#but the sheer ranged power is too good to pass up

[boss-poss]

Don't mind me, just hanging with my 7 foot tall goat demon that kidnaps people while they're sleeping and drags them off to be horribly murdered. I have to keep her high off her ass at all times otherwise she just starts killing people but other than that she's pretty chill.

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay so I saw this post about dark percy (really him reaching his Limit and fighting full strength with everything he had) and I was imagining the potential fallout of that. Pretty bad, as you can guess.

The thing is a lot of percys strongest moments happen out of view of the olympians, especially in hoo. The hurricane atop the glacier in alaska, the poison scene in tartarus, bending the depression river and the one in the palace of nyx.

Stuff like the St Helens eruption got him washed up on an inescapable island literally removed from reality until calypso gave him the OK, the achillies curse he got tricked into losing by hera. Smaller moments, the minotaur, fighting ares, the stolen pirate ship, walking on water vs hyperion, freshwater sources, him knowing both Latin and Greek, they're more easily brushed off or at least mostly due to cunning, sword skills and sheer luck and grit.

But basically the olympians don't actually know the full extent of percys strength and divine power. They have hints - percy standing on the throne, winning against ares, his many victories - but what they aren't willing to brush aside in the heat of (an important) battle there have been pretty strong consequences for.

Heck, just look at Frank, he's no prodigy with weapons, he's polite and respectful, but his distant relation to two olympians letting him inherit shapeshifting earned him direct divine meddling and his life force tied to a hunk of half toasted firewood. Man is a honey bear with lactose intolerance and he was punished with a mythical death curse for being too strong.

If Percy's true strength came out, he would risk losing everything. His freedom, most certainly. If he wasn't straight up executed he might wind up in a Greek myth style imprisonment, the way of atlas, prometheus, calypso, or something like the myriad of ways Greek heroes met their end. Good scenario he survives a dozen curses and gets on with life with a dozen new disabilities, best case scenario he's stripped of every inch of divine power and dropped back to the mortal world, not even clear sighted. Total separation from the Greeks and Romans. Oh, annabeth would marry him either way, and his friends would hardly abandon him despite the gods wishes, but they'd hardly be able to see him, and no long range contact without the ability to IM him or vice versa.

All of that to say Percy is hiding his true strength from the gods themselves - maybe not consciously, and it's not even power he particularly wants - but if they ever find out?

It's game over.

But why is he so strong? I don't know. What I do know is that the half bloods of the books are so much stronger than the ones of myth. Used to be that divine blood would get you divine favour and a great fate whether you liked it or not. Maybe some cunning and bow skills. A spot of spell casting if you were really lucky. Achillies got his curse after he was born, Perseus had a dozen magic artifacts, orpheus had something going on but hercules is to my knowledge an outlier. Now? Everyone in camp has some special power. Flight, fire, necromancy, hypnotism, dream walking etc. However it's happening, half bloods are slowly but surely getting a lot, lot stronger every century that passes. Meta? I mean I guess. But.

What no one has done before is something that their godly parent couldn't.

Except.

Except Percy.

Except Percy, in tartarus, at his mental, emotional and physical limit, controlling poison with his mind, overpowering the goddess of poison in her home, making misery choke on misery. Feeling something in his chest crack. Doing something poseidon could not, and doing it better than the person who could.

Down there, hidden away from the gods, he evolved. For that brief moment, he did something, was something new.

And that was how the gods overthrew the titans.

And that's why they must never find out.

[shadebloopnik]

Angelic Alastor AU

"Al!"

The angel turned to the voice and the sound of flapping wings just in time to see the two Archangels land behind him. The smaller of the two- with porcelain skin, rosy cheeks and an otherworldly beauty, bounded towards him full of energy. Golden eyes peered up at him as he spoke.

"Just finished with our spar, and Michael said he loved the hat! I told you it was a good idea!", Lucifer spoke, deep chuckles seeming to brighten the area by its mere presence. He punctuated his words by adjusting the top hat on his head, replacing the usual golden crown, a prideful smile on his face.

"Your brothers clearly love you too much.", Alastor snipes before facing the taller angel, and giving a polite bow. "Your Highness."

Michael gives a solemn nod, adorning a small soft smile. "Always good to see you, Altruist. I had ample time before my next meeting, so I figured I'd accompany my brother on his way to your little appointment."

Michael bore nearly identical features to his younger brother, possessing the same blonde locks, white skin, and golden eyes, albeit being considerably taller. What he lacked, falling a bit behind Lucifer's beauty, he made up for with his dignified grace, a regal authority that rivalled no other. He reminded Alastor of a frozen tundra amidst the plans for the creation of life, as precise as every detail on each snowflake.

"Very well that you did, your Grace, as your brother appears to need it quite a lot."

"It was ONE time! And your directions were very unclear!"

"I fail to see how 'meet me at the gates' translates to 'circle the entirety of heaven for 3 hours', my friend."

"There are a lot of gates in heaven! No matter! They just finished constructing the new nebula! We gotta check it out Alastor! Come on!", Lucifer said, practically bouncing on his feet in excitement and circling the other in flight before dashing off in a burst of speed.

Michael let out a rare chuckle as Alastor sighed in seeming annoyance.

"Always so sprightly, makes me wonder how you keep up with it all, Altruist.", the Archangel spoke, stepping to stand beside the red eyed angel.

"Trust me Sire, its tempting not to follow.", Alastor replied, deadpan as he set his gaze to the direction the Morningstar set off on. Left alone with the other Archangel, without Lucifer with him, Alastor couldn't help but feel a bit insecure. Shuffling his mismatch wings, he subtly moved the upper white set to cover the red and black wings below, his hold on his cane, tightening ever so slightly, though not enough for Michael to notice.

Michael smiled, finding no offense whatsoever from Alastor's words and the casualty of his jabs towards Lucifer. Despite his words, Michael could see the fondness Alastor possessed for the shorter angel, clear as day. Alastor was powerful, only ranking below the Archangels themselves in sheer strength, and would be of higher standing if not for his reclusive nature.

He always wore a smile wherever he went, but it was different for Lucifer, softer, fuller. Alastor shied away from any interaction with his angelic kind, but fully welcomes Lucifer's presence, seeking it, even. It was without a doubt that Alastor cared for his younger brother, his loyalty and selflessness when it came to the younger angel was palpable, fitting of his title, and for that, he had Michael's complete and utter respect.

"But you will, you always do.", Michael turned to face the angel, golden eyes meeting peculiar red. "Its why I trust you with his life."

Its a bit ridiculous perhaps, considering Lucifer was far more powerful than Alastor could ever be, but in the end, it mattered little. Alastor held his brother's heart, and Michael could guess it rang true vice versa.

Alastor's smile froze on his face, his sharp tongue silent as he gazed into the Archangel. A bout of silence passed, broken only by the Morningstar barreling back into Alastor at high speed.

"Alastor come on slow-wings! Hah! Get it? Slow? Wings? Come on, its hilarious, lets goooo!!", Lucifer bounced, gripping at the taller angel's arm, making a show of pulling him along. Evidently he didn't use much force, seeing as how Alastor wasn't immediately carried off, but it was enough to drag the angel rather quickly still.

"Later Michael!", the star spoke with a cheerful wave, before speeding off, dragging a squawking Alastor behind him as the other hastily flapped his mismatched wings, as he struggled to keep up.

Michael smiled at the scene, before turning to leave for his meeting.

Protect his heart, Alastor, it's all I ask of you.

_________________________

The wind roughly brushed the trees around them, as 3 pairs wings fluttered to land, every flap bringing forth powerful gusts. Michael surveyed the area as he went down to Earth, a mossy swamp littered with fireflies, blues and greens seeming to glow under the night sky. He wrenched his eyes down. He couldn't bear to look at a star right now, not after....

He shook the thought away, marching to look for the angel he was looking for. He'd been searching for hours, burning through the whole day. Alastor truly was a recluse, he was impossible to locate when he didn't want to be found. This was the last place he didn't look yet. They'd let Alastor design these swamps, letting him have at least a little hand in the creation of Earth despite his numerous refusals.

There at the edge, he could see him, standing at the edge of the water, mismatched wings cocooning him, the white set covering his entirety until his black wings were nearly out of sight.

"Altruist."

Alastor remained silent, his back to the Archangel. It was perhaps the most disrespectful thing Alastor's ever done to him, what with all his usual obsession with propriety.

"Altruist.", he called again, voice growing desperate, frustrated.

Still, there was no answer.

Michael clenched his teeth, the day's proceedings catching up to him, leaving him with far, far too many emotions.

"Alastor-"

"Don't."

Alastor's voice was cold, an icy tone that rivalled his own. It made Michael angry, frustrated and bitter. Can't Alastor see that he's hurting too? That he's also grieving?

"I lost him too, Alastor."

His voice was filled with emotion he wouldn't dare name. He had to be strong and steady for his brothers, for the rest of heaven. Im front of Alastor though? In matters regarding Lucifer? There was no one Michael could relate to more.

So why can't Alastor see? Did he think this was easy for Michael?! He lost his brother too! He's not the only one suffering!

But deep inside, Michael knew. It wasn't the same. He knew how deep the bond between Alastor and Lucifer ran, perhaps deeper than he ever had with his brother.

Michael's heart was already given to Heaven as a whole, but Alastor's only belonged to one.

"Tell me Michael, whose life did you entrust to me, again?", Michael felt ice crawl up his spine, his heart growing heavier with each word. Alastor spun around, unfurling his wings to face the Archangel. His crimson eyes were redder than usual.

"How, pray tell, am I supposed to do what you asked, when you cast down the one I was supposed to protect? Tell me how can I protect him from the fiery pits you all threw him into? How, am I supposed to GO ON WITHOUT-!"

'Without them', he almost said. No, he couldn't be reckless, couldn't let his emotions get the better. They couldn't know about his own relations with Lilith, he promised the two he'd stay safe. No matter how much it ached, he couldn't go against them.

Michael furrowed his brows in understanding, letting the accusations wash over him. If it were anyone else, he'd have already smote them down for the audacity, but this was Alastor. This was the angel who held his brother's heart; angry and emotional and dreadfully loyal to the star even now. If anything, in respect for his brother, he could endure this.

Schooling his expression, he'd gaze back at the fuming angel before him, his face a blank slate.

"Lucifer's actions were reckless and destructive, with severe consequences. His reckless disobedience, his affiliation with the first woman, its shattering the very foundation of order we worked so hard to maintain. Such crimes cannot go unpunished."

His voice was cold, adopting the mask of a ruthless prince. Right now, he wasn't a brother, he was Michael, Sword of Justice, Protector of Heaven. He had to learn to separate each title, it was the only way to ensure he did his role right. He can't be a brother right now. He won't, not for this.

He wishes it made it hurt less.

As emotionally compromised as he was, Alastor couldn't mask the pain in his face as he squeezed his eyes shut at Michael's tone, knowing he was now speaking to a soldier, not a friend. The sight of it almost made Michael want to break down the mask. Almost. Not nearly enough to actually do so. He was able to bear casting down his own brother, this was nothing.

The thought sent another pang to his heart, and he pushed it to the back of his mind.

"I love him too..", his voice was low, resigned, all energy leaving him as he looked away from the angel before him. Michael was so so tired. "It had to be done."

The swaying of the leaves and the buzz of nearby fireflies were the only things breaking the deafening silence. Now that he thought about it, didn't Lucifer help make these? Little bursts of light flying amidst a darkened swamp...

Why must everything hurt Michael today?

He heard the other take a deep breath, and turned to see the other adopt a smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thank you for your visit, your Highness. You may take your leave now."

Alastor always smiled, even when he didn't mean it, but none of those ever felt as wrong as this one.

"Alas-"

Michael cut off his own words at the other's glare. Alastor's eyes glowed a deep red, his sclera giving its own crimson glow. His glowing wings seemed to curl closer around him. All this while still keeping on that damned smile. It was uncomfortable. It served little to intimidate someone as powerful as Michael, but this wasn't about power.

He's never seen Alastor look so broken.

He may be set apart from the other angels, but he always looked so happy with Lucifer.

......but Lucifer isn't here anymore, is he?

Suppressing a sigh, Michael kept his voice level. ".....Altruist."

Alastor's smile only seemed to widen, contrasting with how his wings curled tighter around himself in a cocoon.

"I wish to be alone. Now.", the deceptively cheerful tone made Michael sick.

Without another word Michael turned around. There was no fixing this. Alastor looked as though a single action would cause him to flee. If Michael didn't take his leave, he'd have left anyway. All Alastor wanted was Lucifer, and Lucifer was condemned in Hell. There's nothing he could do.

As he spread out his wings, he took one last glance at Alastor's smiling face, before taking off, ignoring the muffled sounds of sobbing he left in his wake.

It was the last time he's ever seen Alastor smile.

[tanith-rhea]

I'm not sure if this is has been done or not, but Larissa with a Normie (gn) s/o who is very introverted (the complete opposite of Larissa quite honestly) loves books and what not, but the main point is they don't like their own birthday, especially surprise parties. And poor Larissa doesn't know that about her s/o, because s/o never said anything about the situation or even hinted about they wanted on their birthday (even previous ones). If s/o had a choice, they wouldn't have told Larissa about their BD, Larissa just happened to stumble upon it somehow. But Larissa throws a grand surprise party for her s/o at the school and everyone, and I mean everyone was there. S/o doesn't want to ruin this for Larissa even though it is their day, so they try to stay with the party but gets anxiety and hides away somewhere. Someone eventually points out they aren't here and Larissa goes to finds s/o in their usual hiding spot, she just comforts and holds them and slowly understanding where s/o was feeling about the BD situation and deeply apologizes for this, but s/o told her it wasn't really her fault.

Happy birthday, my dear!

Hey, thank you for my first-ever ask! I hope I didn't forget anything and that you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so, so much for this. Have a lovely day!

Word count: <1k (this is a shorter one, but very sweet)

The days coming up to your birthday were always stressful. You had managed to keep your cool and act normal for most of it, but sometimes the need to be alone was encompassing. You knew it would all be over soon, and you would be a year older, and everything would be fine, but the sheer expectation of having something to show for it was too heavy to bear.

The thing was: you didn't accomplish much in your life. Sure, you were the first doctorated child in your family, but a PhD didn't make you fun at parties. You taught super-powered teenagers the importance of literature and were surprisingly adored by the little hormone-filled humans, but they weren't the posh politicians or CEOs your parents envisioned you spending time with.

You were proud of your achievements, they just didn't seem like achievements most of the time and especially during this time of year.

When the day came and no one acted differently, you could kiss every single person that passed through you. Nobody knew, of course, apart from Larissa, who only discovered it because last year your mother called to offer congratulations and passive-aggressively pry on your life. Everything was good, and tomorrow you would be older, wiser, and a hundred per cent not stressed over a disaster party going wrong.

That was until one of your students, Yoko, went looking for you close to seven, claiming someone was looking for you in the entry hall. You knew what it was about, and walking through the corridors to the unlit stairs the nausea of having to talk to people without previous preparation began to clog your throat.

