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filipinoizukuu · 10 months ago

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what comes next though? (MHA ch. 413)

// major spoilers for mha ch. 413 since its leaks, so please stop reading if you arent quite caught up. i havent written one of these in a LONGGG while lmao.

ANYWAY, with all that being said.... this week's leaks huh?

We saw it coming a long time ago, we speculated it to hell and back, we made aus and fics, and now it's finally here. The conclusion we've reached and the one that's been hinted at since the release of Heroes Rising in 2019:

bnha is going to end with deku giving up one for all and becoming quirkless.

(LOTS of words under the cut -- youve been warned.)

For those who are a little lost; the basic premise of the ending we are hurtling towards is that Kudou (the 2nd user of ofa) has a plan to take down Shigaraki. With AfO dead and gone + Shigaraki becoming so powerful he is essentially invincible -- theres no other choice for the heroes other than destroying him inside out; the plan being the equivalent of charging a battery so much it explodes.

the way they're going to go about this is by essentially, feeding Shigaraki bits of One for All until he's given all of it -- then allowing the vestiges of the previous wielders to create a massive revolt similar to what SnS did until they can successfully tear him apart from inside the "quirk realm" and shut him out. Kudou volunteers to go next since danger sense has already been taken, and if Shigaraki uses gearshift again after Deku already used it twice, Tomura's body will likely shutdown and receive twice the backlash Deku does when he uses kudou's quirk.

(sidenote: funny as fuck that deku only understood once kudou equated the strategy to bkg throwing papers at him. bro stupid af.)

its a sensible(ish) idea. one that seems plausible given the context of the last hundred or so chapters with heroes like Hawks and SnS having their quirks revolt against both AfO and Shigaraki in a way that makes it clear that its not uniquely OfA that animates the souls of peoples quirks. Its inherent. Quote, Nana Shimura, "romantic" even.

(let it be known though that i think hori absolutely did not plan on delving into this plot point as much as he is now. ill explain in a bit, but heroes rising was 100% a major factor of why he moved in this direction.)

That being said, the conclusion of the plan (and subsequently, the major plot of bnha) is as follows: Deku gives up One for All to Shigaraki. One for All unites with All for One within Shigaraki and destroys it in one final clash between Yoichi and his brother. The break in the barrier of Shigaraki's hatred will part, letting him find the consciousness of Shimura Tenko behind it after years.

Shigaraki dies, taking OfA and AfO down with him,

and then Deku is quirkless once more.

Sad conclusion aside for now, I firmly believe that no matter what way you look at it; Deku was always meant to end the story without a quirk. Given some of the original drafts of bnha where Deku was never supposed to be given a quirk in the first place, this is clearly unsurprising. What's more is my favorite piece of information relative to katsuki and deku's character development:

the fact that heroes rising was (one of the) ideas for the original ending of bnha.

a refresher for some of you: heroes rising is about class 1a going to the isolated village of nabu island and defending it against an upcoming big bad villain named "nine" with a quirk that is essentially a scaled down version of all for one. katsuki and deku eventually resolve the conflict together via brute force by deku giving katsuki ofa, them rushing in while the quirk is transferring and both of them have it, and then ultimately defeating nine at the end. the movie then of course circles back on deku losing one for all, undoing that consequence by saying the transfer never completed bc ofa chose him over katsuki and they all move on to the endeavor agency arc with katsuki remembering absolutely nothing of the final battle.

many fans often misunderstand one of horikoshi's quotes about the movie in that it was, without a doubt, the original ending of bnha. for the sake of accuracy, that is not what horikoshi really said; what he ACTUALLY said was something closer and to the tune of of how it was "one OF the endings" he planned on using for bnha, but his original idea for how the story ends "has not changed one bit."

obviously disregarding the cop out where ofa sticks back to izuku in order for the series to continue as normal; this can only confirm that bnha was going to end with midoriya izuku quirkless whether katsuki was involved or not.

so what's different this time?

its hard to figure out how far horikoshi had planned the ending of bnha with heroes rising's prototype conclusion in mind. if heroes rising never pulled through and horikoshi had planned on bnha ending with the shared ofa transfer and katsuki continuing deku's legacy -- then that means katsuki wouldve died an early death because of all might's confirmation that only quirkless people can hold on to one for all without dying young, meaning he either intended on katsuki dying soon after the story ends or only planned that plot point after heroes rising was released.

the plot as well of heroes rising's conclusion cannot have been thought of all that early on because of ANOTHER tidbit of information that changes perspective of the entire series: in that,

bakugou katsuki was never supposed to be a major character to begin with. (keep an eye on this link; i reference this interview a LOT)

he was not supposed to have an arc. he was not supposed to become a major focal point of the series. he was not meant to be the hero he is in the story today. bakugou katsuki was not written with the intention of being a major narrative this late into the story -- instead originally only existing as a character that deku would surpass within the first few arcs.

but then katsuki cried, and deku apologized, and then opened his big fat mouth, and then told him a secret he didnt even tell his own mother -- and suddenly bakugou katsuki was not just another footnote in deku's story, but a legitimate character that grew and created one of the most loved (and hated) character turnarounds in shonen history. he started of as a literal EXTRA before snowballing into the very same character horikoshi decided would defeat all for one, the original scariest antagonist of the entire series. someone not even ALL MIGHT could defeat.

but circling back, yeah. heroes rising was definitely not the ending horikoshi thought of first, nor was it the ending he thought of last. ultimately, it was simply another route he couldve taken into wrapping up deku's fate into what it was (probably) always meant to be:

deku was gonna lose one for all no matter what.

it's kind of fitting, honestly -- for this to be the ultimate conclusion to the series. it makes the most sense, since what sent deku down this path so many years ago was his mother apologizing to deku for being quirkless; as if being quirkless meant he was born inferior to those who had quirks. people, after all according to deku's famous beginning monologue, are not born equal.

Even still, i thought to note: deku never stopped wanting to be a hero. we all know this, obviously. this was his driving force -- but then when you REALLY think about the implications, you have to ask. what the heck was deku even planning to do?!

he had ideas. he had hope. he wrote notebooks for the future and thought of his costume for being a hero -- but not once do i remember him writing about his hero experience as if he was suddenly going to develop a quirk. he was planning on saving people quirkless -- an extremely interesting motivation especially when he couldve so easily chosen to walk the path of being a doctor or engineer instead if he wanted to save people so badly. its a story about conviction, about doing the things you wanna do in the way you wanna do it no matter what ANYONE else says and hey wait a minute that sounds familiar

it doesnt quite read that way at first, especially because of how izuku almost listened to all might about "being realistic" when the first met and nearly gave up on becoming a hero entirely, but izuku is a lot similar to katsuki in the sense that no matter what gets in his way -- he is determined to achieve his dreams in the way HE CHOOSES, and not the way that is more "convenient".

even when you look at just his name, "deku" in the way that uraraka had interpreted it (dekiru -- "you can do it!") and the way deku reexplains it to katsuki in deku vs kacchan 1 ("the deku that doesn't give up!") you can so easily tell that deku from the very beginning has only ever needed the slightest push to pursue being a hero, quirk-or-not-be-damned. hell, we even see a glimpse of this possibility in the sports festival race when deku absolutely DECIMATES not just bakugou but also TODOROKI (as well as every single other damn student participating in the festival) with nothing but robot scraps and his balls of steel. it just so happens that until the promise of one for all, no such encouragement or push was ever given to deku in his pursuit of heroicism, most especially in comparison to katsuki who had been receiving praise and validation for his goals his whole life.

i'd argue that deku's conviction is even stronger than katsuki in a way no other person seems to recognize (except maybe katsuki himself). katsuki had received only positive feedback and zero competition for his goals growing up while deku received nothing but discouragement. both of them kept the conviction of being a hero for TEN YEARS; neither wavering til the day of the sludge incident.

that aside; what comes next?

we know the story after that. deku gets his quirk, he goes to school, he fights, he drops out, he fights some more, and now he's standing before shigaraki tomura with every quirk of one for all unlocked and over twice the power that all might had in his prime -- fully knowing he's about to lose EVERYTHING in order to defeat shigaraki.

this is deku we're talking about. he doesn't care. he knows the implications and what that will mean for his dream -- but his goal right now is in front of him. his goal is shigaraki, consumed by hatred, threatening to take down the world izuku loves most into a pit of misery and decay because society failed people like them. does he care? probably. will he refuse to give up his power if it means not saving the world and fulfilling one for all's purpose? absolutely not.

deku has made all might's quirk his own, but one for all does not belong to him. it belongs to yoichi. and kudou. and bruce and nana and all of the other users who built that quirk for generations in hopes that one day, someday, someone would be able to yield it all and bring down the monstrosity that created it in the first place. deku will not hesitate, but also deku knows what he will lose.

i have... a few things i dislike about this.

Admittedly, i do think that this is a better resolution than the simple brute strength approach of Heroes Rising. For one, while i do love heroes rising with my entire heart and soul, i firmly believe it would not have been a satisfying conclusion to the core lessons and teachings bnha tries to impart throughout the story. simply outnumbering and outpowering afo/shigaraki would not be enough to close yoichi's story and one for all -- much less the story of shigaraki himself as tenko, the boy consumed by hatred.

Still, this new ending that horikoshi has laid out leaves me with more questions; as well as large expectations for how izuku's character will close out. its complicated, because deku's evolution and development is subtle and intricate in a way i havent seen from other shonen protagonists and i worry about doing it justice.

but most of my problems have to do with bakugou katsuki.

(aint that the truth)

i know i mentioned that bakugou was never intended to be a major character, but i want it to be known that that was only in the beginning. season 1, maybe even season 2 -- but horikoshi had said it best himself in that bakugou katsuki, against his permission, had gained a life of his own and inserted himself into the very grain of mha's story. you cannot deny this.

he is the series deuteroganist inarguably. one of the most beloved characters and one of the most attentively-written development arcs in the whole series. katsuki in and of himself embodies major themes in bnha that make it so that ditching his development and impact last minute after defeating all for one would reflect poorly upon the conclusion of the story itself. he and deku are intertwined in arcs -- even if they do have separate paths at the end of the day. katsuki is the one izuku told about the quirk. the one who followed izuku during the paranormal liberation arc. the one who understands one for all and is determined to learn about it more than anyone else barring all might and deku himself. the one who is closer to izuku than anyone else.

it can't be over for their arc, no matter what way you see it. friends? rivals? hero partners? what comes next, when the smoke clears? what comes next when izuku gives shigaraki hell, like katsuki told him to?

katsuki's atoned. we accept that, have known it since chapter 285 and have continued to know it until the iconic apology in the rain. that's not where katsuki stops however, because we know that its not all about begging for izuku's forgiveness nor atoning for himself. its about catching up to izuku -- the last words he uttered before shigaraki crushed his heard say it all.

"can i still catch up to you, izuku?"

since the moment katsuki died, we've been given a metric ton of material to read through what he and izuku have become in the story. firstly, the point of katsuki being the person closest to izuku. what does this mean? what does that say about katsuki? is he supposedly the person izuku loves the most? the person izuku believes in the most? i'd argue these two criterion would easily fit his mother or all might a lot better -- not his childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned barely-friend. katsuki sure as hell didn't believe he was the person closest to izuku before shigaraki brought it up as evidenced by the fact that he let IIDA bring deku back to UA -- and neither does izuku as far as i bet. what was shigaraki's intention?

katsuki heard that statement. he hasnt said anything, but he definitely heard it. its an open end that is left entirely unanswered PRECISELY because katsuki fought afo on his own and izuku is about to tackle shigaraki without katsuki by his side. if it was heroes rising's ending wherein they would both fight shigaraki and take him down together -- then that statement would easily be answered by how their strength and bond is the one thing that gave them an upper hand in the final battle. other than that... i'm not entirely sure how they're going to have katsuki and izuku acknowledge katsuki's brief "death" and Tomura's reasons thereof.

But fine, lets ignore that for the time being and move on to what happened when Katsuki came back.

katsuki answered izuku's cry for help. he came back to life in the last moment to save all might when izuku was too busy fighting tooth and nail to win. they are the penultimate example of two sides of a hero; the win and save. not one without the other. every single parallel thus far between izuku and katsuki have always been to draw attention over and over to each of their stubborn convictions to win and save under all might's tutelage.

katsuki has chosen to prioritize winning and fighting over saving and rescuing over. and over. and over. and over again. at every single opportunity from the very beginning of the series. in usj, in sports festival, in the final exam, every choice he's made up until --

chapter 285 - bakugou katsuki: rising.

he chooses to save izuku in this instant. as he says, his body moved on its own -- or in other words, he felt like how izuku has always did since the sludge villain incident. this is bakugou katsuki catching up to midoriya izuku. its katsuki realizing that he needs to save so deku can win, and actually being okay with that for once. it's a major turning point in his character that clearly tells even horikoshi that there's absolutely no way katsuki can go back to being a side character within the plot of bnha after a development like this.

and then, after this instance, we notice it happen again and again. katsuki choosing to save to win instead of winning to save. katsuki protecting best jeanist against the nomu. katsuki coming to chase after izuku when he runs away from UA. katsuki (in a way) saving aoyama when its revealed he's the traitor. hell, katsuki saving ALL MIGHT as soon as izuku -- the savior -- begs someone to save his idol when he can't because he's too focused on trying to win.

so what changed?

what changed since the moment of chapter 285 was katsuki accepting his fears and anxieties. katsuki letting go of his aversity to working with deku. the reason katsuki started accepting the path of saving to win was because he TRUSTED deku to win where he couldnt.

this is katsuki accepting that him and izuku already surpassed all might together.

but katsuki said it himself. it's not over. he accepts that him and izuku are finally on equal footing -- hell, he admits he's the one who needs to play catch up. it's not about katsuki conceding to weakness, but katsuki being able to trust in izuku to finish the job. the point is that they both will break and break until they win the way they choose to, and the other will be there to win while they save and save while they win. moreso, katsuki still wants to be number 1. he still wants to catch up and surpass deku. he wants to fight by deku's side. but ... as we've established:

deku will be quirkless soon.

my problem (or, i guess, curiosity?) with the path horikoshi seems to be going down for the end of this story is what happens to this end? what happens to the wonder duo? i believe in a quirkless deku plot as much as the next person -- but any reader would find it easy to see that once deku loses one for all, he will not be nearly as efficient nor quick nor capable of a hero as he once was. especially not against a developed katsuki with mastery over cluster explosions.

he will lose one for all and he won't ever be the pro-hero he was going to be before the final war arc. katsuki will get number 1 surely, but will he be happy about this resolution? i don't think so. All Might himself had said it when Katsuki spoke to him about his relationship to Izuku; that the twin stars reminded All Might very much of his own rivalry with Endeavor and the bitter feelings it created.

endeavor expressed regret and a bitter end to their rivalry; the acknowledgement of the bitter truth that the only reason he was the number one hero is because all might lost his own quirk. he knew he didn't deserve the mantle all might had held for a long time before him. he knew that he was still only just playing catch up with the wisdom and understanding of heroicism that all might had in his heart from the beginning. endeavor will likely retire from being a pro-hero unsatisfied with this truth and his own victory at becoming the no.1 at the very end -- never feeling like he truly surpassed all might of his own accord. both enji and toshinori -- victims of their destiny.

is this the fate that will befall katsuki once izuku is quirkless for good?

There are many questions I have in wake of the recent chapter. The end of the series is here, and that's a whole can of worms i haven't touched in and of itself. We all saw this coming; some of us know that this was always going to be Izuku's fate since the beginning of the series. But now that it's more than just izuku's character involved in his dreams of being a hero -- i dont know how this series is going to conclude and if it will be satisfying to any means. there's a lot of questions i still have; bakugous arc feeling incomplete ever since he came back to life, the conclusion of all might and one for all's dreams now that they will disappear altogether. where does deku go after this? where does bakugou go? where do any of them?

i guess i gotta wait and see lol

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha #bakugou katsuki #toshinori yagi #all might #midoriya izuku #deku #kacchan #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha meta #bnha meta #this was a long one ouf #anyway this is ship free technically; its just mostly me going BUT KACCHAN?

