#but he’s NOWHERE near as bad as my other bro in how often and rudely he does this (my other bro also does other worse things whereas this is

[sunnist4rs]

I hate men because today after years of my brother mocking me whenever I talk about something I’m well informed on by saying I did no research I finally told him how much it upsets me. So straight after he brought up my male assault statistics and called them fake before leaving.

[pinkchanelbag]

— there’s no one else; chapter two. 

a jean kirstein x reader mafia au.

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series summary: a boy caught in a web with his survival depending on balancing niceties between his predators. a prim girl on thin ice that leads down the path of least resistance. no one too close and no one too far, no allegiance unquestioned, and no child whose value and future goes without evaluation like a playing card that determines their worth. to be destined for big things is more like being doomed to them, but that’s the way it goes. it’s just family matter.

chapter summary: the party begins.

wc: 1.9k.

cw: still nothing lol

note: putting this out short notice cause it’s JEANBOYS BIRTHDAYYY BABYYY anyway enjoy heeheee and my apologies for the slow plot thus far i swear it picks up trust me bro.

the venue is obnoxiously grand. the garden is more akin to a football field than anything else. there is no central lighting, but rather pure white string lights everywhere, everywhere. tucked behind and underneath tables and wrapped around trees and laying in the overhead greenery and in the bushes that act as walls. wherever you look, your eyes are strained, and you’re sure the dining hall can be seen from the moon. 

speaking of the dining hall, the organizers cleverly blocked off the front entrance to the building so that one is forced to walk the expanse of the entire garden—surely to ooh and aah at its elegant taste—in order to get inside through the back door entrance. in other words, having to greet every single member of the family before so much as putting your clutch down. 

you apply a friendly, attentive expression to your face each time pieck stops to greet someone new, having mastered the art of being engaged but not so engaged it’s troublesome, while in reality being completely disengaged in any way. as pieck converses with a bulky man drinking wine and you pick apart the key points (“we don’t got the ammo to make deals with top contractors—legal team in shambles—not good to have a weak spot”), really you are letting your eyes wander over the shrubbery which has been trimmed to perfection. yes, the lights are a pain and the band is too loud so early in the event, and there is not enough walking space between the bushes so people squeeze together to reach the large clearing of the garden. a perfectly obnoxious party, except you can’t help but appreciate the greenery. somehow, it is the only thing about this evening that doesn’t seem ridiculous. or maybe you’re just unusually irritated tonight. 

your eyebrows knit so slightly at this realization. why are you being so disagreeable? impatience and intolerance seem to grow in your chest for no particular reason. you make a note to identify the source of your mood, and quickly resolve it. there’s work to be done.

karina braun is a kind, opinionated sheep of a woman. she is liked by all, and not because she’s particularly easy to like, but rather because she’s hard to hate. stuck in her times and not having much intellectual value, she is possibly the most important woman in all the families. being the mother of reiner braun and the head of the braun-galliard family, gives her luxury without responsibility. you’ve only met her once before, and she possessed the kind of ignorance many privileged older women have. but still she’s kind, so you can’t justify how she makes you weary. 

her birthday, funnily enough, constitutes one of the very few gatherings that frowns upon trying to discuss family matter during the events, unlike a young girl’s birthday. it has to do with respect, you suppose. 

you spend your first half-hour at the party hovering around pieck as she makes small talk with associates, becoming increasingly nervous at your lack of breakthrough in communication with the family. you know the most important thing is your encounter with karina, and that will open up further talks with others, but you stall to approach her, imperceptibly steering pieck further away from the centre table where the older woman sits. not yet. 

“are you going to keep leading me through the same semi-circle, or are you just going to go talk to her?” pieck asks calmly. you curse her intelligence in your mind. 

“i’m just nervous,” you murmur, smiling politely at a group of men at a distance that eyes you like the business deal you are. 

“you should be, but that doesn’t change that you have to do it.” your eyes flick to look at the woman beside you for a moment. her expression is not encouraging or consoling, nor is it unsettling. it’s fitting. what you and pieck have is less than friendship but more than acquaintanceship. often you feel as thought she’s reading your emotions like an open book, which can be scary considering how many of them you really hide. but if and when she sees them, she doesn’t seem to care, whether they’re incriminating or worthy of sympathy. she sees you, and that is all. it’s not a comfort, nor a curse. 

“what are you waiting for?” she says, but it’s a genuine question rather than a push to complete the task at hand. you realize you’re waiting for porco. you want porco at your side. you want his strength and his jagged-edged ambition, and the forcefulness that makes you do the things your heart has no energy for.

“i just think it would be better if the boys were here,” you breathe. again, pieck sees your meaning, and your fright, and leaves it be. 

for the next eternity, you drink champagne and stretch back your memory to know if all parties are this boring once you become an adult, or if the braun family has a particular talent for making you crave the sight of paint drying. the closest thing to entertainment—and not the hired folk who attempt to call themselves singers—is gabi’s voice, which can be heard no matter where in the garden you stand. she tells stories, strikes up arguments, and gathers food and drink with her friends, all at top volume. for some reason, you don’t find amusement in this either, and really start to worry about this attitude problem you’ve got this night. to add on, porco’s meeting seems to stretch painfully long. it was a short-notice meeting, which either meant something very very good or very very bad—more so when he told you he was being picked up for it by reiner, colt, and annie. some of the most important family members gathering for an emergency meeting means trouble. your anxiety bubbles in your stomach, and you worry that your not approaching the woman of the hour is reaching a point where it might be seen as—rude. 

the guests are alerted that dinner is ready. it’s not long before each person has situated themselves along the tables that line the large garden. the seating plan is loosely maintained, but you have nowhere near the entitlement to mingle among other tables. you find yours and stay at it, and it’s only then that you get an idea of just how many people are at this event. each table is packed, holding roughly six people, and there are too many to count in the chaos, but they create a semi-rectangle in three respective rows. you make out countless bodies but few faces, just an endless sea of tuxedos and lovely dresses. at the front of the garden is the head table, where karina sits alone save gabi’s bouncing body going back and forth. your table is is only a few feet from hers, but you take a seat that puts your back to her front so you don’t make the unforgivable mistake of accidental eye contact. you’re to sit with porco, and his table—the galliard table—is the one closest in importance to the braun table. you are the only one at the table, further reminder of porco’s tardiness. the longer you fiddle with the white cloth on the surface, the more you worry about what exactly the meeting could mean. 

and then pieck comes and sits across from you without a word. as always, you know it’s only family matter—the concern that you look out of place—motivating her and not your obvious discomfort, but you’re grateful nonetheless. 

as the servers stream into the garden like white-clad troops armed with dome platters, a champagne glass’s unmistakeable ding ding ding catches the attention of the guests. a table near karina’s opposite side, not quite flanking her but near enough to display some importance. a man stands with his glass raised, looking unfitting for the position with the way his arm hesitantly dips and re-straightens. bertholdt, yet another notable name in braun-galliard (and it’s your job to know all the names), seems to be the only person around able to give the welcome speech. it’s easy to listen only selectively to the announcements and shoutouts, disregarding all the thank yous and remember whens and listening in for honored guests (who are honored because they’ve proven themselves useful). luckily for you, bertholdt’s clumsy speech has a clear distinction between the two categories, his eyes downturned to cards in which he lists off important guests and whatever thing they did to end up on he list before him. 

“a special welcome to general theo magath of the mexican military, who has been so generous to the family’s trade routes…” bertholdt’s words are careful, partly because of the nature of the things he is sharing, but also because all his actions have been careful since his fall from grace. formerly one of the most reliable heavy men in the family, bertholdt’s reputation was shot to hell when an important—very important—family member was killed on his watch. despite having happened years and years ago now, it took extensive efforts to just convince the higher-ups that he wasn’t in bed with the killer. it’s common knowledge that bertholdt’s incident was the first and last time someone “had it easy” from braun-galliard due to his close friendship with reiner himself. 

“an especially relieving guest to see here tonight—“ 

and—finally—the stragglers stalk into the clearing. like most others, you hear of their arrival from the ripple of murmurs long before you see them, seeing as their whereabouts are blocked off by tables and bushes. a few people stand up, but are quickly beckoned to sit down again and redirect their attention to the speaker, who clears his throat nervously. 

“carry on, bertholdt,” reiner’s affecting voice breaks through the space, and it’s enough to settle the audience, or at least have them pretend to pay attention while the late-comers shuffle through the outskirts of the tables to find their seats. bertholdt proceeds slowly. 

“…a person i’m sure we will all come to rely on during this chaotic time…”

you catch the first glimpse of porco as he turns the final corner of the rectangle, reiner walking before him and colt and annie just behind. reiner is the first to arrive to his table, the invitees seeming to hold their chests a little taller for the family’s true head—in every way except on paper—as he slides into his seat and presses a kiss to his mother’s cheek. 

“…a great legacy behind him and a bright career ahead, and we’re surely glad he’s kicked it off in our company…” bertholdt goes on. you and porco’s eyes meet, and immediately you know something is the matter; you’re just not sure if it’s fury or ecstasy in his gleam. 

colt and annie find their seats in the table just after yours, and finally porco is near enough to see—and ignore—the look of alarmed curiosity on your face. he arrives to the table, giving pieck a look of “we’ll talk later,” and briefly stopping behind your chair. his calloused hands are on your arms for a moment, running up and down comfortingly. 

“—a happy welcome to—“

“hey, doll.”

“—jean kirstein.” 

and your eyes flick away from porco’s and into the crowd of faceless bodies, and the anxieties that kept your brain buzzing with life halt and collapse to the floor of your mind like dead flies.

jean? 

[come-on-shitty-boys]

//drunken words. kuroo tetsurou//

Warnings: Swears + alcohol + sexual language

Word Count: 2.1K

Notes: ahahahahaaha shout out to @madison-2018 for letting me yell this plot at you at like 10 p.m. while we drive in the literal middle of no where.

Loosely inspired by the song “She’s So Nice”

*Characters are aged up because I’m a responsible adult who does not condone underage drinking*

PART I. II.

“So, what’d you tell him this time?” Kuroo asks, pulling his jeans back on, staring at you through dark fringe.

“I was cold and wanted a hoodie.  And I’ll tell him that I went to the bathroom when he asks what took so long.”  You shrug, reapplying your lip gloss in the front camera of your phone.  Neither of you really remembered how long this had been going on, the cheating, the hooking up at parties, the making out in the privacy of your dorm room.  You wouldn’t say that you were proud of being a cheater, but Kuroo’s lips felt so incredible against yours and you loved how he pulled away from each and every kiss looking like an absolute disheveled love-struck puppy. 

You can’t remember Daisho ever looking at you like that in all of your time together.  High school sweethearts turned college power couple, it felt wrong to cheat, but your love for him was running thin.  You kept telling yourself that this was just a phase and that you just needed to get these feelings out of your system, but they never left.  Each kiss with your boyfriend was nothing in comparison to the butterflies that Kuroo brought to your chest.  

You cared for Daisho, really, but there had always been this weird power dynamic between the two of you.  He had an air of superiority that had been there long before you started dating.  You had been foolish to believe that growing up would change that aspect about him.  Yet, there was something that always kept you tied to him, refusing to tell him goodbye and run into Kuroo’s awaiting arms where you knew you belonged.  

Kuroo, rightfully, didn’t love the arrangement.  But, what was he going to do about it?  He wasn’t the one dating that snakey bastard, so who was he to dictate how you ran your relationship?  But it hurt.  It hurt a lot.  Seeing you around campus with Daisho’s arm slung around your shoulders, pulling you tightly into his side.  Letting you into the frat house, knowing that you weren’t there to see him.  Walking past the two of you nestled in the living room, sharing quiet conversations and short kisses. It should’ve been him with you.  Kuroo held so much love and adoration for you, yet it was all for naught.  He couldn’t hold your hand in public or cover your face in tiny fleeting pecks.  He wasn’t allowed to drape his jacket around your shoulders in the fall when the air grew chilly.  

He gave up trying to convince you to break up with Daisho a long time ago and just opted for enjoying what little intimate time he was able to get with you.  Kuroo swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, ridding his lips the remnants of your pink lip gloss.  He walks out ahead of you, making sure the halls are clear of anyone who could report your suspicious activity back to Daisho.  “Okay, I’ll see you downstairs,” he says, giving you a short kiss on your cheek before parting ways so you could go get a sweatshirt from Daisho’s room.  

Kuroo thudded down the stairs, trying to act as normal as possible as he weaved through the crowd of college students.  “Hey, Kuroo!”  He twisted towards the voice, seeing his Bokuto waving excitedly at him from the house’s kitchen.  The two grinned, doing a quick fist bump before tapping their solo cups together.  “Where you been, man?  We’ve been looking for you for like fifteen minutes!”

Kuroo looked over the edge of his cup at his friend.  Bokuto knew exactly where he had been.  All of his friends knew.  It’s not like his little affair with you was a secret between them. Hell, you had been invited to quite a few hang out sessions, Kuroo grabbing for your hand the moment you would arrive, desperate for some kind of skinship without fear of being caught.  But, more often than not, he was just left to watch from a distance as you lived your life, comfortable in the arms of your boyfriend.

“And? How was it?” Bokuto urges, nudging Kuroo with a sly smirk on his face.

“Bokuto-” Akaashi warns.

“What?  Can’t I ask questions?  Besides, no one knows that we’re talking about Y/N.”

Every eye in the circle of friends goes wide, quickly scanning the surroundings to see if anyone had heard.  “Well, they’re going to know if you don’t keep your mouth shut.”

Bokuto looked at everyone, rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous laugh escaping him.  “Sorry about that, man.”

But Kuroo didn’t hear him.  He was mesmerized.  Sure, you were just wearing one of Daisho’s oversized frat hoodies and jeans, but you looked so perfect, bouncing down the stairs to return to the party.  You would’ve looked so good in one of his shirts, letting everyone know that you were his.

He’s pulled from his thoughts at the sight of Daisho pulling you over to him.  One hand clutching a red cup, the other snaking down your sides, guiding your hips to move in sync with his.  You had a bright smile on your face, taking a sip from your boyfriend’s drink as the two of you danced amongst the crowd.  

Kenma followed Kuroo’s gaze and forced him to turn away.  “Don’t let that ruin your night.  You said you wanted to have fun, so just forget about that and try to enjoy yourself.”

“Yeah!  Fuck that, bro!  We-” Bokuto paused, refilling Kuroo’s cup with a very healthy serving of vodka and nowhere near enough mixer to ease the burn, “are going to get fucking plastered!”

Honestly, nothing sounded better in Kuroo’s mind than drinking enough to forget his feelings, at least for one night.  So, that’s what he did.  Finishing drinks and having his cup refilled by an equally drunk Bokuto, Kenma and Akaashi watching them with concerned eyes, unsure if they should take the alcohol away from their older friends.

You’ve always heard the phrase “Drunk words are just sober thoughts,” but you never expected this.  One minute, you’re dancing against your boyfriend, tongues tied in a heated make-out session, the next, frantic shouting interrupts everyone’s party vibes.

“Kuroo-  Kuroo, please get down.  Come on!  Get down from there!” Kenma frets, trying his very best to tug his friend down from the counter.

But, Kuroo is planted as firmly as drunk Kuroo can be, giggling like a child as he finishes off his drink, throwing his cup to the side. “Shh.  Shh, Kenma, I’m absolutely fine,” Kuroo soothes, squatting down to pat him on the head, a silly grin on his face.  He has most of the party chanting his name, everyone waiting in anticipation to see what could possibly happen next.

“What the hell is he doing?” Daisho grumbles, severely unimpressed compared to the guests around him.  He’s holding you firmly held against him as he eyes his fraternity brother.  

“Hey! Hey, Daisho!” Kuroo shouts, waving excitedly towards the two of you.  “Are you going to get laid tonight?”

The question takes you both aback, but before you know it, Daisho is pulling you closer to the counter, not wanting to leave you alone when this is all going on.  He instructs you to stay behind him as he begins to try to get Kuroo down.  “Get the fuck down from there.  What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I-” he pauses, laughing a little as he fights against Daisho’s grasp, “am trying to have a conversation.  But, you-” there’s a poke to Daisho’s nose, “won’t answer my question.  Are you going to get laid tonight?”

“Why is that any of your business?”

“Because!  If you are, I need to ask you something!  It’s really important,” he states, leaning down to get eye level with your boyfriend.  

“Babe, come on.  He’s blacked out.  Don’t pay attention to him,” you plead, tugging on the tail of Daisho’s shirt.  You didn’t like where this was going and you sure as hell knew that Suguru was not going to like it either.

“No, no, no!  Don’t go, babe,” Kuroo mocks, tugging Daisho back towards him.  His hand is smacked away.  “Come on,” he whines, watching as Daisho’s gaze shifts from you to Kuroo.  

“Daisho, please.  Let’s just go.”  Your voice is hot in his ear and he almost agrees to dismiss the scene completely.

“Okay, fine.  I’m just going to ask you!  Daisho!  Daisho, okay!  So, when you’re like-”  Kuroo giggles a little more, fighting against the desperate tugs of Akaashi and Kenma, “You know, and you’re eating her out-”

“Kuroo, shut up,” Kenma hisses.

“It’s rude to interrupt, Kenma.”  He clears his throat.  “Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, when you’re eating her out later, will you text me and tell me how my dick tastes?  I have always wondered, so if you’re able to taste it, will you let me know?”

This is not happening.  This is not happening.  This is not happening. 

Daisho’s grip on you tightens to an almost painful amount of pressure.  His eyes are narrowed darkly towards the gentleman on the counter.  “Who do you think you are, talking about my girlfriend like that?  You’re lucky I don’t kick your ass right now.”

“Oh, wait, wait!  I know!  You two were just making out right?  Could you taste my cum in her mouth?  How was it?  I had some oranges today, so I was just curious if it tasted good.  I mean, she swallowed it, so how bad could it be, you know?”  Kuroo sits down on the edge of the counter.  “I’ve got to hand it to you, man.  You picked a good one.  She gives the best head.  Like, holy shit.  I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”  His head tilts innocently as he takes a good look at the anger on Daisho’s face.  “Hey, man.  Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Why am I- Because you,” your boyfriend jams a finger into Kuroo’s chest, getting up in his face, fully prepared to start a fight at any second, “are out here talking out your ass about my girlfriend.  What the hell do you even know?”

Kuroo throws his head back, cackling like an absolute hyena.  He holds his sides, continuing to laugh before looking you in the eyes.  “Come on, Y/N.  Could you have picked anyone dumber to date?”  His attention turns back to Daisho.  “How do I break this to you?”

“Kuroo, come on.  You really need to stop talking,” Kenma pleas, making a grab for his friend’s arm, but Daisho shoves him back.

“No, no.  I want to hear this.  What do you want to tell me so badly?”

“Babe, seriously, just ignore him.  He’s not making any sense,” you say, desperation edging into your voice.  You knew exactly what Kuroo wanted to say and you weren’t sure if you were ready to face Daisho’s wrath at the confession.  Your hand grabbed his arm, trying to drag him away from the scene, take him anywhere but here.  But, Daisho’s strong body doesn’t budge, forcing you to stop in your tracks and prepare for the worst.

“Daisho, my brother, my man,” Kuroo soothes, placing a sorrowful hand on his shoulder, but it’s quickly replaced with a cocky grin and middle finger in your boyfriend’s face.  “I’m fucking your hot girlfriend, you fucking loser!  And I have been for a while now.  We just fucked, like, an hour ago.  Yeah, when she was ‘getting your hoodie-’ Good lie, by the way, Y/N.  We were up in my room and she sucked my cock and then we-”

“I’m going to kick your ass!” Daisho snaps and if it weren’t for you and a few others around the two of you holding him back, he would’ve lunged at Kuroo.

His eyes land on your look of horror and Kuroo’s drunken gaze softens a little.  He hops down to try to get to you, to comfort you in any way possible, but Akaashi and Kenma grab his arms, pulling him towards the back door, Bokuto sending a teasing middle finger and a stuck out tongue in Daisho’s direction.

“Kuroo Tetsurou! Get back here so I can beat the shit out of you!”  Your boyfriend roars, struggling to break free.

But, Kuroo was already being pushed out the door, shouting, “No!  I’m good!  I’ll see you later, though!  Remember to text me, okay?”

[lillaxtrigger]

Young Hope: Chapter 39

The near cloudless skies above let the afternoon sun beam down upon the city of Townsville, most of its light reflecting off the glass of the towering skyscrapers and redirects down towards the estates and manors that make up the upper crust district. The sunny glow seeps its way straight through a small window set along one of these manors; resting along the floor of a seemingly random dark room; a stream of dust passing through the sunshine when the door to this room creaks open. From the light that comes out from this doorway, the room is revealed to be filled with numerous party supplies. A lone figure stands within this very light and waltz’s right on through the doorway, shutting the door behind him as he makes his way into the walk in closet. With the closet door shut, the room starts to dim back and lets the sliver of natural sunlight be all that illuminate the closet; a young man with a blue mane dressed in white glazing over the party decorations, fancy cups and plates, tapestries, fancy sculptures, even a shut down automaton dressed in a suit.

Can’t believe Kingsley’s folks got a whole closet filled with this kinda fancy party stuff; makes a guy wonder how often they throw these kinda stuffy shindigs. Lookin at all these kinda decorations, doubt any of them were any fun ragers that didn’t even draw out even a little bit of a cheer; much less set about half the building on fire. Maybe the robot has some sparks in em, but it might be a safe bet to say that it ain’t gonna be hostin even a four year old’s discount birthday bash anytime soon…What was I doing here again? ...Oh right, the tapestries. That’s it. Reminding himself of the reason he had ventured into this darkened walk in closet in the first place, Tore reaches right over the numerous plates, cups, and decorations and grabs hold of a couple of rolled up pieces of cloths from one of the shelves; the blue boy zipping out from the dust filled closet with tapestries in tow.

Straight out through the hallway does Tore go through a fancy hallway, passing through the pictures of Kingsley with his happy family that hang along the wall; making his way towards the front lobby while keeping the rolls of cloth tight in arm. Amidst his rush out from the hallway however does he wind up bumping straight into somebody; both of them and the tapestries spilling onto the carpeted floor. “Ah!” Its in shaking off the little bump and rising back on his feet that he see’s who exactly it is he had wound up running into; the young daughter of the estate, dressed in a pink hoodie and black leggings. “Watch where the hell your going!” she rudely barks. “Sorry, Chloe. Couldn’t see ya while carrying these for yer bro’s party.” The mere mention of her brother’s party sours the young girl’s mood even further, incentivizing her to head straight towards the door; even as Tore continues to speak while picking up what he dropped. “So, how good are ya-” Hearing the front door slam shut makes him turn back towards the front, the red head he was trying to converse nowhere in site. “-Holding up…” Huh, guess she’s still tryin to workout some stuff after what happened with Circe half a month back. Can’t really blame her sour mood with what she went through; least she’s actually going out of the house now.

Within the main hall of the estate, a girl with flowing dark brown hair dressed in green army jacket covering a salmon pink dress carefully holds a golden chandelier above her head and hovers it straight up to the roof; keeping her eyes on the top of the decoration as she nears the hook set along the ceiling. Carefully does she weave the top of the chandelier right along the hook and slowly backs away to let the exquisite ornament dangle on its own; its golden finish shimmering against the sunlight that seeps inside. Just as the young lass lets out a relieving sigh from finishing this task, her nerves are wound right back up when hearing Tore echo out: “Got me the good’s Cayenne!” The girl glances back down towards the entrance to the main hall to witness the blue boy run right inside while he asks: “Where ya want em?” “Where do ya think Kingsley said, dumbass? Just hang one of them up at the top of the stairwell.” “On it.” Cayenne giving her these instructions, a pair of white wings sprout out from along his back and ascends straight up to the very top of the twin stairwell; landing right along the very center and scanning length of the roll to try and find where it ends. “Hey uh, I don’t see an end. How do ya open this?” Right as he asks this, the boy manages to find a lone button set along one of the sides and claims that he: “No wait, think I found it.” Pressing this button, Tore watches the whole tapestry roll down from the railing and unravel into a gorgeously sown picture that hangs just above the hall set between the twin staircases.

“Huh. Figure it was gonna be some old family heirloom from like medieval times or something. It don’t look half bad though.” “Does it look alright to you?” Cayenne aggressively questions. Standing behind the stairwell railing does the blue boy peer down to the finely knitted tapestry that he had just freshly rolled out, finding the top to be facing the floor below. “You mean from my perspective or yours?” Upon the indigo angel’s cheeky little comeback, the spice queen can’t help but let out audibly upset gnarl; prompting Tore to correct himself with: “Kidding. Just-just kidding here, kay? Gimme a sec to find the button.” “Nrr. The withdraw feature seriously has one hell of a fuckin kickback. So don’t be acting like such a reckless jackass and just hold-”

Before Cayenne could give anymore words of warning to the blue boy, he manages to find the same button he used to unravel the tapestry and wastes not another moment pressing it. The entire knit work art swiftly rolling right back up and snapping shut as it flings itself into the air; smacking Tore right in the face as he takes off. From the top of the stairwell does the rolled up tapestry careen through the air and straight towards the freshly hung chandelier; the rolled up cloth slamming against the golden decoration hard enough to knock it off the hook and send it plummeting down towards the hard marble tile. In but an instant is the golden chandelier reduced to nothing but pieces that scatter across the floor in a loud crash; both the spice queen and indigo angel hovering down towards the wreckage as Cayenne’s fists violently tremble. “God fucking dammit! What the hell is wrong with-” Before Cayenne could unleash all the enraged fueled screaming and cursing bubbling within, her anger starts to simmer when he finds the blue boy showing signs of growing worry, but rather seemingly on the verge of crying while staring down to the wreckage he caused. Amidst letting loose a short growl does Cayenne instead decide to walk off and simply let the boy be; the spice queen strolling straight down the hallway set along the left. Swear that blue dumbass sometimes just doesn’t fucking listen. Like seriously just pisses away anything ya try and say to him.

While walking through the carpeted hallway, Cayenne witness a lone door set along the side crack open with a young man with orange hair peering out from within and asking: “Just heard a loud crash! Is everything okay!?” “Ain’t anything that bad, Kingsley. Just the blue dumbass out there wound up breaking one of your guys’s chandelier.” A small sigh escapes from the boy genius’s lunges as he is relieved how: “Least nobody got hurt.”

“Kingsley. Get your sweet buns in here and let me finish.” a voice within the room urges. Seeing the boy genius retreat back, Cayenne follows him in to find a flamboyant boy with partially blonde hair dressed around his black haired crown; Kingsley stepping onto a small stool as he asks the boy: “Benji, do we really need to get my measurements now of all times? All of us are in the middle of prepping for a big formal tonight.” “Bay-be, this big party you guys are throwing is about this big young superhero team you all are forming, ain’t it? So you all serious need some uniforms to match the motif, something that just screams iconic to go along with this little league of yours.” Speaking this does the small crystal earring hanging right along the side of his head start to let out a strange sparkle; a roll of measuring tape set along the table behind them hovers in the air and is drawn straight into his hands. As Benji wraps this length of measuring tape around his clients waistline, he hears the boy genius assure how: “Do-don’t get me wrong here. I’m thankful for the help I’m getting in prepping for all this.” “Please, sweetie. Its the least I can do after your mom taught me so much about clothes and armor design. And from the sound of things out there, you need all the help you can get.”

“And speakin of actual needed help, that indigo dumbfuck out there’s already wound up breaking a chandelier, tore up a couple of table clothes, and wound up shattering some glass in the span of like two hours.  Why in the hell are you keeping him around if all he’s gonna do is just wreck shit.” Cayenne gets back on topic with. “Agh….When Mally and the other’s wound up getting back home, she told me all the sort of stuff Tore’s been through these past two and a half weeks.  From the way she put it, it sounds like things got incredibly bad for him on his end too, like something that just tore is soul in half. Figured that giving him something to do would keep his mind off it.” “Not that I don’t sympathize here, but I doubt keeping him workin’s gonna cheer him up all that much. Ya ask me, he needs to sort through all that emotional bullshit.” “I’m sure he will. He just needs some downtime to think things over.”

