gets a little fuzzy but it doesn’t break the rampage. Kairi and Axel manage to endure the pain as well and stand with Roxas/Sora. If one voice isn’t enough then they’ll all try calling to her as they knock some sense in into her. Sora/Roxas summons Two Become One. The three are ready. It’s now or never. After an intense 3v2 fight, Xion starts to mentally down in the middle of combat. Then the standard cutscene happens where Xemnas shows up. The only difference being Axel’s keyblade doesn’t break. Xemnas grabs Kairi with his lightning instead of her wrist and leaves. Sora tries running after her best Saix gets in the way until the Seasalt trio pushes him back. Roxas tells Sora to go after Kairi and leave this fight to them. Sora runs off and you basically play the Remind fight but with no Xemnas. It ends the same though.

The battle against the Nort court is the same. Kairi getting shattered is the same, as well as getting into Scala. Xion tells Sora she can still feel Kairi and for him to remember her words. The thirteen armors and Xehanort boss are all the same as well. The only difference I added was a clash that sent both Sora and Xehanort flying backwards. Sora gets up first and has the chance to end it but realizes the good luck charm had fallen to the ground in front of him. Sora picks it up and all the pent up anger frustration he has from Xehanort ruining his and his and friends lives gets put on a leash. Sora remembers Kairi’s words about never losing his smile. He can’t help but get emotional and once again asks Xehanort what was the point of any of this. Xehanort gives his speech about balance and the entire scene and plays out like normal. Next major change is the end. Riku and Mickey convince Sora to not use the Power of Waking right off the bat, fearing the consequences. Sora listens to their idea to see Yen Sid but even he isn’t sure how to get Kairi back but they’ll do their best to find her. Sora leaves to get some air outside. Riku can’t help but follow him outside minutes later and finds Sora looking at his keyblade. He calls out Sora’s name and the boy turns around and does a smile similar to when he released his heart in Hollow Bastion. Riku knows Sora better than he knows himself. He doesn’t even try to stop Sora, but tells him to be careful. Sora puffs out his chest and says he’ll be back with Kairi in no time at all. Sora asks Riku to tell the others thanks and not to worry before opening up a gate and walking through. The ending sequence plays out the same and then the credits roll.

ReMind is a bonus episode after getting the secret reports and nothing in it changes because it’s perfectly fine. The only added thing we get is Sora giving back the lucky charm before he fades away, telling Kairi to be sure and bring it back to him. Limit cut and secret episodes are DLC or more extra stuff but yeah, I’m done.

In Summary:Kingdom Hearts 3, but the characters interact with each other and are allowed to feel multiple emotions at a time for extended periods of time. I know I sound like I’m punching down on this game but I genuinely do love this franchise since forever and I have strong feelings about almost everything to do with it. Which is why I’m bummed that KH3 is like my least favorite kingdom hearts game. It has good things in it but falls short on so many scenes and opportunities. This soft rewrite was literally me taking 92% of what the game already had in it and rearranging it to create various new situations that inevitably end the same way it does in the actual game. So yeah I give this game a 7/13 I’m still buying every game though 💀 (I’m not getting into any of my ideas of how kh3 could’ve gone before we knew too much about it. Now that’s a rewrite!)

[xionandpluto14]

Destinies Intertwined (a Riku x Oc Fanfic)

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Chapter seventeen: A Pure Heart

"Ungh..."

Riku's eyes fluttered open. Groaning, he lifted his head off the cold metal floor. He was lying in a dungeon cell, a hooded figure looming just outside.

"...Who..."

The figure pulled down their hood, and Riku stood up without realizing, but then his knees wobbled and he fell back down, badly injured. The room was twisting and blurring as Xigbar knelt in front of him.

It seemed to amuse him, watching Riku struggle to sit up again.

"Why did you... bri-bring me here?"

"To make sure the princess finds her rightful place as one of our vessels."

"Ka-Kairi...?"

"Course not! You know who I mean! The one who'll always find you, even if you're lost in the deepest darkness. Which is exactly what we're counting on."

It took a moment to sink in, then he said the words that seemed to change everything.

"Rachel's a... princess of heart?"

"That's RIGHT, now you're getting it!"

Xigbar vanished, reappearing in the cell and pressing his arrowguns against the prisoner's back.

"And you need to call out to her pure little heart so she can come to the rescue. That's why you're here. I've also been ordered to eliminate you, should you refuse to cooperate. So, what're you waitin' for? Call out to her!"

"N-Not a chance..." He probably didn't sound very intimidating, but that didn't matter. There was no way he'd hand Rachel over to the Organization.

"Have it your way, then."

Then everything went dark.

"...Riku!" Called a muffled voice. He opened his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked as Riku sat up, waiting for his eyes to focus again. Axel was there, too.

"Wait-- wh-what are... you guys d-doing here...?"

"Rescuing you!"

"Well, don't. I... I can take care of myself. The Organization's trying to lure you here."

"I don't care! You're hurt, and you need help and I'm not leaving you here!"

"No, I'm fine. I'm not..."

He trailed off, groaning as he clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut to ease the pain.

"See?" Rachel reached through the bars, gently stroking his cheek, "you need us. You can't get through this alone."

"She's right," Axel agreed.

"You guys can't... stay here. It's not safe..."

"Well, hello, Princess."

Rachel stood up, facing Xigbar.

"...Princess?" She repeated to him.

"That's right. You're one of the princesses of heart." He smirked.

"Then why did you take Riku?"

"To lure you here. We were supposed to bring you here unharmed. So, what better way than by taking him?"

A minute passed, and she glanced at Riku, then turned back.

"Let him go. Please, I'll do anything. Just... don't hurt him. Just let him go."

"As if! Besides, have you seen his condition?"

He gestured, as Riku stood and fell to one knee. "My guess is, he'll take about two or three steps before--"

"Shut up!" Rachel lunged at Xigbar, and Axel grabbed her.

"R-Rachel... Stop it... I'll be fine."

When Riku spoke, Rachel's anger melted away, turning into concern as she knelt in front of him.

He winced as Rachel inspected the wound on his forehead.

"It's just a scratch. Don't worry about me. You've gotta go." Riku lifted his head, "Axel... get her out of here."

By then, Xigbar had left, and it was just the three of them.

"Well, I've already lost Isa and Roxas... And I've still got a promise to keep!"

Rachel summoned Silver Hero and unlocked the cell. Axel stepped inside and heaved Riku off the floor, muttering a quiet apology as the silver-haired boy gave an involuntary grunt of pain upon being moved.

"I promised I'd always be there to get my friends back. You're no exception. Got it memorized?"

Riku nodded, not saying a word.

"Good." Axel helped him walk, and together, they got him to safety.

By the time they escaped the castle, the Keyblade Master had begun to walk on his own,  though there was a noticeable limp in his gait.

"You ready to go home?" Rachel asked with a sympathetic look.

"Been ready since I got here." He took a deep breath and straightened himself up. "Alright, then. Let's go."

"Oh, he won't be going anywhere."

Xigbar stepped out of the shadows.

The sudden intense throb in his head couldn't have come at a worse time. It had left him stunned and caused him to fall right into Xigbar's open arms.

[cursedlemonade]

To The Sun chapters 1-5

FIRST DRAFT of To The Sun. go easy on me here

Chapter I

“Are you crazy?!” I was carrying a child, maybe six or seven years old. I didn't respond to them, only roughly handing the kid to one of the many bystanders watching the whole scene unfold. It should have been simple. There was a house fire, we went in to get the woman trapped inside. It was routine for us to rescue people, we were called the Guardians for a reason. “Rose, are you okay?” Atlas got up in my face. Ashes sticking to their face and small pieces settling on strands of their blonde hair. On the way out a board had fallen onto my arm, I didn't dare look at it. It hurt to breathe, I was still coughing so it wasn't like I could talk. My arm felt like it had been set on fire along with the building. They caught me by my arms, releasing me to fall to the ground when I yelped from the pain.

“That looks bad.” a man said. He came to stand at our sides while Atlas sank to their knees to try and help me. 

“No shit.” Atlas mumbled it, only loud enough for me to hear. I could tell they wanted to snap at the man, but that was a sure fire way to get screamed at by someone in a couple of days. 

“Is he okay?” I choked on my own words, making them barely audible. God, I can't let another person die like that, not after everything. I was blocking out the pain, I was worried about that little boy. He bit me when I first picked him up, I still had the mark on my thumb. 

“He’s going to be fine, some smoke inhalation but not much of it.”

We had gotten the woman out of the blaze, but she was unconscious. It wasn't until we were leaving the building that I heard a child cry for help. Atlas was my partner, and I gave them no warning that I was going back in. I had lost enough people lately, I wasn't ready to let someone lose their child. Especially not when it was because we were not fast enough. 

“Can you stand?” Atlas kept eye contact, taking one of their hands to lift my head to keep my eyes on them. I nodded, though I'm not sure how far my legs would have carried me. A few seconds later I leaned forward, resting my head on their shoulder. My breathing was heavy, I had barely been able to breathe for five minutes. “I'm carrying you, you won't make it all the way back to Algiz and we need to get your arm looked at as soon as possible.” 

“That was so stupid!” Archer said from the doorway, leaning on the frame. “I can't believe you risked that much! You could have died!” I wanted to laugh, he was right.

“She saved a life, Archer, calm down.” Alana was sitting next to me, treating the blackened and blistering burn on my upper arm. She calmly wrapped the cloth around my arm, careful not to put too much pressure on it. “I’m not exactly happy she went in there without Atlas either, but you have to think about the situation. You know you would have done the same thing.” 

“I would have told Atlas where I was going.” Archer was pacing between my bed and the doorway, clearly frustrated and worried. I knew he would be, I was his best friend. 

“It wasn't that bad.” Atlas cut in from their seat next to me, letting me squeeze their hand while Alana finished her work. “I was busy, I wouldn't have been able to go in any way.” Atlas wasn't really ‘busy’, they were just checking on the woman we had pulled out of the fire. She was unconscious, we were in the middle of nowhere and no one knew anyone in the house. We had no way of knowing that there was a child until he screamed. I still remember that rush I got. There was no hesitation, I just turned around and ran back inside. Bad idea from everyone else's point of view, but I would rather die than let a child burn to death. 