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wisteriaiswriting · 1 year ago

Note

Sombra and Ashe with a male reader who's the textbook definition of thug and smoke demon, bro don't fight with NO WEAPONS, NO CYBERNETICS, bro just fights with straight hands even when up against OR15 units and ends up turning 'em from a shiny useless bucket of bolts (excpet Orisa of course) to just straight up trashy buckets of bolts, not to mention bro's famous catchphrase whenever someone tries to convince him to not throw the hands with someone: "And who gon' stop me?", this man don't care who you are, if you Doomfist you still catchin' the smoke, if you Mauga you catchin' the smoke, if you're Winston in primal rage mode YOU STILL CATCHIN' THE SMOKE, but bro as a thug still got his honor and always keeps his promises as well as never hits an opponent when they're down.

𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕒 𝕋𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕘𝕦𝕪, 𝕙𝕦𝕙?

Words: 582

I wasn't able to add everything as these are in headcanons form, if you want any specific added please send through another ask for them. :)

Now her first thought in battle when seeing you is to be a distraction, (aware she does that anyways.) so while they focus on her you can take them down with ease.

“My knight in shining armour!” “I’m not in armour?” “Ay, Cabeza de chorlito, let me have this!”

↑ That's from her purposely putting herself in danger, just so you would have to save her. Willing to ruin the whole mission just to see you put some overwatch agents in their place.

On the intercoms there are very few times it’s used. Sombra makes up 90% of that, it’s just cheering you on. Watching from every angle to inform everyone of what's happening, how you beat the person.

If it’s possible she will beg you (most times she doesn’t even ask.) to let her ride on your back or in your arms. Either around the base or even into battles.

Everyone is aware she could easily just teleport around and snatch the much needed items. But from now on she will have you run through everyone, following the path of knocked out people and omnics, to finally gather the item. (All too see your muscles and strength.)

Will either find someone (willingly or not) to rebuild some omnics built closer to your strength. (Of course it doesn’t stand close to you.) In battle she will hack any opponent, wanting to see you fight as many people as possible.

You don’t even need to ask for her to do the following: Track down anyone you’d like for any reason, (likely to fight) she doesn’t care if they are an enemy or ally of Talon. If you want someone or something found you’ll have it.

“Come here guapo~”

Her affection rate will double. At any possible chance she will be on you, hanging onto your back, in your arms, sitting in your lap during meetings. Almost nothing is stopping this girl from getting your attention.

Even if it’s not her favourite task she’ll deal with it for you. Any injuries gained from your reckless fighting she will try to help, (Has started buying custom bandages for you.) doting on any visible injuries

In short she is one of the many people that will enable your behaviour and activity, and will not shut you down.

***

Cabeza de chorlito - Knucklehead

guapo - handsome

It’s not often (never) that Ashe will ever risk herself as a distraction. Even if she knows you’ll save her, she can’t help but make a comment. “Need to work on your timing there pumpkin.”

If you allow her to ride on your back into battle, she does this with B.O.B every once in a while, but with you around? Almost all of the damn time.

You can run around but never out of her sight. But if you ever do she’s sending B.O.B after you to either catch and bring you back or to keep you company.

Speaking of, you aren’t going very far alone. If she can’t go you ain’t leaving without B.O.B nearby.

“Don’t you dare go running off now.” “And who gon’ stop me?” “Fine by me then, don’t come back crying when you lose an arm.”

If you do return injured she is the only one to care for you, (B.O.B) is sometimes an exception.

While she does respect omnics, closely the ones she works with. Even she knows that enemies are enemies, so while you’re out and about, bring her some scraps to upgrade her weapons and even B.O.B and other omnic members.

#overwatch x reader #overwatch x male reader #overwatch sombra #overwatch sombra x reader #sombra x reader #overwatch ashe #overwatch ashe x reader #ashe x reader #wisteria♥

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crossovershipsandedits · 4 months ago

Note

Please consider looking to see if characters have a canon orientation (like lesbian or gay man) before posting ships of them.

Hello! I hope you're having a wonderful day~

To address this ask, I first pose a question myself; Why?

The point of shipping, or really any fan creation, is to show your love and support for media/a character by expressing yourself, your thoughts and your theories/headcanon's through your work. The reason a lot of characters are loveable and popular is because they are fully capable of allowing fans to see themselves in them and see their versions without destroying the canon.

For example; If we look at Zoro from One Piece. As far as we're aware, bro has little to no romantic inclination. And yet his top ship is with another man on the crew, who happens to be woman loving Sanji. But it isn't something that feels wrong or out of place, because the ambiguity is there and their relationship is prebuilt, fans just need to figure out how it moves to romantic. The ability to see past the initial "Oh, Sanji loves women" and see the potential branches for this path. Yes, it's probably canon he legit loves women like that, but it could also be a trauma reaction based on his back story. Or it could ALSO be possible that he's bi/pan/etc

In short; Just because someone is shown a certain way, doesn't mean that's the only option. As fans we have the freedom to conjure up theories and beliefs based on the information presented to us.

Another good example would be Naruto. He's married to a woman, and yet it's still VERY much suggested that he loves Sasuke the same way. There is no "definite" answer. Assuming there is purely because of the canon relationships is a little closed minded in my opinion.

AND, even if it is stated, people change. We weren't born thinking "Oh heck yeah, dong". We develop our tastes as we grow and learn and experience new things. A great example would be Deadpool for this. He starts off in love with a woman (I'm speaking film wise by the way) and continues to love her, but very much over the course of their relationship begins to experiment and opens up that door for himself. Some people need to find the right person that makes them question themselves before they can confirm anything. Or, on the flip side, they need to see a lot of potential and not react lovingly/sexually to them in order to put the pieces together for aro/ace.

Life is a mystery bag of tags and labels that we as humans made to understand things better, and that's ok. Be who you are and love what/who you love. Be YOU

Anyway, I think I went a bit off tangent haha XD All I'm trying to say is, doors aren't entirely shut because of one thing or another. Fans can and will continue to express themselves and their thoughts through their loved characters, and that's ok. It's healthy even! I know people who use characters to test the waters for themselves because it can't hurt the people around them. It's harmless. A bit of fun, if you will.

I will always say this to these kinds of comments, ones where you should ask yourself "why am I bothering to send this?".

It is easier to keep scrolling past something you don't like, then drawing attention to it, and yourself, by commenting something that could hurt or upset an innocent person, and honestly makes you look like a silly grumpy guts :)

Keep sailing guys, gals and non-binary pals!!

#saz responds #saz rambles #sorry its a long post that probably makes no sense lol #i find it hard to explain myself #keep sailing!

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fictionfixations · 3 days ago

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part 3 of me going through the new book 7 update

part 1 (short where i ended after running out of mystium)

part 2 (after i got more mystium, now im doing rest of the story as im FREE of the battlemap)

heres your reminder that in the wish upon a star event lilia has a wish for humans and fae to be able to co-exist

...

FUCK YOU FUCK YOU okay im sorry i cant hold myself back i HATE these guys with a passion and you guys will too its just an instinctive reaction at this point

YOU SHUT UP ALL YOU CAN DO IS BLABBER BUT YOU CANT DO SHIT! TELL ME IF YOU WERE THERE ON THE BATTLEFIELD WOULD YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING OR WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN JUST A BURDEN THAT DRAGGED EVERYBODY DOWN? YOU PRAISE MALEANOR FOR STANDING HER GROUND AGAINST HUMANS AND CALL IT NOBLE BUT SHE FUCKING DIED

bro if you had a face to punch in i would. oh wait. youre already dead.

now act like it and shut up dude

NOOO MALLEUS

egg-sama dont go :(((

LILIA PLEASE

genuinely i have to wonder how lilia survived after this, before malleus was born, having all this guilt and self-hatred for failing :(

ruining the mood here but oh my GOD I hate the blind debuff YOU FHEWUISHFSUIHFUH DUDE

in the 10 years since maleanor died its been changed from briarland to briar valley.

malleus lasting so long because lilia tells him to. also his egg is glowing and idk if thats like some morse code idk what its saying

yippee places of other events appearing. now we just need event characters to appear

AHHHH joSAIHDJOAJDIj. hes singing the song hfsuidfh. it sounds different, probably because hes not used to singing it. but then when he sings it to silver it sounds.. smoother??

that he got his signature spell because he wanted for any scrap of information on how to hatch a dragon egg, that he'll take anything

..EIGHTY YEARS???? sorry im not sending as many screenshots because im trying not to cap it

HARVESTONNN

i need a fic where lilia joins them on like the trip to harveston and maybe he gets like vaguely recognized, maybe like cause it was spoken of that they found this fae or like they had an image or something and its fluff times.

well its been 270-ish years since then but come on :(

wait could this be lilia?

eggsama WHAT ARE YOU SAYING. YOU KEEP GLOWING. and its not skippable (what i do is tap to see all the dialogue and then tap past it cause i read fast instead of waiting)

MALLEUS!?!?!?

notice the emblem lilia usually has is gone because he stopped being a general (actually i cant show a before and after but if you scroll up theres an image of him with the emblem on his chest)

"My magic, my remaining lifespan..."

lilia, is that why youre going to die early? is that what you described when you said you were like. adventurous or something like that (i forgot what he said exactly) in your youth?

im going to cry again this is unfair

they dont deserve my words.

..SHUT THE FUCK UP- okay CALM im CALM.

AHHHHH IM NOT CALM

sorry breaking the mood but 'you truly are poor sleepers' sounds funny to me and i cant explain why. its like. malleus simplifying it so much that it sounds dumb

youd know wouldnt you sebek? because your existence literally means you are loved 🥺

💀

lilia...

WHY ARE WE FIGHTING HIM AGAIN MALLEUS PLEASEE can we just skip over this battle we already know we wont win 😭😭😭

RETRY TICKET?? IM SUPPOSED TO WIN?? WHAT?? guys what the fuck no wait i think im supposed to endure for 5 turns

dude wh at

what even happens if you use a retry ticket wtfs the point???

WHAT DO YOU MEAN. IM SORRY????? STOP GIVING ME THE RETRY TICKET WHAT

giving myself the most hp i can to try to endure cause holy fuck what do you mean RETRY TICket?

okay. i did it. i got so confused because i made it to turn 5 and on the very last attack died and it hit me wtih a retry ticket but you just had to win by enduring his attacks for 5 turns, no dying

good thing i got a lot of healing units with a shit ton of hp but holy fuck i was boutta throw hands like what do you MEAN win against a 300k enemy who can heal all of his health back

aight we're dipping out of lilia's dream now WOo that was long

ORTHO

dude is this the first time we actually see the ignihyde dorm background (in main story i mean). cause like. we didnt see ignihyde at all really we were in styx the whole time in book 6

ok that tracks considering we were all the way in book 7 and we got hit with the title screen

THATS

THATS THE END oh.

#twisted wonderland #twst wonderland #twst #lilia vanrouge #book 7 spoilers #twst book 7 #twst book 7 spoilers #twst silver #silver vanrouge #sebek zigvolt #malleus draconia

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paingoes · 4 months ago

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Destroyer is afk

(Masterlist)

another sherbet colored update. i really love simulating internet speech in writing i think its so fun

(Content: death mention, past trauma, self loathing, comfort??)

=======================

no posts in a month its over

they got him omg </3

Did indy fucking die?

RIP INDY

ndhakdvsnnd: can you guys stop saying that im dead ndhakdvsnnd: also no more leaks until further notice. stop asking.

sunspot: Hey you don’t have to talk to us if you don’t want to but can you please give us some indication you’re still alive?

sunspot: We’re really worried.

katkittykat: omg look at this video :3

katkittykat: have u ever seen a shark move like that in all ur life that shit is so crazy

katkittykat: hey where have u been lololol

katkittykat: are u mad at me :c

katkittykat: if its somethin i did can we talk abt it ???

katkittykat: okk ur making me nervous

katkittykat: OH SHIT UR BACK

katkittykat: WTF

ndhakdvsnnd: hey sorry

katkittykat: bro where did u go!!!! D:

ndhakdvsnnd: had to travel somewhere i couldnt bring my laptop

katkittykat: im rlly glad ur ok!

ndhakdvsnnd: do you want me to send you the next batch

katkittykat: uhh yea only if ur up to it. whenever ur ready :3c

ndhakdvsnnd: i can do it now

katkittykat: ty sweetness

katkittykat: sunny wants u to answer him lol hes having an aneurysm xD

ndhakdvsnnd: okay

ndhakdvsnnd: hi

sunspot: Hey!

ndhakdvsnnd: kitty said you wanted to talk to me

sunspot: Yes I wanted to know if you were okay because we hadn’t heard from you in a while

ndhakdvsnnd: obviously

sunspot: ?

sunspot: Why is that obvious?

ndhakdvsnnd: how would i be typing if i wasnt okay

sunspot: That doesn’t even make sense ?

sunspot: I assumed if you were offline for a month it was because you were either upset or in danger

ndhakdvsnnd: maybe i just have a day job to worry about

sunspot: In that case it would’ve been nice to receive some kind of warning so we wouldnt think you were hurt

ndhakdvsnnd: i didnt have time

sunspot: You didn’t have time to type one sentence?

ndhakdvsnnd: okay im sorry

sunspot: Look I’m not trying to lecture you Im just saying we were concerned and I wanted to make sure you were alright.

ndhakdvsnnd: okay

sunspot: Everything’s really okay then? Nothing happened?

ndhakdvsnnd: i dont want to talk about it

sunspot: Alright.

sunspot: You know we care about you right?

ndhakdvsnnd: i didnt send a warning because i didnt know i was leaving until the last minute i didnt go by choice

ndhakdvsnnd: thanks for attacking me over it as soon as i got back though

sunspot: Does it seem like I’m attacking you?

ndhakdvsnnd: yes kind of

sunspot: I’m sorry then. I didn’t mean to.

ndhakdvsnnd: okay

sunspot: Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?

ndhakdvsnnd: i am just sad okay i am already getting yelled at all the time i dont need to get it from you too

ndhakdvsnnd: sorry this is stupid ill shut up

sunspot: No it’s okay! If you’re upset you can tell me that’s what I was messaging you about in the first place I had the feeling something was wrong

ndhakdvsnnd: are you sure

sunspot: Yes positive

ndhakdvsnnd: i just dont like feeling like everyone is disappointed or mad at me all the time i dont know

ndhakdvsnnd: it would be one thing if i deserved it but i dont know i have been really really trying lately and it doesnt work and it makes me feel bad

ndhakdvsnnd: but i kind of deserve to feel bad so i dont know

ndhakdvsnnd: im tired

sunspot: Why do you think you deserve to feel bad?

ndhakdvsnnd: a lot of reasons

sunspot: I don’t think you deserve it.

ndhakdvsnnd: you dont know me though

ndhakdvsnnd: you wouldnt like me if you knew me

sunspot: Well what I do know about you now is that you are risking your life and sanity to provide us information to help people.

sunspot: Just based on that I don’t think you deserve to feel so bad about yourself.

sunspot: I think the people you’re around are probably really hard on you and its affecting the way you see yourself.

ndhakdvsnnd: im sorry

sunspot: Why are you saying that?

ndhakdvsnnd: i dont know

ndhakdvsnnd: is it okay if i go to bed now

sunspot: Goodnight! We can talk later if you’re up for it?

ndhakdvsnnd: okay gn

#if its not clear black text is public colored text is private messages #whump #whump community #whump scenario #living weapon whumpee #whump prompt #death mention #past trauma #self loathing #comfort #delta #kitty #sunspots real name is not sunny but kittys real name IS kitty lmfao #also forum randos call him indy because... nd appears in his name multiple times #and its otherwise unpronounceable literally just a keysmash

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whumpbug · 5 months ago

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whumperless whump event day 4: it's every day bro @whumperless-whump-event

chronic pain / massage / “i'm used to it.”

see this post for character information!

caretaker: Simon

whumpee: Archie

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

Some days were worse than others.

Pain was a constant thing for Archie from the moment that damned drug entered his body. There hadn't been a day that passed where Archie wasn’t in some kind of pain.

He learned to tune it out when it was bearable. Sometimes, it ramped up to nausea and vertigo that had him curled up in bed for hours on end, or head-splitting migraine that left him unable to even walk.

Today, it was aches. And they were worse than they had been in a while.

