#but need to rewrite that bit after a few decisions were made

[gumnut-logic]

Scott sighed as he walked through Two’s corridors towards her cockpit. Gordon hadn’t stopped yelling since they started this call out and while Scott fully understood, he was tired.

It had been a big job fighting the fire.

Without Virgil.

Of course, Virgil should be safe at home. He was still grounded after the scree slope incident. But this was a fire, Virgil’s speciality, and it was Te Hāwere-a-Maki Marine Centre.

John had actually sworn when he called it in. The Centre was a place particularly special to Gordon, and since the incident with the whales and the ongoing relationship with the Eddington Institute, the Centre had been a touch point for Virgil as well.

They had friends down here, just north of Auckland.

Long story short, there was no way in hell Virgil was going to sit this one out.

Scott and Gordon had taken Two the short hop and skip down to Aotearoa, module one loaded up and ready.

And Virgil sitting fuming in the back seat.

If Gordon hadn’t been so angry, Scott knew there would have been a comment on that.

Virgil may have accompanied them down, but the man could barely walk straight with the stitches in his thigh and that broken rib.

Scott had confined him to Two’s cabin.

There were words.

But the commander would only bend so far.

So not only did he have a fish spitting fire through the entire rescue, he had a frustrated Virgil fuming in the cockpit.

It hadn’t been a great day.

Except for the fact it had been a successful rescue.

Scott let his shoulders drop under his silver suit.

Because International Rescue had been able to respond fast enough, the fire had been controlled before it could reach the marine medical facilities and the injured wildlife nurtured there. The university campus had taken a bit of a hit and the tourist centre was little more than skeletal ash, but the core of the complex had been saved.

And injuries were minimal.

To listen to his brothers talking to the rescuees, people they knew, was a little painful.

And anger inspiring.

But IR had succeeded. There was damage, but it was recoverable.

Now he just had to manage his little brothers.

He had left Gordon talking to the director of the medical facilities, apparently checking on a few patients.

The Fish was finally calming down now the fire was out, turning to rectifying damages. Scott had no doubt some Tracy money would be involved in this. Hell, he would be happy to shovel some in this direction himself. It was a worthwhile cause…aw, hell…Mel was going to be so upset.

He made a note to drop in on Raoul as soon as possible.

But first Virgil…

His brother had been on comms throughout the rescue, playing overwatch to the fire, his expertise and frustration at not being able to physically help obvious.

Scott yanked the handle and pushed open the door at the back of Two’s cockpit. He stepped through to find Virgil sitting in his pilot’s seat. He had something in his hands and he was talking to a hologram of Mel.

“…whatever it takes, Melissa. I’m so sorry, this happened. I wish I could do more.”

“Hey, you’ve done what you can and we can’t be anything other than grateful. I’ll get onto this and get back to you as soon as possible.” She paused and frowned at Virgil. “It is perfect, Virgil, really. He’ll love it.”

“Yeah, well, I had planned to do it anyway-“ Virgil turned and caught Scott stepping quietly up behind him. “Hey, they have any leads on the cause yet?”

Mel’s eyes widened as he slipped into the hologram’s receptor range. “Hey, Commander.” She managed a small smile for him despite circumstances. “I hear we have to thank you yet again.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Mel.”

“Hey, you saved what was important. The rest can be rebuilt.” She eyed him. “You look wrecked.” She ruminated a moment. “You’re welcome here for some TLC any time, you know that.”

One side of his mouth curled up. “Yeah, maybe tomorrow. Dinner?”

“Your favourite is already on the menu.”

“Great.” It was more sigh than word. “Speak to you then. I’ve got two brothers and a flying brick to get home first.” It was purely tactical.

“Hey!” Virgil took the bait.

The smirk that appeared on her face was worth his brother’s mock ire.

“See you then.” Her eyes flicked between the two brothers. “And thank you both.” Another moment. “Make sure Thunderfish speaks with Sam. He’s at the raving stage and Liam is running out of ideas to keep him here. Raoul out.”

The hologram disappeared, leaving the cockpit suddenly dark.

Virgil leant back in his seat with a sigh. “Any indications of cause yet?”

“John’s working on it with the local authorities.” He looked down at Virgil and discovered what was in his hands. “You’re knitting?”

“Well, you wouldn’t let me do anything else, would you?! Do you have any idea what it was like to sit here unable to do anything?” He held up the mass of yellow yarn. “This is mental health.”

Scott stared at him. “You were on overwatch.”

“I have no idea how John is still sane.”

Okay, noted for future reference should he need to deploy Virgil into orbit. The sudden image of Five full of knotted yarn, her gravity ring swamped with the stuff, came to mind.

His eyes tracked Virgil’s fingers as they click-clacked knitting needles in rhythm.

The yellow yarn was very bright.

“Merry Christmas to Gordon, I guess. You better put that away before he gets back.”

Virgil shrugged. “He’s under control.”

Scott eyed his brother. Virgil and Gordon’s relationship was…interesting at times.

“Whatever.” He waved his brother towards the passenger seat. “Out.”

That worked. His glare was positively on fire.

Virgil shuffled around, grabbing his knitting bag, and struggled to push himself to his feet. Scott leant him a hand, but was pushed away irritably. “I’m okay.”

Scott rolled his eyes and stepped back. But he stood ready anyway. His brother was on the mend, but he still had stitches in his thigh and a busted rib.

The stubborn idiot wobbled to the back seat folding into it with a grunt. He stuffed the knitting into the bag just in time as Gordon bounced into the cockpit. “Virg, Janine and Alex send their love and best wishes for getting better. I checked in on Ruby, but she wasn’t in today, thank god.”

There was something entirely wrong about Gordon in a fire suit. The silver should make him look more fish than ever, but it also just swallowed him whole.

The Fish should be free.

Okay, that was proof he was too tired for any of this.

“Launching in five, Four.”

Gordon frowned at Scott, but the commander ignored him and started pre-flight.

“Thanks, Gords. You both did great today. Sorry I couldn’t help.”

“Watch what you say, Virg. John is going to start feeling useless.”

“Thunderbird Four, I’m not that insecure.” Their orbiting brother’s voice cut through the chatter like a knife.

“Thunderbird Five, do you have a cause yet.” Scott was out of patience.

“Affirmative, Thunderbird One. The fire was deliberately lit.”

Oh, hell.

-o-o-o-

[dduane]

Hey! Just wanted to drop in and let you know that my Star Trek Book Club is reading our way though Spock’s World right now! I love the Horta crewmember so much. Would be cool to hear any thoughts you have on the book, as its writer!

Sure!

Work on the book started while @petermorwood and I were still roaming around the UK, trying to figure out where we wanted to live.

It was around then that Pocket Books decided that the success of their first Star Trek novels as paperbacks suggested they might want to try a hardcover and see how it went. Up until that point I'd written three Trek novels for them—The Wounded Sky and My Enemy, My Ally, and with Peter, The Romulan Way—and as far as I can tell, a combination of strong sales figures and very positive reviews led the editors at Pocket to choose me to do the first hardcover.

(Adding a cut here, because this runs longish. Caution: contains severe weather, peripatetic writers, [offstage] Highland cattle, and [because hindsight is always 20/20...] author idiocy.)

If I remember correctly, the go-to-hardcover decision was made in 1987. The book's outlining would have happened in the winter of that year, while we were staying in Scotland: the post over here talks about that a littie.

Not very long after that we made our where-to-live decision, headed to Ireland, and moved into a little rented terrace house in north county Wicklow, not far from Annie McCaffrey's place. Once we were installed there, I started work on the first draft of Spock's World.

This, though, is where a tragedy almost occurred.

Electric-power infrastructure can sometimes be an issue in rural areas of Ireland. And one night, in the middle of a thunderstorm, the post-top transformer nearest us in our little housing estate was struck by lightning. The ensuing power surge (or just possibly an EMP associated with it: jury's still out...) fried my computer.

Fortunately, most of my working disks were okay. But the last 40K+ words of the novel survived only in fragmentary form... and when I tried to reassemble those chapters from the backups, I discovered that the backups were corrupt. And the book was due at the publisher—by which I mean printed and FedExed to NY: no one was equipped back then to deal with emailed manuscript files—in two weeks.

Needless to say, things around the house then got a bit frantic. I wound up having to completely rewrite nearly the entire back half of the book from memory, as I did not have a printout. (So you'll understand that for the last few decades, hard copy [or PDFs] and backups, and backups of backups, have become something of an obsession for me. These days I use Backblaze, with which I'm extremely pleased: it runs constantly in the background, updating things in realtime as you do, and has numerous smart ways to recover your material if you need it.)

At any rate, my memory's fortunately fairly good for material I've just recently written. And I have to say that in retrospect this whole escapade may have been a blessing in disguise... as I strongly believe that the rewritten material was significantly better than in the draft that would originally have gone to the publisher. The printout went to the publisher just in time to hit that particular production deadline. The only thing really messed up in the aftermath was my back, which gave me grief for months afterward. My advice on this count: never write 40K+ words in two weeks in a straight-backed chair. :/

Anyway, there was a happy ending when the book came out: it spent eight weeks on the Times list, which was nice. (In pretty good company, too...) :)

And shortly Pocket asked me to do another hardcover. So that was nice too.

Anyway, that's the tale.

Hope this has helped! And give the book club my best. :)

[azzypzazzy]

hear me out… schlatt helping you relax after finals (its finals for summer semester i am dying rn)

ok so i misread this and didn’t see the after finals but i refuse to go rewrite everything because i am sleepy. hope finals went well and you enjoy regardless <3

smut warning btw!! it’s not too explicit, but it’s under the cut. dont wanna read it? don’t. it’s also my first one, so it might be bad

𝜗𝜚

Droopy eyes stared at your laptop, blue light reflecting onto your face. All you had to do was finish the chapter, you just had to finish it and hope to retain enough to lazily reread the rest later. That’s all you had to do. 

You grabbed your water bottle, sipping down the reminds of a cheap energy drink you got this morning, when you were a far more ambitious woman. Maybe if you drank enough of these you could have a heart attack and sue. Drop out and live your limited years on some beach making stupid decisions, instead of this. 

That’s it. You can’t do this anymore. You would just have to continue tomorrow, because if you spent another second trying to read the mess in front of you you’d explode. 

Was there anything else vaguely productive you could do? You weren’t gonna sit and do any more work, but you still had to do something. You switched over to your email, leaving your study tabs open “for later”. You seriously have to check this thing more often, 223 unread? You skimmed through them, deleting as you went. Fortunately, most were only from Google Classroom or websites you landed on the spam list for, meaning you didn’t miss anything. Anything except an email from some guy in your Spanish II? Spanish II. You never should’ve taken that awful class. It wasn’t even required, but you took it regardless, and you were too deep in to drop. You opened it, confused on what it could even be. 

Eric Thompson <eric.thompson@cix.cuny.edu>  to: me Found a great quizlet for the exam https://quizlet.com/940117849/spanish-2-flash-cards/. Please let me know if anyone's having a study session (I’m desperate.) 

This just felt cruel. Like a cruel sign reminding you you were gonna fail, and probably him too. And for some odd reason, this email seemed to be the thing which made you realize that. 

You shut your laptop, grabbing your phone. Before you could even think, you went to Schlatt. 

to: Schlutt busy?

You set your phone down, leaning back in your chair. You just needed to relax a bit, that’s all. One night off and you’d be back. 

You grabbed your phone, realizing Schlatt already responded. Maybe you weren’t the only one having a rough night. 

from: Schlutt  Nope. You

to: Schlutt just exhausted

from: Schlutt  Want me to come over?

to: Schlutt please

from: Schlutt Be there in five

- 

You opened the door, immediately going in for a tight hug, “Hi!” 

“Hey, missed you,” Schlatt said, resting his head on the crook of your neck.

“Yeah, me too,” you whispered, taking a deep breath. God, he smelled good. Did he usually smell like this? Must be a new cologne. 

After a moment you pulled away, letting him in your cramped dorm. You turned around, realizing how much of a mess your room actually was. “Sorry for the mess, I’ve just been so busy with finals and completely forgot to clean.” 

Schlatt shook his head, taking a seat on your bed, “No worries, not like I gave you much time. This is nothin’, you should see mine.”

“Oh god, I don’t think I want to,” You grinned, sitting next to him. “Finals beating your ass too?” 

“Yeah,” He sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Trying not to think about it for a bit.” 

Now that you’re looking, his head was pretty messy today. Most of him was, and it definitely fit. “Well, we’ve got time. Chloe’s not here,” you whispered, leaning a head on his shoulder. 

He smiled, his arm wrapping around your shoulder, “Then maybe we could watch a movie or somethin’?” 

“Sounds good to me,” you stood up, moving to your desk. You paused, looking at the mess of papers and trash which piled up in the past few days. You unplugged your laptop, opening it to close out your previous window, “Netflix?” 

“Sure,” he replied, eyes fixated on you as you sat back down next to him. He shifted over, allowing the two of you to lay down on the small space. 

You grabbed one of your pillows, using it as a table on your lap for the laptop. “Anything you wanted to watch?” You asked, entering the search bar. 

“Up to you, toots.” Toots. You felt your stomach flip, face looking straight forward to avoid the embarrassment of Schlatt seeing how flustered you were over a simple nickname. 

You nodded, scrolling until you landed on some old detective show, hoping it would be plain enough to bore him, “How’s this?” You clicked on it, “Says it’s a crime drama series following two detectives who have to solve a case 21 years after it was closed.” 

His eyes never went to the screen, still watching you as you chose, “Perfect.” 

- 

You weren’t sure how long you two had been watching this crap, but it had been long enough. There was no way you could even try to focus on the show, but you were far too nervous to make a move. 

Luckily, a warm hand reached your thigh under the covers, circling slowly. 

It didn’t take long for you to realize what Schlatt was doing. Leaned on him, glancing up at him from the corner of your eye to see him staring back. 

Within seconds you found your arms around his shoulders, ass on his lap, tongue in his mouth. 

Schlatt moaned into you, the kiss becoming sloppy and desperate. You pulled away, heart beating out of your chest, a rushed confession escaping your mouth, “I really like you, Schlatt.” 

“Fuck,” he groaned, throbbing under you, “Love you too.” He planted a hand on your ass, his breath hot on your face, “So fuckin’ much.” 

You bit the bottom of your cheek to stifle a moan, before wrapping him into another frantic kiss. Schlatt fingers gripped your hair, pulling you in closer. He was seriously gonna be the death of you. 

You slid a hand under his shirt, able to feel his heart erratically beating under your touch. His lips left yours, panting. You rested your forehead on his temple, admiring his eyes. Fuck. Without thinking, your free hand slipped to his shorts, toying with the waistband. 

Schlatt tilted his head back, mumbling a plea. You stopped, looking up at him with a cocky grin, “You’re gonna need to speak up.” 

“Please,” he looked back down at you. 

Now this was a sight. The way his chest rose and fell, the way his eyes shined in the low light, it all was perfect, and you could feel it. Days of pent up tension and stress weighing on the both of you, begging to be released. 

𝜗𝜚

okay i got tired and gave up. hope it was okay though!! maybe ill continue it eventually not sure be nice please

[aristarr]

The three of them now stood in front of the bathroom door, patiently waiting for Scott to open it. Mccall hesitated, as if something inside of it was so terrible he didn't want them to see it. However he was the one to call. And that meant he needed their help. But how can they do it without knowing the problem?

"Will you open it?" Theo suggested, his hand slightly squeezing Scott's shoulder as if to reassure him that it's okay. Whatever was there, they can deal with it.

Scott nodded, giving both of them a tired look before finally opening the door. Theo was the second after Stiles to shove his head inside to look at that "something" Scott was so anxious about. But when Scott entered the room to open the curtain the other two suddenly lost all the possible words. There was a boy in his friend's bathtub. A boy, who's hands and mouth were tied with a fucking duct tape as a some sort of a criminal who tried to rob the house.

"Scott?" Theo asked patiently, trying to focus his friend’s attention on what he was about to say.

"Yes?" Scott replied, his gaze still stuck on the scared kid, who was looking at all them in turns.

"Have I told you today what an idiot you are?" Theo asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Er, no?"

"Good. You're an idiot, Scott. A big ass idiot"

"Hate to say it, but I agree with Theo. Why the hell did you bring him here, Scott!!?" Stiles cried, and Theo found himself nodding in agreement. Being disappointed with Scott’s life choices was one of the few things they both shared and now it was totally two on one.

"Hey! I panicked??!" Scott’s defense didn’t work, as Stiles was already up for a big ass conversation on “how to not take rash decisions without Stiles’ approval” leaving Theo the one to actually care about the poor child, now absolutely terrified.

"You panicked?! And what are we supposed to do now with your "panic"?

"I guess we are the ones to deal with it, Stiles" Theo sighed, stepping closer to the scared boy. The later looked at him cautiously, but Theo stopped, squatting in front of him.

"Don't worry little one, I won't harm you. I’m actually here to help"

Day 1 of @theoraekenapperciation week!

The prompt: First Meet

Aaand it's my first entry for this year's Theo Raeken Week!! Actually, at first I wanted to go with visual prompts only, but then my mind gave me this and I took that idea and actually made it!