“Yeah so, how’s that thinking stuff going for you?” the spice queen then questions. “Whaddya mean?” the genius asks. “Y…Yer fuckin with me, right? You and my aunt just came up with this whole club fulla fresh out the pussy heroes ready to shove their feet straight down the forces of evil’s asshole with you at the top and you ain’t even sweating a drop here. Won’t lie here, ballsy, but a little worrying. You feeling okay?” “I’m...still pretty surprised myself. Wonder if all the stuff we went through before hand might’ve prepped me for something this big. Feels like yesterday when we escape that little fortress out in the middle of the tundra, got kidnapped by a gang twice, almost died to Circe, having the whole town come after me in a manhunt, my girlfriend’s dad nearly blowing up the town, my sister getting possessed, my parents souls getting taken…” Among the distant ring running through his head, the sounds around him grow muffled as he himself grows silent; a lone voice pushing through the deafening ring with: “Kingsley...Kingsley...Kingsley...Kingsley!” The last shout that blurts out from the spice queen manages to snap him straight out from his haunting moment of reflection; the boy genius shaking his head before peering over to Cayenne with: “Di-da-du. My-my point is that with everything we’ve been through these past several month or so, leading a whole generation of new young heroes against the forces of evil should be simple in comparison.” “You sure you’re alright?” “Don’t gotta worry about a thing Cayenne, I’m fine.”

Rising from under them does Benji cut straight between the two to add how: “You know what isn’t so fine? I need to split outta here to snatch up a particular sort of fabric I got in mind for the uniforms, one that they only sell along the east end of Townsville. Gotta make it over before the animals in opening hours grab them.” Right as the fashionable young boy was about to race right out, Benji stops dead in his tracks to turn back and question: “Oh, before I go. What color are you wanting for the uniforms?” “Uh...the logo we got’s purple. Maybe find a shade of that.” Kingsley suggests. “Fantastic choice, I’ll see what I can do sweetie.”

“I seriously can’t believe he’s gonna be in the tech department.” Cayenne disbelieves. “You haven’t seen the kind of high tech state of the art armor he makes.” Kingsley argues. “While were talkin about it. You still haven’t really picked out a supervisor for that branch yet, haven’t you? Ya got me rockin the combat division, your girl on knowledge and info; and for some damn reason, you went ahead and made that pussy little ghost boy head of supernatural.” “Hey, I’ll have you know that Damian’s gotten a lot more brave and bold these past few months; he ain’t even disappearing when he gets slightly anxious.” “But we still ain’t got anyone sitting their ass down on the seat for the tech department. If we plan to announce this whole alt young justice bullshit, then we can’t show up on stage with half a deck here, and with you acting as leader, I doubt that you’ll have time to fill both bottles with piss.” “Yeah, I know. Its why I’ve been looking into a couple of promising people I heard about. Even got Mally suggesting somebody, but I still need to look into them.”

Before the two could speak even another word on the whole matter, the violent sound of a rumbling explosion catches there attention; both of them facing towards the door leading into the hallway; Cayenne barking: “The hell was that?” “Sounds like it came from the front hall, come on!” Kingsley claims as he rushes out the door alongside the spice queen.

Leaping out from the end of the hallway, both of them are left alarmed when greeted by the site of blazing flames enveloping a pair of large flower pots set along the side; the flames threatening to climb up the wall and reach the decorations hanging above. What draws their attention however is the blue boy standing before the blazing pots with bits of cake and candle at around his feet; all the while panicking with: “What do I do!? What do I do!? Why aren’t the water sprinklers going off!?” “Uh. My dad’s been dismantling the sprinkler system so it could deal with electrical fires more effectively.” Kingsley answers. “Well ain’t that fan fucking tastic! How the hell we supposed to put this out!” “I got it.” they hear another voice shout out. Glancing towards the direction of this call do they see the misses of the estate race right in with a fire hose in her hands; the big hipped milf pulling back the lever to unleash a torrent of gushing water. In a matter of moments are the flames threatening to climb the walls of the manner doused by the downpour of water; the gorgeous pot of flowers left under these flames reduced to a charred crisp down to the remains of their petals.

Turning off the flow of water, Kingsley’s mother drops the hose straight down onto the floor before she herself falls to her knee’s; lamenting how: “Those two pots...They were thirty thousand dollars each. There’s no way we could replace them for the formal tonight.” Clutching the blue boy by his shoulder, Cayenne jerks Tore to face her and aggressively claims that: “Ya got ten fucking seconds to say what the hell happened here, else those flowers ain’t the only thing that’s gonna be set ablaze!” “I-I don’t know. I seriously just went to the bathroom for about 3 minutes and when I came back they were on fire.” Pinching one of the frosting covered candles off from the marble tile, the misses of the house looks closely to the soaked party candle and concludes how: “Oh...I think this might be my fault.” “It is?” “Huh?” “Xcuse me? “Let me show you why.” the mother insists.

Through a pair of twin doors, the misses opens up to reveal to them an assortment of sweets and pastries set along the kitchen; most of which of moderate quality, something she explains with: “I don’t really tend to bake all that often, but I wanted to break out the over mitts for this special occasion. I woke up around seven mixing batter, pouring sugar, and laying bread crust all just to make this whole splurge for all the guests that’ll attend.” “Geez, splurge really is an understatement here.” Kingsley comments Among them does Cayenne notice one of the cakes holding several candles having a big chunk broken right off and asks: “Guess this was the little firestarter? The hell happened?” “Oh. It happened when I was pulling out a couple of homemade pies I left in too long out from the over. Part of the baking sheet was stuck on the oven grill and I had to jerk it out. I pulled so hard that I flung both of them through the air; one of them wound up smacking a piece of the cake off and flew straight into the front hall. I saw some of the candles fly off the cake and land right into the pot of flowers; as soon they caught on fire, I raced out toward the nearest fire hose they had. Can’t believe that my baking blunders nearly caught the entire manor on fire.” “Hey, don’t worry about it.” Peering over do all of them see the blue boy scrapping some of the splattered pie off the wall and shoving it straight into his mouth; Tore complimenting how: “This beef pot pie you made ain’t half bad.” “Its supposed to be apple.” the mother replies. After swallowing all that he had shoved in with a single gulp, the indigo angel lets out a little hiss and jest how: “Maybe adding some cinnamon might fix it.” Alas does this little attempt to ease the room only fuel the misses dismay more and have her put her hands against her face, all the while Cayenne shakes her head at him with an upset gaze. “B-but I might be able to fix those flowers.” “Really? How?”Kingsley questions.

Returning to the set of burnt oversized flower pots set along the main hall, the three watch closely as Tore stands before the charred petals; the blue boy’s wings sprouting forth as he takes in a deep breath, From where they watch do Kingsley, Cayenne, and the Misses behold as bits of glimmering color penetrate the walls of the estate to gather into the indigo angel until his figure is coated in a thin layer of lively aura. With the power that he had mustered, Tore thrusts the palms of his hands out towards the two charred remains of flora and cast forth all he had gathered upon them; letting the light that he engulfs them in seep straight into their petals. Yet despite his best efforts to restore the bouquets to their previous natural glory, all the colorful light that seeps into them only manages to bring but a single flower back from its burnt demise; a single flower that blooms among the ruin. “What? Aw…” the angel moan. Beholding the minimal restoration, Cayenne gives a less than sincere applause as she sarcastically praises how: “Wow. What a miracle. Truly the coming of the holy is thy.” Midst her little sarcastic jest does she feel Kingsley elbow jab her side, causing her to stop her little insincere praise. Approaching one of the burnt pots herself, Kingsley’s mother reaches out to the freshly revived flower and plucks it out from its scorched others; beholding the colorful sheen shimmering along the flora’s restored petals.

“Hey, don’t sweat about it, Tore. They’re just a bunch of flowers, nothin too important.” the boy genius attempts to comfort with. “But I was looking to bring both pots back to life. God, I can’t get anything right today.” the indigo angel claims. “That’s a fuckin understatement.” the spice queen whispers under her breath. “How bout not worrying so much about the décor. The party doesn’t start til later tonight. I’m sure we can handle it.” Kingsley suggests. “Well, what’s that leave me to do?” “Uh...Ya know, there’s gonna be a good dozens of people that are attending this little party, some of them pretty important guests of honor. Some of the catering servants we usually got to handle all that are taking their vacation days. Maybe you could help keep the party going, make sure everyone’s having a good time, refreshments aren’t running out, just miscellaneous stuff.” “And not to be a complete fuck up while yer at it.” Cayenne rudely adds.

Upon that very moment do the front doors swing right open, revealing the very fashionista himself strolling straight in with a bounce in his step; claiming to them all: “Well if that’s the case, it’d pain me to see him going around catering in those rags.” “Its been like 20 minutes, how the hell are you back already?” Cayenne wonders aloud. “What’s wrong with what I got on now?” Tore question. “You’re joking, sweetheart. Just look at the poor thing.” From the designers words does the blue boy peer down to his short sleeved white blazer, looking to the numerous stains, burns, tears, wrinkles, and stretches littered across its once pure white fabric. “It’d be a downright felony to have you serve wearing that mess. Come. I shall sow you a suit worthy to match.” Benji exclaims, grasping the blue boy by the collar and dragging him down the hall. “Well, with half of the treats ruined. I better get back to baking before the party starts this evening. I just hope that I don’t wind up making another mess like that again.” the mother claims as she retreats back towards the kitchen.

With both of them left along with one another, the spice queen strolls over to Kingsley side and once again asks him: “Hey, you sure can handle all this?” “Um- of course I can. I’m sure when Renee and Damian get here, things should be smooth sailing from then on.” “With the kinda shit that goes on with all of us, it’ll be a hell of a miracle if it does” Cayenne comments as she walks off. As his spicy pal floats off out from the main hall, Kingsley is left alone with nothing but some new thoughts running through his head; pondering on Cayenne’s very words.

Several hours pass as the afternoon clear blue is replaced by the twinkling night sky that hangs above the entire  city, the lunar glow of the half moon shinning down onto the manor and reflecting off the roof of the dozens of vehicles that pull into the massive driveway. Stepping out from these vehicles to an array of people that stroll through the driveway to the manor front doors; some dressed fancy while other’s dress more casually as they enter the estate. Beside the front doors are a pair of door keeps that kindly greet the numerous guests that enter with: “Evening folks.” “How are you doing?” “Welcome to the estate.” “Hope you have a pleasant time.” “Please direct yourselves to the main hall.” These very guests step through inside to behold the Spicer manor’s main hall to be decorated with numerous finely woven tapestries,  towering statues, lines of pots filled with flowers, and paintings depicting family and friends. Set along the sides of the main hall be the catering platter holdings small portions of meat, cheeses, crackers, punch, some alcohol, even some of the humbly made cakes and pastries that the Mrs had made.

Along the side of this grand hall, the blue boy himself peeks out from the dark recesses of the left hallway and beholds the numerous guests that fill the main hall and slowly spread themselves out through the abode; a small anxious breath escaping from his bit lip as he stares to them all. Don’t think about what happened then, Tore. It’s a new night. New moment. You’ll get yer mind off what happened then in no time. Just focus on what your friends are counting on ya for and play the servant. Circulating these thoughts through his head does the indigo angel finally steps out from the hallway darkness and right into the light of the main hall, letting the light hit his suit of deep indigo blue complimented with an undercoat and cuffs of silk white. His blue main held into a short ponytail that dangles behind the crown of his head.

From the side of the hall, the finely dressed blue boy makes his way straight to the platter table and swipes a silver platter filled with small little meats and snacks; the angel’s eyes glued to the treats as he attempts to hold back the chance to dunk them all down his gullet. Snap outta it, man. These ain’t made for you, these’r for the guest. Just hold the platter above your head and try not to look at the delicious cheese, warm moist meats, and savory salty crackers together in cute little sandwiches… After taking a moment to shake off the temptation, the blue boy strolls away from the food table and ventures out towards the guest further off; holding off even taking so much as a glance at the food he delivers.

From the platter table, the blue suited boy strolls over to a couple of guest enjoying the party and attempts to lower the tray in his hands down to present them the selection of snacks;  only to wind up accidentally bumping the silver tray into their side and nearly spilling the goods. Before all the little sandwiches could smack against the guest, the indigo angel manages to slide them back onto the tray in the nick of time; swiftly offering them in a sort of faux innocent manner with: “Snacks?” Despite his little blunder, the guests swipe some of the little treats right off the plate with some hints of offense; Tore soon strolling off towards the dozens of other party goers while attempting to keep what remained of the food he carries on the silver plate.

Perched atop the manor’s front hall stairwell, Kingsley keeps his eyes peering down to the numerous guests partaking in the parties pleasantries below; all of them sipping wine, eating little sandwiches, and generally mingling among each other. Just look at all of them down there. Wonder what they’re even expecting outta all this...out of all of us...They’re expecting someone who can lead the this new team to keep the peace, to fight off the forces of evil. What if we can’t...What if I’m not-

Among his thoughts of doubting self reflection, a familiar voice cuts through and snaps him back to reality as he hears: “Hey, Kingsley.” “Jolting out from his thoughts does the boy genius swiftly turn around towards second floor hall to discover his supporting blonde, Renee, approaching; the girl’s eyes reflecting a distinct worry as she asks him: “Is everything okay?” “Oh. Y-yeah, everything’s fine. I just really didn’t expect so many people to show up.” “What exactly did you expect after the announcement of the Vanguard League a week ago? Everyone here’s practically looking forward to see the impression of this new teams leader. Why don’t you go down there and mingle a bit?” Upon his girl suggesting such, Kingsley constantly shifts his eyes about as if searching for way out, stuttering out how: “Uh-uh-uh...Ma-maybe not now; the party just started. They should get some time to enjoy themselves. Besides, you really want me to go down there looking like this? An occasion like this calls for more formal wear. Let me just get dressed in the suit I got in my closet.” Watching her boy race walk right past and head straight down the second floor hallway, a stark worry is reflected in the smart blondes eyes as he watches the boy genius retreat into the depths of the hall.

Slowing his walk down to a simple wander, Kingsley takes in small, calming breaths as he travels further into the decedent hall, constantly shifting his head back and forth from his front and back. As he peers back to the hallway he strolls through, a lone figure suddenly rises up from the carpeted floor before him; the boy genius nearly falling back from the unexpected visit. After keeping himself from falling right on his ass, Kingsley starts to calm himself when realizing it only be his friend, Damian; the boy apologizing with: “Oh! Sorry for popping in so suddenly like that...You feeling alright? I mean I know I kinda scared you, but you just seem so tense.” “Yeah. Just feeling a tad nervous about the party here.” “Believe me, you ain’t the only one here. When you suggested for me to be the head of the Supernatural department, I seriously nearly fainted hearing you say that. I really didn’t know what to think. But afterwards, I took some time to process all of it, and I realized how honored I was that you would choose me of all people to help you run something this huge. I’m still feeling a little tingly to be honest.” “Really? How exactly did you process all that?” “I just simply thought of all my loved one’s who I would make proud, all the people who’ll look to me for guidance, all the other’s that’ll count on us to be the mainline defense against this new budding evil. You know, given everything else we’ve tackled together, I started to understand why you thought there would be no one else better for the job.” “Hmm…” “I think I should go down there and introduce myself to all the guest that came to see us. Why don’t you just take a little bit of time to think things over and come down when you’re ready. Alright?” “Yeah. I might do just that.” Having given this tidbit of advice to his friend, Damian hovers out towards the direction the boy genius had came from; leaving Kingsley with all these newfound thoughts running through his head.

Back within the downstairs kitchen, Tore finishes pouring out several glasses of wine set along a silver platter; the blue boy setting the wine bottle aside and very slowly lifts the plate off the table; careful not to spill a single drop as he carries them all out. Out from the kitchen twin doors, the indigo angel first strolls over to a couple of gents and ladies; presenting the freshly poured wine and offering with: “Refreshments?” “Oh, delightful.” “Choice.” “Fine and Dandy.” “Thank you, young man.” After serving to the more fancy folk, Tore ventures over to some dressed in more casual wear; offering them the drinks with: “Some wine?” “Thanks there.” “Nice.” “About time they got drinks out.” With but half of the refreshments having been taken, the blue boy starts to venture out towards the other side of the hall; careful with what wine he still had atop the platter he carried. Got those, now just to see if some of the other guests along the east wing want anything like some refills or snacks or-

Amidst this thought does he fail to see where he walks and bumps right into one of the guests; all the wine glasses he had been carrying spilling right onto the floor as both of them fall. “Ah, jeez. That’s coming out of the paycheck.” Tore comments as he starts to pull himself back up. Glancing over does he see another having fallen onto the floor and rush straight over to help the finely ruby red dressed woman a hand; apologizing to her with: “So sorry about that.” Taking the boy’s hand, the blue boy pulls her back on her feet; the pinkish red young lady looking to the boy with her three eyes and implores that: “I’m the one that should be sorry. I seriously wasn’t looking here I was going.” “That makes two of us then.” he rebuttals, the two of them sharing a little bit of a laugh between them. “So, you enjoying the party so far?” the blue boy then asks. “Oh, absolutely. The people up here have been so nice and friendly; never thought that life out here would be so much different up here.” “Up here? You come from down south?” “Oh, way down south.” the young lady answers. “Guess that’s two for two we got here. I came from up North, all the way up to the country of Maple leaves and pine tree’s. Winter’s up there a little too cold, but other than that, it was a real nice place to live at. Bet you don’t gotta worry about winter’s down there, do ya?” “Oh hardly. You’d be hard pressed to find even a little tiny flake of snow drop down where I’m from.” “Really? You even seen snow before?” “Of course I’ve seen snow silly. I’ve seen a lot more places that have a lot more to offer then that.” “Hey, I’ve done some big traveling around pretty recently, even to some places that ain’t really nice and neat; still, fun memories...mostly fun. From the way you’re putting it, sounds like she’s got some good stories stashed in that head of yours.” “Oh sure. Though I doubt I’d seen as much as my dad; he’s been practically everywhere. You should really come meet him.” “Ah what the hell. Seems like everyone here’s served pretty well. 10 minute break wouldn’t hurt. Name’s Tore.” “Vera, Vera Lucitor.” the girl introduces with a curtsy as both her and the suited blue boy both stroll along the halls past the numerous other guests and head straight out to the west wing of the hall.

Out along the east side of the hall, Damian waves goodbye to a couple of guests as he floats away; to which he feels somebody grasp his shoulder with: “Hey listen.” Jolting back from ho had grabbed him, the ghost boy calms himself when seeing it to be the spice queen herself; Damian noting: “Well, this is certainly a surprise. Hard to believe you came down here on you’re own. You usually don’t enjoy associating with the more fancy folk.” “You kidding. I hate this fucking uptight shit. Came down here looking for Kingsley. He said he’d be down here in a minute.” “How strange. I just ran into in a couple minutes ago. He said he was rather nervous about the party, so I thought he should take a minute to himself.” “That’s not what he told me.” A third voice chimes in with. Peering out from the crowd beside them do the two witness Renee approach them, continuing to state how: “He told me he was going to change into a suit.” “Really. Might be possible that he’s just doing all three at once.” the ghost boy guesses. “Still, it ain’t like him to mix his story up that much. Maybe we should give him a ring, see what’s going on with him.” Cayenne suggests. “I tried that already; didn’t get a single answer. You think something might be going on with him?” “I’m not too sure. Maybe we should try finding him and find out what’s going through his head.” the ghost boy offers. “Might not be a bad idea. How bout you go search upstairs while Renee and I stay down here in case he comes back down.” This little search party set up, Damian hover straight up through the second floor, leaving the girls to start their search up through the first.

While strolling through the west corridor leading down towards the west hallway, both the indigo angel and young lady continue to chatter among themselves over the numerous adventures that both of them had; Vera continuing off with: “I still remember my trip down in the Hydro kingdom. All the water Nymph’s I met were so nice down there; even offering us tools that let us breathe underwater to take in the sites of their ocean. Just so many beautiful sites I wish I could’ve taken pictures off. They’re cities were lovely sites too, just decorated with jewels, seashells and gold. And the cuisine, never in my life did I taste sea food so delectable.” “Sounds real fun. I remember when my family went down to the middle of the bahama’s for a vacation and we wound up having to fight back against a raging forest beast that was kidnapped people left and right, including our mom. So Roy, Mally, and I went through the woods and fighting this massive monster the size of a giant mound. After punching a part of its shell clean off, we manage to wind up beating it down and send it running right off; setting all the people it kidnapped free. After that, the town we were staying at went and gave us a banquet to celebrate. Think Mally might’ve vomited after finding out a dish she ate had lizard testicles in it. I still remember her beating Roy upside the head as he was laughing over it. Can’t lie, almost bust out giggling myself just watching it all.” “I figured you didn’t cut it as a servant all that well; but I didn’t really think you’d be such a natural warrior like my mom. I’ve seen her in the depths of combat outnumbered, armed with but a single sword; the best I could compare the way she fights is with the grace and elegance of the wind itself.” “Funny. Most of my friends say I fight with all the grace of an overly tipsy Irishman drunkard’s worst nightmare. Guess they mean I can take a lot of hits and still keep on brawlin. Like I seriously remember this one time I got stabbed in the stomach and I was still swinging.” “Really? What sort of teacher did you have to help develop that sort of resilience?” “I can thank my Bosnia war vet grandma taking both Roy and I in for one summer. She really knew how to take a dirty bomb and somehow hit back ten times as hard.” “Sounds like she has a lot more in common with my dad than anyone else I know.” “What’s he like?” “He’s pretty much a clean cut and kind sort of man. Though I won’t lie that the few times he loses his temper can be pretty explosive.”

When finally venturing out from the corridor and entering the west hall, Vera peers through the crowd set before them and states how: “I think I can see my family from over here.” “Which one are they?” the blue boy questions as he gazes out through the crowd. “They’re the couple with the toddler in the woman’s arms.” This little detail given, Tore manages to spot the very woman donning a blood red dress holding a little tike with horns dressed in a little suit in her arms; all with a horned man with three fiery red eyes standing beside them both. “Hey, I think I...think I...Oh…” A sense of overwhelming dread begins to slowly settle in the boy’s stomach when he realizes why all of them look so very familiar, drips of sweat beginning to run through his head as he peeks over to the young woman beside him, the last pieces of the puzzle clicking in his mind. The memories of traversing through hell’s very keep and facing their king still fresh on his mind.

While the indigo angel is left utterly horrified upon these newfound realizations, the young woman beside her starts to skip over towards her family and waving to them with: “Hi everyone!” “Vera. How are you liking the party so far?” her mother in the blood red dress asks. “It’s going so wonderfully thus far.” “I am rather curious of what this New Vanguard league has to make of itself. The bold confidence to lead through danger is something not many can hold.” her demonic father states. “And speaking of new faces. I just got done chatting with a quite interesting gent who’s told me tales of his exploits set though his numerous journey’s. I wish to introduce you all to this boy named Tor-” Vera attempts to introduce, only to turn around to find nobody waiting beside her. Peering through her surroundings, she attempts to spot the very boy in question; swearing to her family how: “Huh? Strange. He was just right beside me.” Peering out towards the direction his daughter had come from, the horned father gazes outwards to notice a figure of indigo blue hurrying through the corridor leading to the main entrance hall; a rather suspicious glare set within his three eyes.

Racing out from the hallway and across the main hall, a myriad of panicking thoughts race through the blue boy’s mind as he dart straight towards the other side; disregarding every single guest that calls for his assistance. “Say, could I get I refill?” “Are there any more snacks?” “Excuse me. Do you know where the bathroom might be?” Why is he here!? Why is did the king of hell gotta come up here tonight of all nights, at this place of of all places!? And of course the girl with three eyes is her dad, so obvious. Should’ve realized it sooner. You think any of them would’ve recognize who their daughter was talking to? Know the mom probably would. The face of someone who broke into yer baby’s room is one that your never gonna forget. Wouldn’t be a stretch to say she’d pull out long sharp blade and finish her castration appointment on the spot. Okay, think Tore. What’s your best bet on slipping outta here? Can’t just barge out, it’d cause too much noise. Maybe hiding somewhere til the parties over? Nah, Kingsley and the other’s are gonna want an explanation. They might be able to help though. Sure Kingsley could think of a plan involving a fake mustache and a slightly understandable foreign accent...or would that be too racist?

Opening one hallway door after another, both Cayenne and Renee peer into every room they come to; all the while calling to their friend with: “Kingsley?” Cracking open one room, the blonde sees nothing but darkness wafting within the bathroom; not even a single figure hidden among the shadows. “Kingsley?” Swinging open another door, the spice queen peers into every corner of the decked out lounge, only to find no one held within. “Kingsley?”

Meeting up with one another, the very first thing that Renee asks Cayenne is: “No luck on your end either?” “Afraid not. Where the hell could be possibly be hiding? Swear to fucking god if he wound up bailing…” “That’s not like him though. This isn’t like him. He wasn’t that skiddish about being the teams leader a couple days ago. You think the pressure might be just now setting in?” “With all the damn organizing he’s been doing keeping him busy, I wouldn’t be shocked if it did. Can’t help but wonder what sort of shit he’s been dealing with right now.” “Guys!” the both then hear from across the hall, the familiar voice making the spice queen let out a “so done with this shit” breath. “And speaking of having to deal with bullshit.”

Gazing out towards the direction of the hysterical screaming, both girls behold the blue boy himself sprinting through hallway like a maniacal marathon man; his arms flailing about as he races right towards the both. Right before the indigo angel could run right into them, Cayenne reaches over and clutches Tore right by his face; the Spice Queen tossing the boy back onto the carpeted floor. As they watch the blue boy arise off the scarlet red carpeting, Cayenne then questions: “Alright; what the hell sort of fucked up brain hemorrhage are you suffering from now to race through the hallway like a screaming jackass?” “We need to get everyone the heck outta here pronto! The king of hell himself is in the building!” Tore warns. “Yeah? He’s a part of the guest list, dumbass.” the spice queen answers. “What!? But why!?” “The underworlds Royal family are famous not just as celebrities, but also for the diplomatic work in multicultural relations. They could give the league a vast network of connections if we manage to impress the king.” Renee elaborates. “They’re serious here just to chill and mingle. That’s it. Why the hell are you freaking the fuck out so much?” Cayenne questions.

“Ahh...S-So, Mally told you all about the trip I took with Mall, right?” Tore starts to explain with. “Yeah…” Cayenne confirms. “And about the Halo’s that we needed to collect to get the warpgate to work better.” “The hell’s your point?” “Well, one of those rings we had to get was stashed underneath the Lord of Hell’s castle.” “You fucking didn’t.” “Yeah...And while I broke into their home and swipe the Halo from under them. I might have wound up breaking into their young son’s room and scarring him, nearly got my balls cut off by the queen, bust through a couple of their walls, had Mall mow down a good chunk of his forces outside...And to escape, we had to work together to beat the Kings into an unconscious mess. Th-that-that’s all, really.” Both girl are left unsurprisingly astonished with all the blue boy said he had done underneath the king of hell’s own roof; Renee pleading to tell her that: “Please tell me you’re not serious.” “Augh…Sounds pretty bad saying it all out loud, don’t it?” the indigo angel admits. Upon having heard all of this, a small chuckle is all that could escape from the Spice queen’s mouth before she starts to stroll off and mention how: “Whelp. It’s been a hell of a ride knowing ya.”