It felt like electricity was being run through every part of his body with every small movement or jolt. Prickling, sharp pain imbedded its way into his muscles and tendons and bones, and he was left to wonder if he had somehow been run over a hundred times without realizing it.

He could deal with it, though. He’d been dealing with it for the last 16 years of his life.

Tonight, he had to deal with it.

It was Simon’s birthday.

Simon explicitly stated that he didn’t want anything big for his day, just to take the day off of work and school and catch up on some relaxation. Archie was silently grateful for it, considering his circumstances.

They were watching a movie Simon picked out, and Archie was sure he would actually really enjoy it if he could focus on something other than the agonizing pain shooting through every inch of his body.

He sat stiffly, spine straight as a rod, as he spooned another mouthful of the takeout he’d bought them with as little movement as he could muster into his mouth.

A soft wince flashed across his face.

Archie was sure he didn't make a noise, but maybe he was mistaken, because suddenly Simon turned to glance at him. He faltered at what he saw.

“Archie, are you okay?”

Archie nodded rigidly, taking slow, measured breaths through his nose. “I'm fine.”

Simon frowned. “No you aren’t. Is it your shoulder again?”

Archie had dislocated his shoulder just a few days prior, so it made sense as to why Simon assumed that. Still, close but no cigar.

“It’s not my shoulder,” Archie started, jolting when another wave of pain washed over him. “It’s nothing. Let’s just watch the movie.

Simon tilted his head, setting his food down on the coffee table. He gave Archie another once over and sighed at the pallor he saw. The beads of sweat forming on Archie’s brow were also not lost on him.

Seeing Simon look at him with such gentle concern almost made Archie say to hell with it, and curl up into his friend's arms until this agony passed. It really was bad.

He didn’t though, opting to lower himself against the back of the couch, breath catching when it caused another spasm of pain.

Simon frowned.

“Archie, you can go lay down in my bed if you’d like..” He offered, reaching for the remote to turn off the TV.

Archie all but tackled Simon for the remote, letting out a sharp whimper as more sharp aches ran through his body.

“No, it’s okay! I’m used to it. I promise. I can still watch the movie, Simon. I’m not helpless,” He pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut.

Simon made his voice just a little bit softer. “I didn’t say you were, but you’re in pain. Today isn’t a good day for it. I want you to rest. We can finish the movie another day.”

Archie felt panic flutter in his chest as he forced himself to sit up and face Simon. Why didn't he understand?

The world couldn’t just stop because Archie was in a bit of pain. He wanted today to be about Simon, not about his pathetic constitution. If he couldn’t tough out some soreness for a few hours to give his friend a good birthday, then what kind of friend did that make him? Panicked tears suddenly pricked in his eyes.

“No, Simon. Please. I can handle it. It’s your birthday, I don’t want you to be worried about me. I want you to spend it how you wanted. I mean it--”

Archie was cut off by Simon’s deft hands finding their way up to his shoulders, beginning to knead at the tense muscle. Archie’s eyes nearly rolled back at the feeling.

“And what if I told you this is exactly how I want to spend my birthday? With you. Making sure you’re having as good of a time as I am.”

Archie opened his mouth to respond, but it quickly morphed into a soft gasp as Simon’s hands worked their way down Archie’s aching arms. Archie was quickly becoming putty in Simon’s hands, feeling the pain start to drain away from his body.

“I.. God, Simon.. I forgot how good you are at this..” Archie sighed, letting himself lay across Simon’s lap as Simon began massaging his hands and fingers.

“So I’ve been told.”

"You're.. sure you actually want to do this?" Archie whispered, resting his cheek on Simon's thigh to get a better look at his face.

"Positive."

Archie smiled, feeling something warm flutter in his chest. He let his eyes fall closed.

The two fell into comfortable silence as Simon worked at the knots in Archie’s shoulders, then lower back, then legs, and finally he settled on running his hands rhythmically through Archie’s hair, massaging his scalp intermittently.

Archie's entire body completely limp now as he hummed contentedly. There was still residual pain, of course, but having such gentle but practiced hands work out the aches made him feel like he could run a marathon if he needed to. To put it simply, it was heaven.

He buried his face into Simon’s thigh, letting out a soft breath.

“Simon.. thank you..” He whispered.

“Don’t mention it.”

“Oh, and Simon? Happy birthday..”

Simon smiled softly, and looked down at Archie with a fondness that could melt a glacier.

“Happy birthday to me.”

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

#whumperless whump event day 4: it's every day bro #whumperless whump event day 4 #whumperless whump event #chronic pain whump #disabled whumpee #(i think?)#whump community #whumpblr #massages #fluff #archie is going through it.#as always #simon could probably use a massage too i just know is posture is awful #also my characters are kind of perpetually the same age so happy birthday simon you have not aged.

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nixie-writes · 1 year ago

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Beelzebub x brother reader - "why don't you party?"

This is a commission for the lovely @thebattlecats2001 No trigger warnings really but this is under the cut for length. Enjoy!

“I’ll clutch the 3v1, just focus on getting med kits,” you informed your online friend as you mashed buttons on your controller, fighting three other players alone. It was intense; you chugged down a can of Mountain Dew in record time and prepared to do your final move to win the game. You were about to do it when a knock at the door interrupted your session. Losing your focus one of the enemies killed you. Throwing your controller on the bed in anger you went to answer the door.

“Hi little bro! Playing games as usual?” Your ever-popular sister, Beelzebub, welcomed herself into your room, her wings fluttering as she looked around. “Jeez, this place is a mess. I’ll have a maid clean it for you.” You rubbed your temple with your hand in agitation. “What do you want?” You asked her in an aggravated voice. She either took no notice or didn’t care about your angry voice, as her excitement didn’t damper. “I’m hosting a party tonight and I managed to steal Belphagor’s drugs, wanna come?” She invited excitedly, her wings buzzing hopefully. You sighed. As much as you loved your sister, you couldn’t stand her parties. You much preferred to be alone or play online with your friends, who didn’t know you were related to royalty.

“Sorry Bee, you know how I am. Social anxiety and all. Invite me to the next one,” you told her, showing her to the door. Her wings drooped in disappointment. “Aw, come on! You say that every time! It’s always ‘invite me to the next one’ or ‘we’ll see about next time’ just come to one! Maybe you’ll change your mind. Please?” She used her puppy dog eyes on you; you rolled your eyes. “No Bee, I’m staying inside. But you have fun.” You gently nudged her out of your room and shut the door, ensuring to lock it so she wouldn’t come back in. Sighing, you walked back to your computer. You hated turning down your sister but you refused to visit one of her parties. It was always chugging Beelzajuice and snorting drugs. You’d rather watch HellTube with your friends and drink a few beers by your lonesome.

***

It was three hours after Bee had left your room; all your online friends were asleep or doing their own things and you were bored. You’d already skimmed through a few comic books and played a few games but nothing eased your boredom and, well, loneliness. You missed your sister. She was always throwing parties and inviting demons from across the rings to join. Why couldn’t she have just one decent party with a few close friends and just have some food and non alcoholic drinks? It felt unfair that she spent more time with demons who only liked her because she gave them free alcohol and drugs than she did spend time with you. But there was nothing that could be done about it. Sighing, you climbed into bed.

You were jerked awake by a small crash. You didn’t even know you’d fallen asleep, but the clock showed 3 in the morning. You stood up to investigate, taking a flashlight and a stick for protection. Demons liked to break in to steal booze or drugs. You descended the stairs from your room and found a group of Hellhounds in your living room, drinking it up and cheering as Bee herself chugged as much Beezaljuice as she could in one breath. She drank a surprising amount before stopping and the Hellhounds cheered. You just stared at the scene before you, more disappointed than shocked. Bee caught a glimpse of you and grabbed you by the arm, thrusting you forward.

“Hey my beautiful bitches, this is my brother [Y/N]! Show him some love!” The hounds all howled to the ceiling as a greeting and you sighed, waving your hand. “Bro-bro, you finally came down to join the party?” Bee asked you. You shook your head firmly in response. “I heard a crash and came down to investigate but it seems you have this under control so I’m just gonna…Head back upstairs.” You backed away from the hounds and your sister, only to bump into solid fluff. Turning around you were met with your sister’s boyfriend, Vortex.

“You’re not really gonna miss out on this, are you? Bee’s private party?” He grabbed you in a headlock and ruffled your hair and you chuckled, trying to pull yourself free. He was like a big brother to you - always there when you needed him, always up for a good game and always delivering on the good food. Though you were protective of your sister, you trusted her with Vortex. He seemed honest and trustworthy.

“Sorry but, I'm tired and I’d rather get some sleep,” you told Vortex. He just shrugged. “Alright but you’ll miss out on the pizza,” he warned. You snorted and looked at your sister. “Save me a few slices for breakfast tomorrow!” You called out to her and she gave a thumbs up. Smiling a little you ascended the stairs again, leaving your sister to her own devices.

It must have been about 12 when you woke up. Your head was pounding and your vision was blurry, as if you’d had a bad hangover, though you hadn’t drank at all. Crawling out of bed like a gremlin you mustered the energy to go to the kitchen. You made a cup of coffee and checked the fridge. As promised, Bee left four slices of pizza for you. Pulling out the bag you arranged the pizza slices on a plate and stuck it in the microwave. While you waited for the minute to pass you looked around the kitchen. The dishes were starting to pile up, you’d have to do them today. Taking a sip of your hot coffee you closed your eyes, breathing in the aroma. It was calming in a way. THe added vanilla creamer was soothing and tasted wonderful.

You were jerked out of your coffee daydreams by the beeping of the microwave. Turning to it, coffee in hand, you opened the microwave and pulled out your pizza. Blowing on it to cool it off you took a bite. It was hot but you swallowed it. You took your plate and coffee to your room up the stairs. Sitting in your chair, setting down your food and drink, you checked your friends list. No one was online. Oh well, they had lives to live too.

Turning on a gaming video on HellTube you kicked back, watching your video and eating your pizza and drinking your coffee. It was peaceful like this. No loud music, no shouting, just the ambiance of birds outside twittering and watching HellTube alone with some food and coffee. It couldn’t get much better than this.

Of course, that silence was broken soon after by your sister, Bee, entering your room. “That was one hell of a party! Fuck!” She stated, her wings buzzing excitedly. “You should have been there! We played spin the bottle and it landed on Vortex and he dared me to dance to some shitty song. That party was great!”

You paused your video, smiling at her. “I’m glad you had a good time but parties just aren’t for me. You know I’m socially anxious and I don’t get along well with a lot of people.” Bee hummed. “Well that’s true but you get along well with Vortex. What if I set up a party for just you two?” You shook your head. “No Bee, I’m not interested in parties, but thank you.” Bee slumped her shoulders, having given up. “Alright fine, but I swear one day I’m gonna get you to party!” She stated before leaving, her wings buzzing. You rolled your eyes and continued your video. You were happy like this - just doing your own thing, while she did her own thing. It was easy like this. You wouldn’t trade it for the world.

#helluva boss x reader #helluva boss #beelzebub x reader #x brother reader #beelzebub

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scaly-freaks · 7 months ago

Note

im curious about the relationship between Alicient and Rhaenyra in your fic, it seems like Alicient is trying to save Rhaenyra and her boys, is it out of guilt? And what about Rhaenyra, how does she feels about Alicient now, is the power dynamic (her being a scorned princess and Alicient the most powerful woman in Westeros) stopping her from letting her true emotions show? This context of Rhaenyra losing the war and keeping her head is so underdeveloped yet it's so interesting and intriguing, thank you for exploring it

Aaahhh I just finished answering a comment on AO3 along this same vein! Coinky-dink!

Alicent is - plain and simple - massively in love with her princess still. In fact, Rhaenyra is currently in the same position as Amara, aka this pretty songbird trapped in a cage, being fed lovingly by the hands of her captor who she has complex feelings for (and vice versa). It's almost insane how much Aegon's life parallels Alicent's in this, because he claims to not understand why his mother would be so kind to the sister she helped usurp, but then he's kind to Amara despite making it very obvious her options outside of him are limited.

Rhaenyra definitely is conflicted about Alicent. She notices things like her soft red hair but labels it a taunt. She still remembers burning with jealousy when she found out her father visited Alicent every night after their wedding, and the hell it was to be aware of it. I think when Alicent visits, she's relieved to have another adult on her level to speak to, and she probably wants to give into the Stockholm Syndrome when the Dowager Queen is obviously tender with her (as much as she can be). But it might not be in her best interest to get close to Alicent again. Otto Hightower is still alive after all, and the king would happily go against his mother if it means spiting his sister some more; if anything, when Aegon realises Rhaenyra is opening up to Alicent again (thanks to the spies at Dragonstone) he'd probably shut his mother out of the small council. Currently, Alicent probably mentions things that happen in the small council to Rhaenyra without being asked, and that pipeline of information can be very useful (even if it's just supposedly mundane stuff a lot of the time, for instance grain shortages, or the threat of a plague).

Rhaenyra's figured out by now that her stony attitude keeps Aegon's attention fixed on her alone, to make her life a misery, but that lessens the attention that might fall on her boys (hunting down the Strongs, or taking away the two youngest). He hates her and she wants to keep reminding him of that so the others can go free.

I think she also is aware Aemond and Aegon aren't the bestest bros in all of Westeros (unlike Sunfyre and Aegon) so Rhaenyra could very well decide to sit back and wait for something to go down between them. If it does, she has two legitimate sons from Daemon who are still technically in the male line to the throne (Egg is currently 5th and Viserys is 6th, so it's really not that far considering how volatile dragon wars are and how suddenly infants can die - Jaehaerys is still at a very vulnerable age).

Despite it all, deep down, Rhaenyra knows Alicent better than anyone else currently alive (because how much does Otto truly know his own daughter when he can't even predict when she'll go against him). She still makes exceptions for her, decides that it isn't Alicent's choice to do this to her, that Alicent is still just the nervous, nail-biting, people-pleasing tender young girl she used to be. She's giving into the Stockholm to feel less lonely and return to the old warmth of her childhood companion that she used to know.

p.s. Alicent definitely chose to do all of this to her, to be a part of why Rhaenyra is currently in a cage, but that's the complex nature of the situation I suppose.

#the god of wine and rainbow lamps #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenicent

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poseidonsdaughterthesiren · 9 months ago

Text

The Daughter of Poseidon: Chapter Six

Della has to admit flying on a bronze dragon’s back is a surreal feeling. Up high the air is frigid. But thanks to the heat Festus generates they don’t feel it at all. Talk about seat warmers!

Leo uses reins to steer Festus through the clouds like a reindeer. They zip through the clouds with ease the rest of the world below is nothing but a speck.

“Cool right?” Leo says. A pleased smile coats his features.

“What if we get spotted?” asks Piper.

“The mist,” Jason and Della say at the same time. Jason smiles at her.

“It keeps mortals from seeing magic things,” Della explains, “Only seers will notice anything out of the ordinary.”

Her mind goes back to the memory of Luke. His poor mother–

“Seers?” asks Leo.

“Mortals who can see through the mist,” Jason answers.

Della glances back at him and notices he’s holding a photo of a girl, a girl with dark hair. Is that…Thaila?

Jason glances up at her. He sheepishly puts the photo back in his pocket.

“We’re making good time probably get there by tonight.”

“Get where?” Della asks. “I thought you didn’t have a plan.”

Jason laughs, “We’re going to find the god of the North Wind. And chase some storm spirits.”

⬳

The silence had begun to drive Della insane. Typically, when she and her friends went on quests they couldn’t shut up. Percy, in particular never shut up on their quests.

“So,” Piper says. Oh, thank the gods. “Della earlier you said you’re a cursed child…what exactly does that mean?”

Leo sat up straight at the head of the dragon. “You’re cursed?!?”

Della laughs dryly. “Sometimes I wonder, but being a cursed child means that you’re an offspring of the Big Three.”

“The Big Three?” Piper asks. “Do you mean, like Zeus, Hades, and–”

“Poseidon, yeah. They made a pack to not have kids. It’s a loose promise. Anyways, all three have broken it in recent years. We’re more forbidden than cursed.”

“So, are you, your brother, and Jason the only ones?” asks Leo.

“No there’s Nico Di Angelo a son of Hades, and Thalia Grace…she’s a daughter of Zeus but has taken up with the Hunters of Artemis.”