I saw a lot of different posts with hcs and takes on "what if Theo never left and stayed with Scott and Stiles and they all remained friends?" And I love those so much so I decided to stick to that idea and with that rewrite a bit Theo's first meeting with Liam, as I'm sure it would have happened that moment. I had a lot of fun drawing and writing this so I hope you like it!! (And now I think that this idea is more for the "canon divergence" prompt, but anyway)

And I'm extremely sorry for the quality of the drawing🙏🏻 I've tried to fix it but failed

[writer-freak]

Relaxation | Vil Schoenheit x gn reader

Summary: Vil Schönheit, the houswarden of Pomefiore, had insisted on a spa day in his room.

Warnings: gender neutral, english isn't my first language, wrote this a few years ago

Wordcount: 700

A/n: So I originally wrote this when chapter 5 first came out in Japan, I tried to rewrite it a little but it's still very messy. I just couldn't make this completely fitting to my skill now without rewriting everything, so yeah. Hope it is still enjoyable even if you can tell the difference.

Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated and really motivate me to write more

"A spa day in Vil's room... this is definitely a first." Your mind buzzed with curiosity as you followed him through the extravagant space. You obviously had agreed because when Vil insists on something you go with it and you like spending time with him.

When he opened the door the scent of vanilla surrounded you, it eased the bit of nervousness you were feeling the scent made the room more inviting. You couldn't help but let your eyes wander around, taking everything in. Vil's room was ridiculous, in the best way possible. It showed his personality perfectly, a symphony of opulence and style. 

Vil led you further into the room and opened the door to an on-suite bath. Soft music played in the background of the dimly lit room, and the air was thick with tranquility. He insisted that you should use the hot tub to relax and soften up your skin, so you did just as he told you. He left you alone, telling you not to stress yourself and take as much time as you need.

As you sank into the hot tub, surrounded by the scent of lavender and the soft echo of bubbling water, your mind drifted. "Why did he suddenly invite me for a spa day, and why in his room?" you pondered, letting the warmth seep into your bones. You couldn't really figure Vil out, at the start it didn't seem like he enjoyed your presence. But suddenly a few weeks ago he started reaching out to you and talking to you. You didn't dwell on these thoughts for long though and relaxed into the water. The 'why' wasn't really important you were just happy to be closer to him.

After you got out and put on a bathrobe, you opened the door for Vil to come back in. The smile he had on his face when seeing you made your face feel hot. While he looked at you, you finally found your voice to ask the question that you had on your mind.

"So, why did you decide we needed a spa day?" you finally asked, breaking the tranquility.

Vil tilted his head, giving you a look that said, 'Isn't it obvious?' "Darling, relaxation is essential for maintaining one's beauty. Besides, it's an excellent opportunity for us to spend some quality time together."

You chuckled inwardly, wondering what else he had planned for you two on this day.

"Can't argue with that logic" you replied, masking the intrigue in your voice.

Vil smirked, a rare expression of contentment gracing his features. "Indeed. Now, let me pamper you."

Vil took out a tray with a variety of beauty products, looking them over. The crisp scent of eucalyptus filled the air as he carefully selected each item. You couldn't help but giggle airily, you could never get completely used to how serious he looked while deciding what products would be best for you. Vil, however, glanced over at you when you giggled before going back to deciding on what to use. Though you did notice that a slight smirk was crazing his lips. 

When he finally made his decision, he told you to go and sit down.

You relaxed into one of Vil's very soft chairs and closed your eyes while Vil applied products to your skin. "This feels surprisingly nice"  you thought, enjoying the cool touch of the creams and the gentle massage of his skilled hands. You noticed the care he used while taking care of you, how gentle his hands felt on your face.

Some people believe Vil is just vain and that nothing besides beauty really matters. He might really be a bit vain, but at the end of the day, you always notice how much he cares for you, even if that care is sometimes hidden behind harsh words. You kept your growing feelings to yourself, at least for now not wanting to possibly ruin the start of this friendship. Not realizing that Vil was thinking exactly the same way as you, but this revelation could wait for another day. For now, you two took care of each other having a little spa day.

Divider by: saradika

[honeybeeinary]

Heya! So I’ve been lurking around the Wish fandom for a little bit and I’ve been enjoying ya’lls rewrites, so I decided to make my own!

I haven’t seen any Stargirls around, and Asha needs a girlfriend in at least one universe, so this is that! Introducing Cassiopeia, aka Casey, aka Stargirl!

So in this AU, stars don’t grant wishes any more because humans have been sort of greedy so the stars were like “peace” and left, and now the humans resent them. The one who made this decision was King Sabino of the North Star (the star kingdom) after his son and daughter-in-law were trying to grant too many wishes and… poof. Bye bye

It happened when Casey was young, so she doesn’t really remember it. All she knows is that the human world is super frikin cool, and she wants to go there! Too bad her saba won’t let her

Casey is a bit of a rebel, an explorer, a tinkerer, fascinated with the human world sort of like Ariel and Tinkerbell

Anyways, down in the human realm, there’s Rosas. Magnifico decided that since stars wouldn’t grant wishes anymore, he’d do it himself (enter that Thanos meme lol) and founded Rosas with his wife, Amaya. Everyone in Rosas therefore loves the couple!

All except for Asha.

She suspects that Magnifico has ulterior motives for taking people’s wishes. Why can’t they tell anyone their wish? Why do they forget it? Why is no one allowed magic in the kingdom except for Magnifico and Amaya?

She’s 17 and an investigator (she actually has a personally unlike SOMEONE I KNOW) and is sure that Magnifico is altering the wishes in some way or using them for his own gain. Her best friends don’t exactly think their king and queen are evil, but they support Asha’s passion.

I’m only keeping a few friends, btw. Seven is way too much. Dahlia represents Mickey, Hal represents Goofy, and Gabo represents Donald. There, Disney! Reference!

I am no writer (much like Asha myself) so I’ll just be posting little blurbs of my story.

I’ll maybe post color references for them and a redesign (maybe) of the royal couple if you guys seem to like this! Please be nice, I’ve never posted my art online before ashakdhakgaja

@annymation @signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @rascalentertainments @uva124 @tumblingdownthefoxden Hi! I hope you enjoy the beginnings of my rewrite!

[annymation]

Deleted Ideas For The Kingdom Of Wishes

That’s right fellas, the Wish rewrite that was based on the scrapped ideas of Wish, ironically, had a lot of scrapped ideas, as one would expect from any story since the creative process changes over time.

If you’re new here, hi! Here’s my rewrite if you’d like to check it out, this post will contain spoilers of it.

So I’ll list these deleted ideas from the ones that got scrapped later on in the process of writing to the ones that got scrapped early on, okay? Okay! Let’s go! starting with the one y’all will most likely be mad at me for deleting or agree it was a bit too much:

Magnifico and Amaya turning into giants made of thorny vines in the climax

- We’re all familiar with these kinds of final battles in Disney movies, Jafar turning into a giant snake, Ursula turns into a giant, Maleficent turns into a dragon the list goes on

- My idea for the longest time was that after Asha and the kingdom sang “This Wish (Reprise)” the song would serve only for the people to wake up so they could run away, and Asha would have to fight the royals after they make huge rose vines grow to protect themselves and the staff from her, now that she showed she had powers of her own

- I realized while I was in the process of writing chapter 14 (the build up to the climax) that… The only reason I was doing that was for the sake of a reference, and that’s not smart, the references should be a bonus, not the point of the scene.

- Initially I was gonna have Asha defeat their giant forms by drawing herself with her magic pencil, thus making a clone of herself to distract them while she grabbed the staff that they were holding, and broke it. This would be a pay off to the buildup I made since the beginning, about Asha not knowing how to draw herself

- I wanted to remove the two giant royals but wanted to keep this detail of Asha drawing herself perfectly to signify how she grew and understands herself more… So I just changed when that happens.

- I had Asha draw herself to distract Magnifico in his “Fake out death scene”, though I was conflicted at first to have such an important moment for Asha actually turn out to not accomplish anything to defeat Magnifico… But then I realized that it doesn’t matter if he didn’t die in that scene, it was still a personal win for Asha.

- Finally, I decided to have Magnifico and Amaya have a villain reprise of “This Wish”, before it was just narration of me saying “And then they absorbed Aster’s power” and that’s lame, we needed a song.

- So we got the climax we got, that went through a lot of last minute changes, but hey, it worked out in the end didn’t it?

Aster Having A Panic Attack In The Cave

- … Let me explain.

- When Aster revealed that he knew Asha all his life, I initially thought about making the scene very intense, as in Aster completely loses it knowing that no matter how hard he tries he can never make her happy.

- I still have the dialogue I began to write for the scene saved, consider it a deleted scene:

- As you can see, Aster is revealing he knew her all her life not by talking to HER and complimenting how much he admires her, but rather he’s talking to himself and bringing himself down about how he’s a failure…

- That made Aster feel immature but not in a cute way, more in a “Im making this about me now” way, and as soon as I realized that I went “okay I don’t care if it makes the scene longer, Aster won’t be making this revelation through an anger episode” and it was the best decision I’ve ever made because the way the scene plays out in chapter 12 is way sweeter.

Magnifico getting partially blinded by Aster’s light for a few minutes

- This is just a comedic scene I deleted for time’s sake, but basically I initially wanted the scene of Magnifico seeing Aster coming down from the sky with his light shining upon all of Rosas to play out like this

- Magnifico Goes to open the window

- Because I liked the idea that the first thing Aster does before he even lands on earth is hurt Magnifico, it pains me that I had to delete this but it just didn’t fit the tone to make a comedic scene in that moment.

Aster Turns Human By THROWING His Magic To The Sky

- Listen I thought of this one WAAAAAAYYY back, early on in the process, before I had Asha and Aster’s whole relationship figured out in my head, so the idea of him kissing her to become human wasn’t as obvious.

- But there was one point that I thought about Aster just grabbing the glowing round rock he has on his neck, and throwing it away at the end of the story, and that would magically create the North Star… It’s a fairytale folks, doesn’t have to make sense

- But then it didn’t take long for me to realize “……… Wtf am I doing? I should just make them kiss.” And that promptly got scrapped

- It may not fit my idea, but hey, if you’re writing a Wish Rewrite where they’re just friends not lovers then that might work for you as a way to turn Aster human and create the Wishing Star.

Magnifico and Amaya Were Going To Have A Duet That Presented Their Backstories

- Yeah yeah I scrapped a villain duet, burn me at the stake lol

- But yeah that’s not their story, so their backstories hardly matter for the plot, I just had this cool idea about a song called “Careful What You Wish For” where they’d sing about how the world wronged them (in their eyes) and Mag would see the ghosts of his ancestors and yada yada yada it was a cool thought but I realized pretty quick it wouldn’t fit the narrative, so we got “Wish Away” instead, which is way better for the plot.

- Also as it is they got… Two songs, that’s more than your average Disney villain, I only remember from the top of my head Gaston having two songs, and I guess maybe Ratigan.

Asha trying to reveal to the people the king killed his brother

- Technically she did try that in chapter 10, but the king stopped her, thank god for that honestly because Asha had NO PROOF that he killed Florian so really she’d shot herself in the foot if she tried to reveal that to the public.

- Initially I was gonna have her try to prove that by arguing that Amaya was in the kingdom when Florian died, to which the queen would be like “Nuh-uh I wasn’t, I was with my husband traveling, far away from Rosas” and that would be the end of that cause how can Asha prove she’s lying?

- But I realized that’d go nowhere, and Florian ain’t relevant, he’s just a nice Mufasa/Snow White reference I made up, so bringing any attention to him would be a waste of time.

Asha Was Going To Be The King’s Apprentice

- Now that would be awkward wouldn’t it? Lmao

- So yeah, back when I began writing I was going in with the idea of making a story similar to Wish but just changing a few details, til I went full on “Screw it, I’m changing everything”

- Asha was going to be Magnifico’s apprentice because she wanted to learn magic, and because she wanted to learn the truth of why her grandfather seemed like he never got his Wish granted, to which the king just said the same lie he said in the rewrite “He wished for you to be in his life”, and although Asha thought that answer didn’t make much sense, she believed it.

- So Magnifico in this version would yearly train a new apprentice, these apprentices after mastering their magic abilities enough would be sent off to study magic in sorcery schools or to be assistants for other wizards… At least that’s what Magnifico told to his apprentice’s families.

- What would actually be going on is that Magnifico takes these young and passionate teens that dreamed of becoming sorcerers like him, mentors them, as in actually teach them magic for real, and not even dark magic just any kind of magic they wanted, so when they became powerful enough he’d steal their magic essence, to make himself more powerful.

- And then he’d just break their wish as a bonus and lock the catatonic teen in the dungeon.

- Asha would be his next victim, buuuuut she found out the truth of what was going on with him cursing the wishes and all that.

- Honestly I’m pretty sure that idea of the apprentices getting their wishes crushed was gonna happen originally in Wish, considering this deleted scene with this Flazino character, that got his wish crushed, and he was the Kings apprentice.

- It’s honestly a cool concept, but I preferred to have Asha be more against the system, and have no previous relationship with Magnifico at all.

- Also the idea that Magnifico has a collection of dead teenagers in his basement is like… Eeeeehh kinda too dark even for me yall.

Anyway! These were some of my deleted ideas! Hope you enjoyed and don’t feel like you were robbed of anything 😅

See y’all next time!

Thank You For Reading!

[hottakehoulihan]

This is a rant/musing/meandering about Worm fans WRT Wildbow. I think it's time I at least once made myself an unsubtly dissenting voice, since silence indicates agreement to so many. Move on if you like. This is probably mostly for me.

I'm white, from the USA, grew up with thrift store clothes and scavenged pencils but got to visit the dentist when needed, and was raised in the same ethnocentric, homophobic, fatphobic, ableist, Puritan-influenced culture that most of us were. I try to routinely examine and correct my biases and blind spots. I am trying to see what I might be missing, with as open a mind as I can manage.

I reread Worm (fourth readthrough, but my retention is meh) these last few months actually looking for any evidence at all I could find of the various phobias (all of them, it seems, and also the vaunted hates-drug-users) that some folk like to assert Wildbow has. I didn't find much that didn't--IMHO--more closely fit an accurate description of how the characters (including Taylor, who is literally a child that grew up in an even less-enlightened environment than most of us) are biased. This, coupled with an unfortunate shortsightedness of methodology (do NOT use dice when you write your story. It seems like a good idea to naive youth, but We Do Not Live in a world where you can just let RNG dictate that your [insert bad thing] is committed by [insert group that is already stereotyped as doing that bad thing]. (Though sometimes that's gonna happen in real life too, and art depicting things that happen in real life is Not Always Bad you just have to be careful about context and tone.) Also, try not to accidentally/subconsciously follow Hayes code-influenced patterns. ...though that's hard to do when you're making almost EVERY character a morally grey one) is all the support I see.

Whew, that was a weird parenthetical juxtaposition. Should I rewrite? Nah; it's already taking too much time.

Seriously, how many actually 100% goodguy fleshed characters does Worm have? Arguably zero. Even Yamada and Legend, by dint of having to work within the confines of their structures, made concessions to evils. Dinah made her ruthless calculus decisions just as Cauldron did. Taylor's famously grey self-justifications were agonized over no more or less than Parian's. A perfect character would be a blemish, arguably. (I'll just take Amy as my woobie; after more than a dozen years of emotional abuse and neglect by her kidnappers, she deserves a bit of consideration and rehabilitation.)

And just like I'm willing to assume that Gregor's somehow flawed, like he offscreen asserted that there are acceptable civilian losses when you're doing crimes or assaulting Cauldrons, and that's clearly bullshit because there's no actual evidence Gregor is anything less than perfect but it's easier to assume evils (and more fun to talk shit) than not, I figure a bunch of folk are trying to fit in by agreeing and priming their confirmation biases accordingly.

And this is without, even, considering the millions of other words in non-Worm stuff. You're gonna read Pale and tell me this same junk?

...though, well, perhaps my cutie Biscuit, and a thing Louise said about addicts essentially vanishing from the lives of their loved ones, might count as being against habitual recreational narcotic use. I'll think about that over my next bottle of wine.

I like reading light novels, and fluffy fanfics, and similar, even though usually the characters involved seldom have what you might call facets. When the retired orc warrior who started a gnomish coffeeshop moves on to her next volume, I'm there, and I don't care if I never find out that she once had to choose between leaving baby goblins to die in a fire or saving a teammate from a spike trap.

I've read so many stories where there's no such thing as an 'ism', or rather there's just no example of representation, because every character is two steps away from being an AFGNCAAP (Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person)

I think Wildbow is serious about trying to always be a better writer in the approaching-MFA sense. I see efforts to portray believable behavior of real "human" (whether human or not) characters from multiple backgrounds, in a world that scans as plausibly diverged from the same sort of ugly we live in today.

I do not see any more latent phobias of any sort than I see in pretty much anything else available to read, from fanfic to bestseller lists to "new favorites" lists at the local library. In fact, I see markedly less, to include some (fuck 'em) commenters complaining about shoehorned-in wokeness.

It's weird to me that, given the body of work and the literal black-and-white facts about who and what exist within, and the extra time and effort the author made and makes (too much, IMO) generously engaging with the fans, the default is to diss the author for not doing even more. In their first work. Of which half the concept and much of the worldbuilding dated from grade-school practice. And it's still great.