“Can someone please explain to me what on earth even happened?” Archer yelled, frustration clear in his voice. “All I got was that Rose ran into a burning building and she didn't have any backup.”

“So you're yelling at an injured girl when you don't know the full story?” Alana chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I didn't get much else either. It was Atlas and Rose who were there.” her voice was naturally much higher than archers, but still lower than mine. She always had a certain tone in her voice that made her equally as approachable and terrifying. She seemed so calm, but you could tell she wouldn't hesitate to hurt you. 

“I'm worried! I don't know!” Archer yelled back, moving to stand in front of me and look me over. I was covered in ash and dirt, along with a little bit of blood. I had a few small burns and bruises, but other than the big one on my arm I was okay. He grabbed under my chin and moved my head around a bit to check over my face. I laughed, I thought it was nice that he worried about me, but this was a little much. I'm sure I looked worse than I actually was though. 

“Crystal is going to kill both of you if she sees you touching her face, at all,” Atlas said, letting go of my hand as Alana put my arm down. Atlas was there with me, they were one of my closest friends too. I was close to everyone in the room, and I was more than happy that my three best friends were the only ones there while I looked like I was going to die. That's how Archer was reacting anyway. Atlas looked annoyed with Archer’s behavior, and honestly, I was too. 

“I think this is a special situation. It's not like I'm kissing her.”

“If you kiss me I'm going to break your jaw.'' I smiled up at him, trying to reassure him I was okay. Archer and I grew up together, we were incredibly close and I think we always will be. We both grew up in Maxten, a small town in the western mountains. I say small town, but it was more like a collection of villages that formed a central city. We lived off of the forest and rarely got any help from others. We loved our little society, but we were constantly plagued with war and infighting. 

When we were kids, Echia had only recently become a country. It was barely five years old. Borders were still being disputed, especially Maxten. We split off from Tristain, who was in our west. They claimed that they had Maxten, to which our former queen serenity said that it was stated that echia owned maxten. She came to Maxten a few times, asking if we wanted to be part of Triastin so that there wouldn't be any more conflict. A majority of us said no, but she was willing to hand us over to preserve lives. I understood it. 

Conflict still happened though, Triastin and Echia troops marching through our streets was a common sight, fights and death were also fairly common. My own father fell victim to a battle in the streets. We were the one place that knew how to fight, most parents trained all of their children to fight. we needed to know that living in the mountains, to begin with. Eventually, a lot of us got sick of it and started to plan to fight back. We were part of Echia, whether Triastin liked it or not. Men and women together, along with quite a few teenagers, managed to push Triastin troops out of our city completely. That's when Triastin gave up when they realized they were getting push back from the people. Echia was already becoming known as a force to be reckoned with because of how many of us fought in the civil war that gave us our country, our queen being blessed by Isa herself, and how well she kept herself together after her son was assassinated. We were the ones to start to break gender norms back when we were still part of Triastin, back when women stayed home and the men fought. When Serenity stepped up to lead and her people followed, it changed people. Of course, in places like Lacrynes and Bleotha, it was still an issue, but it was better now. In Othala it was never a problem, the people farther south never saw a separation over your gender. I couldn't imagine growing up in a world where men and women were treated as different species. 

A few months prior we were alerted to a fire in Maxten that seemed to spread remarkably fast. Some people blamed mountain guardians, dragon-like creatures. But even if they were the fire god's guardians, they had no abilities of that sort. My people worshipped him mostly, and we were always blessed by him and his remaining guardians. They were thought to be extinct, but we knew they weren't. We had all seen one. We were called in late when as guardians we should have been the first ones alerted. We existed to deal with emergencies, our whole faction existed to help people. We were almost always dispatched to deal with these things, why was it so different? When we got there we could see royal guards, palace guards. They came from the same place but they had already been there for hours. 

There were seven survivors. Many of them said that the fire seemed to have started around the river, which was what was cutting off the spread of the fire, but also cutting off the escape. Most of the survivors were children, led by a teacher. I had an older brother and a sister-in-law. They had a son who was seven, and we found no sign of any of them. 

I remembered falling to my knees in front of the river, the light from the fire reflecting off of the surface of the water turning everything a golden hue. I started crying, as silently as I could. I felt like a failure, even though it wasn't our fault we were late to that fire. I remember Crystal hugging me, and I let her. Even though we nearly hated each other, she still chose to comfort me. She chose to comfort me, even though her lover also had family in Maxten. He wasn't fond of them, but they were still his family. 

“So what happened?” Alana asked calmly, pushing me slightly to sit back down on my bed. Her voice snapped me back to reality. She picked her basket up off of the floor and started collecting the numerous ointments and rags off of the bench I had been sitting on. “You two were the ones there.”

Chapter II

“You scared me so bad, Rose.''Archer sat down next to me with a heavy breath. It upset me that he was so distressed over an injury that was ultimately minor. Yes, the initial action was stupid and risky, but a burn on my arm wasn't as bad as it could have been. He worried about me a little bit too much. 

“I know, I'm sorry.” 

“I'm proud that you saved him though. You risked your life though, and you got hurt.” 

“We’ve run into burning buildings before, we both know I would have been fine.” his expression softened. He had slight bags under his eyes, some wisps of his dirty blonde hair hung in front of his face. I knew I had worried him, he had become increasingly more overprotective of me since the disaster that took our families. 

“That was before Maxten. You came in here sobbing, and not from your arm. You don't cry from physical pain anymore.” well he was right about one thing when I get hurt I swear, I don't cry. After we made sure everything was okay, and that the mother and son were safe it hit me that we very well could have just saved two people from the same fate my mother and brother had to suffer through. 

“I know, but I didn't let that get in the way at that moment. It only hit me afterward.” he paused for a moment and sighed. 

“I trust you not to get yourself killed, but that really scared me. Please be more careful next time, or at least give whoever you're with some kind of warning. Eye contact isn't a warning.” 

“I know, but I kind of panicked.”

“I understand that. Do you want someone to stay up with you tonight? You know as well as I do you're not going to be able to sleep for a little while.” That was true, I had been having nightmares pretty often since the disaster at maxten. Running into a fire wouldn't have helped a streak of nightmares about the exact same thing. 

“Maybe. I don't want you getting in trouble with your girlfriend.” Archer and I never had feelings for each other. Even in childhood, there were never children's crushes on each other like half our friends expected. We just didn't click like that, and most people understood it. Keyword, most. His girlfriend hates me, she thought I was trying to take him from her. She was clingy in her own right, borderline controlling sometimes. He loved her though, and she made him happy. I wanted him to be happy, he was my best friend. I understand why Crystal thought there was a connection between us, the way Archer acted around me sometimes gave that impression. Like the times he would run to me after a battle just to grab me by my shoulders and make sure I was okay. Then again, I would do the same for him. That rarely happened, but the few times Crystal saw it she took it in the way most people probably would. We explained to her multiple times that it just wasn't the case, I had even explained that I had feelings for another member of the guardians, and definitely not him. 

Archer and I sat down in the small commons room. Three long benches were surrounding a table. Three or four people could fit on each bench, making it easy for 12 people. There were only six of us though, so normally it wasn't too crowded. This time it was all four of us who were home. Atlas sat facing the fireplace on the wall, their heels resting on the table. Alana sat across from us, taking the leather brace off of her left wrist to get ready for bed. Atlas already looked half asleep, and all of us were urging them to go to bed. Archer sat next to me, watching as I stared at the fire. 

“Well, I'm going to bed before I pass out over here,” Alana said, getting up and walking by Atlas. She hit them lightly in the head, before yelling at them to go to bed. They got up, more like they stumbled up, and followed Alana down the hall. Archer got up and walked to the kitchen, opening a cupboard and getting up on his toes to reach. 

“Do you want anything?” 

“Do you have any dried fruit?” he chuckled, grabbing something from the top shelf and tossing it over at me. I looked down in my lap to see some dried pears in a small glass container. “This is in glass, why did you throw it at me?” I laughed, taking the top off and taking a bite. 

“Because I would have laughed way too hard if it hit you in the head. The sound it makes is great.”

“Not if it breaks!” he turned to me and smiled, grabbing some sunflower seeds from the lower shield and shutting the cupboard. The room was warm, Atlas’s paintings covered the walls, some of them painted directly onto the wall while others were hung up and painted on canvas or wood. I remembered walking in from patrols with Robyn or Thorn and seeing Atlas sitting cross-legged on the floor with a palette on their knee, paint on their hands and face as they painted a river or a sunset. A few of Alana’s paintings were there too, but she was much more gifted in embroidery or writing. She could describe something so well you would feel like you were there. Once, I asked her to write down what she noticed about an old Acristan ruin when she had to move through it. She wrote down everything, describing every single detail. Of course, Atlas tried to draw it and got incredibly close despite never being there. Alana could spend hours writing a description of the texture of a wall. A majority of the books on her bookshelf were all journals. 

All of us had parts of ourselves in this room, be that something more noticeable like a massive painting on the wall, or something as simple as an old key Crystal found in her room under her nightstand. Personally, I didn't have much. Most of what this room would remember me by were dumb stuff I had done, like when I fell and cut open my arm on the wall. There was still a stain on the corner, even though we had tried to get rid of it. Crystal was the one who convinced us to leave it saying it told a story. The story was that I was chasing Thorn with a spider and I tripped over air. My head hurt so bad after that, and Thorn felt so bad. 

“How are you feeling?” Archer asked, sitting back down next to me. 

“Better. My arm doesn't hurt that bad anymore. Alana did well.”

“Has she ever done badly? She’s skilled.” We both turned as we heard the front door open, and saw Thorn walk in. He had dark spots on his clothing from the light rain, blue cloth over his face, and bags under his eyes. His hair was messy and his eyes had dulled from their normal bright blue. 

“Tired?” I asked with a smile, getting up to take his coat from him. I knew he was exhausted, it was drawn all over his face. I wondered what kind of stories he would be able to tell, but he would be able to wait until morning. 