"SURPRISE!" everyone screamed at you when the lights turned on. Oh wow, they weren't even close to what you thought they'd be. The entire school was crowding the spacious hall, a long dinner table had been brought and all types of party snacks decorated it along with an enormous cake saying "Happy Birthday, y/n"

Through the crowd, the culprit of that anxiety-inducing nightmare came to you with open arms and the warmest smile you had ever seen her wear. Larissa hugged you tightly, the proximity easing the knot in your gut by an inch.

"Happy birthday, my love," she said before kissing your cheeks and lips "I hope you liked the surprise."

"Yeah, of course!" your half-strangled high-pitched voice rang in your ears. You were going to pass out, there was no denying it.

A lot of students went to you with birthday wishes and handmade cards, and it was overwhelmingly sweet of them, but all you wanted to do was bolt.

Your colleagues were there as well; every single one shook your hand or hugged you or gave you an awkward but well-meaning pat on the back. Everyone seemed weirdly happy to celebrate one more year of y/n y/ln being alive and it was too much.

You talked with the biggest amount possible of people you knew and endured stale chitchat with the ones that you never saw before but, half an hour in, you could not do it anymore. You waited until no one was paying attention and ran like mad to your safe haven, leaving the blasted function behind.

It took more than you felt comfortable analysing for someone to come looking for you. It was nearly an hour, and you were sleepily going over some poems in a random book you picked by the window when Larissa's soft voice caught your attention.

"Love? What are you doing here?" she was concerned, her bright eyes widening at your own, glossed over with tears you didn't have the energy to shed.

"I was just a bit overwhelmed" you offered simply. Should you explain? You probably should, but you felt too tired to even speak too much.

Larissa quickly joined you at the library seat, taking you in her arms and kissing the top of your head. That had to be the best thing about her: she gave the best cuddles known to men.

"I didn't know you'd feel uncomfortable. I'm so sorry, darling" she whispered atop of you.

"You couldn't know… I never told you" you said weakly against her chest.

"Told me what?"

"That I hate it. All of it," she lifted your face and looked at you questioningly "I hate my birthday. I hate the expectations of having something to show, the fear the friends I invite don't actually want to come, having to talk with my family just to hear how everybody else is excelling at life while I barely can get sixteen-year-olds to read eight books a year, it just-"

"Shhh, love" she touched your lips with her thumb, her hand cupping your cheek and a sad smile. She traced her pad over your bottom lip and leaned to kiss your forehead "I am so, so very sorry for not asking how you felt. I swear I'd never have done any of it if I knew"

You know this. You know she had nothing but the best intentions and while it touched you how far she could go to make you happy, it also meant your undoing.

"It wasn't your fault" you turn to kiss the palm of her hand, pressing it against your mouth with your fingers before leaning on her again "If I had told you it never would have happened."

She held you close and played with your hair, the sounds from the party were slowly subsiding and you could hear people walking the corridors and talking. Probably students going back to their rooms.

After some time, you too wandered to your quarters.

That night you played Scrabble in bed while eating coffee-and-chocolate-flavoured cake and Larissa held you close until you fell asleep, whispering sweet nothings into your ear.

[lulaypp]

Lulaypp's Foliage of Lost Fics #1: Psychedelic

Note: Welcome to the first of few. The first of my unfinished/abandoned/kind-of-terrible fic dump collection thing. This is one I love a lot, the concept and torture was fun. But the pacing and decline of mental state had never sat well with me, and a few touches goes into ooc territory, and some lines ended up being weird.

Details of Fic: Nearly 7k words, Batfam Fandom, Jason-centric (and really there is barely anyone else around aside from some nameless villain), Whump with Emotions. Contains Hallucinations (ranging between just strange and gruesome), Non-consensual Drug Use (a heavy theme throughout the fic), Torture, Electric Torture, Broken Bones, Blood & Injuries (vivid, some hallucinated and some real), Sleep Deprivation

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

Jason ground his teeth against the cry that wanted to tear out of him. The sharp, painful prickling insistently charged throughout his body as he convulsed uncontrollably. He tried to still his limbs against the spasms; locking his joints, clenching his fist or pressing down onto the cold metal surface, keeping his eyes screwed shut and pushing his head back into the table. Predictably, none of it worked, and the involuntary jerks alone were starting to hurt horribly. Mix that with the steady flow of electricity thrown into him through the table he was strapped to, his broken bones forcibly shifting with each convulsion despite the restraints holding down his limbs, the searing headache that had been plaguing him for far too long, and his lungs feeling tighter and tighter as seconds ticked by. 

He struggled to get a breath in, air coming in slivers before forced back out. A whine slipped past his throat as the pieces of bones in his broken leg moved. He wasn't sure if he was pulling against the cuffs around his wrists or they were just happily jerking away on their own. 

When the electicity finally stopped, he gasped, chest still feeling tight, but he could at least breathe and that is good right? 

It definitely shouldn't hurt this much. 

"Identities," a voice boomed into his ears making him wince at the sheer volume off it. 

Jason wet his lips, tasting the iron of a split, and coughed out a glob of blood before answering, "Wha' 'akes you thin' they-" He was forced to paused to suck in a painful breath and he knew that something was really wrong with his body. "-that they have... i'ntities." 

"Answer it, Red Hood or we'll go for five minutes." 

He tried to not flinch at the threat, rolling his unmasked eyes. "Fine fine. Batman is Bats One. Nightwing is Bats Two. Bats Four is, obviously, your's truly. Or maybe it isn't obvious since Three came in after-" 

The was a sigh in response, quickly followed by a backhand. Apparently, this guy lacks a sense of humour. How was it that Dick managed to win all the villains over by cracking jokes? How unfair. "Five minutes it is." 

Jason closed his eyes against the erratic thundering dread in his ears and heart. A scream tore out of him as strong volts charged into him. His bare back felt like it was burnt from where it was directly touching the table. He struggled to jerk out of the leather cuffs holding his limbs as he spasmed and gasped. His heart and lungs felt like crumbling and bursting at the same time. Seconds passed, minutes. He must have blacked out at one point as when he dragged his eyes open, the electricity had stopped, and he was certain it hadn't been five minutes yet. Unless if his internal clocked was far too messed up by now. Which, while not too surprising, just showed how long he had been here. 

"Identities," the voice demanded again. 

It was a bit of a struggle for him to turn his strapped-to-the-table head, but he managed it and glared at the guy. He was far too tired for coherent words. 

"Still a no? How about we switch up the power. That was two, so does four sounds good to you?" 

Jason wanted to curse the man out but only managed a tired snarl. His breaths were coming in stuttered, laboured gasps, his heart was trying to break out of his already partially broken ribcage and his brain could hardly process any coherent thoughts. 

"Power five for two then." 

That was the only warning he got before the volts started again. His back arched from the table as a breathless scream-whine trailed out of him, his vision going white. He clawed, at the metal suface, at the cuffs, trying to get away. The bliss of unconsciousness was quickly approaching when it stopped, giving him several seconds of break before starting up again. He trashed against the restraints, scrambling and clawing and tugging. He barely felt the wounds around his wrists reopening and his sprained ankle screeching in the midst of the flooding electricity. The volts would stop periodically before running again, successfully keeping him awake and in pain. His chest felt tight and the bones of his broken arm ground against itself. 

When it finally stopped for real, his mind was reeling and nauseous. He collapsed limp against the table, drained and exhausted, sucking in desperate breaths. 

"Identities," was repeated. 

A tired groan left him as he tried to pull his eyes open. He wasn't successful. "God. Stop it already," he hissed between short puffs of breaths. "We both know... know that... I wouldn't tell you even... if I do know." 

"Oh, we both know that you do know who they are." 

"Then 'm not-" He coughed, lungs bursting and clenching, and he gritted his teeth against a pained moan. 

"I will let you reconsider your choice." 

He heard footsteps fading away before a door screeched open and slammed closed, the grating, loud noise making him wince. Edges of sleep pulled at his mind, and he couldn't fight it. 

But something pulled him back. A sharp, short burst of electricity pulsed from underneath him and jolted him awake. His eyes were slipping shut and it happened again. And again. 

He cursed. Cursed the man, the table, the cuffs, his situation as a whole. He wasn't getting any sleep any time soon. 

- 

He moved his eyes to the door as it swung open. His mind and sight were muddled with exhaustion and pain, a thick fog hazing over his vision and thoughts. He had passed out at one point, but someone had come over and slapped him awake before threatening to waterboard him if he fell under again. Jason hated bending down to threats, but he wasn't interested in getting drowned either. 

The blurry moving dots that he assumed was the tormentor entered, closing the door before approaching. "I don't suppose that you have changed your mind." 

"Bite me," Jason snarled. "Why don't you go back to where you belong?" A hand suddenly patting his cheek roughly made him jump. 

"I don't doubt that that is where you belong as well, even if you are on the opposite side of crime. But that is no matter." 

There was a heavy thunk followed by sounds of rummaging, the sound reminding him of Bruce or Tim shifting through their toolboxes and the comparison did not help his feeling of dread. He startled when something cold and heavy tapped on his right forearm, slowly moving to his wrist and hand. His first guess was a crowbar, which fuelled his panic, but the weight felt different (perks of being beaten to death by a crowbar!). Heavier. Specifically, the head that was softly landing on... It was a hammer. 

It was then that the tool was raised higher and slammed down onto the back of his index finger. He hissed, reflexively trying to pull away as another hit smashed onto the knuckle. The hammer continued to move to his other fingers, hitting the joints until they break and shatter. It hardly paused between one pound and the next, leaving him gasping. His entire hand was radiating with burning hot agony that licked fires up his arm, but he refused to let out any more than a hiss. That was before three of his broken middle fingers the grasped tightly and pulled and twisted roughly, making him scream, vision sparkling. 

"Identities." 

Wow, he was starting to hate that word. He tried to conjure and throw a fancy mix of profanities, but the man probably had seen it coming as the hammer slammed onto the back of his hand. Repeatedly. He bit his lip against a cry. It felt like his entire hand was shattered. He did scream, however, when something dug into his hand, hooking onto the broken bones, and pulled. His struggles made it worse, causing the claw- it was the hammer's claw, it had to be- to bury deeper. 

As he was trying to breathe through the agony raging across his limb, he felt a hand pressing down onto his probably dislocated knee. "'go of me, you jerk," he hissed, trying to move his leg away without making it painful. 

"You tell me their identities, then I might," the man said as he pressed harder onto the joint before something smashed onto it. 

Jason let out a strangled noise as the thing slammed repeatedly in rapid succession, making his vision spark and spasm. He clenched his fists, regretting it as it pulled against the hammer dug into his right hand.  Something pushed down onto his knee and his lips bled as he bit it hard, screwing his eyes shut against the onslaught. He didn't get to hold back the scream that left him as the table charged to life, electricity crackling into him. Every convulsion caused blinding agony to burn from his broken leg and hand, pulsing into his mind. 

It stopped just before he could have a chance to black out. His mind was left thrumming with exhaustion and pain. He was really tired. 

He felt something cold and metal grasping his broken little finger before it squeezed and twisted. He clenched his eyes shut and could only try to breathe. 

- 

Jason grumbled out a curse when he noticed that his broken right hand was kindly wrapped in a bandage of sorts. It just meant that they were intending on keeping him around for a while. At least the hammer was gone. He had woken up again to the room being empty and the table, thankfully, turned off. He didn't dare to shift his lower half, not wanting to risk aggravating that newly broken knee and the older broken calf, as he tested the leather restraints again, pulling and twisting. They dug into the existent chaffing on his wrists, but he kept at it. They were wrapped tight around his limbs with no obvious latches, he assumed they were probably hidden somewhere underneath the table. The other possibility, which he'd rather not be a reality, was that there were somehow no latches or locks, the ends of the cuffs sewn together or something. The leather was definitely of good quality, not wearing even a bit no matter how hard he tried scratching and clawing at them. Whoever this guy was, he definitely had good funding or just happens to have access to a lot of quality stuff; the table, the cuffs, the fact that Red Hood was still unable to escape for an estimated week. 

He hated that he had no idea who the person who caught him was. Red Hood had just happened to be checking in on a suspicious looking dilapidated warehouse after helping Red Robin in an exhausting battle with Killer Croc and Clayface. Before he could do anything effective about it, he was jumped by too many people, knocked out, and apparently dragged to where he was stuck now.  

Well, not quite. They drugged and threw him in some room with a simpler collection of restraints, but they didn't account for the Pit's enhancements and the drugs practically flew over him and he had nearly succeeded in breaking out. Very nearly succeeded. 

And now he was stuck here, with leather straps pinning his wrist, ankles, upper arms and head to an electrifying table, and the leader of whatever this was trying to dish out Batman and the rest of the family's identities out of him. Like that would ever happen. While interrogation might not be the worst kind of capture, it was definitely somewhere high up in the list. It got very annoying, especially when the interrogator had the nerve to believe that he would bend down to their demands if they hit him hard enough. 

Jason took a deep breath, trying to clear his head. At least they let him pass out this time around which was relatively nice. The table was perpetually cold against his bare back, and it caused the bits of burns left there to twinge every so often, especially when he moved. It didn't necessarily hurt, but it was definitely uncomfortable. 

The door opened and Jason snarled as footsteps came closer, two people from the sound of it. Yup, this was not going to be fun. 

A person stepped into his field of view, a lackey most likely, and started rummaging through a bag of sorts. It wasn't long before he found what he wanted and pulled out an empty syringe, fitting a needle at the end. 

Jason's eyes widened as panic swished in his mind. "Get that away from me," he growled when the syringe came close. He struggled against the cuffs and practically tried to tear out his limbs from his restraints when the tip of the needle touched his right forearm. His heart thumped loudly in his ears as the tip pressed into his skin, a sound strangling out of him. He bucked and twisted as his vision went hazy. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to not fall into a full-blown panic attack, it was just a stupid needle, and bit his tongue when he felt the thing pull out. 

When he dared to look again, he managed to catch a glimpse of red in the tube just as it disappeared into the bag. Blood. His blood. He could almost laugh, good luck trying to find anything with it. Bruce had made sure to keep any kind of trail untraceable. Even if it wasn't so, the Pit had messed up with his physiology, and he was still legally dead, thus no new medical records. 

His eyes jumped to the leader guy as the man came from his left and he snarled. "You won't even get anything from it." 

"I'll get what I want," the man replied evenly before he, surprisingly, left with the other guy. But, unsuprisingly, not before turning the table on at a low voltage. 

- 

Jason believed migraines and headaches to be two different things, despite having simmilar symptoms. Like... pixies and fairies. Or elves and pixies. And he hated having both at once. This was one of the times when he wondered how Tim had been able to pull off that one month sleepless marathon. Maybe it was the coffee. Maybe he could use some coffee right now. His point still stands, headaches were a nuisance while migraines deserved to be in Arkham more than he himself did. Not that he should be in the asylum. 

He winced as another sharp jolt of electricity sparkled, keeping him up and awake just as he was about to fall asleep. 

The door opened and he counted two people approaching. He cursed silently and glared at the first person to come into his line of sight. It was the leader-guy-person. 

"Anything to say before we start, Red Hood?" 

Jason broke into a cocky grin. "You can kindly go to-" A hand was slammed over his mouth and he scowled. That was rude. 

Before he could bite it, however, it was removed and he fished out a random creative collection of words from his brain. But he froze when he saw the same other guy from before coming with the same bag in hand. 

