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wren-of-the-woods · 1 year ago

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This Accident and Flood of Fortune

Lizzy and William are looking forward to a quiet date watching their sisters perform in Twelfth Night — but when they discover that George Wickham is waiting in the wings, they must use Lizzy’s wits and their combined nerdery to help William get his revenge. Or: In which Lizzy comes up with a scheme, and even Shakespeare would be proud of the chaos that ensues.

This was written by @bloodsoaked-rainbows and I for @friendoftrees! It's the third installment in our Pride & Prejudice series Once Upon a Text, though it should be readable on its own. It's about 3k of silliness and can also be read on AO3 here!

Lizzy is finally going to see William again.

It has been over a week since their first date, and while they have managed to keep up their habit of texting regularly, the chaos of the holidays (and the inevitable Collins-avoiding that entailed) have kept them from being able to meet in person since that fateful day. Fortunately, their sisters have given them a way to escape their respective houses.

The two of them are meeting at a public rendition of a Shakespeare play in which both Mary and William’s sister Georgiana will be performing. It should be highly enjoyable, or at least entertaining; it’s hard to do a performance of Twelfth Night without making somebody laugh. After the play, they plan to spend some time on their own, but at this point Lizzy thinks that she’d be satisfied to see William in any circumstances. Being stuck with her family throughout the holidays has started to make her feel mildly insane.

Her phone buzzes with yet another notification from its messages app. The Bennet Family Group Chat has been very active this morning, to no one’s surprise.

Lizzy checks the notification and rolls her eyes.

Bennet Family Group Chat

Trouble 1: sooo lizzy are you excited for your ✨date✨

Typical Lydia behavior. The name Lizzy added as her contact has never proved to be inaccurate. Lizzy barely has time to sigh before her phone buzzes with another notification as Kitty and their mother chime in, and it hardly takes a minute for the chaos to spread to the rest of their family.

Bennet Family Group Chat

Trouble 2: OOH YEAH👀

Mama Goose: i hope you don’t scare him away to soon!

MaryBerry: *too

Mama Goose: he’s quite rich, you know

Father Goose: We know.

As usual, Jane comes to Lizzy’s rescue as the only sane one in the mess that was their group chat.

muffin: Just be nice to poor Lizzy, for heaven’s sake! She’s probably nervous enough

Lizzy: Thanks, Jane You’re my favorite Hope you and Charles have a good time at the play, too

Trouble 1: HEY favorite???? rUde

Trouble 2: :((

Lizzy: <3

Lizzy closes her phone and resolutely ignores the notifications that continue to flash across its screen. She has more important people to talk to than her family, after all.

Lizzy gets to the theater with minimal trouble and, after she greets William with an enthusiastic hug, they go to find their seats. Jane and Charles are here as well, but they have settled in an opposite corner of the theater and are completely wrapped up in each other, so Lizzy thinks she will have William to herself today.

“I trust you have been well since our last meeting?” asks William, completely genuine like the outdated dork he is. Lizzy cannot help but smile.

Lizzy sits down as they talk. William settles beside her. “I’ve been fine. A bit frazzled, but you already knew that from our texts.”

“I understand the feeling. I currently live with Caroline Bingley.”

Lizzy grimaces. “That must be unpleasant.”

William nods gravely. “There is little escape.”

“Oh! Fitzwilliam, dear!” calls a terribly, horribly familiar voice. “Fancy seeing you here! What a surprise.”

William sighs. “Speak of the devil.”

A dog barks as though in agreement. Lizzy turns to see Caroline Bingley, dressed to her usual ostentatious standards. In a flowery handbag, she carries the smallest, most absurd little poodle that Lizzy has seen in her entire life. Its curly white fur is shaved on most of its body coiffed neatly on top of its head and on the tip of its tail. In both places, it is finished off by a lacy pink ribbon tied in a bow. Lizzy is simultaneously awed by its absurdity and utterly unsurprised by Caroline’s idiocy.

“Hello, Caroline,” says William tiredly.

“I cannot wait to see our dear Georgiana perform,” says Caroline, flouncing closer.

“Nor can I,” William says unenthusiastically.

There is an empty seat beside William. Caroline’s intentions are clear. Lizzy looks around in panic.

“How about we go sit over there, William?” she asks with false cheer, pointing at two empty seats surrounded by other strangers. “There’ll be a better view of Georgiana’s entrance, don’t you think?”

“What a fabulous idea,” William says, standing up.

They hurriedly make their escape, leaving a somewhat confused Caroline and poodle behind.

The play begins only a few moments later, and Lizzy sits back, enjoying the familiar opening lines of Twelfth Night as they are spoken across the stage.

“If music be the food of love, play on,” William whispers into her ear, quoting along with the actor playing Duke Orsino. “Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Lizzy giggles quietly. “Do you know the whole play?”

“Only most of it,” says William with a smile.

They quiet down and watch as the play begins to unfold. When Georgiana makes her entrance as a storm-disheveled Viola, William catches her eye and gives her a thumbs up. Lizzy thinks she sees Georgiana smile before she returns her attention to her role.

Everything is going wonderfully, in short— right up until the middle of the next scene.

When a handsome young man emerges onto the stage as Sir Andrew, Lizzy feels William go worryingly tense beside her.

“Sir Toby Belch! How now, Sir Toby Belch?” cries the man. Lizzy thinks he is doing a rather good job of capturing the silliness of the role, but when she glances at William, he looks horrified.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers to him as Sir Andrew banters with the other characters.

“I know that man,” William says quietly. Lizzy is rather concerned to note that his words sound more like a growl than a whisper.

“Who? Sir Andrew?”

“His name is George Wickham.”

Lizzy’s eyes widen. She knows about William’s childhood friend and the way he had betrayed William by attempting to gain more than his fair share of William’s father’s inheritance and generally being an asshole.