“I had quite a day.” Archer got up too, watching as I walked over to the hooks on the back wall and hung up Thorn's coat for him. Thorn sat down on the bench across from where Archer and I had been sitting. His shoulders sank as he pulled the cloth down away from his face, revealing a new bruise on his jaw. 

“Got hurt again huh?” I asked, walking back over to the seating area. Most times I would have jumped over the back of the bench and awkwardly landed to sit down, but with one of my arms half out of the function, I made the decision that it probably wasn't a good idea. 

“I see you didnt have amazing luck either.'' I laughed, but Archer didn't seem to find it that funny. I liked Thorn, he always made me laugh, but we weren't close. He seemed closer to Crystal, they had very similar political beliefs. Archer was also a little jealous, but at least he didn't take it out on Thorn as Crystal took it out on me. He saw that he had me, so Crystal should be allowed to have Thorn. It still frustrated him though. 

“Well this was my fault.” the fire crackled, making u all look down at it for a split second. I stared for a few seconds before Thorn's voice snapped me out of the rabbit hole my brain was going down. 

“Is it a cut or what?”

“It's a burn. It should be healed in a few weeks.”

“Well, it's better than blood loss. I fell, so this is my fault too.” For a moment I wondered what he fell down, but knowing him he probably tripped over nothing and fell into a rover or down a set of stairs. That's one thing Thorn and I had in common: we could run through thousand-year-old ruins and be fine, but fall in the grass and break an ankle. 

“Is that why you're back so late?”

“Yeah.” he sighed. “You know Crystal is going to be pissed if she comes back and you two are sitting next to each other right? I don't see anything wrong with it but she will see it as confirmation.”

“Speaking of which, do you know when they’ll be back? I want to talk to Robyn.”

“Yeah, stay alone in a room with him for a few hours and that will evaporate Crystal’s suspicions.” sarcasm rang in his voice, a joking smile appearing on his face. “But no, they were supposed to be back tonight too but a storm is heading in from the south so they're probably being held back.” 

“Dammit. I miss him.” Archer looked down at me with a joking smirk on his face. “No. Not like that.” It definitely was like that. He knew it, Crystal knew it. I'm pretty sure everyone knew it. 

“You seem nervous.” Archer’s voice almost made me jump, I had been focusing too hard on the drawings. 

“I am,” Thorn responded, taking a breath. “The revolution in Kai is growing, I'm just worried this might turn into a real civil war.” 

“It’ll be fine, Thorn. We’ll figure this all out.” 

“You two still don't even know what side you're on.” he let out a laugh under his breath, but I knew he was serious and frustrated. 

“I want to stay neutral until something else happens.” I sighed, my voice had become much darker. I knew it had, and I wanted him to know this is something I didn't want to talk about. “I don't want to accidentally support the wrong side.” 

“I understand that Rose.” he took a deep breath. “I'm going to bed.”

Chapter III

I opened my eyes, groaning as the sun shone in through the window. I was laying on my stomach, holding my pillow in my arms while my head rested on the mattress. My room was warm, the stone walls were covered in Atlas’ sketches of Acristan ruins. On the back wall was a large bookshelf next to my desk. It was a dark oak wood with intricate little carvings and designs. We all had one similar to it, but each one had different objects resting on the shelves. My desk was a mess, a pile of books on one side, sketches and rubbings and other pieces of paper scattered around with my journal on top of it. Two more journals I had already filled sat in the corner, each handmade with leather covers. I learned how to book bind with Archer, though he never picked it up as a hobby like I did. I made Alana journals when I had time; she would fill them up quickly and said she liked looking over at her own bookcase and seeing the line of different types of stitches I used to secure the cover to the paper. 

I got up, quickly getting dressed in some casual wear. Casual for us anyway; Dark pants with a button up shirt. My sword was sitting next to my bookshelf, though if I left the building at all I was required to wear it on my hip. I had metal guards on my forearm that covered part of my wrist. We had to carry our weapons and wear them just in case. Just in case something went wrong during the day and we didn't have time to get ready. I didn't take it very seriously until Maxten, that's when I started to stay prepared everyday. Everyone else did too. They said the wrist guards were in case we had no time at all. We were trained to use them to block and even to attack in some situations. If you could ball up your fists the right way you can use the piece of metal that was supposed to protect your knuckles to cut someone. Only if you hit them hard enough to break the skin though. Either way, it's going to surprise them to get punched and a piece of metal will pierce their skin. Or you could use them to block hits, and how to keep ourselves steady. This training would usually come from someone who was an older member of the guardians, but due to Talia being paranoid, we didn't have any senior members. So the captain of the guard taught us, even though he was our age. 

The last set of guardians were suddenly ‘relieved of duty.’ It's suspected that Talia may have either not trusted them, or simply wanted a new set of guardians. For a few months the country was left without us, until they found Crystal sparring a group of guards in Algiz, and found Thorn a few weeks later in the tustin guard. They were both phenomenal warriors, especially for their age. I watched Crystal spar general Rowan and win once, though she had been practicing for a long time before that day. She was so tired when she got home she basically collapsed on her bed. Atlas and Alana were found together after dealing with a kidnapping situation, where Alana literally broke the man's skull. That woman had no fear. Atlas was the one who got the three kids out safe before the rest of the guards got there. Crystal was included, being called in to check it out. She always said that Alana had a fire in her eyes that she couldn't ignore, and that she refused to leave without Atlas at her side. Next was Robyn, who they found in bristol. Alana never said anything about what happened in Bristol, and he never told me so I don't know. All I know is that he quickly became one of the most reliable Guardians, to the point he was usually the one to transport messages from Talia. Archer and I were brought in next, being a mixture of Thorn and Alana's situations. We were both in the guard, I climbed the ranks quickly and was asked by Alana to join. I said I wasn't going without Archer, and she agreed. She told me a few months later she only let Archer come with me because she saw something of herself in me, and after hearing her story I kind of understood it. Kind of. 

I walked over to my desk and picked up the stack of books, looking over which ones I would need and which ones I wouldn't. One on the Acristan language, one on how their religion differed from ours, one on different ruins and materials used to build them… one of the books had a jumble of maps tucked between its pages. I put that one back on the desk, moving to put the others back on the bookshelf next to me. My desk was still covered in papers, and some of them were important so I would have to look through them all to decide where to put them. 

I heard someone clear their throat behind me and jumped. Needless to say they startled me. I was a bit too focused on what I was doing and had just woken up. I turned around to see Crystal standing in my doorway, a dead, stone cold look on her face. She also wore a cloth mask over her face when she was on duty, but it was pulled down to her neck.

“So what happened last night?” I knew that tone in her voice, I had gotten to know it all too well. Jealousy with a hint of anger and sadness. I groaned under my breath. Here we go again. 

“I got hurt, if you didn't notice.'' I lifted my right arm up, pointing at the bandage with my left. She rolled her eyes, leaning against the doorframe. The air in the room suddenly felt heavy and thick. It was almost suffocating. She was pissed. 

“I thought I told you to stay away from Archer.” she pushed some of her hair out of her face. It was long and blonde like Atlas’s, but a little more golden blonde than theirs. 

“And I thought I told you it wasn't like that; we grew up together. If we felt that way about each other, he wouldn't have started dating you. He's not that kind of person.” Maybe that was a little too far, and I regretted it as I said it. It was true though. Archer and I had joked about dating in our earlier life, but always admitted to each other we had no feeling towards each other. It annoyed me to no end that I wasn't allowed to befriend a man without everyone trying to make it seem like there is something more than friendship there. 

“I know he's not, and it's you that I'm worried about. You've got a pretty face and you're good at keeping secrets.” She took a few steps closer to me. She was a little taller than me, but not by much. I kept eye contact, looking into those ocean blue eyes of hers that pulled so many men and women. Here I thought she couldn't make me feel more uncomfortable. “This is my last warning. Stop ‘spending time’ with my lover.” 

“Leave it be, Crystal.” I smiled upon hearing Robyns voice. He was always there to help me out in these kinds of situations. I heard his footsteps approaching in the hall as Crystal cursed under her breath. Robyn stopped in the doorway, glancing at me before fixing his eyes on her. “They're just friends. It's not that deep.”

“I can't just leave it be! How would you feel if your girlfriend was around another man like that?” She turned around and approached him, but he didn't react at all. 

“If I had one, I really wouldn't mind it. I would trust her.”

“I trust Archer! I don't trust her!” he sighed, looking over at me. His eyes were partially lidded, heavy bags resting under his eyes. He brought his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Crystal please, just drop it.” I don't understand why she still did this, I had admitted to her I had feelings for Robyn. I had also admitted to her that even if Archer did feel that way for me I would turn him down, and that I knew I didn't feel that way about him. At the same time though, I wasn't going to abandon my best friend because his girlfriend was a little crazy. Crystal muttered something under her breath and left, her footsteps echoing down the hall. That was over a lot faster than I thought it was going to be

“Well that was something.” I laughed, watching as Robyn took a few steps into the room. He closed the door behind him, turning to me with a tired smile. 

“I have been dealing with shit like that for a week.” he chuckled. “I am so sick of her. I can't understand how Archer stands it.'' I shrugged, an awkward smile spreading across my face. 

“To each their own?”

“I guess so. I'm sorry for not noticing earlier, normally I'm not far when she starts.” he turned to fully face me, glancing at my arm. I didn't even say anything, I just let him start asking questions. “What happened?”

“I'm going to assume you already know what happened.”

“I really don't, Alana told me to be careful of your arm and that's all.” 

“Well long story short, house fire, there was a kid and we didn't know, I went in to get him and got hurt.” He sighed, sitting down on my bed. “But I'm fine. I should be fully healed in a few weeks. It doesn't even hurt that bad anymore.'' I sat down next to him. 

“You're going to be the death of me, Rose.”

“I wouldn't be surprised.” Robyn smiled, relaxed and calm. He was home, finally.  

“Oh, I grabbed this for you on the way home.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a small hardcover book. The cover was leather with a small symbol, the symbol of Dagslys. It was a sun with seven flames coming off of it. “It's a newer translation of Victoria’s journal, you mentioned how your copy was pretty old. I saw it in Tustin and thought of you.” 

