#but the taunting someone with something valuable to them before destroying it in front of them is

[darkmagicmirror]

I was trying to figure out why Callum specifically holding onto the potion and waiting until Claudia saw it and asked for it back before he emptied it out reminded me of a typical Disney villain vibe actually and then it hit me

Like okay sure, you're fighting your enemy, but then he also waited until she saw him for sure, she said something about it, and then he opened it?? Why??? 😭

(If you don't know who the cat is: 1. You're missing out, and 2. It's Yzma, the main villain/antagonist in the Emperor's New Groove, and she has the potion the main character needs to go back to being a human)

Ironically it's a reverse situation not only because one is a protagonist and the other is an antagonist, but one has a potion that changes the other person's body to be less human-like, while the other has a potion that changes the other person's body back to being human.

Both potions help the person who would use them, though. For survival, or for going back to a normal life. (And Claudia's also trying to go "back to normal" in the sense that her goal is to keep her dad alive.)

Anyway this post wasn't supposed to be that serious, but it just baffles me

[knickynoo]

Gonna regret asking this as soon as you answer, but what do you think Marty would’ve done had doc actually died in the parking lot? Like immediately and beyond? And just to spread the pain around, what would doc have done had Marty died by buford’s hand?

This is another one of those asks that got backlogged. Sorry, anon. I've given some thought to these scenarios, though, and, well...I'm sorry. This is gonna be dark.

Had Doc not heeded Marty's warning and actually died (& assuming Marty re-loading the time machine with plutonium and trying to fix things isn't possible for some reason):

Marty would've continued to sit on the cold ground, sobbing for a long while. Einstein would join him, torn between trying to comfort his young friend and whimpering by Doc, trying to get the man to wake up.

Once the initial flood of tears eases, I could see Marty getting angry. Like, the angriest he's ever been. Screaming at Doc, at himself, and maybe finding things in Doc's truck to throw around and destroy. Then another wave of sadness would hit and he'd break down again.

Eventually, Marty would realize he needed to get moving. Someone was bound to see the fire caused by the Libyans' van and also the truck, DeLorean on the street in town, and the man lying dead in the mall parking lot. He'd know that the police would soon be called and that there would be a lot of questions that he'd rather not have to answer, but Marty would be very hesitant to go. He wouldn't want to leave his best friend. How could he? It would be a betrayal. He'd be a coward to run. Doc wouldn't leave him if the roles were reversed. So he'd stay, shivering in the cold night air, trying to figure out what he'll say. What they'll ask him.

After, he'd find a payphone and call the police himself. Upon their arrival, though, he'd lean into his own hysteria and act like he had no clue what happened. Maybe explain he was Doc's assistant and that he'd been asked to come to the mall but he'd shown up late and found the scene as it was already. When it came down to it, Marty would really be too much of a mess to talk to anyone, and the authorities on the scene would just see a distraught kid who needed to get home.

(There's a lot that could probably be said about how things would unfold once Marty got home, but in the interest of wanting to skip ahead, I'll just say that George and Lorraine would be horrified. Scared out of their minds and confused at what had happened. They'd likely do everything in their power to shield Marty from questions and prying eyes in the weeks that would follow)

Oh, right...on top of Doc being dead and Marty having witnessed it (twice!), he'd also have to deal with the whiplash at his suddenly new family. Which would really not be a good situation.

Things would rapidly fall apart for Marty once the dust settled and the reality of things set in. He'd be dealing with a family who all felt like strangers. He'd have no memories of ever having lived with those people. He wouldn't even be able to talk to Jennifer about anything for fear of sounding crazy and scaring her away. His best friend in the world, the only person who Marty felt truly understood him, was gone.

I think some pretty significant PTSD would be likely. Marty would have constant nightmares of Doc getting killed. Of trying and failing over and over to save him. And even with his loving, supportive parents doing all they can, it wouldn't be enough. Marty wouldn't feel a real connection to them or want their help. He wouldn't want Jennifer's help. He'd just want Doc back. He'd torture himself with thoughts of what he could have done differently that night he left 1955 or upon his arrival back to '85. He'd blame himself entirely for not trying hard enough. Not being smart enough or brave enough to have done something to save Doc.

Things would only be made worse as rumors swirled around town. Doc would be solidified as a villain in Hill Valley. A crazy, dangerous man who drew terrorists to their quiet little town and almost got a teenager killed. Marty would have to listen to whispers of people's theories as to what happened that night and hear them express their relief that Doc was no longer around to cause them any trouble. People would shoot Marty sideways glances, either looking down on him for having been acquainted with the deranged scientist or holding pity for him. Classmates would harass and taunt him, wanting to know what happened. Wanting to hear the "real story".

All the while, Marty is consumed by a grief he's unable to escape. He'd probably go one of two ways. Too depressed to function, he'd sort of withdraw entirely from life. Break up with Jennifer, shut his family out, abandon his music, etc. He'd see no real point in trying to make a good life for himself and be too anxious to ever move out of his comfort zone. On the other hand, he could give in to his anger and swing the other way, becoming self-destructive and sabotaging his future--drinking, dropping out of school, and using his fists to deal with any peers who dare to say a bad word about Doc. Either way, he'd be upset at himself because he'd know Doc would want better for him. Expect better of him. But he wouldn't be able to pull himself together because he'd be so stuck having convinced himself Doc's death was his fault.