And I'm saying this about a story where a significant number of the villains are literally white male nazis, torturemurderers, and literally inhuman terrorists. You wouldn't expect people to be demanding a lot of nuance if you were an outsider to this story. But Worm delivers, IMO.

This is not in response to anything recent; I've been chewing on this for years prior to even joining tumblr or creating this username.

tl;dr: Are you sure you're not talking shit about Wildbow just to fit in with the other cool snarksters and feel cool and cynical and superior? Instead of sincere? Because I went looking, and, respectfully, I think you're wrong. And it's a bit ugly and sad.

[emikotatsuya]

Sensation's Rewrite Prologue

I decided to post the finished rewrite for the prologue here on Tumblr just so people can get a feel for some of the additions and for some new readers to hopefully look forward to when I'm done rewriting Sensation. Anyway, I hope you lovely readers enjoy it!

Regarding human nature, morality is questioned in almost every decision they make. To survive in this world, they make so many drastically different choices that humans like to put into the vague terms of Good and Evil. Humans are also hypocritical creatures, acting on their selfish desires and beliefs. One person will choose and be seen as a good person, while someone else will make the same decision and somehow be seen as the bad guy. The lines are blurred so often that there never seems to be an actual line between those opposing sides. It's easier to call it a gray area, but only some people are satisfied with just that. Humans need constant reassurance that they are making the right choices. That they're the protagonists of their own story, and any minor inconvenience is the antagonist.

In the depths of a hidden world, behind the general public, those lines are more thought out and clearly stated. Forces beyond normal human comprehension exist and sometimes threaten their lives without them ever knowing. All because they don't harbor the necessary eyes to see it. Behind the scenes, the more or less good guys are Jujutsu Sorcerers. Those men and women have been born with the ability to see cursed spirits and can harness the cursed energy those spirits are made of to defend humanity from them. 

As for the bad guys, it is easy to say that cursed spirits are the set-in-stone villains. They are primarily mindless beings that move on instinct. However, some have become more powerful and evolved to be able to think and even talk in some cases. They may even gain a humanoid form if lucky, usually only present in powerful cursed spirits. That said, it goes without saying that Jujutsu Sorcerers are not all harbingers of goodwill. Having powers no average human has can quickly go to the head. Even though this happens, you never see a cursed spirit trying to be a good Samaritan. Right?

I thought about what it would be like if that wasn't the case as I walked down the dirt path deep within the woods outside of town and headed to the tiny log cabin I called my home. Almost two decades ago, I opened my eyes for the first time. Born from nothing but the forest's foreboding, I took my first steps. I had wandered the forest aimlessly for days without knowing why I existed. The first few months after my alleged 'birth', I ran into my first cursed spirit. 

It was small and looked more like a ball of flesh than anything else. When it had noticed me, it had coward away. Sensing something that I could not perceive myself at the time. Something compelled me to believe that somehow, we were the same species, or at least made of the same thing. Though, of course, at the time, I had no idea what a cursed spirit was or how they were made. It didn't take long for my curiosity to turn into panic once the cursed spirit realized I wasn't a threat and somehow bit my hand clean off. I don't remember what happened next, but when I came to, the curse was nowhere to be seen, and my hand was somehow back. After that, I made a conscious effort to stay away from cursed spirits. I was scared I was going to get attacked again.

About a month later, I finally found my way to town outside the forest. That was when I discovered what humans were. I didn't go down immediately, scared they would harm me like the curse did. I watched the humans go about their lives from the cover of the forest's darkness. For a bit, that was enough. 

I was simply content on watching. Humans were so fascinating; they were of different shapes and sizes with similar forms. They were social creatures, I learned soon enough, and eventually, I longed to be down there with them. One day, I noticed a cursed spirit had wandered from the forest and crawled down to the town. That was when I first learned of the basic instinct of cursed spirits to prey on humans. 

I desperately wanted to go down there and help, warn them of the dangers, but my fears had held me back. However, I didn't have to in the end, as a jujutsu sorcerer had been notified of the attack and had come swiftly to deal with the problem. They didn't sense me by some miracle, but I saw firsthand how strong they could be and how they killed cursed spirits without hesitation. I remember being scared to death at the thought of returning to the forest's edge after that, wondering If I would be the next one for the slaughter. Eventually, I gathered some courage and resumed my people-watching.

One day, by mere accident, I somehow changed my form. I barely noticed the change, but my eye level was lower than usual. I was suddenly shorter than I was initially. While wandering around the forest and eventually finding a river near where I live now, I was shocked to see a human face staring back at me. As embarrassing as it was, I thought a human was trapped under the water, unable to fathom that I could ever look like that. 

However, after my initial panic to rescue said human, I realized that it was actually me that I was staring at. I remember a wave of relief washing over me to finally not see the monstrous face I had grown used to seeing in my reflection. Since that day, I never changed back. I traveled down to the town below that day with my new form. I had apparently taken the form of a five-year-old child, so the adults who had first noticed me freaked out when they saw me. I was caked with dirt, my hair was matted, and I was naked. Clothes, sadly, did not come with the transformation, though at the time, I didn't know the importance of clothes.

Before I knew it, one of the townspeople rushed me to their home and threw me into a warm bath. Scrubbing away all the dirt and grime before almost tearing my hair as they brushed the knots out. They had bombarded me with many questions, all worried for my well-being. It was overwhelming. Now that I think back on it, they probably thought I was abused and had been abandoned in the forest to die. After all, no 'child' looks like that if they came from a loving family.

However, at the time, I couldn't answer them even if I had wanted to. I didn't know how to speak or dress myself. I remember the look on an elderly woman's face when she noticed how confused I looked when she had given me a tiny dress that one of the other townsfolk had run out and bought for me. Her look of pure sadness at the realization that I didn't even know how to put clothes on will forever be ingrained in my memory. The townsfolk there at the time had spent a good few hours trying to get clothes onto me. 

I had apparently struggled and squirmed so much that they had to hold me down just to put the dress on. When they were done, I finally looked like an ordinary little girl. After everything slowly settled down, the townsfolk decided what to do with me. Some tried to find my parents, though that was arduous since I didn't have any. They tried to take me in at some point, but I ran back into the forest. After all, that day was the first time I interacted with humans, and it was too much too soon.

The next day, after calming down, I returned to the town. The townsfolk had been worried and kept watch at the forest's edge. Only a few wanted to search for me in the forest because it was considered haunted. I wasn't surprised because of the number of Cursed Spirits born in it. That was when I met my Papa, a young man who had heard of what had happened and was the first person on the scene when I was spotted the next day. 

He had asked me if I wanted to live with him, but the thought of him or anyone finding out about what I was, or another Jujutsu Sorcerer coming by, had ended in me, no matter how tempting the offer had been, outright refusing him. Even if it wasn't a dangerous offer, the forest had become my home, and I couldn't bear to leave it after all this time. After some discussion, they eventually decided I would join Elementary school. Before I could join, however, they had to set up a place for me to stay. So, some builders from the village ended up renovating an old abandoned cabin in the woods. 

For the first year, one of the school teachers would walk up to the cabin and walk me all the way down to the elementary school. I would have dinner with the young man, who would walk me back to the cabin. The other kids in my grade had thought I was weird since I didn't talk, and eventually, a rumor circulated that I was an orphan. I didn't make any friends because of it. Over that first year, my form slowly changed, aging as if I were a human; after that year, I finally learned how to talk and, eventually, how to read and write. However, I had a terrible stutter whenever I did talk, as my vocal cords were not used to it.

About a month after I could talk a sentence, the young man brought something up during dinner one night. "So, what's your name, little one?" I looked up from my food to look up at him curiously. "M-m-my n-name?" I barely managed out. Ms and Ns at the start of words were the hardest to pronounce for me. "Yes, your name. A good little girl like you must have a wonderful name." I lowered my head to look back at the food, my hand tightening around the fork. "I don't have a n-name." Not long after I had said that the young man dropped his glass, causing it to shatter on the floor below; the noise made me flinch with how loud it was. "They didn't even give you a name?" 

I knew he meant to whisper it, but his emotions got the better of him. It confused me; why was he so angry? Had I done something wrong? "I-I'm sorry." His head snapped back at me, and he quickly threw his hands up. "No, no! It isn't your fault. It will never be your fault. It's just.." He trailed off. "I'll tell you when you're older; let me clean this up, okay? You continue eating your food," I nodded softly as I ate. The young man was hunched over on the floor, cleaning up the shards of glass and the water that had spilled everywhere. 

Once our plates had been emptied of food, I sat on one of the stools on the island in the kitchen while he washed the dishes. "So," He started. "Would you like me to give you a name?" My head perked up at that. A name? My own name? I couldn't help but shyly nod, giddy at the idea of receiving a name. He chuckled at my reaction and thoughtfully held his chin in his hands. "Hmm, I think I'll call you (Y/n), and for your last name, why not mine? From now on, you'll be (Y/N) Chibana." He grinned at me, "Awe- now that I think about it, I never told you my name earlier; sorry about that, kiddo, my name is Hisato Chibana. In my family, Chibana means 'A Thousand Blossoms.' You'll grow into that quite nicely. My little Hana."

That was the day my father officially adopted me. And he had wasted no time taking up his new role as my father. He was a patient man and never once got angry at me for my struggles to speak or if I was having trouble with my school work since I was starting school later than the other kids. Father had picked up everything and moved into the cabin in the woods with me not even two weeks after I started school. His neighbors had tried to stop him, warning him of the forest's dangers, but he simply smiled and said. "If I wasn't there for my daughter, then what kind of father would I be?" It was nice knowing he was there for me. It took me forever to properly warm up and see him as my Papa. I remember a day when he gave the principal an earful after he found out how some of the kids were making fun of the fact I was adopted since they couldn't exactly make fun of the fact I was an orphan anymore. 

When we got home that day, he sighed deeply and ruffled my hair as he told me to help him prepare the ingredients for dinner. "Don't listen to them, my little hana. You just have a different circumstance than them, but that doesn't make them better than you. You are an amazing young girl. I couldn't have wished for a better daughter," Is what he had told me, with a warm smile on his face. It had made him look so bright. I had clung to his leg for the rest of the night.

When I turned eleven, my happy life with my father ended. It was the middle of class, and I sat alone at one of the tables. The classroom was situated where there were fewer students than tables, and since the students were allowed to sit wherever they liked, I was the only one at my table. The teacher at the front of the room was teaching us multiplication when the phone rang. She told us to all settle down as he headed to the back of the class to answer the phone. "Yes, hello? Yes. She's here..what?" I saw the teacher go pale as her eyes landed on me, and I immediately knew something was up. "Ok..yes, I'll tell her. Alright, goodbye." 

The teacher hung up the phone."Chibana-San, please come with me." Everyone's eyes were on me as I slowly got out of my chair and followed our teacher out of the classroom. We didn't walk far, just to a different classroom that wasn't used at the moment; she sat me down at one of the tables. "Alright, Chibana-san, I must tell you some important news. It has to do with your father, Mister Chibana." I slowly nodded, my hands slightly shaking under the table as I feared the worst. "You see..while your dad was at work today, a little accident happened." The teacher looked at me with so much pity that I almost couldn't stand to look at her. "Is he ok?" I could barely hear my voice; I had spoken so softly. She shook her head, hanging low as she tried not to cry. After all, it wasn't every day you had to deliver news like this to an eleven-year-old. "Y-Your father got caught up in it, and he- he lost his life." In the end, she couldn't hold back the tears. And just like that, my world came crashing down around me.

Six years ago, my father died due to a workplace accident. They were working on construction, and some beams weren't tied correctly, so when the ropes gave way, my Papa was crushed under its weight when it fell. The information hit me like a ton of bricks at the time. The one person in my life who had helped me through each day, who cared about me, was gone forever. A week after his death, was when his funeral was held. 

Papa was beloved in town. He was an upstanding citizen who loved to help people. Never failed to put a smile on everyone's face, so it wasn't a surprise that so many people had shown up. I can't remember a single person there that day besides my teacher, but I remember the heavy feeling in my gut each time they looked at me in pity. Whispering to one another how dreadful it was for me to lose my father so young, all while I was still in earshot. Others, the more superstitious, whispered how it was my fault, that I must have been a bad omen. My teacher led me away shortly after the comments started getting out of hand. Only when I got home did I finally cry, finally began to fully grieve his death. For the first time in years, I was alone again. I didn't leave his room for a good few days. Soaking his pillows with my tears, I eventually believed those comments were accurate. Everyone at school believed it, after all, which only worsened the bullying.

Back to the present, and out of my depressing thoughts, I set down the groceries I had bought in town by the door. A sigh escaped my lips as I dug around in my pockets for my house key before opening the door. I crouched down to pick up the groceries before entering the cabin. "Papa...I'm home," I called out into the empty house as I closed the door behind me and locked it. Moving into the kitchen, I set the groceries down on the counter. I heard tiny footsteps and smiled softly as I turned around."Yes, yes, I'm home, Rose."

A few feet away was a pure white angora cat with heterochromatic eyes. The cat's eyes were blue and yellow, which reminded me of jewels. As I often shortened it, Primrose, or Rose, appeared shortly after Papa died. It was about a month after the funeral, if I remember correctly. But I could remember the night Rose came into my life so clearly.

After another long day at school, I only wanted to cry in Papa's room. Middle School was already hard to get through with all the bullying; now that Papa was gone, it felt more like I was trapped in hell. I set my backpack by the sofa before returning to Papa's room. I collapsed onto the bed and let out a shaky breath. It wasn't long before the tears began to fall from my face.

Every time I cried over Papa, it felt like another part of me was dying. How could humans even handle emotions like this? Doesn't it just eat them from the inside out? My arms wrapped around his pillow in a vice. Holding it tighter and tighter with every wail that left my mouth. The pain in my heart was unbearable. The moon shone through the window onto my form, and at that moment, it felt like I was being set on fire. I didn't want the light on me. I didn't deserve it. Not after everything I've cau-

A drawn-out mewl from the window snapped me out of my thoughts. The sudden sound caught me off guard, and I sat up, forgetting my grief only for a moment. A pure white cat with a slightly fluffy mane was on the window sill. The cat's eyes shun like jewels against the moonlight, and my eyes widened at seeing its eyes being two different colors. Its left eye was a beautiful honey color, and its right eye was a light blue. All things considered, it was a beautiful cat.

Before I could speak, the cat jumped onto the bed, startling me further. It walked over, unafraid, and laid down in my lap. It looked up at me and stared. Despite my initial shock, a soft, somber smile graces my lips. "Are you all alone too?" I wiped my tears and gently petted the cat on the head; in response, the cat meowed back as if in reply. "what's your name?" I looked the cat over. "It looks like you don't have an owner..you must really be all alone.." I looked that cat over, "I think..I'll call you Primrose."

Primrose tilted her head slightly, looking at me with curiosity. I shook my head, 'I've done enough reminiscing for one day.' I crouched down and petted her. "Yes, I know, you're hungry. Don't worry; I got you your fancy tuna." A soft laugh left my lips as I rummaged through the plastic bags and got out a can of tuna. The only brand that Rose will eat is an expensive one, but I can't bring myself to not buy it for her. Rose helped me through a lot of the heartbreak of losing my Papa. Now, as a Fourth-year in high school, Primrose remains my one and only friend.

I opened a drawer and got out the can opener. I opened the can and set it on the counter for Primrose to enjoy. After feeding my feline companion, I got to work on putting away the groceries. "Did you behave while I was away at school today?" I said as I looked over my shoulder and put some food in the fridge. Primrose, in response, looked away from me. Being an expressive cat, I could tell she was offended. "Oh, come on, you know I'm only kidding."

I threw away the plastic bags along with the now-empty tuna can. "Come on, Rose..let's say hello to Papa." We walked down the hall to a room adjacent to mine, and I opened the door. Across the room was a small shrine. I sat on the pillow in front of it and looked at the picture of my Papa. He was just getting into his thirties when he died, which came with the light facial hair he had started to grow. He had shaggy hair and eyes that always reminded me of honey. The highlight of the old picture was his bright, warm smile. One that barely ever left his face. One that I was so used to seeing.

I lit the incense on the shrine and clasped my hands together. "Hey Papa, school was okay today. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either." My eyes closed as I thought about my Papa. "My grades are doing good. I've been studying really hard as of late." My eyelids fluttered open as my eyes made contact with the eyes in the picture. I missed hearing his voice, feeling his warmth whenever he hugged me, and laughing at his cheesy jokes.

"I...I've been thinking about the past a lot today.." I couldn't look at his face anymore, and I looked down. "I'm...so sorry that I never told you...I hope you can forgive me from where you are in heaven..or wherever you are." I couldn't stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks as my hands fell to my sides, forming into fists as I dug my nails into my palms. "Would you still consider me your daughter if you knew what I am? Would you still call me your little Hana, knowing what my kind does to humans?" 

I felt like I couldn't breathe as I fell to my hands and knees and watched the tears fell onto the hardwood floor. "No matter how much I think about it, the guilt keeps eating away at my soul. Was I really the cause of your death? Did I doom you?" I jolted upward with a slight yelp as Primrose sunk her teeth into my arms."Ow! Rose, why did you-" I stopped as I noticed the distress in Primrose's eyes. I took deep breaths before letting out a long sigh as a half-hearted smile graced my lips."Thank you, Rose. I had another episode, didn't I?"