The bag was opened and a syringe was pulled out, partially filled with something off-white. Jason wanted to scramble back in panic but it plunged in and pulled out before he could. Whatever that was, it was already inside him. He didn't know what in the world was that and it was in him. 

"What did you do?" he growled, trying to not expose his fear and panic. 

"Let's just say history makes for a very good inspiration." 

Jason snarled as his mind echoed with dread. Not good. Not good. This was very very bad. 

Another filled syringe was pulled out as he tried and failed to pull away. 

- 

The dim lights were starting to burn into his eyes and he closed them with a groan. Only open them again when a clown creeped into the darkness. He turned his head away from the light. He really hated drugs in all shapes and forms. 

There was a murky voice saying something and he only knew what was being said due to the repetition of the word. "Identities." That was all the guy had been saying through out this entire thing. 

He didn't know whether or not they had concluded that he was more immune to chemical things, but whatever they had been giving him just happened to be strong enough to override his defences. It was adding to the migraine and making his mind feel muddy. The table charged again and he groaned. He also felt like vomiting. Horribly. He was only holding it back because he would probably choke on bile with his current position and drugged mind. 

He hated getting drugged, with or without his consent. He hated drugs as a whole. And he didn't know what on earth had they given him. It might have been a mix of things. Judging by the wierd things dancing around his vision- were those tiny Nightwings with bunny ears?-, it might be a sort of hallucinogen. 

A cold sharp thing poked at his arm again and he tried to twist away. He was never successful as the needle went through despite his struggles, throwing whatever concoction the syringe was filled with. Why couldn't they just continue to beat him up? Why this stupid drug thing? 

Something snatched his jaw, forcing his eyes back to the light. He hissed. The voice was too close when it growled, "Identities, Red Hood, and this would be over." 

It took a bit for him to understand what was being said. "'ot h'penin', b'stard." His own voice sounded echo-ey and far... 

He flinched as a sudden creaking and slamming sound echoed everywhere. He gasped when the electric table started up again at low power, keeping the flow steady. The bunny Nightwings turned into one and hopped onto his chest. He scowled at it as it booped his nose with its paw-hand. 

"You're an idiot, you know that?" It suddenly talked! It talked! In a squeaky Dick's voice to boot! 

Jason wasn't interested in having anyone in the room seeing him talk to his own hallucination and resorted to internally replying, "You're saying like it is news. You're going to have to be a bit more specific as to what exactly you're referring to." 

Bunny Nightwing- or Bun-Wing, he decided- gestured to the world around them. "You are pumped with gallons of who-knows-what and you are still stuck here." 

"Oi. No no. This was not my fault. I did not sign up for this." 

"It so is." It sing-songed. 

“Then enlighten me on just how is this my fault.” 

"Couldn't even stop yourself from getting caught. You really are such a trouble maker. You never change." 

Okay. That hurt. How was it that his own hallucination was so mean to him? "You're mean. I hate you. Why can't you do something useful. Like turning off this table? Or the lights?" 

Bun-wing rolled its eyes. "You just said I am your hallucination, you idiot. Unless if you want to hallucinate the lights being off, then be my guest." 

Jason nearly huffed out loud. He tried shifting to, hopefully maybe, find a position where the shocks won't hurt as much, but forgot that he was a half-mess of broken bones. He gritted his teeth and screwed his eyes shut, stars and fireworks flashing in his mind. 

"Stop moving, you idiot. I'm gonna fall off." 

"Stop calling me an idiot, you selfish jerk. And don't look like Dick if you're not going to behave like one." 

"You prefer it if I look like someone else? How about someone with a better sense of humour?" 

It cackled, sounding too close to him, and Jason snapped his eyes open, glaring. 

Bun-wing had the nerve to look victorious. "Then I'm staying as I am. Besides, how do you know that this isn't how Dick behaves when he isn't around you? Maybe Dick had always been hiding all of his real feelings from you, trying to be the 'good big brother'." 

Why was it that his mind decided to conjure something who liked to rattle off his stashed away insecurities? "You know that I no longer think that.” 

"Do you, though?" Jason didn't get to retort when it snapped, "Language." 

"I hate you." He pointedly turned away from it. But it didn't stop talking. 

- 

"Stop it," Jason finally growled out loud, certain that the room was empty. Bun-wing spent the past minutes-hours prattling on and on, either about some stupid inane thing, or uprooting one of Jason's many deeply buried fears and insecurities.  "Just stop it 'lready and shut up." 

"Why, Little Wing? Scared? That it might be true? That dad wouldn't find you again?" 

"You shut up. He's not my 'dad' an' y'know nothing." 

"But, Jay, I'm your mind. So technically, everything I say is what you believe." 

"Te'nicality's stupid." 

"It is, but it doesn't make it less true. You're the outcast of the family, if you're even part of it in the first place. You're the Pit-crazed murderer maniac who nearly killed Tim. You're the failure Robin who died." 

"’said, shut up." Jason shifted his wrist in the leather cuffs. Maybe he could pull his hand out and strangle the imaginary rabbit. 

"I'm just saying what you are. What Bruce thinks you are. You don't even belong with us." 

Those were not what Bruce thought of him. He kinda knew that. Bruce had said it himself when Jason had admitted his doubts. 

"You forget, he nearly killed you by slicing you neck, letting you bleed out and get caught in an explosion. He didn't try to save you, remember?" 

He would never forget about it, the night still haunting him. The contempt in Batman's face. The batarang searing into his neck. The burn and crumble of the building around him.  

"I'll say that is a pretty good example of how much Bruce hates you. If he now acts like he doesn't, we both know how much of a good liar he is. He-" 

"Just shut up!" Jason bit his lip, trying to breathe. Whatever stupid things his hallucination was saying was not true and he knew that. But his brain was feeling murky and was apparently too messed up to care. He wanted to throttle that stupid rabbit. 

"No, you don't." 

"I may be imagining you but that doesn't mean I don't want to kill you, you pretentious-" 

"Language." The rabbit booped his nose again and that was starting to get really annoying. 

He scowled. "Ge' off me. You're heavy." His chest was starting to hurt from where the bunny had been hanging out for the past array of minutes. 

"No, you idiot. I weigh nothing but thoughts. Your chest is just having problems with itself." 

That... that didn't sound right. "What d'you mean by that?" 

Bun-wing rolled its eyes. "You are so dim sometimes." 

"Can you stop insulting me an' get to the point? I know that I am a stupid idiot, even if you haven't been telling me that for the past who knows how many hours." 

It looked smug and victorious. "Allow me to enlighten you, Jay Jay." 

Jason cringed at the new nickname but didn't protest as the hallucination would only irrate him further. 

"You battled Killer Croc and, if I remember correctly, both you and Tim concluded that you had cracked some ribs. Time skip several hours or so, you arrogantly thought that you could get out of here and you collected even more injuries. We skip again, you spent days here, on this table, getting shocked to oblivion. I'd say that your chest and maybe lungs and even your heart is not too happy with you." 

He ground his teeth. Now that he was paying attention to it, he could feel the pain coming from inside his chest. He had also forgotten about the table slowly pulsing in shocks up until now, his drugged mind having thrown the detail into the back burner. And now he couldn't stop feeling it, the light prickles coming from everywhere underneath him, periodically jolting him; not strong enough to be outright painful, but definitely uncomfortable. Mixed with his current state of mind, his head was starting to feel a little more than slightly sick. 

- 

Jason had gone back to ignoring Bun-wing, hating the squeaky voice of his brother coming from the imaginary rabbit. It was dreadfully annoying. Not mention some of its words just hit too close to home. 

Instead he closed his eyes and tried to remember quotes from Alice In Wonderland. He couldn't. But the attempt made for a good distraction. 

A sudden slam made him jump. His eyes snapped open and he hissed as the light burned. And he cried out when something pressed down and ground onto his shattered knee. Joker flickered above him, crowbar twirling. But fizzled out when a different voice spoke. 

"Identities." 

Jason cursed viciously, ignoring Bun-wing's "Language." 

"So you have yet to give in." 

"Wouldn't. Ge' 'ver it." 

"You're reeeally sure you wouldn't? I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you," Bun-wing taunted. 

"Just shut up already, you pre'entious 'mpostoring deadweight," Jason snapped. 

"Rude," the rabbit kicked his chin lightly. 

At the same time the leader villian guy spoke up, "Tell me, Red Hood. What is it that you see? What do you see and hear?" 

Jason wordlessly glared at the man. 

The fizzy shocks that had been emitting from the metal surface underneath him jump to a viciously strong voltage. 

- 

"You're wrecked." 

Jason closed his eyes and ears; the latter obviously figuratively; from the words. 

"Come on, Jason. It is not like I'm real. We both know that." 

Nope. No. There was no one talking beside him. If he didn't see it, then it wasn't real. 

A scoff. "Are you really giving your imagination the silent treatment?" 

He wanted to sleep. The table had been off for ages yet he was still kept up by his own mind. He was beyond exhausted. 

"C'mon, Jay. Don't be like this." 

It had to be two or three days since he last slept. His internal clock had gone out of the window and he wasn't wholly sure if his interrogator had a schedule. He wasn't even sure if that guy was even real half of the time. His hallucinations, in a long run, started to get confusing. 

"Jason..." 

He whined and finally turned his head to meet Tim by the table. "Please just stop talking and let me sleep, Red." 

Imaginary-Tim took a sip from his mug of limitless coffee, his neck tie sparkling with tiny glittery bats. "Sorry. You kinda said you probably shouldn't earlier." 

At least having this Tim was better than Bun-wing. Imaginary-Tim wasn't as annoying or willing to hurt as the rabbit. "Did?" 

"They threaten to waterboard you again if you fall asleep." 

Jason vaguely remembered that. He had fallen asleep at one point, gotten a bit of a nightmare -thank you, Bun-wing- and had woken up drowning. His trashing had successfully reignited all his injuries; broken legs and arms shatered wrist and hand, the awful thing in his chest, the stinging burns on his back, and a whole array of unidentifiable throbbing all over him. It still hurt now and he wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere until it all went away. But he couldn't do that, he's still stuck to the table. And imaginary-Tim had clarified that he couldn't help. 

...But maybe... he could... "Red?" 

Imaginary-Tim raised an eyebrow. 

"Can you- Can you maybe like..." Jason felt hesitant and slightly embarassed to voice it out, even to his own hallucination. 

But Tim, smart even in Jason's imagination, deduced what he wanted. Or maybe just knew since this Tim was just a conjurance of his own mind. 

Imaginary-Tim reached out a hand and patted Jason's hair. And Jason melted. He knew that he was just imagining things and he couldn't even feel it, but just the thought of it was nice. Imaginary-Tim’s fingers was the most comforting thing he had ever felt in days. 

- 

So, the gaggle of people holding him had apparently decided to keep him constantly and steadily drugged by hooking him up to an IV thing. He also assumed at it was making sure he didn't die of dehydration. 

He had asked imaginary-Tim how long had it been since he last slept and the hallucination merely replied that he didn't know because he hadn't slept either. He missed that figment of his imagination. Tim had left him alone at one point. 

His interrogator hadn't come by even since the IV pole had been set up. He hadn't been able to willingly stay up anymore. He suspected that something in the concoction of fluids injected into him was doing that for him. 

Joker leered over him, elbows pressing onto his aching chest. "Come on, Jay Jay. You're being awfully quiet." 

Jason turned away but there was a Joker there too. 

"Not finding a punchline?" 

He closed his eyes but something raking over his bare chest made him open them again. 

"We can always turn this party up a notch!" Two other Jokers stepped into view, all wielding crowbars. 

- 

It wasn't real. He knew that. But it felt so vivid. 

"..S-stop..." 

The Jokers went on giddily thunking their crowbars all over him, ignoring. It hurt despite it all being in his head. His heart was beating erratically as his chest felt caved in. His shoulder was shattered again and again despite never been broken in the first place. He tried to tell himself that it was just his hallucination, this wasn't real, but it was starting to get muddier and muddier by the minute. 

“Let me tell you a joke, Jay-kins,” one of the Joker spoke up, grabbing his jaw to turn his head to meet green eyes. “What bird dies in flames and comes back to life?” 

A robin. Him. 

The grin widened. “Bet you think its you, eh?” 

Another Joker made a buzzer sound, “No-se-ree! You got that wrong.” The crowbar was raise before “Fore!” and it slammed onto his shattered knee and he screamed. “Guess again, Hoody.” 

He couldn’t answer even if he wanted to. Couldn’t think. There was just so much overwhelming pain coursing and pulsing through every inch of him. And the worse part was that he knew it wasn’t real. 

All three pairs of manic green eyes suddenly swivelled up to behind his head. "Oh look who decided to join the party!" they chorused as they melted into one. 

At first Jason thought that it was the bad guy again. But the familiar dark figure entering Jason's periphery proved him wrong. For a moment, for a short sliver of moment, he hoped that it was real. 

"Look who I brought!" Jason flinched at the voice of Bunny Nightwing, the rabbit hopping onto the table. 

Batman stepped closer, emotionless as ever. 

Jason knew what was going to come. He’d had this nightmare before. He struggled in vain. The cuffs were still holding him too tight. "No... no please no..." 

Batman snarled and pulled out a batarang. 

- 

The blade trailed down his chest from his neck again, drawing patterns over his heart, tracing over the scar near his throat. It was pressed deep enough to break skin. But there wasn't any blood or new cuts. He realistically knew that, despite the flows of red that shines in the blinding light. All the while, Batman, one hand moving the batarang through the flow of blood, was by his head, free hand almost gently combing his hair, whispering words. Assurances. 

"Shh... It's okay, Jason. A little more." 

"That's it. You can hold on a little longer can you?" 

"Now that didn't hurt too much, didn't it? Can you take a little bit more, Jay? 

Jason sobbed and tried to get away. The twisted words, the sharp batarang, the gentle hand, they were all too jarring and confusing for him to coherently comprehend, messing up his head even further. He couldn't even jerk his head away from the fingers with the strap holding him in place. 

How was it that he was hallucinating all of this? Maybe this was- No. It couldn't be real. This wasn't real. He couldn't let himself think that. 

He bit his lip against a cry as the batarang hooked at his skin and pried it open, back arching from the table as he struggled. He whined the blade pressed down onto the scar at his neck, causing a fresh flood of red to gush out. 

"Shh.. shh... You can take it, Jay," Batman whispered, fingers brushing back his bangs. "You're going to stay strong for me aren't you?" 

Jason screwed his eyes shut against the brimming tears but a pair of furry paws pulled them open again. 

"C'mon, Little Wing." Bun-wing rolled its eyes from were it was hovering by his head. "Stop trying to run off." 

Jason summoned what little strength he could fish out of his addled brain and glared at the rabbit. 

- 

He opened his eyes with a gasp when something cold and wet crashed onto him. Trying to blink his vision clearer, Jason realised that he passed out at one point and greatly hoped that they were not going to hold on to their threat. His sight remained blurry as a voice pierced the ringing in his skull. 

"Identities." 

He tried to get his tongue to cooperate and throw out a curse, but it was a mumbled, slurred response. His thoat felt dry and rough. 

"I am assuming that you have yet to give in?" 