“That’s him? I thought you hadn’t seen him for years!”

“I haven’t,” says William grimly. “I have no idea why he’s here.”

“Why would he be playing Sir Andrew, of all people?” asks Lizzy as Sir Andrew — Wickham, apparently — pretends not to understand French.

William’s eyes go wide. “Fuck.”

Lizzy doesn’t think she’s ever heard her boyfriend curse in the entire time she’s known him. “What?”

“Georgiana’s been talking about a charming friend she made in theater. A friend named George.”

“Do you think he’s trying to befriend your sister to get revenge on you?”

“It’s certainly possible.”

Lizzy considers this. Onstage, Wickham and the other actors make their exit.

“Shit,” she agrees.

As they sit there, reeling, Georgiana enters the stage again. Her character, Viola, has now disguised herself as a man. Lizzy blinks. In this costume, Georgiana looks startlingly like her brother.

Lizzy thinks about their new conundrum. She thinks about the play. She thinks about how the plot proceeds from here. She turns to William.

“I have a brilliant idea.”

“This is a stupid plan,” William grumbles as Lizzy pushes him in the direction of Mary, who had managed to escape her place backstage and bring out a costume.

“It’ll be great,” says Lizzy. “Trust me. I’ve been texting Mary and we figured the whole thing out.”

“And Mary is fine with this?” William asks doubtfully.

“Completely,” says Lizzy, conveniently failing to mention the part where she had offered a thirty-dollar Barnes & Noble gift card as a bribe.

“And the rest of the cast?”

“Absolutely on board,” says Lizzy confidently. She had promised them some of Jane’s cookies. “Just get changed and wait for the right moment.”

“You’re going to owe me if this goes wrong,” William mutters darkly.

“And me,” Mary says, handing William the costume.

“Nothing is going to go wrong,” Lizzy says, grinning confidently.

She shoves William in the direction of the bathroom and hurries back to her seat before anyone can get suspicious about her absence.

The play continues. Mary makes her entrance as Lady Olivia, looking commendably unruffled by the sudden change in plans backstage. They perform well, and for a few moments, Lizzy happily loses herself in the play and forgets about her nerves and her glee about her plan.

Then things are set into motion.

At the beginning of act two, it is revealed that Georgiana’s character, Viola, has a twin brother named Sebastian who survived the shipwreck in which everyone assumed he had met his demise. The actor who walks onstage at the beginning of the scene, conversing emphatically with his friend Antonio, is not the person who was originally cast. In fact, the actor who was going to play Sebastian has made his way into the audience, sitting next to Caroline Bingley. He is petting the poodle.

Onstage, the character is instead portrayed by a very wet William Darcy.

“By your patience, no,” says William gravely. His voice is deep and carries well throughout the theater. ��My stars shine darkly over me. The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemper yours; therefore I shall crave of you your leave, that I may bear my evils alone. It were a bad recompense for your love, to lay any of them on you.”

William’s character has boots that are almost knee-high and a flowing white shirt with long sleeves. He has just survived a shipwreck, and as such, he is wet and disheveled. He is, in short, gorgeous.

Lizzy hears a distant shriek that she assumes is Caroline Bingley. She feels rather similar. She realizes that she may have made a slight miscalculation. There is only one flaw in her genius plan. At the end of the play, Sebastian will marry Lady Olivia, which means that William will have to pretend to marry Mary. If he is going to look like this the whole time, Lizzy does not think she would be able to stand that.

She watches him onstage. She thinks. She is interrupted when her phone buzzes.

Bennet Family Group Chat

muffin: LIZZY WHY IS WILLIAM ONSTAGE

Trouble 2: he’s WHAT

Mother Goose: i thought it was his sister who’s int he play

MaryBerry: *in the

Trouble 1: Lizzy WHAT IS GOING ON PLEASE TELL ME

Lizzy: It’s fine guys don’t worry

muffin: THAT DOESN’T CLARIFY ANYTHING

Lizzy: We have a plan It’s fine

muffin: What kind of plan could possibly require him to be IN THE PLAY

Lizzy: Remember when i told you about his childhood friend’s betrayal The friend is in the play He’s Sir Andrew

muffin: His childhood nemesis is Sir Andrew??

Lizzy: NO The actor

muffin: oh

Trouble 1: oOoOo

Father Goose: ???

Lizzy: Anyway y’know how in twelfth night there’re multiple duels In one of them the character Sebastian fights Wickham’s character

Trouble 1: OOOOO

Lizzy: So William is playing Sebastian now And he’ll have an excuse to beat Wickham’s ass :D

muffin: LIZZY LIZZY THIS IS PROBABLY UNETHICAL

Father Goose: Excellent scheming. I approve

Lizzy: Thanks dad <3

Lizzy sighs and puts her phone away. She looks back at William. He is still as unfairly handsome as he was before. He knows all the lines and is delivering them flawlessly because he is, deep down in his heart, beneath all the brooding and handsomeness, a complete and utter nerd. After a moment, he exits the stage with Antonio and the next scene begins.

Lizzy heaves a sigh of relief at the success of the first part of their plan. Now all William has to do is hide backstage between his scenes and keep Wickham from noticing until their plan comes to fruition.

Ignoring the notifications still coming from her family’s group chat, she opens her Discord conversation with William.

TheWittyFool: good job out there babe!!!! TheWittyFool: you did great <3

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I’m hiding behind a barrel right now. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I think Mary is laughing at me. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I am so wet

TheWittyFool: rip

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I’m remembering why I never got into theatre. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Oh no Georgiana is back Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: She saw me

TheWittyFool: 🫡TheWittyFool: good luck lol TheWittyFool: maybe explain that her friend is actually an asshole?

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Now? Really?