Where would all of this leave our dear Marty as the years pass? I'm not sure. He'd either spiral totally beyond reach or eventually hit rock bottom and realize that he had to let go of all the sadness and anger and live up to all the potential Doc was always saying he had. At that point, though, he would have lost years to his grief, so getting his life together would be difficult. And...yeah.

That was lovely, wasn't it? Doc's turn!

Had Marty actually been killed by Buford (again assuming using time travel to fix things isn't an eventual option):

I feel like, initially, Doc would skip right past the devastated/crying phase and go immediately to a level of anger he'd never felt before. Do you remember how he acted when Buford was harassing Clara at the dance, especially when she was pushed down? Remember how it took 3 of Buford's guys to hold Doc back?? Yeah, well, take that and multiply it a couple of times.

I think it's quite possible that Doc would attempt to take Buford down right there, which likely wouldn't end well for him. But he wouldn't even care. He was heartbroken already over Clara and then his best friend in the world is killed in front of him. All rational parts of Doc would be gone. And seeing as Buford is, you know, dangerously unhinged and has his little posse with him, Doc might end up getting himself killed a minute or two later as well. In which case...well, that would be the end of this scenario. He and Marty would end up buried next to each other in the Old West.

If Doc somehow managed to survive an encounter with Buford, or if he didn't confront him at all because he was in such a state of shock, I think he'd resign himself to a quiet, lonely life in the 1880s. I'm not sure if he'd stay in town and work as a blacksmith. Maybe? If he wanted the distraction? But he also might move away to a little house and just live off the land.

Not sure how Clara would factor in, assuming she'd return to town to find Doc after getting off her train. I don't know if Doc would push her away, wanting to be totally alone in his misery or if he would cling to her.

Doc would be dealing with a lot of guilt. He'd decide that he was responsible for Marty's death. After all, he'd made the decision to stay in the saloon all night, and Marty had to then track him down. Then he'd taken that shot and passed out, costing them valuable time they could have otherwise used to be well on their way to the train. They could have avoided Buford altogether if it weren't for him, Doc would conclude, and in his mind, he'd essentially forced Marty to have to face the man.

Doc might eventually settle into a routine and go about living his life, but I don't know that he'd ever recover from the crushing guilt he'd feel. Losing Marty would shatter him. Marty was the first person to reach out to him, even with all the rumors and disdain other residents of the town threw his way. Marty liked and accepted him for who he was, something no one else had ever truly done. Marty brought so much good into his life, and in exchange, Doc had done all he could to be there for and protect his young friend--to help him see his own potential. But he couldn't protect Marty, and that failure would hurt more deeply than every other one combined.

Basically, I think that Doc would just lose part of himself after losing Marty. Even if he married Clara and had Jules and Verne and ended up with a nice life, he'd always feel the absence of his friend. He wouldn't ever fully be "Doc" again--more of a subdued, more serious version of himself.

I could see him holding it together for the most part, being a family man, all that stuff. But then he'd have moments where he'd find himself alone and just fall apart. And just to make things extra sad for anyone who's read this far, I imagine Doc taking very frequent trips to wherever Marty is buried, laying a few flowers down, and staying there for hours, crying, praying, talking to himself, or just sitting in silence.

Well. Anyway.

Thanks for the ask?

[umbraastaff]

Till Death, Don’t Let’s Start

Chapter 1

“This is kind of a bad time.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Barry,” says the possessed collection of boulders that’s about to punch him. “Were you hoping I’d come back when it’s more convenient for you?”

The incoming stone ‘fist’ collides with a skeletal hand. It’s larger than the lich itself, and yet it stops in place, with a shower of red sparks where they make contact. “A lich can dream.”

“You’ll have plenty of time for that in the Astral Plane,” Kravitz says, trying again to slam down. This time, he meets an invisible shield and keeps pushing. He can feel the magic that’s blocking him, and it is unyielding.

“Right. Yeah. There’s big magic here,” Barry continues, as though Kravitz is an idea soundboard and not a deadly enemy. His free hand--the one that isn’t blocking Kravitz--keeps waving in complicated patterns, some of which the reaper can recognize. Divinations, spells not unlike Detect Magic. “Thought it was the--a--a grand relic, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“And yet you’re sticking around.”

“Well, I--Wouldn’t you want to know what it is?” Barry stares intently at the ground. “I know I’ve felt something like this before, but--but not here. I just can’t place it...”

A flurry of gigantic stones comes raining down on the lich. An outward blast of force repels them all. He huffs like it’s an inconvenience.

“Look, can’t you just...” his idly casting hand completes another divination. “...Wait. Do that again.”

“I--” That’s enough to bewilder Kravitz out of the next strike. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s--I think it’s reacting to our--look, I know you don’t give a shit. Just do your normal thing, easy! Throw more rocks, or something.”

Kravitz considers this. Chances are a hundred to one that Barry’s just doing some ineffable scientific bullshit, and it isn’t going to affect Kravitz at all. But he’s also a very smart lich, and it could just as easily be a trap. “...No.”

“What--okay--don’t hit me, then?”

“Are you really going for reverse psychology, after that?”

“No offense, my man, but you’ve fallen for worse.” Barry sighs, and he raises a hand into the air. Red lightning starts to gather at his palm, blindlingly lit and erratically sparking.