He glared at the villian leader guy– well, the blob which he believed was the villian leader guy– and growled. 

"Then we'll go again.” 

His heart fell. He hated the drugs and the hallucinations it made his mind conjure. He never liked those things in the first place. And he was afraid of what too much of it would do to his mind and body. The childhood fear of being dependant on it. He could already feel the more immediate side-effects of overdose; the relentless nausea, his erratic heartrate, the throbbing-over-pounding headache, the deep layering pains in his chest. And he wasn't keen on meeting any of his imaginary conjurance again. Why couldn't this guy be more physical? He wouldn't even complain against the usage of a crowbar. 

He forced his mouth to work. "'ou- You guys 're 'finitely n-not th'mos'... creative people in'th'world." 

There was a dark chuckle of amusement. "Don’t tempt me, Hood. I can get very creative. Set up the new drip and make sure to increase the potency." 

A hand grabbed his bound arm and Jason struggled, feeling a needle threatening to pierce his skin. But he wasn't strong or free enough to fight or get away as the sharp tip went in. His heart was pounding in his ears as he still kept on trying to break free, twisting his wrists, borken or not, in the cuffs. 

His broken knee was suddenly twisted and he screamed, vision flashing with stars. His movements faltered as the pain pulsed and throbbed, mind fizzing between the agonising shifts of broken bones and the dreading pricks of needles in his arm. 

When it all finally stopped, he struggled to catch his breath, lungs feeling far too compressed and throat too tight. He winced when the lamp overhead was adjusted to shine directly into his eyes and flinched at the sound of the door slamming close as the people left him alone. For now. 

- 

His entire head was a throbbing mess of aches. The dark walls of the small space crumbled around him endlessly despite the too bright light coming from somewhere. Was it the way out? But he couldn't dig himself out, tied down as he was. And- and the dirt was going to suffocate him and- 

No, he wasn't buried. He was somewhere else. The table. Empty room. Not underground. 

He tried to blink away the hazy hallucination around him. It just blurred further and he closed his eyes. 

Not real. Not real notrealnotreal- 

A half cry left him as he clenched his broken hand in attempt to ground himself to reality, focusing on how the skin tore further. That was real, he chanted in his mind, the things he was seeing wasn't. He curled his fingers in tighter and sucked in a shaky breath. 

A touch on his shoulder and a familiar voice made his eyes snap open. 

No. Please please no. 

Batman stood over him, a snarl curling his lips. He raised a crowbar, bringing it down and it stabbed as a batarang. Jason screamed as the blade sunk into his chest, twisting in his heart. He struggled against the restraints, ignoring the way his movements pulled at his shattered knee and tore further into his wrists. 

The crowbar pulled out before the table shocked him with a quick burst of electricity. He let out a breathless cry as, at the same time, the glinting metal weapon impaled his knee. Fingers touched his hair and he tried to run away, hearing soft incoherent words getting whispered in his ear. 

"Stop!" He finally sobbed out when the batarang started to peel the skin of his right wrist. "St-stop... please just- just stop..." 

His breath hitched as he heard Batman’s, "Shh, Jay. It's alright. We've got you." 

It wasn't alright. It wasn't alright. He knew this wasn't alright. He also knew that this wasn't real but it was hard to believe that when Batman was hovering above him, hurting him. And he could vividly feel every single pain inflicted upon him. 

He whined at a particularly harsh wrenching of the crowbar still embedded in his leg. Breathing was getting too hard, his heart was pounding loud and uneven in his chest and it all hurt. Fingers pried open his half-clenched broken fist, pressing it down, as he spasmed against a new flood of electricity. "B, please stop. Please..." 

"Stay still, Jay." Reprimand was in the tone. "Stop moving. But you never were good at listening to orders. I shouldn't expect much from you." 

Jason flinched. All in his head. All in his head.  Not real. There was no way Bruce would say that. But knowing all that didn't make it hurt any less. 

He suddenly felt his legs getting moved and realised that the leather cuffs and straps holding him down were gone. He didn't waste any time and scrambled back as far as he could, not caring when he fell of the table. He just needed to get away. Far, far away. 

Batman followed him and he tried to get up and run, but he was too hurt and weak - weak, helpless, useless - and collapsed before he could even get his legs under him, a pained moan and whine escaping his throat. His knee was pulsing and shrieking and he curled up on the floor with a whimper despite his mind screaming at him to get away. 

"Jason," a different voice called out. It wasn't Batman. It wasn't Bun-Wing or Joker or anyone else who would hurt him. He peered between his bangs and saw Tim. Red Robin was crouched in front of him, a hand outstretched. "Jay. Hey. It's just me, alright. I need you to stop moving or you'll hurt yourself further, okay?" 

Jason couldn't understand the uttered words but he knew that Tim hadn't hurt him. His little brother never had. He kept still as Tim shuffled closer and moved the outstretched hand onto his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. 

"I need you to calm down and breathe slowly, Jason. I don't know what you're seeing, but I know that not all of it is real. Can you stay still while me and Bruce check you for injuries?" 

Bruce? He wanted his father. Longed. 

But then Batman stepped closer and he flinched back. He whimpered as Batman gently touched his face, thumb stroking across his bruised jaw. He wanted to run, but he was too exhausted. Hurt. Batman tugged him from the floor, wrapping a large black thing around him, and he let it happen. Tim was still there, holding the broken leg, and Jason screamed raggedly when it was straightened. 

A soft, rumbly voice pierced through the pain-fuelled haze and he looked up when something brushed his bangs. Bruce’s strong gaze met his and he felt his breath catching in his throat. Bruce was here. He melted as his father embraced him, trembling and whimpering into the armoured chest. He felt safe. 

It probably was a hallucination, much like Tim, but he would take this comfort even if it wasn't real. 

[idea-whore]

In a medieval world, dragons are creatures who cannot tap into their magic without a conduit. This conduit is a human, and creating a magical bond will unlock both of their magical potential. Bonds are not perfect, but the more drastic difference in magical potential; the more injury to the one with less magic, mental tax on the one with more. They share magic, their minds merged. With too much magic, one being can be fried from the inside.

A magical surge occurs when a bond happens. It can be small or big, depending on magical power.

Dragons can see deeply into souls, but especially humans. They can see the good, the bad and the flaws of someone from one sniff and glance. They live from 600-800 years, beginning the process of dying at 600. They are wise, patient and noble beings.

Humans can detect dragons magic potential, and dragons can show them their potential. A single sniff can see through the soul, but a deeper sniff and more eye contact paired with more focus detects magical potential and further insight into the soul.

Dragons are titled after their size, magic potential & abilities. There are three classifications. Generally, size does not indicate more magical power- but a bigger size is better for combative abilities. Small dragons do not have as much magic, though and tend to bond at adulthood when they are fully grown after 50 years.

Dragons are given names based off their personalities at birth. One name, followed by clan title.

Tri-Dragonic and Human National Alliance is the managing body. Their duties centre around keeping track, training and managing all magic users- ranging from measuring dragons who pop up all the way to investigating large power surges. They cover the laws around it; if a power surge causes major damage and there is evidence to show they may not know, they do not have to pay for damage.

PHYSICAL:

-Titanus- 20-25m long, 15-20m width, 30-40m tall. Wingspan of 20m.

-Great- 15-20m long, 20-25m tall.

-Large- 10-15m long, 15-20m tall.

-Medium-

-Small-

MAGICAL:

-Mystical

-Enchanted

-Occult

-Magical

ABILITIES:

-Fire

-Water

-Air

-Earth

-Thunder

-Shadow

-Light

-National Legacy Day is a day of celebration and debate involving fairs with shows of power in a parade of packs or tribes local to the area. There's debate and even official voting on local dragon-human legislation or law by the government commonly, since it's the largest gathering in the world. It's also a huge fund raiser due to the sheer amount of activities and workshops which can be added; tribes travel in from the woods consistently every year.

To go, there's two ways:

The Higher Power Conference is a conference only those of higher power are invited to, due to the issues mattering most to them. They get special areas and passes to avoid them potentially interrupting parades and overstimulation- plus, they are higher targets for assassinations. There is a certain minimum power level one must reach to attend; last-minute passes can be achieved.

A lower powered citizen can attend normally, instead going into the crowds and looking at the festivities and parade.

As a rule, larger dragons must remain on the rooftop and balcony spaces made for them. They cannot be on the ground for more than a few minutes to gather something from their partner in very populated areas.

Queue areas for food and such must be left vacant; there's quite a big area outlined.

[quirkwizard]

So if you were brought into the mha universe with your age regressed to fit the story, what 3 quirks would you pick? For clarification: You can only have one emitter, transformation, and mutant quirk. You know how to use them and can use them simultaneously. You won’t have any negatives for having multiple quirks. Clones and double versions can use the quirks. You are fluent in Japanese as well as any languages you know and any ailments you have aren’t present. You have all the MHA knowledge.

Oh, this is a fun one. Thank you for adding all those conditions and clarifications. This was actually a difficult question to answer because I had a lot of ideas and combinations I really liked. For the sake of this, I will be covering all of the big ideas I had with it. And while the primary criteria will by their synergy, I will be considering how these powers look as well. Having three totally unrelated powers is going to raise a lot of questions, so having something I could reasonably fit under one power would help.

Howler: Voice, Beast, Dog: This doesn't have the best synergy, aside from stacking the physical abilities of "Dog" and "Beast" and potentially using that to augment "Voice", but it was too perfect of a combination to pass up. A werewolf form with a supersonic howl that can become an even more dangerous werewolf? How could I pass that up?

Arsenal: Homing, Rifle, Gatling: "Rifle" and "Homing" have some great synergy, guaranteeing hits with the powerful and long ranged gun could be extremely useful. And I considered "Zoom" and "Extend-o-Hair", but I picked "Gatling". "Gatling" works well with "Homing", covers what "Rifle" can't, and could have some fusion potential with "Rifle".

Druid: Mushroom, Arbor, Vines: Having all these plant-like Quirks around is bound to have plenty of synergy, they could all fit together as one power and are all solid Quirks in their own right. I'm especially curious to see how the spores of "Mushroom" could be used with "Arbor" and "Vines". Sure, I'm super allergic to fire, but it's a good combination none the less.

Shifter: Overclock, Transforming Arms, High Spec: The big pair of these is "Overclock" and "High Spec". The greater power of "High Spec" could counter the brain drain issue, while "Overclock" could give you more time and room to apply your mental abilities. Combine that with the sheer variety of "Transforming Arms", fit it under Body Control, and you have an amazing combo.

Menagerie: Clones, Manifest, Food: "Food" and "Manifest" have a lot of synergy, greatly expanding what I could eat and manifest, but I think that it could have some fun uses with "Clones". On top of giving this combination some utility, I think that you could spread off the various combinations of "Manifest" onto other clones, greatly expanding their options and staying power.

Biolab: Overhaul, Meatball, Super Regeneration: Easily the most unfair combination, but if my goal is to make it through and make a difference, then I'll need all the help I can get. I've already discussed the merits of "Meatball" and "Super Regeneration" together, but being able to apply all of that with "Overhaul" is what makes it so dangerous. Between the regeneration and the sheer control I have, I'm going to make Kaiju Overhaul look like a joke. And that's not even mentioning everything I could do to other people.

[sonicasura]

So I started reading Kaiju No.8 B-Side and that manga makes it a point of how melee weapons fell out of style.

So my question is does Malroth get a hard time from other Division Officers for using clubs instead of Guns.

Also Captain Ogata seems like the type of guy who defend his Troopers Honor and I personally believe he would start a bit of a push to reintroduce melee weapons, but powered up with the Defense Force's technology

Malroth pretty much ignores anyone who has an issue with his preference for melee. In fact, he even proved a point that the style is important too. What would happen if there came kaiju who were immune to long range attacks but weak to melee?

Malroth has seen similar situations pop up before. (Hell he had to put up with it during his days as a demonic deity of destruction.) Malroth and Captain Ogata definitely kickstarted a melee revolution amongst the Defense Force. (Psaro expressing his interest in swordsmanship to Soshiro was the second revolution.)

Even moreso when a mission comes where a bulletproof kaiju gave a 2nd Division squadron sheer hell. You won't believe how many officers ate their words once the thing got dispatched by a street sign.(Malroth nearly passed out from laughing once he heard about it.)

Sometimes all you need is good ol smack.

[tarisilmarwen]

Hi Tari, I remember there was once upon a time a video that brought the whole “Why couldn’t the Fellowship just have the Eagles carry then to Mount Doom so Frodo can drop the One Ring into it” argument.

One argument it brought up goes something like and paraphrase here “Is really the whole ‘Frodo and Sam split off from main Fellowship and go to Mordor in a sneaky fashion plan the best one they can come up with, because you can’t count the amount of times the two got spotted, captured, injured or all of the above. For everyday it takes to get there on foot, thousands of lives are probably being lost. It was only by dumb luck that plan worked at all”

Do you have any rebuttals to that argument?

As I already pointed out in multiple posts re. the eagles, they simply do not fly far when carrying passengers and you would still have to get within feasible range of Mordor (by walking) to utilize them. Or use them in short burst all down the Misty Mountains which would get them spotted by Saruman's crebain spies and then probably ambushed while they camped to let the eagles rest.

More to the actual point of the complaint though, I wonder if this person actually read the books or watched the films because, ah, sending Frodo and Sam off alone to find the rest of the way to Mordor? Was most certainly NOT in the actual plans.

The Fellowship had intended to travel all the way to Gondor together. If they had even planned that far ahead. They were constantly having to readjust their plans and routes to avoid Saruman's Uruk-Hai forces and other bands of orcs. They tried the north mountain pass of Caradhras to avoid Isengard and wound up stymied by the weather, so they took a gamble through Moria to avoid having to go through Rohan which was way too close to Isengard.

That brought them out by Lothlorian so they took to the Anduin River to try to get some speed on the orcs and debated all the way down there which road to take once they reached the Falls of Rauros. Boromir wanted to go to Gondor, to Minas Tirith, to get reinforcements, Aragon obviously had some doubts and suspicions with that plan. The attack by the Uruk-Hai and Boromir making a play for the Ring decided things. Frodo decided it was safer for him to break off from the rest of the group, seeing as how the Ring was going to be seriously starting to corrupt them one by one. Sam stubbornly went with him out of sheer loyalty.

That left Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli on their own, unable to catch up to the hobbits, with Boromir dead and Merry and Pippin captured, on their way to Isengard where Saruman would learn pretty quickly they didn't have the Ring. Frodo and Sam were already out of reach. But any delay or distraction the three could afford them could only help.

So they go after the Uruk-Hai. Hope to stop them on the plains and keep the enemy confused about the actual possible location of the Ring. Hope to keep Sauron and Saruman's attentions in Rohan. Hope with a fervent foolish hope that Frodo and Sam can make it through to the end.

The whole point of Frodo and Sam breaking off from the Fellowship was that it was a massive unplanned Indy Ploy driven by unforeseen circumstances that they had no choice BUT to adopt, since the two were already too far ahead of them to catch up with. And Frodo had a very good reason for refusing additional aid along his path, having seen the Ring quickly corrupt Boromir's heart. He would not run the risk of that happening to more people along the way. He would have been very acutely aware of the Ring growing in power the closer they got to Mordor.