Primrose nuzzled her head against my arm and walked toward the door. My smile faded into something softer as I got up, glancing at my father's portrait. "I'll see you again tomorrow, Papa." I left the room with Primrose and closed the door behind me. "What would I do without you? You might as well be my emotional support animal at this rate." I watched Primrose walk toward my room, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "Right, you need your beauty sleep." I stretched my back before rubbing where Rose had bit my arm. "She bit me hard. Even left a mark, fun."

I decided that I was just going to skip dinner tonight and go back outside for a walk in the forest. So I headed for the door, unlocked it, and stepped outside. It was almost nighttime, and the sun was just about to set. My head tilted toward the sky to absorb the colors cast over it. 'It should be that time of day, right?' With that thought, I headed back down the path. Just up ahead was my destination, a small bridge that crossed over a river.

From what my Papa told me, this bridge was constructed years ago, and when the builders were grabbing stones to make up the bridge, they somehow found a big piece of emerald caked in dirt. Over the years, the dirt fell away because of rain, and the emerald was eventually revealed. Sadly, the townsfolk couldn't get it out because of where it was located on the bridge since the wall would have to be broken. Around this time of day, because of the angle it had been placed in the bridge, only during this time, when the sun started to set, did the sun's light shine through the emerald perfectly and make a beautiful design on the river's surface. Some myth was also connected to the bridge, but I can't remember it.

I stopped beside the emerald in the bridge and looked over the railing. On most days, it cast a nice green glow on the ripples of the water. Yet, today, it seemed to not be the case as the water almost had a red look. I rubbed my eyes several times to ensure I wasn't seeing things. 'That's never happened before. Is there dirt on it?' I peeked on the other side of the emerald gemstone and saw nothing. "Maybe it's a little early?" I whispered to myself softly before I took a deep breath. 'Something about this situation doesn't sit right with me.'

I shook my head and turned around. The last thing I wanted was to come face to face with another cursed spirit because I was stressing over a weird bridge. I headed back inside, locked the door, and headed down the hall and into my room. Primrose was lying on my bed, sleeping soundly. I crawled into bed, trying not to disturb her. "Good night, Rose." I closed my eyes and tried my best to go to sleep.

Underneath the river's waters lay a plaque, long forgotten. Words carved into it told a small tale of the bridge. "Beware thy soul who views the river red, For soon a terrible fate lies ahead. When visiting the gem of the river so fair, Pray your fate isn't worse than death, beware!"

[grahamcracklewho]

02. RED ROGUE

a Carmen Sandiego (2019) rewrite.

tw (for the entire series): murder, death, mild gore, angst, obsession, ableism. i will add onto this as i go on. this series is DEEPLY redcrackle but includes ocs and reworked versions of characters, canon events, and etc.

this is ch2. ask/comment to be tagged for ch3 and more.

YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW CARMEN SANDIEGO TO READ THIS.

(I made this as understandable as possible to newcomers).

prev. current (ch3). next.

Soft chatter emanated through the auditorium as VILE’s newest batch of students got themselves seated, waiting for orientation to begin. It didn’t take long for Coach Brunt to stroll onto the stage, approaching the podium that sat in the middle. She fiddled with the microphone attached to it, frowning slightly before rolling her eyes.

“Ahem!” Coach Brunt glanced around expectantly, waiting for the students to quiet down. “…Welcome to VILE’s school for thieves,” she said. “That’s V-I-L-E. Valuable imports, lavish exports. We ship goods to the four corners of the world.” The coach grinned down at the auditorium full of students. “You’ve all been hand-picked for our one-year program, thanks to your unique talents and exponential potential, so we’re expecting big results from all of you. But, that aside—my name is Coach Brunt, and I’m one of the head honchos around here, so you gotta play by my house rules.”

She held up a cell phone, the familiar object drawing the attention of the students. “Rule one: no communication devices.” She suddenly crushed it, bits of glass and metal crumbling to the ground, getting shocked gasps and concerned glances from everyone but Black Sheep. “And, rule two: first names only, until y’all get your code names.” Coach Brunt’s gaze slid over, meeting Black Sheep’s amongst the crowd. “Ain’t that right, lambkins?”

Black Sheep blinked in surprise before managing a nervous smile and shrinking back slightly, feeling the gazes of all the other students on her. Directly in front of her, someone barked out a laugh, making her flinch.

“Lambkins?” The person snorted. “Who knew VILE had a mascot?”

She was suddenly faced with a decision: allow herself to be made fun of on orientation day, of all things, or fight back.

Well, she never was one to back down.

Without a second to give room for hesitation, she grabbed the shirt collar of the person that had just laughed and yanked on it, hard, pulling their head back so that she could stare them down, ignoring the startled yelp they let out as she did so. It was a brunet male, his expression strewn with surprise. She bit back the urge to shake the wits out of him and instead managed a forced smile.

“The name’s Black Sheep,” she gritted out. “Only my friends call me lambkins.” Her grip on his collar tightened, giving it a slight tug. “Do you understand? Nod if you understand.”

He nodded hurriedly. “Uh-huh.”

Reluctantly, she released him, and didn’t hear another peep from him for the rest of the orientation. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last of him that she saw. After orientation, students were directed to their respective dorms, with a handful of people in each one.

Black Sheep was the first one to arrive and settle into her dorm room (aside from that freaky quiet kid), only having to move a few maps and the set of Russian nesting dolls from her room to feel homely. She looked around the area and eventually decided on a bed by a window, so she could look out into the island, but still close by the doorway so she could watch as her new roommates filed in.

The first two that entered followed each other closely; a tall, lean man and his friend, who was much shorter and broader in comparison.

“Jean Paul,” the tall man said, nodding at her in greeting.

“And I’m Antonio,” the shorter man added.

Black Sheep smiled at them both. They seemed friendly enough.

Trailing behind them was a platinum blond woman. For a moment, Black Sheep’s mind flashed to Zicron and how she didn’t see him at orientation, but pushed the thought away, instead watching as said blond woman brushed her hair back and barely spared Black Sheep a glance as she entered. “I’m Sheena,” the woman said, sounding bored. Black Sheep already didn’t like her, but didn’t have very long to stew in hatred because the next person that came in was the brunet from earlier. Black Sheep’s eyes narrowed at him, and when his gaze met hers, he managed a sheepish smile.

“You,” she scowled, standing up. He glanced off to the side, rubbing his neck.

“Er… Black Sheep, right?” He asked, a hint of an accent in his voice. It didn’t take her long to identify it as Australian. “The name’s Graham.” He extended a hand out for her to shake. “Sorry about earlier.”

Black Sheep quirked a brow, scanning his face for any sign of deception. When she found none, she accepted his offer and gave his hand a firm shake. “Nice to meet you, Graham,” she said carefully. As much as she would’ve liked to acknowledge his apology, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to let go of it yet.

Graham seemed to pick up on what she was thinking and a look of faint guilt appeared on his face. He started to say something else, but the shrill voice of one of her new roommates cut through it.

“These your toys, little girl?” Sheena had wandered over to Black Sheep’s bed without her noticing, and she took the opportunity to poke at the Russian nesting dolls sitting by the windowsill.

Immediately, Black Sheep scowled. “Hands off,” she warned as she walked over to her with brisk strides.

Sheena laughed and moved to stand in front of the nesting dolls. “Ooh, protective, are you?” She sneered. “I wonder what you’re keeping in these dolls. I guess I could find out.” Her hand inched closer to the dolls. Red filled Black Sheep’s vision, and she dove at Sheena, trying to get in a punch or two when Graham suddenly grabbed her, locking his arms underneath her.

“Whoa!” He shouted. “Let’s play nice, ladies.” He dragged Black Sheep away from Sheena, though not without some difficulties since she wouldn’t stop flailing.

“Taking sides with the little girl, Graham?” Sheena shot him an unimpressed look.

Graham only rolled his eyes. “What’d Black Sheep even do to you? Just don’t touch people’s things without permission.”

Sheena looked offended by the scolding, but only managed to let out a splutter before turning on her heel and sauntering off. “Probably cheap costume jewelry, anyways,” she muttered. Graham chuckled before helping Black Sheep back up to her feet.

“You okay?” He asked, glancing at her. She looked at him, surprised, before managing a small smile and nod.

“Yeah,” she said, looking down at the floor. That went better than she had expected it to. Usually, her shuffles ended up with her winning, but just barely, and with a heap of injuries to go along with it. “Thanks.“

He grinned. “No problem.”

Black Sheep was already making friends—and enemies.

The next day, classes started.

Black Sheep got up earlier than everyone else, with the exception of Graham, who was playing chess with himself on the coffee table in the dormitory. She hadn’t been able to sleep very well last night, but woke up feeling more energized than ever, practically bouncing with excitement. This was it—what she had been waiting for, all her life. She had even gotten new clothes, commemorating her officially becoming a student. It was a sleek black stealth suit, with VILE’s signature green V in the front. 

“You’re really raring to go, aren’t you, Black Sheep?” Graham smiled at her from where he sat cross-legged on the floor. He, too, was dressed in new clothes: a dark blue jacket, over a black shirt. “You’ve been up for the past hour or so, just sitting there grinning.”

“Honestly? I can’t wait.” She managed a sheepish smile. As much as she didn’t want to come across as overeager (and remind a certain someone how “immature” she was) she couldn’t exactly hide it. Besides, Graham probably wouldn’t judge her. “How’re you so calm?”

“Trade secret.” He grinned before gesturing to the chess board he had set up. “Wanna play a round?”

Black Sheep glanced at it. “Sure, but no promises that I won’t win.” She took a seat across from him. “I’ve played chess with Coach Brunt a million times.”

“Fond of her, are you?” He hummed. “Well, I’m sorry to say that I am definitively better at chess than Coach Brunt is. Prepare to lose.” He paused. “You sure you want black? You can take white if you want.”

She shot him a look. “White is fine. I’ll destroy you either way.”

“Hey, hey, the match hasn’t even started yet. Let’s remain civil for just one more second.” His grin widened. “But game on.”

“I can’t believe you won!” Black Sheep groaned as she clutched her head. “I was so sure…”

Graham shrugged, hiding his smile. “What can I say? I play a lot of chess.”

“Ugh, unfair.” She punched his arm jokingly. “Whatever. At least it’s time for classes now.” He nodded, following her out of the dormitory.

“So, what’s your story, Graham?” Black Sheep glanced at her new classmate as they walked side-by-side down a corridor, heading to their first class: Stealth 101, with Shadowsan. She was trying to distract herself from the thought of having to take a class with the faculty member that hated her, all year long. That, and she knew the halls of V.I.L.E. academy much better than Graham did, so she thought she could spare him some time.

Graham grinned at her, folding his arms behind his neck. “I worked as a junior electrician in the Sydney opera house,” he began.

“Australia! I knew it.” She fist-pumped, making him chuckle. “Have you ever seen a koala there? Or sharks? Or, ooh, Ayers Rock?”

He cast her an amused glance. “I’ll, uh, get back to you on that,” he grinned. “Anyways, one day, a light went out. I realized I could make a far better living turning off the lights than I could keeping them on.”

Her brows rose, secretly impressed. “Cool. So now you’re here, huh?”

“Yeah. What about you, Black Sheep?”

Black Sheep looked down at the floor, thinking. “I was found as a baby on the side of a road in Bueno Aires, Argentina,” she said. “VILE’s faculty took me in and their own and raised me here, on the island. Being a professional thief is what my entire life has been leading up to.”

“Dedicated, huh? Respectable.” He nodded. “Growing up with a tropical paradise as a home must’ve been nice.”

“I guess.” She sometimes forgot that, to others, the isle of VILE was desirable. She couldn’t see it. It was empty and lonely; cold and stark, and her supposed family was too busy to ever spend time with her. “I’m just glad that VILE academy is a thing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have met you, or anyone else.” She smiled up at him, and he gave her an easy smile in return.

“I agree,” Graham said. “VILE’s more welcoming than the real world, anyways. When you grow up alone, it’s hard to make others part of your life. VILE helps people like us have a home.”

Her smile widened. “Exactly.” They walked for a little longer before she added, “are you really going to go by Graham while you’re here?”

He looked at her curiously. “I mean, I wasn’t planning to go by anything else. Why?”

Black Sheep made a face. “I just…” she shrugged. “It’s not very cool, you know. Or threatening.”

“What would you suggest, then, Miss Genius?”

She rolled her eyes, smiling. “Gray,” she said pointedly. “I think that’s much better than Graham, at least until you get your code name.”

He considered that, brows rising. “That’s not bad,” he admitted. “Alright, then. Gray it is, courtesy of you.” He paused, and a grin touched his lips. “Still not better than lambkins, though.”

She laughed. “As it should.”

They eventually came to a stop in front of the doors to Shadowsan’s classroom. The two exchanged a glance before Gray gestured politely for her to go first, pushing the door open for her.

She grinned. “Thanks,” she whispered as they walked inside. Gray winked, trailing closely behind her.

The room was decorated minimally, with thin, transparent, Japanese-styled windows—which, Black Sheep knew were known as shoji—concealing the room, and a large bonsai plant growing from a pot in the corner. Straw mats were placed on the wooden floor, one for each student. She and Gray took a seat near the front, next to each other.

When Shadowsan strolled to the front of the classroom and looked her way, she met his gaze, refusing to back down. She wasn’t going to let him bully her into submission. She knew her worth.

Once all of the students filed in and settled down, Shadowsan sat down, crossing his legs, and held up a square piece of paper for the class to see. “Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding,” he said. In a flurry of motions, the simple sheet of paper was transformed into an elegant swan. “There is no better way to practice having the delicate touch of a thief than origami.”

Black Sheep and Gray exchanged an unimpressed glance, which quickly turned into matching expressions of dismay when they were handed some paper and were told to fold them into animals.

Despite Shadowsan watching her like a hawk, she actually was able to enjoy the activity. She made sure that each fold was neat and precise, and eventually ended up with an impressive unicorn. She held it up, admiring how cleanly done it was. For her first time, it was actually pretty good.

Shadowsan walked around the room, examining different creations. When he complimented the sheep Tigress had made, she raised up her unicorn, hoping he’d admit that she had done well, but he barely cast her a glance before strolling away, arms folded behind his back. Black Sheep’s brows drew together and she grumbled to herself, though Gray patting her shoulder comfortingly helped soothe her.

Once they were done, they showed each other what they had made.

“Nice rhino.” Gray squinted at her unicorn. She laughed.

“Hello? It’s a unicorn?” She waved it in his face, making him arch a brow.

“Unicorns aren’t real, you know,” he said. “Shadowsan said to make an animal.”

Black Sheep snorted. “Unicorns are fictional animals. Still an animal. And what’s yours supposed even to be?” She gave his creation an odd glance. It was scrunched up and creased all over, to the point it was indiscernible. “An… amoeba?” She joked.

This time, Gray was the one giving her an odd glance. “No, it’s a kangaroo.”

She gave the supposed kangaroo a few more looks. “Oh…” she said slowly. “I… see it now. I think.”

Gray sighed, setting his disfigured kangaroo off to the side. “Well, origami may not be my calling, but at least I gave it a shot.”

“Eh… yeah, honestly, you tried your best.” She gave him a fist bump. “Not too shabby for a pair of first-timers.”

“No kidding.” He grinned. “I didn’t come here to learn origami, but at least I can cross it off my bucket list now.” His eyes wandered around the classroom, eventually landing on a sword kept in a glass case in the front of the classroom. “Crikey! Look at that sword. It’s huge.”

She followed his gaze. “Geez, yeah. Kinda seems like overkill,” she mumbled. “I mean, I’m a thief. I don’t know why I’d need to lug around a gigantic sword like that.”

“Heh. Think Instructor Shadowsan ever uses it?” He raised a brow. “No, right? He probably cleans it three times a day.”

“Sounds like him,” she said. “Hopefully, in our next class we can actually do something exciting.”

Just as she said that, she felt a shadow loom over her, the silence suffocating. She froze, a chill crawling up her spine.

“My class is not entertaining enough for you, is it, Black Sheep?” Shadowsan glared down at her, and all she could do was manage a sheepish smile.

“I—I’m sorry, Instructor Shadowsan, I was just saying that because I expected—“

“It does not matter what you expect,” he interrupted. “Regardless of it, you should be grateful. I am sorry I could not live to your expectations, Black Sheep. Perhaps you could teach yourself some discipline helping Vlad and Boris scrub down the academy walls. Does that sound enjoyable?”

Her eyes widened. “N…no, Instructor.”

“Then do not let me catch you being so disrespectful again.” He turned his back to her, and the class started to snicker quietly, the loudest of all being Sheena. 

Black Sheep’s face flushed with shame, and she looked down at her lap, biting her lip. This… wasn’t how she wanted her first class to go.

Far from it.

a/n:

is black sheep suffering rn? yeah! do i care? ehh…

more importantly, we finally have gray’s introduction !! i don’t ship black sheep n gray (they give bro n sis) but stay w me y’all 😔 lmk ur thoughts :)

[axailslink]

I almost killed him

Shuri Udaku x poc FEM reader

Rewrite

Summary: you followed Shuri into her battle with Namor refusing to leave her side when you see she's losing you jump in head first. Talk about in the name of love. Dumbass.