Kravitz steps back, cautious. “Excuse me? Give me one example.”

“That’d be telling,” Barry says coyly. “Anyway, no worries. I’ll do it myself.”

He slams his fist into the ground. The sheer volume of necrotic energy that sweeps through Kravitz makes him want to retch. He sees plantlife ripple miles away, shuddering from its power.

“WHAT in the HELL, Barry Bluejeans!”

“Shush!” Barry says quickly, casting another divination. “Ha! Yes!”

“Are you quite done,” Kravitz snaps, and doesn’t wait for an answer before hurtling another magicked rock.

It shatters as it hits the robe. Barry, still deep in concentration, doesn’t even flinch. “...Oh. No.”

“No?”

“No!” Barry repeats, flying up towards Kravitz’s construct ‘head.’ “We--We gotta go, bud, we--”

The ground begins to shake beneath Kravitz, rumbling and shifting in ways that feel unnatural for an earthquake. Flat earth starts arching into a hill, cracking chunks of dirt and felling trees as it does.

Kravitz starts to get the distinct feeling that he forgot something about this place, something from a terribly long time ago.

“--We gotta MOVE! KRAVITZ! Get outta those fuckin’ rocks and GO!”

“You think you can scare me with some Thaumaturgy-level, hokey?” Kravitz taunts, but it isn’t with all the confidence it should have. Then Barry reaches through him.

Kravitz feels his soul, his very essence, dragged forcibly into a vulnerable state. Outside of the protection of his body, held firm by someone who could destroy him from here. Instead, though, Barry flings Kravitz into the sky.

Disoriented, Kravitz follows his instincts, and cover manifests around the ball of light. His skeleton forms, and then the rest of his projected form. Below, the rocks he was possessing all fall apart, crashing down into the grass and rolling away as the earth keeps moving.

From below them both, there’s a deep rumbling. The volume is overwhelming, destructive, and it takes a few seconds to pinpoint what it is: a roar.

“BARRY FUCKING BLUEJEANS, IS THAT A--”

“Dragon! It’s a dragon, I-I fucked up, I woke it up!” Barry says quickly, panicked. “It’s gonna be mad at me, but if you get outta here, it might not pick up on your goddamn--scent or whatever it picks up on, I don’t care--”

“Sounds like we’re on the same side, then,” Kravitz says, still midway through his effort to regain his composure.

“I--what--you’re actually gonna help me?”

Kravitz summons his scythe. “No.”

“Oh, I see. You meant the--the, uh. You meant you’re allying with the dragon,” Barry says, flying further away. “Which is stupid, by the way! You’re fuckin’ insufferable!”

“Then quit! I can get us both away from the dragon, you know,” Kravitz offers.

Scales start showing between the breaking chunks of earth. They shine bright red in the sunlight.

“IT’S FUCKING CHROMATIC, KRAVITZ!”

Kravitz isn’t stupid. He knows how dangerous a dragon can be. But he also knows that he himself has a foolproof means of escape. And if Barry’s dealing with an entire dragon in the meantime, it could throw him off just enough to give Kravitz an opening. All he’s ever needed was one successful swipe.

The dragon rears its furious head, finally breaks free of the earth it slept under for centuries, maybe millennia. The lich that woke it immediately has its attention, and the attention of a dragon is something one never wants.

Barry dives and weaves between blasts of fire and gnashes of giant teeth. Kravitz keeps out of the dragon’s direct line of sight, but when he sees an opening, he flies in.

It’s the fastest and most serious way he’s ever seen Barry deflect him. His scythe goes flying out of his own hands, and a large chest manifests in the air just long enough to snap shut over the weapon. Then it’s gone.

“Nice try,” Kravitz says, summoning the scythe again. It doesn’t come.

Barry must have some powerful wards on that extradimensional box, if a reaper can’t summon a soulbound weapon from it.

“Well, that was my exit,” Kravitz says bitterly, now considerably more on edge. He stays further back from Barry and the dragon, trying to formulate a plan to deal with this without his scythe.

“I will make you a portal myself if you’ll fucking go through it!”

“What’s your goal here?” Kravitz retorts. Admittedly, it’s a little mesmerizing, watching Barry fly around in an almost practiced routine. Like he’s done this before, even though no dragons have threatened Faerun for far longer than he has existed. Still, even a lich like him won’t ever take down a dragon. “How are you going to stop this thing on your own?”

“Oh, like you’d suddenly up and make yourself valuable help?” Fire nicks him. “Shit!”

“Well, I wasn’t just going to leave a fucking dragon loose on the world after I caught you, and I’m still not going to do it now!”

“I-I can’t trust you,” Barry says, and he has the nerve to sound sad. “Stop.”

Kravitz suddenly finds that his body doesn’t much want to move. He feels, actually, that he’d be quite better off if he stopped, and didn’t move a single muscle, even though every other thought in his mind is screaming that he needs to move. He has the feeling that, if he had a need for air right now, his lungs wouldn’t even expand.

The dragon is no fool, but Barry can at least keep it going in circles. He throws strings of magic off himself, luring the dragon upwards, and striking at its neck and underbelly. Then it’ll face him again, and he’ll shoot into its mouth. Repeat.