TheWittyFool: i mean it’s better than later

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I guess Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Wish me luck

TheWittyFool: gl :D

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: D:

Lizzy’s Discord goes silent. It shows William as offline, presumably explaining things to his sister, so she puts her phone away again. She leans back in her seat. She watches the comedy unfolding on the stage. She thinks about the fact that, despite their vastly different personalities, she and Mary actually look fairly similar to each other.

After a moment, she opens her phone.

Bennet Family Group Chat

Lizzy: I have another brilliant idea

MaryBerry: Oh no.

Lizzy: :)

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this,” Mary sighs as she helps lace the back of Lizzy’s costume.

“I mean, you’ll get seventy dollars at Barnes & Noble out of it,” says Lizzy. “Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Besides, you can do the rest of the play in the next few performances.”

“This whole situation is absurd,” Mary continues, ignoring Lizzy.

Lizzy ignores her in turn, flipping through the copy of Twelfth Night the actor playing Sir Toby had lent her and muttering lines to herself. When the costume is on properly, Mary sighs and leaves her be. She is typing something on her phone. Lizzy assumes the group chat is dissolving into further chaos. She does not care.

Satisfied that she knows the part well enough, she puts the play aside and turns to peek at the performance from her place backstage. William is on the stage. It is the first scene of act four. Soon, the moment of truth will arrive.

Indeed, after only a few minutes, Wickham makes his entrance onto the stage. Lizzy relishes the look of complete and utter shock on his face when he recognizes William. He stumbles. He opens and closes his mouth. His face goes pale. For a moment, Lizzy thinks he is going to completely abandon his part, but he recovers after a long minute of silence.

“N- now, sir, have I met you again?” Wickham stutters after a moment. “There’s for you!”

Wickham attempts to glare at William threateningly. William is glowering at him, looking for all the world as though he actually intends to duel him to the death.

Wickham takes a deep breath — Lizzy assumes he is trying desperately to remember his blocking — before he walks forward and slaps William in the face.

William raises one eyebrow. He draws his fake dagger. He scowls, and then, like a striking panther, he lunges forward.

“Why, there’s for thee,” he cries, striking Wickham in the stomach with the hilt of his dagger. “And there” —a hit to his side— “and there!”

As he delivers the final words, William gives him a blow to the shoulder that sends Wickham sprawling on the floor.

“Are all the people mad?” growls William, and Lizzy swears she hears Wickham whimper.

Another character, Sir Toby, intervenes in the fight. The actor appears genuinely concerned. “Hold, sir, or I’ll throw your dagger o’er the house!”

One character delivers a line and exits the stage. Lizzy winks at him, and he stifles a laugh.

Onstage, the actor playing Sir Toby takes William’s arm and holds him back. William is glaring daggers at Wickham, who is just now returning to his feet.

“Come on, sir, hold!” says the actor.

“Nay, let him alone,” Wickham pants, clutching his side. “I’ll go another way to work with him; I’ll have an action of battery against him, if there be any law in Illyria. Though I struck him first, yet it’s no matter for that.”

“Let go thy hand!” William snarls at the remaining actor, Sir Toby.

The character begins to protest, but before he can finish his line, William breaks free and draws his fake sword. Sir Toby says a few lines and draws his own sword, but Lizzy is no longer paying attention. Her turn has almost come.

Taking a deep breath, she enters the stage as Olivia.

“Hold, Toby,” she cries. “On thy life I charge thee hold!”

Everyone turns. The actors all stare at her, blinking. There are varying levels of shock on their faces. William’s eyes are very wide.

“Madam—” says Sir Toby’s poor actor weakly.

“Will it ever be thus? Ungracious wretch,” she says, glaring directly at Wickham.

She launches into a series of insults until all the actors except William slink from the stage, then proceeds to deliver a series of loving lines to William.

William looks just as confused as his character is supposed to be.

“What relish is in this? How runs the stream?” he says weakly to the audience. “Or am I mad, or else is this a dream?”

They exchange a few more lines, as Lizzy’s character professes her adoration for William’s character.

“Nay, come, I prithee,” she says. “Would thou’dst be rul’d by me!”

“Madam, I will.”

“O say so, and so be!”

Lizzy walks up to William and, gently cupping his cheek, draws him into a kiss. It takes a moment for him to catch on, but soon he is kissing her back. The crowd applauds as they embrace and then walk offstage, hand in hand. Lizzy even hears a bark that sounds like a strangely approving poodle.

The moment they leave the stage, William turns to glare at her halfheartedly. “Why didn’t you warn me?!”

“There wasn’t time,” says Lizzy. “Also, this was funnier.”

William sighs, the effect slightly ruined by the smile he cannot quite hide. “You’re a menace.”

“Yep.”

William shakes his head. “Do you realize that was our first kiss?”

Lizzy blinks. “Huh.” She frowns. “I guess it was.” She turns to look at him. “Is that okay?”

William considers this for a moment. “It seems rather fitting, I suppose.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our relationship started with mistaken identities and general confusion. It was only right for us to continue the trend.”

Lizzy laughs, loud and bright. Mary runs up and hushes her.

“Give me your costume and get out of here!” she says. Beside her is the actor who was supposed to play Sebastian. “You’ve had your fun and given that barbarian something to remember you by. Now let us do the play properly.”

Lizzy and William change and surrender their costumes without complaint. They leave and return to their seats as everyone resumes their proper parts and brings the play to a close. Lizzy is satisfied to note that, when he comes back onstage, Wickham is sporting the beginnings of a rather spectacular black eye.

They applaud louder than anyone else as the actors take their bows. They leave the theater before Wickham can emerge from backstage. They are not disturbed by Caroline — she seems to have fled at some point after the onstage kiss. Lizzy and William hold hands as they walk down the street, enjoying the quiet and the sunshine after the chaos that had been the last few hours.

“That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done,” says William. “It was a terrible idea. I’m going to have to properly deal with Wickham eventually.”

“It was fun though, wasn’t it?”

William is silent. Lizzy takes this as the agreement it is.