Snippet from the fic: “ "Utata wam, umnakwetho, umama wam. (My father, my brother, my mother.) Please good, Bast do not take her too. Don't you dare. Please heal her she's too strong to die... She's. She's too loved" ”

The fight between Namor and Shuri has become tiring to watch so without hesitation you join in taking a few painful blows however Namor's interest is mostly Shuri. He could care less of your existence as he tosses you to the ground as if you weigh nothing and raises his fist to strike you but Shuri finds herself in front of you her suit taking the impact causing it to glow purple. Namor's tired you can see it and he too knows as he pushes you and Shuri into a boulder you manage to break from his grip while Shuri continues to fight him. You need to give Shuri the upper hand even weakened he's still strong as hell. So you grab a piece of the destroyed fighter with the intention to stab him while he isn't looking but it's as if the man has eyes in the back of his head because he pushes Shuri so hard into the boulder that she's gasping for air and he quickly turns his attention back to you kicking you in your gut and snatching the piece of metal turning it to Shuri. You aren't sure what takes over your mind at this moment it's like everything is paused before you. It's a moment to think but you don't need it as you push Shuri to the ground hard without realizing you're taking her place until the metal spear tears through your armor and pierces your skin instead of hers.

You gasp holding the spear not daring to move it knowing you'll surely bleed out instead you keep it still while glancing at Shuri who's teary-eyed as she attacks Namor. You don't get to see much of the fight that she has in her after seeing you hurt as your vision blurs and you start to blank out due to the lack of blood.

~~~~~~~~

You wake to a bright light causing you to slowly and carefully turn on your side to avoid it. Shuri's voice echoes from a distance letting you know she isn't far but the pain in her wavering voice breaks you as she speaks in a rambling pattern.

"Utata wam, umnakwetho, umama wam. (My father, my brother, my mother.) Please good, Bast do not take her too. Don't you dare. Please heal her she's too strong to die... She's. She's too loved" the voice of Okoye is no surprise "Shuri she's fine" Nakia's voice is a surprise though "she's stable and her vitals are fine. Shuri she's fine." The whimper in Shuri's voice before she speaks urges you to stand and find her. The sound and tone of her voice says enough. She's terrified of losing you. "But she's not fine! She's laying on my table! I saw my brother like this I refuse to see her like this too!"

You carefully make your way to the place of her voice holding your side carefully as you do so. When you finally reach the main room of the lab you speak just a bit above a whisper because that's all you can muster up "Shuri my love you're yelling."

Shuri's glance at you should be hopeful maybe even happy but she immediately breaks down. Every tear she's held in since you were impaled comes pouring down her face but her concern for you stays her top priority "you... You need to lie down and rest" you shake your head and lean against one of her lab tables. "NO. I need to comfort my wife" Shuri shakes her head as her cold hands grab hold of your face "usisidenge! (Stupid!) Njani ukuba ube sisibhanxa? (How can you be so stupid?" You nod in agreement because she's absolutely right what you did was indeed stupid as hell you could have made better decisions but if given the chance to do it over you'd still choose to jump in front of that spear. "I know I know incredibly stupid but I'd do it again."

"Don't say that"

"I will do it again this-" you point to your covered wound "-this is nothing but a scratch compared to what I'll endure for you."

Suddenly Okoye and Nakia's presence starts to seem a bit worrying to you Shuri needs all the privacy she can get "do you two mind?" They both share glances before making their exit.

Your attention is on them as they both leave while Shuri has seemed to calm down a bit being able to talk without her voice breaking since she first brought you home. "Just don't die. Please. I can't take it my love I can't I don't know who I'll become if Bast takes another person from me. I'll go mad if I lose you." You nod "I know Shuri but I'm not going anywhere we still have a lot of time ahead of us I still have to be crowned and you still want a daughter and we have time to reach those goals. Stop talking like that. It's scaring me." Shuri nods slowly as she grabs you in a tight hug you ignore the pain searing through your side as you hug her back.

Shuri pulls away but keeps you close "I don't mean to scare you but I was truthful when I said I don't know what I'll do if one more person is taken from me... I almost killed him. After you blacked out so did I and I didn't come to until I had him as he had you except my claws were in his body. I was going to kill him I wa-" you grab hold of her hands and shake your head seeing how worked up she is "but you didn't... Did you?" she sighs "no of course not but only because I saw you bleeding out. You were the only thing stopping me from committing murder. I'd kill for you. You do know that?" You nod "of course but you don't have to I want these pretty hands to stay as clean as they can. You don't need any... More blood on your hands." You kiss her hands gently before pulling away completely and heading towards the elevator.

"Where are you going you need to r-" you turn on your heel and take in Shuri's appearance she hasn't bathed and she still has dried blood on her hands "to our bedroom you need to shower and I need to rest I do hope you're following behind I will need comfort... I don't like sleeping alone." Shuri smiles and nods "you wish you could have our bed to yourself." You hum as you wait for Shuri and you don't have to wait long "Griot turn off the lights." You feel Shuri pick you up and you just smile "I can walk."

"You winced in pain when I hugged you earlier. I notice when you smile differently don't try to lie to me Y/n. I'll always notice." She isn't lying she pays more attention to you than you think but that's what you love about her.

A/n: I felt like rewriting this. I don't know why I just did so please enjoy it.

Taglist:

@verachii

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@writesbyriri

@locoforshuri

@mbakuetshurisprincess

@sleepyshuri

[drinkintrashjuice]

Ep. 5 o0o (MID Rewrite)

This chapter I’m gonna focus a little bit more on Daemos for a bit. Only cus in the next few eps the storyline for what’s going on in Daemos is gonna be a much more smaller element to focus on the relationship between Ava and the Daemons. A few notes before we start the chapter tho, there are a few characters I renamed. Which are Lady Bish and Rhal. I renamed them Lady Ki and Hitoma because with Lady Bish I CAN’T take her seriously especially with what goes on in this chapter. With Rhal though I did it because on KNEW I would mix his and Rhys’s name up lol. ANYWAYS please enjoy!!!!

Episode 5: Death and popcorn

Hitoma’s steps echoed through the castle halls. Yet, these steps were aimless, with only one goal. To find his father.

He’s been wanting to talk to him about his careless mistake of choosing Asch for this “big mission” instead of him. If it was so important, why in the gods’ names would he choose Asch? He thought.

While this may leave a part of his body bruised or broken, he needed to ask his father about his decision.

But for whatever reason, he couldn’t find him anywhere. Not in his throne room, in Lady Ki’s room, the dining room, he was nowhere.

Hitoma started to get irritated. What was all the praise for? What was all his work for? If he was just going to send Asch on a life or death mission and then fuck off?

While in his palace of thoughts, Hitoma accidentally bumped into someone. When he snapped out of his daze, he found an angry looking Lady Ki.

“Lady Ki! My apologies, I did not see you.” Said Hitoma while bowing.

Lady Ki lightened her expression, “Never mind that Hitoma” she grabbed his hand, “I was looking for you anyways. Let’s walk and talk.”

Lady Ki then dragged a confused Hitoma throughout the castle.

“L-Lady Ki! Where are we going!?” Asked Hitoma, while struggling to keep up with Lady Ki’s pace.

“Hitoma…it’s regarding some news you may not like.” Her voice took a more somber tone.

Hitoma’s mind was a storm of questions. Where was Lady Ki taking him? Was the news involving his father? What was with the change of tone?

Right after Hitoma started to get synced up with Lady Ki’s steps, they seemed to be at their destination. The throne room.

Lady Ki slammed the door open, startling most of the knights there. Of course they all immediately saluted right after, and Lady Ki let Hitoma walk in front of her.

Hitoma was lightly confused at this curtesy. He stood in front of the chair he almost always saw his father in. And for the first time. It was cold.

It had lost its status of warmness his father had left it in. The state Hitoma always found it in as a child before he was kicked out by a knight or his mother.

“Lady Ki…what is the meaning of this?” Hitoma turned around to face Lady Ki.

“Hitoma…your father…he sadly has passed during a mission.” Said Lady Ki, her eyes looked glossy.

“You mean…he’s dead?” Said Hitoma, with a mix of emotions he was unsure of.

Lady Ki nodded, “While Asch is your older brother, he’s unavailable. So you will have to fill the spot as King. Which means I am now your advisor.”

Hitoma couldn’t tell how he felt. He was overjoyed that he was finally getting something he felt like he deserved, but if Asch was still here, it would’ve gone to him. The main reason he even tried so hard was to feel worthy. Yet when his father was alive, the only reward he was given was not getting punished as much.

There was a tiny bit of himself that was glad his father was dead. He felt horrible for it, but that tiny piece of himself yelled at him not to be. It told him that his father time and time again made it so he’d have to try extra hard to be better. It told him his father was unfit for a role such as this.

That piece of himself told him that his father, Yakedo, is looking up at him. And that was where he was meant to be. He was meant to be burned at the stake.

This made him prouder to outlive him. To even manage it.

“If this is the role I have to fill then so be it.” He turned back to the throne.

“Ah, yes” she clapped her hands together and the knights around them left the room, “shall we get to my suggestions then?”

Later that night, Lady Grandma walked to the throne room in search of Lady Ki. Lucky for her, she happened to catch her right as she walked out of it.

“Ah, Lady Ki,” she picked up her pace to catch up with her, “there’s something I wanted to ask.

“hm? What is it?” She closed a notebook she was holding and faced Lady Grandma.

“It’s not usually like myself to pry or sneak and anything of the sort…but I happened to walk by the throne room when you…” Lady Grandma started to look increasingly nervous.

“When I what? Spit it out.” Said Lady Ki, hurrying Lady Grandma.

“Lady Ki…Yakedo isn’t dead…you know this” Lady Grandma straightened a bit, “I can’t let you manipulate Hitoma like this…it isn’t right.”

Lady Ki cocked an eyebrow, “and how do you know he isn’t? I can’t go by your word, and we both know Yakedo would never go on some wellness vacation with the enemy.”

Lady Grandma weighed her options. She could stand down and trust Lady Ki with making Hitoma king. Yet there’s something in her gut that’s telling her that something isn’t right.

“Lady Ki…follow me. I want to show you something.” Said Lady Grandma.

The blonde did as she was told, and they made their way to the castle’s library.

Lady Grandma uncovered a door that was hidden behind a multitude of books. Once she opened it, it revealed a box of scrolls. She sifted through it, opening some to kiss her teeth in disappointment and quickly put it back to look more.

After a while, Lady Grandma finally found what she was looking for, and quickly went to Lady Ki to show her.

“This is how I know.” She opened the scroll to show a set of vitals for Yakedo, Hitoma, and Asch.

“Around the time Hitoma was born, Yakedo asked me if I could set something up where I could tell if someone in the royal family has deceased.” She then mumbled a tiny command that Lady Ki couldn’t hear.

The scrolls golden vitals then switched to another set, containing herself, Yakedo’s late wife, and her late husband.

“Lady Ki, you saying that Yakedo’s dead…it’s a flat out lie.” She closed the scroll and looked at Lady Ki, her eyes unwavering.

The look Lady Ki gave her was like that of a predator. Like Lady Grandma had walked right into her trap.

“I knew there was something…you’ve proven to be a stick in my plans.” With the flick of her wrist she formed her weapon, which was a scythe.

She swung at Lady Grandma, but before it could hit her, she formed a shield in front of herself with her magic.

“I thought you took the magic crisis seriously.” Said Lady Ki sarcastically.

“Of course I do, but I see now this is life or death.” She readied herself for another attack from Lady Ki.

“You won’t last long. Much too old to.”

“You’re dealing with someone who’s memorized every spell in the book and more.” She formed her staff, “being a mage may be a dead art, but it certainly isn’t a weak one.”

Lady Ki lunged at Lady Grandma to swing at her again. The blanchette used her staff to open a small portal to the other half of the library that she quickly went through.

She cast another spell with her staff that would alter her vision to see body heat. It was smaller than an x-ray type spell, and took less energy.

Lady Grandma scanned all around the library for any sign of Lady Ki. She could see that what she thinks is the blonde was running all throughout the library to find her.

She ran all across the room avoiding all the paths Lady Ki was going. She was careful not to stomp when running, so the hunting advisor wouldn’t catch wind of her.

The blondes’ movements were quick, easily being able to trip up a median-skilled knight. Yet the ex-queen has seen her fair share of swift knights. After all, Lady Ki was far too predictable to her for the extra pizazz she was putting in her steps.

Suddenly, Lady Ki disappeared from Lady Grandma’s vision. The older woman wildly scanned all around the room to see for any sign of her.

She soon found out with the blunt side of Lady Ki’s scythe hitting her in the back of the head.

The world spun around Lady Grandma and she was completely disoriented. Taking advantage of this, Lady Ki put her scythe right underneath the older woman’s neck.

“I told you. Quite a pathetic fight. You were my teacher for the gods’ sake.” Said Lady Ki putting salt in the wound of Lady Grandma’s loss.

“What..!? How did you-“ Lady Ki brought her scythe closer to Lady Grandma’s neck.

“Simple, I made myself as cold as ice. Of course much less obvious than normal I’m not stupid.” She furrowed her brows, “You didn’t think I was making those movements to find you did you?”

Lady Grandma tried to think of anything else she could’ve possibly have done. She knew Lady Ki couldn’t have memorized a spell as obscure as that. There weren’t many situations you would use it in.

The only thing that Lady Ki was willing to remember was rituals. It’s then that it hit Lady Grandma. That fast pace, the repetitive movements. She was creating a ritual that would remove her body heat.

“Now, I’ve reconsidered a bit, and…well it’d be pretty stupid to kill you off.” Said Lady Ki as she eased the scythe away from Lady Grandma’s neck.

“How about we make a deal?” The blonde stomped her foot on Lady Grandma’s chest to keep her down.

She Raised her scythe and cut her hand deep enough so blood would slightly gush from it.

This was called an “Oath of Blood and Heart”. A sacred ritual that Daemons hold near to their hearts. It’s considered heinous to deny another Daemon this, as the original idea was for it to be used after careful thinking.

Sometimes it’s used for marriages, relationships, important promises, all of the sort. Other times it’s used for blackmail, or other horrid intentions.

This is when a Daemon is hit with the question of whether they deny their culture, or force themselves to abide by the rules set by the ancestors.

Lady Grandma considers Daemon culture important, despite how altered this part of it was the more time went on.

She sighed, “What is it…?” She said weakly

“You say nothing of this to anyone.” She grabbed Lady Grandma’s hand, and cut a wound in it similar to hers.

“And you help me with my…plans” She extended her hand to Lady Grandma. And the older woman reluctantly took it.

A tingly feeling spread throughout both of their bodies, and they could feel each other’s pulses, if only for a few seconds. The feeling was still foreign to Lady Grandma, as she’s only done this two times in her life.

Once with her father when she was declared queen and promised to keep Chikara power in tact, and twice when she married her husband.

Yet this felt different. Almost as if this altered something. Of course the other times it felt similar, but this felt negative.

“I’m glad we could come to an understanding Lady Grandma.” Said Lady Ki as a smile appeared on her face, “Would you like to hear about my plans?”

The new day was weirdly gloomy. The sun was out of course, and crops were thriving, yet there was a great sense of dread in the air.

Today the people of Chikara were expecting an announcement from Yakedo, or someone in the royal family. Announcements like these always came with a caveat though. No matter how good or life changing whatever it was they were doing was, there was always something to drag it down.

The families in Chikara dreaded these days, for fear of their sons and daughters getting recruited. Some even try to keep their children as hidden as they can, as to not have the overwhelming dread of potentially losing their children.

That worked up until Yakedo made it a law for a family to bear at least two children. If these families continued to hide their children, soldiers by the dozen would come and search their home for them, and take them to the gods’ know where.

It was a rough few years for the people of Chikara, but it was more mentally than anything. Physically they were all at their A-game. Everyone while some not wanting to admit, had a need to be on top. To want to be everyone else’s savior. This competitiveness made it so if you weren’t family to these people, you’ll risk being trampled by them.

This is exactly what happened to a few people when they were called to gather around the front of the palace by a gong.

Instead of seeing Yakedo, they saw Hitoma.

“My people, I bring…distressing news.” Started Hitoma. He tried his best to hide his undeniable excitement.

“Before I tell you this though, I tell you the story of a Daemon. A Daemon who fought his way to the top. A Daemon who ruled this place, and kept our status of power until the day he was struck down.” Hitoma made his voice as grim as possible.

“Of course, I’m talking about my dear father Yakedo. Who has sadly passed away during a mission.” A wave of gasps and noises of confusion filled the air. There wasn’t a sign that that had even happened. What mission?

They knew their questions would never be answered. Not in a million years. They knew they had to keep their hope in check. Risking another disappointing set of years.

“My brother, Asch, is on a mission, so he will not be able to take up his spot.” Hitoma tried to make himself look taller, and more proud than he already is.

“That leaves me to fill this beyond important role.” He pumped his voice full of pride and the wind flared his cape, making him look bigger.

Hesitant cheers flared up in the crowd. This sudden change, it barely made any sense. Despite this, a spark of hope rippled through the atmosphere.

The people knew little of the relationship between Yakedo and his sons, but they did know a pattern. For generations, there has been a certain day where the next person in line for the throne changed. It was like day and night, one day the future ruler would have the widest smile on their face. The next they’d be emotionless. Not a thought behind their eyes, other than ruling their kingdom and the thirst for power.