“So why did make a pact if they break it?” asks Piper.

“We’re considered ‘too powerful’ which is fair Percy can take on a whole army by himself, and I–we don’t fully know what all I can do yet.” Della looks down at her lap.

She’s always felt second best to Percy, especially after he took on the Curse of Achilles. She doesn’t understand all she can do. The only thing she does know is her fate, her usual nightmare. Meeting a similar end to Thesus. Being betrayed and thrown over a cliff–but instead of into the sea, it’s Asphodel. She’d seen it in person back when she was twelve, on her first quest.

Della shivers at the thought of the horrid place.

“Shut up me,” Leo says out of nowhere.

“What?” Piper asks.

“Nothing,” he says, “Long night. I think I’m hallucinating. It’s cool.”

Jason, Piper, and Della all share looks of concern.

“Just joking.” Leo decides to change the subject. “So what’s the plan bro? You said something about catching wind, breaking wind, or something?”

As they fly over New England, Jason lays out the game plan. First, find Boreas and grill him for information–

“His name is Boreas?” Leo has to ask. “What is he the God of Boring?”

Second, Jason continues, they have to find the spirits that attacked them at the Grand Canyon–

“Venti? Do you mean anemoi thuellai?” asks Della.

“Can we just call them storm spirits?” Leo asks, “Venti makes them sound like evil expresso drinks and the other one sounds harder.”

And third, Jason finishes, they had to find out who the storm spirits work for, so they could find Hera and free her.

“So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose?”

“That’s about it. Well…there might be a wolf involved too. I think she’s friendly…so she probably won’t eat us, unless we show her weakness–”

“I’m sorry…a wolf?” asks Della. She turns around and faces him.

Jason explains his dream of Lupa the murder-wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

“Uh-huh, but you don’t know where this place is?” asks Leo.

“Nope.”

“Lovely…” says Piper.

“Sounds about right for a forbidden child’s quest.” Della turns back towards the others.

“There are also giants, the prophecy said “The giants’ revenge” Piper reminds them.

“Hold on,” Leo says, “Giants? As in more than one? Why can’t it be one giant who wants revenge?”

“Too easy,” Della mutters.

“I don’t think so,” Piper muses, “I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants.”

“But they haven’t been seen for centuries, but then again neither had Kronos.”

“Great…knowing our luck it will be a whole army,” Leo says. “You learn anything else while doing research for your dad Pipes?”

“Your dad?” Della asks.

“Umm yeah, he’s an actor, Tristan McLean.” Piper mumbles.

“What was he in?” asks Della and Jason.

“I’m surprised Della doesn’t know.”

“Hmmm….oh wait…wait! Yes! He’s the Aphrodite’s cabin top pick this year!”

Piper sighs. “That’s why he’s on the wall in my cabin.”

“Yeah, they pick a new “hottie” every year.”

Piper looks about ready to heave off to the side.

Leo on the other hand cackles. “That’s the only reason you’ve heard of him?”

“I mean I vaguely remember the movie posters. But Percy, Beth, and I don’t go to movies very often.”

“You don’t go to movies?” Leo asks.

“Look I don’t go out very much in the mortal world unless I’m thirdwheeling.”

It was a sad truth, Della didn’t really go out that often. It just wasn’t her style. Of course, she’s been to movies over the past few years but is has always been with Annabeth and Percy. Mostly, because Percy drug her carcass out with them.

“Thirdwheeling?” The others ask.

Della sighs. “Not to change the subject, but I’m gonna….giants, we were discussing the giants.”

“The giants–well there were loads in Greek mythology. But if I’m thinking of the right ones they were bads news.

“Extremely bad news,” Della sighs. “They rose after Krono's first downfall–eons ago. They could throw mountains and things of that nature. Like the Titans, they too tried to destroy Olympus. If these are the same giants–”

“Chiron said it was happening again,” Jason says. “The last chapter–that’s what he meant. No wonder he didn’t want us to know all the details.”

Leo whistles. “So…giants who can throw mountains. A wolf-mother who will eat us if we show weakness. Evil Starbucks drinks. Got it. Maybe not the best time to bring up my psycho babysitter.”

“You’re joking,” Piper says.

Leo tells them about Tîa Callida, who was Hera, and how she’d appeared to him at camp. He fills them in on his past. How his mom died. And finally tells them about a woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep.

“That’s disturbing…” says Piper.

“Bout sums it up. The thing is everyone says not to trust Hera. And the prophecy says we’ll unleash death if we cause her rage. So… I gotta ask…why are we doing this?”

“Because the gods–she chose us,” Della sighs, “I will admit you guys have it a bit rougher than my first quest.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asks.

“You,” she points at Jason. “Have no memory. But I’m not that worried about your fighting ability. This is definitely not your first quest.” She looks over at Leo and Piper. “You two have absolutely no training. At least Percy and I had two weeks…then again we were twelve…”

“You were twelve?!?!” Piper and Leo say in disbelief.

“You only had two weeks of training?” asks Jason.

Della shrugs and smiles a bit. “ Zeus accused me and Percy of stealing his master bolt. Even though we didn’t know we were half-bloods.”

“Holy–how’re you alive?”

“Luck?” Della laughs. “Anyways the other reason we have to do this is–this quest will kick off something bigger. This is an antecedent.”

“And helping Hera is the only way to get back my memory. That dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding off Hera’s energy. If that thing unleashes a king of giants by destroying Hera–”

“Not a good trade-off,” Piper agrees. “At least Hera is on our side.”

“Mostly–she’s the peacekeeper. The only thing that keeps the gods from annihilating each other,” Della chimes in.

Jason nods, “Chiron said worse forces are stirring on the day of the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all–something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed that day. And a mistress who’s controlling storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all demigods–”

“Might be that weird sleeping dirt lady.” finishes Leo.

“If she’s asleep that means we have some time,” says Della.

“Yeah, Dirt Woman fully awake,” Leo says, “not something I want to see.”

“But who is she?” Jason asks, “And what does she have to do with the giants?”

Good questions, no answers. The wind blew colder the further north they went.

Della rubs her hands together to keep warm and then rubs at her eyes.

“Hey,” Jason leans forward, “get some sleep, Ariel. We need our guide.”

“I’ll take you up on that Hercules. You do the same,” she whispers.

She closes her eyes and dozes off.

#oc character #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #percy and annabeth #percyjacksonxsister!reader #jason grace x jackson!reader #fanfic #jason grace x reader

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yjano · 2 years ago

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All of me.

Part 8.

Pairing: Jake x Mc.

Warnings: slow burn, swearing, angst, a little fluff, smut, violence and other pairings.

Words: 5k

Author's note: Although this story is not related to the Duskwood game, I will add some of our beloved characters. Please read it only if you're into angst prison stories, slow burns, etc. A little hint: You will get to see some similarities to Jake and his gang from "Never The Same" fic.

Mc focus.

Chaos was the one and only word that could describe the situation right now. The girl behind the wheel turned corners like crazy, dodged whatever came across her path, and sped way above the speed limit. My whole body got thrown around in my seat, and I was pretty sure that a few nasty bruises would start to form on my arms in a few days.

The girl behind the wheel wasn't the only one who created complete chaos, though. The guy in the passenger seat was even worse. He kept screaming orders at the girl who was driving, while he kept looking in the side mirrors to inform the others inside the car about what was happening behind them.

Apparently, we were being chased by four police cars, and judging from the volume of the sirens, they were getting pretty close towards us.

"For fucks sake, drive faster Jessy!" The guy in the passenger seat screamed again and with a quick movement he turned around towards Jake and the others.

"I hope you still know how to shoot a gun, Jake, because we're gonna need you and Kaden to clean this mess up!"

Without a second thought, Jake turned towards Kaden, their eyes locking for a short moment while Kaden handed Jake a small handgun.

"Took you long enough, brother."

Jake snatched the gun from Kaden's hand and walked towards one of the windows.

"Shut up. I would have been out sooner if your girlfriend had worked a little faster, you know. It's not my fault that she-"

Kaden pushed Jake with a loud crash against the side of the window, bringing his face close towards Jake's ear.

"I give you two seconds to shut the fuck up before I lose it bro. Lex did everything she could and you have no right to blame all this on her. She worked her ass off while you were playing sleeping geauty inside those walls."

My eyes widened at the sight in front of me, my heart beating rapidly and my body shaking a little. Firstly, there were freaking guns inside their hands, and secondly, they were about to fight inside the car right in front of my face. Where had I thrown myself into, and who were these people?

A guy with dark red hair pushed himself between the two fighting guys, and within two seconds, both of them stood on opposite sides of the car.

"Stop this bullshit and release your anger on those cars that are chasing us instead of on each other!" The red-haired guy looked from one guy to another, fixing both of them in place with just one look. "Now!"

As if on cue, both guys rolled down the windows on their side of the car. Both of them readied their guns, and with a soft nod towards each other, the guys threw their head and arms outside the window. Shots could be heard almost immediately, and by the slight shake that I could see in Jake's body, I was pretty sure that the shots came from his gun.

I crawled a little further in my seat, everything but happy with the situation I was currently in. When Jake offered me the chance to escape, this wasn't what I had expected at all. My understanding of escaping was camping in the woods while staying away from the cops, something thoughtful while keeping a low profile. Being part of a real-life action movie wasn't in my plans at all, and I didn't like it one bit.

"Go, Jessy, go! You need to move faster!" The guy from the passenger seat yelled again, his vision darting between all the mirrors in the car and the ginger haired girl. The girl behind the wheel turned her face for a short second towards the passenger seat.

"God, Dan, shut up! I got this okay!" Her vision changed back towards the road, and she made another sharp turn to shake off the police cars.

My eyes darted through the car, and I could only scream for help at the sight in front of me. The girl behind the wheel I knew as Jessy kept driving like a complete lunatic while the dark browned haired guy next to her kept screaming her name to alert her of her surroundings.

Jake and the guy I knew as Kaden kept shooting on the cars behind us. The continuous shooting terrified me more than anything. I had never seen a real gun up close in my life, and now there were two being used to shoot the police cars chasing us right beside me.

In front of me was a small girl who kept typing away on her high-tech computer, fast breaths left her mouth, and her hands kept shaking. It was more than clear that besides me, this girl wasn't fond of the whole situation, too. The one who terrified me the most, though, was the last guy, the red-haired one.

Ever since the redhead had managed to stop Jake and Kaden from fighting, his eyes had fallen on me, making him the only one who was aware of my presence. The guy's eyes kept staring at me like I was some kind of enemy, and the whole scene made me more uncomfortable than ever. I felt like the guy was going to throw me out at any moment, and I wasn't ready for that scenario to happen at all.

"Jessy! Go faster they're closing on you!" Kaden suddenly yelled, and without any warning, Jessy turned the car 90 degrees, throwing everyone off their balance. My head and shoulder hit the side of the car with a huge smack.

Small tears started to form in my eyes from the sudden impact. A loud crash sounded from behind the car, and Kaden came shorty inside the car to reload his gun.

"One down! Three to go! Nice one, Jessy!" With lightning speed, Kaden reloaded his gun and threw his head and arms back out the window to shoot at the cars once more.

I didn't know what kind of road Jessy chose to turn on, but judging from the many bumps and shaking of the car it felt like Jessy had thrown the car into a meadow filled with unsteady ground. I pushed myself even further in my seat, hoping to stop my body from all the shaking that was starting to make me nauseous and hurt my body.

All this time, the red-haired guy still kept an eye on me while the girl in front of me kept typing like crazy on her laptop, both of them completely unbothered by the shaking and bumping.

"For fucks sake...Lex how much longer!?" Jake suddenly yelled while a second crash could be heard behind the vehicle.

"Hurry the fuck up girl!"

The girl I assumed was Lex typed even faster on her hightech laptop, little droplets of sweat dropping down from her head while her eyes darted over the numbers on the screen in front of her.

"Almost there, a few more seconds..."

Jake turned his head inside the car, anger radiating from every pore in his body.

"You take too much time Lex, hurry the fuck up you-"

Within a second, Kaden was back up in Jake's face, grabbing him by his collar and pushing him against the side of the car once again.

"Last warning, brother. Leave. Her. Alone." Kaden whispered dangerously low through his teeth, his eyes throwing daggers at the guy before him.

Both guys kept staring with eyes full of anger towards each other, both of them refusing to give up and admit defeat. Within an instant, the red-haired boy had ripped his eyes away from me and maneuvered himself between Jake and Kaden for a second time that day. He pushed Kaden away from Jake, breaking their eye contact.

"You two seriously need to stop this shit!" Dan yelled from the passenger seat while his eyes darted between the two males. He turned back around, and his eyes immediately blew up at the sight in his mirror.

"Oh my god baby, drive faster! They're getting closer."

Jessy turned her eyes towards Dan, and with a deep glare, she shut him up.

"For the last time, I got this. Stop ordering me around! I know what I'm doing, okay!?"

The tension in the air was almost unbearable, and it made the panic in my veins only higher. If the police cars didn't catch up to us, I was pretty sure that the people inside the car were going to be the death of me. There was no way I was gonna make it with people who preferred to fight against each other instead of teaming up against the cops.

I should have never gone with Jake. This whole idea was terrible from the beginning. I was pretty sure that I was going to die right there at the spot, and this was the end...

"It's done!" Lex suddenly yelled, and the whole car fell silent. Kaden and Jake crossed eyes again, and with a quick nod from Jake, Kaden started to smirk at Lex.

"Hit it blue!"

With a soft nod, Lex pushed a button on her laptop, and Jake, together with Kaden, threw their heads out of the window to look at whatever was going to happen outside.

One second passed by without anything happening. Two seconds passed by... Three seconds...Four sec- Boom!

A crash much more louder than the last two suddenly sounded through the car, and a huge smirk fell on the faces of the people inside the car. Both police cars had been blown up at the same time, creating a massive fire explosion that made it impossible for any following cars to chase after us anymore.

"Hell yeah! Nice one, blue! 10 out of 10, I would recommend you do that again!" Dan yelled, and a small smile fell on Lex's face.

Jake and Kaden got back in the car and started to high five every one of them. Everyone except for me. I was still sitting as far as possible in my seat in the corner of the car, completely forgotten by everyone except for the red-haired guy who threw suspicious glances at me once in a while.

I could only hope that these murderers had all forgotten about me and that I could run away from them as far as possible and as soon as possible.

My breathing had become uneven, and I looked with big eyes at the people before me. I saw how everybody started to high-five each other, celebrating their victory while still not noticing me.

"That was fucking awesome, well done Lex!" Dan yelled again while he sat back in his seat, throwing his head back and placing his feet on the dashboard in front of him.

Kaden and Jake both hung against the sides of the car, cleaning out their weapons to get rid of any form of dust or gunpowder. Lex closed her laptop and placed her head in her hands after, clearly stressed about the whole thing. Jessy slowed the pace of the car down, and with somewhat of a more normal speed, she drove away from the whole scene that happened behind us.

The redhead was a whole different story, though. He didn't seem bothered by the whole ordeal that just happened. He could only look at me with those soul piercing eyes of him. Eyes that freaked me out the longer they were on me and made me push myself even further in the seat I was currently occupying. A short silence fell over the car before Jake was the first to speak again.

"Dan, update me."

A smirk fell over Dan's face, and he slightly turned around so he could look at Jake.

"With pleasure." All eyes were immediately on Dan. "The business has been quite the same, still the same people and still the same problems. There were some changes, though..." Dan shortly fell silent.

"Uh guys-" Redhead started but got cut off immediately by Kaden.

"We arranged a huge deal with a weapon dealer. If everything has gone according to plan, the weapons should have arrived by now." Jake gave both guys a nod.

"Guys-" Redhead tried again, but again got cut off by Jessy.

"Thanks to Lex, we intercepted a huge cargo of cocaine that we used as trade for the weapon deal." Jessy amplified, creating a small smile on Lex's face.

"Guys, who is-" Redhead tried for a third time, but nobody seemed to listen to him.

"Nobody got badly wounded, some small cuts and stuff, but Jessy took care of it right after." Dan spoke again. "We've already planned out our next mission-" But before Dan could finish his next sentence, redhead suddenly yelled to get everybody's attention.