“Thank you!” I excitedly took the book from him, a wide smile spreading across my face. He smiled too, watching me flip through the pages and look them over. “I’ll have to read this later.” he had short blonde hair and honey brown eyes. I adored his eyes, they were beautiful. They were this beautiful golden honey color in the center that faded to a dark brown around the edges. 

“Do you want to come on a walk with me today?” he asked, his voice almost a hum. It was calming. Before I could respond we were interrupted by shouting. It was one distinct voice, screaming about something we couldn't even decipher from where we were. “That sounds like it's going great!'' We both got up and rushed to the commons.

Chapter IV

 Crystal was standing in the kitchen, shouting at Archer who was frozen in place. He was tapping his finger nervously on his thigh, his eyes were staring into the corner. He was trying hard to avoid eye contact.

“Look at me dammit! I'm talking to you!'' Alana was standing not far away, trying to speak. After a few moments of almost unintelligible yelling Alana finally got sick of it. Crystal’s face was red, her eyebrows tilted so far down her eyes had started to become hidden by her eyelids. Her eyebrows were a light brown, different from her blonde hair. 

“Will you shut up!” Alana was so much louder than Crystal could ever be without screeching. I wanted to go get Archer; I could tell he wasn't doing well, but Robyn held me back. He grabbed my arm, causing me to turn to him. He was upset by this too. He wasn't as close to Archer as I was, but Robyn cared about all of us. “They didn't do anything! Stop being a controlling bitch and leave the man alone!”

“You might make this worse, Rose. It might be about you.” He had a point, even if I Didn't like it. Archer loved her, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause a larger problem than I already had. As much as I wished he would break up with her, he loved her so much. At least from how he talked about her to me… that's the only knowledge I had, other than their arguments. They kept their relationship pretty private, even from Thorn and I. Something told me that this wasn't about the relationship though. Or at least I wasn't what started the problem. 

“Who are you talking to?! You don't even know what I'm talking about!” Crystal screamed, turning to Alana. Archer backed up, sitting against the left wall and sinking down to the floor. I started to walk across the room to him, but Crystal turned to me. “Stay back. He’s mine.” she had a low growl in her voice, a sound an animal would make to warn other predators to stay away from their prey. 

“Crystal, you need to calm down.” Alana was trying too hard to stay calm, I could see it all over her face. I knew Alana well, it was very difficult for her to control her anger. She was working on that, and she had been for a long time. 

“No! I'm not calming down! I'm sick of it!” 

“Good, we're all sick of this. This is ridiculous.” 

“What are you going to do? You can't touch me and you know it!” 

“Don't test her Crystal.” Robyn spoke cautiously, slowly making his way to me. I was now the one frozen. I didn't know what to do. Archer looked like a wreck, he was about to break down crying. I saw the tears in his eyes. I wanted to help him but I couldn't help him from here. If I wanted to get up closer to him I would risk angering Crystal more, but if I stayed here I felt like I was abandoning Archer. Crystal's hands were balled up into fists, her muscles tense. The shirt she was wearing didn't have sleeves, and I could see how tense she was. 

“I'm not scared of her!” She had venom in her words, mixed with rage and confusion. Even for Crystal, this isn't normal. She wasn't acting herself. “Archer is with me! He should be listening to me!” Maybe this was just her, maybe this was her I never got to know. I never saw her away from Archer’s side. If this was what she really acted like… No wonder he started acting so much differently. 

“Please, calm down. You're not making the situation any better!'' Alana spoke fairly calmly, a comforting tone for anyone else in the situation. It gave me the impression that maybe she would be able to get this under control. That was all torn away though when Crystal threw a punch, hitting Alana square in the nose. She stumbled back a bit, her hands coming up to her face. She pulled her hands away a few seconds later, looking down to see blood on her fingertips. Crystal must have realized what she had done, because she suddenly looked terrified. Alana hit her back, a sickening crack silencing everything else in the room as Alanas first came into contact with Crystal's nose. Crystal barely moved, stepping back a few feet before she grabbed Alana by her hair and threw her to the ground. Alana pulled her down with her after grabbing her ankles. Alana hit her head on the stone floor, almost knocking her unconscious. Thorn and I made quick eye contact before rushing in to break it up. 

Usually we wouldn't have to break up a fight, then again usually we were sparring. Not fighting to hurt each other. Crystal and Alana could, and would kill each other if we didn’t try and stop them. 

Thorn grabbed Crystal by her shoulders, picking her up and holding her hands behind her back. Crystal fought back a lot, shoving Thorn off of her and trying to come after Alana and I. I had been on my knees trying to help Alana up, but she was dizzy and her wrist was definitely broken from the fall. I don't know how she handled it, but just based on how it was positioned I knew it was broken. Robyn grabbed Crystal by wrapping his arms around her, keeping her arms at her sides. She screamed and tried to bite him multiple times before Thorn was able to get a hold of her and keep her. I didn't stay much longer, getting Alana to her feet and helping her to her room. 

Alana’s room was filled with plants. A few plants were sitting on a table in front of her windowsill. I recognized most of them, like chamomile, catnip, lavender and rosemary. A small pot of wild violets sat on her nightstand, the flowers slightly wilted and the leaves yellowing. It smelled like a greenhouse, the smell of lavender and rosemary drowning most of the other smells out. Alana sat on her bed, holding her sleeve over her bleeding nose. The purple fabric was being soaked with the red liquid.

“I’ll grab you a rag; don't touch your wrist.” she laughed, looking down at her arm. 

“I can't even feel it yet.” Part of her wrist was red and swollen. By the crack I heard when she landed I expected to see it broken, but at the moment it looked like a sprain at most.

“That's an amazing sign.” sarcasm rang through my voice as I quickly walked down the hall back to the commons. There was a stack of folded white pieces of cloth that were always sitting on the counter. That's the only place I knew for sure there would be clean ones. 

Crystal was sunk on the ground in Thorn’s arms, sobbing. She looked so tired and weak. I almost said something but Thorn motioned for me to stay back. She was deeply upset, and it was deeper than just her relationship. Archer was nowhere to be found either. knowing him, he went to go take a walk around the garden for a bit, and Atlas followed.

“Is Alana alright?” Robyn asked quietly, following me as I grabbed two rags off of the neat stack in the back corner of the counter. 

“Her wrist is messed up, we should probably call a doctor. She won't be able to deal with that on her own.” I muttered, before starting to walk back to Alana's room. He followed. Our footsteps seemed ten times louder in the almost silent building, echoing through the stone hallway. “She might also have a concussion.”

“Calling a doctor for our doctor.” he let out an awkward laugh. “Sounds about right.” 

“It could have been worse.” I muttered, running my finger over the smooth fabric in my hands. “Is Crystal okay?” 

“No serious injuries, though I'm going to guess that her nose is broken. A few bruises… I don't think she's okay though. Physical injuries aside.”

“Oh I wonder.” I sighed, “I've never seen her cry.”

“Me either, and I've been here longer than you have.” This day took a turn for the worst so early. Robyn stopped as we approached the doorway. “I'm going to go get a doctor. Can you stay here for the time being?”

“Of course.'' In truth, I would have rather been out looking for Archer. I knew where he would have gone, and I knew how to comfort him. I couldn't just leave Alana alone though, especially with broken bones and a possible head injury. Alana could act like it, but she did not deal with pain well. 

“I’ll be back in a little bit. Make sure no one kills each other while I'm gone.” 

Chapter V

“I don't know!'' I laughed, turning around in my seat. “I was being stupid! As always!” Atlas laughed, falling backwards on my bed. Their shirt was in their hand next to them. I was able to see the scars across their chest and stomach. I knew some of the stories, but others I had no idea of. Every night we were stuck together on a patrol. We would tell the story of a scar, but Atlas had many more than me. There was one across their chest they said came from a training accident, a few on their shoulder from an animal attack, and a nice size scar from a burn on their stomach. It made their skin around their side and stomach seem much lighter than the rest of it, almost white. 

“You were like ten! Don't they teach you not to go by that river!?”

“Of course they do! I was just one of those kids that thought I was invincible!`` I turned back to my desk. Papers and notes spread across it, everything from the rubbings that Thorn gave me to messy scribbles by old friends. Sketches from Atlas and descriptions from Alana. My desk was a mess. I had pushed away the nightmares I had a few nights prior. They almost never got that bad, it was just a special night I suppose. 

“I understand some kids have no fear, but who tries to swim in the Sowilo river for a dare? It's all white water.”

“A dumb twelve year old.”

“Ah, so this only happened ten years ago!”

“I will throw you in the river.”

“You couldn't if you tried!” Alana and Crystal were shouting at each other in the commons, which had begun to happen more and more often. My door was closed, and we were all the way down the hall but we should still hear them. At this point no one was even going to try and stop them unless they started getting physical again. I would assume Archer and Thorn were both there making sure that didn't happen. Archer had barely left Crystal's side. I couldn't tell if that was because he was worried about Crystal getting hurt again, or if he was afraid she would hurt Alana. 

Archer and I grew up together in Maxten, and our lives weren't exactly perfect. I grew up with my Mother, Father, and older brother. My father was killed when I was child in a conflict involving Triastin soldiers and Maxten’s Guards. I remember staring at his dead body in the river, and that image was forever burned into my brain. I was only seven. My older brother was ten, and he started taking care of me from that point onward. My mother supported us, along with help from the community. Maxten was tight knit, that's how I met Archer. 

When I turned 13 I joined the guards, something my mother was very hesitant to let me do. At this point Echia had completely claimed Maxten, and Triastin had given up trying to take it. It wasn't worth the resources anymore. I met Archer there. We were around the same age, fighting together and causing some mayhem around the village. We became close fast, very fast. He stayed at my house a lot, despite that we didn't have much. His parents didn't pay attention to him, and my mother welcomed him as family. It was another mouth to feed, but it was also more company. 