Kravitz, forced to watch, sees the pattern complete a few times, though Barry’s smart enough to change up how he executes it each time.

When they come towards the reaper once more, he sees the dragon break pattern. Its head levels with Barry early, while he’s still facing away from it.

“Careful!” Kravitz shouts instinctively, drawing Barry’s attention.

And the dragon’s.

The dragon faces Kravitz, and now he can see the fire it was building up in its jaws to attack Barry. He can see its eyes, too: it is far too furious to care about attacking someone other than its target. But his terror won’t allow him to move.

Barry flies in front of Kravitz. Kravitz sees his skeletal face, hollow and shaded. And then all he sees is fire.

It goes right through Barry, but it doesn’t hit Kravitz nearly as hard as it should. It is searing, yes, painful beyond imagining, but it does not decimate him the way dragon fire should.

The same cannot quite be said for Barry. His form flickers and glows something horrible. The flaming energy boils from within, threatening to destroy him, and he... spins around.

 The energy flies back out of himself, now in enormous tethers of red lightning that coil around the beast. The dragon’s flight gets closer to the ground, until it crashes into the ground, sleepy or subdued or both.

But Barry looks worse than Kravitz has ever seen him. He’s always so composed for a lich, and now he’s only barely holding himself together. But it still isn’t like what he’s seen from other liches. He’s focused: his mind is present.

He’s just... discombobulating. Falling apart from that blast, and desperately trying to keep it together.

Kravitz can see the dragon on the ground, thrashing and struggling against its bindings, soon to be free once more.

“Krav--Kravitz,” Barry says urgently, his voice splitting and shaking and fighting so hard to stay comprehensible. “I--I know we’re not--it’s--please,” he tries, like he’s aiming to speak a whole hour’s worth of words when he has mere moments.

He’s coming undone. He grabs Kravitz’s hand, and it’s now that Kravitz realizes he’s allowed to move again. He lets Barry take it anyway, even though it would be so easy to brush off that feeble, shaking grasp.

He feels something cool pressed over his index finger, and when he looks down to see it, something hits his chest. He’s shoved back, and he sees the rim of a portal, and realizes he’s being pushed through one of Barry’s making.

“Barry--” the sky is the same. They’re still on the Material Plane, just a different part of it. A place where the dragon isn’t. (Yet.)

Barry takes his hand again, claps both skeletal hands around it. “Please don’t fuck me over on this one, Krav,” he says, and then his form completely dissipates. Barry is gone.

Kravitz stares at where Barry was for a few moments. And then he looks around. He’s on the outskirts of some city, now on the ground. Not making a spectacle by popping out of a portal in the sky, at least.

He tries for his scythe. It still won’t come.

And on his oustretched hand, on the index finger, there’s a ring. Pale tracings of a tiny, complex sigil encircle the rim. And in the center, there’s a small, red gemstone.

[Part 2]

[themonkeycabal]

WandaVision Episode 9 Spoilers

I can't believe we're already at the finale. 

This has been better than I expected, though I didn't have any particular expectations one way or the other. I had hoped it would be bonkers, and it's had its moments, but I didn't expect it to be breaking my heart. I'm glad Wanda (and Elizabeth Olsen) got this moment to shine. It was very well done, and it's been nice to have fun with a Marvel property again. It's been a little while.

My wishlist for this episode is simply that somebody, anybody punch Acting Director Dick square in the face. And also that Jimmy Woo arrests him. A lot.

Other than that, I don't know what to expect, or how they wrap this up in 30 minutes.

Previously on: Wanda finally earned the name Scarlet Witch after Agatha made her relive the worst moments of her life. Harsh, Agatha. Vision uttered a line that launched a thousand gif sets. And Hayward revealed his genius masterplan which is a reactivated Vision, devoid of color and powered by the energy bleeding from Wanda's hex. I'm sure that will go swimmingly for him.

Let's see how this all ends.

Agatha still has magical tethers around Billy and Tommy's necks, which obviously Wanda doesn't like. Agatha gives the boys a tug, knocking them back, and Wanda lets loose, walloping Agatha. The boys are now free, but Wanda tells them to go to their room. They object, she insists, Tommy grabs Billy and they zoom off. Wanda hits Agatha again with a hex, but Agatha sort of collects it into a little glowy ball in her hand. Oops.

"I take power from the undeserving. It's kinda my thing."

Wanda notices her hand turning gray and gnarly — the look of somebody about to be magically mummified. Agatha hits her with a hex and taunts her some more.

"You're clearly in over your little, red head, so why don't you surrender your magic to someone who knows what to do with it?" Agatha, you're pushing your luck. "I'll let you keep this pathetic corner of the world all to yourself. What do you say?"

Wanda says she will throw a car right at your face, Agatha. I laughed. Didn't see that coming, did you? Knocked Agatha right out of her boots.

As Wanda is investigating, Director Dick's white Vision floats down behind her. He's creepy looking.

Wanda walks over to him, staring at him. "Is it really you?"

He puts his hands on her face, all gentle like, but it's a lie. He starts to squeeze. "And I was told you were powerful."

Gross, AD Dick. I hope you get stepped on by Ant-Man when he's being Giant-Man.