“You’re welcome,” she says with a grin.

William sighs, rolls his eyes, and kisses her again.

Together, they walk into the sunset.

(Two hours later…)

Bennet Family Group Chat

muffin: drama.mov I filmed the whole scene btw

Lizzy: wHAT

muffin: :)

*Many people are typing*

#pride and prejudice #pride & prejudice #p&p #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy #jane austen #wren writes #bloodsoaked-rambles #i had so much fun with this ngl #bloodsoaked-rainbows and i laughed very much #and got to reread parts of twelfth night which is always a bonus

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the-one-who-lambs · 11 months ago

Text

"Propose," for @bamsara

HI YOUR DOODLES INSPIRED ME HERE'S A POETRY ATTACK. rambling below the cut.

At first, the death waltz is a misstep.

A sickening skeletal crack, a shape of an invisible scythe.

Sincerity is too kind a lie, but His sacrosanct

Protection (you think)

Lets you rise once more.

Death cannot keep you, but you would let Him

If he welcomes you.

You only believe what He thinks you should know.

The flames engulf you after the smoke does,

But your soul has nearly shed its corpse when you see them.

You stand in the vast chain-bound sanctuary and breathe

Fully (your lungs don’t remember being choked).

It is the first of a fitful of

Scorn and surprises and bone fingertips pressed against your skin.

He helps you to your feet.

Your heart should not beat here. In the infiniteness of your bosom it awakens.

The very semblance of the jagged-bare flesh

Encircling your neck is an intimacy in itself.

The blissful torment of the swordsman’s blade

Releases (so close to peril)

And He is already in your periphery.

Call it duty. Call it love.

Choose it as the last decision you’ll ever make.

Fate’s a tarot pull. You draw your card with eyes sealed shut.

You are a disgraced, depraved approximation of a person.

The chill of his embrace is warmer than the hands

That build the bonfire. It is in the name of

Someone (you shan’t say who)

And in the ashes of your grief your reflection

Stares back with three eyes.

The temptation to burn yourself seeps out,

Ichor-like. You don’t die tonight, not yet.

A careful drip of poison. The aftertaste of iron

In your mouth: communion seeping into your own goblet.

A moonshine moment of annihilation, however brief

Before (infectious, echoing, comforting)

You bleed out. You hope you die today.

He hopes you die today. It’s an

Ambrosial veil between you.

You slip beneath it with a sweet hello.

It’s never quite intentional until

The myths surrounding Him fall away.

The secrets you keep are shared, kept safe

Until (your reunion, this time, was not quite an accident)

They are intertwined: you are inescapably

Lonely and in your separate spheres

You vie for dominance. It’s a furious, bloodsoaked rendezvous.

It was always He who waited, but you’ll be patient.

He feels you in every dream. You

Stop time with your voices.

It’s His frustration melting away

With your kisses (you’re not there yet)

And makes Him yours, in freedom,

Dependent on nothing nobody you himself

The fetters are invisible but you hear them

Rattling every time your heart beats.

Your breath need not return anymore so you

Relearn to dodge the aim of an arrow, the pierce of a blade.

Living is foul, a promise half-hidden,

Desperate. (It lingers on your tongue.)

Death bound you together. You know how to die.

You have to remind yourself that heaven lays barren.

It will not hold you

Should Death keep you apart.

Get appreciated idiot /pos /lh

So, this was inspired by this post, which was super wholesome and sweet, but I couldn't write this without infusing it with the urgency and anxiety and sense of danger that looms over The Rehabilitation of Death. Bits and pieces of references to your AU are sprinkled in throughout. I hope you (and my readers and your readers as well) enjoy picking apart the themes here!

I actually wrote this live on stream last night! I made sure none of my friends were streaming before I started because I didn't want to miss anyone if someone was already live, but then you started streaming like 10 minutes later and I was like FUCK now I wanna watch you. But after a couple of hours on my new extra-hard CotL save (OUCH), I switched to writing and just... hoped you wouldn't pop in because I wanted this to be a surprise. For most of the writing part of the stream this poem was titled "IF SARA STOPS STREAMING SEND ME A WARNING."

Anyway, we don't usually get to talk more than a couple times per week because we both have Shit To Do, but you are SO FUN to be around and I am so so glad I met you!! Your friendship is a blessing and your creativity is a gift.

Also posted to AO3 as onethirdofimpossible here!

#hannah's rambles #cult of the lamb #narilamb #cotl #narinder #the lamb #poetry #Hannah writes #trod au

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phoebepheebsphibs · 4 months ago

Text

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 45: Thanatology

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

Prev || Next

Leo has never moved with such panic and speed in his life, he thinks.

He cradles Mikey's body close to him as he runs down the halls, screaming-crying for 'April, Casey, somebody! Help us!!'

As soon as Mikey had crumbled, Raphael had created a ginormous hologram around him, Leo, and Donnie. Secure in his arms, Raph then jumped down the hole that had been created in the building not a five minutes ago.

The trio are now running frantically through the halls as Mikey bleeds out in Leo's arms, searching for the others in a panic. They need help.

"He's getting cold!" Leo shouts back to Donnie. "How are his vitals, will he make it?!"

Donnie -- who is literally hovering over them as they race down the corridors -- flips his goggles over and examines the dying child.

"...Not looking good, chief," Donnie states. "He's lost a lot of blood, the barb pierced his neck pretty deep. We have to hurry or else --"

Mikey suddenly starts coughing violently, spewing blood from his mouth as he lurchs in Leo's arms from the force.

"... He might choke on his own blood," Donnie groans.

"J-just hang on, buddy," Leo begs, readjusting his grip on Mikey. "Hang on..."

Mikey's eyes open and close. His eyes are clouded over, his vision far away and blurry. Leo thinks he hears Mikey mumble something, reaching up softly.

"...l....leo....?"