Atlas and I stopped speaking the second we heard another voice enter the argument down the hall. Why was Thorn yelling? He wasn't always calm, but he rarely argued with people. He preferred educated debates, not screaming matches. Atlas and I made eye contact, both of our expressions dropping to curiosity more than anything else. Their eyes were a bluish silver, freckles speckling their face as if the gods had painted them on their cheeks. Their features were slightly covered by their hair, which was still pretty messy. 

“Do you wanna-” they cut me off pretty quick, rolling over to grab their shirt from the side of my bed and quickly slip it over their shoulders. 

“Yes please.” 

“Very eager to see some drama are we?”

“Hey, it's been a little too boring around here for the last few weeks.”

“Only because the two people that constantly start drama almost killed each other.” it might have been a little too soon to joke about it, it was a serious situation. Infighting could be the downfall of the Guardians, it had brought them down before. The very first set of Guardians under Serenity’s rule fell apart, it would be fitting if that happened to her daughter as well. I hoped we could keep each other together though. We were needed, especially now. Civil war or not, the entire country was struggling. Floods were becoming a problem as it began to rain often, and this budding revolution had caused major conflicts with Bristol and Tustin. Bristol supported the revolution, while Tustin believed it was a sad attempt to make history. 

We left my room and began our walk down the hall, taking our time as the shouting stopped being so destroyed by the echo. 

“We don't know who did that yet! It could have been a natural disaster, maybe even an accident!” Alana was clearly trying to deescalate the situation, but Thorn seemed pretty dead set on keeping it up. Crystal stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed, Archer standing next to her with an annoyed expression on his face. Crystal looked satisfied by what I could only guess she started, maybe to pay back. Archer looked like he was either ready to cry or punch a wall. 

“It was those bastards in Kai! They have basically taken the city!”

“First off, no they didn't. Felix stepped down willingly to allow them to move it because he believed in their cause. Second, one of the only leaders that have stepped forward claims to have grown up in Maxten. They wouldn't have done this!” Instead of being angry, Alana looked like she was trying to reason more than trying to argue. She had promised me to try and learn to control her temper, the situation with Crystal wasn't the first time something like that happened. The other times it was Alana who caused it, too. 

“They could easily lie about that, especially when so few people are left to confirm that claim! It could just be an alibi.”

“True, but that's why no one has picked a side yet! That's why we shouldn't be picking sides! Talia could also be blaming them to try and-” Crystal quickly cut her off. 

“We all know Talia wouldn't do anything like that. She's barely 18, I don't think she could even think of that. She doesn't have advisors either.” her voice was bland and dry, almost robotic. 

“It could still have happened, and we need to think of every outcome! We can't just base our beliefs on suspicion.” 

“There is more evidence against Kai. we need to do what's best for the country!”

“Talia is barely an adult, with no advisors, and no one to keep her in check! I'm not saying what they're doing in Kai is a good idea but we need to change something!”

“Talia is doing great-”

“If Talia was doing ‘great’ we wouldn't be doing this right now! It's obvious she's done something wrong!!” At first we all were silently saying to let them handle it themselves, but I could tell Alana was starting to get to her breaking point. Stepping in now was a horrible idea but I was going to do it anyway. 

“Both of you need to take a walk.” I stood between the two of them, keeping eye contact with Thorn. I don't know how he got so worked up over politics, especially when everything was so murky at the moment. “This is stupid. No one knows what's going on. We don't need another concussion.'' Everyone fell silent for a moment as Thorn stormed out the door, Crystal following him and Archer being pulled along. I turned and waved at me with an awkward smile on his face before he was tugged out the door. 

“Well that was something.” Atlas walked over to Alana and I. She laughed under her breath, shaking her hands as if to shake off her anger. 

“Tell me about it. That was stupid.” she said with a smile on her face. “Hey, I didnt hit him though!”

“Good job! You didn't get in another fight!” Atlas laughed, patting Alana lightly on the back. 

“Thank you, I try.'' Robyn came out of the hall, confused and worried. 

“What just happened?” he asked, running his hand through his hair as he sighed. 

“Thorn almost hit Alana.” Atlas said with a chuckle, tying their hair up with a small leather strap. 

“What? Why? I thought they got along.”

“Politics!” Alana put her hands up, almost like she was showing him an object. She laughed, but I could tell she was still a little shaken up. I silently wondered how much sleep she had gotten. Bags rested under her eyes, dark circles around them. Exhaustion was etched into every inch of her face. That was a normal thing to see with Robyn, he had trouble sleeping. Alana never had much of a problem with that though, I had never seen her like that again. 

“Oh what fun. Politics.” Robyn sighed, grumbling something under his breath. “Though I'm not sure if all of this is simply ‘politics’ anymore.  I heard enough to understand what you were arguing about.” he glanced over at me. I was fidgeting with my hands , picking at the skin around my fingers and rubbing over scars and scabs on my knuckles. I had hoped he wouldn't notice, but he knew me well enough to know I didn't like hearing so much about the disaster that killed my family, everyone I knew and destroyed my home. 

“You're right, but I'm calling it that anyway.” she let out a quiet sigh, so silent you could only see the movement of her chest. “Though ‘current events’ would be a better phrase for it.” 

“Someone should try and save Archer.” Atlas said, crossing their arms in front of their chest. 

“If you are expecting me to go steal Crystal’s boyfriend from under her after all that, you've got the wrong idea. I love him, but i'm not going to get myself killed today.'' I said. A playful smile spread across my lips, but I was faking. I honestly just wanted to go sit in my room for a little while, try and process what was said in the argument I had just heard. 

“You have a good point.” They pushed some stray hairs behind their ears. Their hair was still a little frizzy on top, but was overall pretty straight and well brushed. “I think I might be able to steal him without causing too much trouble.”

[thelunardiviner]

Though the Night Loves No One

(Drabbles)

(TW: depression/hopelessness, self harm, implied suicidal ideation)

(inspired by and takes some quotes from the Gumi song "Wrist Cutter")

(PART 1/3)

Rain rain rain… rain doesn’t end, at least not here, not in the world of the dreams, though Isa is used to it by now. The pitter patter is soothing as he stands, looking at his own reflection in an old copper mirror propped against a tree. He isn’t sure why he looks-after all, the reflection is always the same no matter the dream mirror-but he does, the image in the mirror a man so hauntingly familiar, with wicked amber eyes and a long black cloak. The figure seems to look right through him and for a second Isa shivers. The one in the mirror is the reason he is so lonely, the reason he seems to find himself here every night, the reason he second-guesses every interaction he has, the reason he still gets nervous and cold stares. In a fit, Isa smashes his fists against the mirror, the reflection shattering instantaneously. “I hate you…!” Had it not been a dream, a few of the mirror fragments would have dug into his skin instead of falling to the ground, though Isa wasn’t sure if he would have cared. He fell to his knees, afraid to look into the glass shards in case Saïx was still there. 

A shadow casts overhead, covering the majority of the specks of light that had pierced through the clouds. The first few nights he would have found it beautiful. The blunette gets up, dusting himself off out of habit, continuing to walk this unlit road as he does every night, hoping that one day it will lead to something bright. Even just another person would be nice, even if he knew they weren’t real. Occasionally he would run into generic figures, something that almost appeared human but not quite, but each one would give him a look of pity before looking away. How many times has this cycle repeated? 

Isa slows, tired. How can he be tired in a dream? No, no that’s not the kind of exhaustion he feels, and he knows it. He stops, no longer walking, looking down at his hands. Even in his dreams he sees the bandages, though he isn’t sure why he covers up the scars. He supposes he must be out of fear, fear of what Lea would say, fear of having to explain his feelings… after all, if he didn’t talk about them, he could convince himself they weren’t real….. Right? Isa chuckles to himself, a sad sound, as if he already knows the answer to that. 

He finds himself sinking to the ground, barely acknowledging his own actions though he knows they are his. The rain pelts his body as he sits, knees to his chest, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care.

 Something wet falls from his face and Isa isn’t sure how much is rain and how much is tears. He clutches his chest, something that felt heavy as of late. A heart was something to get used to… the feelings of pain that come with it. “Is this what you call a masterpiece?” he wonders aloud, almost expecting someone to answer but the world is silent, saying nothing. Maybe he would have felt better if he could call himself a tragic hero, someone that deserved to be pitied or rescued. Then maybe he would have the courage to reach out. But... is he worthy of forgiveness? Others say so, but he isn’t certain.

‘Surely tomorrow you'll be certain’

Isa lays on his side, though he isn’t sure when he moved to do so. He looks up at the sky while shielding his eyes from the rain. It’s so vast, even in a dream, yet the sun shines on nothing here. What is his purpose? The world has already exchanged so much, regret and pain and tears for what? A sense of power? To find something-someone he never will? To feel important, even if it only made him a pawn in the end. He isn’t certain. 

‘Surely you're just sad for now’

This continuation of bleak days, of bleak nights, make things feel hopeless, but he holds on to that hope of seeing the light again, both figuratively and literally. Would he even leave anything behind if he left? Has he only left behind sorrow? What else is left? What could be here for him? He isn’t sure himself, but...

‘Play, play, you should keep performing’

Isa sighs, forcing himself up. He doesn’t know for now, but deep down he knows that’s okay. The dawn is arriving, and the blunette knows any second now he will be awakened by either a loud redhead or a duet of a young brunette and blonde. One day maybe they’ll know how he feels, though logically he knows that requires telling them. He wishes one of them would reach out a hand. For now, he repeats to himself the phrase he finds himself uttering every night in this mysterious dream world, almost as a prayer or plea to the waking world.

‘Surely you'll be nice tomorrow’

[all-things-skam]

Jens’ Season: Chapter seven

Saturday, February 15th

Freshly woken up, Jens stared at his ceiling, deep in his thoughts. He had slept for over twelve hours, but somehow still felt exhausted.

Now that the Xanax had worn off, he was left to face his thoughts, the same ones he tried to escape last night - with the addition of guilt.

The bag of pills sat louder than usual in his drawer, a reminder of yesterday’s moment of weakness. Jens wasn’t proud of himself for having taken a Xanax. But, sometimes, when your brain gets too loud and all you want is for it to stop, you make impulsive choices, bad choices. The severity of your choice only hits you the following morning, when you come back to your senses.