Sitcom World Vision (hereafter just plain old Vision) makes a timely reappearance, and takes out Not!Vision. He wants to know where the boys are, Wanda assures him they're safe, and she apologizes for everything and that she should have told him what was happening, "the moment I realized what I'd done". Poor Wanda. He tells her it's alright. She says she can fix it. Not!Vision climbs out of the burning remains of a camper.

Agatha reappears to note the awkwardness of the situation. She asks Wanda who she's going to choose, the ex or the boyfriend. What happens when Wanda hits you with more power than you can contain, Agatha?

Wanda tells Vision "this is our home." He agrees, "then let's fight for it." I hope for the best for you two crazy kids! Marvel has a dicey record on happy endings, though. Sorry!

Vision takes off towards Not!Vision again. Agatha flies off, too, and Wanda follows.

Across the street Monica is pounding on a window, calling for Wanda. Fietro, lounging with a guitar in his … stoner den?, tells her nobody can hear her. Can we talk about how Monica's SWORD uniform looks like ST:Next Gen unis? I can't stop seeing it and it's distracting. Anyway, she tries to escape, but, Fietro is still all fast and stuff, so she's thwarted.

In the sky, Vision and Not!Vision battle. Not!Vision says Wanda must be neutralized and Vision must be destroyed. Hmm. Not!Vision tries to rip out the stone in Vision's forehead but Vision goes intangible. More fighting with intangibleness. It's pretty cool.

Outside Westview, AD Dick is feeling cocky as he watches both Visions on tracking monitors. I loathe him so much. Jimmy Woo is brought in handcuffed by a pair of SWORD goons. I'm sorry, who the f is SWORD? Like, they have arrest powers now? Dick says "hey, it's my favorite member of the Bureau." New wishlist: everybody gets to take turns punching AD Dick in the face.

Dick asks his minion to reconfirm mission objectives while Jimmy listens carefully, mentally noting each and every violation of federal law and the Sokovia Accords. 

The minion says she can't get through to not!Vision, his system is overloaded. A cellphone rings on a desk nearby and Jimmy eyes it, then tells Hayward that he'll never be able to cover up these shenanigans. 

While Dick is busy boasting and the SWORD goons are doing everything but paying attention to their prisoner (in my head all the SWORD goons applied to SHIELD but Maria Hill laughed at each and every one of their applications and then called Pepper to laugh some more and then texted choice bits to May tagging them "RE: LOL"), Jimmy eases over and grabs the phone.

"Wanda canceled her show,” Dick says with the sort of confidence only an enormous prick can muster, “so there's no footage proving there was ever more than one Vision."

Jimmy points out that that is dumb, because there is other footage, from SWORD HQ and stuff, and probably evidence of tampering. He casually sits on a table, shaking his head, like he's just so disappointed (i'm hoping he's somehow managed to use the phone to record the monolog-ing) .

Dick is still too far up his own ass to notice Jimmy being sneaky. "No one's going to care once I've eliminated Wanda Maximoff. They'll believe that the Vision that emerges from the Westview rubble is the one she illegally tried to bring back to life."

Wait, bringing him back to life is illegal? You're full of shit, Dick. And also, an extremely terrible person, who will destroy a whole town for … something? A Vision weapon? Who are you fighting, Dick? BTW, I award him no sympathy points for surviving in the post-Snap world. So if he's been scarred by that or whatever, I don't care. Trauma doesn't excuse murdery megalomania. As has been said before: Cool motive, still murder. I hope Vision intangibles him into a lamp post that gets peed on every day by a parade of small dogs.

"They'll thank me for recovering such a valuable asset. You could be part of that victory, Jimmy. If only you had a little more … vision" says the smug prick who is asking for it. And by it I mean something both terrible and humiliating to happen to him asap.

Jimmy fake laughs back. "That's a good one, Hayward. Okay, I'm convinced. The trouble is my friends at Quantico will probably have something to say about your plan. When they arrive. Inside the hour." heh.

Oh, poor Dick doesn't like being mocked back. He tells his brain-dead goons to remove Jimmy. The goons throw Jimmy into a … stack of hay? In a fenced in cage thing? As you have on your pop-up military facility. Where he sets to work removing his handcuffs with a clip he also stole, because Jimmy Woo is cool like that. Close Up Magic! See the things you can learn from criminals. "Flourish" lol. 

He calls his friends at Quantico. "I was hoping you could get here … inside the hour?"

Back in Westview. Wanda is looking for Agatha while the town goes about its business. Weirdo delivery guy drives by "Don't shoot. I'm just the messenger. ha ha."

Then she gets hit in the back by a purple hex. Ouch. She has hit the pavement hard kind of a lot in this episode already. That hurts, my dudes, I know this from personal falling down experience. Wanda's hand, by the way, is still looking ashy and not very healthy.

Agatha taunts her from a rooftop. "Did you know there's an entire chapter devoted to you in the Darkhold." How could she know that, Agatha? Also, boo the Darkhold. That bit of nastiness led to the Framework, and I'm still a little scarred by that myself. "That's the book of the damned," says the witch standing in front of a billboard for "Squeaky Shine" lol.

Agatha produces the Darkhold and recites from it, "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, nor need for incantation." Wanda insists she isn't a witch, nobody taught her magic.

Agatha continues, "Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme" Steven Strange will like that. Not much. He's so twitchy about things like that. "It's your destiny to destroy the world." Always with the destinies. FREE WILL FOREVAH!