Tl:dr- No one planned on the whole, "Send two hobbits alone into the heart of enemy territory and pray it works." thing, shit just hit the fan and it wound up happening that way.

[islandiis]

SO. The eruption at Sundhnúksgígar, close to Grindavík, started at around 10pm on the 18th and, last night, seems to have peetered out — already! Grindavík was evacuated a good bit before this after the earthquakes got so severe and huge cracks tore roads apart and damaged infrastructure, and a magmatic dyke formed under the town. This is the first evacuation of a town in Iceland due to volcanic activity since Vestmannaeyjar in 1973. The Blue Lagoon was closed and there were fears for Svartsengi power station as well, and I believe workers were evacuated. It was all very unpredictable as to where this eruption may actually open up, ranging from the town itself to somewhere more north — it could have been anywhere. And it seemed to happen, then ease off for a bit, so people were starting to think it might pass — then it happened really suddenly. All of this contributed to why a state of emergency was declared for a time and evacuations were necessary.

The eruption started with great intensity and very little warning - about 90 minutes - scarily close to the town but fortunately, it seems to have avoided it as far as I know. The eruption was visible from Reykjavík and the sky was lit up with red-orange (the photos are class honestly, but that's like 25 miles you could see the sheer intensity of the eruption) and lava flows reached 200m in height at first — this was definitely more severe than the past few eruptions we've seen on Reykjanes. This is the fourth in three years, as the peninsula has 'woken up' after 800 years of dormancy — and this is likely to be a continuing pattern. It isn't what you'd call a tourist eruption, like the previous three. The general sentiment seems to be that it's terribly exciting to have entered a new volcanic age (probably partly because these eruptions don't tend to be as disruptive as, say, eyjafjallajökull) but also a bit scary, in the sense that it can be so unpredictable — like we saw here.

It's too early to say that the eruption is over, but as of last night the eruptive activity - on the surface at least - appears to have peetered out. Aviation colour code still orange, hasn't been downgraded to yellow yet.

[de-fright-ful]

Joy-Family-Descending Traits for anyone who wants to make their muse canonly &/or distantly related to Amity and her Clan.

THE PINK HAIR — now, not all pinks are the salmon colour Amity has; some are more pastel, bubble-gum, ranging up to magenta in true anime fashion (we’re not going hard realism here! Haha) But Pink Hair is a dominant trait on the same level of Dark Brown-Black, that often, if not always emerges

Unfortunately, bad eyesight runs in the family! Amity has bad eyes, Kija needed glasses, most of her distant cousins have contacts, and several uncles have had laser eye surgery! It’s the Joy curse!

Short but wide body types! Typically, The Joys tend to err on the shorter side, at most being 5’7 and getting as short as 4’10. Amity falls on the shortest end (4’8) due to supernatural involvement, but they tend to be slighter!

Round face shapes! Not specific yo heart or round or what have you, but Joy's tend to rank highly on the 'resting friendly expression' scale—like the sort of person you wouldn't hesitate to ask, 'Hey, could you take my picture for me?' if they passed you by. That kind of friendly!

Cool-Spectrum eye colors! Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Grey, what have you - they tend not to have Red, Pinks, Golds, etc. (because, again, we're on anime logic here, these eye colours do exist! I won't overthink it if you don't! Haha)

Not having freckles — weird one but it's a trait that has always seemed to skip over them! A birthmark or two, sure, but full freckles? Nope!

Being born with dermal melanocytosis spots from their lower back to the back of their neck that fade away by their first birthday.

Dimples!!

As a family, they tend to have an affinity for Science, specifically medicine-based endeavours, which often leads to them being naturals at it or even prodigals.

Pre-disposition towards entering the STEM field, specifically in the engineering or Medical branches.

Ironically enough, VERY bad luck when it comes to fire! If you meet a Joy and ask them if they've ever had something happen with fire, they'll be surprised but affirmative, with some even showing the scars from their run-ins with the element.

Tendency to gravitate toward Normal or Fairy-type Pokemon for companions; no one knows if this is a learned thing or just a pre-disposition of their nature! Amity is the biggest exception to this!

STROOOOONG SENSE OF CONVICTION, whether right or wrong, good or evil, the Joy's will die on the hills they choose and remain rooted, even if it means certain death and destruction - they are THAT intense just as a resting default! If you ever meet a Nurse Joy willing to abandon their principles, you have met a liar because that is not a Joy! The Joys rose to power on the sheer power of 'fuck you, we're not moving, no sir,' its a FAMILY TRAIT

Also, UNDERHANDED CLEVERNESS, the Joys inherently possess a collective talent for finding loopholes and EXPLOITING them, you name it! Rules, deals, bets, what have you—if they see an opening, they can't resist biting onto it and a good half of the time? They do this to each other! Keep your kin on their toes! It's a family bonding thing! They don't take it too personally.

And, last but not least, THE FAMILY BOND, no Joy is ever or will ever be left behind. If you have the name, the rest will inevitably rally to you in a time of need - of course, they will pick sides from time to time (a bad apple will be thrown to the compost rather than ruin the batch), but by and large? Very large, very supportive, and very involved!

[thenixkat]

also the next issue is the prelude to the Death of Superman and hah also like Superman really got into a knockdown slugfest with a fucker as strong as him and died because of it instead of fighting smarter just chuck the bitch into space at mach speed get any of the psychic people you know to chuck the bitch into space with their powers from a safe distance Doomsday couldnt fly and didnt have ranged abilities in its first appearance other than throwing rocks really hard Superman didnt have to try punching it to death to win is what i'm saying

also apparently this was a containment suit suppressing Doomsday's powers and the heroes by fighting the fucker kept peeling away more and more of the suit

when again, they could just chuck him into the space. or the psychic fuckers could squeeze his brain enough to likely make the fucker pass out not enough characters with telekinesis just fuck around with fuckers insides yeah actually that's a containment suit Doomsday only has one arm free here

this fucker really crawled out of who knows where in a containment suit just killing shit and destroying shit with no explanation later retcons made it a Kryptonian experiment, originally it was just bitch that came out of nowhere

local escaped thing that has been stated to not be that much more intelligent than a cunning animal that only hates and desires to destroy very effective at fighting fuckers with one arm tied behind its back

granted perhaps dont get that close to a fucker with superstrength they tend to be a bit fast too again fuckers getting up close to punch a bitch

yer priority should be mentally chucking the fucker away from teh road and the bystanders

Ted is lucky to have survived that with no enhanced durability.

and he got thrown after the getting his head bashed. man is lucky lucky lucky to have survived and not been permanently paralysed

me: damn Khaji Da worked hard to keep that man's body from getting too befucked by that incident

like, of course the writer didnt think about shit from Blue Beetle 1986, let alone the fact that Ted's bonded to an alien parasite/magical talisman that has brought a man back to life and healed his fatal injuries but I'm thinking about it heh like, Ted very much probably should have died from someone that strong denting mental with his face. and then throwing him. Magic is a better reason than sheer luck for his survival and coming out of a months long coma able to fight fuckers as soon as he woke up with no lasting damage other than what sounds like some chronic pain

man's face aint even broken that. A higher power was looking out for him and its Khaji Da

Booster's costume here isnt that much torn up than how it was at the end of the 1000 arc in his solo series. He didnt have to wait for Ted to fix it when he could have gone back to Dr. Soos

cause like who would reasonably expect a man that just got out of a coma cause by getting his head slammed into metal to be able to do fine circuitry work involved in fixing a suit from teh future without at minimum a year of rehabilitation/physical therapy (and frankly should be a lot lot longer than that)

like fucking wild and unreasonable that the moment Ted woke up from that coma he was fighting a villain, still in the damn hospital gown and everything. Man was just actively dying like 5 mins ago but he woke up and can do backflips One of Ted's kidneys shut down, do organs boot back up or is the dude just down a kidney forever cause that has health complications too

Booster medicine in the 80s aint that good

again Booster you know a a guy who's fixed yer shredded suit b4. The same fucking writer. Same fucking writer acting like Booster doesnt know a guy who's fixed his suit before

huh. well i will assume they got Ted's kidney working against since they dont mention him being down one later. Granted writers do just decide that characters arent disabled anymore all teh time. See both Ted's heart condition not coming up at all and Mr. Reyes no longer needing a cane in the most recent Blue Beetle run

it still bothers me that the Thanagarians arent actual bird people aliens their wings are fake i hate it

again I would like to like Booster and Ted's friendship. There's some decent moments but good lords is everything around it terrible

Just the knowledge that shit started with fuckers being ooc and cut off from their original support groups and used as vehicles for jokes, turned into the comic relief in a comedy series AND derided for it at the same time by the writers like…

most of this issue was just superheroes mourning Superman …Maxima's costume… is formed by her powers…ma'am are you naked? no, Martian Manhunter is bad enough pls put on undies at least under that power-projected costume Booster continues to forget that Dr. Soos exists and has fixed his shredded ass costume before this comic is set in the year 1993 Also Booster being casually ableist towards Oberon

just cause he's mad Guy Gardner harasses, attacks, and forces the Ray (a teen just getting a handle on his powers) to join the Justice League. I hate these people so much.

like I have no reason to belive that if Ray said no, that Guy wouldn't have beat him up and made him join. And we know that once Ray talks to Max and expresses any desire to leave he'd get brainwashed to stay just like Huntress ah yet again the notion that if a person has superpowers they have to be a superhero its their duty. Which is all kinds of bullshit

Also Booster turned Skeets off and put him in storage. Just that is the most blatant 'what the fuck writers' to me with the handling of Booster Gold in the Justice League International/America stuff. why the hell would Booster be so callous to turn his friends and partner off and put him in fucking storage?

that is his friend, the only person around who also knows the future that Booster misses and has been there for him just also Skeets is a person turning him off is fucking awful to begin with. The only reason anyone should do that is to fix him if he got badly damaged just… people like the JLI/JLA comics even tho they did so much bullshit just assassinated the character of these characters

just I do genuinely think that Booster Gold and Ted Kord/Blue Beetle 2 could be friends just not how this shit was done. Skeets should be involved. Ted's friends should be involved too. Also just Ted shoudl actually be in character and not some money-grubbing fame-seeking schemer using the Blue Beetle name as a brand that shit aint him. Ted actively avoids the press and the cops in his superhero work and the Blue Beetle name is not something that he'd use to make a buck off

also why is Skeets not angry about being turned off

its not like he's programmed to want to help Booster. Helping Booster is a choice Skeets made to help with teh fucking time loop shit. That doesnt mean he cant get snippy with him about treating him like that

Wonder Woman joined teh League and Ice leaves to go back to her homeland b/c she's not vibing with all the danger and friends dying and frankly that's fine again fuckers with teh argument that if you have powers its yer responsibility to be a superhero and save lives

i guess every ablebodied person in the world is failing our duty in having any job other than being a cop, firefighter, or paramedic

[aquabead]

Crystal Clear Waters: Choosing the Perfect Pond Filter

In the world of aquatics sometimes the sheer amount of Pond Filter out there can bamboozle and confuse in an attempt to give us a wide range of options. We are here to break down each type of pond filter and explain which pond it is suitable for in addition to the pro's and con's of that specific type to help you feel less overwhelmed.

The Different Pond Filters Available:

The best response is that in the majority of cases the best filter to use is often circumstantial and varies greatly depending on your needs.  In this post, we hope to broaden your knowledge of the different systems available and hopefully provide a clearer view of which system is best for you!

▸Ultra Violet

Having green water issues? This is what you need.  Fortunately, almost all systems now come with UV bulbs fitted to them now.  But what do these do? By exposing suspended algae, bacteria and parasites to these bulbs you damage their cell structure and kill them off.  It must be careful to note there is a difference between UV Clarifiers and UV Sterilisers.  Clarifiers have limited exposure times to the water column and will only control green water problems.  Sterilisers, however, have an extended exposure time to the water column and can control tougher bacteria and lesser parasites.

UV’s should always be placed at prior to the filter mass so that any dead matter can be collected by the pond filter media rather than being sent straight back into the main body of water which would be the case if placed on the exit of the filter.

▸All in one

These are ideal for the smaller pond.  Available in a range of sizes, these filters can do up to 2000 litre ponds with a light stocking of fish (excluding koi).  All in one pond filter often provide mechanical and biological filtration, with added UV to help control green water.  Their available surface area on which to grow bacteria is limited, hence only light stocking and they require regular maintenance to prevent clogging which can impede their performance.  All of them can be used to power either a fountain or a small waterfall.  However it is worth reminding as with all pond filter if you use the waterfall feature you will lose a degree of water flow under the pressure of the height being pumped.

▸Box

The oldest and most well-known style of pond filter, these are very simple to use and maintain, although they can be a bit messy (But that’s half the fun isn’t it?).  Care must be taken with these box pond filters when accompanied by pumps, if the pond filter is too highly rated it can flood the box and cause overflow issues (emptying your pond in the process).  These pumps must be placed in a gravity feed position at the highest water level, this is generally either at the top of the waterfall or the side of the pond .  Filters such as these will generally consist of a set of sponges on the inlet after passing through a rear mounted UV system before finally passing through some bio media it will then exit the return back into your pond filter.

▸Koi Box

These are very similar to your standard box pond filter, with the exception that these are generally able to be modified.  By having multiple chambers these can be easily adjusted to suite 10/15/20k litre ponds.  Because of the nature of being modifiable these are not always sold with UV kits or pumps, however, rating the products to the filters are easily done to achieve maximum filtration.  Find out more about our koi box filter systems

▸Pressurized

Of all the types of pond filter, the most popular coming to the foreground of the industry in the past 5 years is the pressurized canisters. With prices dropping to a point where they are often a good match for competition against the old favorite box pond filter. Pressurized pond filters that can be partially submerged so that the bucket sits in the ground leaving just the head component exposed.  More often than not they come equipped with a backwash system for easy cleaning along with some sort of sponge compression to allow for easy cleaning without having to get the head off the unit and spreading the sponges and getting all messy.

Why Choose GC Tek!

The market offers an overwhelming variety of pond filters to choose from. But among them all, GC Tek is head and shoulders above the competition. The globe over, pond enthusiasts turn to GC Tek because of its stellar reputation for quality and innovation. Picking GC Tek as your pond filtration provider is an obvious choice for multiple reasons. To begin with, their filters are built to last thanks to their careful attention to detail and use of only the finest materials. The severe conditions and demanding requirements of a thriving pond environment are no match for their sturdy construction. The second reason is that GC Tek filters have a stellar reputation for filtration. Their filters are great for removing debris, pollutants, and impurities from any size pond, from a little garden pond to a huge koi pond, so that the water is clean and healthy for your fish.