"I'm here, I'm here," he repeats over and over and over again. "I'm right here, just stay with me -- k-keep talking, just keep --"

"....leo......" he murmurs, hand still shakily rising to meet Leo. "...did i do.... d-did i do good, l...leo.....?"

"You did so good, buddy, you did so so good, and --"

Leo chokes on his tears. He bites his lip as he tries (unsuccessfully) to keep from crying, to stay strong.

Mikey's hand reaches up just enough to touch Leo's face. His hand is cold. His bloodsoaked hand leaves a sanguine fingerprint against Leo's chin, before slipping back down, dangling limply by his side. Leo keeps on babbling, talking on and on and on in a panicked ramble of instructions for both himself and his brother.

Mikey's head rolls to look back at Raph and Donnie, and he manages a bloodstained smile at them.

"...hhhhiiiiii, rraphieeeee....... heyyy, d....d....dee-dee...."

Neither of them can hear Mikey's ghost of a whisper voice.

"wh....why so...... scared, i-i'm not.... going any....where...."

His eyes lose focus.

".......................right....?"

They still don't hear him. Raph manages to meet his gaze and tries to smile back at him, though the smile is wobbly and his eyes are wet.

"Hey, king," Raph shudders, his voice cracking and breaking. "You'll be fine."

Mikey's eyes feel so heavy. He tries to nod or hum to show Raph he trusts him. He's not sure if he ever does either of those things...

He... he wants to say something.

He knows he wants to say something.

If this really is the end... then he has to say SOMETHING, right?

"....i....."

His eyes start to drift closed.

Say something. Anything. Hurry.

There isn't any time left.

"...i-i... i..."

Mikey tries to lift a finger, a hand... his whole body feels cold, staticy nothingness replacing every cell and bone and scale.

Apologize for leaving.

Apologize for dying like this and worrying them.

Apologize for allowing yourself to forget them, allowing yourself to believe that they wouldn't care about you to come back for you.

Mikey's breath is clogged in his throat, his heartbeat a flutter in his chest that is just about to fly away.

SAY SOMETHING, PLEASE! YOU WON'T GET ANOTHER CHANCE, MIKEY!!

Mikey musters up as much strength as his feeble and broken body has left. He wishes he could think of something cleverer... something more meaningful... something that would make up for everything.

In the end, there's only one thing he wants to make clear for eternity. Only one point that he wants to get across. Only one message that he needs them to remember...

"....i.... i l.... i lllllovvvve y...."

That'll have to do it...

Mikey exhales softly before his eyes close.

Leo looks down just in time to see Mikey's eyes droop closed as his chest falls.

"No... No, no! #%@& NO!! You can't just --"

Leo sees a door cracked open and hears voices from the room inside.

He makes a break for it.

Inside, several heads turn around and gape in surprise and utter terror as they see Leonardo scramble inside and drop Mikey's body onto a table.

"H-help me," Leo begs. "Please... please!"

April screams a horrifying and broken cry as she runs to her baby brother, taking his face in her hands and examining his wounds.

Casey is by their sides in an instant, mask pulled down so his Genius Tech™ built-in goggles can find what needs to be taken care of first. Leo's words spill out faster than he can process, desperately explaining the situation.

"...We need to make sure his airways are clear so he can breath," Casey announces. "Donatello, get me a... a-a a ventilator and a tube to clear his airways. N-next, we..." Casey starts hyperventilating, his hands shake as he tries to pinpoint what to do.

"Case?" Leo begs, reaching out for him. "Please, tell us -- "

"I-I don't know," he admits, trembling. "He... S-Sensei only taught me so much, I never got to Stab Wounds 101! I... I-I know that we shouldn't take the barb out, that'll just cause the bloodflow to... l-like a cork in a bottle, i-it's the only thing keeping the blood inside, but -- I, uh, we need to close the wound, s-s-so --"

Bishop runs over and Pulls Casey aside.

"You're okay, kid. Look, wounds this bad need immediate treatment. I know a few things for dealing with stabs, but... that might not cut it. He's lost a lot of blood and we'll probably need to perform a transfusion."

"I can do that," Leo nods, swallowing. "I know how."

"But w-who's gonna donate?" Casey asks.

All three brothers raise their hands at once.

"It should be me," Donnie announces quite seriously.

"Don, you can't stand stuff like that!" Raph argues. "I should be the one; Raph's the biggest, and I have more than enough blood --"

"I can do it!" Leo argues.

"You have to perform the actual transfusion process! You can't do that when you're giving --"

"It should be ME," Donnie reiterates very vocally. "Raph, yes you are the biggest and the strongest, which is why we'll need you to carry both Mikey and the blood donor home. Leo has to do the transfusion, so he can't do it. It needs to be me."

Leo and Raph exchange a glance before reluctantly relenting.

"I can try to treat the wound," Bishop says, looking at it carefully. "But... I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in mutant biology..."

"Meaning?" April asks.

"ᴍᴇᴀɴɪɴɢ ʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ᴍɪᴋᴇʏ ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜɴᴅ ɪꜱ ʀᴇᴘᴀɪʀᴇᴅ," Honeycutt chimes in.

"So... s-so even if we save him..." Raph says, pausing for a dramatic and anxious gulp, "Mikey will still die?"

Honeycutt doesn't answer, except to hang his head in shameful defeat.

"NO," Leo snaps, slamming his fists on the table by Mikey's side. "There HAS to be a way! I'm not letting his rescue and weeks of recovery go to waste like that! Mikey is coming home, END OF STORY!"

The group exchange glances between one another.

"Leo... None of us can do anything. None of us know what to... how to treat him, or..." April tries, though the tears stop her midway through the sentence and she breaks down crying in Raphael's arms, who buries his face in her curls to hide his own tears.

Leo looks around the room with a determined fury before his gaze falls on a horror-stricken Cassandra... guarding Dr. Finn.