"Guys!"

The five people all turned their heads towards redhead, an irritated look on their faces.

"What do you want? This isn't the time for stupid questions, Sam." Kaden blurred at the redhead, his eyes squinted together and his lips in a fine line.

"I-I know that, but-" Sam stammered softly, clearly intimidated by the other five.

"For fucks sake get on with it!" Kaden now full on yelled and within an instant Sam had grabbed me by my arm, pushing me towards the middle of the car.

"Who the fuck is this!?"

The whole car fell silent, all eyes on me when I stood between them all. My eyes were big, my skin getting pale and my body shaking like a leaf. I felt like dying right at that moment, I had seen how dangerous these people were, and I felt everything except from safe now that I stood in between them all. These people were gonna murder me, and I was sure of it. There was no way I was getting out of this alive. There was-

Before I could even finish my thoughts, complete chaos erupted in the car. I heard how Dan started to yell at Jessy to watch out for a tree they were going to crash into due to Jessy sitting backward and looking at me. The car made a sharp turn to avoid the tree, Jessy started to yell back that Dan had to leave her alone and that she knew what she was doing.

Dan defended himself, and Jessy yelled back. The two kept going back and forward like an old married couple, completely ignoring what was in the back.

The back of the van was a whole different story, though. The moment Jessy had made the sharp turn to avoid the tree, Kaden had taken it upon himself to push me against the side of the car. His hand around my throat, his arm against my chest and his face right before mine.

I had tears dripping down my face, and my breathing had become to start even more uneven than it already was. My legs felt weak, but I had to keep myself up to prevent myself from being strangled by Kaden.

"Who are you? What do you want-" Kaden started, but he got ripped away by Jake almost instantly.

"Stop that, you fucking idiot!" Jake yelled at Kaden and he pushed him away from me. Without giving it a second thought I lunged myself at Jake, grabbing the front of his shirt for dear life.

Jake focus.

I immediately engulfed the girl in a hug, bringing her towards the seat next to Lex. I sat down with her in my lap and slowly stroked her through her hair to try to calm her down a little.

"What the fuck." Kaden whispered, looking at the two of us when we sat next to his own girlfriend.

"This..." I motioned to the girl in my lap while I looked at Kaden and the others. "This is Mc. She was my cellmate back in the prison, and I brought her with me. She can be useful." I slowly lifted Mc's head, wiping away the tears and turning her towards the others.

"You're okay. They won't hurt you while I'm here. Calm down." I whispered in her ear, and she slowly started to calm down by my words and my soft touch.

"And she is good for what exactly?" Kaden started out, giving Mc a foul look. I glared back at my brother and protectively placed my arms around Mc.

"She was studying to become a nurse. She could help Jessy out in the hospital."

Kaden suddenly started laughing, and Mc pushed herself even harder against me. Mc seemed to be more and more frightened of Kaden.

"You're joking, right? Do you want to put this one in the business? She looks like she couldn't even hurt a fly if you asked her to! Why the fuck was she even in that prison? Did she kill an ant or something!?"

I gave Kaden another glare, and I flipped him off instantly.

Mc focus.

I looked up at Kaden, knowing that if I wanted to impress the crazy guy, this would probably be my only chance. Murder was something to impress people with, right? Maybe by telling Kaden the reason why I was in prison, he would get somewhat frightened and leave me alone.

"I killed my sister." I whispered almost inaudible. The whole car fell silent, and a new wave of anxiety took over my body. Maybe this wasn't as good of an idea as I had first thought.

"You did what?" Kaden whispered back, his eyes squinted and his eyebrow raised.

"I killed my sister." I whispered a little louder, casting my eyes downward to avoid eye contact with the guy before me.

"You... You killed a person?" Kaden dragged out slowly, his voice filled with disbelief.

"Was your judge an idiot or something?This must be the joke of the century, right?"

I kept silent while Kaden, on the other hand, started to laugh again.

"They put you... A girl who started crying the moment I pushed you against a wall in a prison for killing a person?"

I gave him a small nod, and another set of laughs erupted from Kaden's mouth.

"You sure are a funny one, crying baby. But you didn't kill a person. You couldn't even kill an ant if I asked you with my gun against your head. What a fucking joke... Killing a person."

Jake tightened his arms around me, and he gave Kaden a stern glare.

"Shut the fuck up, leave her alone. It shouldn't even matter why she was there and why she is coming with us. This isn't your choice first of all, it's mine and I'm taking her with us! Deal with it!"

Kaden fell silent at that and with one last foul look he pushed past the people and took a seat next to Sam in the back, muttering something in the words of 'Unbelievable' and 'Idiot'.

Jessy on the other hand was a lot more enthusiastic about me, she immediately started to welcome me and tell me how she could use my help pretty badly at the moment, how she would show me around and how we would have lots of fun working together.

Dan, Lex, and Sam all kept silent, not knowing what to do with the whole situation. Bringing Jake back home was one thing, but bringing someone else with them was a whole other thing.

Jake softly started to whisper to me how there was nothing to be afraid of and that once we got home, he would make sure to give me some new clothes and a soft bed to sleep in. I could only softly nod at him.

I had no idea how long we drove in the car, but it felt like an eternity to me. The whole ride, everybody spoke about stuff I didn't understand, and all of them ignored me completely. Jake was the only person who said something once in a while, but even he had almost no attention for me.

The only thing that made me smile a little that whole ride was the fact that Lex had looked at me once while giving me a small smile. Just the fact that someone had actually noticed me had been enough for me to smile, even if it was just for two seconds.

I wasn't part of this group, and that feeling took me over more and more. I was a burden to them, and they didn't want me here. Jake had taken me out of spite, but not because he wanted to. I was alone in this, and I hated every last bit of it.

The car finally came to a hold, and within an instant, everybody except from me had jumped out of the car. I looked with big eyes at the exit of the car, not sure if I wanted to get out or not. Once I got out, there was no way back, and I was more than aware of that fact. Jake popped his head back in the car, and he reached out towards me.

"You coming? I promise you that nobody is gonna hurt you. There's nothing to be afraid of."

With some hesitation, I reached out towards Jake's hand, knowing that staying in the car by myself was also not an option. My whole body felt stiff and cold, I was shaking, and the color had drained from my face. I didn't like this one bit. With some difficulty, I got out of the car, still holding on to Jake's hand like my life depended on it.

"Welcome to our humble home." Jake whispered, and slowly, I looked up at the building before me.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I had expected a lot, but this wasn't on my list of options. An abandoned warehouse that looked like it was going to collapse in the middle of nowhere was definitely not on my list of options. The building looked terrible. Twigs of ivy surrounded one side of the building, huge patches of rust affected the metal windows and walls, and the rooftop had multiple holes it in.

The whole building looked unsteady and ready to break down at any moment. If I had come across this building any other day, I would for sure have marked it as one of those abandoned haunted houses you see in horror movies. It looked that bad.

I kept shaking like a leaf, the sight in front of me making it even worse than it already was. The others didn't seem fazed at all, though. Lex and Kaden walked a little bit in front of us. Kaden's arm thrown over Lex's shoulder, while Sam walked next to them and kept chatting about something random I didn't quite understand.

Dan and Jessy were a bit closer to me. The two of them stood a little to my right, still bickering about the car ride. Dan was still not happy with the fact that Jessy almost crashed into a tree while Jessy kept going about the fact that Dan didn't need to treat her like a child and that she knew what she was doing.

Jake grabbed my hand, and we slowly made our way over to the bickering couple, grabbing their attention immediately. He slowly rubbed his thumb a little over my hand to calm me down. I gave him a soft smile in the meantime.

"Jessica?" Jake started. "Could you show Mc around while I fix some business with Dan?"

My anxiety grew even more with that statement. The only person I somewhat trusted in here was going to leave me, too, and I didn't like that thought at all.

"Will you be okay with that, Mc?" Jake spoke again, but before I could shake my head and disagree with the idea. Jessy had already grabbed my hand and started to drag me to the building.

"Make sure to keep an eye on her the whole time, Jessica! Bring her to your chamber when you're done with the tour! I will pick her up there after I'm done!" Jake yelled after us before the both of us would be out of sight.

I looked a little panicked at the girl next to me, not trusting the situation at all. With a wide smile on her face, she dragged me inside the building, following the other three others with a little skip in her step.

"First thing, let's get some food before we start with this tour. I'm sure you're hungry, right?" She gave me another smile, and she tightened her grip on my hand.

"I'm Jessy, by the way, but I guess you've figured that out by now. Jake calls me Jessica, though, but please call me Jessy. I don't know why he brought you here, but I'm happy that he did. I could use some help in the hospital wing."

My anxiety reduced a little at that statement. Jessy didn't seem that scary on second thought. She had a very motherly vibe around herself, and she didn't look like someone who would bring any harm to me. To say I trusted her was a bridge too far, but I wasn't as frightened anymore. Jessy looked like a happy and caring girl, a vibe I could connect with easily.

The inside of the building looked somewhat better than the outside. It didn't feel like a home or something, but it didn't look that bad either. It was cold and empty looking, but contrary to the outside, it didn't look like it was gonna fall apart at any moment. We walked through three long hallways before we reached two big double doors with a lot of noise coming from behind them.

"This is the canteen. The food isn't that good, to be honest, but it keeps us alive." Jessy opened the doors, and the sight before me frightened me completely. There were about one hundred people sitting in groups on long straight tables. It looked like the prison all over again, and that fact alone made me hate it completely.

"It gets a little crowded over here every once in a while. Feel free to come by our apartment if you ever want to eat something more delicate and in peace. We usually eat apart from the crowds, and you're welcome to join us anytime, okay?"

I nodded softly at the girl beside me, still in shock about the sight in front of me.

"Does everybody have an apartment?" I asked, still eyeing the room before my eyes. Jessy started to chuckle, closing the doors and walking further into the hallway.

"I bet they wished they had, but no. Only the people who are close to Jake have their own. The others share rooms in little groups on the opposite side of the building."

I jogged after Jessy to catch back up with her. If there was one thing I didn't want right now. It would be losing Jessy and getting lost in here. The girl kept walking while giving me little bits of information about the building and the rooms we passed on our way.

Information I tried to memorise as best as I could. Jessy took a left before she opened another door, motioning me to walk inside before her.

"Welcome to my ward." Her voice sounded from behind me. A soft smile fell on my face. In front of me was a small hospital wing filled with stuff I knew from my days as a nursing student. On the left side were around twenty beds, none of them occupied at the moment.

White blankets are neatly thrown over them and small nightstands between every two beds. Compared to the rest of the building, the room looked neat and clean, almost too clean. Without knowing there was no way, you would guess that the building would hold such a nice room inside of it.

Jessy walked a little inside the room, pushing away some curtains to show me the whole room properly. Her action revealed a small desk in the middle of the room with two huge metal lockers behind it.

"This is where I work if I'm not busy with the patients. One of the lockers holds all my paperwork while the other holds everything you could possibly need around here. Medicins, operation tools, you name it, and it's probably there."

Jessy removed another curtain, revealing a white wall with a small window in it and a door.

"May I introduce you to my operation room?" Jessy opened the door and motioned me to follow her inside. With small steps, I made my way over to her, stepping through the door while Jessy turned on the lights.

My eyes widened immediately at the sight, in front of me was, in fact, a small operation room. It's just big enough to do any kind of operation that didn't need too many people.

"I'm glad Jake took you with him, you know. I was dying to finally get some help around here." Jessy put her hand on my shoulder and walked back inside the bigger room.

"It gets a little lonely in here sometimes, but I'm sure that won't be much of a problem anymore now that there are two of us." A small smile fell on both of our faces. Jessy closed all the curtains back up, and with another motion of her hand, she took me back into the hallway.

Jessy showed me everything we came across on our path, telling little stories on the way about funny things that happened in certain places. It didn't take us long to reach the hallway filled with private rooms, as Jessy called them while she led me to her own. She opened the door for me, and a soft gasp left my mouth.

"Welcome to my and Dan's apartment. I hope you like it."

I could only look around myself, taking in the beauty before my eyes. Completely agreeing with the fact that I indeed liked it.

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood family #duskwood fandom #jake x mc #mc and jake #duskwood fanfiction #everybyte studio

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sawyerquinnbrown · 1 year ago

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Poltergeists, Et Cetera: Chapter One

When Frankie came in with the gremlin, Joey was finishing up re-reading his favorite Company Manual, ‘Magical Denizens of the Midwest.’ Dismayed at the interruption, Joey tucked a hand under the back of his dreadlocks and rubbed at his neck.

Frankie’s short, black hair was falling out of its tight ponytail and wisps of it lay against the light brown skin of her face and neck. “Brought you a present,” announced Frankie in her New Zealand accent, shoving the protesting, handcuffed gremlin ahead of her into the back room. The little creature was human-shaped but about half-size, and a lurid green.

“So nice of you,” said Joey quietly, wrinkling his nose. The gremlin brought with it a stench of B.O. mixed with sulfur that immediately spread through the small room. Joey glanced nervously at the many reference books lining the walls, hoping the paper wouldn’t absorb the unpleasant smell. “Why is it here?”

Frankie admonished, “Speak up, bro. I can never hear you when you talk.”

“Why is it here?” repeated Joey patiently.

A heavy Chicago accent came through the open doorway. “We couldn’t categorize it.” Hanging up his bow and quiver on the wall, Mac pushed gray bangs back over his pale forehead and blew out a breath. The grin he flashed at Joey briefly rearranged the wrinkles on his face. “Needed your expertise.”

The gremlin gave a loud grunt. Green goo sprayed from all the pores left uncovered by its clothing, spattering the run-down furniture and bookshelves with a wet splork.

“What the hell!” Joey threw himself over the open book on the desk a fraction of a second too late. He sat up again, grimacing, green goo on the front of his shirt.

“Yeah, it’s been doing that,” said Frankie as if remarking on a mildly concerning sound her car had been making. “So what kind is it?”

Pulling a handful of tissues from the tissue box in his desk drawer, Joey wiped at the goo, first swiping at his face then dabbing at his clothes. The green yuck almost seemed to glow against his dark skin. It also looked as if it would further stain his already-stained shirt. Joey sighed. “Gremlin type 3,” he finally answered. In the corner Mac was using a pocket handkerchief to mop up his arms and face.

“Nuh-uh!” protested the gremlin in a nasal voice. “I’m at least a type 2. Probably higher quality. Probably a type 1.”

Frankie shook the gremlin by its handcuffed wrists. “You’re welcome to shut up any time, buddy.”

“Found it in this guy’s backyard tearing up his patio set.” Mac crossed the room to the filing cabinet and opened a drawer, thumbing through the papers within. “It killed a dog.”

“It’s a type 3,” Joey told Mac, who’d pulled out a form and started scribbling on it with a pen from Joey’s desk. “You can tell because of the shorter snout, and types 1 and 2 have exposed teeth. Can you put it in a Box, please?” he complained to Frankie. “Protect my books.”

“I got it,” said Mac, handing the form to Joey. Grabbing the gremlin’s handcuffs from Frankie, he dragged it into his office to Box it up so they could ship it to Home Office.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Frankie once Mac and the gremlin had gone. She flopped into an ancient armchair and fumbled with the sheathed machete on her belt. “Tissues?”

Joey offered her the box, and she pulled some out to wipe down the machete’s handle and sheath. Always the machete. Never mind her clothes, which Joey now observed were spattered with several older splotches of slime. “It’s fine,” he mumbled, sitting back down and pulling the partially finished form toward him.

“Gotta clean the van, too. Reckon we should hire a cleaning service?”

Joey was focusing on filling out the form with the usual information. Contents of Box: Gremlin Type 3. Captured by:…

“Was it you or Mac who caught it?”

“I caught it.”

“Cool.” Joey bent to write this. On paperwork Frankie was identified by her birth name, ‘Airini’. Seven years prior she’d been introduced to Joey as ‘Frankie’ . He had only found out later that her real name was Māori. He’d always wanted to ask why ‘Frankie’, which seemed to have no relation to her real name, but Frankie was honestly a little scary so Joey kept his questions to himself.

“Job would’ve been easier if Shay had still been around,” said Frankie, and Joey looked up to see her frowning at her backup knife, also newly cleaned of goo. “We needed a Spy to keep a lookout for the house owner. Dude kept getting in the way when we were trying to take the critter down. Almost got hurt.”