But this felt different. Hitoma was full of energy, and looked excited to fill his father’s shoes. The people of Chikara were praying nothing would ruin this spark of hope.

Yet as all things do in this kingdom, there was caveat. A sign god denied their prayers.

Heels clicked onto the platform, and hands not even dented with the slightest scars pushed Hitoma away. The woman clasped her hands together, silencing all who weren’t paying attention.

A crown rested upon her head, and the figure dawned royal blue robes. The woman absentmindedly singled a servant to hand Hitoma his crown. Hitoma was more than confused.

She looked at the crowd analyzing their faces. Shock, confusion, frustration, all of which she expected.

“I’m sure you’re all confused, yes?” The woman adjusted her crown, “For starters, all of you will call me queen Ki. Get used to it.”

Hitoma started to panic. He didn’t know why at the moment though. He had no idea he was going to marry Lady Ki. Yes they’re the same age, but he didn’t like her like that. Hitoma then started getting frustrated.

Why is Lady Ki making herself queen? There should be a ceremony, he should get to pick who’s queen, today was supposed to be about him.

“I promise you all under Hitoma and I’s ruling, the way we get things done will have us on top.” Lady Ki made her eyes stern, “But to get there, we’ll need sacrifices.”

fear slowly fell into the crowd. This would be like the last king, before Lady Grandma’s ruling.

“We wish you all a good day. We thank you for this honor of ruling this kingdom. Chikara shall rise.”

Chikara shall rise echoed within the crowd, as Lady Ki disappeared into the castle.

Hitoma felt as if he was going to explode. He didn’t know what Lady Ki meant by sacrifices, but he didn’t want to.

He quickly followed Lady Ki into the hallways.

“Lady Ki, what are you doing!? I…you can’t be serious!”

“This is for your own good Hitoma,” she cupped his cheek in her hand, “besides you’ll still have control as you know.”

Hitoma slapped her hand away, and the blonde backed away with slight anger.

“I need a straight answer. I’ll still have control, right?” Hitoma balled his fists.

Lady Ki knew how strong of a fighter Hitoma was. As much as she wanted to try, she’s had enough fights this week.

“Of course Hitoma! I’ll simply be an advisor without you having to choose one!” Said Lady Ki eerily cheerful.

Hitoma sipped the kool-aid taking her words with full seriousness. He unclenched his fists and crossed his arms.

“I…I believe you.” He looked at Lady Ki, with full trust in his eyes.

Hitoma walked past Lady Ki and submerged into the darkness of the castle.

“Of course my king…” she smirked and followed him into the darkness.

Ava was woken up by her alarm, but it seemed it was going on for awhile. It was bright outside so it was at least 10 but her alarm goes of at 6.

She tiredly turned it off and looked at the ceiling. Yesterday had to be the shittiest day she ever had.

She couldn’t tell herself it was her fault, she didn’t want to. In her heart, she thought it was those Daemos guys. She thought Lorelei was overreacting.

She quickly sat up, “Lorelei!”, she picked up her phone and looked at her text.

It read: “Hey Ava! By the way I was looking I’m sure you thought something bad happened but nah! But like this reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to tell you for ages. Can you like TELL ME THINGS!? For this I understand, but there’s things you don’t tell me that I feel are important for me to know. Even with this, you told me nothing about these guys! Unless they’re just good actors and you’re some part of some acting crew this is REAL. And you lied to these guys! Idkkkkk it’s just weird. If you like REALLY need me I’ll be there but me thinks space is the best option. Just for me to think things through”

Ava groaned and laid back down. She thought more about last night, and how she thought about the Daemons at the time.

She didn’t know what she thought of them anymore. The way she thought at the time, it had to be a moment of weakness.

Just then, Ava heard an army of knocks on her bedroom door, snapping her out of her daze.

“I’m coming! Wait a minute!” She yelled and opened the door.

Standing outside the room was Asch, with a peeved expression on his face.

“Princess Ava,” said Asch, not hiding his annoyance, “I remember you saying you were gonna make more of an effort to teach us about this planet yes?”

Ava slowly nodded. She was silently hoping it wasn’t that late.

“Excuse us if we’re wrong but it’s twelve right now…that’s considered late in human time right?”

Ava cursed to herself, she didn’t think it was that late. She didn’t want this prince guy intimidating her again, if she started having nightmares about it, she’d just end it.

“Listen…” said Ava, “I know it’s late but we can learn about…each other!”

Asch cocked his head, but did a satisfied hum. Ava silently congratulated herself for thinking of something on the spot.

Once again she stood in front of the table and clasped her hands together.

“K’! We’re gonna do stuff to get to know each other more!” Ava desperately searched her brain for any ideas.

Lorelei was way better at these things. Actually, she was better at anything that involved socializing.

Ava knew her way around a conversation, but she never felt the need for more than one or two friends. They’ll just eat up into her time, and gone would be the days of sitting and doing nothing but eating ice cream on the couch.

But here she was, standing in front of five guys that were from a whole different planet. If she was too corny, they might just execute her on the spot or something.

“U-Uhm…I’ll ask a question about your world, and you answer. After that you ask me question about earth, and I’ll answer that” said Ava while sweating bullets.

She didn’t want this to seem childish, these guys looked the type to be offended by that sort of stuff.

“Alright, go on.” Said Asch, choosing to sit on the arm of the couch.

Ava had a few questions, but not as much as she thought she would have. Most things she just kinda guessed about. Just by their clothes and the way they talked was a big enough give away of how their world is.

Then, she could feel it. The nerd gears in her brain started to churn. If this was anything she thought it was, they must’ve lived in some fantasy world.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask. If she wasn’t careful, she’d slur her words into a hodgepodge of questions.

“Okay okay! So do you guys have weapons of any kind?” Said Ava with a newfound sense of excitement.

“Oh, yeah” All the Daemon’s formed their weapons as if it came out of their hands.

Ava was surprised but also fascinated. She couldn’t help but geek out about this sorta stuff. She unintentionally ooo-ed and aaa-ed at their weapons and murmuring to herself about them. She didn’t dare touch them though.

Asch’s weapon was a samurai sword with a golden blade and matte black hilt. It looked as if it glowed, and it was the most majestic sword Ava had ever seen.

Leif’s weapons were two daggers with emerald green hilts and silver blades. They looped in a semi-oval way, seemingly for climbing.

Noi’s weapon was a simple bow and arrow. The bow was white with golden markings, and the arrows were white with golden tips.

Pierce’s weapon was a large axe almost as large as his body. The whole thing was a navy blue, but the handle had black bandage-like streaks on it.

Rhys’s weapon was a wooden staff. The actual wood was a dark purple and on top was a blue gemstone.

“W-Wow! Oh my god I’m always wanted to see stuff like this close!” Ava’s eyes squinted, “how comes I’ve never seen them before?”

Rhys raised his hand and pointed at his palm. On it was a dark blue rune with words around it that were definitely not English.

“They come out of our hands. We form them in a sense.” Said Rhys, “Our weapons are apart of us, so there’s no need to worry about magic.”

Ava’s eyes glittered with curiosity. She excitedly grabbed Noi’s and Pierce’s palms to compare the two.

Both men were a bit surprised by the sudden softness in their hands, but with Noi it was more obvious with his face becoming red.

“So they’re in different languages…” She grabbed Leif and Asch’s hands, “But they all have a rune in the middle…”

Leif snatched his hand away from Ava with a annoyed look on his face.

“Yeah, yeah. Very interesting, but don’t touch me.” Said Leif

Ava shrugged, “My bad.” She continued marveling at their hands.

“Can we have our question?” Asked Pierce while slightly raising his hand.

“Oh! Yeah! My fault, what do you guys wanna ask?”

A flurry of questions invaded the room. It felt like she was in a kindergarten, especially with how simple the questions were. She tried to pick out a question within the sea of them, but she quickly started to get annoyed.

“Yo!” She yelled, all the Daemons quieted down

“One at a time, K’?”

All five of the men discussed with each other. Ava guessed it was for who had the better question.

Noi later piped up while Asch groaned with annoyance.

“What’s a…Move-ii-e…and could we watch it?”

Ava snorted at the pronunciation, “You mean a movie? Sure I guess, I’ve asked all the questions I wanted to.”

Some of the Daemons protested given they had lots of questions, but Ava shut them down.

“I don’t wanna hear any complaining! We’re gonna watch a movie! I-I’ll just find one…” Said Ava picking up the remote and turning on the T.V.

At the press of a button on the remote, a bass boosted jingle played as green letters spelling “Hulo” appeared.

All of the Daemons were startled by this and readied their weapons.

“Woah! Woah! Hey! That’s just a streaming service! Calm down!” She stood in front of the T.V. to hopefully stop them from attacking it.

“Ugh! Stop saying sh- stuff that you think we’re gonna understand!” Yelled Leif seemingly at his limit.

“O-Okay! Just calm down! I’m gonna put on a movie!” Said Ava turning to browse the service.

While Hulo was the better of the cheaper streaming services, it still was kind of a mixed bag. Its anime section was the best, especially for a mostly American service. But all she felt like was maybe Evangelical, and she didn’t feel like having to explain it.

she then saw a movie she hadn’t seen in a bit, My Neigbor Jotoro

She always thought it did a good job of mixing its action and comfy scenes together, and the Daemon guys might like it since it’s well animated.

“We’re gonna watch this, k’?” All the Daemons nodded and started to study the T.V.

Ava sat in the middle of the couch between them all. The five men stared at her, paying no mind to the movie. Ava started to get slightly annoyed at this. Not because they were staring at her, but because this really was one of her favorite movies, and she wanted to enjoy it in peace.

“Hey! Movie?” Said Ava. The Daemons nervously looked away.

One of the guys seemingly left, but Ava didn’t pay no attention. At this point, she was pretty engrossed in the movie.

It was only a few minutes into the “Move-ee” till Asch noticed that Rhys left the “cow-ch”

He looked around the room in search for him. He saw him standing by the fridge with a content smile on his face.

He seemed to be enjoying whatever they were watching, or enjoyed it enough to not be annoyed by it.

Rhys was always like that. He made sure you knew if something pissed him off, but he described it in fancy words, like cross. Sometimes Asch felt like he needed some type of guide to talk to him.

Asch knew deep in his heart though, as much as it annoyed him, he felt something towards Rhys.

The way he was so passionate about everything he talked about, how his eyes sparkled in the moonlight, how intricate and detailed all his hairstyles were. All of these little things came together to make a tight feeling in his chest.

Even thinking how he would respond to things would make him feel warmer. The fact Rhys knew him so well too. Obviously he’s his advisor so he should, but he knew every little thing.

Sometimes it felt like even if Rhys was Hitoma’s advisor he’d still feel these same feelings.

But Asch couldn’t lie, this feeling pissed him off.

It’s like Rhys invaded his mind sometimes. He’d be doing something completely unrelated to him and think “I wonder what Rhys is doing?” And suddenly thoughts of him clouded his mind.

Or other times Asch would just stare at him with no thoughts at all, or lots of them.

Actually he was doing that right now without noticing.

He snapped himself out of his thoughts and started to blush as he noticed Rhys was staring right at him.

He figured he should follow through with the interaction. Rhys would get annoyed for “wasting his time” as he called it.

He stood up and walked towards Rhys and sat on the counter next to him.

“You don’t have to be here my prince…” whispered Rhys, “Go watch the movie with everyone else. I really don’t mind.”

“Nah, I can watch from here.” Asch thought for a bit, “why would you assume I wouldn’t wanna be here?”

Rhys stayed quiet, which really annoyed Asch. He always kept certain things from him. Stuff that would help him understand him better.

“Can’t you just tell me? It’s not that hard…” Said Asch. Rhys finally looked at him.

“It’s just something that you said is all…it’s a childish reason.” Said Rhys looking back at the T.V.

“Rhys if I say something you didn’t like tell me. You’re usually really good at that.” Asch quietly laughed at himself.

Rhys once again fell quiet, but he reached to grab Asch’s hand. He stopped halfway through, and turned to look at Asch.

“When I was a kid, a lot of times I was called soft for crying about certain things or my head being more sensitive when styling my hair.” Whispered Rhys in a way only Asch could hear. “I didn’t even talk till I was three.”

“I’ve never seen you cry though.”

“exactly.”

Asch could feel the air around them becoming awkward. He wanted this conversation to lead to some type of comfort between them. Despite how wimpy that sounded.

“I won’t call you soft anymore. I didn’t know it had that much baggage with it.” Said Asch looking into Rhys’s eyes.

“I know I tell you this a lot but…I like you for you and stuff. You don’t have to repress anything about yourself.” Said Asch. Rhys looked at him surprisingly.

Asch didn’t really know what he did to deserve this type of reaction.

“Ah sorry…I’ve never heard you use that word before.” Said Rhys with genuine respect.

Asch got a bit mad thinking it was something else.

“Also…you look…beautiful in this sunset…that’s what humans call this time of day I think.” Rhys cupped Asch’s face while moving hair out of the way.

Asch immediately turned into bright red. He wasn’t expecting something like this.

Rhys quickly took his hand away with his horns turning a dark purple.

“My apologies my prince…that was unprovoked.” He turned to the T.V. nervously.

“You’re fine Rhys…I’m glad you think I look good.” Said Asch bewildered to how he said that whole sentence without stuttering.

“Y-You wanna go sit with the rest of the group or do you wanna stay here.” Said Asch turning to the T.V.

“No…it’s a bit too crowded for my liking. I like being alone together as well.” Said Rhys not comprehending how that sounded.

“I know we’re not technically alone but in each others vicinity and only that.”

Asch somehow blushed even more. He didn’t even think he could turn so red.

Yet they stayed in the kitchen area watching the movie from afar. It was actually good and they like the action in it. At least Asch did.

They watched a few more movies with nobody on the couch noticing Rhys and Asch weren’t there anymore. Realistically Asch should be mad about that, but he didn’t have anything built up in him to fuel that anger.

It was dark outside by the time they finished the last movie, and Ava had to take a call.

“I actually kinda enjoyed tonight! We can do something else tomorrow.” She sniffed a bit, “eugh, maybe bathe.”

She walked into her room leaving the five men to themselves.

“No way we smell that bad.” Said Leif while sniffing himself.

Pierce joined him in that endeavor, “You smell like ass Leif.”

“Oh fuck you!” Yelled Leif.

“Those move-eez were great but I’m pretty tired…” said Noi while yawning

All the Daemons agreed with him and went to their respective spots.

“Oh…haha! Hey dads!” Said Ava nervously.

“Ava! Pumpkin! Lorelei told us you lost your job! Again! Don’t worry sweet baby! We’ll get you all fixed up!” Rambled her dad, Devon.

“No dad it’s fine! I’m occupied right now and y’know I’ve already have a few jobs in mind.” Said Ava.

“Occupied? Occupied with what?” Said Devon. Ava wanted to kick herself for even saying anything hinting she had anything else going on.

“J-Just..! Uhm…friends..?” Ava could almost hear the skepticism on the other end.

“If you say so honey…” Said Devon, “kisses!”

“Kisses…” said Ava as she hung up the phone.

she laid on her bed while cussing Lorelei out in her head. She didn’t know why she would tell them that, and her dads are crazy. They might come tomorrow or something.

She hid that worry deep into her head in order to rest, and let the sleep consume her.

Hiii!!! I did it! Finally! I’m so glad I finished this i genuinely hope you like it! Being done with this is the best thing to happen this week cus lemme tell you school is already beating me rn. It’s legit only been three weeks and I’ve already had like 10 tests it’s so wild 😭 Like I’ve said before these chapters are going to take way more time than before because of school so I hope you understand!

[voidthewanderer]

If you go onto my AO3 page, you'll notice that four of my posts are missing. Mnemonic Impressions, Chemical Love, Christmas Miracles, and the Drabbles/One Shots collection. I've removed them to rewrite them.

Unfortunately, Mnemonic Impressions strayed way too far from the plot I'd originally intended to the point that it's probably just never actually going to wind up being finished. There were too many loose ends that I made for no real reason, honestly. I'm going to be tightening up the plot, removing the unnecessary side plots with irrelevant characters and actually getting to finish.

Chemical Love only had two chapters up anyways; however I want to work a little bit more on it before reposting it. One of those "I know where I want to go with it, but it's gonna need a few drafts" sort of thing and I should have held off posting it until I actually had a more concrete storyline.

The Drabble/One Shots I took down because I do want to rewrite my older stuff. Even though they're original character centric stories, I also wouldn't hate posting them individually more as "Slice of Life" world building type things.

Christmas Miracles is because I needed to rewrite it anyways, but since it technically takes place after Mnemonic Impressions, I want to be able to rewrite it how I had originally intended to write it. So that won't be back until after Mnemonic Impressions is finished.

Now, as for the two I've left up: Addicted is in a place where I can move forward without issue. I'm just currently stuck on chapter five because I know I need to tread carefully with what was revealed (and implied) at the end of chapter four. It's a sensitive subject and I refuse to write it shitty and incorrectly portray what Shae would be feeling upon learning that information. I need to make sure I do all of my proper research and fully understand the emotions that someone like her would go through before I actually post anything.

Dinner Date is staying up as world building for my personal Fallout universe. I've already rewritten it so that it flows a bit better.

I have been... very distracted... for a while now with my writing. That's why I've been focusing a little bit more on getting at least one prompt done when I have them in my inbox a week. I just can't focus on writing right now for some reason. I'm really not sure why. But, I am trying. I'm just hoping I can get back on track soon. There's a lot going on in my mind right now (as well as just a lot going on in general), which is probably why I'm so flighty with my writings; but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