“Guys, come on! Don’t make me beg here! If I winds up getting caught out in the middle of this party, the devil that’s among us’ gonna have his Kybr hide roast to a delicious crisp served neatly with a side of gravy coated mashed potato’s and freshly salted stuffing.” Despite the blue boy’s desperate plea, Cayenne continues to head down through the hall; only stopping when hearing Renee claim how: “Cayenne. We’re in the midst of forming out own superhero team, so dealing with situations like this is gonna be something on the clock.” “Oh come the hell on, Renee. Why the hell do we gotta stick our necks out for a guy that brought all this shit on himself.” “Because that’s something that heroes do.” The blonde reminding her of such, a frustrated sigh escapes from the spice queen’s lips as she starts to return to their side and mentions how: “It’s shocking how I’m not used to this shit.”

“So, any idea’s?” Tore asks them both. “Think the best thing to do is to call Damian and have him whisk you away. All with no one being the wiser.” the blonde first suggest. “Not a bad idea there. Just gimme a sec.” the spice queen compliments while pulling out her phone from her pocket. After fidgeting with her phone for a brief moment, the spice queen puts it up to her ear and hears the tone ring; waiting as the tone keeps repeating and repeating in her ear. Alas does the tone simply redirect straight to his voicemail, Cayenne putting her phone away as she curses out: “God dammit! Did he leave his phone at home again?” “What now?” the indigo angel questions. “Whelp, with the phoning in option gone. I’ll have to buckle down and try and find the pissy little ghost boy myself. Renee, get this dumb blue bastard some new digs to cover up with while I try and look for him.” the spice queen commands as she glides through the hallway. “Wait, what should I try and do while and she’s gone...Great…” “So, do I gotta return the suit?” Tore questions, Renee taking her glasses off to pinch the top of her nose.

Along the corridors upstairs, Damian phases through every wall and every door in his way whilst searching for the boy genius himself, flying through bathrooms, bedrooms, and lounges as he constantly calls out with: “Kingsley? Kinglsey? Where are you?” Oh lord, just where the heck could that boy possibly be? But it really isn’t like him to hide the truth like this? Why would he not tell us anything? Does he not want any of us to worry about him? Is he ashamed of have second thoughts? If I had know that being the team leader was what really was on his mind, we could’ve talked things through, let him know that he ain’t alone on all this.  Let’s just hope that he’s not feeling unsure enough to do anything drastic.

“I’m not really so sure about this. You really think this might fool anybody.” the indigo angel claims, gazing to himself in a full body mirror while donning a gorgeous indigo blue short gown; its sheen finish reflecting the light of the room. “I’m exactly sure about that; but with how urgent this is and with what little time we got, there really isn’t that much other options to work with. Besides, this was the only dress she could find around here that would look good on you.” the blonde beside him states, applying eye shadow of a similar color. “Never thought I’d look that gorgeous in a dress. The fabric and eye shadow compliments my hair amazingly. I can kinda see why Roy likes doing this sometimes.” “I only wish I had more time to work, but the guests outside are gonna want to know what I was doing this whole time; so this quick little revamp is gonna have to work for now.”

Tore’s visual transformation finally finished, the blue boy strikes a sassy pose as he admires himself in the mirror; Renee admitting: “I didn’t really expect you to have that sort of figure. It really work.” “It does, don’t it. So what sort of escape route ya got in the works?” “Hmm. Front door is obviously out; some people might see through the ruse. Going through a window might just seem conspicuous.” “Can’t exactly fly out, either. With wings as bright as mine, people are gonna see me fluttering out in the night…Didn’t exactly see anyone going to the garden. You think with this sort of party, it be pretty crowded.” “I think Kingsley mentioned something about a problem with the garden water sprayers and the fountain. With nobody around, it might just serve as the perfect escape route; just go through, jump over the fence and run through town to get back home.” Renee plans through. “Sounds like we got a plan here. Though I might need another to explain to my mom why I’m coming home in this.” “Hmm...Pulling it off this well, I’m not sure she’ll see a problem.” “True.”

Along the left side of the main manor hall, the pair peek out from the shroud of darkness set along the west hallway corridor; both of them beholding the numerous party goers mingling among one another, all while a few other servant race around tending to their requests. Pouring drinks, serving snacks, all the things that Tore himself was tasked with. “Hmm, seems pretty okay to me. Don’t see a pair of horns anywhere in site.” “Most of the manor’s first floor looks pretty packed with guests; that except for the kitchen over there. That’d make a good midpoint between the front and back halls.” Renee elaborates. “Let’s just hope that the king’s family haven’t split up; if any of them recognize who I am, might as well be dead on the spot.”

The first part of their little escape route planned out before them, both the blonde and crossdressing angel emerge out from the hallway and brave ahead through the front manor hall; weaving through the numerous guests and few servants that shuffle among eachother. “Excuse me.” Renee apologize as she swerves through the crowd. “Pardon me, good sir.” Tore says, attempting to put on the best ladylike impression he can. “Sorry.” “Just need to get through, so sorry.” “I hope you’re enjoying yourselves.” “I love the suit you got on, is it silk?”

All seems to be going rather smoothly as the two of them make their way towards the pair of twin doors leading into the kitchen; Renee whispering to the blue boy she leads: “Almost there. Once we get into the kitchen, we’ll figure out a way from there.” “Yeah, thanks for all the-” Right in the midst of thanking the blonde for her gracious assistance through this predicament, the blue boy then feels something tug on the back of his dress; Tore glancing back for his hopeful expression to shatter when finding that something to be the very young lad of the hellish royal family himself gazing up to him. “Oh lord.” Tore utters. “What is it?” Peering back herself is Renee alarmed to see the devilish horned little tike smiling up to them with a precious grin; that weariness setting into maximum overdrive when hearing a woman close by call out with: “Issac! Where are you sweetie?” In a matter of just seconds do the two witness the human queen of hell herself cut through the crowd as she starts to strolling over to her lost little child; Tore’s eyes shifting about in a panic as he tries to come up with something with just seconds to act. With not many options to work with, Tore grabs hold of the blond beside her and shoves her gently in front of the little horned baby boy; the blonde whispering to him: “What are you doing!?” “Keep’em busy!” the indigo angel feverishly requests as he retreats out in the opposite direction.

While the blue boy heads out behind her, Renee peers back just in time to face her majesty approaching and scooping her little boy in her arms; the little tike letting out a little cute giggle while his mother thanks the blonde with: “Oh, I can’t thank you enough for finding him for me. the boy can get really rambunctious and slips away from time to time to chew on stuff.” “Uh-R-really. How old is he?” Renee responds to her with. “Little bitty Issace here just turned two, those little horns of his just grew in about five months ago.” “Ha ha ha ha, sounds like he can be an adorable little trouble maker, can he? I wonder what having him for a brother wound be like?” the blonde girl jests, slightly peering out towards one of the golden statues set behind the mother. Within the shimmering statue’s reflection can she see the blue boy she had been escorting slip through the crowd and head straight through the doors leading straight into the kitchen; a slightly relieved breath escaping from between her lips as she hears the queen herself ask: “So what pray tell are you planning on the future for this Vanguard league.” “Uh, well. We already have most of the leader division seats filled. It won’t be long before we manage to find the last one to fill in.”

Back upstairs does Damian continue to phase through every single room set along the floor, searching for even a single sign of the boy genius among them; all the while he continues to call out to him with: “Kingsley, where are you. All of us are getting worried here.” “Where the hell are you mopping, dammit!?” he hears a familiar voice crassly shout out for. Phasing straight through a couple more rooms, the ghost boy peeks right through a door to discover the voice belonging to the Spice queen herself roaming through the hallway; Damian grabbing her attention by asking: “Cayenne, you’ve had any luck in finding Kingsley?” “You mean you haven’t sussed him out yet?” Cayenne questions in return. “Oh, I tried. Believe me have I tried. I’ve phased straight into every single room, nook, cranny, and closet set throughout this floor; and not once did I see even a single orange hair of his. I just don’t know where else to look.” “Hmm...Think I might know where he’s hiding. The one place he always goes to think to himself or cry, often times both.”

Within the dark recesses of secret storage space lies dozens of miscellaneous toys, tools, portraits, clothing, and numerous boxes that hold more than meets the eye; some of the contents within threatening to overflow and spill out onto the dust ridden floorboards. Suddenly does a random stack of boxes begin to tremble from something shaking underneath; the grunts of the ghost boy all that manages to make it through as he struggle to open the door held under these boxes. “It’s all too heavy.” “For fuck’s sa- Just lemme try.” “Wait, I think I can-” In a single instant are all the boxes set over the trap door sent flying through the dusty air as the way is flung right open; the light from the hallway downstairs flooding the space as Cayenne hovers up; Damian phasing straight through the floor beside her as pieces of junk rain down. “What’s so wrong about simply me phasing through the floor?” “Where’s the hell’s the fun in that?”

Its then that the two then hear a brief shaking sigh sound off from across the space; Cayenne strolling over to the side to flip a switch; the light bulb above illuminating the entire attic and finally discover the boy genius himself huddled in the dusty corner, his head buried in his knee’s. “Kingsley? Are you okay?” Damian questions as he hovers over to him, only for his words to go unanswered in place of some light sobbing. “Dude, the hell is up with you?” Cayenne then joins in with as she walks closer. “Am I good enough?” both of them hear the boy utter out. “Come again.” “Am I the right sort of person for this kind of job? To lead an entire team of young budding heroes against rising evil, an evil that we must keep at bay else the people I sworn to protect risk being hurt or worse. And all the other’s that will have to look to me for guidance, all of them hinging on my every word for hope and inspiration...I-I didn’t really didn’t put it into perspective much before tonight; but now that I am, that sort of overwhelming pressure and responsibility, its... What if I do something wrong, something I can’t go back to and fix. Like send a bunch of young heroes to their deaths. Wind up making a mistake that cost dozens upon dozens of people their lives. Something that could very well change the course of history for the worse. I wouldn’t know how to fix that; or even if it could be at all.” Such unrelenting worries spiraling through his mind cause the nervous young man to quake in his boots as bouts of sweat run down through his skin; his friends before him looking to Kingsley with great concern.

Down along the back hall of the main floor, the blue boy dressed in silky indigo peeks out from the kitchen twin doors and gazes out past the numerous guests enjoying the spread out platters of cake and meat entree’s to find the glass sliding door leading to the backyard. Hung on the handle of the sliding door was a single dangling sign; one that read out that: “Due to plumbing maintenance issues. Entry into the backyard garden is prohibited. (Yes, again.)” The moment of truth. A little further through the minefield and it’ll be home free from then on out. Just gotta not mess this up.

This little self motivational pep talk going through his head, the finely dressed indigo angel emerges out from the kitchen and blends into the fancy dinning crowd like a serpent through the bushes; slithering through the numerous guests and party goers that enjoy their meals and snacks. In his little sneak out through the back dinning hall is his attention drawn out to the side, his pupils growing when beholding the incredible platter spread out along the length of a table set along the side; all the little sausages, salamis, cracker sandwiches, cakes, fruits, pieces of stake. Eh, maybe a little bit on the way out wouldn’t hurt.

Strolling right over to the table filled with delectable little treats, Tore wastes not a second partaking in the wonderful spread set before him; some he shovels straight into his mouth while others he indiscreetly stashes away in the breast of his dress. This might as well as count as a whole dinner and dessert. Midst his little picking platter detour towards the exit, he fails to see where he was sidestepping and winds up bumping right into someone and fall right onto the floor; wiping off some of the food that splattered onto him while claiming that: “Ah, sorry. Didn’t really see-” The indigo angel quickly snaps silent when glancing over to who he had just bumped into and discovers that somebody to be coincidentally the very same demon princess he had ran into before, parts of her dressed stained with steak grease. “No. I should be sorry. I-” Vera attempts to retort with, but stops speaking when peering over to find no one before her; swiping off some of the food that got on her as she rises confused. Glancing around to figure out who she might’ve ran into, the princess fails to notices a couple of feet sliding straight underneath the tablecloth; the indigo angel keeping his mouth shut tight as he crawls along towards the other side of the platter table.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” a voice questions. Gazing over to her side, the demon princess finds her father walking over to her side; Vera answering him on how: “Oh, I’m just fine dad.” “Did you simply just trip?” “No, I...I thought I just bump into someone. But I’m not sure who, or even what. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn’t find a soul.” As her daughter explains this, the king’s eyes venture out towards the very back of the room; where a lone figure with matching indigo hair and dress slithers out from the dining hall and straight into the backyard garden. His eyes squinting as a sense of familiarity starts to creep upon him.

“Why did you decide to try and hide up here and not talk to us.” Damian questions, staring to his friend huddled in the corner. “How could I even start? Having been appointed the leader of the Vanguard league about a week ago and now of all times in the middle of an introduction party are doubts and pressure starting to set in; how are people gonna look seeing me like that? I supposed to be the spearhead against rising evil, but they haven’t even properly formed the team yet I’m already shaking?...I’m not so sure now if they made the right choice putting him in charge.” Kingsley worries. “That ain’t the kinda shit I seen you do.” he hears the spice queen pierce through with. “What are you alluding to?” “The hell I’m saying his that we’ve been dragged through all sorts of bull, and every single time we’re drowning in the absolute worst piss, that carrot top ya got for a head goes into overdrive to get us out. All the kids Circe had kidnapped, Renee’s dad nearly blowing up the city, everyone’s souls getting fucking ganked; even when you’re knocked outta the game, the work ya put in gets us all so damn far. I’m not fucking with you when I say I think we’d all be long dead if you weren’t there covering our asses.” Hearing this coming from his friends causes him to cease quaking in his boots and start to stand back up; lifting his head up to theirs and questioning with a slight smile if: “You really mean that?” “We seriously couldn’t think of anyone better for the job if you left.” Damian assures him.

Out behind the Spicer manor, Tore ventures through the garden in his efforts to distance himself from the party as far as he could on foot; his eyes glued to the brick wall set along the very end of the garden as he weaves around and hopes over several dug up pipes among the garden path. Just several more meters and over the wall, this whole night’ll just be a thing of the past; just another wacky and cooky night of cross dressing shenanigans full of comedic close calls and socially awkward misunderstandings. Just the usual teenage dramatic comedy happy hour on whatever the heck channel or streaming service even airs those anymore. Wonder if I should keep the dress?

Alas, before the finely dressed blue boy could bound right atop the wall, Tore peers his eyes right along the top and screeches dead in his tracks; his pupils shrinking as he slowly starts to waddle back as he beholds the very king of demons staring down upon him. Oh...oh no. “To think, after you and your partners transgressions, you decide to nest right above my kingdom. Foolishly wondering about as if I would not seek justice. After all that you two have done; breach my kingdom’s abode, destroy my forced, threaten my family; the tormentous pits of the damned would be but a mercy. Instead, I shall carry your execution out myself; engulf your entire being in the depths of my scorching pyres until nothing remains of you in this world. Not even a single piece of your soul.” Promising such to the indigo angel under him does the demonic king leap down from the top of the brick wall and land before the blue boy; the earth quaking in a glowing hellish red as his feet stamp onto the ground.

Everyone in the manor sitting behind them stop right where they stand and gaze about to wonder what’s causing the commotion; some of them falling on their asses while the trembling shakes the entire estate. Within the attic above does Kingsley nearly plummet down into a display of pointy figurines, Damian catching him before he could fall right into a single figure. “What the fuck is that?” Cayenne exclaims. “It sounds like it’s coming from outside.” Kingsley answers.

Erecting out from the cracks of this trembling earthquake be a shell of unholy red power with patches of brimstone covering its surface; threatening to encase both the king of demon’s and the indigo angel within. The blue boy rockets up in a frantic hurry to outrace the forming barrier in hopes of escaping; his hopes dashed when the spherical prison encloses at the top and cuts off the angel’s escape. Slamming right into the top of the cage does its inner layer let out a violent pulse of orange red that sends Tore plummeting back down towards the garden earth; crashing straight down into the concrete set before the cages very conjurer.

Outside this newly formed prison do most of the guests that dwell inside the manor all look out through every glass door and window they could see from, including the king’s own daughter; who attempts to reach out to him with: “Dad, what are you doing!?” Yet do the princess’s words fail to bait even a single bit of the demon’s attention as he keeps his sites to the angel rising before him; his majesty swinging his open palm upwards to let a geyser of hellfire erupt right underneath the boy and launching him up in enveloping flames.

Among the crowd watching the chaos unfold before them, the queen herself manages to squeeze herself through the other guest with her young baby boy in her arms; peering upwards to the figure her husband had just set alight. All of them behold as the scorching blaze that engulfs the boy above is dispersed all at once as the boy’s angelic white wings sprout forth from his backside; his facade having been burned away to reveal the angel underneath. Most of his dress covering his upper torso destroyed, the make up covering his face chipping off under the heat, and the band holding his hair burned away and letting his indigo blue mane flow out; all of these details together giving the queen the answer of who he really was. “...Him! That little miscreant! He’s the exact same boy who broke into our home and terrorized out baby boy.” In listening to that single realization is the crowd around her left utterly astonished, some of them gasping while others say among themselves how: “Did that really happen?” “I heard recently that the royal family’s home was attacked.” “Can’t believe somebody would try and scare poor Issac like that.” “What a little blue asshole.” “Hope the king lights this little marauder aflame!” Soon enough is the entire spectating crowd riled up into a maddening cheer, their numerous praises and encouragements coming out from their mouth being for the king to beat the little blue punk into a sobbing mess. Agh, great. Not only am I gonna die, I’ll go down in history as the jackass that deserves it…Maybe I just had this coming. Peering down to the demon king himself, Tore could see the blazing fury held within his very eyes; a wave of hellfire beginning to erupt from his entire body. Whelp, if I’m going out like this, better get as much fun outta it as I can.

Upon the realization of there being little way out of this predicament, indigo angel quickly decides to start off by delving straight down to where the fiery king stood; constantly flipping through the air as he plummets downwards with but a single leg sticking out. Right as the blue boy’s spinning axe kick was moments from slamming straight onto the demon’s horned head; the king halts the boy’s descending kick with just a single arm; Tore feeling as if he had hammered the back of his foot against a solid wall In a matter of moments does the demonic king let out a blazing burst of flames from his body that blows the blue boy away and send him out through the rest of the garden; the angel’s very body crashing straight through the stone fountain set in the middle and through numerous other flowers making up the rest. Tore manages to flip back onto his own two feet and grind himself to a skidding halt moments before he could hit the side of the unholy cage, soon glancing out in the direction he came from to behold a blaze of fire streak out towards him like a lunging serpent. As he witnesses his angelic foe spring up from the very flames he had cast forth, his majesty launches himself straight after him in a fiery explosion and reaches out in just a matter of moments. Hanging just above the indigo angel, the hellish royalty unleashes a blast of hellfire that sends the blue boy careening back down towards the earth below; the crowd inside cheering for the king as the angel crashes into the dirt.

Just above the cheering crowd of guests, Kingsley, Cayenne, and Damian all peer out a window overlooking the entire garden and peer out to the ensuing brawl between the angel and demon; all the while the boy genius question: “What’s going on!? Why is hell’s King trying to roast Tore alive!?” “Seriously, its been like half an hour since we split up. What the hell did we miss?” Damian asks as well. “Heh heh heh heh. Okay, so you guys are seriously not gonna believe the shitshow that blue dumbass wound up getting into.” Cayenne offers to elaborate.

Behind the spectating crowd gathered beneath them Renee joins in watching the ensuing fight alongside the numerous guests; asking one of them: “What on Earth is happening right now?” “I’m wishing to know the exact same thing.” the blonde hears someone beside her say. Peering off to her side, the blonde girl discovers the questioning voice to belong to none other than the princess herself; Vera adding: “Just what is my dad even thinking doing something like this.” “Seriously can’t believe that blue asshole broke into their royal family’s home and terrorized their family.” they hear someone vent. “Wait what!?” the princess exclaims. “No! He’s not like that. It’s all just one big misunderstanding. Does he even look like somebody like that to you.” Renee attempts to informs.

Despite most of the crowd either ignoring or dismissing the blonde, Vera peers back up towards the chaos and watches closely as her father continues to duke out against the angel; the unholy king letting loose a bevy of fire from his maw that transforms into a demonic creature of flames that pursues his majesty’s foe. The indigo angel glides away from the pursing monstrous blaze, fending away the fiery beast with a volley of pale rays; all the while the princess state how: “He does seem rather familiar. The blue mane, the white wings, the light coming out from his body; all of it’s just making bells ring in my head. Just where have I seen him before?” Its in thinking back to not so long ago that she remembers the moments she was just moments away from the cold grip of death; bleeding out underneath a pile of broken castle rubble, surrounded by darkness. In but seconds his the vial of shadows lifted away, her site blurred to everything except a figure dressed in light; that very same glow enveloping her and pulling her away from the brink of demise. Among her recovery does her vision start to return, all the while the figure began to fly away down the castle corridors; the princess only able to make out white wings and a blue mane from the retreating figure. “That person...It was him...Oh no.”

Hearing this from the princess, Renee looks over and sees Vera attempt to slip through the thick crowd in hopes of making it outside; only for the overwhelming numbers to shove her aside. Coming over to the princess’s side does the blonde help Vera off the floor, all the while hearing her state how: “If I can’t get through, I won’t be able to break dad’s cage in time to tell him.” “You know how to break it?” Renee questions. “I’ve seen my dad use this barrier many times and saw how he breaks it open when he’s done. But even if I got out there, I’m not sure how I could even reach up around it by myself.” Its in hearing the princess lament of such that Renee peek out through the window set beside the sliding glass door and gaze upwards to discover her boyfriend and his pals watching the ongoing brawl through a second story window: “I might know some people who can. Come on, we gotta hurry.” the blonde girl tells the princess as she races back from the crowd, the princess she tells this to feverishly following after her.

With just a single blast of white does the indigo angel blow away the pursuing flaming demon, the monstrous pyre evaporating in the ray of pale power. This tiny victory is unfortunately short lived however as a pillar of rising flames erupts right behind the boy with a demonic silhouette underneath its blaze. The very moment that Tore turns back towards the column of fire, a hand of fiery brimstone reach out from the flames and grasp hold of the angel’s neck, the blue boy feeling the incredible heat radiating underneath the rock palms grasp as the king of hell emerges out from the blazing inferno. Amidst struggling under his majesty’s burning grasp, the king himself take his other brimstone covered fist and prepares to swing its hard rock right into the angel’s face; Tore repeatedly beating against the rock clutching his neck tight, the brimstone cracking with each it. With the fifth strike does the boy manage to burst the brimstone holding him up apart and free himself from the demonic king’s grasp; though his escape proves too late as his majesty slugs the angel right in the face with his other brimstone gauntlet, sending Tore spiraling down towards a part of the garden lined with numerous statues.

Among the resulting rocky collection of dust and dirt, the king hovers back down upon the earth where he had struck the blue miscreant down to; peering around to a number of statues that lined out along the walkway wayside that bare items such as books, weapons, and other tools, some baring a sort of resemblance to both Kingsley and Chloe. In strolling along the garden path is his majesty in his search, the hellish lord is left unaware of the angel himself hiding behind a statue of a beautiful woman holding a scale of justice in her hand; Tore himself peering out through the rest of the garden for anyway to tip the metaphorical scale. Okay Tore, you went through this before and barely survived the last time against this guy. Taking this guy head on right now is a seriously bad idea.  Maybe not with what’s in the tank right now, but maybe with what’s around. A bit of juice outta turn things around. Glancing out towards the foliage that makes up the garden, the indigo angel realizes his options in drawing out nearby power having been cut short; most of the flowers, vines, and other lively greens that once stood in bloom among the decor now engulfed in a blaze of hellfire Doesn’t seem there’s a lot left to work with here, but what about outside; All the other plants and animals out in the city. Should be more than enough to borrow from it all to make it through this.

Setting his mind on the life that lies beyond the garden, Tore clasps his hands together as he focuses on the plants, people, and animals that dwell within the city. Come on, need something here. Yet no matter how hard he focuses on all that live beyond the garden, even to those with the manor just outside; the angel opens his eyes to find not even a single bit of colorful light coating his body. Wh-what? Why hasn’t anything came yet? Focused on all the living things in Townsville, but there’s not even a single glow of color here. Why is this happening now!?

Left at a flustered loss over the lack of power he had failed to gather, the blue boy has little time to ponder how or why as he feels an incredible heat come from behind and turns back to witness the stone statue he hides behind start to melt before his eyes; Tore crawling backwards as he sees the demon king standing right behind its stone. Raising his fist up high, the demon king’s hands suddenly combust in a blazing fury as he starts to swing them down to the angel before him; Tore managing to flee back away before his majesty hammers his fist down to the ground in a blazing quake. Among the bursting flames does Tore peek back in his retreat to see his hellish foe relentlessly pursue after; his mind running a hundred miles an hour thinking of what other options he has. Fine, if anything out there won’t help out, then there’s might be something in here that can; something that can quell this guy’s fiery temper. But what? Among his swiftly look around does the blue boy manage to spot the remains of the broken fountain; some of the pipes sticking out from the stone and dribbling water out from within. Hey, that might work.

Before the indigo angel could take the chance to delve down towards the busted fountain; the king himself swoops right beneath him with hands of blazing fury; Tore evading his grasp as the demon cast forth a bevy of flames up towards the boy above. In the middle of evading his majesty’s blistering hellfire, Tore delves right down towards the king himself to deliver a couple of kicks to counter with; one right in the stomach and one straight into his face. Attempting to send out a third one however, the indigo angel winds up getting his leg caught right in his hellish foe’s clutches; the demon king seeing fit in the moment to light the boy’s leg ablaze. Enduring the burning pain, the blue boy swings the leg the demon king holds straight upwards and flings his majesty up into the air above; following up by firing a beam of white straight upwards out to the ascending demon and using its force to descend down towards the ground.

Recovering from the unexpected counterattack, the demonic king plummets down towards the plume of stone dust with his burning red eyes locked to the cloud; seeing the figure of the boy he pursues. While the king of hell drops downwards towards his angelic foe, the dusty cloud starts to let him see the blue boy grasp something from under his feet and uproot it up to the surface; ultimately caught off guard when witnessing the angel pull out a massive pipe pointed up towards him. “Get ready for the flood!” Tore warns with a smile. Descending down too fast to stop himself in time, all his demonic majesty could do was grind himself to a halt just before the open end of the pipe; preparing to face an entire torrent of gushing water from the quaking pipe. Alas when the pipe finally stops shaking, nothing but a pitiful stream is all that drizzles out from its steel depths; Tore looking inside to wonder if that was really all the water it had as the king lowers his guard. “Does...does he not know people shut their water off when working on their piping?” Kingsley questions. “Oh my fucking god…” Cayenne sighs while shaking her head.

In realizing the angel’s attempts to thwart him having blown up right in his face; the hellish king uncovers his face and tilts his burning scowl down upon him; returning his remark with: “Cute. Wish to see what a real flood is like?” With but the snap of his finger, the entire garden ground underneath starts to violently tremble as fissures form between what foliage had yet to burn; the remaining flowers combusting into flames when geysers of lava spew out from earth. The fiery hot goo swiftly covering the earth, Tore leaps upwards into the air to avoid its molten heat; the boy peering down in his ascent to see nothing but a few statues and rocky stands peek out from under the melting lava.

Taking in the view of the unholy red prison starting to flood with the fiery hot goo from the second floor, Damian claims to both his friends how: “Okay, this is getting too outta hand. We need to do something.” “My thoughts exactly.” the spice queen declares before leaping out through the window and towards the scene. “Cayenne, wait!” Kingsley attempts to warn. Spurring her friends warning aside does Cayenne charge straight towards the side of the unholy prison; putting as much force as she could as she rams her shoulder straight onto its side. The very moment that the spice queen touches the surface of the barrier is a powerful pulse of hellish power unleashed, one that blast Cayenne aside and have her crash right into the side of the manor. “The hell was that shit!” “A rather counter intuitive attempt with solve this with force, I’d say. Allow me.” the ghost boy scolds her with as he hovers out towards the red cage for a go. Approaching the hellish barricades surface does the ghastly young man turn himself completely intangible, gliding out towards the red wall as fast as he could. Yet strangely does this as well prove fruitless; the unholy cage stopping Damain right their and pushing him away; despite being totally incorporeal. “What!? How!? Why can’t I phase through it!?”