Leo storms over to her, feet stomping so hard against the floor that he shakes the room.

He towers over her, commanding every ounce of burning anger to make him look as intimidating as possible and not reveal himself as the terrified and desperate child that he really is.

"YOU," he growls, pointing at her face. "FIX HIM. NOW."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Finn scoffs. "Why should I?"

"My brother is about to die. You were one of the head geneticists here, right? I want you to save his life."

Abigail Finn rolls her eyes and smirks at him.

"I repeat, why should I?"

"If you save him, I'll let you go," Leo promises dryly. "Simple as that."

"Leo--" Raph tries.

Leo raises his hand, effectively silencing Raph. This negotiation is happening, and he's gotten Finn's attention.

"Intriguing," she chuckles. "So, I save your little runt of a brother, I get to go? What assurances do I have that you won't follow me or something?"

"I don't have time to make a thousand promises to you," Leo growls, grabbing her shirt collar and lifting her off the ground from where she sits. "I will only say this once. You WILL save his life, because if he dies, then so will you," Leo threatens. "I'm not playing nice anymore. I'm not being the hero today. I'm just here to save my brother. You can either keep him alive, patch him up, and then leave by yourself, or I WILL kill you with my own bare hands."

Abigail stares him in the eyes, her face going pale. She rises to her feet and nods. Leo cuts her free from the phone cord used as a temporary restraint, and drags her by the arm to Mikey.

"Now. Save him."

"By any means?"

"Just," Leo heaves, his breath a growl as he glares the fear of God into her, "Save. Him."

"Fine," she grumbles, "You get the other one ready for the transfusion. You, kid," she points to Casey, "go find one of those frost guns and fast."

"F-frost gun?" Raph contests. "You're not gonna freeze him, are you?"

"If we can get his body to enter a cryogenic state, it will assist with the injuries while also keeping him sedated. The mutations on his metabolism will cause all functions to essentially be paused while his body is in the diapause state, and his heart rate will also be on hold, which should be in our favour as well..."

"Should?" April grills.

"Look, do you have an advanced degree and PhD in biology, genetics, and mutations? No? Didn't think so. Now go make yourself useful and find me a syringe. We need to drain the excess blood from his throat and possibly his lungs..."

The room erupts in missions -- Leo prepares the tourniquet and blood bag for Dee's donation, and Raph helps mentally prepare Donnie. Despite his readiness, Donnie cannot hide his absolute displeasure at having his fluids drained from his body like a juice box.

April finds the medical equipment Finn needs just as Casey comes running back in with a frost gun.

The operation begins...

Dr. Finn blasts Mikey with the gun. He doesn't react.

That's not a good sign...

Mikey's skin ices over, his hands clench in place, his limbs go rigid.

"Will... will he be okay?"

"He'll have one heck of a headache once he wakes up," Abigail sighs as she tosses the frost ray to the side. "And he might have a slight case of hypothermia or frostbite, but he'll be okay. Provided he actually survives the surgery. We might be too late."

"Then get. On. With. It," Leo snarls.

Abigail nods and starts to work, directing Casey Jones Jr. and Agent Bishop on what to do when removing the spike from Mikey's neck and how to patch it up. Abigail gets several vials of goo from a medical freezer and uses them in her treatments as well.

She tells Leo when to start the transfusion.

Donnie looks away from the needle and tube as his blood is harvested. Raph tells him not to think of it as 'harvesting'. Donnie snaps in irritation and waits a beat before apologizing to Raph for the snippy remark. Raph forgives him and holds him close.

April paces back and forth as she watches, trying to offer medical advice she'd learned from her mother. Eventually she gives up and goes to help Dee, who is not handling the transfusion very well and looks quite peaky.

Casey works as the nurse, assisting Dr. Finn with whatever she needs. Leo is not allowed to help since he's too much of an emotional wreck. He instead opts to go into a different room and trash the whole place while screaming to let off some steam before coming back in, a bit calmer. But not by much.

As Abigail works to cauterize and stitch up the wounds on his throat and abdomen, everyone takes the opportunity to approach Leo about what he meant by letting Abigail go free.

"You didn't actually mean that, right?"

"You were just saying that to get her to cooperate..."

"Do you have some big plan in mind? Is this a Leo scheme? It's a Leo scheme, isn't it??"

Leo's answer is almost always the same.

"I meant what I said."

Raph seems to be the only one to focus in on the second half of the promise he'd made.

"Would you really kill her if she didn't help us?"

Leo stays silent. Raph reaches over and pulls him into a side hug as he continues to hold Donnie, who had fainted from the experience of giving blood. He's currently drooling on Raph's arm. Leo sees this and huffs an empty chuckle at the sight.

Raph smiles and rubs his back. Leo looks back to Dr. Finn as she operates on Mikey. His smile fades quickly.

"...I was mad," he whispers.

"I know," Raph whispers back.

"I... I know it would be wrong. It wouldn't help anyone. It would just make it worse. I'm not that kind of guy."

"I know."

"...But yeah. If she had said 'no'... I think I would have snapped."

Leo starts crying at the realization.

"I'm not a bad person, Raph," he whimpers. "I'm not a killer... I-I'm not a spiteful or vengeful guy, I mean sure I pull the odd prank and yeah I can hold a grudge longer than the average Joe, but... b-but I promise I-I'm not -- I'm not --"

"I know," Raph repeats, bringing Leo closer as he continues to hold a Drowsytello. "I know. And I know that even if she said no, you wouldn't actually kill her. You're not that kind of person, no matter how much it feels like the world wants to break you. You're not that kind of person, Leo."

"I just want Mikey to be okay," Leo weeps. "I don't want it to be for nothing..."

"I know," Raph cries cradling his family, all too aware of how incomplete it feels without the youngest. "I know... I want him to come home, too."