Wanda insists she's not the Scarlet Witch thingy. Agatha says "oh really?" and uses her mojo on Emma Caulfield. Hi Emma Caulfield! She seems to be 'awake' and introduces herself to Wanda (who knew her as Dottie) "My name is Sarah. I have a daughter, she's 8, maybe she could be friends with your boys. If you like that storyline. Or the school bully, even. Really anything, if you could just let her out of her room. If I could just hold her." Wow, ouch.

Speaking of free will or the lack of, Wanda accuses Agatha of doing this, but Agatha says "She's your meat puppet. I just cut her strings." Poor Wanda. And now Agatha wakes up the whole town, who all head towards Wanda.

And we cut to Fietro's den of manchildness. Monica asks what that place is, but come on Monica, it's clearly a den of manchildness. Fietro is making himself a smoothie and explaining the purpose of a mancave — chillaxing.

Monica ignores him and rifles through his bills and whatnot. She finds a headshot of Fietro with the name "Ralph Bohner" underneath. Because, people just keep their headshots lying around willynilly. Wait, are we saying Ralph is an actor? Lol. 

Fietro meanwhile is planning for a Steven Segal marathon — my dad and I watched all of those movies and for the life of me I could not tell you why. We didn't *like* them. I mean, mostly we laughed, but still. Why?

Anyway, Monica is trying to solve the mystery of Fietro. It's not Agatha's house (obviously) it's Fietro's (Ralph). He's an ass and asks if she wants to fight some more, so she flips him over her shoulder and pins him down, trying to figure out how Agatha is controlling him. With her new glowy eyes, she notices the bead necklace he's wearing sparkles in a magically way. She rips it off and Fietro becomes Ralph.

Elsewhere the Visions are still battling in the sky and the boys are watching from their bedroom. They lose sight of dad, but Billy gets a vision of mom in trouble in the town square. He and Tommy run off.

The townsfolk are confused and scared. Wanda tells them they're all going to be fine. "When you let us sleep, we have your nightmares." Ouch. Wanda insists she kept them safe. Wanda, sweetie, you're very far in over your head. 

"You feel, you feel at peace," she tells them, kind of hoping that works. It doesn’t. "We feel your pain." "Your grief is poisoning us." "Please let us go." This is an awful thing to do to Wanda, Marvel!

It escalates with all those voices begging her to free them and she screams, grabbing her head, and when she does that, red light appears around the throats of the townies, silencing them, choking them. Wanda realizes and puts her glowy hands up "stop, stop, I'm sorry", releasing them all.

"If you won't let us go, let us die." Wanda promises to let them go. Agatha wonders what's stopping her from actually doing it.  

"Heroes don't torture people." Agatha's a very sink-or-swim kind of teacher.

That does the trick and Wanda throws her arms back and yells to the sky, releasing her power up at the hex surrounding the town. "Go, all of you. Now, go." The people run and the town flickers through the eras and the barrier starts to fall.

Outside, Director Dick tells his morons "this is it, we're going in!"

The Visions keep on battling, but as the barrier falls, Vision starts to falter himself. I was afraid of that.

The Morons roll in with their big trucks and big guns because … reasons. I have a very low opinion of SWORD. Maria Rambeau's agency deserves better than this shitshow.

Vision falls and it looks like bits of him are chipping off. He hits the ground hard, he gets up, but he's glitching, too, falling apart as Wanda takes down her spell. He reaches for her. The boys appear now, too, screaming for mom, but they seem to be flickering as well, flying apart in pixelly pieces. Poor Wanda.

Agatha says "Now do you see? You tied your family to this twisted world and now one can't exist without the other." This is terrible. "Save Westview or save your family." TERRIBLE.

Wanda pulls the hex into herself again, recreating the barrier. The kids and Vision recover and run to her. Outside, as the hex closes, Jimmy Woo is, yet again, left to stare at the barrier, cut off from the fun inside. Poor guy, lol. But, his FBI buddies are arriving, so at least he won't get lonely.

Agatha throws a hex at Wanda and Wanda throws up a shield to protect her family. Which Agatha starts to draw towards herself like the magic vampire she is. Greedy Agatha. Wanda's arms are all gray. And SWORD rolls into town square, because that's what this confrontation needed — these dipshits.

Anyway, the Family stands ready to face Director Dick and his morons, in a quality recreation of the Incredibles family pose. "Listen boys, your mother and I never really prepared you for this," dad says. Because your boys are like three days old, Vision, it's okay. "But you were born for it," Wanda assures them very fiercely. Get 'em, sister!  

As they square off, Vision's like "oh crap, it's the other me, back in a mo'" and flies off to tackle Not!Vision who's trying to sneak up behind them.

They destroy the town library and Vision wants to know why Not!Vision gotta be like that. "My programming directive is to destroy the Vision." 

Ha ha, says Vision, a loophole. "But, I'm not the true Vision, only a conditional Vision."

Hmmm, says Not!Vision, and they stop fighting, "I request elaboration". Hey, Vision, move into Not!Vision's body and you can be true Vision again! Problem solved, my work here is done.