Its midst their questioning mysticism that Kingsley hears somebody behind him give them their answer; responding to the ghost boy’s quarrel with: “Only royal blood can unlock the seal. Without doing so, everything, even souls, are kept in and out of its unholy walls.” Hearing this answer, the boy genius quickly peers back to find both his blonde lover and the princess of demon’s herself standing behind him; Kingsley going: “Renee! Wait, you know how to break it open?” “Indeed I do. Those chunks of brimstone that line the barricade are the locks that ultimately keep the cage together. If they are unlocked, the cage shall shatter.” Vera elaborates to them. “So, you know where the key is?” Renee questions. Upon hearing the blonde girl ask this does the princess take off the pointed crown set atop her head and pricks one of her fingers with one of its sharp ends; a thick crimson leaking right out from the tip of her finger. “It’s right here.” “So you were being literal? Why?” “It’s a family practice. With but a drop will the brimstone locks break, I simply need someone to break through the layer’s underneath to reach them.” In hearing the princess explain all of this does Kingsley peer down through the window to see both of his friends still struggling to pierce through the prisons unholy defenses; Cayenne constantly beating against its surface while Damian repeatedly attempts to phase through, both yielding little to no success. “I’m not sure that’ll be enough. We need to do more than that.”

Inside the unholy prison itself, Tore continues to flee from the grasp of the demonic king of hell in a boiling sweat; all while beholding his majesty thrusts his palms down towards the lava beneath them both and commanding the molten liquid to spew up in geysers after the angel. As the blue boy weaves around the spewing strands of red hot goo, he could feel his very skin on the cusp of boiling as the incredible heat from these flung strand beats down upon him. Finding a couple of approaching waves of lava far too large to evade, the indigo angel instead fires out rays of pure pale power against these encroaching hellish waves; effectively dispersing the boiling before it could engulf him. Despite having spurned away his hellish foe’s cascading waves, his efforts proves to be nothing more than a distraction as king of hell plummets downwards from above with a blazing flame in the palm of his hand. The very moment that Tore turns back is one that is far too late, discovering his demonic royalty hovering above and unleashing the hellfire he holds in his hand; engulfing the angel in a plume of his fiery wrath as he’s blasted back.

While holding in the overwhelming desire to scream out, the blue boy careens through the fiery garden air in a smoking mess; threatening to crash right into the side of the hellish red barrier. But in the nick of time does Tore manage to regain his aerial balance and stop himself moments before he could slam straight into the side of the cage; the smoke enveloping his body disappearing to reveal the numerous burns along his skin. Okay. Can’t really call on any sort of power from outside. Every living thing in here that could’ve been a source of power is submerged in a sheet of boiling lava. And the King of hell is still aiming to burn away what skin is still left. If there’s nothing left around here to draw life from… With his demonic foe on the verge of striking him down, the indigo angel takes his focus away on the seething burns left along his body and starts to concentrate on what life he held within; the pain he feels eventually numbing as a colorful power starts to well from within the depths of his soul.

“Enough dawdling here. The time of your punishment is at hand. Say what prayers you have left, for they will not be answers for where you shall be sent!” the king of hell tells the angel before lunging after with hellfire engulfing his entire hand. Right when his hellish majesty was on the verge of striking the boy down with a furious hellfire, his assault thwarted on the spot when the blue boy grasps his wrist moments before he could be struck. Left astonished by the unexpected grab, his hellish majesty glances down to the blue boy as Tore in kind peers upwards; the angel’s eyes flashing a rainbow of colors along his pupils. ...Then I’ll just use what life I got left.

His fist coated in a colorful aura, the indigo angel straight slugs his demonic foe right in the chest; the incredible force of the assault hard enough to send his majesty crashing down into the pool of lava, with the red hot goo splashing onto the sides of the red unholy cage. “Whoa!” Kingsley exclaims. “Holy shit!” Cayenne shouts. “Dad!” Vera screams.

Yet mere moments after taking the descending splashdown straight into the pool of fresh hellish lava, the demonic king surfaces up out from the molten goo in an ascending burst straight after the angel above; globs of the boiling liquid clutched in his hands. Closing in on the indigo angel, his majesty scatters the globs of fiery goo straight out towards the boy above in little pieces. With small bullets of flaming lava coming straight at him, Tore rockets straight down towards the approaching flurry of flung lava; sticking his arms out towards the spread as he begins to twirl through the air in a straightforward aileron roll. The colorful life force held within his hands combined with the swirling velocity, the indigo angel spur away the flung scatter of molten liquid; piercing straight through the storm and towards its very sender.

Upon nearing his demonic majesty does the blue boy cease spinning through the air, focusing all the power he has in a single fist; ready to slug the demonic royalty straight in the face. Alas when Tore was on the cusp of punching his foe right in the shnoze, the king of hell weaves right around his swing with hellfire coating his fist; his majesty countering back with own brand of a fiery strike straight onto the boy’s backside. The burning assault sending him careening across the blistering hot garden air, Tore sticks his legs out towards the side of the cage he threatens to crash right into and manages to land right on his feet; the unholy prison wall letting out a furious pulse of flames that launches the blue boy back out towards the very demon that had conjured it. In but a matter of moment does the indigo angel return out towards the king of hell and swings his leg straight out to his majesty, the glowing blue boy landing an overwhelming kick right to the king’s side hard enough to send his fiery foe careening aside. As the demonic royalty recovers from the swift counterattack, the indigo angel thrusts his palms out towards the demonic royalty and fire out an incredible wave of colorful life out towards his majesty; the incredible ray widening exponentially as it streaks through the blistering hot air. The colorful ray proving too wide to dodge, the king of hell commands the magma beneath him to rise up before the encroaching wave and hardens its molten goo into fiery stone in but a matter of seconds. Though the wall of hardened lava manages to take initial brunt of the colorful ray, it quickly begins to weaken under the constant stream of power and breaks apart in a matter of seconds; the overwhelming blast engulfing the fiery demon in a flash of of bright colors.

Once the light from the incredible wave starts to finally dim, the indigo angel peers down to the pool of lava beneath to discover his fiery foe left floating along the surface; then witnessing his majesty swiftly snap right out from his dazing stupor in a roar of blazing hellfire. Arising out from the molten pool does the king of hell once more face the radiant colorful angel with a burning rage reflected in his bright red eyes; his entire body engulf in a scorching fury as he proclaims that: “That’s it! This has gone on long enough. I thought of making this quick, but you seem to wish for this to drag on. No more! I’m going to fry you alive from where you float!” While listening to the hellish devil’s decree, an encroaching dizziness begins to seep its way into the boy’s head; his vision blurring in and out as he threatens to pass out from exhaustion. Come on, don’t give out just yet. Just a bit more.

Right outside the barrier do both Damian and Cayenne hover above the unholy prison with both Vera and Kingsley riding upon them; the boy genius informing the spice queen that: “We need to break open that cage as fast as we can. Cayenne, take Vera around and break the locks holding it together.” “On it.” Cayenne simply complies with, gliding down to the crown of the hellish cage with the Vera atop her back. “Right. Damian, I need you to take me over to the water pressure controls. They’re right down in there.” the boy genius then orders the ghostly young man he rides on; pointing to a little steel shack set along the corner of the backyard. “Alright, hang on.” the ghost boy complies, delving down towards the very shack his friends pointed out. As they dive down towards the small steel shack, Damian turns both himself and the boy genius on his back totally intangible and phases right on inside; Kingsley hopping right off his back when landing inside and race straight over to a set of pressure valves and control panels within its walls.

While the boy genius starts to get to work on the panel and turning the numerous valves; the ghost boy behind him argues: “Kingsley, are you sure about this? The pipes underneath all that lava are probably sealed shut by now. I doubt any water would get through, even if we break the barrier.” “I know, but that’s not what this is for. When we bust it open, all that lava inside’s probably gonna spill out all over the place. So if we can’t stop it from spilling, I think it’s better if we try and slow it down while keeping it from reach the manor so no one watching all this gets hurt.��� “If you didn’t want anyone in the splash zone, why didn’t we break them all up first?” “With what little time we have to work with, I got Renee to try and work on that, maybe clear a way for them to escape.”

“Seriously people. We need you to evacuate the estate before the situation here becomes any worse. Don’t any of you understand how severe this could turn?” Renee tries to reach through the observing crowd with. “You’re kidding, right?” “I sure am not gonna leave now and miss all this.” “I wound up traveling across the world just to see what this new team has up their sleeves and sure as hell ain’t leaving now.” Among their overall noncompliance can the blonde not help but let out a frustrating growl; swiftly calming herself down with a little breath before she could do or say anything crazy. Oh Kingsley I seriously hope you have a plan working for this.

Above the very barrier before them do all of them watch as Cayenne hovers just above its very top; the princess riding atop her eyeing the brimstone chunks along the outside. “So, ya saying that these locks are under a sheet of brimstone right?” “Indeed, but none of you have yet to tell me how you plan to break through their layers.” Vera claims. “The hell’s so fun about telling you? Why don’t ya just see for yourself.” “Wait, what do you mean by tha-” Just before the princess could finish questioning the spice queen’s statement do they both start diving straight down towards one of the brimstone slabs along the unholy barricade; Vera holding on for dear life as Cayenne prepares to strike away at the stone. In just a single swing does the Spice queen manage to bust through the brimstone’s outer shell; swiping away the debris to reveal a hellish insignia with a hole dead on the middle. “Damn, that looks fuckin sick. You need to dunk your finger in there or…?” “No, no. Th-that won’t be necessary. Just give me a moment.” the princess tells her, her body still quaking from the unexpected drop down. Hovering her finger right over hellish insignia,  the princess lets the blood seeping from her finger drip straight into the hole; the entire face alights in a glow of orange and lets out a horrible shriek from under its stone. While covering their ears from the trembling screech, both of them witness the brimstone crumble apart in a burst of hellfire; the unholy prison’s red walls starting to flicker as the lock falls apart. “Hell yeah. One lock down, three more go.”

Gliding within the burning air of the red cage itself does Tore continue to fight off the devils hellish assault, pushing away the demonic king with a pulse of pure colorful life. In being pushed back that the king of hell command the lava beneath in to rise out from the earth and bellow out towards the indigo angel; the intense light from the boiling lava covering the boy as he rushes outwards. With but a wave of his hand, the blue boy casts forth a colorful wave that disperses the fiery hot goo wave and rockets out towards the king himself; his entire body coated in a lively colorful aura as he nears. Seeing the indigo angel incoming, the demon waves his arms upwards to conjure a whirlwind of fiery hot flames from right underneath the blue boy; engulfing the boy in a tornado of blistering heat. Tore blocks his body from the fiery inferno blowing at him from all sides, enduring through the searing flames as his body starts to glow brighter and brighter in a multitude of colors; a light that the king beholds beyond the blaze of his whirlwind. Finally does Tore unleash all he had in an overwhelming shockwave that disperse the flaming whirlwind, the almighty push casting his hellish fiery foe straight down into the pool of molten liquid.

From this overwhelming wave, the colorful aura that irradiates out from the boy’s body starts to fade away to unveil his skin left nearly gray; Tore clutching his heart as he tries to catch his breath. “Ah...Oh god...Can’t keep going anymore...Might just burn myself out.” “You’ll burn either way.” a voice from below claims. Peering down beneath his feet does he see a pillar of lava spew out from the below and flutters back to avoid the seering goo; his escape failing to take him far as an arm pops out from the molten liquid and tightly grasp his neck, the devilish pyro emerging out and finishing with: “I promise such.” Midst his struggle to free himself from the fiery king’s clutches, the blue boy grabs hold of the king’s horns and pushes back with as much strength as he had left to muster; his majesty letting out a seething growl as he begins to take in a deep breath. When seeing his hellish foe taking in a deep breath, he realizes all too well what the king’s next move was and shove his knee straight into the devil’s jaw; the indigo angel keeping the devil’s trap shut as bits of lava escaping from the demon’s nose. The demonic king’s cheeks puff bright orange as he starts to choke on all the excess lava gathering in his mouth; tearing up as he finally lets go of the blue boy and kicks him away, vomiting all the molten goo out from his maw. The demonic royalty takes a brief second to cough out bits of lava as he rubs the part of his chin the angel had kneed; his other hand trembling as he peers over to the blue boy and calls him a: “Cheeky little bastard.”

Just outside the unholy prison do all the numerous dug up pipes littering the garden starts to spew out a torrent of rushing water; all of it starting to soak everywhere from the stone paths, the grass, the foliage, every drop spreading out along every inch of the backyard. Up along the crown of the devilish cage does Vera let a drop of her blood peter out from her finger and fall straight into the brimstone lock; the symbol surrounding the hole letting out an unholy shriek before crumbling to pieces. Witnessing the red power that makes up the bubble flicker more frequently, the spice queen claims that: “Just one more.” Right when they were about to hover out towards the final lock, both of them hear a familiar voice call out from the distance; peering out to find both Kingsley and Damian gliding over as the boy genius orders: “Heya, lets switch!” “On it!” Cayenne complies, taking grasp of the princess atop her back. “Wait, what the hell do you think your-” Without even a single warning does the spice queen straight up toss Vera up out towards the ghostly young man hovering above, all the while Kingsley leaps down as she arises. Almost simultaneously, the boy genuis manages to land right in Cayenne’s arms just as Damian catches the princess amidst her ascent; Vera taking a brief moment to calm herself while riding atop the ghost boy’s back. “Oh...Oh dear…”

Held within the spice queen’s grasp, Kingsley peers down and watches as the open pipes soak his backyard in more and more water; Cayenne asking the boy: “You wanna say what you got in mind or are we just pissing in the wind?” “At this rate, most of the water here won’t be enough to stop all that lava. I think we need to do something else to keep it from reaching the manor, something I think you excel at.” “Whatcha got in mind for me to fuck up?”

After explaining what else the boy genius has in mind, Cayenne hovers out over towards a stone column set over the garden and setting Kingsley down at its very top; the boy genius watching as the spice queen fly out near the manor and delve down towards the ground set between it and the garden. All the numerous guest spectating these events jump back as Cayenne dive bombs down along the ground and scrapes through the dirt with her bare fists. Seeing his spicy partner starting to make out a ditch between his home and backyard, Kingsley peering over to Damian and the princess hover above the cage.

When floating just inches away from the last brimstone lock guarded in a layer of brimstone, Vera wonders to the ghost boy: “I do wonder how you plan to break through the layer to reach the lock.” “Oh please, I’m not a brute. There won’t be any breaking needed.” he claims. Gently grasping the princess’s arm the ghost boy turns her limb completely transparent, Vera letting out a little shriek before Damian tells her to: “Calm down. It’s alright. Just simply dunk your hand right in where the hole is.” “Uh...okay.” Carefully, Vera does what he instructs and is astonished to see her arm phase straight through the brimstone like nothing was there. The blood from the demon princess’s finger dribbles down from the tip straight down through the brimstone; soaking through until dripping into the lock hole underneath. Like before does the hard rock begin to scream out before it falls apart, the entire red bubble holding both her father and the boy he fights trembling at the seems. “What is going on?” the ghost boy questions. “I suggest we flee before it burst open.”

Upon the princess’s warning does Damian take her away from the red cage as it starts to quake far more violently; suddenly collapsing in a powerful burst that breaks the glass of the manor and knocks the people inside on their asses. With the walls of the unholy cage broken does the lava that was kept inside start to spill out further through the garden; the guests of the manor running like hell as a big wave of the molten goo flows out towards them. When arising right out from the ditch that she had just dug out, Cayenne sees some of the lava melting the stone column her pal stands atop off; the base of the pillar melting away as it threatens to tumble down into the scorching lava. Immediately does the spice queen spring into action and dart straight towards her falling comrade, snatching Kingsley right out from the air moments before he could take the fiery plunge. While hovering above, Kingsley watches as the lava that spills starts to collide with the water streaming through the backyard; only slowing the molten liquid down as he head straight for the manor. “Come on. Come on.” the boy genius utters. With sweat running down their foreheads, Kingsley and Cayenne watch as the lava starts to fill up the freshly dug out ditch set before the manor; growing more tense as the lava starts to reach the top. But with how deep Cayenne had dug and the running water starting to slow it down, all the lava that spills out manages to just rim the very top of the ditch, both of them letting out a huge sigh knowing their home and all the people within were safe and sound. “Holy shit...So, now how are we gonna take care of that shit show.” the spice queen wonders, pointing out towards the continuing brawl.

Despite the red cage that had encased them both having vanished, the demonic king continues his onslaught against the indigo angel; slugging the boy with fiery swing after another and scorching him further with every strike. Though Tore attempts to counter the king’s flames, he proves far too exhausted and spent to reliably get any hits of his own in; failing to even raise a single hand up as all that be left for him is to endure his majesty’s blazing wrath. Placing his palm right underneath the blue boy’s head, the king unleashes a burst of searing flames right from above; a fiery blast that sends the angel plummeting down towards the earth. Crashing down into the charred soil below, Tore still feels the scorching heat beat against his back; despite there not even being a single glob of molten liquid left. When attempting to pull himself off the blistering hot earth, the blue boy only able to pull up onto his ass moments before his demonic foe lands before him; Tore left frozen in place as the king of hell looks down upon him with a fiery glare. Not even a word is spoken between them as his majesty raises his hand to the sky and engulfs his arm in a thick burning layer of hellfire; the light it emits rivaling that of the sun. Whelp, really facing the heat now, and with a nearly empty tank of gas too. Body here’s practically more burns than skin. And lookin like the final stop here is a one way road straight into the fiery depths of oblivion. If this is the way this road trip ends, better just use what fuel I got left. These determined thoughts ringing through his head, Tore faces the demonic king head on as the colorful aura that had once coated him returns in full force; its rainbow glow matching that of the very fires that he faces.

Seeing the two on the verge of clashing at any moment: Vera peers down to her ghostly ride and demands that: “No! Damian, let go of me!” “From this high up!? But-” “There’s no time! Just do it!” On Vera’s request does the ghost boy complies and releases the demon princess from his grasp, letting her plummet down towards both her father and the angel; the princess gazing down to witness both her father and the angel lunging out towards one another. Right as the two were about to lunge upon each other in a clash of lively flames does Vera drop between them both; urging the two to suddenly stop dead in their tracks, their blinding light dimming as they behold the princess standing between them.

Even as her legs quake from the drop that she had just endured, the demonic princess stands before the fury of her burning father and demand out from him that: “Daddy, you need to stop, right now!” “Vera?...Why!? After this miscreant broke into our home, scared your mother and brother, stole the family treasure, and beat me unconscious! Why after all of that do you wish for his life to be sparred!?” “Because he had saved mine!” the princess answers, his daughter’s responds quelling some of the king’s burning fury.

In my hurry through the castle hall’s, parts of the roofs had collapsed onto me and buried me underneath their dark red stone; it honestly felt as if my chest had been smashed open and that death was knocking on my door. That is until I started to feel a warm glow run throughout my body and return me to reality once more. The unbearable pain that I had suffered from had vanished in a matter of seconds as I began to return; awaking from my stupor to find my dress torn open in places where I had felt this agony. Rising up from the behind the rubble, all I could see retreating from me was a figure donning a blue mane and wings of pale white gliding deeper into the castle. Since then, I couldn’t help but wonder if those events had actually transpired or if they were simply a hallucination brought on by a concussion. But seeing this boy with my own eyes proved to me that it was no mere illusion; if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be standing here before him tonight.”

His daughter having told this side of the story to her, the demonic king takes a calming breath as the flames enveloping his body disperse; quelling the murderous rage he had gardened towards the blue boy. Yet does a thin layer of doubt remain as his majesty marches right past his loving daughter and over to the boy behind her; Vera staring in concern to her father as he walks beside her while uttering: “Daddy?” Standing tall just inches away from the kneeling angel, Tore takes up a stance as the king stares down upon him with a fiery orange glare; the only words that he says as a demand to the boy to: “Start explain. Now.”

About a half an hour passes as the lava that dwells within the ditch starts to cool from the water flowing from the pipes; whatever fires and flames that lingered having been dowsed out. Sitting patiently beside him does the fiery royalty listen to the indigo angel he was but moments away from roasting in burning hellfire as Tore goes on to finish with: “Once I realized who the Kybr truly were and what they were like; I wound up having to fight Mall in hopes of stopping him. If it weren’t for my sibs and their friends helping me to stop Mall and destroying the warp gate’s core, the Kybr would’ve wound up flooding the universe.” “Is that all?” the devil beside the angel questions. “Yep…” the blue boy simply responds back to with hints of disappointment. Hearing the last of what the blue boy has to say for himself, the king of hell lets out a small sigh as he rises back on his feet and stroll out towards his daughter; telling her to: “Come on, Vera. We’re heading back home.” “Um, okay. Thanks again for all your help, Vanguard League.” the princess thanks with as she follows her father out towards the backdoor. The misses of the estate coming out from the sliding glass door, she winds up running into the exiting royalty; who apologizes to her with: “I apologize for the mess I had caused tonight. I promise to pay off the damages.”

Despite the night having just been saved, Kingsley can’t help but peer over to the blue boy; watching the angel as he slouches over with his hands over his face. Before he could go over to try and comfort the blue boy, he suddenly feels somebody giving him a big pat on his back and glances over to find Cayenne congratulating him with: “Damn, Kingsley. You’d did a fine ass job keeping yer cool under all that heat.” “Uh, thanks. Pretty surprised myself on how cleanly I handled it all. I thought for sure I was gonna crack among the action.” “Well, I can safely assure that you handled it all with such incredible grace and fortitude; even I was shaking through most of it all.” the ghost boy hovers over and praises. Racing right over to his side does Renee give the boy genius a great big hug, embracing her boy tight as she claims how: “I told you that all those worries you had were just in your head. Even when things turn out their worst, you become your very best and bring out everyone’s A game.” “You guys think so? Maybe being this whole leader thing won’t be as bad as I was inflating it to be.” Kingsley corrects. “I wish I could say the same about our garden.” he then hears his mother lament.

Peering aside, the boy finds her mother grieving over the site of her now destroyed backyard; what remained of the numerous colorful flowers and bushes that made up its natural beauty now left charred and burned beyond any sort of recognition. “It might not be that bad, Mrs. Spicer. We could just rebuild and replant everything again.” Renee attempts to cheer her up with. “I’m not sure that’ll be possible. The soil itself is far too charred and burned for anything planted here to grow. I’m not sure if it’ll ever recover.” Damian points out, a statement which only furthers the mother’s sorrow.

Rising out from his self pity does the indigo angel behold the consequences of what his fight with the demon king had entailed; the smoke wafting from the burnt foliage covering the night sky. “God...all this is just my fault. None of this wouldn’t have happened if I was here. If I didn’t go with all and wind up nearly dooming everyone.” “Oh Tore...yeah it pretty much is.” “Cayenne!” Kingsley snaps. “What? It’s cause if him that the king of hell through a big shit fit in the first place.” “But he was just trying to help us with the party; how were we supposed to-” “No...Cayenne’s right. I gotta try and make up for all this. All the trouble I just wound up bringing here.” the blue boy states. “Just how do you plan to start? This garden’s practically lifeless the way it is.” the ghost boy tells him. “...I might know how.”

Among saying such does the angel start to stroll out towards the very center of the destroyed garden, taking in a deep breath of the smoke arising from the earth. Once standing right in the midst of the ruined garden, the indigo angel exhales the breath from his lunges and closes his eyes while clasping his hands in a prayer; once again focusing all the plants, animals, and people that reside outside the garden wall. All throughout the city are little bits of colorful light drawn out from within every single thing alive within Townsville; be it from the biggest of elephants held within the zoo to the smallest of insects that crawl along the underbelly of the town. The countless bits of life all flutter through the city skyline and gather out towards the upper district; every single piece taken straight out to the backyard where they all drawn within the blue boy’s body. Kingsley, Cayenne, Damian, Renee, and the Misses stare upon the indigo angel as his entire body and the wings on his back is enveloped in a rainbow of aura that alights the entire backyard in a colorful glow. Holding all the lively power he had gathered throughout Townsville, Tore thrusts his arms straight down into the charred earth beneath his feet and sends it all surging through the soil; the once burned and scorched ground now glowing alight in a multitude of lively colors that shine across the neighborhood.

Soon enough does this brilliant light start to fade, letting all that dwell within the once ruined backyard all behold the overflowing flora that spreads out before them; numerous flowers, plants and tree’s of dozens of families and species now standing before them all in an incredible burst of nature and vegetation. “What?” Cayenne utters. “Wow.” Renee softly awes. “Amazing.” Damian gawks. “Our garden. It’s practically overwhelming. Everything’s flourishing greater than ever.” the misses of the estate gushes. Peering over is everyone’s attention drawn to the blue boy who had made it all possible, resting soundly against the base of a thick oak whose height rivals the manor before it. “Can’t believe he did all this in mere seconds.” the blonde girl surmises. “He brought not just the plants, but the soil itself back from the clutches of death.” the ghost boy marvels. “If he can do all this. Just what the hell are we supposed to do about this blue bastard.” Cayenne questions. Kingsley stares out to the indigo angel left soundly sleeping underneath the massive thick oak; letting his burns rest as the nightly wind brushes the leaves down from their branches and flutters onto the slumbering blue boy. “I don’t know Cayenne. I really don’t know.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you all for sticking around here for this long. And I wanted to start off this season by finally firing a Chekov's gun that I set up a while ago. Also wanted to do something with Kingsley processing the thoughts of being a leader to a budding organization with big plans since it wasn't really touched upon. Also add in some little details that weave into the mainline story here.

I'd say I'm at a near competent in terms of writing skills, but there's always more out there I could learn from and improve. I hope all of you stick around to see that process take place. Thank you.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 56

Alas here we are having finally reached the midway point of Universe Falls and its... mediocre. Tbh I just wanna get to Chille Tid so this was kind of a rushed job. Either way it was fun to write Ford interacting with the Gems a whole bunch so there’s that. So yeah, enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/175850198924/universe-falls-chapter-55

Chapter 56: Friend Ship

FBUXW OBW QWSL TBZR GFWGL HSTWG DTNB HAFH FNNBG MMS PHSR CY DSOKX PIM XHFXSUHA FBR YTFUBASBXXG DTAS HAJ KOR YC CEI TFBJBRLMWDL SCK KJPCKS HCWFM

Like most Gem locations across the Earth, the Galaxy Warp didn’t often see too many visitors, much less any outside of the Crystal Gems, who only really stopped by the warp pad hub for routine checks now and again. However, that wasn’t currently the case as a certain green Gem was hard at work at the mostly downed warp hub, hoping to get it back to some semblance of working order again without garnishing the detection of her irksome enemies.

“Stupid broken warp…” Peridot grumbled to herself. She didn’t even hide her immense aggravation as she used her tractor beam to collect the scattered pieces of rubble that used to be the Homeworld warp and compile it all together to try and repair it somehow. “First my attack robinoids, then my escape pod, then the communication hub, and now this is busted again…” The green Gem sighed, shaking her head as the fingers of her free hand formed her touchscreen so she could make a report. “These Crystal Gems and their human allies are a menace… But no matter; I’m getting off this ticking time-bomb of a planet, whether they like it or not!”