It’s not like he could go back in time though. What was done was done. But, he still felt remorse.

Even though it felt good.

Jens closed his eyes, turning over, about to fall back asleep when he saw that Lucas was trying to FaceTime.

He smiled, seeing his boyfriend's pouty face on his phone screen and answered. ‘’Hey, beautiful.’’

Lucas reciprocated the smile, but not fully. ‘’Hey… You never returned my messages last night. Everything okay?’’ he asked, pushing his fringe away from his face, voice a little worried.

Shit.

‘’Erm, yeah...sorry. I fell asleep super early.’’

Although it wasn’t a lie, Jens felt bad for omitting the truth to Lucas about his evening. But he couldn’t tell him about the Xanax, not after he promised he wasn’t taking any, not over Facetime. If the cat were to be out of the bag, it would be in person. It’s too easy to hang up on someone instead of listening to them.

‘’Oh. It’s okay,’’ Lucas said. The screen joistled, becoming a little blurry from the movements as Lucas adjusted his position on the couch, the bright yellow wall of his living room peeking in the background. ‘’I spent all night binge watching your Broerrrs vlogs.’’

Jens raised an eyebrow. ‘’All of them?’’

He had never counted how many vlogs they’ve posted on YouTube, but there was at least a dozen - if not more. They weren’t very long vlogs, but it was a commitment to binge them all. Jens found it cute that Lucas had spent his evening watching the vlogs - regardless how cringe-y some were.

Lucas hummed proudly. ‘’I missed your pretty face. And, you weren’t responding to my messages.’’

Jens scoffed. ‘’My face, uh?’’

‘’Yeah…’’ A light blush spread on Lucas’ cheeks and ears, biting back a grin. ‘’I’ll admit, you looked mighty fine in that wetsuit. Zero points for the wakeboarding skills, though...but it's not really what I was interested in.'' The brunet smirked, holding the camera closer. ''I was in the mood for something else. Too bad you were sleeping, I had to take matters into my own hands - literally. Wasn’t as good as the real thing though.’’

‘’No?’’ Jens said, faking innocence. ‘’You like my hand better?’’

‘’Your mouth, actually,’’ Lucas corrected, blunt. ‘’Those full lips aren’t just good for talking,’’ he added, capturing his bottom lip between his teeth.

Heat rushed to Jens’ cheeks, but he wasn't embarrassed. He was pretty smug about it. Judging by the appreciative noises Lucas made whenever he went down on him, Jens had nothing to be embarrassed about.

Someone called Lucas’ name and he looked behind him, the screen going black as the phone fell on his chest. Jens could hear some voices, but it was hushed by Lucas’ hoodie material.

‘’Gotta go,’’ Lucas announced, returning to Jens.

‘’You’re kidding me?!’’

‘’My mom needs me to go grocery shopping. And then, I’m meeting up with Kes and Jayden.’’

The fucking tease.

Blood had started rushing down, feeling himself growing hard under his boxers. ‘’You can’t say shit like that and then...leave. Luc, come on! Don’t leave me hanging-’’

Lucas shrugged. ‘’Payback’s a bitch.’’ He blew a kiss and winked at the camera before ending the call.

The screen went black as Lucas hung up, disconnecting the call. Jens stared at his phone, mouth open slightly, having been cut off before he could protest any more. He felt his dick twitch and groaned in frustration, a reminder of his growing problem. What was he supposed to do now? Jerk off to the stains on his ceiling? He doubted it would work.

Lucas: Here’s something to help with your...problem. Took it last night with the thought of you 😏🍆✨

[Image attached]

Jens' mouth went dry as he stared at the photo.

Fuck.

A bare stomach, shirt bunched up near the lens and a hand sliding underneath sweatpants, mid-tone trail of hair vanishing into the darkness. The grey sweatpants had a significant tent and Jens knew it wasn't only Lucas' hand that was hidden under.

He clicked on the photo, making it fill his phone screen, gaze lingering on Lucas' smooth stomach, moles scattered here and there in various sizes. He recognized the fading hickey right on his hip bone, a memory from when Jens slept over at Lucas’. The bad lighting of what he assumed was Lucas' bedroom highlighted just enough to make Jens take a breath and reach into his boxers, mimicking Lucas' last night activities.

.

Monday, February 17th

Picking up his sister at school wasn’t Jens’ initial Monday plan. After spending a weekend apart, Lucas and him had planned to go to Lucas’ place after school to...hangout. While jerking off to Lucas’ explicit picture had done the job, it wasn’t as good as the real thing.

But their plan had been cut short when Jens’ mom couldn’t join their dad and his sister had no one to pick her up from school.

‘’Is this okay?’’ Lucas asked as they walked to Lotte’s school. He hadn't met any member of Jens’ family yet, he wanted to check with Jens first - even if Jens was the one who asked to come along.

Jens furrowed his eyebrows, confused. ‘’Why would it not be?’’

Lucas shrugged. ‘’I don’t know. She’s never met me. Won’t it be weird for her?’’

‘’No. She might pester you with tons of questions, but I don’t think she’ll catch on for us.’’

‘’Do you not want to tell her?’’

‘’It’s not that. I don’t even think she knows what bisexual means.’’

Even though Lotte was smart for her age, Jens doubted she had learned those big terms. The vastness of sexuality wasn't something they taught kids at school.

They stopped as they reached the school’ gate and Jens checked the time on his phone. Seven minutes left until class ends.

Jens leaned his back against the fence and listened as Lucas was telling him about his weekend. He told him about Isa getting drunk and singing karaoke, missing all the notes to this super cheesy love song. It was horrible - and hilarious. Lucas’ ears were still bleeding from the screeching and how off key she sounded. Jayden had made a video, but sadly Lucas didn’t have it.

As Jens was listening to Lucas’ other anecdotes from his weekend in Utrecht, both boys started getting dirty looks from other parents from simply holding hands. Lucas noticed first, his smile falling as he became very self-conscious of his surroundings, and let go of Jens’ hand. Jens didn’t comment on it, narrowing his eyes at the close minded, homophobic moms.

The final bell rang and kids poured out the front doors like a giant tidal wave. Lotte saw her brother and ran up to him giving him a hug from behind. “Where’s Mama? She was supposed to pick me up today.”

‘’Mom had to replace someone at work. She sent me instead,’’ he responded, reaching behind himself and putting a hand on her shoulder to hug her back.

‘’Where’s your jacket? Mama said to wear it this morning or you’re gonna get sick,’’ Lotte’ voice asked, standing behind her brother, noticing his absence of outwear.

‘’Someone stole it,’’ Jens defended, turning around to face her.

‘’Liar.’’ Jens made a face at her - very mature - and she glanced at Lucas, not recognizing him. ‘’Who are you?’’ she asked, giving him a look.

Her tone was a bit rude, but Lucas smiled at her. She’s a kid, he reminded himself. ‘’I’m Lucas. You must be Lotte? Jens told me about you.’’

She pulled her eyebrows together. ‘’He did?’’ Lucas hummed. ‘’Well, I never heard of you. How long have you and Jens been friends for? You’ve never come around before with Robbe or the other guys?”

Lucas laughed and gave Jens a look, not knowing what to say. Lucky for him, Jens came to his rescue.

‘’Lucas is coming home with us. We...we have a school project to work on,’’ he lied. ‘’And...he’s not just my friend, Lotte. Lucas is my boyfriend.’’

‘’Your boyfriend?’’ she repeated, a bit confused. ‘’Don’t you mean girlfriend? Where did Jana go?’’

The thing with children was that they have no filters - and always asked tons of questions. Lucky for him, Lotte loved Jana and liked to constantly ask about her absence.

‘’We are not together anymore.’’

‘’Why?’’

‘’Because we're just not.’’ Jens sighed, getting impatient and irritated by his sister’s questions. ‘’Now, let’s go.’’ He took her hand and they were on their way.

Lotte didn’t notice Jens irritation and proceeded to ramble on as they made their way home. Kids had a lot of things to say at this age.

Jens pulled out his keys to unlock the door when Lotte reminded him about her dance recital.

‘’I have a dance spectacle on Thursday, will you be there? Dad said he’ll be there,’’ she said, excitedly. ‘’He said he’ll bring me flowers.’’

‘’I’ll be in the front row.’’

‘’You’ll be coming too, right?’’ she asked Lucas, taking the brunet by surprise.

He hadn't expected Lotte to invite him, given how haughty she acted to him minutes ago, but kids can be surprising.

‘’If that’s alright with Jens,’’ Lucas responded, glancing at his boyfriend for approval.

Jens looked between his sister and his boyfriend. ‘’I should be asking you the same. My parents will be there. You ready to meet them?’’

.

Tuesday, February 18th

Taking a break from his homework, Jens decided to get something to eat. He had eaten dinner less than an hour ago, but was still hungry. This paper was due tomorrow and he wasn't half-way done. Maybe he was stress eating? Who knows.

Jens was almost at the end of the stairs, thinking whether he should take cookies or chips when he saw his father’s laptop and dress shoes in the entrance, next to his sister’s pink rain boots. He furrowed his eyebrows. It was possible that his dad didn’t need his laptop, that they had computers at his job, but why would he leave work without his shoes? And why was he not home yet? It was way past 5pm.

Should he call his mom? What was his dad’s work’s company name? Maybe he can make a call and ask if he’s at his desk or if someone named Mohamed Stoffels works for them? If he wasn’t at work, where was he? His car wasn’t in the driveway, he had to be somewhere.

.

Wednesday, February 19th

Aaron: Is tomorrow alright with everyone?

Robbe: Good for me!

Moyo: Me too!

Aaron: Jens?

Jens’ phone buzzed on his bed, lost under his textbooks. The History test that had been reported was happening tomorrow and Jens had completely forgotten until he heard some girl mention it in class. He and Lucas’ studying attempt hadn’t been a success in terms of real studying so Jens had to power through and learn everything in less than 24h.

Why is he so last minute?