Mikey wonders where he is. It's kinda dark... the world around him feels like it's moving in slow motion. Trapped in a deep and dark abyss of sleepy nothingness.

He tries to move, to speak, to think. It's all so exhausting. His mind is tar, clinging to his arms and legs and tail and keeping him engulfed in the exhaustion.

His eyes open.

A light....

There's a light above him...

Mikey reaches for it.

The light gets brighter, driving away the darkness and the sticky sludge that encompasses his form. The light grows and evolves, the rays giving off beams of blue, purple, red, and orange.

The light blinds him for a moment. When he opens his eyes again, Mikey finds himself in a familiar place.

Though he knows he's never been here before.

It is warm, loving, bright, and spacious. The air shimmers with sunlight, and yet there are stars and galaxies that sparkle in the sky.

Flowers that he's never seen before blossom and bloom in the fresh green grass beneath his feet. The wind is cool, the sun is warm, the ground is soft. It feels like a dream... and yet too real to be a dream.

Mikey feels a hand take his.

He turns to see a middle-aged woman with raven hair and a storm blue robe smiling at him. He feels like he knows her somehow. He smiles back at her, unsure why he's so comfortable around her but accepts it regardless.

"Hello."

"Hello, dear one," she replies with a kind and rosy chuckle. "It's lovely to see you again. Would you me show you around?"

"Yes please," Mikey nods.

She gently pulls him along, directing him down the rolling hills to meet the others that wait for him...

Abigail Finn works under anxious stress as every single pair of eyes in the room watches her with anticipation and furious hate.

Well, she can hate them right back.

Once she finishes patching up Mikey's neck abdomen, she turns to Leo.

"How much did you get?" she asks, in reference to the transfusion.

"A pint," he says dryly.

"Let's get it ready, then," Abigail nods, pulling the blood bag close and having Leo assist with the tubing and needle. "But first we need to thaw the body out."

Leo nearly gags at her calling Mikey 'the body'. It makes it sound like he's a carcass, already dead...

W-which he isn't. Most definitely not. Mikey's going to make it.

"ɪ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ᴀꜱꜱɪꜱᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ," Fugitoid says, volunteering for duty to thaw him out. "ɪ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ꜱᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴɪɴɢ ᴜɴɪᴛ ᴏʀ ʜᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴀᴅᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟ, ᴀɴᴅ --"

"That's great, Tin Man, just hurry and warm him up please," Leo interjects.

Abigail and Honeycutt exchange awkward glances at each other before she backs away and allows him to heat up Mikey, melting off the permafrost that adorns his epidermis.

Mikey's body is pale, ashen scales and spotted skin shockingly desaturated. But little by little, as he warms up he regains colour.

His chest rises a microscopic amount as he weakly inhales. But his pulse is slowly falling.

"Once his body reaches a normal temperature," Abigail explains, "then you can administer the transfusion."

"Meaning you won't do it?" Leo spouts off, glaring at her.

"Meaning, I held up my end of the deal. Now I think you can handle it from here, right?" she challenges. "I want my get-out-of-jail-free card."

Leo inhales deeply. His hands clench into fists as he tries to control his rage.

He exhales deeply.

"Fine. Get out of here."

Abigail's eyes widen before she runs to grab her bag and jet. As she hurries out the door, Leo snags her by the elbow.

"But if I ever see your face again, I'll make sure you experience every pain you caused my brother. Got it? ¿Entiende eso, señora?"

Abigail nods slowly, her face dead-set but white as a sheet. She pulls her arm free from his grip and walks away, disappearing down the hall, never to be seen again.

"...Leo?" April whispers, nervous for her friend. "You okay?"

He slowly turns around, expression dark but determined.

"...Let's get the blood exchange started before his heart rate drops any lower... Oh, and someone should call Dad and Draxum."

Mikey is dazzled by the wondrous and simplistic beauty of this place.

It's so calming and pure. The woman shows him around the fields before bringing him to a tiny series of houses and cottages built in a traditional Japanese style. There are elderly people in cloaks and hoods, young men dressed as samurai, women and their families. There's even a few kids here, which makes Mikey sad for some reason.

His eyes fall on a young woman in green, her hair pulled back in a long ponytail. She's laughing with an older bald man, who holds her close and laughs with her. They turn and see Mikey, and wave hello to him. He finds himself waving back.

"Who are they?" he asks.

"Hamato Karai and her father, Oroku Saki," the woman explains.

"Oh." Mikey feels like that should clear things up, but it doesn't. "And... sorry, who are you?"

"My name is Hamato Atsuko," she replies with an airy giggle. "You wouldn't remember me anyways, so don't feel bad. We were never properly introduced. But I would recognize my grandson anywhere!"

"Grand...?"

"Follow me," Atsuko says gently, patting his hand and gently tugging him along the path.

Mikey wonders why everyone here is so familiar... why this place feels like home... Why he feels like he's dreaming...

"Am... Am I dea--"

"Here we are!" Atsuko proclaims, extending her arms and showing off a very beautiful minka.

There are vines of blossoms hanging from the roof, draping like curtains that follow the wrap-around porch. Multi-coloured lanterns adorn the pagoda. It's not a mansion or a castle, but it's still pretty big for just one person. Mikey notices that there are several doors around the house, each one painted a special colour.

Red. Purple. Blue. Grey. Even Yellow, a darker Burgundy, a deep Teal, and a Magenta.

Mikey approaches a bright Orange door with a symbol like a turtle shell and nunchucks carved into the door.

"This is our stop," Atsuko says, as Mikey places a hand on the smooth wooden aperture. "Go on, go inside!"

Mikey takes in a breath, and pushes the door open.

Another bright light engulfs him.