Of course, as if right on cue, no sooner than a moment after Peridot had said this, the Crystal Gems themselves arrived on one of the few still functional pads the Galaxy Warp had to offer, Steven, Dipper, and Mabel accompanying them. The green Gem gasped in shock at their timely, yet still unexpected appearance as she froze in place, instantly dropping the pieces of the Homeworld warp her beam had been toting out of sheer surprise alone.

“Aha! There she is!” Pearl exclaimed, excitedly pointing to Peridot afar on the other side of the warp. “I was right! My plan worked perfectly!”

“Wow, and it only took five minutes to find her this time too!” Mabel said, duly impressed. “That’s a new record.”

“Good,” Dipper said with resolve as he drew the Sword of Seasons and set it to its flaming setting. “That means we can use the rest of our time actually catching her instead of looking in all the wrong places like we usually do.”

“Well, yeah, we can do that, but don’t be rude, you guys,” Steven frowned briefly before turning to Peridot with a bright smile. “Good morning!”

Of course, the green Gem’s response to this warm greeting was anything but warm itself. “Ugh! I can’t believe this! How did you know I was here?!”

“We found a secret way to track you, and we’ll never tell you what it is, even if you ask nicely!” Steven proclaimed with bold confidence as he taunted the green Gem out by sticking his tongue out impishly.

“And this time, you’re goin’ down, Peri!” Mabel quipped, brandishing her grappling hook.

“Peri?” the green Gem raised an eyebrow, apparently confused.

“Oh, you know, its like a fun little nickname!” Mabel smiled cheerfully. “Luckily for you, you have a very nicknamable name! I’ve already gotten so many out of it! There’s Peri, Dot, Dotty, Peri-D, P-Dot, Peri-do, Per-”

“Hey, Mabel, here’s an idea,” Dipper swiftly interjected, annoyed by the inappropriate timing of his sister’s rambling. “Maybe you could not give our enemies silly nicknames? Just a suggestion?”

“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?” Mabel pouted playfully before Garnet finally interjected.

“Peridot!” the Gem leader shouted, her gauntlets already at the ready to strike. “We’re here to-”

“And you’ll never get away with it!” Pearl suddenly interupted her apparently out of nowhere as she raised her spear high.

“Don’t you Gems and your pesky pet humans have anything better to do than annoy me?!” Peridot growled, stomping her foot down in obvious frustration.

“Nope,” Amethyst remarked, stretching out her whip in her hands. “We’re gonna-”

“Prepare to be annoyed!” Pearl cut the purple Gem off as well, quiet pointedly too, much to Amethyst’s confusion, as well as the kids’.

“Uh… ok…” Dipper exchanged a rather bewildered glance with Steven and Mabel at Pearl’s odd behavior before he turned to coldly address the still rather irritated Peridot. “Well, we’re not about to let you escape this ti-”

“Admit defeat now and maybe we’ll go easy on you!” the white Gem once again cut in, just as much verve in her manner as every before.

“Uh… Pearl?” Steven spoke up, somewhat concerned in light of his guardian’s over the top mannerisms.

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this!” Peridot seethed nonetheless, her free floating fingers forming themselves into a blaster that was rapidly charging with a ball of growing energy. “This planet has an expiration date and I’m not gonna stick around to find out when!”

At this, the green Gem let her blast fire, the unexpected force of it knocking her back as it went flying towards the Gems and the kids. The attack completely missed its mark, steering clear of the group on the warp pad and instead smashing into the large stone pillar directly behind them. While initially disappointed by her misfire, Peridot quickly perked up as the bulk of the pillar began to fall upon the Gems and the kids, however, they were thankfully saved from its crushing force by Steven, who summoned shield large enough to cover them all just in the nick of time. Though her attack hadn’t worked completely as expected, Peridot still let out something of a small, nervous chuckle as she picked herself up off the ground right as Pearl fiercely turned to face her again.

“That’s it!” the white Gem hissed, gripping her spear tightly. “I’m taking her out!”

“Pearl, wait!” Garnet ordered, but her teammate didn’t listen. Instead, Pearl charged, her weapon at the ready, towards Peridot, intent on finally putting an end to her longstanding nuisance. Even so, the green Gem countered her with her tractor beam, easily catching Pearl in its pale verdant glow and effectively immobilizing her as she began to spin her around freely.

“Ha! Sorry, but you’re going the wrong way!” Peridot exclaimed, flinging Pearl out of her tractor beam and back towards the group on the warp pad. Before anyone could really do much, the white Gem collided with Steven, knocking him off the pad and disabling his shield altogether. Fortunately, Garnet managed to catch the pillar that had been pressed against it, keeping it steady with her impressive strength as she urged Amethyst and the twins off the pad and out of harm’s way.

“Get her!” the Gem leader shouted, struggling to rid herself from the burden of the heavy pillar. Amethyst complied first, the twins not too far behind her until the purple Gem broke into a fast, rapid spin dash, zooming towards Peridot at a frightening speed. The green Gem barely managed to leap out of the way, leaving Amethyst to crash into the ruined remains of the Homeworld warp as Peridot made her ‘escape’, skittering across the Galaxy Warp on her disjointed fingers alone.

“Ha! You missed!” she laughed triumphantly. Her levity was cut quite short as something hard and metallic latched around the fingers of one of her hands, breaking their bizarre gravity and leaving Peridot to fall face first into the ground below her.

“But I didn’t!” Mabel happily proclaimed as her grappling hook zoomed back to her. “Your turn, bro-bro!”

Dipper didn’t even respond as he instead rushed forward, the Sword of Seasons charged with strong electricity in his grip. Peridot gasped in apt fear at the sight of the electrified blade and quickly scrambled to her feet, dashing as fast as she reasonably could to get away from it, but even so, Dipper was relentless in his pursuit to take the green Gem out once and for all.

At the same time, Pearl and Steven were both finally regathering their bearings after their rough landing off the warp pad. The white Gem herself was a good bit more dazed than her young ward, even as he began to quickly pick himself up and get back into the fight. “Pearl!” Steven exclaimed, somewhat exasperated as he nudged her weight off of him.

“O-oh, sorry!” Pearl exclaimed, flustered as she hurriedly stood as well, though by then, Steven had already taken off to peruse Peridot right alongside Dipper. The green Gem had managed to reach one of the relatively unscathed warp pads, only to receive the frustrating news that, much like all of the other pads throughout the worn-down collection, it would also be getting her, completely nowhere.

“Augh! Doesn’t anything work on this cruddy planet?!” she shouted, incredibly vexed by her very bad luck.

“I do,” Dipper said with a very satisfied grin as his ice-enhanced sword suddenly rammed into Peridot’s lower legs, not only knocking the green Gem off balance but effectively freezing her feet to the ground.

“And so do I!” Steven chimed in, summoning another shield as he ran forward. The young Gem tossed his weapon like a frisbee, and much to his luck, it hit its mark, striking Peridot squarely in the face hard amidst her trying to break free from the ice encasing her.

“Ow!” the green Gem cried, rubbing the sore spot near her nose and failing to notice Steven and Dipper wisely pull back as Garnet carried out the next attack.

“Amethyst, catch!” the Gem leader grunted, finally lifting the pillar she had been holding onto enough to send it flying at the purple Gem. Right on cue, Amethyst lashed out, her whip coiling tightly around the massive rock, which she wasted no time in hurling it towards the warp pad Peridot was currently frozen to.

“Destroy!” the purple Gem roared, the whip’s hold on the rock breaking as it crashed down almost directly on top of Peridot. As a result, the ice on the ground shattered and the green Gem was sent freely flying into the air, much to her noisy alarm.

Given Peridot’s vulnerable position, Pearl saw this as the perfect opportunity, which was why she wasted no time in rushing forward to catch her when she inevitably fell. “I got her!” she exclaimed, almost excitedly, the hope in both her voice and expression clear as she kept her sights on the green Gem and nothing else. “I got her! I got her!”

Unbeknownst to the white Gem, Garnet had the exact same plan as she did as her gauntlets disappeared and her arms stretched out to apprehend their green foe. As focused as they both were in catching Peridot, neither Garnet nor Pearl noticed each other, however, until they ended up ramming into each other, knocking them both to the ground roughly.

“Pearl!” Garnet snapped angrily, especially as, right above them, Peridot narrowly avoided landing on top of them by converting her floating fingers into rapidly moving helicopter blades. “Get off me!”

“Ah!” Pearl gasped anxiously, quickly getting up after Peridot swiftly flew away from them. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Knowing that her footing was still unsteady with the Gem leader, Pearl attempted to do her a kindness by helping her up, help that Garnet coldly refused as she sent her a fierce, frustrated glare, one that only deepened as Peridot safely landed on the warp pad they had all arrived on.

“Wow, this is just sad,” the green Gem remarked smugly, confident in her escape, even as the kids tried one last effort in rushing forward to catch her. “I almost feel sorry for you… Not!” Peridot let out a triumphant snicker, mimicking Steven’s teasing expression from before as she warped away, leaving a defeated, downcast group of Gems and kids behind in her wake.

“…Have a great weekend!” Steven called cheerfully after her after a beat of silence, only to quickly take it back as the twins and the Gems gave him a shared glance of annoyance for his amicability towards such an aggravating foe. A foe who, for whatever reason, seemed all but impossible to finally catch. “I mean… I hope her weekend is… not so great?”

“Ok, I realize that was a bit of a… fiasco…” Pearl huffed as everyone warped back to the temple, collectively disgruntled by the fact that Peridot was somehow still at large. “But, there’s still a silver lining to all this!” The white Gem’s manner was rather forcefully upbeat as she stepped off the warp pad and over to Peridot’s commandeered escape pod, which had only just been recently hooked up directly to the pad itself. “Now we know for sure that we can track her every movement! Whenever she uses the warp system, her escape pod will instantly detect where she is! Its only a matter of time before we capture her, and when we do, we’ll finally be able to close this chapter in our lives and move on! R-right?” she asked, turning to Garnet in particular.

The Gem leader didn’t respond, her arms crossed and her expression flat as she simply looked to the white Gem rather emotionlessly. Her lack of a response only made Pearl even more anxious as she offered her a wide, eager, yet also somewhat fearful grin, clearly eager to please Garnet in any way she could. A task that seemed much easier said than done, given how she had made essentially no real progress in smoothing things over between herself and the Gem leader since her foolish deception had all but ruined the bond of trust that had once existed between them.

Of course, such ongoing tension was quite easy for anyone to see, including Amethyst and the kids as they stood by on the sidelines as this bout of awkward, uneasy silence lasted for quite some time. However, as much as they all wanted to see everything finally be resolved between Pearl and Garnet, none of them really knew how to try and expedite that much-needed resolution. Well, save for Amethyst that was, as she hesitantly spoke up, starting with a heavy sigh to break through the veil of uncomfortable silence.

“Look,” the purple Gem began, looking back and forth between her teammates somewhat pleadingly. “Isn’t there something that maybe the two of you might need to talk about?”

At this, Garnet and Pearl took pause, both of them somewhat caught off guard as an uncertain, unreadable glance was passed between them. For a brief moment, it seemed as though one of them was about to finally fold and speak to the bitterness between them, perhaps even to the point of trying to rectify it. And yet unfortunately, they didn’t quite get the chance to as the gathering was unexpectedly interupted.

“Alright, Pearl, its finally finished!” Ford announced as he entered the house, carrying a small, round, metallic device. “It took some doing to configure something that could temporarily disable a warp pad, especially without one to test it on myself, but I’m at least 85% confident that it won’t explode and vaporize us all when we test it ou-” The author cut himself off as he glanced up from his invention upon noticing that the group present was larger than he had been expecting. “Oh… you’re all here…”

“Er, y-yes! Yes, we are!” Pearl exclaimed before either Garnet or Amethyst could even say anything as she rushed over to the author. “I’m very glad you could make it, Ford! Amethyst, Garnet, I asked Ford—I-I mean, Stanford—to help in our endeavors to capture Peridot, and I must admit that so far, his assistance has been quite invaluable! He already helped me link the escape pod up to the warp pad-”

“And, as I said just a moment ago, I also made this,” Ford proudly held his latest invention up. “I call it the warp destablizer. It can take down any warp pad for as long as necessary. Probably. Like I said, I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet. B-but, Pearl’s well informed me of your ongoing problem with this Peridot, and so what better way to test it than by using it to corner her so she can’t escape from you anymore?”

After outlining all of this, Ford and Pearl presented the other two Gems with eager, hopeful smiles as they presented the plan they had formulated together, a plan that would hopefully service them both when it came to getting them all back on equal footing. While Pearl very much wanted to impress Garnet in an attempt to get back into her good graces, Ford’s motives were rather similar, though they included Amethyst as well. After all, since his return to his home dimension, the author had only really had the chance to smooth his once cordial relations over with Pearl, and even that had happened out of sheer serendipity more than anything else. And even though Rose was gone and things had irreversibly changed from the past he had once shared with the Gems, a large part of Ford still very much wanted to at least make amends with his former close friends, if not repair their now-broken bonds altogether. And as far as the author was concerned, the best way to start doing just that would be to freely offer whatever aid to their cause that he could, an idea that Pearl had agreed with and even had decided to implement for herself to an extent.

In fact, the pair was so transparent in their desire to make a good impression that the kids were quick to pick up on, and, seeing no reason to not want to help them out in their earnest appeal, they decided to give them a much-needed boost. “Uh, wow!” Steven interjected, sending Pearl and Ford an impressed smile. “You guys really came up with a great plan to catch Peridot!”

“Um, y-yeah!” Dipper added just as intently. “I bet with that warp destablizer of yours, Great Uncle Ford, we’ll finally be able to trap Peridot and beat her at her own game once and for all.”

“And Pearl, your idea to plug her escape pod into the warp pad was a super one!” Mabel chimed in enthusiastically. “Peri wishes she was as smart of a cookie as you are!”

“Oh, well, thank you!” Pearl blushed with a chuckle, Ford nodding his gratitude to the kids as well. “S-so… what do you two think?” she turned to her teammates, though it was rather clear her question was more directed to Garnet instead.

“Eh, it might work out,” Amethyst shrugged, eyeing the warp destabilizer in Ford’s hands somewhat skeptically. “I guess its worth a shot seeing as how nothing’ else we’ve tried has gotten us anywhere close to catching that green dork. Right, Garnet?”

Even as the purple Gem lightly elbowed her in the leg, the Gem leader’s unfeeling expression remained unchanged as she seemed to almost stare both Pearl and Ford down silently. The pair exchanged something of a nervous glance under her scrutiny, which only seemed harsher as she continued to not even offer them so much as a word of approval, disapproval, or anything else for that matter. Which of course, only made it all the more difficult for either of them to guess where they might have stood with her, if she even still wanted either of them to stand with her at all.

Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for this uncertain silence to be broken by the escape pod of all things, which began to flash and beep as its touchscreen materialized. “It’s Peridot,” Pearl announced, placing her hand upon the screen as her eyes filed with lines of data and code. “She’s using the warps right now. Look!” The white Gem projected a holographic image of the globe, honing in on the exact location Peridot had supposedly just arrived at, which was likely somewhere in the northern parts of South America. “This is where she is. We’ve got her for sure this time.” Pearl pulled away from the escape pad, standing confidently beside it before leading the way to the warp pad. “If she thinks she’s got the upper hand, then she’s got another thing coming. And that’s us!”

While nowhere near as enthusiastic as Pearl, Garnet followed nonetheless, letting out a small, begrudging sigh that the others tried their best not to take note of. Even so, Amethyst simply shook her head somewhat sadly as she watched her teammates interactions, or lack thereof. The tension between them had bothered her ever since it had began, and though she had lately finally been able to vent some of her lasting concerns about it to Stan, the purple Gem still wanted to see it finally come to an end and for things to finally go back to the way they should have been. The only problem was, with the way things were now, it seemed as though that much-needed return to the status quo was never going to come about.

“Well,” Steven suddenly broke through Amethyst’s pondering, a small hopeful smile crossing his features as he watched the white Gem head to the warp pad. “At least Pearl’s optimistic.”

“Yeah, who knows?” Mabel asked, also smiling. “Maybe this just the swashbuckling, Peridot-catching adventure that Pearl and Garnet need so they can finally make up and be friends again!”

“It won’t work,” Amethyst concluded, crossing her arms doubtfully.

“Uh… why wouldn’t it?” Dipper asked, somewhat confused.

“Cause its not gonna be enough,” the purple Gem continued, looking towards her distant teammates on the other side of the room. “Pearl can hand Peridot over on a silver platter, but it won’t make up for the stunt she pulled to get Garnet to fuse with her.”

Before the kids could ask Amethyst to clarify on this, they were suddenly interupted by Garnet, who was just shy of standing on the warp pad alongside Pearl. “Let’s go, you four,” she ordered, the slightest hint of impatience in her tone. The purple Gem and the kids complied, somewhat anxiously as they bunched together on top of the pad, but before they could depart, they were interupted once again by Ford.

“Um, actually…” he began, apparently apprehensive, which was rare given the author’s usual confidence. “I was hoping that I could… accompany you all on this mission. As I said, it would be an ideal opportunity to test the warp destabilizer out, a-and… perhaps you’d appreciate another hand to help in capturing that Peridot Gem. R-right?”

While Pearl was about to speak up, offering Ford something of a worried, warning glance, Amethyst beat her to the punch first, her tone rather dry as she raised a rather caustic eyebrow at the author. “I dunno,” she said, her tone oddly not playful at all. “We already got Pearl and Dipper; I don’t think we have anymore room for another huge nerd on this trip.”

“Hey!” both Pearl and Dipper exclaimed in annoyed protest, sending the purple Gem flustered glares.

“Besides, ‘science man’,” Amethyst continued, her hands on her hips. “If I remember right, you used to be… kind of a pushover back in the day, what with us always havin’ to save you from monsters and ghosts and fairies and stuff. And we kinda don’t really have time to be doing that while we’re trying to tail someone like Peridot.”

“If you’re worried about me holding my own, don’t be,” Ford insisted firmly. “Believe me when I say that thirty years of traversing countless danger-filled dimensions has certainly plenty of experience in getting myself out of tight spots.”

“Pfft, I’ll believe it when I see it,” the purple Gem remarked, her tone still quite sardonic.

“Well, I think we should bring Stanford along,” Pearl said to her doubtful teammates.

“Oh! So do I!” Steven chimed in supportively.

“Me too,” Dipper said with an agreeing nod.

“Make that four votes for Grunkle Ford, cause I think so too!” Mabel proclaimed excitedly.

“Uh… well, I guess that leaves it up to you, G,” Amethyst frowned, glancing up at Garnet. The Gem leader was still as silent as ever as she stared directly at Ford for a moment, who shifted somewhat uncomfortably under her obscured gaze. In the end however, she surprisingly ended up relenting, her expression unchanged as she simply nodded her allotment and nothing else.

“Excellent!” Ford grinned, eagerly finding space on the warp pad with the rest of the group. “You three won’t regret this, I promise.”

“I-I’m sure we won’t!” Pearl cut in before either Garnet or Amethyst had the chance to say anything in edgewise. “Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get Peridot once and for all!”

Sure enough, the warp link had sent the group to where Peridot had supposedly arrived likely just a few minutes prior. It was a densely forested area, resting just on the outskirts of what was likely a jungle, though what was nestled only just a few feet away was much more interesting than the tropical foliage by far.

It was a spaceship, one that bore almost a passing semblance to a traditional flying saucer, massive in both size and scope. The vessel had clearly been there for quite some time, based on its obvious state of disrepair. Moss had claimed a good portion of its lopsided form as its three legs were set askew entirely. Regardless of its advanced dilapidation, the kids, and even Ford to some extent, were all amazed by the historic ship before them, even though, for the Gems, this sight was rather mundane at best.

“Ha! She’s desperate!” Pearl exclaimed, eagerly pointing to the ship. “Look at this! She’s cornered herself in there! We’ve got her right where we want her!”

“What is-”

“Excellent question, Steven!” the white Gem interupted her ward before he could even get his actual question out. “What we see before us is an ancient interplanetary Gem vessel,” she explained, projecting a hologram of a similar ship touching down on Earth. “Homeworld Gems used these ships to travel across the cosmos and land here on Earth before the warp pads were built.”

“Ah, so then its just like-” Ford abruptly cut himself off as all three of the Gems sent him very sudden warning glances, almost as if he was about to say something they didn’t want him to. And, upon briefly looking away from them down to the curious trio of kids beside him, kids who weren’t quite ready to hear something like that yet, the author wisely decided to refrain. “Um, i-it’s just like… a Sorbian freight saucer from Dimension Q-49! C-certainly not like any other alien ship that might still be hidden away on some unknown corner of the Earth!”

As Ford played his near slip up with a bit of an awkward laugh, Amethyst simply groaned in annoyance while Garnet let out an equally exasperated sigh, and as Pearl continued, it was clear that her exasperation was only about to grow. “Err, y-yes, well,” the white Gem perked up once more. “This ship before us landed here so long ago, that there’s no way it can be functional anymore. Peridot’s running out of options!”

“Pearl,” Garnet finally spoke up, her manner quite impatient. “We can’t waste time. We need to focus on the task at-”

“Ah, yes! The task at hand!” Pearl interupted, much to Garnet’s continued aggravation. “No more dawdling! Let’s go get Peridot!”

“After we set up the warp destabilizer,” Ford interjected, setting the device down onto the warp pad and pressing a small button on it after everyone had gotten off. The invention hummed to life and, after a brief flash from the pad itself, it seemed to lose its usual shine altogether. “Aha! It worked! Now, not only has Peridot trapped herself inside that ship, but even if she does manage to slip out of it, she’ll still have nowhere to go!”

“Uh, you do know we gotta use that to get back too, right?” Amethyst asked, raising a dubious eyebrow as she looked to the inactive warp pad. “Unless stranding us here was part of your ‘plan’ too.”

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about that,” Ford remarked with a satisfied grin as he held up a small button. “I can remotely reactivate the warp at any time using this remote.”

“Whoa, Great Uncle Ford, you really did think of everything when it came to that warp destabilizer,” Dipper said, thoroughly impressed along with Mabel and Steven.

“Well, I tried to,” the author smiled proudly. “It is still in its beta phase, however, so I’ll still need to work a few of the kinks out in the-”

“Ok enough with the nerdy science talk already,” Amethyst huffed impatiently. “Can we just go inside the stupid ship already?”

“Yes,” Garnet said authoritatively, leading the way inside the derelict ship’s wide-open entryway.

“Oh boy… this is bound to be… fun,” Dipper remarked somewhat dryly as the kids trailed after Ford and the Gems.

“I know! I can’t wait!” Mabel grinned innocently, hurrying after the others as the boys exchanged something of a worried glance before catching up to the rest of the group as well.

The interior of the ship itself was dark and musty, yet oddly enough, full of life in the form of unkempt flora just about everywhere. Clinging vines crept across the metallic walls, large patches of thick moss dotted the floor, and browning rust had taken its toll on the once pristine vessel, providing a testament to just how long the ship had been abandoned and forgotten until now.

“It’s more like a greenhouse than a spaceship…” Steven commented, amazed as he looked over the ship’s weathered entry deck.

“Looks like Earth won this battle,” Amethyst agreed as they all approached the ship’s large control panel. However, before any of them could so much as touch it, the panel started to active all on its own, glowing to life as a projected screen rose up from it. And of course, on that projector was none other than the green Gem herself, smiling smugly down at the startled group before her as she let out a triumphant snicker.

“Ha! You Gems and humans really are as dull as dirt,” Peridot mocked, acting as though she had the upper hand.

“You’re the dull one if you think you can fly this wreck!” Pearl exclaimed boldly.

Peridot, however, didn’t provide much of a reaction to this proclamation aside from a brief expression of confusion. “…What? Can you speak louder? Some of these communicators are gunked up.”

“So, that’s Peridot?” Ford whispered to the twins during this exchange. “Hm. You know, for some reason I expected her to be a bit more… intimidating.”

“We all did,” Dipper remarked, his tone and expression both completely deadpan.

“Pearl said,” Steven reiterated, picking up one of the nearby diamond-shaped mics and speaking directly into it. “You’re the dull one if you think you can fly this wreck!”

Once again, Peridot didn’t answer right away, waiting for the message to relay to her clearly before she let out another mocking laugh. “Fly?” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I’m not using this vessel to fly. I’m using it to trap you!” With this, the ship’s entryway suddenly slammed shut, locking itself tightly as the group collectively spun around to realize that they were indeed trapped inside. An ironic twist of fate, seeing as how their original intention had been to trap Peridot herself. “Isn’t this nice?” the green Gem continued wryly. “No more Crystal Gems and their annoying human allies running around, messing up my plans, destroying my things… Looks like I’ve got you right where I want you. How does it feel to be so easily outsmarted, you clods?!”

“No!” Pearl gasped, her eyes wide with alarm at how fast the tables had been turned against her. Against all of them really, but when it came to her own plan, she could see just how quickly it was falling apart right in front of her in light of Peridot’s unexpected trap.

“Hey, uh, this is Amethyst,” the purple Gem said dryly, taking the communicator from Steven to address Peridot. “I don’t appreciate being called a clod, ya clo-”

“Enough talk!” Peridot cut in fiercely. “Prepare yourselves for annihilation! Hya!” With clear bravado, the green Gem pressed some sort of button or switch right off screen. The group before the control panel froze, unsure of what she had activated, but apparently it didn’t do anything as nothing seemed to happen at all, much to Peridot’s severe aggravation as she tried once more. “Hya!” Her second attempt actually worked, as the ship’s interior defense system readily began to activate. Before anyone could really think, a rain of laser blasts began pouring down upon the unsuspecting group, all of whom scrambled to dodge the resounding small explosions. “Ha! Yes, it works!” Peridot cheered, eagerly watching her under-attack foes. “Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”

Amidst narrowly avoiding the lasers, Steven managed to take the initiative, thinking and acting quickly as he summoned a very large shield above him, one that effectively served as an umbrella against the blasts. “Everyone, over here!” he called to the others, who were still in the midst of fleeing from the seemingly endless barrage. Still, no one hesitated to rush over to the protection the young Gem was offering them, and somehow, they all managed to crowd together in a momentary attempt at taking shelter from the still ongoing lasers.

“This way!” Garnet ordered, spotting a small crevice in the nearby wall that would hopefully take them out of the line of fire. The entire group hurried over to it, all of them still managing to remain under the safety of Steven’s shield before cramming in through the opening to a long, straight corridor. As soon as it was apparent that they were out of harm’s way, the young Gem’s shield dissipated as he fell backwards in exhaustion, clearly worn out from the energy he’d been exerting through simply maintaining his weapon alone.

“Way to go, Steven!” Mabel cheered as she offered a hand to help Steve up.

“Three shields in one day…” the young Gem panted with a small smile. “Not too sha-”

Steven was abruptly cut off by a large, sharp spike that came jutting rapidly out of the wall right beside him. Several more appeared in quick succession, pushing out from both the walls and ceiling in an attempt to hit anything in their path.

“Move!” Garnet commanded and that’s exactly what everyone did as they rushed down the hallway of spikes, narrowly avoiding each one as they tried to find another safe haven. And of course, all the while, Peridot continued to taunt them, her twisted laughter echoing out of the ship’s intercom system.

“SPIKES!” the green Gem shouted zealously, though hardly anyone heeded her amidst trying to simply survive. “How do you like my spikes?!”

“She’s got the entire place rigged!” Amethyst exclaimed over the sounds of the rushing spikes. “What do we do?!”

“Let me handle this!” Ford answered, pulling a blaster out of his coat and taking aim up at the ceiling just behind them.

“Wait!” Garnet shouted in warning, knowing what was likely to happen, but it was ultimately too late. Ford fired, the blast hitting its mark in the ceiling directly and quickly compromising the practically ancient metallic surface. The entire corridor shook as a rather large fraction of the ceiling began to collapse, set to land directly on top of Ford and the kids. Fortunately, Garnet acted quickly, shapeshifting her arm out just in time to lasso it around the group and pull them out of harm’s way right as the heavy ceiling fell upon the ground where they had just been standing.