“Yeah,” he agreed softly. They mostly didn’t talk about what had happened to Shay. It had been a grisly business with a rogue phoenix; a vampire had been keeping the phoenix as a pet, but they really were wild animals, not suited to captivity. Shay had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, the bird had panicked, and when phoenixes panic, fire is generally involved. Before Shay had left the burn unit, he’d handed in his resignation.

Their jobs were dangerous; they all knew that. Joey was just glad that he was the Researcher—he’d never been in the field, and never wanted to be. Left to his books, he’d be happy, thank you very much.

Frankie crossed to sit on the desk, facing away from Joey, and Joey grumbled a quiet complaint as she sat on one of his open books. She barely took up any of the desk space. Sometimes he forgot how small Frankie was compared to him. She seemed to dominate every space she inhabited. But then occasionally, like right now, something would make her pull into herself and Joey felt like the giant he really was next to her: his 6’2” bulky frame next to her 5’3” wiry muscled one.

While Frankie projected an aura of immense size, Joey did everything he could to make himself seem small. He had always been big for his age, mistaken for an adult even as young as 13, and early on developed the habit of slouching to appear shorter, much to his parents’ dismay. It helped that he’d always been bookish and quiet—he tended to fade into the background, hiding in quiet nooks in the back of the library.

“I miss him,” admitted Joey, referring to Shay, and Frankie nodded, silent for once. “I’ll ask Mac if we’re getting a new Spy.” Frankie nodded again.

A crash came from the direction of Mac’s office. Joey and Frankie met eyes, and she said, “You go. I’ll start cleanup out here.”

“No chemicals,” said Joey. “Only water. And only on the outsides of the books. And gently,” he insisted, and Frankie waved a dismissive hand as Joey crossed to Mac’s office door.

When he peeked around the door frame, he saw Mac still wrangling with the gremlin, which had managed to slip loose from his hold and prop itself up in a corner of the ceiling. There was a fresh spatter of goo on the walls. Mac had a broom in the air and poked at the gremlin with it, trying to dislodge it from the ceiling, to which it was suctioned by the surfaces of its hands and feet.

“How can I help?” said Joey, trying not to panic, and Mac glanced over at him.

“Box.”

“Right.” Joey grabbed one of the devices from the top of the shelves against the wall. He’d never used one before but he knew the basic idea. The metal Box was warm in his hand from the magic that powered its insides. It was dwarfed by Joey’s hands, and he fumbled with it for a minute before finding the catch that would open it. A bright light shone out of it where the four triangles that made up the side of the Box had popped open.

“Boooo,” complained the gremlin. With shaking hands, Joey angled the light toward the gremlin, stepping closer but holding the Box as far away from himself as possible. The Box vibrated against his fingers as it drew the gremlin into it, and though the process itself was silent, Joey imagined he could hear a slurping noise, as though the Box was sipping the gremlin through a straw. The gremlin’s distorted, stretched features quickly disappeared into the Box, which snapped itself shut and grew even warmer in Joey’s hands.

Joey turned the Box this way and that, squinting at it. “Weird.”

“Give it here,” said Mac, and Joey handed the Box over. Mac tucked it into a regular cardboard box with several Boxes already stacked inside from previous gigs, then settled himself in his desk chair, exhausted. “Thanks, kid. Getting a little long in the tooth for this job.”

“Frankie wants me to ask if we’re getting a new Spy.”

“Fax just came through, let me check if it’s that. I sent in a request three weeks ago already.”

That made sense. “Home Office?” asked Joey.

Raising his eyebrows, Mac gave him an amused look. “Home Office,” he agreed. Mac made grabby hands at the fax machine in the corner and Joey retrieved the papers for him. Examining them, Mac said, “Yeah, we’re getting a Spy. Coming in Friday.”

“Who are they?”

“Just gives a name, ‘Indira Khatun’. Ugh, they always do this. I’ll have to send in a request for her personnel file. Again. Hey, can you do me a favor and send my order in to the deli? My usual.”

Mac’s ‘usual’ was a bologna sandwich with brown mustard and banana peppers. He usually asked Joey to send in the orders for the deli because Mac himself was uncomfortable with modern technology. The computer in his office hadn’t been replaced since 2004; it was still running Windows Vista, which Mac swore by. Joey had decided not to judge him.

“Sure, Mac,” said Joey, and turned to go.

“After that you can take off. Don’t worry about the paperwork for tonight. You can finish it tomorrow.” Back out of Mac’s office into the back room, where Frankie was just finishing a haphazard job of wiping down the spines of the books. Contrary to instructions, she was using all-purpose cleaner. Joey sighed and reached for the paper towels.

---

This is a chapter from my new web novel, Poltergeists, Et Cetera, which can be found HERE. If you enjoyed, I sure would love it if you would come read subsequent chapters, leave a comment, subscribe, reblog this post, follow this blog, etc.

Joey Wilson is a member of the Chicago chapter of a nationwide organization of ‘fixers’—people who handle supernatural problems for a fee. Joey is quite happy as a Researcher, staying behind in headquarters to classify creatures and do paperwork, but orders come from on high that he’s to step out of his office and into the field. At the same time a new person joins their team: a handsome and mysterious magic-user named Caden. Can Joey find a way past his fears to succeed on missions and impress Caden? And what’s with this rash of disappearing magical artifacts in Chicago?

#chicago #writing #fantasy #modern fantasy #original work #comedy #supernatural

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little-mouse-adventures · 4 months ago

Note

Character asks: Maia - 12; Felix Harrowgate - 31; Butler - 17 and 35 please :D

12. Crack headcanon (Maia)

Boy's tall. Idk if that's canon or not, or how much of a crack headcanon it is, but like. His grandfather apparently towered over everyone, and I think it would be funny if Maia also becomes incredibly tall and no one really notices. He's still very quiet and polite and shy, so he just kind of looks like an awkward and adorable beanpole and no one thinks much of it. And then one day he goes full Edrahasivar VII and just dominates the entire room. Suddenly everyone is very aware that their Emperor is at Hozier-levels of tallness, and can very easily look down on damn near anyone he pleases. (After Maia is done putting the fear of the gods into whomever irritated him, he looks around and everyone is staring at him wide-eyed, suddenly remembering that this is the Emperor and not just some stand-in, and Maia has no idea how to react except to very politely ask Csevet to fetch everyone some calming tea)

31. If the had a tumblr what would it look like? (Felix Harrowgate)

Oh god. At first, before the events of the series, it's a collection of holier-than-thou vagueposts and long essays about obscure magical texts, and some length arguments about how wrong some of those texts are. Occasional vanity selfies, the kind where he pretends it wasn't a selfie and was just a casual picture someone happened to take of his best angle, while he was wearing his best jacket and had his hair just so.

Then shit goes down for him, and while he doesn't use tumblr much during his bout of madness, the few times he does it's to post borderline incomprehensible ramblings about the animal heads around him and what that means and the fantome in the tower and other such things, that those who followed him are all like. "Uh. you good, bro?" (he doesn't answer and disappears for another three months before his next post about the ghosts in the maze).

After the Troia adventure, there's a lot of the same kind of long-winded magical essays and arguments, but now they've shifted from being obscure topics to being slightly taboo topics. Lots of aesthetic pictures where he wonders if anyone else can see the ghosts or the noirance, and people start to think he's trolling.

In exile, again, long bout of ghosting. When he starts posting again, it consists of a lot of aesthetic pics of foxes and the Corambis countryside. There's yet more magical essays (he cannot shut up for the life of him) but they're not nearly as aggressive now, and seem more like someone wanting to share cool information rather than prove how much better and smarter he is than everyone else.

He's blocked anything to do with rubies.

17. Quotes, songs, poems, etc. that I associate with them (Butler)

Honestly it really depends on what AU/ fic I'm fixating on. There's not really a hard-and-fast "oh yes this is The Blorbo through-and-through!" thing for him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

35. Their idea of a perfect day (Butler)

April 25, not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket

Sorry. Anyways. Early morning, bit of time to himself to enjoy his coffee while he makes plans for the day. Bit of work to keep the mind occupied, interspersed with some cooking or gardening (or both, getting veggies from the garden to cook with). Someone decides to fuck around with his Principal in the afternoon, so he has a chance to be threatening and punch someone and generally engage in his dramatic side, but nothing that involves actual physical harm to his charge or himself. Then some meditation to calm down, and a chance to read his book before bed.

#domovoi butler #the goblin emperor #doctrine of labyrinths #felix harrowgate #thanks for the ask!#this got loooong. love rambling about my fictional faves <3

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delayed-affection · 2 years ago

Text

Chapter four

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So there's a moment in every kids life when you feel like anything's possible. When you feel like you've got the total mojo. You could, I don't know, free climb El Captain, land on Mars, or, uh... get elected president.

The whole world's there for the taking if you've got the sack to go for it. And then, when you least expect it, some Kook shows up and tells you there's no eternal mystery.

And then all that talk about free climbing and Mars and the president... bullshit. Magic gets cancer and dies.

•

John b sighs, "It's not there. Look, just- just pull the drone up."

Thunder claps in the distance.

"Look, we can do another pass." Pope assures, "Recharge the battery. We can- we can go back down."

Y/n agrees, "Yeah, we can give it another go."

"We've been through it three times." JJ shouts, "There's nothing there."

"Shut up!" Kie yells at him

"What? It's true!" He argues

"The gold could be buried. We don't know." She theorizes

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" John b exclaims, "Somebody beat us to it."

"Or it was never there." JJ grumbles

With their hopes and dreams being washed away they head back.

•

John b walks into the chateau and is greeted with an woman's voice, "Hey, buddy."

He stops in his tracks and finds a social worker sitting on his couch, "You know, Cheryl, it's kind of a bad time for a check in."

She watches him drop his stuff, "Not a check in. We're here to take you."

He folds his arms, "Today? Really?"

"It's just for a few weeks until your hearing." She informs

He rubs his forehead, "No, no, no. Cheryl, look, I'm not going into foster care, okay? I'm not gonna be a part of your little system."

A radio beeps behind him.

"John B, this is Deputy Thomas." She tells him, "He works with juveniles for the sheriff's department."

John b moves away from the officer.

"Look, I know Uncle T is down in Mississippi working at a casino." She confesses, "He hasn't been here in months."

John b scoffs, "What?"

He tries to make a run for it but Thomas scares him.

John b points at him, "No, see, that's my nightmare right there. Look, I- I- I want emancipation."

"Emancipation from who?" She asks, "There's nobody here but you."

"Uh... asylum, then." He corrects

"On what grounds?" She questions

"On- on solid grounds. On holy grounds." He replies, "Look, I feel real- real prosecuted right now by you and... especially Mr. Big Head over here."

He looks over at the officer, "What are you lookin' at, bro? What're you gonna do? You gonna tase me?"

John b decides to try his luck again, rushing towards the table. It's him and officer Thomas at either side.

"John!" Cheryl exclaims

Thomas chuckles, "oh, yeah, you wanna dance, huh?"

John b tries to juke him out but he pushes the table out of the way and grabs him.

"I didn't do anything!" John cries trying to shake free, "Cheryl, get your dog off!"

"That's enough!" She yells

John b sits on the floor with Thomas still holding him, "Okay, okay, okay, okay."

Cheryl looks down at him, "Relax, John."

"I give up." He mumbles

Thomas let's go of him and stands up.

John B gets up and starts throwing things into a bag, grabbing a picture of his dad he walks of to Cheryl.

He holds the picture up to her, "You see this, Cheryl? Do you know who this is? Yeah, it's my dad. And do you know what he wanted? He wanted me to stay here, at home, and now you're taking me away from home. Do you understand that?"

She shows zero empathy, "It's the law, John b."

He picks up his bag and scoffs, "The law."

Before he knows it he's sitting in the back of a sheriff's van waiting to get shipped off to the mainland.

He looks at the picture of his dad and an idea arises. He lets the picture slip from hands and out the window.

He pretends to panic, "No, no, stop, stop, stop. Please stop! My picture! It's the last picture of my dad. Please."

"Not gonna happen, kid." Thomas replies

"Come on, Cheryl. Just stop the car." He pleads, "Please. That's all I have left."

"Pull over." She instructs

Thomas looks at her, "You want me to pull over?"

"Just pull over." She says clearly fed up with everything.

"Thank you." John b voices

Thomas gets out the car to go find the missing picture.

John watches him walk away, "Cheryl, can I help him look? Please?"

"He's got it." She assures

Thomas looks over at the van and shrugs.

"Look at this idiot." He complains, "He's not even looking in the right place. It's gonna get trashed. Cheryl, please. It's my final keepsake of my dad. Are you really gonna let that happen? Please. I'm begging you."

She shakes her head but unlocks the doors, "Make it quick."

"Yes ma'am." He says taking off his seatbelt, "Thanks, Cheryl."

He grabs his bag and opens the door, "Later, Thomas."

He laughs as he makes a run for it.

Cheryl gets out of the car, "Thomas!"

John b dashes across the street causing on coming cars to honk at him. He hops a gate, getting quite the head start on this chase.

He stops when he sees someone he knows, "Hey, what's up, Jorge?"

"What's up, bro?" He replies

John b points off into the distance, "Hey, look, there's a snow leopard."

When he looks away John snatches his bike, "Sorry, bro."

"Yo, man! What the hell?" He yells

John hops on, "I'll give it back. I promise."

He tries to catch up, "You better!"

"I swear. I'll leave it at the park."

He watches as he rides off on his bike, "Come on, dude."

John b cuts corners and finds a ramp, "Look out, you guys! Comin' in hot!"

The two kids move out his way.

•

So there's an old saying about hitting a big jump. When hucking, it's safer when you commit. Which, like in a lot of commonly accepted wisdom...

•

He lands the jump and yells, "Stay in school, kids!"

When he looks back at he almost hits someone.

"Hey!" They exclaim

•

...is bullshit.

•

He has no where to go and is met with chained off path way. The bike slams into the chain sending him flying off.

Sarah witnesses it and comes running over, "Dude!"

"Who put the chain there?" He groans

"Did you just yeet over that chain?" She asks, "Oh, my god. Holy shit, your shit."

She kneels down next to him and pulls up his shirt.

She gasps seeing a cut, "Okay. That's not good at all."

He sits up, "Yeah, that's not ideal. He could you take me to the hospital?"

"Right now?" She questions

He looks over into the distance, "Yeah, right now. That'd be fantastic."

She lends him her hand, "Okay, well, you have to get up."

They safely make it to her car and John b immediately lays the chair back.

"Hey, do you- do you see a car?" He asks, "Like a- like a cop suv? Blue and white, maybe?"

She looks out her window just as it drives by, "Yes, there is a blue and white cop suv."

"Shit." He whispers, "Do you see a guy with no neck?"

She watches as two people leave the vehicle, "There is a guy. He, in fact, does not have a neck. There's a woman with him."

"What are- what are they doing?" He asks

"They're... um..." she trails backing out, "just..."

"Can you- can you just go, please?" He begs

"That's- that's what I'm doing." She tells him, "They're stopped at the dead bike."

She drives off, "Why are the cops after you? What, did you do rob a bank?"

He looks out the back window, "You know, it's probably better if you didn't know."

She shoots him a look, "What are you, like, a fugitive, John b?"

He tries to steady his breathing, "I don't know, more like a refugee or something. Hey, you know what? Don't take me to the hospital. Just take a left, please. I gotta do something."

She takes the left and John b gets out of the car. In the road lies the picture that started all of this. He quickly picks it up and gets back in the car.

"Hit it, Sancho." He tells her, "Come on, come on, come on."

•

"Boat like this don't just sink, Dr. Thornton." A man informs as Toppers boat is lifted out of the water.

"How much is this gonna cost me?" She asks

"Ah, submerged 24 hours, you're lookin' at 25, 30k." He answers

"And insures won't cover it?" She queries

He chuckles, "No. Not for operational error. Plug wasn't in there."

Topper can feel the deathly glare from his mother, "Well, why- why you lookin' at me?"

"Why do you think?" She asks

"I did not forget to put the plug in, Mom. It's been sitting in the water a week."