[eclvpses]

Hearing Dante agree with Frankie about the song was a relief. They weren’t convincing by any means, hardly ever argued for the things they actually did care about, but this felt important. Frankie didn’t like the idea of Dante struggling with something so painful on his own, obviously already had been for who knows how long. It gave Frankie some peace to help alleviate some of that stress. “Yeah.” He said mindlessly at Dante’s obvious statement - boundaries were good. And Frankie was working on them. On their ability to jump from one person to the next like they were nothing but play things, but truly it didn’t feel like that to Frankie at all. There really was deep love and admiration for everyone in their life they grew close to. But Frankie had been genuine about Dante blurring their lines in the most realistic sense possible. Tunnel vision mostly - Frankie doted on him in a way they’d never seen fit to with anyone before. They could be aggressively affectionate, clingy, borderline obsessive with the people they wanted, but with Dante - it felt more intimate than that. There wasn’t a word that could describe it better than that, but it still didn’t feel big enough. “You’re - very insistent.” They teased, hands clasped behind their back - like they were a child again and it was the only way to stop himself from grabbing the last cookie from the jar. Frankie imagined they probably looked shameful too. They didn’t emote like the next person, struggled to express himself and to - even smile some days, unsure of the skin that he lived in, but it was always clear when he was holding himself back. “And stubborn. Anyone… ever, uh, tell you that before?” For some reason, all Frankie could feel in that moment was disappointment. They were being good, for them at least - keeping their distance and making their intentions clear. Boundaries! It was all about their boundaries, and Dante was listening to him and being good. “Sure. I’ll wait for you.” It rang true for multiple reasons. While Dante teased, Frankie just felt himself grow more agitated. I’ll leave you be after. It was what Frankie had practically shoved down Dante’s throat - it wasn’t exactly fair to feel any sort of defeat or frustration because someone was taking him seriously. It didn’t mean that they still didn’t feel it. “Um.” Lips pressed into a tight line, brows furrowed - it was just about as serious as Frankie could get, or at least as serious as they could look. Now toying with their fingers like if they could just yank them off whatever heat that grew inside of them and ate its way from the inside out would be set free. But Frankie stayed intact, raging fire and all, so all he could really do was scoff at how ridiculous he felt. “You weren’t meant to like - actually… listen. I’m - I want to be… considerate of, um. You.” Unless they made it all up in their head. Which was - humiliating, in every sense of the word. Heartbreaking too, but Frankie was still trying to soothe himself with the sheer power of delusion. “I know that’s, uh. Unreasonable, or some shit. You’re not a mindreader - which is. So inconvenient for, uh, for me - Dante. But you get… a free pass. This time. Christ - whatever. I sound insane. Do you, uh, need help? Cleaning up before we go?”

The last couple of weeks had been much unlike anything he could have ever imagined. Dante wasn't one to focus too much on the bad things in life, but it was impossible to not be wrecked with every new death and news report that followed. It invaded his reality and his dreams alike. Every name that got read out felt like a bullet to the core. It was gruesome - almost comically so with the way the bodies were presented almost like a present. Yet all he felt was sorrow and an ever looming sense of failure at not being able to protect his pretty girl and friends. It hadn't started like that, but after Marcy was attacked in his property the feeling only seemed to grow. He couldn't protect them - probably couldn't even protect himself if something happened - and that ate at his psyche. Dante didn't like feeling powerless so he clung to the only aspect of his life that he did have control over. Burying himself in so much music that by the time he was done with his day his thoughts had nowhere to linger. His mind an empty shell of sound awaiting vibrations, pitch and tones. It was his own impenetrable fortress. Swallowing Dante gave them a nod, "It is a good song isn't it?" he asked, feeling so proud of the work Marcy had put into it all despite how angry she'd been at him for attempting to pair her with Dylan. "Okay, yeah. Maybe that's what truly best here. She would have wanted it." Dante's eyes followed followed Frankie's movements from the moment his cheek became free to the distance that they placed between them. You blur my lines. The words lingered in his thoughts for a moment as he tried to evaluate and solve them. What did it even mean? He could feel a sudden shift in the space between them which only stressed his need to make Frankie stay - did they not want to be near him anymore? Had his moment of weakness scared him so? The thoughts came on faster than he'd liked - Dante was not someone who gave much thoughts to insecurities, and never had with Frankie. But it didn't matter how needy or clingy he came off in the moment, he wasn't going to let them walk out those doors all alone. Not in this lifetime. "Boundaries are good." he said, glancing into Frankie's eyes as if he could read the thoughts in their mind but was blocked out. "And I love that you're working on them but I cannot, by any chance, let you walk anywhere right now. It's past midnight, you realize? And there's someone out there that doesn't seem to want anyone to live. So as supportive as I am of this new perspective and goal that you have, Frankie, I can't just let you go out there all alone." Dante couldn't stand the thought of the killer getting to Frankie because of him. They had taken the time out of their night, even while he hung out with friends on his birthday, to come and check on Dante. The least he could do was offer them a ride home. "No more than twenty minutes promise. I just got to clear this place out, and lock." Then, of course, he couldn't help himself so he joked, "And I'll do my darndest best to keep my claws to myself." In a swift motion he smacked his hand and swing it around his back to show how he'd be a good boy. "So there should be no temptation to... blur your lines." He said those last words with a strong impression, letting them linger on his tongue as his body shivered. Dante had half a mind to inquire more about those lines his presence blurred, but figured it best to not since Frankie was practically already trying to run for the hills when all he'd asked was to eat with him. "I'll leave you be after, I promise." he didn't like the way those words sounded coming out his lips, but Dante would always respect Frankie's wishes... objectively. He found a comfort and understanding in Frankie that Dante had yet to find in others and that made him crave their closeness. Was it selfish to want them? Absolutely, but he never claimed to be perfect.

[potassium-pilot]

Failure Is Always An Option

(Hee hee, time to put Alphinaud through the ringer. Thanks, Patch 6.2. Bit of an AU since as far as I’m concerned, Alphinaud was never there just as it was originally, but I can’t resist this new opportunity to traumatize the boy either.)

TW: Blood mention, death of a character, depiction of an anxiety attack

—————

There laid Haurchefant Greystone, the most noble of knights, in his most noble act of service. Next to him, kneeled over trying to look him over was the Warrior of Light as the Archbishop climbed aboard the airship. The ones who remained behind as the two of them attempted to detain the ecclesiastical figure rushed forward to see what came of him. Was he dead? Was there yet a chance he could live?

The Warrior of Light seemed to think so as she used the healing spells of Nym to try and give him one.

“Let me help you”, Alphinaud offered.

“I have this”, Dia declined bluntly.

“Please. I can’t sit by and do nothing while this man suffers.” Ignoring her declination, he began to provide his ministrations, much the same power as hers, but his comes from the knowledge of the sages of Sharlayan while hers is the lost art of Nymian scholars.

“Let me take care of this, Dia. You expended yourself quite a bit to keep us healed in the Vault.”

“Alphinaud—“

“He’s right. Let him try”, Estinien insisted.

“But—“

“I beg of you, Dia!” Alphinaud pleaded wholeheartedly.

She let out an aggravated sigh and moved aside to let him take care of him. Not even blinking while he worked, of course. In truth, he moved deftly to try and patch up everything he could see, and she knew this. His every effort was put into working as quickly and efficiently as possible, but he worked against insurmountable odds. The spear simply left something far too large for any healer to close in time, and the corrupted aether the spear came from fought his every move. All that any healer can do is encourage the body to heal itself at a faster rate. It would take months of pouring aether into the wound to make it close when Haurchefant had precious few moments left.

Even though she was more than aware of this, Dia still kept her eye on everything he did, and still held onto hope. But the minutes passed, Alphinaud looking more and more exhausted, and finally, he stopped.

“It’s no good…the wound is too deep. It refuses to mend…”

“What do you mean ‘it refuses to mend’?! Try harder!”

“I tried as hard as I could!” Alphinaud defended with sobs building in his throat.

“Oh, you’re godsdamn useless! Move over!” Dia shoved Alphinaud aside and and put in her own effort to close the wound. To her credit, the wound was closing faster, much to Alphinaud’s amazement. He watched over to see what was different, but despite everything, she moved much the same with the exception of certain Nymian traditions. So why did it close faster? There was no way it could close in time, but what was she doing that closed the wound faster?

Suddenly, even he could feel the difference. As Haurchefant’s wounds closed, Dia’s aether felt thinner and thinner. Her skin grew pale, her eyes dull, her cheeks flush.

She was using her own life force in a futile effort to save him.

“DIA, NO!” Alphinaud grabbed her and pulled her away from Haurchefant down to the ground. “You can’t give yourself up like that! I won’t lose two of you this day! I won’t!”

“Let me go, you little shite! Let me go!” She struggled under his weight. Normally, she could skip him across a lake like the pebble he was to her, but thanks to the sheer amount of her lifeforce she dispensed to bring Haurchefant back, she had no energy to fight him. She still attempted to squirm free, however, until a slight moan rang in their ears. It distracted Alphinaud enough that Dia could rise and meet Haurchefant’s gaze, the cold blood still trickling down his face.

There was nothing she could do but be there. And be there, she would.

—————

Alphinaud stood outside where he could see the Sea of Clouds stretch for their many malms. It was dark, and the clouds darker for it as the snow continued to fall. Dia was in her room, listless and mute in her mourning. So he was alone. The two people with whom he could take solace were mourning themselves.

For the first time since he left Sharlayan, Alphinaud wished his father was here.

Fourchenault’s cold and distant demeanor left much to be desired in terms of a personal relationship, but he desperately needed that. Someone who could look at him and pinpoint exactly where he went wrong. Someone who could tell him he shouldn’t have bothered. Someone who could have told him that there was nothing he could do.

He gripped the banister and squeezed his eyes shut.

“I was hoping I’d find you here.”

Alphinaud turned his head and witnessed Estinien walking towards him slowly.

“Estinien! I had thought you’d be with Ser Aymeric in the infirmary.”

“Aye, I was. The chirurgeons told me that he needed rest, however, and begged me leave.”

Alphinaud looked down into the Sea of Clouds. “How is he?”

Estinien made a slight grin and answered, “Heh. He was never one to fall easy. Give him some time and he’ll be back to his usual self.”

“I’m glad to hear it”, said Alphinaud, his spirits dampened though he meant what he said. Estinien stood next to him and stared out into the clouds like Alphinaud.

“I never quite understood some people’s obsession with the Sea of Clouds. They’re clouds- we see them in the sky near every day. But the way some people come to an epiphany around here, you’d think they’d hold more answers than they truly do.” Estinien brought his gaze to Alphinaud. “Is that what you’re looking for?”

“Answers?”

Estinien nodded.

Alphinaud frowned and answered, “I can’t say I was looking for anything in particular but to maintain some distance from Fortemps Manor.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t deserve to be in there.”

“No more than the normal inhabitants do if Dia’s visions are to be believed.”

Hearing Dia’s name ripped into him. “Twelve preserve. Dia hates me.”

“No she doesn’t. I hardly believe her capable of hating anyone except maybe the swivving Heaven’s Ward right now.”

“I shoved her aside when she was trying to save him.”

“You said so yourself- she was trying to give her own life to save his. Seems like either way, someone would have died.”

“What if we had combined our forces? What if we—“

Estinien placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Blaming yourself solves nothing. Believe me, I know.”

Alphinaud let out a small sob.

“Dia was wracked with grief. Probably still is if she’s not here with you. In desperate times, things slip out that you don’t really mean. I can assure you, Alphinaud, that she meant nothing of what she said to you, and in time, you two will talk like nothing ever happened.”

“I…-“, he sniffled, then continued, “-never have I been in such a position where I couldn’t cast some simple healing and continue forward. When it came down to it, I couldn’t save him. I needed to. Dia needed me to. I failed her. I failed him. I…I failed…”

“Life isn’t one of your ‘studiums’, Alphinaud. Failure happens even when you’ve done everything right, and when it does, the consequences are far more serious. Here, I thought that the fall of your Crystal Braves may have brought you closer accustomed to the sting of failure, but I suppose not. You can’t always avoid it with sheer effort. But you can learn from it. With him, the chances were stacked against you, and none can fault you for lack of trying. At the very least, I don’t. You still have my trust.”

Alphinaud sniffled and said, “Forgive me. I just…why are you telling me this?”

Estinien thought quietly for a moment, then looked out to the Sea of Clouds. “I lost my family when I was a boy, only a few summers shy of your age. For it, those who guided me honed my rage and fury into a tool that no other would perish so. I would have you avoid that path.”

“Estinien?”

“Nidhogg’s dead, and by my hand, no less. Yet I feel no pleasure in having achieved this lifelong goal of mine. My family remains dead. Countless people remain dead. You will find no recourse for the end of life.” Estinien took a deep breath. “Now I must reconsider my priorities. You fall into that.”

“I…” Alphinaud was left speechless.

“As do others, like the man I just left behind in the hospital, and the woman who just lost her dearest friend. Those two, however, are in no position to be helped by me of all people. You, on the other hand, there’s hope.”

Alphinaud shuddered and hung his head. How could he speak of hope when he felt so hopeless?

“You did everything you could. Standing here in the freezing cold will avail you naught. Get inside the manor before you freeze to death. Lord Haurchefant wouldn’t want you to do that.”

Alphinaud shook his head. “I…I can’t.”

“Then can we at least get somewhere warmer? The Forgotten Knight, perhaps? If you can’t bring yourself to get some rest in Fortemps Manor, then maybe you can see how Cloud Nine will treat you.”

Alphinaud thought about it, and nodded his head. “Okay.”

“Then off we go.”

The two headed towards the aethernet shard by the manor and teleported to Foundation. Once Estinien helped Alphinaud get checked into his inn room, he departed and walked into the Congregation. There, he headed towards the wing of the hospital Aymeric stayed in, and waited in a wooden chair by the door to his room.

—————

Alphinaud sat in front of the fireplace in his room in Fortemps Manor. The archbishop had fallen. The primal threat had been contained. Ishgard was safe from the machinations of the Ascians, and there was a real chance the city could find peace now that they’ve rejoined the Eorzean Alliance. It was exactly what Alphinaud wanted.

Yet with Estinien fused to Nidhogg, and the people unsure of what was to change now that Ser Aymeric made clear the truth, Alphinaud found himself in an odd limbo. There should be celebration. There should be relief that Ishgardian and Dragon could stop fighting. But there wasn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to.

Raionally, there was nothing to support this. But deeper still, there sat regret, heavier than anything he could carry alone. That feeling of helplessness festered and roiled within him. Her words still stabbed him. “Godsdamn useless. Godsdamn useless.” How often he sent her to fight in his stead since they met. How often he sat back and merely fretted for her safe return. How pitiful he felt. She’s right, he thought. She’s absolutely right. Godsdamn useless. I could have done more to help. I could have done something when she lost Lord Haurchefant. I could have been better. The one time I bothered to do something and I failed miserably and cost a man his life.

It’s my fault. All my fault.

Before he could ruminate on these feelings further, Alpinaud heard a knock at his door.

“Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Dia, looking exhausted still, even days after bringing down the Archbishop. The two had kept their distance upon her return from Azys Lla, the teenager not wanting to disturb her long-deserved respite.

“I hope I didn’t disturb you, Alphinaud.”

“Nonsense. You’re always a welcome sight.”

She half-smiled as she walked forward to take a seat next to his.

“I won’t keep you for long. I came because I wanted to apologize.”

Alphinaud’s eyebrows shot up.

“An apology? You took down two primals and saved Ishgard. For what could you possibly need to apologize?”

“My behavior in the Vault.”

The memory he long attempted to repress unveiled itself in that moment.