Luckily enough, in the aftermath of this collapse, the barrage of spikes seemed to come to an end at the end of the hallway. And yet, despite this momentary cease-fire, it seemed as though they weren’t entirely out of danger just yet, for at the very edge of the corridor, standing just a few feet away from them with her arms crossed and a triumphant grin on her face, was apparently none other than Peridot herself.

“There she is!” Pearl shouted, wasting no time in summoning her spear and rushing forward to attack.

“Pearl, don’t just-” Garnet cut herself off with a frustrated growl as the white Gem discovered the truth for herself. Pearl’s spear slashed its way cleanly through “Peridot”, only to discover that it actually wasn’t the green Gem at all. Rather, it was a mere holographic projection of her, one that resumed its pervious unchanging form just as soon as the weapon tore through it.

“Ha!” Peridot’s smug laughter echoed through the corridor, making it quite clear that she was watching her enemies’ every move. “You idiot! Only a Pearl like you would fall for an old trick like that!”

While Pearl was already quite frustrated, this comment in particular especially set her off to the point that she continued attacking the hologram once more, swinging and slicing at it repeatedly even though she knew it wouldn’t really do any good. The others watched her onslaught of aimless attacks worriedly, save for Garnet, who could only really respond to it with a disgruntled sigh and face palm before finally putting an end to it.

“Pearl, stop,” the Gem leader said firmly and the white Gem complied, panting heavily out of exhaustion. “This isn’t helping.”

“I have to do something!” Pearl exclaimed, her tone distraught as she kept her back turned to her leader. “I can’t believe I walked us right into Peridot’s trap. This is all my fault!”

In light of this morose proclamation, the corridor fell into abrupt silence, everyone looking to Pearl, who still refused to turn to face any of them, even as he spear dissipated and she hugged herself tightly. The kids exchanged a worried glance, all three of them readily wanting to reassure the white Gem, only for Garnet to halt any attempts at doing so whatsoever.

“…Let’s just keep going,” the Gem leader said stoically, her hands clenched into fists at her sides as she pressed on into the next room. Amethyst hesitated for a brief moment, looking between Garnet and Pearl before ultimately following the former, unsure of what to even say at this point. As her teammates moved on, Pearl remained where she stood, her head hung in despair to the point that she didn’t even regard Ford and the kids still standing behind her. That is, until the author apprehensively decided to speak up.

“Pearl, I… I’m sorry,” he began, his tone genuinely sympathetic as he took a step forward. “Its not your fault that we’re trapped here, its mine. If I hadn’t been so focused on that confounded warp destabilizer, then maybe I could have anticipated Peridot’s intention to trap us and found a way to work around it. I suppose that’s why I always relied so much on you three in the past: I always did have a foolish tendency to overlook the obvious.”

“There’s no way you could have known, Ford,” Pearl said, shaking her head as she finally turned slightly. “But I should have. I should have known better! I just keep… doing this! I keep making these mistakes and ruining everything, even my own attempts to set things right! No wonder Garnet’s disappointed in me. Even if I hadn’t tricked her into fusing with me, I’m still a failure all the same…”

While Ford wasn’t really the best at providing comfort, he did very much want to reassure the white Gem that this wasn’t the case. However, someone else beat him to the punch first. “You’re not a failure, Pearl!” Steven exclaimed earnestly as he stepped up to his mournful guardian. “You made a mistake, yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try and fix it.”

“I’ve been trying to fix it, Steven…” Pearl sighed sadly. “But nothing’s worked… Sometimes I feel things between Garnet and I will never go back to the way they used to be…”

“Well, then I’m in the same boat as you are,” Ford said, just as remorsefully. “I understand why Garnet and Amethyst are both still upset with me, especially in light of… their formerly lost memories, but I never thought that picking up where I left off with them would be this difficult…”

“Aw, well you shouldn’t give up on making up with them yet!” Mabel urged encouragingly. “Neither of you should! I bet all it’ll take is a little more time and a little more work and who knows? By the time we get outta this rusty old ship, you guys could all be best friends again, just like you were before!”

“Yeah, I mean, at the very least things can’t really get any worse between you guys at this point, can they?” Dipper asked, trying to be reassuring, though the question didn’t really help either Pearl or Ford too much.

“Goodness, I hope not…” the white Gem muttered, cringing at the thought of things souring even more between herself and Garnet.

“Hey! Are you guys coming or what?!” Amethyst called, poking her head out from the corner her and Garnet had rounded a moment ago. The others simply nodded, knowing that, in light of the circumstances, they didn’t really have a lot of time to focus on repairing broken bonds. Escaping Peridot’s trap and netting her in their own had to be of the upmost importance now.

The next room the group found themselves in was surprisingly small and empty, having likely been a storage area at some point. Upon a first glance, it seemed as though it was a dead end, however, meaning that there really wasn’t any way to go but back. Garnet nodded to the others to turn around, however, before any of them really had a chance to, the entire room itself began to shake. In an instant, the ground gave out from under the group completely, a trap door opening itself wide as everyone fell through the narrow shaft to whatever awaited down below. Fortunately, Amethyst had the wits about her to summon her whip and toss it upward in an attempt to stop the fall. Its end found a low hanging branch grown in through one of the walls and coiled itself around it, giving the purple Gem enough time to summon a second whip to catch Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and even Ford as they fell past her.

“I-I got you guys!” she exclaimed as they all stopped in midair, though it was clear she was struggling under the weight of holding the four of them and herself up.

“Thanks, Amethyst!” Steven called back up to the purple Gem, even as pressed up against the twins and the author as he was. However, upon taking a glance at the ground very far below them, he was able to see that Garnet and Pearl had landed, mostly unharmed, in what appeared to be a small, deep, narrow chamber beneath them. “Garnet! Pearl! Are you guys ok?”

“We’re fine!” Garnet called back up, though she was almost immediately proven wrong as the floor, or ceiling rather, of the pit there were trapped in suddenly closed itself up without warning, trapping the pair inside.

“… Crud…” Amethyst whispered, her eyes wide as she realized what had just happened. However, matters were only made worse as her load-bearing whip suddenly snapped from the pressure put upon it, leaving the remaining group to fall the rest of the way down. Fortunately, with the pit covered as it was, this actually wasn’t all too dangerous of a drop as everyone landed rather safely in a larger room, one that, coincidentally enough, contained a surveillance screen that showed the very pit Garnet and Pearl were currently trapped in. Both of them had summoned their weapons and had frantically begun beating at the close walls keeping them trapped on all sides, though it was clear that doing so wasn’t making any progress in breaking either of them out.

“Oh no!” Mabel exclaimed worriedly. “We gotta get them out of there!”

“Amethyst, what should we-” Steven cut himself off upon glancing over at the purple Gem, who was transfixed on the screen. Or rather, on what the white Gem had just said to their leader on the other side of it.

“Garnet… I’m sorry…” Pearl sighed, her spear disappearing as she pressed a weak hand against the nearest wall. “Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way…”

“We’ll get out of here somehow,” Garnet replied, landing another brutal, but ultimately useless punch against the wall before her.

“T-that’s not what I mean…” the white Gem frowned, glancing over her shoulder apprehensively. “I really wanted to catch Peridot to make up for what I did… I wanted to prove to you that… that everything could go back to normal…”

Garnet was silent for a moment at this, her gauntlets held at the ready at her sides though she made no move against the wall upon hearing this. When she did speak, her tone was firm, almost cold even. “Catching Peridot won’t make things go back to normal. This isn’t about Peridot.”

As Pearl turned to face the Gem leader fully, the group above all found themselves rather surprised, especially Amethyst, who knew that this conversation had been a long time in coming. “Hey! They’re actually talking to each other!” she exclaimed with newfound relief.

“Who could have guessed that all it took was to trap them together in a cramped pit?” Dipper asked, also quite taken aback by the ongoing dialogue.

“Now maybe they can finally work things out!” Steven chimed in hopefully, more than ready to see the tension between his guardians finally be resolved.

However, it seemed as though they wouldn’t get a real chance to as the large set of crystalline gears above the screen suddenly began to turn rapidly. As a result, the walls of the pit the pair of Gems were trapped within suddenly began to press in, making the already tight space grow smaller and smaller by the second.

“Not if they get crushed!” Amethyst cried, alarmed just as much as the kids were by this sudden turn of events. Ford, on the other hand, opted to save his fear in favor of thought as he instead glancing around the room for what options were available to him in developing a plan to rescue the pair. And, after looking to the constantly turning gears once again, he managed to come up with exactly that.

“I have an idea,” the author announced, remaining somehow calm and levelheaded, even despite the frightening circumstances. “Amethyst, I need to see your whip.”

“What? Why?” the purple Gem asked with something of a scoff of disbelief.

“Because,” Ford began to explain, prying open a loose panel on the nearby wall to reveal an array of aged circuitry and wires. “If I understand the layout of this room correctly, then the charge from these wires could in theory connect to those gears to form a failsafe shutdown mechanism that might be able to keep the walls from moving in any further.”

“Uh… care to explain all that in English, science man?” Amethyst deadpanned, raising a caustic eyebrow.

“What I mean is that we need a way to connect these wires to those gears,” the author explained succinctly. “And I think your whip might do the trick.”

“And what makes you so sure that-” Amethyst cut herself off upon noticing the urgent glances all three of the kids were sending her, reminding her that this really was no time to be doubting Ford’s methods. “Ugh, fine…” she sighed, summoning a long whip from her Gem. She lashed its tip out, coiling it around one of the smaller gears before handing its other end off to Ford. The author quickly got to work, sifting through the wires in the panel before singling out the ones he needed and tying them to the end of the whip. All the while, Amethyst and the kids continued exchanging nervous glances back at the screen, watching as Garnet and Pearl pushed hard against the walls closing in on them, threatening to crush them both.

“P-please!” the white Gem cried, clearly desperate in more ways than one. “Tell me! How can I make you forgive me!”

“You can’t!��� Garnet shouted back over the loud noise of the walls surrounding them. “You lied to me! You need to learn that there are consequences to your actions!”

“I-I’m sorry!” Pearl pleaded, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. Tears that she had been holding back from even before this mess even started. “I… I couldn’t help myself! I needed to feel better again so much, especially… especially after-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” the Gem leader snapped fiercely, throwing her leg up against the wall in a futile attempt to keep it in place.

“But its true!” the white Gem sobbed morosely. “I just… can’t stop thinking about what happened that night all those years ago…” Pearl closed her eyes tightly, a tinge of distant horror in her tone. “The things I said… the things I agreed to… I knew better from the start but I still went through with it anyway… I was weak…”

Before Pearl could get anything else out, the walls surrounding the pair of Gems suddenly stopped moving, much to their shared relief. Unbeknownst to them, in the room above them, Ford had just finished establishing the link between the wires and the gears, the charge effectively managing to cut off power to them and keep them from rotating any further.

“Huh…” Amethyst remarked, impressed as she looked to the screen before glancing back at Ford. “I didn’t think that would actually work…”

“Well, what can I say?” the author remarked with a satisfied smile. “Over the past thirty years I’ve become something of an expert when it comes to hotwiring alien vessels.”

“Huh, no kidding,” the purple Gem said with the hint of a smile. “That’s actually kinda cool.” Amethyst took pause, her eyes widening briefly as she realized what she had said before rolling her eyes playfully. “Ugh, I can’t believe I just used the word ‘cool’ to describe you…”

“I’d like to think I have my moments,” Ford replied, offering Amethyst the same roguish grin she was offering him. A sure fire sign that maybe, just maybe things were starting to smooth over between the two of them after all. “Now all we need to do is figure a way to get them both out of there and-”

“Shh!” Mabel interjected, her eyes wide as her and the boys continued watching what was transpiring between Garnet and Pearl on screen. “This is getting really good!”

“We were all weak that night, Pearl,” Garnet said, glancing down amidst the new relative calm surrounding them. “You, me, and Amethyst. We all did something we regretted, something that could have ruined us all. And that’s why Rose took it all away from us in the first place.”

“But she never would have had to do that if I had just said say no!” Pearl exclaimed hotly, her tears still flowing intently. “I… I gave in… I let that happen… I let him trick us all… And even now, I’m no better than I was back then… No matter how hard I try to be strong like you… I’m just a Pearl… I’m useless on my own… I need someone to tell me what to do…”

“Pearl…” Garnet said, her tone somewhat gentler upon hearing just how hard the white Gem actually took the massive mistake from their past. Yet even so, Pearl continued, knowing there was no point in holding back the truth now.

“When we fuse, I can feel what its like to be you…” the white Gem said with a small, wistful smile. “Confident and secure and complete. You’re perfect, you’re the perfect relationship. You’re always together, always supporting each other. I just… wanted to be a part of that…”

“You’re wrong!” the Gem leader exclaimed, her unsteady tone catching her teammate off guard. “I’m not as strong as you think. I fell apart over this. Ruby and Sapphire were in turmoil over how you deceived me… I-I… I came undone…”

“Whoa, that actually happened?” Amethyst asked the kids, having only heard sparse details about the disastrous road trip a few days ago. Steven confirmed it with a nod, surprising both the author and the purple Gem, who both knew Garnet to be the kind to only split up in the most severe of circumstances. Which meant that truly, Pearl’s trickery had hurt her on a level that even the white Gem herself was only starting to comprehend.

“It’s not easy being in control,” Garnet admitted truthfully, her manner solemn, almost sad even. “I have weaknesses too. But I choose not to let them consume me. I struggle to stay strong because I know the impact I have on everyone. Please understand, Pearl,” her tone turned earnest as she looked directly at the white Gem, who was still pressed against the wall close to her. “You have an impact too. There are times when I look to you for strength. You are your own Gem. You control your destiny. Not me, not Rose, not Steven, and not even the mistakes you made in the past. But you must choose to be strong, so we can move forward. So I can trust you again.”

Pearl was silent for a long moment upon hearing all this, tears still brimming in her eyes as she met the Gem leader’s steady gaze. For the first time since all of this began, the white Gem realized that it was her own weakness that had gotten her into this mess, that had prompted her into tricking Garnet and had been what tore their entire team apart. From the moment her long lost memories of the darkened past had been returned to her, she had been sinking, drowning in her own remorse and guilt, the mistakes she had made and the problems she had caused threatening to crush her completely. And in her grief and her reckless attempt to free herself from it all, she had hurt someone she truly cared about, one of her closest and longest friends, to the point that she truly didn’t feel deserving of her forgiveness in the first place, as much as she desperately wanted it. And yet now, in light of Garnet’s inspiring yet still very pained words, Pearl began to realize something else: she realized that despite all of the weakness, remorse, and guilt she carried upon her shoulders, none of those things really defined her. None of those things made her who she was. Because in the end, Garnet was right; despite all the flaws of her original programming and all of the fallacies she had been hardwired with since her formation, she was still her own Gem. She had to decide what she was going to do and who she was going to be. And from here on out, that’s exactly what she was going to do.

“…I understand…” Pearl finally said, her voice gentle at first before filling with renewed resolve. “I can’t give up anymore!”

“Good,” Garnet nodded, a ghost of a smile on her face. However, before any further resolution could unfold between the pair of Gems, a sudden, sickening snap was heard from up above. Ford, Amethyst, and the kids all gasped in startled unison as the purple Gem’s whip connecting the wires and the gears unexpectedly snapped, resulting in the trap room’s enclosing mechanism to boot up once again. Down below, the walls once again began pressing against Garnet and Pearl, who were already practically pressed up against each other as it was. If they didn’t act quickly, then they would both certainly be crushed in just a matter of seconds. “Pearl, there’s only one way out of this!” the Gem leader exclaimed, not even needing to explain her idea.

For a brief moment, Pearl gaped at her in surprise that she’d even consider such a thing after everything that had happened. But even so, she knew there was no time to ask her myriad of questions now. “Only if you’re ok with it,” she said, knowing that she never wanted to do this under false pretenses ever again.

Garnet simply nodded in response, outstretching her hand as much as she could for Pearl to take. The white Gem hesitated for the briefest moments before giving her own hand over, only barely holding back a sigh of immense relief over the fact that, even if this wasn’t all over yet, they had finally set themselves on the path to that point.

Back up above, Amethyst and the kids were essentially in an all-out panic, all of them at a complete loss about what to do to save Garnet and Pearl in the mere seconds they had left. Once again, Ford tried his best to remain calm amidst the increasingly dire straits of the situation, but as he looked between the now broken wires and the rapidly spinning gears, he quickly realized that he was searching for a solution that he had absolutely no time left to find.

Fortunately though, it turned out he wouldn’t have to find that solution after all as Garnet and Pearl discovered one on their own. The entire group above was startled stiff as the covered ceiling of the pit busted open, pierced by what seemed to be a massive drill that revealed itself to be a familiar war hammer as it suddenly stopped spinning. And, out of what was left of the compressing tunnel emerged none other than Sardonyx, her larger-than-life form jumping gracefully out of the trap her components had succumbed to. The fusion didn’t stick around, however, not outstaying her welcome this time as Garnet and Pearl harmoniously unfused. As amazed as all the others were by this miraculous escape, the pair of Gems simply exchanged a brief glance of understanding, neither of them needing words at a moment like this. The newfound bond of trust building between them already spoke volumes enough on its own.

“Garnet! Pearl!” Steven exclaimed happily as he rushed to embrace the Gem leader’s leg. “I’m so glad you guys are ok!”

“And that you used Sardonyx to bust out!” Mabel chimed in excitedly. “I only wish she could have stuck around a little longer. She’s so cool and-”

“Mabel!” Dipper chastised in a harsh whisper, giving her a warning look to remind her that the topic of the flashy fusion was likely still somewhat touchy to the pair of recently reconciled Gems.

“It’s quite alright,” Pearl laughed warmly as Garnet herself smirked. “Actually, I have a feeling that the next time we form Sardonyx, she’ll be even cooler.”

“She certainly will,” Garnet affirmed, her smile growing a bit as Pearl blushed slightly under her now accepting gaze. The Gem leader’s tone was still cordial as, for the first time all day, she finally addressed the author as he stood patiently nearby. “Stanford,” she began, taking a step towards him. “I saw you plan through my future vision. That was some quick thinking, using Amethyst’s whip to connect the gears and the wires like that. And even though it only worked for a bit, it was still a worthy effort. Thank you.”

Upon hearing this sincere gratitude, Ford was admittedly stunned into silence for a brief moment, however, he was quick to recollect himself, perking up quite a bit as he adjusted his glasses and smiled. “Y-you’re welcome!” he exclaimed brightly, more than glad to be on speaking terms with the Gem leader once again. “After all the times you three have saved me in the past, I figured it was only fair to try and do the same for you. Even if my attempt could have been a bit more polished…” the author frowned, glancing back at the mess of ripped wires sticking out of the wall behind him.

“Well, I know what will be polished this time,” Pearl said with a daring grin. “Us finally tracking down Peridot and getting out of here. Because this time-”

“We’ll do it together,” Garnet finished boldly, sharing this resolve along with the rest of the group as they prepared to finally move on to finish this mission. “Now, let’s catch ourselves a Peridot.”

The ship’s central control bridge served to echo the low grumblings and frustrated rantings of the green Gem standing before it, pressing various buttons in a frantic attempt to continue monitoring the interior of the ship. Of course, given the age of the vessel and its current deteriorated condition, she wasn’t really having much luck as all of the monitors before her showed nothing but static and none of her inputs on the panel seemed to be doing anything to bring any of them back up online.

“Ugh… stupid button here, I don’t know where anything is!” Peridot growled, slamming her fist down onto the aged panel angrily. “Blast this old Gem tech! Where’d they go?! Why isn’t anything working?!” The green Gem suddenly cut herself off with an aptly startled gasp as the wall right behind her was blasted cleanly through, courtesy of Ford’s blaster. The Gems, the kids, and the author didn’t hesitate to barge in on Peridot, who froze defensively near the panel, clearly having not expected the intrusion, especially considering her well thought-out trap.

“Surrender, Peridot!” Garnet ordered, her gauntlets at the ready to attack as everyone else grabbed their respective weapons as well. “You have nowhere to run!”

“We’re gonna get yooou!” Steven sang with a bright grin.

“And this time we mean it!” Mabel added, cocking her grappling hook. “Not that we didn’t mean it all the other times, but now we really mean it!”

“Ha! You really think this is the end?” Peridot asked, quickly resuming her former cockiness as her fingers formed into a blaster, which she took aim at the group before her with. “This is just the beginning… of my escape!” With this, the green Gem pointed her blaster upwards, firing instantly up at the ship’s ceiling above her, creating a large gap that would be more than enough to allow her to make a clear getaway. And for a moment, it seemed like that was what she was going to do as her fingers reshaped themselves into helicopter blades again, propelling her upward as she laughed manically at her foes still tethered to the ground. “Well, I’d love to stick around and watch another one of your pathetic attempts to capture me, but I guess I’m just too smart for the likes of your lumpy, clumpy clods!”

The green Gem continued to revel in her apparent victory, though it was ultimately short lived as something, or rather someone managed to latch on to her foot before she get too high out of reach. “I caught a Peridot!” Steven cheered, clinging onto the green Gem, even as she began to rise higher into the air with him in tow.

“Hey! Get your touch stumps off me, you Steven!” Peridot growled, trying her best to shake the young Gem off of her. In retaliation, Steven simply bit down on the green Gem’s oddly metallic toe, which only served to frustrate her even more as she tried flicking him this time to get him off. “Hey! You… you persistent little… whatever exactly you are! Release me this instant!”

“Not a chance!” Dipper shouted as he rushed to grab Steven’s foot before Peridot could drag him up too high.

“Yeah, consider yourself ‘anchored’!” Mabel added enthusiastically, grabbing onto her brother as well. All the same, the weight of all three of the kids combined still wasn’t enough to keep Peridot down as she continued to rise, albeit slowly, into the air.

“Y-you can’t stop me! None of you can!” Peridot shouted back down at the resilient trio. “When are you going to realize that, no matter how much you clods try to stop me, I’ll always come out on top?!”

“Maybe when you realize that you’re goin’ down!” Amethyst exclaimed, jumping up to catch Mabel’s foot and weigh the rising group down somewhat. Pearl was quick to join in, doing her best to pull the purple Gem down as she kept her nerve this time, knowing that losing it again would result in the green Gem’s continued escape.

“Don’t let her go!” she called up to the kids before briefly grinning down at Ford, who had added himself to this ever-growing chain.

“L-logistically speaking, this has to be enough to keep her weighed down,” the author said, somewhat strained from trying to pull all the others back.

“Not quite,” Garnet said, catching Ford’s ankle as he began to rise into the air as well. The Gem leader proved strong enough to keep herself tethered to the ground, holding the entire group and finally preventing Peridot from making any further progress in her upward escape. “Peridot! Your flight’s been cancelled!”

“Augh! No!” the green Gem growled, beyond vexed by her enemies practically successful attempt at stopping her. Even so, Peridot wasn’t about to let herself be captured so easily, and, although she hated to do it, she knew she had no other choice. With another frustrated groan, the green Gem pressed a seamless spot on near the foot that Steven was still clinging tightly onto. At once, the appendage detached itself from the rest of her body, finally freeing herself from the young Gem’s hold as she shot upwards drastically as a result. The chain of Gems and humans that had been keeping her grounded quickly collapsed as a result of this, though fortunately none of them were harmed in any way as they landed, except for perhaps in pride as they had to watch Peridot slip away from them yet again.

“Augh, this is just great!” the green Gem snapped, clearly upset at her now missing foot as she began to fly away. “You’ll pay for this, Crystal Gems! And you too, you meddlesome humans! I don’t care what I have to do, I’ll get you all back somehow! Just you waaaaaait!”

And with that, Peridot disappeared into the sunset skies above, narrowly escaping her long-awaited capture yet again, much to the mixed feelings of the group she had left behind in the ship. “Aw, come on, she got away again?” Mabel pouted, clearly disappointed.

“Ok, but it totally wasn’t our fault this time,” Dipper clarified. “We can all agree on that, right? I mean, she totally cheated with the whole detachable foot thing.”

The others nodded in agreement as the rose to stand, most of them in states of varying levels of disgruntlement in light of the unfortunate fact that their quest to bring the green Gem down had to continue. Steven, however, was mostly just concerned as he looked to Pearl, whose gaze was set in a determined expression towards the hole Peridot had just slipped out through. “Pearl?” he asked, coming to stand beside her only for her to smile back down at him warmly.

“Don’t worry, Steven,” she said confidently as she held up the remains of Peridot’s foot that had fallen with the rest of them. “Next time… we’ll get the rest of her. Right, Garnet?”

“It’s a good step forward,” Garnet nodded with a smile, one that only grew as the white Gem and the kids shared a laugh over this clever quip.

“Ha! Foot jokes!” Steven chuckled, spirits still high all around even as Ford curiously interjected.

“Hm… you know, I might be able to come up with some way to keep her from escaping again if I had a chance to study the specs of her technology up close…” the author mused, eyeing the green Gem’s foot thoughtfully before glancing up at the pair of Gems hopefully. “W-with your permission, of course.”

At this, Garnet and Pearl exchanged something of a wry glance before the Gem leader freely handed the foot over to Ford. “Knock yourself out.”

“Yes!” the author cheered, readily taking the foot and looking it over, more than excited to analyze such advanced technology. “Finally, a chance to investigate the inner workings of a piece of Homeworld technology firsthand! Just think of all the notes and blueprints I’ll be able to-”

Ford cut himself off as Garnet and Pearl both broke down into gales of laughter at his almost childlike wonder with something as simple as a mechanical foot, of all things. “Uh, looks like your nerd is showing, science man,” Amethyst remarked playfully, eliciting a bout of good-natured laughter from the kids as well. Despite the author’s slight embarrassment, even he wasn’t really able to hold back a flustered chuckle, one that soon turned into a full on laugh as he was caught up in the newfound wave of levity the entire group was soon caught up in.

The only one who didn’t join in on this merriment was Amethyst herself as she stood just on the outskirts of the group, though she still shared everyone else’s high spirits all the same. Because at long last, after what felt like an eternity of uncertainty and uneasiness on all sides, after a barrage of revelations and upheavals, after worry, dread, anger, and everything in between, they had finally reached the end. They had all made it through the storm and came out on the other side of it, perhaps reaching an even better place than where they had started from. True, things had changed as a result of that portal opening wide, as a result of long lost memories being found, but that didn’t mean they had to change. Because friendships as strong as theirs, both between the Gems and Ford and even amongst the Crystal Gems themselves, were destined to whether out any storm that came their way.

Which was why Amethyst finally let out a much-needed sigh of relief as she fell back onto the ground, smiling contentedly all the while. “Finally…” she sighed to herself as the group nearby continued in their reformed camaraderie, hoping that things would stay like this now and for a long time to come.

Next: 

[cannedapricot]

Barista! Natamoto Yuta

ft. a cute taeil! i figured i should get this request from anon done before christmas so here’s a short cute christmasy barista yuta!