Back to the street where we find Dick and his Morons and Agatha who is not making this situation at all better. The morons point their guns at Agatha who magics them up off the ground like thirty feet in the air, "Same story, different century. There will always be torches and pitchforks for ladies like us, Wanda." I'm not going to say you're wrong, Agatha, and God knows these SWORD morons are morons, but you're also a pain in the ass. So …

Anyway, then Agatha drops them and Wanda reaches out to catch them. But once caught, she does let them drop the last five or six feet. They'll be fine, but also they deserved it, so I laughed.

"Boys, handle the military. Mommy will be right back." They're my new favorite family.

Wanda flies up to tangle with Agatha and Agatha is super ready except … Wanda throws a curveball and disappears. Suck it Agatha.

Down on the ground the SWORD morons continue to cover themselves in glory and point their guns at CHILDREN. I don't care if they're powered children, you know what I'd like, I'd like if one of the morons would just be like "um, but … they're kids and how about no? I'm going to get Jimmy Woo! He'll know what to do. Don't try and stop me!" That doesn't happen.

Billy freezes the soldiers in place and Tommy super speeds by and steals their guns and hats. AD Dick, being the absolutely loathsome, vile, lower-than-a-maggot, piece of shit that he is, gets out of his humvee and shoots at the CHILDREN.

Monica, who has just arrived to the party, runs and throws herself between Dick and the boys, taking the bullets meant for them. Her new powers render her sort of … I don't even know. Not quite intangible, but she kind of looks like a ballistics gel dummy and the bullets go through her but they slow down a lot as they pass and then just sort of fall on the ground. Dick, crossing the line into pure evil, fires again, the bullet misses Monica and heads towards Billy, who just raises his hand and stops it with his power then he grins at Monica.

"Nice tricks," she tells him.

"I like yours, too," he says.

Dick tries to fire AGAIN! But he's out of bullets. He only had four? Or maybe his gun jammed. Anyway, like the brave man he is, he runs to the humvee, gets in, reverses at speed, stops and looks like he's going to put it in gear and drive at them because the dude is unhinged. But! Lo! It's Darcy and the funnel cake truck, that is apparently built like a tank, though come to think of it, it probably was an armored vehicle in the real world.

Anyway, she t-bones Dick's vehicle, thwarting his evility for the moment. "Have fun in prison." Lol

Back to the Visions. They're having a philosophical debate. "You are familiar with the thought experiment "The Ship of Theseus" in the field of identity metaphysics," Vision prompts Not!Vision.

  "Naturally." And Not!Vision helpfully spells it out for us. "The ship of Theseus is in a museum. Over time its planks of wood rot and are replaced with new planks. When no original planks remain, is it still the ship of Theseus?"

  Vision presses his advantage, "Secondly. If those removed planks are restored and reassembled, free of the rot, is that the ship of Theseus?"

To sum up, neither is the true Vision, both are the true Vision.

"But I do not have the mind stone," says not!Vision.

  "And I do not have one single ounce of original material," replies Vision. "Perhaps the rot is the memories. The wear and tear are the voyages. The wood touched by Theseus himself."

Not!Vision says he doesn't have the memories, though, but Vision insists he does, the data is still there, hidden. Not!Vision says nah, Vision must be the true Vision because he believes himself to be. But, Vision says that's not true anymore, he plays the reverse card, "upon meeting you, I have been disabused of that notion." This is the most philosophy nerd game of 'not it' ever.

Vision continues to try to get at Not!Vision's memories. "As a carbon-based synthazoid, your memory storage is not so easily wiped. May I?" Not!Vision allows Vision to touch the glowy bit where the memory stone used to be, and Not!Vision is flooded with Vision's memories. Not!Vision's eyes go … normal, I guess you'd say, no longer robot-like and glowy.

"I am Vision" he says and flies off. It was a lot to take in, I guess. He needs a little me-time.

I guess we're going to have to go back to calling Vision Sitcom!Vision, anyway, he goes outside and the boys run over to him and there's hugging and stuff.

Agatha stalks them from the rooftop, but it seems she might have forgotten Wanda for a second, because Wanda appears behind her and does that thing she does where she makes you see your worst fear. Enjoy that, Agatha!

Agatha sees herself bound to the stake in the woods again. Her coven dead. Wanda is there in the vision, too. "You see the difference between you and me, is that you did this on purpose."

The coven rise from the dead and shuffle to her while Agatha begs for it to stop. But, then Agatha gets control of herself, I guess, and the undead mummy witches start saying Wanda's name and pointing at her. You're just no fun at all, Agatha.

Now the coven ties Wanda to the stake. "You can't win, Wanda. Power isn't your problem; it's knowledge." That is, actually, very true. Wanda's Scarlet Witch headpiece appears on her all magical-like, marking her as the Scarlet Witch of myth, I suppose.

"Give me your power, and I will correct the flaws in your original spell. And you and your family and the people of Westview can all live together in peace."

If Agatha is so smart, why doesn't she just take Wanda's power, hmm?

"And no one will ever have to feel this pain again. Not even you," Agatha tries cajoling, but that was the wrong tack to take. Wanda gives her the head tilt of imminent ass-kicking, and her powers explode outward, flinging way the weird creepy coven of zombie mummies. Then Wanda knocks them both back into Westview.

She starts hammering Agatha with her powers. "Take it, I don't want it." Vision tries to fly up to help her, but she blocks him with a spell.

Witch fight in the clouds. Every time Wanda misses Agatha, her hexes hit the shield. Outside Jimmy Woo looks on, concerned.