"I thought that when you turned 16, you'd take a little more responsibility for you actions." She growls

"Mom, I did not do this! Are you kidding me?" You think I'm that stupid? Why is this my fault?" He questions

"Because it usually is." She claims

She sighs and walks away.

•

Topper does pulls up while complaining to Rafe and Kelce about his problems, "My mom thinks I did it... even though there's no way I could've. I mean how?"

He gets off the bar, "It's always my fault, no matter what. She just- she just wants me to be this little robot that- that just checks her boxes. You know what I mean? SAT prep? Oh, check. Serving food at the shelter? Check."

He continues to complain, "I mean, I do/ I literally do everything she wants, and I'm sick of it."

Rafe stops his deadlifts, "Well, we know who did it, right?"

Kelce drops his dumbbells, "It was that little geek Pope."

"Pope, yeah." Topper replies, "Rafe, if you wouldn't have jumped him on the golf course, I'd still have a boat, right?"

"Sorry if I, uh... had your back after some Pogue put a- put a gun to your head." He states, "Listen, man, I am not the enemy here. Am I the enemy here? I'm not the enemy."

"No." Kelce quickly answers

Rafe grabs Topper, "I didn't sink the boat. Pope did. And you need to force him to take some personal responsibility, bro."

"Bro, he sank the boat, all right?" Kelce chimes, "That shit can't stand."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Rafe asks

He shrugs, "What are you gonna do about Y/n?"

"Yeah, because from what you told me, she dropped you." Kelce comments

Rafe glares at him making him back track.

"I mean she caught you offer guard." He says, "So what are you gonna do?"

Rafe strokes his chin, "I'll just have to remind her of where she belongs."

•

Sarah drives up to her house, "We've gotta clean that wound."

"No. Nope." John b replies, "Sarah, I- I cannot be here."

"Okay, well, you have to trust me." She states

"Yeah, I did that one time already." He argues

"Okay, we've already been through this." She says unbuckling her seatbelt, "I didn't rat you out, okay? So suck it up, buttercup."

John b follows her up to the house, "Hey. Hey, I don't think your old man would be happy if an ex employee was bleeding all over his house."

She shushes him, "So don't bleed."

As soon a she opens the door Wards voice can be heard. She pushes him into one of the connecting rooms.

Ward comes down the stairs and sees Sarah standing in the doorway.

"Hi!" She greets

"What are you doing?" He asks pulling his phone away from his ear.

"Well, what do you mean?"

He points to the door, "Shut the door. Come on, sweetie."

He walks out the door, closing it behind him.

Sarah grabs John and they book it up stairs.

"Go in here. Sit down. I'll be right back." She commands shutting the door to the study room.

"Whoa." John b says looking around.

Sarah quickly comes back with the supplies, "Okay. Lift up your shirt."

He sits down on the couch and groans lifting up the side of his shirt.

She sits down next to him opening the first aid, "That's going to be disinfected."

He looks at the bottle next to her, "Wait, is that rubbing alcohol?"

She nods, "Yes. It's the only way to be safe. Okay, close your eyes."

She douses a cotton ball with the alcohol, "On the count of three."

He sits back trying to prepare himself.

She holds it over the cut, "Ready? One, two..."

She doesn't say three and just the cotton ball down on his cut.

He screams in reaction from the burning.

She covers his mouth with her hand, "Shh! Are you kidding me? My god."

He quietly apologizes when she pulls away her hand.

"Never heard anyone whine like that before." She quips rubbing down his cut.

He smacks her hand, "Stop."

"Excuse you." She scolds

"Sorry. Sorry." He whispers tensing up, "Who, uh... who's the dude on the wall?"

She glances over at the painting, "Oh, it's Denmark Tanny, founder of Tannyhill."

He lets go of the breath his been holding, "Founder?"

"Mm-hm." She hums

"So, how did a slave found a cotton plantation?" He questions

"He was a free man." She answers dressing his wound, "He's kind of a mystery. He showed up out of no where and paid for all of the land around here in gold."

This peaks his interest, "In gold?"

He gets up and walks over to the painting.

"Hey, wh- I'm not finished, Sancho." She chides

He pulls the map out from his bag, "Denmark Tanny. I- I recognize that name. He- he was on the Royal merchant. But there were no survivors."

He turns around to come face to face with Sarah, "Hey, what else do you know about this guy?"

"Uh, when we first moved in, we found a diary, an almanac, a bunch of paper." She answers finish her work on him, "Ward donated all of it to the state archives at Chapel Hill."

"Can I go see that?" He asks

"See what?" She questions

"The- the archives." He replies, "I need- I need to see them."

She packs everything back into the kit, "I mean, I can get you in if you want. He's got a trustee pass."

He points at her, "Yeah, yeah. I need that."

She looks up at him, "To Chapel Hill?"

He nods, "Yes. Right now."

She stands up straight, "Why now?"

"I... I can't tell you that." He states

"More fugitive stuff?" She questions

"Uh... fugitive adjacent, sort of. It's, um... it's a matter of national security." He claims

She leans over the table separating them, "I've just waited my entire life for someone to say that to me."

He runs his hand through his hair, "Look- god. I know this sounds crazy, but I really need to borrow that pass. The less you know, the better. Okay? You just- you gotta trust me."

She shakes her head, "No. I don't trust anyone. Especially not with a trustee pass."

"I need to go now." He tells her

She shrugs, "Okay, then I'm coming with you."

"No." He says

"Yes." She declares walking up to him, "One last mission, and then I'm out of this dirty, dirty game."

She slaps his wound making him groan.

"Come on. Let's go." She tells him.

•

Pope looks over his shoulder to spot Topper watching him from his car. Topper and Rafe carry looks that could kill.

Pope quickly makes his way back into his dads shop, scared and worried about what they might do.

•

JJ takes shots at a teddy bear, wanting to get his practice in with the gun.

Pope power walks over to them, "JJ!"

JJ continues to be off in his own little world, "What was that? That's what I thought, man."

"JJ!" He yells

He takes off his headphones, "What?"

"They know." Pope voices

JJ walks over to Pope, "All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit."

"Topper know I sunk his boat." He says

"How do you know they know?" JJ asks

Pope starts to pace, "Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Hayward's and mad dogged me."

"Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit." JJ assures

Pope feels like pulling out his hair, "They have cameras. They could've seen me."

"There was no power." JJ reminds, "How could they have seen you?"

"It's Figure Eight. They got generators." He barks, "They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript."

"Enough with the regret, bro!" JJ shouts, "They caved your face in. They hit us, we hit them. It's the law of the jungle. Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walks up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..."

Pope finishes his sentence, "Deny the living shit out it."

"That's right. Deny, deny, deny." He says, "But just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection."

JJ points over to the gun, "Right?"

•

Officer Shoupe walks into Peterkins office, "I got a few things to show you. I should close the door."

He shuts it, "I've been doing a little investigative work. A little recon on my own time."

"It that so?" She asks

"Uh-huh." He answers setting a file down on her desk, "I found this in Scooter Grubbs' motel room."

She pulls out a picture.

"That is the Royal Merchant." He informs, "At least, it looks like it. Now, I didn't know what to make of it, then, those two mainlanders turned up in the gill net."

He tosses some more papers on her desk, "That was in their truck beneath the seat."

She picks up a layout of the boat, "Three people lookin' for the Merchant drowned. Okay. One was a drunk fool, the others were from off. Didn't know the currents."

He takes back the papers, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Until this washed up. Murder was the case that they gave me."

She looks down at yet another file.

"Coroner's report." He states, "When was the last time you had a homicide?"

"A long time." She replies

He looks down at the photos of the men, "I mean, who in God's name could do that to a person."

She looks at a mugshot, "This is the guy that chased John b through town."

"Cheryl said he bolted when she went to pick him up for DCS. Jumped out of a squad car. Maybe the kid's stepped up to the big leagues." He tells her

She closes the file, "Okay. Good job."

•

John b and Sarah rush over to the leaving boat, "Hey, excuse me, sir? Wait, wait. Are you sold out?"

"You aren't the only ones trying to get off the island." He says walking away.

John b slams his hands on the booth, "God damn it. Oh, shit."

He looks around and then grabs Sarah's arm, "Hey, follow me. Hey, so, have you ever been on a tugboat?"

"A what?" She asks, "You're not serious."

"Look, we just gotta talk our way onto this barge." He says, "I got this. These are my people. Just wait."

He clears his throat walking over to a man leaving Sarah behind, "Hey, Cap! So, question for you... Um... look, me and my sister really need to get on this boat, man. Can we hop on?"

The man shakes his head, "No."

"Just- just help a brother out." He pleads

"Can’t do it." He says

John b walks away, "Thanks for nothing."

Sarah smile, "So..."

He tugs on the straps of his backpack, "Um... So... they're booked."

She puts her hands on her hips, "Who? Your, uh... your- your people?"

He rolls his eyes, "What, you got a better idea?"

She bumps his shoulder walking past him, she grabs a yellow jacket and then pulls him towards another.

"Okay now grab a tank." She says

They swiftly make it onto the boat and try to not to be seen heading further down the boat.

A man can be heard close by, "Gotta go down to the engine room."

John b pulls her into a room and the man can be heard walking by. The boat jerks making them grab each other to keep them steady.

"We're moving." She says giving him a high five.

•

JJ, Pope, Kie, and y/n try to find a place to sit at the park.

"I'm so glad that they're still doing this." Kie comments, "Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life."

"How it should be." Y/n chimes

"Exactly." She replies, "Aren't you guys glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic." Pope says clearly not happy.

JJ fixes his hat, "My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest."

"We're out of the green zone, man." Pope whispers to JJ.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" He mumbles

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be." He argues

"Shut up, pope." He says through teeth.

"You didn't have to come, you know?" Y/n reminds, thinking they're just in a bad mood.

"It would have been suspicious if I didn't come." He claims

"Why would that be suspicious?" She wonders

He remembers that she doesn't know, "Nevermind, I'm being stupid."

Kie walks up to the concession stand, "Hey, uh... can I get two Pepsis, please?"

"Hey, Kie." Rafe calls out walking over, "Hey, what's up? How are you?"

She looks at him taking notice of a cut by his eye, "I'm fine."

"Good, good." He nods, "Um... Tell your boy we know what he did."

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" She asks

"Uh, he'll know." He assures

She gives him a dirty look and grabs her drinks.

"And tell y/n I'll see her soon." He adds

She walks away not caring as to what he has say, "Douche."

She makes it back to the group, "Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?"

Pope gives JJ a worried look.

She sits down, "Also, y/n, don't tell me you fucking him."

Her face fills with disgust, "Ew, no, what the fuck? Why?"

"He said that he would see you soon, so..."

"Where is he?" JJ asks

She turns, "Right there."

They all turn around to see Rafe, Topper, and Kelce standing a couple yards away.

"Great the whole death squad." Pope panics

JJ grabs Popes head making him turn back, "Stop staring. Just warning you, bro. If the corner me, I'm coming out swinging. Slice and dicin'. I'm on the edge right now. If that doesn't work, I got this right here."

"Yeah, yeah." Pope says, "So, we just gotta stay in a group. They can't come get us in the group."

"Like a school of fish." JJ chimes

"Stay in the school." Pope stresses, "Can't leave the school."

"I'm sorry, JJ... please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids." She scolds

He shakes his head, "No! Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"

"Oh, wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ." She quips

She nudges y/n's arm, "Are you hearing this?"

Y/n gives her a defeat look, "There's not much we can do about now."

"Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?" She pushes

"Kie, it might go down tonight." Pope informs

"What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?" She asks

"Deny, deny, deny." JJ says under his breath

Y/n might as-well share one secret to keep whatever the boy are hiding in the dark.

"I punched Rafe in the face." Y/n shares

All over their heads turn her way, "You did what?"

She tries to be vague not knowing if Kie knows about pope being jumped, "He was being shit head so I confronted him and then you know, one thing led to another."

"Are you being serious?" Kie asks

She nods, "Yeah."

They all looked at her in shock.

"Im pretty sure my ring cut his face." She adds, "Asshole had it comin’."

"Do you have a death wish?" Pope worries

"I wish daddy’s money would do something." She replies

JJ daps her up, "Kook on Kook crime, I like it."

"Call me a Kook again and I’ll cut you off my phone plan, blondie."

•

John b takes off his shirt, the heat below deck getting to him.

"Oh, my god." Sarah sighs, "What is the hottest you've ever been?"

"Right now." He answers

She nods, "Same. Do you... I don't know, do you wanna play a game?"

"No, I don't." He says

She fans herself with her hands, "Cool. So, there's this game my sister and I play. It's called truth or dare, except there's no dare."

"So, it's just truth, Sarah. That's truth." He corrects

"Yeah. Do you wanna play truth?" She asks

He shrugs, "Sure."

"You get the first question." She informs

He puts on a Russian accent, "Why did you kill Dimitri?"

She plays along with the accent, "Oh, that is too easy. Dimitri, he- he knew too much. He was compromised."

"Yes, you know, we all know too much, eventually." He chuckles

She speaks in her normal voice, "My turn. What did you see in the painting?"

He sighs, "Look, I can't tell you. Okay?"

"Why?" She questions

"Because it's for your own safety." He tells her

"Okay, but something made you want to go to the archives, obviously." She argues

"Look, somebody who was supposed to be dead wasn't, all right." He replies

"Like your dad?" She wonders

He looks away from her, "Yeah, okay, you know what?"

"I'm sorry." She says

"No, it's fine." He assures

She rubs her face, "No, it's not. I am such an idiot. That was a really lame thing to say. I can't imagine losing my dad."

She sighs, "My entire family would fall apart without him. Everybody thinks he's this really rich guy, but he's from the cut, like you, and he's busted his ass for everything that we have."

"You appreciate him." He comments

She agrees, "Yeah. I do."

"That's how I feel about my dad." He voices

"Is that what this is about?" She asks

He takes a second to think, "Okay, so, you know how whales make those deep noises? It's like a..."

He tries his best to mimic a whales sound.

She holds in a laugh, "Yeah."

"That's how... other whales hear each other across the ocean, and I know this sounds really weird, but, uh..." he pauses, "I can hear him calling to me... like he needs my help."

He shakes his head and he brings back the accent, "But, uh, I- I cannot let feelings interfere with the mission."

"No. No, comrade." She says in the accent, "Definitely not."

•

"Look, I hear hooves, I usually think horses, not zebras." The body examiner says

"Two tourist fall off their boat in the high seas, drown, and the sharks took 'em." Peterkin tells him

He pulls back the sheets, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. But... this is kinda weird. First, there's too much water in the lungs, and that tells me that they were dead before they hit the water, not after."

He points to cut, "Then, there's this. Same type of wounds on both corpses. Now, at first, I thought it was a bite, but it's not. There's a round curve on the inside. I think it's defensive wounds from a gaff hook."

"Gaff hook?" She asks

"Yeah. That thing you spear a fish with-"

She cuts him off, "Charlie, I know what a gaff hook is."

"All right. All right. My take is that whoever did this was trying to destroy evidence." He tells her, "They gaffed 'em, they rolled 'em overboard and let the sharks do the rest."

•

John b and Sarah rush off of the boat with a man chasing after them. They run down the dock, weaving through people.

Sarah looks down at her clothes, "Oh, my god. We're disgusting. We will not get into the archives looking like this."

"Why not?" He asks

She scratches her head, "I promise you, they will not let us in looking like we crawled out of a swamp."

The ditch the bright yellow jackets and walk up to a store.

"What about this store? Let's go shopping here." Sarah says

He looks at the window display, "Absolutely not."

He goes to walk away but she calls him back, "Whoa, Sancho. I think we've arrived."

He follows her in, "Look, Sarah, I don't think you understand. This is like an organ with the wrong blood type. It doesn't work."

"You are the single most dramatic person I've ever met." She replies

"No, I'm not." He whispers

She looks at a shirt, "What about cashmere?"

He looks at it closely, "Oh, my god. Have you seen this shirt? It's $190."

She taps his shoulder, "Yeah, don't worry. I'll sugar mama you."

"Sugar mama?" He mumbles

"What about some glasses?" She asks putting them on his face, "Little Clark Kent action."

"Sarah, I don't think you understand. I don't want anything from here." He tells her

A clerk walks up to them, "Can I help you?"