Prev || Next

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lesbiankoby · 1 year ago

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[rotates In Which Minato Shows Up To Rin Getting Perforated Approximately Ten Minutes Too Late, or, alternatively, Minato Shows Up To Obito Absolutely Losing His Shit Approximately Three Minutes Early Enough To Prevent Madara&Zetsu’s Trap From Actually Going Off Effectively]

which is like.

things in play here.

obito just absolutely slaughtered the ever living fuck out of everything that moved. and is incoherently violently devastatingly destroyed in a way that is going to make talking to him at all, like, nigh impossible. is he weakened? yes, a bit, he just unlocked his mangekyo he’s not firing on all cylinders, but he’s still a threat. he’s not going to take minato teleporting into the scene well at ALL— for the purposes of this scenerio this is the point he’s like kneeling down next to rins corpse, so zetsus retracted and he’s recognizably obito.

MINATO pops into the scene and sees one of his students not moving on the ground (kakashi) (dead????) the second very obviously a corpse (rin) (too late again) and the third figure is a bedraggled, bloodsoaked, almost alien looking— obito? (what the fuck?)

i’m just, like, rattling it, because i think realistically obito absolutely fucking loses it on minato, who still has the upper hand in this situation and is not going to lose that fight naturally (and is mostly trying to figure out how to deescalate without hurting his bewilderingly alive student worse and then grab kakashi and rins… body and leave so he’s trying and failing to talk obito down in the meanwhile, and also, well, obito is impermeable so he can’t really grab the kid either until he figures out the timing ala kakashi) but there’s also white zetsu who isn’t terribly smart but absolutely knows that minato was meant to be held up and too busy to catch obito out here and this is bad so i think between obito not knowing how to teleport yet and guruguru attempting to force obito to leave (possibly by triggering the seal, if he has control over it?) it might just decide to elect to cut losses and flat out kill obito before he opens his mouth about madara and kuro zetsu and the statue, which would be. bad. depending if it had the authority to elect to make that decision. and it’s fused to obito at the moment, so making his body fail feels perfectly plausible for what guruguru is capable of doing. if it can make that decision and doesn’t just slither off and try to bail.

does this rambling make sense

#naruto tag

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ramblings-from-the-ether · 2 years ago

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Bloodsoaked Closure (How to break Zora the fanfic concept)

(This rambling was, well, a series of quickfired ideas made into theory of how to narratively reduce a partially reformed Zora into an angsty state while delivering closure to her past. I hope this concept while raw still makes sense narratively even if it was a braindump hastily reformatted.)

So, a few hours ago some friends of mine discussed an idea using a scene from Lackadaisy (minor spoilers) where an injured character, after a particularly rough turn of events, reveals stuff about their backstory while another listens and drives; But instead we have Ramsey in a car with his (now partially reformed) former hunter spilling things no one knew she was bottling up, her past.

And to finish the prompt, I quote the friend who started the conversation with what he thought of it (we'll come back to this later):

"Ohhh NOOO the imagery of Zora breaking down and singing her extended Great At Cowboy lyrics in the backseat of Ramsey's car"

Concept

(Ignoring specifics of the plot before the climax/final battle because this concept is all meant to build up to a specific denouement)

Now the question is, what can cause her to break like this? Massacring and killing a general antagonist would only excite her or give closure to an arc or chapter at most.

But to draw blood emotionally, that must be struck at a major part of Zora's character, where it hurts.

This is also a suggestion to a plot.

Thankfully, we have one:

Her life growing up alone and pushed to violence, because her parents were mercilessly murdered by Banzai Blasters in the name of their greed, probably thanks to weaponized epithets.

Why this specifically?

Through this, we can present an antagonist and conflict, the Banzai Blaster who ordered the killing so many years ago and is now probably of Baron or Senpai rank at least.

We may also identify an oppposing philosophy to Zora's (Epithets give an unfair advantage + skill & merit hold true value).

One that says "Epithets are power, your own usage of them further proves this. Your rejection of potential conquests simply wastes all you have done for nothing / is a disappointment to your parents who too wanted wealth from their careers" (implying greed makes the world turn and essentially Ayn Rand's self interest concept. Also implies that Zora's parents weren't living, talking humans with feelings, hopes and dreams and a moral compass. And that Zora is no better than himself even with her life's goal for vengeance.)

Thus we then set the conflict as a fight between 2* morally terrible monsters.

*Yet we can (through plot or cliche anime flashbacks /s) show that Zora has improved herself (insert previous redemption/reformation arcs) and while still very flawed, is a better person than the Banzai Blaster who just indulges in pervasions without ever thinking of making up for it.

(Even Zora's canon cause is semi righteous).

And when the dust settles

When Zora finally emerges victorious and puts her nemesis down, still heavily scarred both physically and mentally from what this plot forces against her. She is not out of the woods yet.

She keeps doubts of her own moral standing (reformed yet still killing others and all that).

As well as the dread of making closure of The Tragedy that has essentially defined her life (further with her reform implying she has left Bliss Ocean's ideology, thus detaching another pillar of her view of reality and identity).

Which leaves her back to her character development's ground zero: being just a girl who lost her parents, all alone once again.

In the back of a car, Zora might just let her thoughts loose because why not, she has nothing left that really drives her anymore.

And Ramsey becomes the only 3rd party that knows Zora's backstory to this extent, and just listens (probably he is still somewhat cautious because she is still only partially reformed).

But that is enough for his former hunter.

Her singing her theme might be a way to attempt to hold on to her sense of purpose and identity, but as she reaches into the part about her past she only makes the dreadful realisation (closure and loss of identity mentioned above in 'When the dust settles') and loses her composure, her wolfish grin and bloodtinted way of speech. What more justifies her bottling up? So she spills.

Yet for Zora's path ahead she is yet to realise that, the best thing about being at rock bottom or square one, is that you can only go forwards.

Closure allows growing beyond one's past, and hopefully, she accepts this.

#epithet erased #epithet erased zora #fanfic concept #angst #zora salazar #I am typing this post midnight #what am I doing with my health?#fic idea

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