JoY tO tHe WoRlD

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER Y’ALL GET FESTIVE

SO!!!

yuta works at a small hole in the wall cafe

it’s literally called “hole in the wall”

it’s a very simple cafe which people tend to miss when they walk by

it’s not as crowded as starbucks when the pumpkin spice latte comes out 

but it’s not dead ok

there’s a handful of people that come :’)

othERWISE BARISTA! YUTA WOULD GO POOR AND QUIT BIEAFBDIS

our takoyaki prince actually loves that it’s not crowded

i mean,,,, as a transfer college student,,,, hE JUST WANTS TO EARN MONEY WHILE DOING NOTHING LIKE THE REST OF US

all he does on his shift is make a few coffees, maintain his clean work space and charm his customers so they tip him

liSTEN

THE BOY MADE THE MISTAKE OF WORKING AT STARBUCKS ONCE

N E V E R A G A I N

THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WAS WAY TOO OVERWHELMING 

also so many people were talking on their phones while ordering

and it pissed him off lol

so he quit and started working at hole in the wall thanks to barista! taeil’s recommendation

and he’s never been so relaxed while earning money :’)

the shop is five minutes from the dreamie’s school

and they drop by every so often

and boss yuta around because,

“i’M PAYING YOU FOR THIS”

yuta nearly strangled haechan but barista but also son of the manager! taeyong was glaring at him

and yuta’s already been warned about bad customer service from last time when he gave doyoung a carrot instead of the pastry he ordered

the end of year is s t r e s s f u l

because wow finals f u n

so yuta tends to take a break from the shop when finals roll around

but the manager (also the pastry chef) also lets every other collage student take a break 

so all that’s left is the manager, full time barista! taeil and pastry chef apprentice! mark :’)

coincidentally, you were stressing over finals as well

finding the perfect place to study was quite the task

the school library was full and the wifi was slow asf thanks to the 5732 students there at once

the cafe close to campus was stuffy and rowdy

and your dorm had w a y too many distractions

yOU JUST WANTED A PLACE TO STUDY WHY IS IT SO HARD :’CC

you discover hole in the wall one day while returning from the cafe near campus

it got way too noisy for your liking

so you just decided 

fuck it

and left :’)

you had also nearly missed it when you walked by but you caught the sight of a bunch of rowdy school boys walking in

and decided heY WHY NO T

the bell chimed as you opened the door

and you were greeted by the simple and warm decor of the small shop

the only people there were the bunch of high schoolers, the staff, and two other studying students

you stepped up near the counter, squinting your eyes at the menu lol

turns out, the boys in front of you were having a nice long chat with another boy who was almost entirely covered in flour

you kinda stood there awkwardly for a while bECAUSE INTERRUPTING THEM WOULD BE RUDE

until another man walked to the front of the store

“um,,, mark,,, do you realise we have a new customer behind your squad??”

mark peeks his head over the dreamies and realizes oH SHIT WE DO

and proceeds to shoo the dreamies to a table :’)

“i’m so sorry,,,,,i wasn’t expecting- i mean i we were expecting customers but- ,,,,we just haven’t had anyone new come in for a while,,”

BITCH YOU CAN’T HELP BUT LET OUT A SMILE

THE KID WAS ADORABLE

and so you order your choice of coffee (or tea!) and a piece of cake!!

which makes mark light up becaUSE HE MADE THAT CAKE AND HE’S REALLY PROUD OF IT

“TAEIL YOU HEAR THAT?”

“i’M ON IT MARK”

communication at it’s finest

the flour boy introduces himself along with all the others in the shop currently

the barista who told him you were here? that’s taeil!

the two students studying? that’s doyoung and johnny!

the bunch of highschoolers?

“oh they’re irrelevant” 

smiling to yourself, you choose to sit at the table close to counter

maybe you’d find yourself being a regular here!11!!1

and so you do lol

you find yourself coming everyday!

and you also found yourself becoming closer with the other regulars and two of the staff lol

you even decorated the shop for christmas with them!!

and forced them to add christmas hats to the uniform :’’’)

i love wholesome families :’’’’’’’’)

remember how this is a yuta fic?

yeaH LETS GET HIM SCREENTIME REAL QUICK

after the finals were over, yuta, taeyong and johnny return to the cafe in glory1!1!!

and after serving the dreamies, you turn up

yujohnyong were like “ooOOOOOH NEW CUSTOMER!!”

but the others were like,

“y/n!!! welcome back!!”

????

THERE’S A REGULAR THAT YUTA DOESN’T KNOW????

THIS CAN’T HAPPEN

so

yuta slides up to mork and asks,,

“who’s y/n?”

“oh, they became a regular when you left to study lol”

fffffffFFFFFFFF

then yuta slides up to the counter, elbowing taeil out of the way to do so

“hey! so i hear you’re a regular!!”

shoots 10000000000 watt smile

“uh,,,, yeah,,,,”

“so what’s your usual order?”

“u,,,m,,,, taeil knows so can i have him do it?”

yuta’s confidence: -100

iTS O K

“orrrrrr you can tell me and i’ll make it for you!!”

but you’re already sitting at your table lol

THE OTHER BOYS ARE CRACKING UP BEHIND HIM LOL

as taeil finishes your order, yuta snatches it up with a piece of cake and heads toward your table

NAKAMOTO YUTA WILL NOT HAVE A REGULAR NOT RECOGNIZE HIM 😤😤😤

“oh i didn’t order cake!!!”

“it’s part of out christmas promotion right now!! don’t worry!”

and he plops down in the chair in front of you

yuta can feel taeyong’s glare on him but hE CAN’T DO ANYTHING

THIS IS GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE OK

but the gaze melts away as taeyong’s favorite customer, sicheng, comes in with ten

yuta then happily strikes up a conversation with you!

“are you sure it’s ok,,,”

“it’s fine!!! there’s not many customers anyways lol”

and you two talk until the cafe closing time

but on your way home, you realize,,,

yOU FORGOT TO ASK FOR HIS NUMBER???

GOOD JOB Y/N

the first thing you do back at your dorm is scream into your pillow

your dormmate asks you what’s wrong

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED THE CHANCE TO GET A CUTIE’S NUMBER SEGSRHEERGEH”

i relate

the same thing repeats everyday for a week

you show up at the cafe, yuta makes conversation with you, and you go home realizing that yOU FORGOT TO ASK HIM ABOUT HIS NUMBER AGAIN

LOOK YOU GET TOO CAUGHT UP IN THE CONVO OK

but you’re starting to think,,,,,

maybe he’s not as interested in you as you’re interested in him,,,,

becaUSE HE HASN’T ASKED YOU FOR YOUR NUMBER EITHER???

little do you know,,,

yuta’s screaming to his bros when they’re closing up the shop

“wHY HASN’T SHE ASKED FOR MY NU M B E R”

“lmao ask her yourself”

“ICAN’TDOTHAT WHATIFSHEDOESN’TLIKEME”

and 

johnny’s lowkey done with yuta lol

the next week, christmas eve, you go to the shop per usual

REPEATING TO YOURSELF THAT YOU H A V E TO ASK FOR HIS NUMBER

but when you get there, yuta’s nowhere to be seen

taeil takes your order instead of yuta,,, who’s started to take your orders whenever you showed up

“hey,,,, taeil,,, where’s yuta?”

taeil cracks a mysterious smile while making your beverage

“who knows”

loL YUTA’S IN THE BACK WITH JOHNNY CALMING HIM DOWN

johnny had come up with this plan and yuTA’S DOUBTING HI M

YUTA’S 10000% SURE THAT JOHNNY’S GONNA SCREW HIM OVER

hmmmm what plan??? 🤔🤔🤔

leTS FIND OUT!!!11!1!

taeil comes around the counter with your chosen beverage and a huge sparkly present box???

“this is for you!!”

?????

opening the box, you see a note with a phone beside it

“hey pretty baby ;) your christmas present is me ;;) but i’ll need your number before you can receive the real present ;;;)”

.......

you read it aloud

and the whole cafe heard LMAO

the dreamies are REALLY embarrassed SVBFOSV

AND YUTA BURSTS THROUGH THE DOOR

“I KNEW JOHNNY WAS DOING ME DIRTY”

stomping his way towards you, yuta leans on your table

staring into your eyes he says,

“i like you,,, as in my heart beats faster when i see you like, even if you don’t like me the same way could you give me a chance?”

tHERE WAS NO HESITATION IN HIS VOICE

“a-are you sure?”

“biTCH DID I STUTTER???”

“uM OK LETS GIVE IT A TRY”

THE WHOLE CAFE STARTS WOLF WHISTLING 

AND CONFETTI IS THROWN (thanks to johnny who had went to the party shop last night)

through the whole mess, yuta smiles apologetically and says,

“sorry it wasn’t romantic at all, i wanted it to be nicer but johnny planned this and-”

you shut him up with a kiss on his cheek

“it’s fine, i love it the way it is”

merry christmas eve!! if it’s not as fluffy or christmasy enough,,,, i’m sorry aaaa i wrote most of this at the christmas party i was at !! also yuta’s lowkey ooc here ahhahahahahahahhHAHHAHAHA

finally my first nct scenario!! i bet y’all forgot i write for nct as well sefbabodbf but anyways!! have a very merry christmas and a happy new year!!

[topazshadowwolf]

The Door (Chapter 9)

An Undertale Fanfiction by: Topaz Shadowwolf Undertale is owned by: Toby Fox Setting: Post neutral run when Papyrus dies with chapter intros being before the child fell. Relationships: Sans and Toriel is the main focus, with a little bit of Undyne and Alphys Rating: I’m thinking Teen? Heads up: There is some depressed thoughts, feelings of worthlessness/wanting to die, mention of major character death, and the occasional bad word. Oh, and flowey being flowey, so you know, psychological/physical trauma. I really don’t want to say much more since I really don’t want to spoil anything further down the road…

You can read it on AO3! Here is Ch 8 Ch 7 Ch 6 Ch 5 Ch 4 Ch 3, Ch 2, and Ch 1 on Tumbler.

Random thoughts from the writer about this chapter: I’m going to be honest here. It still amazes me each time someone says they like this story. Growing up, I always had stories in my head, but I was a horrible writer. Even though I tried to write, I never could really put a sentence together. So, the pure notion that I can write something that people can understand AND enjoy floors me. ...In other words, thanks…

The Door

Chapter 9: Don’t be so koi~

“Sounds to me your brother has a good friend in her,” Toriel said after listening to another story about Papyrus and his rambunctious companion, Undyne.

“that’s true,” her friend, on the other side of the door, said with a laugh, “you’d think the two were siblings the way they behave. though, i’d bet she feels lucky they aren’t.”

Toriel tilted her head, “Why do you say that?”

“heh, well, i’d be her brother as well,” there was a humor to his voice, as if it were a punchline to a joke; one that she didn’t like.

“My dear friend,” she frowned, “I’m sure she’d be happy to have you as a sibling.”

There was a laugh, “naw, lady, i already disappoint her enough as a sentry. last thing she needs is me disappointing her as a brother.” He then said in a calmer tone, “besides, she’s my bro’s best friend, no need for me to go budding into their relationship.”

That made Toriel giggle and she decided to drop it. “What about you?” Toriel asked, then added, “you've mentioned having buddies at Grillby’s before. What about best friends?”

“that’d be you,” he answered without hesitation.

That wasn't a reply she was expecting. When he mentioned the people he knew in town, through work, and various other means, she figured he’d have a lot of friends, and several best friends. “Oh,” she didn't know what to say.

“well,” he started back peddling, “i have friends, i guess, just, uh, you’re really it for best friends…” he trailed off.

“That’s alright,” she said, “I don’t have any friends on this side of the door.”

There was silence from him, and she pressed her head against the door, listening. Inadvertently, she just that confessed her life of isolation while trying to comfort him. Her magic twisted in knots of fear, worried about what her friend might think.

“But, it is alright, I have my books and daily chores to keep me occupied,” she paused when she noticed her voice sounded strained. With effort, she forced the lump in her throat down. This was no time to be getting choked up, she had to stay focused. With a calmer tone she finished, “and you, also.”

How weak did that sound? Clearly, he would think the only reason she asked for him to come back was because she felt so, painfully, lonely. Truth be told, she had no tolerance for monsters she didn’t like, lonely or not; and, she genuinely liked this pun pal. He wasn't just a diversion from isolation, but an important person in her life.

A deep chuckle filtered in through the door, “well, even with everyone around i feel lonely. not everyone appreciates our brand of humor, y’know? so, uh, if you want, i can try carving out some more time to come visit you from my ‘oh so busy schedule.’”

Closing her eyes, she felt warm tears weave their way through her fur. She appreciated that he didn't make this about her, yet, felt guilty that he had the need to spare her feelings. After how she acted to all the other monsters around her, she didn't deserve a friend like him. A friend who would stomp down his own self pride for the sake of hers. Granted, she wasn’t happy with how often he did talk ill of himself. “You don’t need to do that. If I really wanted to end this isolation, I could leave the ruins,” she heard her voice shake, and knew he would too.

There was another pause for him, and she heard him shift in the snow, “mind if i ask why you haven’t?”

This was bound to come up, and she had to answer him. But she didn’t want to tell him the whole truth of the matter. At least, she wasn’t ready to tell him. She didn’t really want to tell anyone. Previously, she was happy with the idea of fading into obscurity. But now she had someone, other than Asgore, who would miss her.

With the thought of Asgore, she knew she still wanted to stay hidden from her ex. She’d skip over the details and just tell friend what he wanted to know in the vaguest way she can. Besides, it is not like he has not done the same to her.

With her mind made, she says flatly, “I made a decision a while ago, and I am sticking to it. I will not let myself be swayed.”

“fair enough,” he said, and she was happy he didn’t ask any more from her on this. Instead he moved on in the conversation, “anyway, lady, even if we just sit here, saying nothing to each other, that would be more enjoyable than being around people i don't really know. i will, though, say that some days i will be hanging out with a science pal of mine.”

“Oh?” She thought that over while wiping the tears from her fur. “I figured you had to have an interest in some fields of science from some of your jokes and puns.”

“heh, yup, though, i, uh, never really pursued it… just have a small hobby lab, nothing interesting.”

Generally, when they chat, he is more interested in talking about his brother. What rare gems of facts he gives about himself she stored away in her memory. She can use this information for future jokes or conversation. Excited, she decided to see if she could get him to share anything else. “What do you work on in your lab?”

He was silent again. Toriel should have known, he didn't like talking about himself, at least not in a positive manner. It was rude of her to press for more information. After all, he didn’t push her to speak when he knew she wouldn’t want to. Why could she not show him the same courtesy? Had she forgotten her manners, or even how to be around others?

She was about to apologize and change the subject when he said with a sigh, “just some science fiction crap that doesn't work.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she then added, “I commend your efforts. It can’t be easy to try such things.”

He offered up one of his empty chuckles, the ones that just sound wrong to her. “No worries, lady, not sure I want it to work anyway. But, uh, thanks...”

  “sup, grillbz,” Sans said. After he picked up some groceries he took a shortcut into the bar and grill. Errands done, he took the chance to make the stop, deciding to stay an hour.

The owner looked up and nodded at him in acknowledgment. On such a blank face, emotions are hard to read, but the bartender seemed pleased to see the skeleton. Sans made his way to the counter, then set down the couple of bags he was carrying beside his usual stool. With well-practiced ease, he climbed up on the stool and relaxed, soaking in the atmosphere of this place. It was nowhere near as nice as Tori’s, but still, he missed it. The orange and brown colors, the background noise, the general warmth, and the smell of greasy goodness were all so nostalgic to him.

“.........Hello Sans……… what can I get you?…….” popped Grillby.

“heh, right to the point, huh?” Sans chuckled then nodded, “fries, thanks for asking.”

The fire elemental walked to the door, that lead to the kitchen, and disappeared for a brief time before returning with food in hand. He gave Sans the freshly prepared fries and a bottle of ketchup. After applying a liberal amount of ketchup to the fries Sans, tipped his head back and downed the rest. Without even asking for another, Grillby placed another bottle before taking the emptied one.

“thanks,” Sans said. He grabbed a ketchup ladened fry and started to eat, “tori’s cooking is good, but I do miss the grease.”

“.........I’ll make sure not to tell her that…….” Grillby said with a crackling chuckle, “.........anyway, I am well……… You?.........”

“doing good, actually,” Sans looked down, grabbing another fry, “life in the ruins is nice, enjoyable. it’s, well, quiet, peaceful. i’ve been able to just… relax, which i like. perhaps a bit too much, but it feels different than what i’m used to, for even this town. not much goes on, so at times i find myself curious about what’s going on in the world. i’m used to hearing about everything going on down here from the sentry stations and hotdog stand.”

Grillby picked up a glass to shine, even though it already looked clean. Sans just figured it was because the elemental felt the need to do something when working. Fire is a very active element; and even though Grillby is very ‘chill,’ he does seem fidgety at times of stillness. As he polished the glass he nodded, understandingly.

“grillby, something up,” Sans looked at the elemental. Flames are hard to read, especially one as steady as the bartender. Still, that never deterred Sans from trying, and, occasionally, catching some subtle, but telling, body language. It took practice, timelines of practice to pick up what he has learned about Grillby.

“for example, you used to open first thing in the morning and stay open until late,” for a second, Grillby paused in his polishing. For anyone else, that would be easy to overlook. For Grillby, though, that meant Sans was on the right track.

Sans picked up another fry, watching a glob of ketchup fall from it and onto the other fries below. “it’s also pretty quiet in here, compared to normal for this time of day,” Sans said, then ate the fry. He didn’t bother looking at Grillby this time. The bartenders continued silence was all he needed.

Grillby set down a glass with a soft click as it touched the other clean glasses. “....................Undyne, ........................ is training everyone for war, if you must know…………….”

“everyone?” Sans looked up, then grinned, “even jerry?”

Sparks drifted from Grillby as he made a sizzling like sound, his version of an exasperated sigh, “.................. yes………….”

That thought alone caused Sans to snicker, “well, good luck with that. i’m sure nothing will strike more fear in the hearts of humans than an army of woshuas.”

Grillby crackled softly as he picked up another glass, “.................... changing subjects, I’m guessing things have progressed with Toriel……………….. New clothes……… and she clearly has influenced you……………”

That made Sans pause, and he looked at Grillby, “what makes you say that?”

“................ I’ve never seen you be so careful when eating…………….”

With that said, Sans’s attention was to how he had been eating. Sans noticed that he had been holding a fry while watching and waiting for a glob of ketchup to fall. In the past, he wouldn’t have waited. Without a care, he would eat and let the globs fall wherever they were on the way to his mouth. When there was a good chance a reset could happen, why worry about something like stains? There would be a 50% chance that they never even happened, anyway.

Now, he was wearing a new, unstained, shirt Toriel bought him. And there weren’t any resets to fix any mistakes, any stains are there 100% of the time. Also, even if he knew she wouldn’t say anything if he got it dirty, there would be that look of disappointment on Toriel’s face. It wasn’t a look he liked.

“huh, guess i’m trainable,” Sans shrugged.

“........ I believe the term traditional used is…….. whipped……..,” the elemental said, with the smugness that he used when he teased patrons he knew well.

Startled, Sans looked at Grillby who was now crackling away in laughter. “ah, come on, grillby!” That just made Grillby laugh harder, so Sans shook his head. With a resigned sigh, he said, “i’d say that was cold hearted, but right now i’m more worried about getting some ice for that burn.”

“......... watch it, I’ve got more………” Fire and ice puns get under Grillby’s nonexistent skin, which makes them a painless way to distract the elemental.

“same here, friend,” Sans grinned, as if he accepted the challenge, “besides, you started it.”

At that Grillby shook his head, surrendering before the onslaught of puns could begin. Sans shrugged and opted out of rubbing Grillby’s nonexistent nose in this minor victory. The two fell silent, Sans enjoying his fries while Grillby continued working.

A soft jingle from the bell over the door hinted someone else had arrived. Sans heard footsteps, and thought nothing of it, other than making sure he was set so Grillby to attend to the new customers. But it was the sound of an angry crackle from Grillby that caught his attention. Looking at the barkeep, Sans wondered what was upsetting the elemental.

“grillbz?” Sans started to turn left to see what was going on. A hand grabbed his right arm, under the wrist, the owner of it just out of his view. The person who grabbed him jerked hard, forcing him to turn right while he was pulled off his stool. Wincing, Sans’s shoulder protested this kind of treatment with a wave of pain, “h-hey!”

Thoroughly confused about what was going on, he looked up to see Undyne staring down at him. Shocked, he was about to speak before Undyne lifted him up by his arm. Pain traveled down the limb and into his shoulder, causing a small wave a panic to cloud his thoughts. He only had one HP and someone was threatening him; he couldn’t run or take a shortcut with the way he was held. To say that this was far from an ideal situation would be an understatement. This was more akin to the nightmares that plagued him of moments before he died. Right eye closed as he clinched his teeth tight, trying, and failing, to calm his nerves.

Desperate to find some relief, he reached up with his left hand and tried to grab for Undyne’s arm, but he could only grab his own. At least like this his right shoulder was no longer under so much stress, though it did nothing for his and forearm. He could only hope she didn't chose to tighten her grip, unsure how much more his ulna could take.

Of all the times he had spent time with Undyne, or seen her with his brother, he never once thought she would do something like this.

She snarled down at him, “Sans the Skeleton, you are under arrest for aiding and abetting a wanted criminal, and being an accessory in the murder of the King and a sentry.”

“you’re kidding me, right?” Sans said as he glared at Undyne with his left eye. His voice tense from the pain.

“I’m not the comedian,” Undyne said darkly.

“........ I don’t appreciate you coming in here and grabbing paying customers…….” Grillby spoke up. Raising his usually quiet voice as loud as it can get; which was like that average monster’s speaking voice. It was still unusual to hear, and Sans wouldn’t have believed it could get that loud had he not heard it himself.

Undyne turned sharply to Grillby, “This is your Empresses you are talking to! And don’t think I don’t suspect you guilty of feeding the BANISHED ex-queen a few nights ago.” Distracted by the fire elemental, Sans was relieved she finally set him down. No longer feeling threatened, he tried to focus on what was said over the ache in his shoulder from nearly being pulled out of the socket.

What Undyne said shocked him, and he looked up at the fish monster. How could she suspect something like that? No one saw Toriel. He might’ve been seen by Bunny, but that was no reason to assume Toriel came with him.

Grillby’s flames danced and snapped angrily. Before the fire elemental could say anything, Sans looked at him, “s’ok, grillby…” He gave his friend a smile. It was clear Grillby wasn’t buying it, but at least he didn't do or say anything more.

Nothing about this was ‘ok,’ but he was going to fake that it was until he can find a way to make it ‘ok.’ He had to. The time of enduring until the next reset was over. And that meant no more giving up or screwing things up with the knowledge that it will all be erased. The stains remain.

He had to deal with an angry Undyne in other timelines, but it was never directed at him. There was one when it was just her and himself left, they were both wanted revenge. In that one he had helped her keep this rage in check. While, he doubted he could do that now, remembering what she was like helped. Loud, active, and sudden, like an explosion; get through it and you can finally talk to the rational side of her. In other words, no point in fighting against her now; if anything, doing so will just extend her current state of mind.

“And you,” Undyne turned her attention back to Sans, “don’t try anything either. I know about your ‘shortcuts!’ Try escaping and I’ll tear down that door to get you, and her.” An odd grin crossed her face, displaying her wickedly sharp teeth, and she narrowed her eye. “On second thought, I like that idea.”

Undyne’s grip on his arm tightened, and San’s was sure he heard his ulna creak from the stress. Out of instinctual self-preservation, he used his left hand to push her hand off. Which was a joke; as if he had the physical strength to do something like that.

To his surprise, her grip loosened. Glancing up he saw the Undyne he once knew. The one that hung out with his brother and caused so much trouble. The one who threatened to hurt him if he made one more pun while struggling not to smile. The one he had convinced himself was just his boss, when really, she was more like that odd sister he never knew he wanted.

And like that the anger returned, the Undyne he knew again buried away. Just as before, when she pulled Sans another surge of pain coursed into his already aching shoulder. When Undyne finally released Sans, he started to relax; but, he moved his arm up to his chest, holding it protectively to himself.

That freedom was short lived, as he was grabbed by two guardsmen.

“undyne, please, can’t we just talk? there’s no need for... this,” Sans said, trying to appeal to her better nature.

“Sure,” Undyne snarled, “when you’re sitting in a cell, we will have a nice friendly chat.”

One of the guardsmen placed something on the back of his neck, and the world started to become fuzzy. There was the normal tired he felt every day, and then there was this. It was like he had exhausted his magic, and barely had the energy to stand. In the back ground he heard angry yelling, but right now he didn't care. How could he when he was drifting way to somewhere that felt warm, safe, and dark.

Before he could really settle into that feeling, it faded enough to clear his thoughts. There was still the exhaustion that comes with being low on magic, but he no longer felt he was about to float away. Able to think again, he figured out why that had happened from his own knowledge. Which was then confirmed as the words from the yelling going on around began to make sense again. They used a magic inhibitor on him.

Long ago magic inhibitors were created to keep rogue monsters and human mages in line. After all, you can take away a weapon and tie someone up, but you can’t stop the use of magic unless you suppress it at the source. Asgore had ban the use of them, except on the worst of criminals, because it was considered cruel, and could be hazardous if applied incorrectly.

He felt his smile strain as his right eye socket twitched. There were so many things he wanted to say right now, but he had no idea where to start. Instead he listened to Undyne while she snapped at the idiot who put the thing on him.

Apparently, they had it set too high.

Apparently, his magic was retreating out of his body and into his soul.

Apparently, they nearly killed him.

From the corner of his eye socket, he could see Grillby’s flames were wild. And no wonder. All elementals hated these things. Inhibitors were more commonly used to keep summoned elementals under control by inexperienced summoners. He offered the elemental something that was supposed to be reassuring smile, but he doubted it looked that way in the end. The look he received in return was apologetic and frustrated. But Sans didn’t want the bartender to get in a fight. Grillby didn’t handle his magic well anymore…

Constant years of battles can do that to even the most stable of monsters.

Undyne led the group of guards, and himself, out of the restaurant and Sans glanced back at Grillby, who was literally fuming, behind the counter. That’s when he saw the bag of groceries sitting by the stool he usually sits on… Tori...

“Who’s there,” Toriel said and closed her eyes. The sharp sting of her fang, while it dug into her bottom lip, grounded her as she hoped, with all her soul and magic, to hear Sans’s voice.

“.............Toriel, it’s me, Grillby……….”

Her heart sank when she heard the whisper of a reply; all her fears from earlier bore down on her shoulders, and forced her to carry the weight. She hesitated, knowing this nightmare will be confirmed as true when she opens the door. To stave off the childish trembling she felt building up, she inhaled deeply and let her lungs fully expand till it nearly hurt. With closed eyes, she opened the door. “Come in,” She tried and failed to keep her voice from quivering as she spoke. The welling of tears burned, but she opened them and focused on her guest, “It’s too cold for someone like you to be out there so long.”

“.............Thank you……….” Grillby said. With silent concern, she watched the elemental enter through the door. For someone who always appeared to be fully of controlled, yet wild power, his flames never had been so low from fatigue. As he walked in, he tried to build them back up, but the exhaustion was plan to see. “.........Toriel, something happened………”

In the elemental’s hand was a bag of groceries; and the last of her hopes sank while a pang in her soul forced more tears in her eyes. Shivering, and face wet with the tears flowing down her face, all she could feel was fear and concern for the skeleton she loves. In the back of her mind a voice yelled that he was gone. That Sans was gone and she would never see him again. After all, that is always what happens, the ones she loves always disappear in the end.

It was unfair! How many people had to disappear from her life? In a vain attempt to ignore the negative voice, she inwardly pleaded for the best. New hope was placed on the thought that whatever force kept Sans from her was not permanent. Her eyes look back up at Grillby’s face and could see the concern he had for her.

“..........Undyne came to my restaurant and arrested Sans this afternoon……….. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, but I wanted to find out as much as I could…………” Grillby continued.

“It’s alright. It makes sense, it would do me no good not knowing everything possible,” she said, her voice weak, “and thank you. Please, join me upstairs, and we can talk,” Extending a hand she offered to take the bag from Grillby but he shook his head to let her know he was fine carrying it. She led him to the house, her home that now felt empty without Sans, and into the kitchen. “You can leave the bag on the counter. I’ll take care of it later,” by now her voice had more strength but a tremble was still present.