Thank you for understanding my reasoning for this decision! I hope that the flighty mood towards my actually accomplishing any writing ends soon.

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children: Redux | I. In Lieu of Flowers

Starting off my crossposting journey with PC:R <3

There is no Clockwork there to rewind time after the Nasty Burger explosion. Danny Fenton, having witnessed his friends and family die a fiery death, struggles to cope with his loss and the looming future that awaits him. So when an unlikely source offers a hand to help, he takes it. Three years later, Batman is called upon to help solve a string of impossible murders in Gotham that end up entangling him to the mysteries of Amity Park. -- A Rewrite of Phantom Children ft. A shiny new plot, longer chapters, and stronger prose!

A DPxDC crossover // Read on [AO3} or [FFN.net]

MASTERPOST // Next Chapter →

Three Years Ago…

Danny Fenton was fourteen when his world ended for the third time.

And no, this wasn’t the product of teenage melodrama. Rather it’s the result of the universe’s spirited efforts in making Danny’s life a veritable punching bag for any deity to come over and fuck it up . 

He certainly didn’t ask to half-die not once, but twice , and be responsible for this godforsaken town. That’s a thing heroes do. Or sidekicks that train under heroes. Not some dumb kid barely halfway through his first semester of high school and who was incapable of keeping his grades higher than a C . 

But, well, this was what he got for playing hero, right? Dead parents, dead sister, and dead friends, all because he was too goddamn slow .

(The prerequisite to every hero: a tragic backstory. Guess it was finally his turn.)

The weather went from a light mist to a drizzle, raindrops falling in uneven staccato on the cluster of black umbrellas. He could barely hear the ceremony— not that he was able to pay much attention anyway. Danny tried to. He did. But his mind was a blue screen— had been for the past few weeks—and the preacher’s words were just going in one ear and out the other in loud static.

His fingers curled around the velvet pouch in his pocket, grounding himself. He’d dug it out from its lockbox in the depths of his closet for this exact reason. 

In front of Danny was a single plot reserved for the Fenton family, the grass undisturbed except for the muddy dirt and drooping flowers around the erected marble obelisk that stood atop the plot. (Undisturbed because there wasn’t any need to dig up the ground for a coffin. You’d need bodies for that, and there were hardly any left after—) At the obelisk’s base was a bronze placard engraved with the names of three of the people who once comprised Danny's whole world, and an epitaph: Gone but Never Forgotten. 

Vlad must have chosen it. The obelisk was his decision too; excessive and grand because he would provide nothing less for his greatest enemy, his greatest love, and their wonderful, genius, perfect daughter. 

Danny looked away from the monument, his hair a damp curtain that shadowed his eyes. No mom left to brush it out of the way. No dad to ruffle it into something even messier. There’s a— a pressure at the back of his throat that nauseated him to the point of discomfort but not enough to actually vomit in the nearest shrubbery. He rubbed his scratchy throat with his free hand, letting it rest by his clavicle. Right above where his heart was being mercilessly squeezed by his own guilty conscience. 

He should have been the one to plan his family’s funeral. The one to write their obituary. The one to choose the headstone. The flowers. The date. Everything. It was his responsibility. His duty to make all these decisions as the— 

Danny bit the inside of his lip.

He should have been more responsible. Should have been— oh he didn't know— there when all the decisions were made instead of holing up in a corner of the Zone and letting Vlad take care of it all. God, what kind of son was he to have the audacity to get his family killed and foist off arranging the funeral to the guy who wanted to kill his dad . 

But maybe that was better. Leaving the decision-making to someone else, that is. God knows that Danny makes all the wrong choices.

(If only he was faster he was stronger he saved his family before going after his evil future selfhe gave back the test answers sooner that boiler never overheated.)

The hand on his shoulder nearly made Danny jump out of his skin. 

He shifted his umbrella to see his aunt Alicia looking down at him, concern and pity softening her usually stoic features. Vlad flew her in from Spittoon. When? Danny didn’t know, though somewhere in his foggy memories he might have recalled Vlad asking how to reach Danny’s relatives. It was only aunt Alicia who came in the end, though. His mom and aunt Alicia never liked to talk about their parents, and his dad was an only child who was far too estranged from his own.

“Ceremony’s over, kid. You okay?” 

He’d scoff, but he didn’t want to tempt his nausea. 

“I’ll live.” He winced, the words bitter on his tongue. “I’m fine, I mean.” 

Aunt Alicia pressed her lips into a thin, flat line. “The rain’s getting a little worse. Do you want to head back home?”

Home? Where even was that anymore? 

“I think I wanna stay out here for now.”

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No— I just…I want to be alone, I think.”

She sighed, giving a comforting squeeze to his shoulder before dropping her hand. “Alright. I’ll just be waiting for you in the car then.”

Danny nodded absentmindedly, gaze trained on the drooping white lilies by the placard. At the corner of his eye, he saw Vlad approach aunt Alicia, somber-faced but calculating as they headed to the car.

The future he tried to escape was already playing out. Pieces slotting into place like some jigsaw puzzle of doom. 

In his quiet moments, holed up in the corner of his parents’ room, he’d ponder the what-ifs. The should-have, could-have, would-have-beens. He’d think of the future in all its terrible glory and wonder where else it could have all gone wrong. The trigger was—surprise, surprise— Vlad. Or, living with him, that is. If he wanted to put an ounce of trust in that sob story future-Vlad spun, then it was Danny’s own grief coupled with Vlad’s invention that sent the world spinning into its destruction.

(Future-Vlad might have helped him. Might have turned over a new leaf. But there was an entire decade that separated Future-Vlad from the present- Vlad. And Danny would rather cut off his own arm than trust present-Vlad with anything related to Danny’s well-being.)

Danny knew jack shit about the adoption process, but he was 80% sure most social workers would place Danny with his aunt as opposed to his parents’ old college buddy that they recently connected with. That Danny ended up living with Vlad meant that either Aunt Alicia didn’t pass whatever assessment the state required, or Vlad used his influence to tip the scales in his favor. Probably both. 

So the law would never let him live with anyone but Vlad— the fruit loop would make sure of that. Danny’s only option left was to run away, then.

Hm. How long could one half-dead fourteen-year-old realistically outrun a half-dead crazy billionaire with enough connections in both the human world and the Ghost Zone? 

Survey says—

Fuck .

“Our condolences, Daniel.” 

Danny startled. Who the—

He tilted his head the other way, shifting his focus to the woman who just appeared next to him. Sure Danny found his own attention slipping into darker places more often than not these days, but he should have noticed if someone came near him.

No, wait. Aunt Alicia managed to sneak up on him earlier. Maybe Danny really was just out of it. 

 “The doctors Fenton did brilliant work, and your sister had such a bright future ahead of her. Their loss will be felt.”

“Thank you,” Danny answered. The words are still ash on his tongue but he didn’t stumble over them anymore. “I…appreciate your support.”

The woman was tall, with a wiry physique and cool tawny skin. She had an oval face, a straight nose, and sharp features, though much of it was slightly obscured by her hat, the black netting ending just past her nose. Her hands were tucked into the pockets of her long black coat. 

The man—and Danny knew he’d seen him somewhere before, it was on the tip of his tongue—shared in the similar sharp characteristics, but his coloring was a lot lighter. He had long white hair that extended past his shoulders and a long horseshoe mustache that should have looked stupid, but somehow he managed to make it work. He held a single umbrella for both himself and the woman.

His mind clicked. Recognition alight on his face. 

“Mr. Dusan?”

Dusan smiled. “I am pleased that you still remember me, Daniel.”

Mr. Dusan, if Danny remembered correctly, was his parents’ liaison with their benefactor. The CEO of some sort of big research company whose name Danny never really bothered to pay attention to. They had been funding his parents’ research since their university days, and it was because of them that the Fentons managed to get their hands on enough samples of ectoplasm to experiment and research on. Mr. Dusan would be sent every once in a while to observe his parents’ studies, much to the Fenton family’s stress and delight. His visits would be preceded with days of cleaning the house from top to bottom and Danny’s parents frantically getting their stuff organized. But a good visit from Mr. Dusan always ended with the family going out for a nice dinner the day after. 

It was one of Danny’s favorite times, really.

“Just Danny, please.”

“Danny, then,” Dusan said. “May I introduce you to my sister, Talia al Ghul?”

Sister? Danny raised his hand for a handshake, deciding not to comment on the age difference. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m, uh, sorry it’s not during better circumstances.”

Talia shook his hand with a closed-lipped, but somber smile. “Our employer—your parents’ benefactor—actually sent us to give his condolences, and to extend a helping hand if you should ever need it.”

“What?”

“Your parents were pioneers, Danny. Their research changed the face of the world as we know it despite how much they were ridiculed for it. It would be remiss of their benefactor to simply leave their legacy, their only son, alone to the wolves.” Her voice was smooth and honey-sweet, and Danny felt compelled to listen. “If you need anything, anything at all, feel free to reach out to us.” 

She handed him a business card. It was crisp, made from thick card stock. Blank except for a single number in the middle. 

Danny turned it over in his hand. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

He tucked it into his pocket. “Thank you for your offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“We will be in town for the next few days,” Dusan said. “We hope to hear from you soon.”

◆◆◆

Later, aunt Alicia asked if Danny would rather stay with her at the hotel. She’d ask this every time they parted ways, and each time Danny would say no, thank you.

She didn’t push too much. Knew, probably, that it was only a matter of time that Danny would have to leave his house to live…wherever it was his social worker decided to stick him in.

Danny appreciated her concern— even if he would rather do without it. 

He slipped off his black suit jacket, throwing it over the back of the couch as he walked past the living room. His mom would throw a fit at that. He scrambled down to the lab, taking the steps two at a time, hands wrenching the tie from around his neck—and god fuck why did his skin feel so hot. The tie ended up somewhere on the steps, the velvet bag safely stowed away in a drawer full of blueprints. He kicked off his stupid dress shoes. A safety hazard, his dad would say. The lab floor needed to be clear at all times to prevent an accident.

Too fucking late for that.

White rings passed through him with blinding fury as Danny burst through the portal between dimensions and into the silence of the Ghost Zone. 

He floated. Aimless.

And breathed. 

◆◆◆

Danny picked a direction. Eenie-meenie-minie-moe . It’s no use trying to logic out directions in the Ghost Zone. Not when the islands thought of physics as nothing more than a joke. He set off north-north-west of the portal and tried his luck there.

Tucker and Sam would call him stupid. There were probably a billion-and-one better ways to find Clockwork’s stupid tower than this. 

Jazz would say he’s still stuck on the bargaining stage—

Jazz can’t say anything anymore.

None of them can.

◆◆◆

Jessica Andrews, his social worker, took him out to a quiet cafe to talk. She was a tall woman with a stocky frame, brown skin, and a soft rounded face. Her nails were painted a light green; it was to match her plants, she’d say. Once, she’d told him about how her husband would complain about all the plants she bought because he couldn’t figure out where the jungle stopped and the house began. 

The cafe was far enough away from most schools and built below some bible store, its facade made from faded red brick with a charcoal gray awning. A few circular tables and chairs were laid out front, though they sat empty. The weather had been everything but gloomy for the past few days.

Jessica clasped her hands over the table, green nails tap-tap-tapping against her knuckles. “How have you been holding up, Danny?” 

They’re seated by the giant window, though there wasn’t much to look at on the other side. Just the road and more old buildings on the other side. 

“‘M fine.”

“That’s wonderful.” She could tell that he was lying; he’d bet on it. “How has your sleep been?”

Danny pointedly drank his coffee— brewed as dark as he could with as many espresso shots he could manage to order without the barista giving him a strange look. “Fine.”

She raised an eyebrow. “The black holes under your eyes beg to differ.”

“I’d rather skip all this small talk if that’s ok.”

“Alright, if that’s what you want.” She brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. “I promised you early on that I’d keep you informed of how the courts are handling your case.”

He huffed, sinking into his chair. He already knew the outcome. “They decide where to stick me yet?”

“They’re still doing their due diligence and contacting as many of your adult relatives as possible in order to find a suitable guardian.”

“I’m sensing some sort of catch here.”

“The people looking over your case have considered your request to be placed with your aunt Alicia.”

“They said no.”

“They had some…concerns,” she said. “Your aunt’s residence is very isolated, which might prevent you from getting the proper help you need. There were also some concerns about how you would handle a sudden dramatic shift in lifestyles, what with being moved away from your school, your community, your peers, into someplace extremely unfamiliar.”

Danny leveled a look at her. “There’s something else, too, isn’t there.”

Jessica gave him a look of pity. “Your aunt also expressed some…hesitancy in taking you in when we talked with her.”

His breath caught. Teeth gnawed at the inside of his lip. Fuck. He rubbed the back of his neck, slowly inching it up to tug at the back of his hair, the other hand curling into a fist beneath the table. Fuck—

He knew he knew this would happen but he still—

—Can’t believe that he held onto that—

—What was he thinking?

“Danny?”

Fingernails dug crescents into the inside of his palm. He takes a deep breath. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. Don’t— I’m fine. It’s fine.”

He shivered.

 Dan’s laughter echoed from the back of his skull, mocking him. It’s inevitable, Dan crowed. I am inevitable. You can’t stop the future any more than you could stop the sun from rising.

◆◆◆

Clockwork’s tower was nowhere to be found. Danny didn’t know why he kept on searching. Sheer stubbornness, maybe. Some foolish hope beyond all hope that if he begged hard enough, Clockwork would be willing to do him a favor and rewind time back to when everything made sense. 

Sometimes Danny doesn’t even go to the Ghost Zone to find him. 

Sometimes he’ll just find some patch of the Zone with enough floating rocks and scream. Scream until his voice is hoarse and he could no longer sustain his ghost form. Until the rocks are nothing but pebbles floating in the green void. Until all that’s left is the freezing cold inside of him.

The ghosts had been staying away from Amity Park. 

Good.

He didn’t know what he would do if any of them showed up now.

Danny woke up with his skin freezing-on-fire-cold-too-cold-he-can’t-stop-sweating. He didn’t remember calling anyone, but he must have, considering that someone showed up in his room with a bowl of chicken soup and a glass of Gatorade. 

He should’ve been more alarmed at this— there was a stranger in his house. But right now his head was begging to be smashed in with a hammer and he’s just glad that he was not alone.

“Do you think you could sit up and eat, Danny?” The figure sat down at the edge of his bed, one hand on top of the blanket cocoon he made for himself. A woman. An accent that was definitely not American. British, maybe? Either way, not aunt Alicia. 

His stomach rumbled. At least this time it didn’t feel like throwing up everything. Danny pushed himself up with aching slowness, leaning back against the headboard. Bleariness blinked away from his eyes, he saw his caretaker’s features more clearly. It was—it started with a T. Tania? Tasnia? No, Talia was the name. Mr. Dusan’s sister.

“Ms. al Ghul? What are you doing here?”

“You don’t remember?” She sets the bowl down on his bedside table, in easy reach, and hands him the glass. “You called the number Dusan and I gave to you sounding delirious. We were worried but Dusan had some pressing business to attend to, so I came on my own.”

“Oh.” The drink was heaven to his parched throat. “How did you get inside?”

Her eyes—a unique shade of green—sparkled with mirth. “I have my ways.”

“Oh-kay .” He rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. “Thank you. For coming all this way, I mean. You really shouldn’t have to come and take care of some kid you just met.”

“Nonsense, Danny. I could hardly leave you alone in such conditions, it would be against my instincts as a mother.”

“You have kids?”

“I have one,” she said, then paused as if contemplating something. “No, I had two.”

Danny bit the inside of his cheek, thumb wiping away the condensation on the surface of his now empty glass. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Talia let out a sad sort of chuckle. “Thank you, though it’s not needed. He’s— my eldest son—isn’t dead. Certain circumstances forced me into the position to give him up for adoption. He’s alive and well, hopefully, though he probably doesn’t know that I exist.”

Oh. Danny didn’t know what to say to that.

“You didn’t try to get into contact with him?”

“What would be the point? He has his own parents now, a life free of complications. The best I could hope for was that he kept the memento I gave him.”

“A memento?”

“A necklace.”

Danny stilled. 

It was stupid. Foolish even, to think about it. There are like over seven billion people in the world.

“What kind of necklace, if you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

Talia smiled, eyes glazed as if in memory. “It was a present from his father. A beautiful work of art, it was. It was a sapphire necklace— with two rows of sapphires, to be exact, cut in perfect circles and polished to a shine.”

The velvet bag Danny had tucked beneath his pillow burned at the back of Danny’s mind. It can’t be. That was too much of a coincidence.

“Each sapphire was surrounded by gold, though there were small diamonds that surrounded the larger sapphires.”

Oh god, oh god. What was his life?

“Though beautiful, my favorite part of it had to be what was within the middle sapphire. It was possible to open it, you see. And engraved inside were the words—”

“‘ For the greatest happiness you have given me.’”

Talia looked at him, green eyes wide. “How did you know?”

Danny found himself unable to look at her. Gingerly, he set his glass bedside table, next to his cooling bowl of chicken soup, and retrieved the velvet pouch beneath his pillow. He held the bag to her, almost reluctantly, but relinquished it once it was in her grip.