Jens: Can’t

Jens: I’m going to my sister’s dance spectacle. Can’t miss it

Moyo: We need to film a Broerrrs vlog soon though. I know we posted on Valentine’s Day, but we filmed that almost a month ago. We need new content

Robbe: I’m going to lunch with Sander and his mom on Saturday and visiting my mom on Sunday

Jens: Why don’t we just plan something for next week? Like on Wednesday? We can do something at the skatepark?

Aaron: That sounds good to me. I’m free that day

Moyo: So, Amber finally let you off your leash 😂

Aaron: 🖕🏻

Robbe: That works for me as well

Jens: Cool. See everybody on Wednesday after school

.

Thursday, February 20th

Jens waited for Lucas outside the auditorium Lotte’s dance spectacle was held at. He checked his phone, waiting for an update from Lucas about his journey. He said he was close to the venue, but that was ten minutes ago. Where was he?

From here, he could hear the group of hostile parents ranting about their children' talent and how their child was better than everyone else and tearing others down. Jens hated this kind of parents. They were showing toxic behavior to their kids and teaching them the wrong way of being competitive.

A head of curls turned the corner and Jens smiled, seeing Lucas had dressed up a bit for the occasion, having switched his blue jeans for black ones and a less wrinkly tee shirt. It was cute that he put effort and wanted to look good, make a good impression when meeting his boyfriend's parents.

''Am I late?'' he asked, seeing a few parents getting inside and a lot of cars in the parking lot. ''I was on the phone with Kes and didn't see time pass.''

Jens put his phone in his pocket and shook his head. ''No. You're good.'' He stole a kiss from Lucas, lingering as if they hadn't seen each other at school two hours ago. Did he put cologne on? ''Ready to meet my mom?''

Lucas made a quiet noise but smiled, nodding. He hadn’t said anything, but his stomach was knotted with a small stress from meeting Jens’ parents. Jens said his parents would like him, but Lucas couldn’t help but think: ‘what if they don’t?’. After all, he was the first boy Jens would introduce to them.

''Mom.''

Fenna stopped her conversation with the woman next to her and glanced at her son. She smiled, seeing that he wasn't alone. ''You must be Lucas. My daughter told me about you. 'Jens' new ‘girlfriend'.''

Lucas chuckled at Lotte's word mixing and nodded. ''Yeah. That's me.''

“It’s very nice to meet you, Lucas. You must like Jens very much to come to an 8 years old’s dance recital.”

Jens face turned bright red as his mom teased him, fulfilling her motherly duty to embarrass her son.

Lucas grinned, leaning back against Jens. ‘’Actually, Lotte invited me. I hope I'm not intruding.’’

Fenna shook her head. ''Not at all. I’m glad she invited you. Otherwise, I don’t know when nor if Jens would’ve told me about you.’’

Jens rolled his eyes. ‘’Of course I would've. It’s just very recent, Mom.’’

‘’Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.'' She took her purse from the chair beside her and Jens sat down, Lucas doing the same next to him. ''Get ready to be amazed at the amount of glitter and squealing that is about to happen.”

.

‘’Where were you?’’ Jens asked the second his dad came home, turning on the small lamp.

He had been waiting for him in the living room, lights turned off, like parents do in movies when their kids miss curfew. Jens knew his mom wouldn’t confront him about missing Lotte’s dance spectacle, but seeing how upset his sister was, his dad needed to be questioned.

‘’You missed Lotte’s dance spectacle.’’

‘’It was tonight?’’ He removed his jacket, hanging it on the hooks in the entrance. ‘’I got held back at work. I’m sorry-’’

‘’I’m not the one you should apologize to. You promised her you’d be there. Do you know how heartbroken she was when she came on stage and didn’t see you in the front row?’’

‘’I’ll be there next time.’’

Bullshit. Jens scoffed. ‘’Don't make promises you know you can’t keep. Everyone might buy your lies, but I don’t.’’

Mohamed frowned, confused. ‘’What is this about?’’

‘’I’m the one who had to hold her while she cried after her dance performance because you weren’t there. I’m the one who picked her up on Monday because you weren’t answering your phone. I’m the one who took you to bed the night you got so drunk you couldn’t take off your shoes on your own. I’m the one who is helping mom around the house because you’re never there. We’re about to lose the house because of you. Because instead of picking yourself back up, you pile on the lies and assume we’re all blind enough to not notice.’’

‘’I’m tired of always having to cover for you every time you fuck up. You’re the father figure in this family, not me.’’

‘’I’m doing better now, I have a job and-’’

‘’Do you even have a job? Or is it another one of your lies? Because I saw your work shoes and laptop at the bottom of the stairs on Tuesday and I’m 99% certain you left the house with them in the morning.’’

Mohamed’s face tightened and Jens’ eyes grew wide, realizing that he had just confronted his father and was right about him lying.

“Go to your room. It’s late and you have school tomorrow.”

‘’Are you sending me to my room because I’m out of line or because I’m right?’’

Jens didn’t wait for his dad’s response, walking over to the stairs and going to his room, like he was ordered to.

He closed his bedroom door behind him and locked it. His heart was beating fast behind his chest, reeled up from the argument with his dad. He hadn’t meant to get this heated nor to confront him about everything, but once he started talking, he just word-vomited the rest.

Jens wished their conversation hadn’t gone like that, but he couldn’t keep everything in anymore. He had enough.

He wondered if his mom had heard them? They didn’t yell, but it was pretty intense. Jens didn't care though. If anything, it was a good thing that his mom heard. Now, she knew about her husband's lies.

He felt a tightening pain in his chest and his mind was racing. Running his hands over his face, Jens needed to calm down or else he wouldn't be able to sleep. He went to his dresser, pulled it open, and groaned, remembering that he was still out of weed. He needs to see Michiel and ask for more soon.

The bag of Xanax stared at him in the drawer, a couple white pills left in it, right next to his rolling paper. He had told himself he wouldn’t take Xanax again, but it was - again - his only option tonight.

Once the pill swallowed, Jens went to lay on his bed and curled up on himself, waiting for the medication to kick in.

.

Friday, February 21st

‘’Where are we meeting them?’’

‘’The bar in front of the café. You know, the one you met Sander and Robbe at?’’ Jens explained, pulling on his shoes and fishing his keys from his jacket to lock the door on his way out.

Lucas hummed.

The bar that they usually go to was having a half off drink special, so they decided that they should all go out and have a guys night. Robbe had invited Sander and suggested that Jens ask Lucas to come as well. Moyo and Aaron had already met Lucas so him tagging along wouldn’t cause too much suspicion. And, it’s not like they would all stay together inside the bar - at least, not all night.

‘’I was hoping it would be just the two of us tonight,’’ Lucas said with a pout, looking too cute for his own good.

Jens sighed, stepping forward where Lucas was standing. ‘’Me too, but I can’t always blow my friends off. We can always sneak into the bathroom or something? I’m sure we’ll find a place to make out.’’

Lucas smirked. ‘’I like this idea very very much.’’ He leaned his head against Jens’ and brought their lips together, winding his arms around Jens neck, and snaking a hand in his hair.

Their kiss was short as Jens pulled back, suddenly reminded of something.

‘’I forgot something upstairs. I’ll be quick.’’

Sighing, Lucas let go of him and Jens hurried upstairs, climbing the stairs two by two to save time.

He opened his top drawer and reached for the bag of pills, fully aware that Lucas was waiting downstairs and that he was doing this behind his back. Jens contemplated if he should take one, knowing Moyo would have weed on him and would share a blunt with them and he’d feel the same. But, he wanted the high now and knew the effects of Xanax were much faster and more efficient than weed.

Just as he was about to pop it into his mouth, Lucas opened his bedroom door and came up behind him.

‘’Jens, Robbe asked if we were on our way- What are you doing?!’’

Whirling around, Jens saw Lucas standing in his doorway, blue eyes wide and staring right at the Xanax he was about to take. Fuck.

‘’You said you weren’t taking any. You lied to me.’’ Lucas shook his head, stepping back.

Jens tried to reach out and explain what was happening, but Lucas was backing away from him, completely disconcerted. He didn’t know what hurt more; that his boyfriend had lied to him or that he had snuck upstairs to take this shit.

‘’Sorry, I..I have to go home,’’ Lucas said, voice shaky as he turned on his heels and raced down the stairs.

Cursing under his breath, Jens dropped the pill and went after him. ‘’Luc, wait!’’

[ornamentelle]

KH OC Week Day 2: Bonds of the Heart

(The Stonewall siblings, from left to right: Tatsuya, Akihiko, Hikaru, and Yui)

Day 2 for @khoc-week​ for the Stonewall girls; better late than never!

For Hikaru...

Family

For most of her life Hikaru’s strongest bonds were with her family. She didn’t really have many chances to make close friends due to moving frequently, and in her birthworld of Polaris, her family had a reputation that set her and her siblings as outcasts of sorts.

Akihiko: By far, her best and closest friend was her older brother Akihiko, who was something of a rival in certain regards, but more so a partner in crime for whatever mischief they found themselves in. Wherever Akihiko went, Hikaru was almost sure to follow.

Yui: Her relationship with her older sister Yui was much more strained in comparison; she always thought of Yui as needlessly grumpy and a source of a lot of their mother’s frustrations with the kids. Despite that, Hikaru does know that Yui is always watching out for them—no matter how prickly she can sometimes be.

Tatsuya: Their youngest brother and newest addition to the family, Tatsuya was taken in by them only a couple years before the story’s start after they found him alone in one of the cities they were living in. Hikaru finds him a bit strange, but likes having someone younger she can be a bad influence big sibling to.

Friends

Hikaru does branch out and make some friends once her world is destroyed, however. Some notable ones...

Sora: Like two peas in a pod. Over the course of her journey, Hikaru finds a tight friendship in Sora, who she comes to see like a brother. His cheerful demeanor and competitive nature remind her quite a bit of her brother Akihiko, though Hikaru relishes in being the older one in this duo. They spend much of their adventure together and come to trust each other a lot.

Kairi: In the short time Hikaru spends on the Destiny Islands prior to the world’s destruction, she and Kairi become fast friends. Hikaru really appreciates having another girl friend, after spending so much time around her brother and his friends. Kairi offers a certain level-headedness and understanding that Hikaru appreciates greatly.