“Oh…”

“I-I said things you didn’t deserve out of desperation and anger. I’m perfectly aware that there was nothing either one of us could do, and tell you the truth, I knew it then, too. You worked admirably, my friend, and exactly as a healer should. It was irresponsible of me to draw on my own lifeforce as I did, and I know better than to do that, but well…desperation, you know?”

Alphinaud nodded.

“I should have apologized for this much earlier, but with everything that happened, there was no right way to do it. It’s been an honor to heal with you, my friend. You’re a fine battle medic, and I didn’t need to shove you and call you names. It helped neither one of us, and…I hope that someday, you can forgive me for my rashness.”

Despite the fact that her words tormented him just moments ago, the boy smiled. “I forgave you long ago, Dia. I believe a friend of ours once said, ‘Men are wont to give vent to their anxieties in myriad ways.’ I merely thought that you vented yours differently.”

She nodded. “I haven’t been myself since then…I’m sure you noticed.”

Alphinaud nodded, but inside, it hit him. Just who was she before this happened? Long had she kept to herself that the thought that she had changed simply didn’t phase him. What was the change? Did he miss her before that? Granted, he knew he couldn’t ask this. Not now, anyway.

“It’s affected a lot of things, and certainly our interactions with one another suffered for it. Please, I promise I won’t bite like that again. The entire time since then, I was just short of snarling and growling. I barely felt human- all I wanted was vengeance. I had it. I lost Estinien for it. You suffered for it, but I won’t let it happen again.”

He was still in disbelief that she could make such mistakes. That she was capable of losing herself like that. He wouldn’t make it known, however. Not when they needed each other. Especially as he needed her.

“Anyway, I won’t keep you. Come have tea with us in the morning, Alphinaud. I did so this morning for the first time since we got back, and I forgot how nice it is with the Fortemps’.”

He smiled and said, “Very well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night”, Dia wished sweetly as she closed the door. Alphinaud stared into the fire again. This time, however, he seemed to have found his way out of limbo. Though he knew from the beginning he wasn’t alone, now it began to feel that way. Thus could he finally find peace enough to let him sleep.

—————

There laid Dia Sito, the savior of the universe, battered and beaten after her rows against despair itself and Zenos viator Galvus. The whole of the group gathered around her broken body while those who could heal were healing. Not least among them was Alphinaud the newly minted sage.

To her credit, she never attacked him so viciously after the Vault. In fact, running through his head were memories. When she and Alphinaud were aiding the victims of Zenos’ ambush on Rhalgr’s Reach, she offered a, “Great work! He’ll be up in no time.” When Alphinaud healed the victims of the sin eater attacks with Dia when he was trapped on the First, she offered a “You’re doing wonderfully. Keep it up” as she moved onto the next person who needed aid. When the Garlean victims of Fandaniel’s towers needed aid, and he failed to help one of them before he died, she offered a “You did your best. There was nothing you could do.”

Alphinaud refused to let anyone say that to him about his efforts with Dia.

No, there was no giant gaping hole in her chest, but Zenos may as well have tossed her in a shredder for all the wounds she had. They were mounting one on top of the other. To heal her was to heal several a second to stop her from losing so much blood. Once they closed the last they could see, it was up to time itself.

“Her wounds…our every effort hath been thwarted by yet another borne of Zenos. Her breath hath slowed to but a crawl”, Urianger noted.

“Her blood pressure is falling”, Y’shtola added, “If this doesn’t change, we…” She couldn’t finish the thought.

“Don’t”, G’raha piped in, “Don’t think of such things. She has to live. She must.” He sniffled. “She promised me adventure, and she won’t break it.”

Y’shtola looked her over again, and noticed Dia’s heart stopped. “She needs resuscitation! Help me!”

G’raha and Urianger were quickly readying what they could.

“Alphinaud, do something!”

The boy was frozen. His dearest friend was dying, and he was frozen. He needed to move. Move, damn it, he told himself, move!

“I…I can’t do this…”, he whimpered.

“What do you mean?! Alphinaud, we need your healing, now!”

“I can’t…I…what if I fail her again?”

“You’ll be guaranteed to fail her if you don’t do something”, Estinien countered.

The boy fearfully stared down at her. Don’t die, he thought. Please, don’t die. I can’t lose you. I can’t fail you like I failed him. Please.

“For the love of the Scholar, Alphinaud, this isn’t your first time healing!” Alisaie yelled. “Help us!”

He panicked as he tried to think of something that could help. His breath quickened and he was on the verge of crying. His chest tightened, all rational thought went out the window, the room itself seemed to conspire against him. He was dying himself, he was almost sure of it.

“What would you have done if you had in the Vault what you have now?” Estinien asked.

Alphinaud focused on the question. Then it hit him. He spent a few seconds focusing on his answer, then cast Egeiro. Alisaie noticed what he did and cast Verraise, Y’shtola Raise, G’raha Ressurection, and Urianger Ascend.

Her heart hadn’t moved.

“No…not again…” Alphinaud whispered as the tears built up. “Please, Dia, not again! Don’t make me do this again! I can’t lose you! Please!” He put his hand over her heart and started using his magic to force her heart to pump blood as though he were pushing down on it himself.

It seemed the begging did nothing to help him. Or her for that matter as she simply laid there. Alive, but for how long?

“Alphinaud…though our efforts were great, thine insistence is futile”, Urianger admitted.

“She wouldn’t give up on me!” Alphinaud yelled. “I’ve seen her try to give her own life to spare someone else’s. I won’t give up on her!”

So he continued on while the exhausted others watched in horror.

“Alphinaud…it’s all right. We did everything we could”, Y’shtola tried to stop him gently, “You can rest.”

“I won’t! I can’t!”

But he knew she was right. There would come a point where a line would be drawn that even Dia herself admitted would be reckless to cross. But still, he had to try. He was set in motion by his allies, and he’d be damned if anything short of a cold steel wall would stop his momentum.

And for it, he earned Dia’s blue eyes slowly opening, and a triumphant beating of her heart.

No, he couldn’t save Haurchefant, just as she couldn’t. But he could learn from it, as someone once told him. And learn, he did, as Dia turned her head to him and asked if everyone was all right.

I didn’t fail you again, Dia, he thought. I won’t fail you ever again. We have a bright future to witness, and you and I will be part of it.

[goddesswritings]

“Can I slap her for you?” -  Corpse Husband | Part Two

Title: “Can I slap her for you?” – Part Two

Pairing: Corpse Husband x Reader

Summary: Being stuck living with the queen of YouTube drama and partying during the pandemic has seriously worn down your patience. Meeting Pokimane has changed your life for the better, making Among Us a pivotal part of your life.

Word Count: 5.2k

Unedited for now. I was eager to post. I will edit it later.

Corpse Masterlist

********

<< PART ONE

After you left the apartment, you sat in the parking lot of some random store, trying to decide what to do now. Sighing, you opened your phone and went to Instagram. Corpse was probably wondering if it went okay.

Corpse: She left the stream, thank you!

Corpse: What exactly did you do?

Corpse: She’s sending Sean angry DM’s now.

Corpse: Hey, are you okay?

Y/n: Hey sorry, I had to pack. I’m fine, happy to help get her out of the stream. I switched off the power to her office.

Honestly, you wished you could have stood up against her more often than you did. She was four years younger, so you should have been able to have the say in things. But no, Olivia was a control freak and a spoiled brat too. She would no doubt tell your parents you started a fight with her, and she felt unsafe.

Corpse: Wow, you’re badass. Packing for what?

Y/n: Um, she may have kicked me out of the apartment, and I may have left without a fight because I’m tired of her shit. 🤷‍♀️

Corpse: Do you have a place to stay?

Of course you didn’t and you really should have thought about that before just leaving the way you did.

Y/n: Not really but I will find somewhere.

Well you hoped you could. There weren’t many people who were keen in taking in a friend during a pandemic.

Corpse: Poki’s going to call you.

At that message, your phone started to wring and sure enough, it was Poki.

“Hello?” You asked hesitantly.

“So someone let it slip that your sister kicked you out?” Poki said calmly.

“Is that someone, Corpse?”

“Yes, he said it out of shock but I’m glad he did. Knowing you, you would have kept it a secret from me.” She was right. You hated inconveniencing your friends.

“Damn you, Corpse.” You muttered making her laugh. “Yeah so I ruined Olivia’s stream and she started screaming at me before kicking me out. I didn’t fight it because I am tired of her.”

“Understandable. Well do you need somewhere to stay?”

“Yes but I will find some place.”

“Nope, you’re staying with me. Come over now or I am coming out to drag you back to my place.” Her protectiveness made you smile.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a few.” You hung up.

Y/n: Thank you for looking out for my stubborn ass, Corpse. I would have never told her.

Corpse: Stubborn is one word to describe you. Cute is another.

That comment made your face heat up from the sheer adorableness of it. Corpse seriously just called you cute.

Y/n: Can I say you have a genuinely nice hand. It’s marvelous.

Corpse: Hey, don’t make fun of my hand. It takes all the heat for me. That hand is very anxious every time I post him.

Y/n: Awe I bet. Give him hugs from me. Also tell him I’m a big fan!

The easy flow of conversation between the two of you was nice. You got along extremely well and talking outside of the game was nice, since you could focus on what you really wanted to say to him.

Corpse: He’s flattered!

This was great and took your mind off Olivia and the fact she just kicked you to the curb with nowhere to go. But Poki was there for you. You appreciated her more than she knew.

You pulled up in front of her apartment building, parking the car, you got out and grabbed your stuff. Typing in the code Poki had given you a while ago, you were let into the building. Entering the elevator, you made your way to her apartment.

Barely knocking, the door flew open to reveal Poki. She looked mad but also worried. She pulled you into the apartment and hugged you tightly.

“Can I slap her for you?” She asked calmly.

This made you giggle. “I mean I would like to slap her as well.”

“We should make a plan. Hey, the group is still on, come say hi.” She started to lead you to her office.

“Are they still streaming?” You didn’t want to reveal your face to the world, not like this.

“Oh no. We ended our streams when Olivia started talking about you. She completely wasn’t respecting your privacy and we weren’t about to let her spill it to our viewers.” That was so sweet of them to do.

You had left your bags in the other room while you followed her. An idle conversation was going on when you entered.

“Hey guys, I’m back.” Poki took a seat in front of the computer, she pulled up a second chair. “I have someone special here.”

Sitting down, you saw her nod for you to say something. “Hey, did you miss me?”

They went wild.

“Y/n! Oh we missed you!”

“Don’t leave us again.”

“I’m sorry I invited your sister to stream.”

“Hey Y/n.”

The mix of voices was overwhelming in a good way. Sykkuno, Rae, Sean, and Corpse pretty much spoke over each other which made you laugh.

“One at a time, guys. You can’t overload her.” Leslie told them.

“Sorry Y/n. We just really missed having you here. You’ve become one of our favorite friends to play with.” Sykkuno said sounding as sweet as ever. That man was just the best.

“Yes, I can say we agree.” Rae added.

It was nice to hear they missed you. It really helped to lift your mood as well.

“Did your sister really kick you out?” Toast asked

“Yes she did. But it’s not surprising at this point. She’s probably been gunning to kick me out as soon as she could.” Sad truth

“Well she’s the worst player ever. She can’t keep a secret at all. I really should have never agreed to get her into the group.” Sean said sounding sad.

“Hey Sean, please don’t worry about it. She’s always weaseling her way into things. It’s completely not your fault.” One of the things she loved to do was incessantly DM other youtubers for collabs or for free stuff. She really had no morals.

“Well thank you, Y/n. You’re literally the sweetest.” Sean said earning a bunch of ‘I Agrees’ from everyone else. That really was helping make the night better.

“Who’s up for some more Among Us to relax after that shitshow?” Lud asked making everyone laugh hard. It was agreed the group would do it. Luckily, you had your laptop and joined the call and game and stayed in Poki’s living room to play. Honestly, it was so good for you.

**

At the end if gaming, you said goodbye to the group. Then Poki showed you to the extra room that used to be her roommates before she moved out last month.

“Hey, are you looking for a roommate?” You asked as you put the bags on the bed.

Poki sent you a smile. “I am. Are you interested?”

This was good. “Yes, I mean I still have to find another job since my main is still furloughing me until this pandemic gets better but I have some money saved up.”

“Hey, please don’t sweat it. Besides, I know a friend who’s in need of an editor, I may have mentioned your name and she really wants to talk to you about it. Is that okay?”

“Wow, that’s perfect. Thank you, Poki. You’re such a great friend.” It felt good to have someone there for you.

She pulled you into a hug. “Always. I am so glad I met you. You’re one of my best friends.”

This was an honor. “Don’t make me cry.”

“I can’t promise anything. Anyway, I will leave you to rest. It’s been a long night. Tomorrow I will give you my friends details.”

“Sounds good, night Poki.”

“Goodnight, Y/n.” She waved goodbye and closed the door behind herself.

Smiling, you sat on the bed. It was such a good thing that she was here got you. But also Corpse was the catalyst that got you to actually tell Poki was what happening. He was sweet and it seemed he was looking out for you.

After changing into comfy pj’s, you brushed your teeth before climbing into the freshly made bed. Opening Instagram, you saw that Corpse has messaged you.

Corpse: I don’t like being too forward but hey here we go. Can I please have your number so we can talk more easily?

A smile made its way to your face. For a tough man, he surely had a sweet way of getting to you

Y/n: Yes you can. xxx-xxx-xxxx.

The nerves jumped when you sent that message. Less than a minute later, you received a text from an unknown number.

xxx-xxx-xxxx

Hey Y/n, it’s Corpse. Would you mind if I called you so we could talk for a little?

You liked this idea truthfully. It only helped to show how genuine Corpse was being.

Y/n

Not at all. Please go ahead and call me.

Your phone rang, displaying Corpse’s name.

“Hello?” You answered the phone while pushing away the anxiety.

A soft deep laugh filled your ear. “Hey sweet girl. How are you feeling?”

His words made you want to sigh in the most lovesick way. That never happened these days.

“I’m good. Poki had an extra room I could crash in and well I might just be her new roommate.”

“I love that. She’s so much better than your sister I assume.”

“She is. Here I won’t have to deal with the incessant pandemic partying Olivia likes to do.” That selfish bitch.

“Shit, is she stupid? She does know she’s risking a lot of lives, right?” You loved that Corpse had the logic you craved.

“So she is stupid, and her response was always that it’s not her problem and that the vulnerable people should stay home.”

“She sounds like the typical beauty youtuber these days.”

“Yes, she is. She has no morals.”

“Well that’s not good. I guess that’s why her name keeps popping up all over social media. She really needs to be careful, before she becomes the next Tana.” He was right but you personally thought she was past that point already.

“It’s too late. She’s already passed the point of return with all of this.”

“Yikes. It’s good you got out of there when you did.” A soft but deep laugh was heard through the phone. The sound made you giggle. Hearing such a tough guy laugh the way Corpse laughs, made you feel giddy. “So about what I said earlier, I meant it.”

“Huh, what are you talking about?” You truly were a little lost by this.

Corpse laughed again. “When I called you cute earlier. I meant it.”

Heat filled your face and a small smile made its way to your lips. “Thank you, Corpse. That’s really sweet of you. I don’t like to show many people who I am because they will immediately connect me to Olivia, and I don’t want that.”