Talia opened the bag and drew out a necklace. Two rows of sapphires inlaid in gold, with the largest ones surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was beautiful, though perhaps it no longer shone as it once did. 

She beheld it in silence, fingers tracing the exquisite craftsmanship as if, at first, in disbelief, then in reverence. She stopped at the large sapphire on the bottom row. 

After a moment, she opened it.

“My parents told me I was adopted when I was six,” Danny said, unable to take the silence any longer. He tangled his fingers together, clasping and unclasping them. “They gave me that necklace— said it was from my birth mother. They never knew who she was, and the orphanage they got me from had no information either.”

Tucker and Sam once asked him if he ever wanted to know who his birth mother was. Danny wasn’t sure what he wanted, really. Sometimes he wondered about it, but he was content with not knowing for the most part. His parents were his parents, blood relation or no, and he looked similar enough to Jack Fenton in coloring that most people didn’t question why his skin wasn’t as light as theirs, or why his features were a lot sharper than theirs.

(Tucker and Sam never knew about the necklace. It was hard to explain why he never told them considering he’d tell them just about anything else— but it was different. It was…something just for him. A cold comfort in knowing that, at one point, he was someone’s ‘greatest happiness.’)

He coughed into his elbow, a shiver racking his spine.

Warm arms enveloped him into a hug. 

“ It’s you, ” Talia whispered. “ It’s you.”

Something inside Danny seemed to click back into place. His core thrummed gently, humming a litany of feelings and words he couldn’t translate. Some are apprehensive. Others are confused. But most of all it felt…happy.

Warm.

◆◆◆

“You know that I’m adopted, right?” Danny said to Mrs. Andrews when they met up again. It was a park this time; she was really adamant about getting him out of his house. 

“I am aware, yes.”

“When you mentioned that all my relatives would be identified and informed… does my biological mother count too?”

Mrs. Andrews exhaled between her teeth. “I know what you’re asking about, but I’m afraid it isn’t an option. In adoption cases like yours, the biological parents usually relinquish all parental rights over the child. Even if we did find your biological mother, the court would never let her have custody over you again.”

He shivered, pulling his jacket closer around him, and wondered why he still put so much faith in the legal system. 

◆◆◆

It was only a matter of time before Vlad came to visit him once again.

“What do you want, Vlad .”

The black bags beneath Vlad’s eyes were the only thing unkempt about his otherwise neat appearance. Mourning or not, his smile still made Danny’s fist itch to punch it. “Why, little badger, can I not see how the son of my oldest friends is doing?”

“I’m not living with you, you fruit loop.”

Vlad rolled his eyes. “Really, Daniel, this disinclination of yours is getting tiring. Just accept it and the moving process will be much, much easier.”

Danny glared at him, green eyes livid. His teeth bared and gnashing. “I’d rather die than live with you.”

“Well, you’re already halfway there. Need help finishing the job?”

He swung his fist at him, but Vlad caught it with ease. “Get out of my house!”

“There’s no use in being difficult, now. You know as well as I do that the courts will inevitably choose me .”

( Inevitable, Dan had said. Inevitable inevitable inevitable.)

“Shut up.” Danny seethed. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” 

As he tore his hand away from Vlad’s grip, a spark of power burst in between them in a blinding white light and bitter cold. Vlad threw up a shield, but Danny was too caught off guard. He was blasted back, knees hitting the armrest on the couch and nearly making him stumble. When the light cleared, Danny could see swathes of crystalline ice and frost embedded in the middle of the living room.

Frost had crept up Vlad’s shield, coating it in a thin wall of ice which broke the second Vlad released the barrier. Vlad looked down at the ice, face flashing between surprise, confusion, awe, before settling into a patronizing smile. 

“Do you see now?” Vlad said, gesturing to the ice. “This is why I’m the only one suitable to be your guardian. I am the only one that can understand you. That knows your needs as a young half-ghost. That can guide you and teach you.”

A bitter cold shook Danny’s body to the core, frost seeping into his bones and the bite of winter in his lungs. A thin layer of frost coated his palms and fingertips. His face is flushed. He feels hot but the shivers won’t stop.

Vlad approached, arms opened wide like he’s approaching some scared animal. Like a little badger. 

Danny hissed at him, scrambling to his feet to place the couch between them. 

“Come on, Daniel, just let me take care of you.”

“Go to hell, Vlad!”

“Tch.” Vlad dropped his hands, fingers dragging through his hair in exasperation. “Fine. You know what, fine. Have it your way. Perhaps some time experiencing the mania will help you understand my meaning.” He went to the door with a frustrating degree of calm. His suit cleanly pressed, not a strand misplaced in his hair, a total contrast to Danny who felt seconds away from collapsing on the floor. 

“Do try to keep a hold of yourself, though,” Vlad said over his shoulder. “Your parents might be dead, but they are hardly the only ghost hunters around.”

He slammed the door shut. 

Danny sank to his knees, arms wrapped around himself as he vigorously tried to rub his skin warm. What was wrong with him? 

Was his sickness a few days ago related to this? He thought he just caught some sort of bug, or, or it was the stress of it all affecting his body, but the ice—

This wasn’t a normal sickness.

Vlad called it a mania. What did that mean?

He shook his head, arm reaching for the back of the couch and hauling himself up. Figuring out Vlad’s words wasn’t his biggest concern; right now, Danny needed a way to get rid of this ice. Talia and Mr. Dusan were coming over soon to go over his parents’ research, he needed to—

They can’t figure out that he’s—

Danny stumbled down to the lab, frantically looking for any of his parents’ inventions that could help get rid of the ice. 

No. No. Not that. Not that either. 

His arm suddenly went intangible, slipping through the lab bench. The sudden momentum made him lose balance and he hit his head on the side of the bench. He staggered upright, rubbing his pounding head. What was wrong with his powers? They hadn’t been this out of whack since he’d first gotten them in the accident.

A violent shiver ran through him, his breath coming out in a cold mist. Frost had begun to creep outwards from the soles of his shoes. 

Danny stepped back. The frost followed. 

His eyes darted around the room, mind racing for a solution. His frenzied gaze landed on the ghost portal, the entrance sealed shut by the heavy metal doors. Tucker once said that he noticed that Danny seemed to recover energy faster when he was in the Ghost Zone. They’d tested it at one point by letting the Box Ghost loose on the town and seeing how much energy Danny could recover if he rested in the material world versus the Ghost Zone.

It was still a working theory. Tucker and Sam wanted to test it out some more later.

They never got a chance.

It was a long shot but it was better than nothing. 

He ran to the front of the portal where the genetic locking mechanism lay. But as Danny went to push the button, ice sparked from his fingers, freezing the lock solid.

“What? No!” He slammed his fist onto the ice but the ice wouldn’t break. “Nononono, this can’t be happening right now.” 

He shivered, eyes holding a manic glint as he looked at the portal. “I’m going ghost!” Bright rings of light enveloped him, and suddenly it became impossibly colder. 

Floating in the air, Danny curled in on himself, teeth chattering as he tried to regain his composure. He flew to the portal, willing himself intangible as he tried to go through the doors, but slammed into cold metal instead. Either whatever materials his parents made the door out of completely negated his intangibility or his powers were in really bad shape.

He got up, hands pressed against the portal doors. He willed himself intangible once more, but instead of his arms passing through the doors, a thick sheet of ice sprouted from his hands and started crawling up the portal. “No!”

Danny tore his hands away from the door but the ice kept growing and growing and growing. Stretched across the doors until it covered the entire entrance to the portal. Its jagged ends stopped past the octagonal metal frame and clung to the walls.

Oh god, This can’t get any worse.

“Danny?”

And then it did.

He took a deep breath. Like a deer in headlights, he turned around to see Talia and Mr. Dusan at the foot of the basement stairs. Talia was in front, a hand braced against the wall, one foot on the floor and one still on the step. Dusan, ever the statuesque figure, was right behind, hands still clasped behind his back. Their eyes were, mouth slightly agape at the sight of him.

It was then that Danny registered what Talia said. 

The words tumbled out of him, “You recognized me?” 

He clamped his mouth shut. Idiot. 

Talia took her hand off the wall and stepped completely into the lab. “Of course, I would. You’re my son.”

The words sent a brief spark of warmth through his core. Not even his own parents recognized him when he was Phantom. 

“I wasn’t aware that you were a meta, Danny.” She gracefully stepped around the patches of ice on the ground. “How long has this been going on?”

“Um, uh. A few months.” At this point, there really was no point in lying. “Since the start of the semester.”

“A lab accident, I presume.”

“Yeah….uh, how did you know?”

The corners of her mouth quirked up. “No one on my side of the family has the meta gene, and while your father is quite impressive, I’m very certain he does not have it either. An accident of some sort would be the only other option.”

He felt himself start to relax, muscles starting to relax at the sound of Talia’s calm voice. The shivers were still present, but somehow they were a little more bearable. 

“Now why don’t you explain to us what happened?”

“I don’t—” Danny swallowed a lump in his throat. “I don’t even know what’s going on, much less where to begin. All I know is that I’ve been feeling out of sorts for the past few weeks. I thought I was just sick but apparently, it’s way more than that, and I don’t know what to do, I barely even know what I am, much less what’s wrong with me and that fever must have done something because ever since then my powers have been on the fritz and there’s this stupid ice that won’t melt and I can’t keep it under control and if I can’t keep my powers under control how am I supposed to hide the fact that I’m a fucking ghost —”

“Slow down, slow down. You’re starting to panic. Now, I need you to take a few deep breaths for me,” she said, now a few feet away from Danny. “In for four…hold for seven…yes that’s it, you’re doing well…and out for eight.”

Calm began to seep back into Danny with each breath, his mind no longer racing a million miles an hour. “Thank you— thanks, I, um, I feel much better now.” 

“That’s good. Now, what was that about ghosts?”

“Uh, that I am one? Sort of? It’s complicated.”

“I guess we can get the full story later. Does anyone else know about this?”

“No, no one.” He paused, then grimaced. “Well, there’s one other person. He’s sort of like me and, before you ask, I can’t tell you who he is. The only other people who knew about me are the other ghosts and…Sam and Tucker.”

“Not your parents?” Dusan, who had been a silent observer till now, stepped closer.

Danny shook his head. “No, I— I never got the chance to tell them. At first, I wanted to keep it a secret because I didn’t want them to know about the accident, but afterward, it just became harder and harder, what with their research and ghosts and the government and I just…” He sank back down to the floor, despondent. “I just didn’t want them to feel…guilty, I guess.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “It doesn’t matter now, though. It’s too late to tell them either way.”

“Oh, Danny, habibi. My poor child.” Talia extended her arms out to embrace him, but Danny stepped back.

“I don’t— my powers they’re— I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smiled. “You won’t. Trust me.”

Danny…Danny found himself trusting her. He let the transformation fall, taking one step closer to Talia, his hand stretched out. Their hands touched, and Talia’s words rang true. The ice did not touch her, nor did the frost, and Danny breathed out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, this would certainly complicate the matters of your guardianship,” Dusan said, now a few feet away from them. “If I am of the correct assumption that you have no wish for anyone to know of your status. What of the man you mentioned—the one who is like you—could he take you in?”

“No. Never. That man is not an option.”

Talia carded her fingers through Danny’s hair in a soothing motion. “It is a shame we could not make a strong enough case to take custody of you.” She paused, humming pensively. “Although…” Turning to Dusan, she continued. “Do you think father would…?”

Dusan considered it. “Well, he would certainly be delighted at the prospect of another grandchild, especially one like Danny. But you know how he is.”

Danny looked at them inquisitively. Talia turned her attention back to him. “Our father—your grandfather—is a very powerful man. But he is a very secretive man, and much of his influence is in secrets and shadows. Much of his machinations he prefers to keep in the dark. But if you were willing to prove yourself to him, then it is not beyond his power to craft you a new life.”

“You—you’re talking about a new identity.”

“Daniel Fenton could never be with us,” Dusan said. “But Danyal al Ghul on the other hand….”

“I…” Danny lowered his gaze to the floor. Well, he was prepared, on some level, to give up his name. He had plans to run away, and going by ‘Danny Fenton’ would just be putting a target on his back if Vlad decided to look for him. 

“We could be a family, Danny,” Talia whispered. “Like we always should have been.”

Family. The words felt warm inside his chest. At the back of his mind, his core hummed eagerly at the prospect. Family-family-a-place-to-belong.

But to give up his name…to give up his life …would he really be willing to do that? But if he wasn’t, then being handed over to Vlad might as well be—

( Red eyes. A looming shadow. Screams unheard because of the explosion. A world in ruin. Inevitable. Inevitable.)

“ I’ll do it.” He steeled his resolve. There was no other choice. “I’ll go with you. What do I have to do?”

Talia grinned wide. Dusan’s eyes gleamed with approval. 

“Simple,” he said.  “We must kill Danny Fenton.”

[dbarn]

I had a manic month of just cranking out pages on my WIP, and got it up to 30K words. Then the well ran dry. Completely and utterly dry.

It's been about a month since I hit that wall. Every few days, I'd go back and load up the document and reread bits. And the bits were good. But... I just couldn't make the story go forward.

After enough of these rereads, I finally realized that I didn't like some of the decisions I'd made much earlier -- they were driving the plot in directions I didn't think were sustainable. But because they were early in the story, I just couldn't bring myself to rewrite them in a saner way.

I recognize what I need to do:

plot the entire story out, from beginning to end, in at least a high-level way

cut the pieces out that no longer work according to that outline (but save them!!! never throw anything away)

rewrite the gaps that have appeared

And once again, I discover that knowing what you need to do is very, very different from actually doing it. I've even semi-seriously thought about starting another WIP just to avoid putting in the work on this one. ("No big deal, I have like 15 WIPs at any one time," I hear people say. I've never been able to work that way.)

So anyone who reads this post, this rambling, incoherent post among the others I've written, please send me helpful writing vibes. They will be greatly appreciated.

[shadowynn]

so, just finished my first rewrite of ch. eight, and let me just say, i did not expect it take the direction it did, but something just sort of took a hold of me and the words just started flowing. i didn't plan on revealing as much as i am now when i first started, but i think with the direction i took, certain things needed to be explained. and then after how long it's been since ch. seven, i think it's only right that you get a little extra.

i make no promises, but there is a chance, depending on how things go, that ch. eight might make an appearance tomorrow. i added 4k more words in the rewrite, so it definitely needs some more time to be gone through. but, i've been digging the direction it's taken and am excited to get it out for you all.

with this new direction, i totally did not mean for it to get so angsty in one part as it did (and not in the way you might think) like, i had the base idea for some backstory stuff, but when things started developing, i didn't expect it to take the dark turn it did, but here we are and i think it works well with the direction things are heading.

on that note, i debated whether or not i would give you guys a snippet of things, not because i didn't want to, but because i had a hard time finding something that didn't give things away. but, i think i found a part that i think isn't too much of a spoiler, so it'll be under the cut below. hope you enjoy :)

~

“I’m aware that all of this is probably normal for you, but it’s not for me. It’s foreign, confusing, and more than a little overwhelming. Having a mate might simply be a way of life for you, but it’s not the way I grew up. Perhaps it’s a bit different for you than others, but Hongjoong has known about me my entire life and has had two decades to think things over and make a decision. And I didn’t get any of that. I had it forced upon me before I even knew what was happening, so forgive me, please,” you took a deep breath as your hands clenched from your rising emotions causing the nails to dig into the skin of your sides, “if I seem to have some reservations about it all.”

“Which are perfectly valid, however hard they might be to hear.” As you neared the city’s entrance, [redacted] reached out to you, pulling you to a stop next to him. “And though it may be wrong of me to ask this of you, could you at least give us a try? Things may have started off badly, but is there nothing we can do to redeem ourselves? If it’s time you need, we can give you that. All we ask, all I ask, is that you give us another chance before throwing it all away. Angel, please, I'm begging you.”

The desperation in his voice caught you off guard. The way his eyes pleaded with you in that moment made your stomach twist and you were unable to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds as the feeling of vulnerability hit you once more. Here was one of the Seven, one of the most powerful in your world, all but begging for your forgiveness for the wrong he had done you.

You didn’t know what scared you the most. The raw emotion buried within his words, the way he was looking at you as though you were the only thing that mattered, or the fact that it was working.

You didn’t want it too, still hurt and bitter about what they had done to you, but goddammit, he was right. As a healer, you fully believed that everyone deserved a second chance at life, no matter what they had done. It was why you had been so willing to save the injured daemons. It was why you had been willing to save Seonghwa. Because who were you to decide whether or not they died? Who were you to decide whether or not they deserved a second chance? People made mistakes and who were you to deny them that second chance when they seemed so willing to change. When they were all but begging you to let them redeem themselves.