Donald: One of her “surrogate parents.” Despite the duck’s short fuse and impatience with Hikaru’s shenanigans, he surprisingly offers something that Hikaru was always lacking in her home life: the confidence to persevere, and the encouragement to try her hardest.

Goofy: Goofy’s kindness and patience make him a much-needed father figure in Hikaru’s life, especially so soon after her father’s own passing. Goofy is understanding of Hikaru’s troubles and offers her unconditional support.

Significant other

Hovering somewhere between close friend and something more, Hikaru and Riku form a relationship based on a patient understanding of each other’s mistakes, flaws, and pains. A tentative friendship at the start of KH1 takes a turn for the rocky once the adventure kicks off, quickly devolving into hostility and a growing spiteful contention. It isn’t until some time later that Hikaru takes a step back and tries to reconcile—and in doing so, finds one of her most trusted confidantes and closest bonds. 

And now for Yui! (Unfortunately I don’t have many pictures for her relationships.)

Yui has always been something of a loner. She spends much of her time by herself, seeking a haven from the stresses from her family life and making only peripheral acquaintances wherever she goes. Sometimes she almost dares to open up, but every time previous she’s run away the moment she feels herself growing too close to someone. There’s a conflict inside her, a fear of getting close to people clashing with a deep longing for trust and connection.

Family

Akihiko: Akihiko is the family’s golden child, while Yui is the family black sheep; but they have an unspoken understanding and watch each other’s backs, even if they don’t spend a lot of time actually hanging out together. Yui takes it upon herself to keep her brother in line and make sure his ego doesn’t get the best of him, while Akihiko tries to mediate any tensions and disagreements between the family before they can reach a boiling point.

Hikaru: Yui sees Hikaru as a naive child, which isn’t completely wrong. It’s a source of frustration, but it’s also something Yui in some ways wants to protect. Yui shields Hikaru from the worst parts of life, and gods help anyone who decides to lay a hand on either of her siblings; because Yui has proven it before that any threat to her family will be met with rage and vengeance.

Luna: The darkest shadow in Yui’s life is the one cast by her mother Luna. The two of them have always had a vicious and hostile relationship with each other— a relationship that Yui calls cruel because to Luna, Yui is no better than a monster. They may not like each other, but there is at least one thing they can agree on: that Yui will always protect her younger siblings.

Friends

It takes a long time until Yui begins to make actual friendships. Of them, there are a few notable ones from the post-KH3 era.

Lea: Yui never asked to be Lea’s friend; it just sort of happened. Mainly it’s just going out for drinks, but hey, better than nothing. Yui finds Lea’s attitude and behavior a little grating at times, but her exasperation is one of mild amusement. Maybe. It depends on her mood.

Isa: Being friends with Lea means being hanging out with Isa, and Yui finds herself getting along with him more easily than Lea. Though they aren’t particularly close, she’s more willing to talk about serious issues with him.

Terra: Yui knew of Terra long before she met him, but she soon realized they were sort of like kindred spirits in several ways. Her blameless understanding of the things he’s gone through leads to some heartfelt conversations, and Terra has become one of the first people she’ll go to when she needs to talk to someone.

Significant Other

A relationship that never should have been—or at least, that’s how Yui sees it. Because really, there was no reason she and Aqua should have ever become as close as they had, other than the circumstances that had forced them together. When they first met, it had been caution and suspicion. Aqua had no reason to trust Yui, especially as she began to discover the deep darkness lurking in Yui’s heart. But loneliness and the need to survive won out, and they agreed to work together. From there, they discovered more about each other and developed a mutual respect. An act of self-sacrifice and one rescue mission later, and that mutual respect began to turn into something more.

Thanks for reading!

[nadziejastar]

I’m glad the creators want to emphasize thatCloud’s “badass, silent dude” personality was just a fake persona he created. I think a lot of fans had the misconception that was his true personality all along.

Warning: FVII Spoilers

Nomura: “While Cloud may look this way, he was a dork. I believe those of you who played the the original would understand what I mean by saying he’s a dorky character.”

I totally agree. I think a lot of people aren’t good at picking up subtle characterization, especially since the original game didn’t have advanced cutscenes or voice acting. Cloud always seemed like a dork to me after I learned he really had dissociative identity disorder and his whole SOLDIER thing was just a persona--an alter. Barret knew it, and made fun of him. So many people complained that Cloud was OOC in Advent Children and I remember feeling confused because I really didn’t think he was? He was depressed, but it seemed realistic after everything he’d been through.

“In severe cases of mental splitting when the extreme pain drives that person into disassociation, at the moment the person disassociates from their body, the soul-psyche manifest coping mechanisms to survive. To disassociate from the painful trauma felt in the body, the soul and mind will split into sub personalities, or create alternate identities. These are called alters.”

While we’re on the topic of Cloud’s fake badass silent persona, the way Tifa repairs Cloud’s fractured mind in FFVII always reminded me of the power of waking in KH. I’m sure FFVII was the precursor to this idea. Cloud developed his badass persona when he watched Zack get murdered right in front of him. He dissociated and took on a tough guy alter in order to cope.

Sora turned around. Empty husks? Is he saying they’re going to break them with sorrow and put another heart into them…? Or did they already do it?

“Translation—they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort.”

“Make more Xehanorts?” You’re hollowing out people’s hearts to put Xehanort’s inside them?!

In order to turn people into Xehanorts, they had to break the person’s psyche with pain. That way, the Xehanort “alter” can take over the body. I’m sure that’s what the mind control experiments were about.

You could say Cloud’s heart was in the Realm of Sleep, like Ventus’s was when he first met Terra and Aqua. He was unable to talk and he was not really aware of his surroundings. Cloud’s mind was in pieces and Tifa had to “dive” inside his psyche to repair him and restore him to completeness.

KH3′s tagline was “face your fears”. When I write my KH3 rewrite fic, I wanna give each of the Seven Guardians one of these segments to fully explore their fractured psyche. A time for them to face their insecurities and fears, and actually show them being healed. That’s THE biggest thing I think KH3 was missing. Before waking up, each character needed a Tifa to help them piece themselves together. Riku got swallowed by the Demon Tower in the beginning. I think the Demon Tower was supposed to be something that causes you to be trapped in your worst nightmare. Then he’d have to face his fears with the help of Mickey. His “other self”. He’d have to confront all his insecurities and his guilt over feeling like it was his fault Destiny Island got destroyed.

Mickey got swallowed by the Demon Tower later on. Then he had to deal with his guilt over feeling like he failed Aqua and left her to rot in the Dark Realm. I think the Dark Aqua boss fight was probably originally supposed to be part of Mickey’s nightmare that Riku was trying to wake him from. All the things she said sounded like a reflection of Mickey’s worst fears. And that darkness bubble thing looked like the same thing Sora was trapped in at the end of KH3D, when he was in the nightmare.

I think ALL the main characters, including Sora, were supposed to get a segment like that to give their arcs closure. Sora would have to dive into the abyss at the beach (the KH equivalent of the Lifestream that Cloud fell into). That beach is basically the collective unconscious. All of Sora’s sleeping memories (of Castle Oblivion/Namine, Roxas, and Xion) would have to be confronted. And after that, he’d have to help Aqua face her worst feelings, which was that she failed to save Ven and Terra.

The whole opening of 0.2 foreshadowed the part where Sora would wake Aqua up. Sora didn’t really connect with her heart in KH3 or help her face her fears, though. The whole saving Aqua thing felt so rushed. I think higher ups at either Square or Disney thought that a AAA game like KH3 shouldn’t “waste” so much time with exploring the characters’ psyches and the story needed to move at a faster pace. But we missed out on so much.

I’m sure Ven was supposed to face his fears of feeling like he failed Terra. Lea would have to face his fear that he abandoned Isa for his new best friends and forgot all about him. He’d have a lot of guilt over that and he’d have to face a Nightmare Saix which would be the manifestation of all his worst fears. Honestly, I’m sure the FFVII Remake will do a better job demonstrating the power of waking than KH3. Which is sad.

Back to Cloud. In Crisis Core, you see a shy insecure kid who can’t even face Tifa. That’s the real Cloud. The part of himself he can’t accept.

Cloud never even really wanted to be a SOLDIER for its own sake.

He just wanted to accomplish something. He was lonely and depressed and thought a man was “supposed to be” a soldier. He just wanted to be noticed by Tifa. And Tifa didn’t know this. She genuinely thought Cloud was just a typical boy who wanted to leave home so he could fight in the war.

She took care of him during his time of weakness. And the whole point of FFVII was that Cloud was “weak”. I liked that he wasn’t the generic badass hero who simply “won” the girl by being strong and cool. And it made me like Tifa, too. At first, she wanted her and Cloud to fulfill the stereotypical heterosexual relationship roles. She told Cloud that when she was in trouble, her hero would come rescue her. Then Tifa got to know the real Cloud.

He loved her. But he wasn’t really that heroic. Even his mom thought he needed a girlfriend that would take care of him. But Tifa accepted him anyways, even when he didn’t live up to her knight in shining armor fantasy. She got her relationship with him, with all its flaws. She was HIS hero, actually. I liked that because FFVII was really the first game I ever played where the main couple had what I thought was genuine intimacy instead of simply the girl being the “prize”. And I LOVE FFVII. After he is pieced back together, Cloud acts completely differently. He isn’t cocky or cool. He seemed humble, quiet, and not so much a natural “leader” type.

Zack was the badass everyone thought Cloud was. He took care of Cloud after they were experimented on and Cloud was broken. I cannot help but think that Lea and Isa’s past was originally similar to theirs after being experimented on. Crisis Core was an inspiration for me in imagining their past. Lea is similar to Zack. Cheerful, confident, resilient, and heroic. Very compassionate, too. The way he talked to Cloud even when he was “broken” was very sweet. And I think Isa was similar to Cloud who is more sensitive, vulnerable, and needy. Cloud mentally fractured after watching Zack die in front of him. I wanted to write something similar with Lea and Isa. Isa mentally shatters because he witnessed Lea lose his heart. :)