“I get that. I don’t show my face for fear they won’t like me when I do. All my fans have built up this expectation of what they want me to look like and now I just don’t want to let them down. Plus it’s nice being able to stay anonymous if I go into public, but of course people will hear my voice and know. Shit, it’s hard.”

“Awe, I’m sorry. I saw what the attention has done to some people, but I think not everyone goes into that headspace. Also, I think you should stay faceless if it makes you feel better. There is no rule that says you ever have to show your face. People who push you to do it have no boundaries.”

Corpse was quiet for a while and you thought you had offended him. “I’m sorry if I said the wrong thing, Corpse.” You squeaked.

“No, you said the right thing. I was just thinking. You’re right. A lot of people have been on me to reveal my face, but I never intend to. I want to be able to live my life without being swarmed by fans, or god forbid, them judging me by my appearance.”

“Which is really fucked. When I first appeared in my sister video, the comments were awful. They couldn’t understand how she was related to me, but I never thought I looked bad. But I guess they expected Olivia to be surrounded by people in her genre. It was so hard to see those comments.” Thinking back to it, Olivia had even added to it. Telling you that you should have tried to look more like her for the video. You should have worn something more colorful and put-on way more make up then you liked. But you hated that. That wasn’t you.

“I can’t imagine the things they said. Is that why you deactivated your twitter?” How did he know about that?

“Oh, yeah. How did you know about it?”

“I remembered seeing a story about it on YouTube last year. They didn’t show your face, so of course I didn’t know it was you. But I figured it out when Olivia joined the game tonight and she blabbered on about being your sister. I’m sorry you received that hate. No one deserves that ever.” His voice was calming you now.

“Thank you. Olivia seemed to add to it, as well. Fuck, she’s just the worst person.” Family definitely had the ability to be shitty. “Meeting Poki last year really was the best thing. But also joining this Among Us group has been so good for me. Thank you for accepting me.”

“Of course. You’re a natural in the game but you also fit very well with the group.” Corpse really hoped you believed him because this was true. The group had a whole conversation about it when Olivia finally left

“I’m flattered. The Corpse Husband is telling me I fit in with him and his streamer friends. Wake me up, I must be dreaming.” You knew his words were genuine because it was just easy to tell.

“You better believe it, baby, because it’s true.”

You stopped short when you heard him call you baby. Of course Corpse had used that word before but right now it felt more intimate.

Letting out a yawn you realized it was nearing 4 am. “I appreciate it.” You mumbled, feeling the events from the day seep in.

“You’re tired, aren’t you?” His deep voice was lulling you closer to sleep.

“No.” Another yawn broke through.

“You can’t lie to me, Y/n. Get some sleep and we will talk tomorrow.”

The words made you smile. “That sounds good, Corpsie. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sweet girl.” Despite wanting to stay on the phone, you hung up. Sleep was quickly coming in to claim you. You can happily say you fell asleep with a huge smile on your face.

**

Waking up was easier than it had been in a long time. Normally you woke up to Olivia screaming at you or someone else. So it was nice to wake up to silence. It allowed you to relax and wake up properly.

Your phone buzzed from beside you. A text from Corpse is what you first saw, so you opened it.

Corpse

Good morning, sweet girl. I hope the night treated you well.

Sweet and to the point. His messages made you think he had a thing for you. Well you hoped he did but he also could just be treating you the way he treats friends.

Y/n

Yes, I slept well and for once I wasn’t awoken by my obnoxious sister.

It would he good not to live with her.

Corpse

I bet. Hey I hate to be the one to show you this, but your sister posted this on her instagram.

He then sent a link to the post. It made your blood boil.

::::

There was a picture of her, she was holding up a ripped picture of you. A huge frown was on her face.

oliviaxoxo It’s a shame when family starts to treat you like you weren’t the one to give them money when they needed it. This is my sister and she’s a bitch. For the last few years, she’s been the one editing my videos. Well I found out she was trying to sabotage me, so I had to fire her and kick her out. What a shame it is when family stabs you in the back. 🙃🙃

1,454,787 people like this

oliviafan23 Is this true? Damn, f*ck fake people.

queenolivia Sueeee herrrrr!

lovinliv Family ain’t shit. Spill her info so we can drag her.

sykkuwu Whoa, why are you spreading lies about your own family?

   |

queenolivia Why would you defend someone like that?

valkyrea You’re such a sad human for doing this. Stop lying.

pokimanelol Let’s see, none of this is true. Your sister has done so much for you and you’ve never appreciated it. Get some help for this.

corpse_husband This is sick. No wonder your name is always blasted everywhere. Do your sister a favor and stop talking about her.

    |

oliviaxoxo I don’t know why you’re defending my stupid sister, but that totally makes you not hot to me anymore. Ugh.

   |

valkyrea Uh, that’s what you got from this. Wow, you’re not worth this.

    |

corpse_husband What can you expect? The covid must have gone to her brain.    |

corpseandlivfan Whyyyyyyy Corpse, why would you stand up for her. Do you not realize how horrible Y/n is? Please tell me this is a joke!?!?

   |

 corpse_husband Well, she’s a good friend of mine and I won’t let people make up lies. So it’s not a joke.

::::::::

You were mad that she’d even say this shit publicly, but you should have known she would. She was nothing without her group of misguided followers.

Y/n

Can’t say I’m not surprised. This is so on brand for her. Thank you for sticking up for me. It means a lot.

Corpse

I would do it any day. She shouldn’t be able to get away with doing that to you.

Sadly, growing up, she did get away with doing the absolute worst shit and you always received the brunt of it.

Y/n

With any luck, she draws negative attention.

You clicked the link to view it again but instead were lead to a page that said the content was unavailable.

Y/n

I believe she just deleted the post.

Corpse

Oh, she did. That’s awesome.

It was. Olivia was never one to swallow her pride and admit any wrongdoings. That means she would never delete a problematic post, but she finally did

Y/n

I didn’t really read any other comments besides you and your friends and the top comments. I can’t imagine what her fans are really saying.

Olivia was completely okay with letting her fans attack people. It was seriously a huge mess. She fell into the category of YouTuber with the worst most entitled attitude.

Corpse

It’s good you didn’t read them, because they were horrible. I can’t believe she would let her fans do that.

Y/n

She’s done a lot of shady stuff. This is even before she blew up on YouTube. There is a lot of issues between us.

There was a lot that could be said about your relationship with Olivia and none of them were good. Forever it seemed, you had tried to make it work and hoped your sister would grow up and change but it never happened.

Corpse

I think she’s a vile human. From what I have seen and her complete lack of human decency, I just can’t help but feel she’s just not a good person and she never will be.

He was right. She would never change.

Y/n

You’re right. Hey, I have to go thank Poki for letting me stay but I also need to go back to that apartment to get the rest of my stuff. Can I call you when I get back?

Corpse

Yes, of course. Good luck heading over there.

Talking to him was pretty natural feeling. It was clear now that you were getting a massive crush on him. You had a crush on a man who’s face you’ve never seen. You couldn’t help it though, his personality just meshed so well with yours. He’d made you feel safe and wanted.

After getting dressed, you found Poki in the kitchen making breakfast. She sent you a sweet smile when you entered the room.

“Thank you for standing up for me against my sister on Instagram.” You were truly honored this group of friends liked you enough to do something like this.

“You’re welcome. I couldn’t just let her say that and get away with it. She’s done a lot to you, that you don’t deserve. Corpse messaged all of us the minute he found it and we all jumped into action. Sean and Felix were getting ready to comment when she deleted it.” She explained as she set a plate in front of you.

“I’m so honored. Thank you!”

“Of course, you’re one of us now and we will never let her get away with this stuff anymore.”

You could just cry with how loved they were making you feel. This is what had been missing in your life. Friends who genuinely cared about you and wanted to protect you from the nasty stuff Olivia was capable of doing.

“Would you come with me to the apartment to get the rest of my stuff?” You asked once the two of you finished eating.

Poki nodded. “Of course I will. You shouldn’t have to go alone.”

**

An hour later, you exited the elevator on the floor where you once resided. Your sister wasn’t home, which would be good but there was a chance she could return while you were packing. But you would deal with that when it came down to it. The two of you quickly got to work, packing your life up into the boxes you’d brought with you. Luckily, you weren’t one to collect a ton of stuff. You mainly just had to make sure your clothes and makeup were packed up.          

You and Poki would fill boxes and pile them by there door, then you would take them down to the car when you acquired a good amount. In the end, you figured you would fill maybe 10 boxes which is actually not too many considering you’ve lived in that apartment for five years.

Poki had left to go take two more boxes to the car while you finished up packing up your last few items. The front door closed, and you assumed it was Poki, but it wasn’t.

“Oh look who’s here? My lovely sister.” Olivia’s voice was flat and emotionless.

You rolled your eyes and turned to find her standing in the doorway, glaring at you. “Hello, Olivia. I’m just packing my stuff and then I’m leaving.”

“Who said you were allowed to come back here?” She grumbled, eyeing the boxes.

“Well, this is my stuff and I have every right to come pick it up.”

“If it’s in my apartment, it clearly belongs to me.” She snarled.

You snapped. “Cut it out, Olivia. This was my apartment too, until you kicked me out last night. You can’t just claim my stuff as your because you’re salty about me having friends.” She was a spoiled brat, and you were done letting her get away with it.

“I’m not the salty one. Everyone can see it’s you.” God she was so annoying. You taped up the last box and turned to her. She held her phone in her hand. “Everyone say hi to my sister. You know, the one I posted about earlier before someone reported my post.”

“Are you live?” You asked, keeping your face expressionless. Olivia would do this.

“I bet some of you remember the few videos I did with her. Well of course that was before she turned against me and decided she was going to try and ruin me. Say hi, Y/n.” A sick smile played on her face.

“I never consented to being in your live, Olivia. Please stop.” You tried to keep your voice calm so that she wouldn’t have any way to make you look like the bad person. But regardless, she was already doing it.

Olivia cackled. “Well I think I’m free to do as I please in my apartment.” You could only imagine what her fans were saying. “You’re right, Andrea, she is an idiot, and I should have her arrested.” She spoke aloud making your blood boil.

“You’re so immature, Olivia.” You grumbled before grabbing the last couple boxes and moving towards the door. Olivia decided to swat the boxes out of your hand, and they fell tumbling to the ground. “What the hell, Olivia. I could have fragile stuff in there.” You growled at her.

Olivia was just laughing. “This is funny. What else should I do, guys?” She asked as she panned the phone around the room.

Her immaturity was giving you a headache. Poki walked in and saw Olivia.

“Oh hey guys, look who’s here. Pokimane.” She panned the camera to Poki who frowned. Olivia just laughed and started talking shit until she was cut off by the stream just ending. “What the hell.”

You gathered the last few boxes, and Poki came to help while Olivia attempted to start another live.

“What the fuck, it won’t let me go live.” She growled while stomping her foot like a child.

“That’s what happens when an influx of people report your live.” Poki spoke as you both had gathered the boxes.

Olivia was frowning. “What did you do, Y/n.” She wanted to pounce at her, but Y/n and Poki were already at the door.

“Y/n did nothing, but I got word of your little livestream and contacted some friends for help. It will be at least 24 hours before you can have another live. But with the amount of people who reported you, well you may be banned for a while.” With that, you and Poki left Olivia standing there is absolute shock.

You and Poki put the last boxes in the car. “Thank you, Poki. How did you get so many people to report it?”

“Well it was actually Corpse. He texted me and informed me that she was doing a live and bothering you. He had his fans go report it, but apparently Sykkuno and Rae also sent their fans. I was going to send mine, but they had it handled. So this was all Corpse.” She explained.

Hearing this made you feel so soft for Corpse. “Awe wow. That’s so sweet of him.”

The two of you entered the car. “Y/n, can I tell you something without you telling him I told you?”

You looked over at her. “Yes, sure.” Your heart rate kind of picked up.

“Well the other day, Corpse admitted he has feelings for you, but he wasn’t completely sure if you felt the same way for him. But I mean I can clearly see you do. Your whole face just lit up when I mentioned him. So do you?”

Heat filled your face and you suddenly felt shy. “I do, yes. Which is ridiculous because I just met the guy, and I don’t even know what he looks like. But gosh, I like him so much. When I talk to him, I feel happy. He’s been so good to me through this crap with Olivia.” You admitted, knowing she already knew.

Poki smiled and squealed in complete happiness. “You two are just the most adorable people! It’s not ridiculous. We pretty much knew from the first time you joined us, that Corpse was into you. But oh my god, you’re into him. You need to tell him!!!!”

You agreed, Corpse deserved to know. “I do. But how? It’s been a really long time since I’ve told someone I liked them. Shit, I feel like I’m in high school again!”

This made Poki giggle. “Calm down, Y/n. I have a plan. Let’s get back to the apartment and we will talk about this. Rae also wants to be involved in this.”

Back at her apartment, you had jumped onto a call with Rae and the three of you talked about what your plan was for you to tell Corpse what you felt for him. Rae and Poki decided to organize an Among Us game strictly for fun and no one would stream, they would also use Proximity chat.

“So we will get him to follow you around until one of us is imposter, then we will lock you into wherever you end up. Do it then” Rae explained sounding so excited.

“Okay, that can work. Let’s do this!” You were nervous but also excited to finally do something good for yourself.

You and Poki set up for the gane and Corpse sent you a text.

Corpse

Are you joining the game tonight?

Seeing a text from him, made you feel giddy.

Y/n

Yep I am. So I will see you in game?

Corpse

Yes you will, angel.

Cue the insane butterflies.

**

The lobby loaded and it was you, Corpse, Poki, Rae, Sykkuno, Karl, Tina, Sean, Toast, and Leslie. All streamers you had grown to like a lot in the time you have been playing with them.

“Y/n, I am so happy you’re playing with us!” Tina gushed as her little character ran around yours.

“I’m happy to be here.” You really were.

“You’re sister is a piece of work, Y/n.” Sykkuno said.

You giggled. “Don’t I know it.”

“What did she do this time?” Sean asked.

“Decided to film a live when we went to get Y/n’s stuff from the apartment.” Poki explained.

“Oh, that’s gross.” Karl commented.

“I have to thank Corpse for helping.” You stated to the group.

“Yeah Corpse was quick to text us.” Sykkuno added.

“You’re welcome, Y/n. I wasn’t going to let her get away with what she was doing. Truth is, I got a bunch of fan DMs that were telling me what Olivia was doing. So a lot of my fans were already reporting it, but the tweet helped.” Corpse’s deep voice soothed you.

“I appreciate it so much. She was just being an immature brat as always.”

The group laughed before deciding to start the game. Poki and Rae agreed to text you when either of them were imposter. Now it was a matter of getting Corpse to follow you.

The group was on the Polus map, which seemed to be a favorite for everyone.

Rae

We should lock them in weapons.

Rae had texted you and Poki through the group text.

Poki

That’s the best place for them.

Y/n

Okay but I still have to get him to follow me.

Rae

He will. Just wait, I have a plan.

You trusted Rae and Poki to help you. Now it was time to admit it all to Corpse and hope he genuinely liked you back.

Y/n

Let’s do this!

PART THREE  >>