"Yes. Yes, you may, Mr..." she trails

He shakes her hand, "Mr. Ike."

"Ike? Sarah." She greets, "Jonathan."

"John." He corrects

"My friend Jonathan here needs all the help he can get." She says

He looks him up and down, "I can see that."

He gives John b an assortment of clothes for him to try on. He puts on every single outfit until him and Sarah are able to come to an agreement.

He looks at himself in the mirror "If someone saw me in this-"

She cuts him off, "They would roast the shit out of you but it's a good thing we're on a secret mission, so we have to assume another identity. In fact we probably shouldn't even be using our real names."

He nods, "So we need aliases. What are you thinking?"

She taps her chin, "Mmm... Vlad... from... Vienna. What's mine?"

"Okay. Uh, Valerie from Quebec." He suggests

She hums, "Mm! Valerie du Québec?”

"Parlez-vous français?" He asks

"Oui, oui, monsieur. Et toi?" She replies

He shakes his head, "No. No, that's it. So, since you got to dress me, I'm feeling all spiffy. I get to dress you."

"Bring it." She says

With the tables turned, Sarah has to try on outfits for him. It's more for laughs for him and a struggle for her.

She comes out in a striped dress and does a little spin for him.

"Wow. You look..." he's at a loss for words, "Cl- I mean, you- you clean up nice, Val."

"You have a way with words, Vlad." She clears her throat, "So, do we have a winner?"

He puts on his jacket, "I think we have a winner. I think so, yeah.”

She chuckles and fixes his collar.

"Can I ask you something? Why did you come?" He asks

"To finish the mission." She whispers

"No, for real." He replies

She fixes her hair, "Because... I am 16, and I already know what the rest of my life is gonna look like. It's gonna be... stupid yacht clubs filled with hollow people making useless small talk, and I feel like if I don't get out of the Bubble Wrap now, I never will."

She continues, "And then, by the time I'm 30, I'm going to be an alcoholic, and I won't even notice it."

"Well, I'd kind of like some of that Bubble Wrap." He confesses

"Be careful what you wish for." She says

They leave the store with Sarah leading the way.

"Okay, the library's not open all night, so we need to hurry." She informs

•

"JJ." Pope whispers

"What?" He asks

"Gotta take a piss." He says

"Hold it." He tells him not wanting to leave the crowd.

"I can't hold it. I drank too much soda." He informs

"It's too exposed. They'll totally see us."

"I gotta go." He says

They look back to see the three boys watching the movie paying no attention to them.

"They're blocking the bathrooms." Pope points out

JJ looks around, "Come here. I know where.”

They both get up to scurry off.

"Hey, where y'all going?" Y/n asks

"We gotta ring it out." JJ replies

"You gonna hold it for each other?" Kie jokes

The boys don't respond and try to make it out of the crowd without being seen.

They make it behind the big screen and go pee.

Pope sighs in relief, "This feels better than a blowjob."

"Like you know how that feels." JJ quips

"This feels better than what I imagine a blowjob would feel like."

JJ finishes and turns to watch his back.

"You bring the peacemaker?" Pope asks

"Oh, shit, I forgot it."

Popes panic state comes back, "You forgot it?"

"Hurry up! Hurry up!" He rushes

"Dude, you had one job." He scolds, "That's all I asked you to do, man."

JJ starts to back, "I know. Let's go back."

Rafe walks up to them, "What's up, Pogues?"

They both step back, "What's up, Rafe?”

"How you guys doin' tonight?" He asks backing them into the dark.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" JJ chides

"I just wanna talk." He says

Pope turns and runs but comes face to face with Topper and Kelce, "Just chill out, Topper."

"Yeah, that was some nice work you did on my boat." He tells them

"I don't know what you're talking about." He claims

"Sure, you don't." He says

Rafe stands in front of JJ, "Not so burly without a gun now, are you?"

"Take one more step, I'll rip that prepubescent face off." He threatens

"Do you feel good about yourself, stealing shit?" Topper asks getting closer to Pope, "Is your mom proud of you? Is your dad?"

Pope headbutts him when he gets too close, sending him back a few feet.

"Attaboy!" JJ cheers, "With your fist, like this, okay?"

Kelce goes for JJ, "Come on, Pogue."

JJ knees him in the stomach pushing him back and then throws two solid punches to his face.

Pope rides on this new high and socks Topper in the face.

Rafe drags JJ off of Kelce, making him fight for dominance. He shoves him back to Kelce to tries to hold him back.

Rafe delivers a blow straight to his gut.

Topper swings and misses Pope, Pope tries to take him down but Topper elbows him in the back.

Rafe throws dirty punches at the held back JJ.

Kie makes her way into the fight fest.

Kie swings at Topper with JJs backpack, "Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!"

Topper rips it away from her and throws elsewhere. Kie hops onto his back to stop him, hitting him wherever she can.

Pope takes his new leverage and socks him in the jaw.

Y/n joins the party to see Rafe pick up Kie, "Put her down, asshole!"

Y/n shoves Rafe making him drop Kie.

"Stay out of this, Y/n!" He shouts

She wastes no time punching him in the face, "No!”

Rafe tries to wrestle her to the ground as she throws punches at his abdomen.

Topper puts Pope in a headlock, "Admit you did it, bitch!"

Kie crawls over to the discard bag looking for something that would help them.

Topper continues to strangle Pope as he struggles to breath, "You don't mess with me, Pogue! You hear me?"

Kie pulls out the gun contemplating if she should use it. She looks at her friends fighting and opts out, grabbing a lighter.

She moves over to the screen and lights it on fire. The flames scares the movie watchers and the fighters.

They all let go of each other not wanting to be linked to anything.

Rafe leads the Kooks away, "Holy shit, you almost killed him, man!"

Kie helps up Pope, "Hey, you good?"

He puts his hat back on, "You're a freakin' idiot."

She puts her arm around him, "I saved your ass. Come on."

•

"So, the library's on the other side of the student center." Sarah tells John, "Have you ever been here before?"

"I've never been to a college, no." He answers

"That's a gap in your training." She jokes, "How do you like it?"

He tugs on the straps of his backpack, "So far, so good."

"So, my dad went here." She says trying to keep the conversation alive, "And then his dad went here, and then his dad's dad went here."

"That's pretty rough." He replies

"Yeah, I know. He would have an absolute aneurysm if I didn't go here. Which is kind of annoying but what can you do?" She shrugs, "What about you?"

He looks up at the building, "Uh... college has never really been in my radar, so..."

Sarah's phone rings, pulling it out she looks at the caller, "Uh-oh. It's my handler. I told him I was spending the night at Scarlet's."

He oohs at her, "And what would he think if he knew you were here with me?"

She walks backwards her back to the building, "I'd be hanged for treason."

He dramatically gasps, "As a Pogue sympathizer? Oh, my goodness."

He makes a phone with his hand, "You've gotta be careful fraternizing with the enemy, Valerie. Wait a minute. Did he kidnap you? Or drug you?"

She does the same with her hand, "No, I came of my own recognizance, following a lead."

"Ohh. Do we know this enemy?" He asks

"You do." She states, "He used to work for you."

He shakes his head, "No, no, no. It's not the scuba thief, is it?"

"He is not what you think." She says

He scratches his head, "Goodness gracious, he's working some good patios on you, Val. He's a smooth operator."

She laughs, "No, he's not."

He acts offended and hangs up his imaginary phone.

She continues to laugh at him, "He's really clumsy. He does finger guns way too often. And he has absolutely no idea when to make a move."

She watches as a small smile creeps onto his face, "But I think I might be able to turn this one, sir."

She begins to walk over to entrance of the building.

He quickly follows, "You better be careful, Valerie. Once a Pogue, always a Pogue."

In the building they make their way up a flight of stairs.

"All right, Vlad, it's time to play the truth game." She claims

"Again?" He asks

She dismisses his unwillingness to play and asks her question, "Why the hell are be here?"

"Look, Sarah, I already told you. I can't tell you." He reminds

"Okay, well, intel on the mission is the price of the ticket, and I'm the only way you're getting in." She argues, "It's your choice. I have to know."

He stops in his tracks, "Okay. On pain of death?"

She stops and spins around to face him, "Mmhm."

He quickly scans the area to make sure no one can listen in, "I'm on a treasure hunt."

She starts to laugh and echos around open room, "What?"

When he doesn't respond she stops laughing, "Oh, shit, you're serious."

He keeps his voice low, "Look, I have reason to believe that Denmark Tanny was the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant wreck. Look, I- I know this sounds crazy, okay, but I'm pretty sure he got away with 400 million in gold, which is how he would've been able to buy Tannyhill."

He continues to explain, "And I think the location of that treasure is in his papers. That's why we're here."

"You said 400 million?" She asks

"That's a lot of bubble wrap." He surmises

"I'll talk to the librarian." She replies walking away.

The librarian takes them into large office space, "I can't tell you how grateful we are to receive the Tanny materials from your father. It's right up there."

John B shuts the door behind him and follows Sarah up a short flight of stairs.

They sit down at a desk with two small boxes in front of them.

He sighs, "Doen the rabbit hole."

They take off the lids and put on gloves to start going through what's inside.

Sarah reads off an old sheet of newspaper, "It says that Denmark used the money he made from Tannyhill to buy slaves and give them their freedom. It says that he was accused of inciting revolt."

"This was before the Civil War." She informs

"That's why they hanged him." He replies

He pulls out a bible from the box in front of her, opening it, "Check this out."

She points to a page, "These are the birthdays."

"Yeah, Denmark Tanny." He says

She reads off the names, "Cecilia, Robert, Lewis, and Abraham. His three sons."

He closes the book, "What a minute."

He picks a piece of paper.

Sarah looks over, "Is that a picture of-"

He cuts her off, "Gold. This is how he bought the land. It's- it's British gold. This is what was on the Merchant."

"Bingo." She chimes pulling out a stack of papers, "This is what we first moved in."

He points to one that she set down, "What's that?"

She picks it up, "This is the last correspondence."

"Wait, that's- that's in Gullah, the lost Creole language." He says

"Can you read it?" She asks

He shakes his head, "No. mm-mm. I wish, but no. So, Denmark finds out that the posse's coming for him. Wait, what's the date on the letter?"

"It is... May 3rd, 1844." She reads, "Wait, that's- "

He finishes her thought, "That's the day he died."

She reaches back into the box, "And this is addressed to Robert."

"So the day he dies, he writes a letter to his son?" He questions

"In a language only they can understand." She thinks out loud

"Wait a minute." He tells her pulling out his phone.

He takes a picture of it to save it for later.

•

Deputy Shoupe sits down with Topper and his mom, "We got lucky. There's a camera on a solar panel. We can't make out a face, but we were able to ID the other boat."

Topper scoffs at the sight.

His mom looks down at the screen, "Whose boat is it?”

"Registered to Heyward." He informs, "We think this is his kid."

Topper sits down in front of them, "All right, so she thought that I did this, Deputy, right? I told you, Mom, not everything's my fault."

"Can we talk about this privately, please?" She scolds and then turns back to Shoupe, "So, what happens now?"

"Well, if you press charges, it'll be up to juvenile court. Now, Pope is 16. Could be tried as an adult." He explains, "He'd do time."

"Press charges." She states

Shoupe tries to make her tread lightly, "You know, Heyward, uh..."

She stops him from talking, "Deputy, I said press charges."

He nods, "Yeah, all right. We're on it."

•

"My dad is going to kill me for being out all night." Sarah voices, "But at least we completed the mission."

"Yeah. Yeah." John replies, "You know, speaking of the mission, you're not as bad as I thought you'd be."

She chuckles, "Well, what'd you expect?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" He quips

"I have an idea." She starts to list off a couple things, "Maybe a kook Princess? Bubble wrap queen?"

"Somethin' like that." He answers, "Rude to waiters at a minimum type of thing."

She takes offense, "Ow! That hurts. Yikes."

"Just sayin'."

She looks away from the water and over to him, "You know you're not what I expected either. Much weirder. For starters, you are totally ADD."

He tries to deny it, "Uh... ooh..." but agrees, "yeah."

"And I thought you were this really laid back, surfer, dude bro." She confesses, "And it turns out you are on a paternal jihad."

"Yeah, I'm just trying to get this letter translated."

She shrugs, "Hey..." picking up her cup, "To breaking expectations."

"So..." He trails, "what's it's gonna be like when we get back?"

She furrows her brows, "With what?"

He struggles to find the right words, "With... you know, like, um..."

She motions between them, "This?"

He nods, "Yeah."

"Nothing changes, I guess? Right?" She wonders, "I'll go back to the bubble."

"Like Topper? Back to the bubble?" He queries

She looks out to the water, "Yeah. And, um... I guess you'll go back to being a... a fugitive."

He takes a sip of his drink, "Yeah."

"Had a really great day, though." She tells him

"Me too." He says

•

"Don't let it get in your head. Three of them and two of us." JJ nags, "That's some typical Kook shit right there."

"Hell, yeah." Kie agrees

"What was your thought process, using your head?" He asks

"I don't know, man." Pope answers, "I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal."

Y/n pats his shoulder, "And you fought like hell."

Mr. Heyward walks over, "Hey, Pope, someone here to see you."

In walks deputy Shoupe.

Popes face drops, "Evening officer."

He makes his way over to him, "I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property. Keep your hands on the counter where I can see 'em."

Pope gives a distressed look to JJ.

Mr. Heyward tries to stop him, "Whoa. Shoupe, what'd he do?"

"Take a look at the warrant." He tells him

They all begin to panic, “You're arresting him?"

"Shoupe, are you listening?" Heyward asks

Shoupe blocks out everyone around, cuffing Pope and reading him his rights.

Pope can't hear a thing, his focused in on the thoughts running wild through his head.

His friends and father trying to get some answers from the deputy.

JJ makes a spilt second decision, "It wasn't him! It was me! He tried to talk me out of it. But I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit."

He stops in front of Pope, "I can't let you take the blame for something I did. You've got too much to lose."

"JJ, what are you doing? He scolds

"I'm tellin' the truth." He replies, "For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old man's boat, too."

"JJ, come on." Pope pleads

"Just shut up, Pope!" He yells, "Just shut up. He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."

Shoupe nods, "Yeah."

"It was all me." JJ states

Shoupe turns to Pope, "That's the whole truth?"

"Whole truth, swear to god." JJ chimes

"I know what you think, damn it." He barks, "I'm asking Pope."

Pope locks eyes with JJ, looking for any sign of a go head.

Pope finally nods, "Yeah, that about covers it."

JJ switches places with Pope and is loaded into the back of the car.

They all watch as they drive off.

Pope throws his cap onto the ground, "Shit!"

•

JJ sits in a holding cell, thinking about what he's done. But he smiles, knowing that he has saved the reputation and future for his friend.

•

"Now that we have returned to the motherland..." Sarah says as the walk the dock, "...we must revert to our real identities, so if you see me on the street-"

John b interrupts her, "Yes, of course, I am a true, uh, professional."

She stops walking, "It's been a pleasure working with you, comrade."

She sticks out her and he shakes it.

"Pleasures mine." He assures

She starts her walk back to her house.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He calls out, "Uh... uh- really? That's it? You're just gonna walk away like this never happened?"

She turns around, "Well, that's what professionals do, right?"

"Sarah, I just had the best day of my life!" He shouts

She smiles, "John B, you're gonna blow our cover."

"Look, I don't care about my cover, Sarah." He rebukes, "I don't care about my friends finding out or your boyfriend with frosted tips."

"Look, yesterday, I- I didn't even know who you were. And today, I'm, like..." he points at her, "Sarah Cameron. And honestly, in my limited experience, that's rare. That's like, like... eclipse rare."

He pushes back his hair, "Like a blind person seeing color for the first time rare or, like, Bigfoot evidence or the Northern Lights. Look, I can't pretend like this isn't real, like this didn't happen."

Sarah walks back over to him, "Shut up."

She puts her arms around his neck pulls him into kiss.

She pulls away, " I can't pretend either."

"It's a small island." She tells him, "We should be careful."

With a short kiss goodbye they go their separate ways.

•

A man breathes heavily as he wraps up John Bs compass in a rag, placing it into a secure box.

Grabbing a large hook off the table and setting it to the side.

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