Grillby set the bag down then turned to her, he opened his arms to offer her a hug. An odd behavior for an elemental, one that he had picked up on from being around monsters for so long. She accepted, feeling a need for some form a comfort. The hug was warm and supportive, but, while it helped, she still longed for the smaller, boney, yet somehow soft hug of Sans. They then walked over to the dining room table, sat down, and she listened as Grillby recounted what happened at his business.

Once Sans finally got to his cell, in the dungeon that barely any monster alive remembered the kingdom having, everything that happened finally became real in his mind. A feeling nagged at him as he heard the click of the cell door’s lock. This didn’t really feel like Undyne. At least, not the Undyne he thought he knew. She was a “take things head on,” and “get things over with” kind of person. Delaying whatever she had planned for him was not her normal style.

Glancing around the sparse and drab surroundings, he wondered if someone else was behind this. But that notion, itself, felt ridiculous. Events can change even the most steadfast of monsters, if they hit the right notes. Perhaps Undyne has simply changed. It’s not like he hasn’t changed due to the outcomes of a timeline. Once he shook off his usual laziness to help his brother rule a kingdom. Sans also witnessed Alphys overcome her fears to become queen. So, why would it be impossible for Undyne to set aside her kindness, and start acting cruel on her own?

And yet, it bothered him; almost as much as the fact he could no longer put his hands in pockets. The gray, oversized clothes, the guards gave him, failed to have any. He felt exposed, even with the layer of cloth; though it didn’t help the neck space was stretched too wide, leaving one shoulder uncovered half the time.

Instead of fixating on the lack of pockets, he fidgeted with the already frayed hem of the shirt. He had to give the guards some credit, trying to find something to fit his short, boney, yet somehow chubby, body is not easy. Still, it felt weird wearing something he had not worn near to rags himself. It seemed thread bare in all the wrong places.

As he struggled to free his phalanges from a loose string wrapped around his joints, he wondered how long Undyne was really going to keep him here. He was already tired of whatever game she wanted to play, and just wanted to find her and get this over with. Thanks to the magic inhibitor, though, he couldn’t even try taking a shortcut to Undyne, or even Toriel’s home for some proper clothes, food, and company.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he settled his thoughts. It did him no good to stress over things he had no control over. He decided to rest and think on this later with a cooler skull.

With a sigh, he walked over to the ‘bed’ and didn’t bother pulling down the sheets before getting on it. It had been a long day, and he needed a moment to rest. As he laid down he felt something hard under the sheets; confused he sat back up. Upon further inspection of his mediocre accommodations - his bed from Snowdin offered more comfort - he noticed there was a lump. Moving the covers, he saw a wrapped gift.

That wrapping paper…

There was a tradition he started long ago. When wrapping gifts for Papyrus, all gifts from “Santa” were wrapped better than the ones from himself. But more than that, the paper used for “Santa gifts” was the same every year. It was some special, shiny snowflake paper he found a ton of at the dump long ago. By using different paper from what he labeled as from himself, it helped keep the illusion of a jolly, old, gift bringing elf alive. The very same paper wrapped around the gift that was now in his hands.

Staring at the gift, his hands trembled as his soul waffled between feeling despair and unbridled rage. At that moment, his thoughts stopped, along with the facade of breathing. He uttered no sound, yet he wasn’t completely silent as his body started to rattle a quiet plea for some sort of comfort but threatened harm on any who would dare to approach.

It wasn’t until a drop of water fell onto the gift did he realize he was crying. Expanding his rib cage, he breathed in a shaky breath before exhaling a broken sigh. His fingers rubbed over some tape, on the back, as he debated in his mind of he should open it. The thought was tempting, but he doubted he could handle any more of this mockery. Instead, he just hugged the gift to his chest and let himself fall to his side, staring at the wall across from the bed.

Time passed, and he found that the calm cyan magic, that is tied to the trait of patience, was overpowered by the thrumming demands of yellow justice. His eye sockets narrowed as his vision focused on nothing. He more than understood Undyne’s own wish for justice against himself, but this? This had gone from cruel to heartless. His left eye socket started to flare only for the inhibitor to quiet that burst of magic while giving a small, but stinging, disciplining shock.

That did not improve his mood at all, or help his magic settle. He felt it swirling around inside him like a wild beast desperate to stampede, but being held back by a strong, invisible chain. His breathing became rapid, no longer calming but added to his stress.

He hugged the gift tighter to himself and tried to settle down. As his magic relax, he allowed patience to cool his head and thoughts again. Rest… he should rest, right? He should make sure he was well rested before he talked to Undyne.

As if well rested were possible.

He will try to get what rest he can for whenever she showed up.

Toriel listened in silence, shocked by the story being recounted to her. Confused by how something like that could happen, she stared down at her paws. When the story finished, she shook her head, “H-how could they blame him for Asgore and...” She hadn't noticed when her voice drifted off, thoughts wandering off to how Sans must feel.

A warm hand on hers brought her back to the reality of the here and now. Looking up at Grillby, she could no longer see him clearly through the tears. Part of her felt bad for how much of a crying wreck she was. It was a struggle, but she offered the elemental a smile in thanks. No matter how hard she tried, the tears wouldn't stop. In fact, her efforts seemed to be making them worse.

“.................... Undyne has been angry…………. And I think she is currently just lashing out anyway she can….……. Sans is an easy target, being the brother of her dear friend……….... I spoke with Dr. Alphys…………… I convinced her that Undyne was wrong ………. the Doctor agreed to investigate this………… So far, they are not allowing anyone to see Sans…………. But hopefully an exception will be made for her…………… they seem close, those two………….. just blind to each other’s feelings…..……..”

“Will Dr. Alphys get back to you then?” Toriel asked while she struggled to smile, to show she had not lost hope. What she managed to accomplish drooped to a frown, and she covered her face with her free hand, “I am sorry…. I j-just-”

Just by shaking his head and offering a worried look, he let her know she didn’t need to apologize, “..........Alphys said she would contact me………....” She smiled back at him, taking in his reassured for now. Though, next thing he said confused her thoroughly, “......... has Sans ever mentioned anything about timelines to you?.................”

“Timelines?” Toriel thought for a moment then shook her head. “No,” she then paused, a memory in the back of her mind inching forward, but the details of it she couldn’t remember, “well, maybe, offhandedly he might have said something.”

“............ yes………….” Grillby sighed, looking away, “........................... that is a common theme around him……………………… Most likely he has told you, but you forgot…………… I don’t fully understand myself……………………… I was hoping you would be able to fill me in……………………. Because I fear it may come up……………………..”

As much as she was happy that Sans had started telling more to her, she really did wish he had said more, and sooner. The two sat in silence, as Tori allowed all of what had been said to float around in her head. So far, it had been a lot for her to adjust to, and she doubted that would be the end of it. And what would she do if Sans could not return?

Toriel decided too late to help the last human child. Will she just return to her old ways, or do something more?

“................ I would offer to explain what I know……………… but I am hoping Doctor Alphys knows more……………….. And perhaps could explain it better………………….,” Grillby finally said, “................. anyway, she has my number, and will call me when ready……………….. I’ll head back…………………….”

Toriel looked up at the elemental, the idea of being alone, after having company, terrified her. “You’re welcome to stay,” she said without thought, and she meant it. With a wave of her paw, she indicated the couch, “I can set you up out here, if you wish.”

The soft crackling of his flames was the only noise as he thought. He looked at the couch, then the room, before looking back at Toriel, “...................... Your fireplace would be more “cozy” for me…………………. If you don’t mind……………….”

A sigh of relief escaped her, but she ignored her self-embarrassment. After all, Grillby is tired, and it is too cold out in that wintery landscape for a fire elemental in his condition. Standing she shook her head, “I don’t mind at all, make yourself at home.”

Time crawled by as he sat on the inflexible surface that was supposed to be a bed. He had slipped the gift under a mostly flat object, that he figured at one time was a pillow. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, he had become spoiled by his time with Toriel. Comfy bed, clean sheets, and even the new clothes she just bought him, were all things he now missed. But more than those things, he missed her.

Sans’s eye sockets dimmed, his energy felt lower than he’d normally be with what sleep he had; all thanks to the inhibitor and how worried he was about Tori. Sans had no idea how long it had been now. His cell lacked a window to the outside artificial “daylight”, and there was nothing else that provided a sense of time. Based on everything that had happened, though, he knew this had to be the longest he’d been away from Tori since moving in with her.

It had to be late by now. Or perhaps the next morning? A food tray had been slipped under the door, but he didn't have the motivation to go over to eat. He was just so tired, and struggled to keep his eye sockets open. The only reason he fought to stay awake was the chance Undyne would come soon. His previous attempt to rest ended in his screaming out in a panic; not something he wanted Undyne seeing him do. It had been so long since he woke up screaming, the experience felt new. It took him while to get out of that panicked state and quiet down to this calmer, but on edge state of being.

These factors combined, and he started to lose hope. Not that this was new. He laughed at himself inwardly, for being a mockery of monster kind. Somehow, he has scraped by with less hope than some other monsters who have fallen down.

He wasn’t sure when his eye sockets closed as he dozed off, but he remembered them snapping back open. Images of vines, dust, blood, and bled magic still haunted his mind as he struggled to calm himself. He could hear the guard talking with someone, but couldn’t make out the words. The only thing that made sense to him at that moment is the guards talking with Undyne, who was on her way in.

Really?

Now, of all times?

Without Toriel, he was back to needing to calm himself. A task that is far easier said than done. After failing on his own, he tried to remember that melody she would hum, and the sound of her voice.

With the initial panic now sated, he took slow and easy breathes. He felt the shifting of bone against clothe as he expanded and contracted his rib cage, and focusing on the sensation of breathing. Air filtered in past his teeth, through his mouth, then somehow down along his cervical vertebrae, and finished the migration in his rib cage. The air swirled there for a moment, captured by his magic, until he released it, letting it travel back up and out. Mysteriously, his magic must have warmed it during the air’s short time in his rib cage, as it was clearly warmer on the way out.

The guard fell silent, and no one seemed to be coming after all. It was too much to hope for, he supposed. Hunkering down, his back against the wall, he sighed. His mind drifted, and he found himself lost in the absence of thought. What snapped him from that dull trance was the scraping sound of the untouched tray of “food” being taken away and replaced with a new one. His eye lights fell upon the monster, but they completely ignored him.

Staring straight ahead, he let his mind drifted back to memories from the Ruins, with Tori, where it is safe and warm. He remembered cuddling with her, smelling the scent of pie crust, cinnamon, and butterscotch that seems embedded into her silken fur. The feel of her magic, rich in integrity and rolling like wild fire that, despite the boiling heat, was always pleasant. And the feel of her arms, strong and intimidating yet kind and gentle. When she would kiss, or nuzzle him there is the mix of tickling fur and caressing fangs. Lastly, he remembered the softness of her paw pads and the light touch of her sharp but non-threatening claws.

The dualities of Toriel. Strong yet gentle. Sharp but soft. Dangerous and deadly even though he never once felt in harm's way when she held him. Leaning back against the wall, he sighed, feeling relaxed for once since he arrived.

“H-hello,” Came a small, hesitant voice, which caused him to jump.

While contemplating Toriel, he hadn’t heard the owner of the voice walk into the dungeon. Sans turned sharply to see the yellow dinosaur he knew as Alphys standing at his cell door. The lights in his eyes were out as he did, detracting from any friendly appearance he possibly had. She smiled weakly at him as she shifted nervously under his abrupt and dark gaze. He forced himself to light his eyes, feeling guilt for startling her. With effort, he stood from the bed and walk closer, “heya, alphys… sorry if I startled you, just been feeling… tense.”

“I-it’s alright, I understand,” She chuckled softly then said, “I, um, came here t-to talk to you. A-about what is going on and, um… t-to see if I can h-help you?”

Looking at Alphys with some amount of consideration, Sans sighed, “so undyne sent you instead of coming to talk to me herself?”

“Um, well, yes... and no. She, um, k-knows I wanted to talk to you, but not that I-I’m here to, um, h-help you,” Alphys smiled awkwardly.

“Wow, Alphys, never imagined you to be the rebel type,” Sans grinned.

“Yes, well, i-if you hadn’t just d-disappeared, without e-even saying g-goodbye, maybe y-you would,” Alphys said, folding her arms, glaring slightly.

Sans shrunk back from the glare, knowing it was deserved.

“N-not only that, but you n-never tried to visit, or r-respond to my messages!”

“guess i’m not winning the ‘friend of the year’ award,” Sans hoped that would soften the mood a little.

It worked and she sighed with a smile, “y-yes, that is going to b-be mine.” He saw her, look around for a spot to sit, “a-anyway, this may take a w-while, so, um, guess w-we need to get started.”

As she started to sit on the floor he held out a hand, as if the stop her, “want me to pass you my, uh... blanket? The floor can’t be comfy for you.”

“Oh, um, s-sure, i-if you don’t m-mind,” She stopped herself and waited

Sans shrugged and shuffled over to the bed. He started to feel a little lightheaded from all this moving around, and no surprise there. Next to no sleep, he hadn’t eaten, and his magic was being artificially held back. To keep from possibly passing out he paused a moment before gathering the well starched blanket. Unlike everything else provided, it was a nice blanket, just poorly cared for. The dizziness remained, but he no longer felt so close to fainting. Still, he wanted to hold his head, but he didn’t want to concern Alphys. Shuffling back to her, he passed his blanket through the bars. From where he was, he could see a guard standing down the hall, watching suspiciously, “Naw, it’s alright,” Sans said them, “I got her something to be comfy with, so don’t trouble yourself.”

Alphys looked back at the guard who was glaring back at Sans, “M-maybe you shouldn’t, um, a-antagonize them?”

With a shrug Sans sat, but in the process, he practically let himself collapse on the floor with a clatter of bones. The clothes provided no padding, and he felt some regret for that action. Pain shot up his spin from his lower half as the rough collapse jolted his bones. As unpleasant as it was, it forced his brain awake, “So, what do you want to talk about, Al?”

Clearing her throat, after situating herself on the blanket, she pulled out a small note pad, “So, uh… h-how much do you, um… u-understand about why y-you’re here.”

“Very little, Al, nothing has been explained to me. To make matters worse, I don’t even know how long I have been here. And I gave up trying to ask, since the guards have yet to say anything. And has anyone told Tori where I am? I told her I wouldn’t be long,” He poked at the food on the tray, “and I’m still pissed about the inhibitor.”

“Um, Y-yes that would, erm, well,” Alphys mumbled.

“It’s okay al, it’s not like you put it on me,” Sans said, and noticed her wince; that caught his interest.

“A-anyway, I had t-talked to Grillby and h-he went to tell her. And, um, y-you’ve been here for, a day,” she said and then shifted uneasily under San’s empty gaze. The amount of time that passed sunk in, and he hoped Toriel was well. He then sighed and turned his gaze from the scientist. Toriel was doing alright before he showed up, he was sure she'd be fine again.

Alphys continued, sounding more nervous, “S-so about w-why you’re, um, here, Undyne says that y-you, um, helped the h-human. A-and that, erm, you d-did it with the i-intent on, well, h-having them k-kill A-Asgore.”

“why would i do that?” Sans shook his head.

“S-she, uh, thinks…,” Alphys falls quiet and fidgets.

Sans waited for her quietly, not wanting to rush her. After a moment, she finally finished the thought, “she th-thinks you, erm, d-did it to, um, g-get with Toriel?” The last sentence was meant to be a statement, but it came out as a question.

“that’s ridiculous, i didn’t even meet her until after the kid left the underground. Asgore was dead by the time i first set eye sockets on her.” Alphys made an odd humming noise and Sans frowned, “what was that about?” When she didn’t respond, he narrowed his sockets, “alphys, what is it?”

“Well, I mean, y-you did kind of, um, know her before,” She said hesitantly.

Sans narrowed his eye sockets more, “al?”

Alphys cleared her throat and shifted uneasily, “So, um, y-you know h-how I had cameras up to, erm, w-watch for h-humans?”

“sure, i located all of them around snowdin,” he shrugged.

“O-oh, so you kn-knew about it,” She looked relieved.

“knew about what, al?” Sans felt a sinking feeling, wondering if he missed a camera, “just tell me.”

“T-the camera, by the, erm, ...ruin door,” Alphys said, and he felt all the magic drain from his head to his stomach.

“so… there was a camera recording me… telling knock knock jokes to the door… to the person behind the door?” He leaned his head against the bars, his skull clicking as it touched, “al, we never told each other our names, i didn’t know who she was.”

“I knew, because A-Asgore told me. He, um, was having a b-bad day when I was there to g-give him my report. N-no one else knew, n-not even Undyne,” She hesitated, “You, um… seemed to make her happy.”

That statement meant one thing, “... al…,” he sat back, “aaalphy, please, please tell me you weren’t watching.”

“Erm,” was her only response.

“aaaal!” he whined, “c’mon! why were you watching me do that? did all the times i hung out watching anime with you mean so little?”

“I-it was cute,” She said, blushing slightly, which made him groan in frustration.

“alphys, I am seriously reconsidering our friendship,” Sans muttered. Then his mind drifted to what he knew of her and his eye sockets shut tight. Speaking in a hushed tone, hoping the guard wasn’t paying attention to this conversation, he pleaded, “al, please, please tell me you didn’t write one of those stories about us.”

The resounding silence that followed caused his face to flush with embarrassment, “al.”

“I-I couldn’t help it!” She finally said.

“al.”

“You two were just so c-cute,” she explained.

“alphys…,” he pleaded as if she could suddenly unwrite her stories.

They’re, erm, l-light?”

Pressing his hands to his eye sockets, he muttered with an air of sarcasm, “oh, well thank goodness for that. at least you weren’t writing porn about us” he looked at Alphys as she tried to feign an innocent smile, “i’m not one of those fictional characters you love to watch, al. tori and i are real.”

“If it helps, T-Toriel and Asgore are my, um, otp,” she muttered at the end.

Sans felt his right socket twitching at that and rubbed the sides of his head, looking at her with dimmed, though still lit, eye sockets, “no, al, that doesn’t help.”

Alphys shifted, then cleared her throat, “So, um, back to the m-matter at h-hand. She, that is, Undyne thinks that y-you knew, erm, because you m-met her in a previous timeline.”

“i didn’t remember that then. you did tell her i don’t remember what happens in previous timelines until it comes back as a dream sometime later? and what does filter back is usual the worst of them first? in all honesty, i don't really remember meeting her in the other time lines… just… i don’t know, and essence of her being there, i guess.”

There was a look on Alphys’s face, one he knew all too well from watching animes with her. “S T O P,” he said, cutting off whatever shipping thoughts were going through her head right now.

“Y-yes, but she, um… wasn’t convinced,” Alphys said quickly.

“she can’t just cherry pick what she wants to believe,” Sans tried to think, wondering what he could do to convince Undyne he didn’t know who the Lady behind the door was at that time. A memory, he would love to forget, filtered back to the front of his mind, “do your cameras record individually?”

“Y-yea, why?”

“so, when you were watching the kid, the Snowdin camera by the door was still recording, and you still have that recording?”

Alphys nodded and Sans sighed. He was both frustrated and relieved, “watch that and show it to undyne. i thought tori was dead and the evidence of that is there.” He paused for a moment then looked at Alphys, “i’d rather she not sees more than she has to see. it was, uh, shortly after pap...”

“O-okay, that should work,” Alphys smiled kindly, speaking up before he felt the need to finish that sentence. She looked at the notes pad as she jotted that down.

“so, uh, what else?”

“Erm, well, the, um… aiding the human?”

“i didn’t do anything to help the kid after pap died. before then, pap and i were having fun with the kid,” He sighed and shook his head, “and even if i tried stopping them, as she has been told, it wouldn’t matter. the kid would just reload the timeline until they got what they wanted.” He thought back then looked at Alphys with a frown, “what about the sentry? at grillby’s she said i helped in the death of a sentry.”

Alphys ‘hrmed’ and looked uneasy, “Well, um…”

“...who was the sentry?” he asked, yet he was sure, by her reaction, he already knew the answer.

“P-Papyrus” Alphys watched him.

A dark anger rose inside him and he clinched his hands, frustrated he didn’t have a pocket to shove them into. His eye sockets were dark as he could feel the mask smile creep onto his face, “is that so?” Alphys flinched as his voice echoed.

He calmed himself before he closed his eyes, getting the lights back, though dim, before reopening them, “i wasn’t there when he died. i had no reason to believe the human would hurt him. i would have been there for him if I knew he was in danger, not that it would even matter.” He stood, feeling himself wobble slightly as the dizziness returned, and walked over to the bed. “and you know what, screw her.” Sans snapped, “she didn’t even hire him as an ACTUAL sentry!” It hurt to raise his voice like this, as it required more magic at a time than the inhibitor gave freely. He sat on the bed, staring at the opposite wall.

His sudden outburst caused Alphys to jump, “S-Sans, what do y-you mean. Your brother always said he was a, um, sentry.”

“did you ever see his sentry station?” Sans asked, trying to keep his voice calm, “i made it for him after Undyne told me she couldn’t make him a real sentry. he was supposed to have my sentry station, but i ended up taking it over when Undyne felt he could hack it. instead of being an actual sentry he was just in charge of the puzzles, but still carried the title,” he shook his head, and gave Alphys a tired, though angry, look, “and now, after he is dead, she has the gall to call him one? when she couldn’t really do it while he was alive? if she is going to do that, she could at least promote him to royal guard.” Leaning forward, he held his skull as he felt a pounding, radiating migraine start. “if she wants to accuse me of taking part in my brother’s murder, she better come tell me to my face.”

Standing Alphys carefully passed back the blanket, leaving it on his side of the bars, “I’ll, um, let h-her know.” Alphys started to walk away before looking back at him. “S-Sans, um… I’ll try and hurry this p-process up,” Alphys stammered.

“thanks, al, and sorry i said i was reconsidering our friendship. you’re a better friend than i deserve.”

“Y-you bet I am,” Alphys grinned

Sans chuckled, then looked at her, “can you find out how Tori is?”

“Sure, Sans.”

“and al, no more fiction about tori and me, ok?”

Alphys gave him an odd grin, the said, “J-just try and s-stop me.”

Toriel had received a text from Grillby that morning, it informed her that Alphys was coming to see her. The elemental had returned to work, trying not to raise suspicion. Before he left, he warned Toriel that Alphys is from Hotlands, and won't tolerate the cold well. That is why the goat monster had decided to wait by the door for the knock.

While normally patience is not a foreign concept to her, she still found herself becoming tired of waiting. Wondering if there was a problem, she started to text Grillby, to ask what could be keeping this expected guest, when she heard a tentative knock on the door. Mustering up a smile, she opened it and look out.

Standing in the snow was a shivering, yellow dinosaur, who nervously fidgeted her hands, “H-hello, T-Toriel, I’m, um, Dr. Alphys. Grillby said he’d tell you I was o-on my way.”

“Yes, please come in, Doctor. The house is upstairs, I have a fire to warm you back up. Would you like some pie?” Toriel asked, she felt an eager tremble travel through her. A part of her wanted to skip the niceties and hear what Alphys had to say about Sans. With a deep breath, tried to stay calm, not wanting to upset the already nervous guest.

“Oh, um, s-sure, thank you.” Alphys walked in, looking happy to get out of the snow. The two walked upstairs, and Toriel made sure the fire was producing enough heat to be pleasant for the dinosaur. She retrieved two slices of pie and brought them out for Alphys and herself.

They sat at the table and the silence was deafening. It was maddening. Toriel had to fill that void, and get the dinosaur to start talking about what she wanted to hear. After she swallowed a bite of pie, she said, “So, I heard you had a chance to talk to Sans yesterday.”

“Y-yes, I did, um… he asked about you,” Alphys tried to smile, but the expression looked haphazard.

“How was he?” Toriel asked.

Alphys shifted nervously and set her fork down, “I’ve, um, seen him b-better. H-he isn’t sleeping well, and, uh… stressed.”

Toriel looked down at the pie, it tore at her soul to hear such news, “When can he come home? How much longer is this going to take?”

“Uh, well, Undyne isn’t, um… w-well, she is taking h-her time,” Alphys fidgeted and started talking faster, “I gave her Grillby’s statements and the evidence that would prove him innocent of at least some of the charges, but all she did was look at it and walk away... I’m not sure what to do or how to get her to move this along. I told her Sans wasn’t doing well, and she’s acting like she doesn’t care, but, I mean, Sans is Papyrus’s brother so I think she does care. But she is so full of anger.”

“Alphys, slow down,” Toriel jumped in, and placed a hand on the small dinosaur’s shoulder. In the time it took for Alphys to calm down, Toriel tried figuring out what had been said, “So, she is just sitting on the information and doing nothing?”

Alphys nodded quickly and fidgeted again. Anger slowly kindled in Toriel, she stared at her pie slice, mind racing. Slowly Toriel stood and walked down the hall. She needed to get something, something she believes has do with of the timelines Grillby spoke of. They had talked more about it that night. His knowledge of them was weak at best, Sans spoke about them to Grillby rarely, and most of the time her love was drunk. But what Grillby had heard sounded important, and he felt it was something Toriel would need to know. It confused Toriel, as it sounded like time had traveled backward, or thing had happened but became undone.

Grillby said Alphys knew more about this. After speaking to Grillby she had returned to Sans’s room and looked at those notebooks. A lot of it still didn’t make sense, but there were dates and times repeated with different events.

Retrieving the notebooks and walking back to the table she set them down, “I want him to explain this to me, but is there anything about these ‘timelines’ I need to know about?”

Picking up one of the notebooks, Alphys’s scales blanched. She then picked up the other and read through it quickly, “There is a lot t-that I still don’t understand. But, he, um, remembers events that happened in previous timelines through his dreams.” She set the notebook down and pointed, “See, this is the date and time he had this, um, dream, and this is the estimated time he thinks the events occurred.” As Alphys looked through the scrawled handwriting, she was started to mumble to herself while getting an idea of the verbiage used. As she read she cringed and set the book down, “There is, um, s-some scientific backing to it, b-but it is unknown why he can r-remember it while w-we can’t. Well, kind of. He says he forgets a-after every reset only to re-remember. And, uh, we sometime n-notice them through, um, d-Deja vu feelings.”

“Is that why he is writing it down? To not forget?”

“Um, w-well, if a reset were to h-happen, then he never w-would have written it down. This is, erm, more to c-clear his mind and, um, organize h-his thoughts.”

Toriel frowned, “And he is having these dreams still?”

“There have been a lot of r-resets,” Alphys frowned, opening the first one again, “A lot of bad resets…”

Toriel closed her eyes, thoughts drifting back to the night she found Sans making coffee. No wonder he didn't want to sleep. And that night she spilt wine on him... and his reaction... A paw moved to her mouth, had he…

“Bad how?” Toriel asked.

“W-what?” Alphys shift.

“He spoke to me about a bad dream long ago. He found others dead, watched his brother die… and then…,” her voice cracked, wanting to give up and weep, “dying himself.”

“F-from what he t-told me, th-they aren't all l-like that. Some are better… some are, um, worse…,” Alphys shifted uneasily.

Sans has been through a war then. An unknown, silent war, with himself as the only soldier who stood between an invisible threat and those he cared about. All those times he called himself lazy, how further from the truth could that be? He was worn out, internally injured, and in need of peace.

“And Undyne, she is just leaving him in her dungeon to rot?” Toriel said, she heard a razor edge to her own voice. Crying can come later, her soul turned to a different emotion.

Alphys flinched and looked at her pleading, “I’m doing what I can.”

Toriel didn’t think, only reacted. She stood and walked to the stairs. She heard the patter of Alphys’s feet behind her, as she descended to the hall that would lead her to the door…

Closing thoughts: I like to think we all have a little Alphys in us... I know I do~ Though, I wouldn't write about real people... that... just seems odd to me.