"There's more," Agatha says, "I want it all." Wanda's looking a little mummified, but she's still flinging hexes left and right while Agatha cackles evilly. Eventually Wanda runs out of steam and just sort of hovers there.

"About our deal. Once case, a spell can never be changed." You're terrible, Agatha. Very cruel. "This world will always be broken. Just. Like. You." Low, Agatha. Lower than dirt

Agatha gathers herself and tries to hit out at Wanda with all that yummy power but it just fizzles. Nothing happens. Oh noes, Agatha, what's wrong?

Wanda starts looking like her normal self again and behind her glows a giant rune. Oh, dear, Agatha, you taught Wanda something. When she was missing Agatha and hitting the shield all those times, she was actually casting runes. LOL to you.

The sky is angry and red and stormy. Monica, Vision, and the boys look on.

"In a given space," Wanda says, "only the witch who cast them [runes] can use her magic. Thanks for the lesson, but, I don't need you to tell me who I am."

 The Scarlet Witch headpiece reappears and now Agatha has her a fright. I like you Agatha, you're rotten in fun way, but you took it too far, sister. Wanda takes her power back with prejudice and she is transformed into the Scarlet Witch. Updated version of the classic costume. Nice, I like it.

"Oh god," Agatha gasps, "You don't know what you've done." Wanda drops her on the ground more gently than she deserved.

Agatha asks if Wanda's going to lock her up somewhere. And Wanda says, yeah, here in lovely Westview. "I'll give you the role you chose; the nosy neighbor."

"You have no idea what you've unleashed. You're gonna need me." "If I do, I know where to find you." lol

And Wanda turns Agatha back into Agnes. "Hiya, hon. Say, that some kind of getup you're wearing. Did I leave the oven on, or is that just you, hot stuff."

Wanda says goodbye and walks over to her family, kissing her boys.

Vision says their dream home has turned into a fixer-upper. "I know you'll set everything right. Just not for us."

"No," Wanda agrees because Marvel likes to hurt us all. "Not for us."

Monica kind of bounces on her toes, trying to get Wanda's attention, but probably also not entirely wanting Wanda's attention. Wanda gives her a hesitant nod as she and Vision leave with the boys.

The field around town starts to shrink, the circus turns back into the SWORD base.

They get home and tuck the boys into bed.

"Big day today," Vision says. "Your mother and I … are very proud of you both."

"Very proud," Wanda agrees. "You know, a family is forever. We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried. You know that right?"

They kiss their boys goodnight. Outside the window, the field flickers and fails. "Boys, thanks for choosing me to be your mom."

The town of Westview returns to its sad old self, street by street. Wanda turns out the lights in their home.

But, Vision turns one back on. "Oh, I read somewhere, that it's bad luck to say goodbye in the dark." "No, you didn't." You guys are killing me.

Why did this have to be so good and sad?

And finally the collapsing field reaches their street, they watch it coming. 

"Wanda, I know we can't stay like this, but before I go, I feel I must know, what am I?"

She touches his face. "You, Vision, are the piece of the mind stone that lives in me. You are a body of wires and blood and bone that I created. You are my sadness and my hope, but mostly you're my love." Stupid show, my screen went blurry there for a second.

Vision cries a bit, they both are a little astonished by the tear. 

"I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human. And now, a memory, made real. Who knows what I might be next." Aww, Vision, I love you.

Here comes the field.

"We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason—" "We'll say hello again." STUPID SHOW why do you have to make me feel things?

The field collapses and everything is stripped back into nothing. "So long, darling." And Wanda stands in the empty lot, in the foundations of the home that never was.

She walks away again. Poor Wanda. And back into town. The people look at her, they don't seem happy. I don't know why she chose to do that, she does have a car. Ah, she's going to talk to Monica.

"They'll never know what you sacrificed for them," Monica says. "It wouldn't change how they see me," Wanda tells her. "And you? You don't … you don't hate me?" "Given the chance, and given your power, I'd bring my mom back. You know I would." "I'm sorry, for all the pain I caused."

Wanda promises to figure out her power and then files off. The End.

Heartbreaking. Good, but heartbreaking.

Mid-credits scene. Jimmy Woo is large and in charge. He's setting up the incident response in town, ordering folks around (in his good natured way).

Jimmy spots his friend. "Monica!" "Authority looks good on you, Jimmy." "Where's Darcy?" "Something about ‘debriefs are for the weak’?" lol "But we can thank her for that." 

And down the street AD Dick is being arrested. Nobody punched him in the face. I'm sad. Darcy came closest, I guess. What with hitting him with the very large truck. It will have to do.

Monica is summoned to the theater by another agent. Hmm nobody there. The agent follows. "I was sent by an old friend of your mother's." And the agent is a Skrull. "He heard you'd been grounded. He'd like to meet with you."

"Where?"

The Skrull points up. 

What was Fury's Skrull buddy's name? I don't recall. I didn't actually like the Captain Marvel movie. I felt like they told it backwards, and also they should have just cast a younger actor to play young Nick Fury. That bugged me. And I wanted more of Annette Benning’s character. Anyway … I guess we know where we’ll see Monica again. 

Well, that was fun. Like I said, I'm not sure what I expected from this series, just that it be some degree of fun, I guess. But it was much better than whatever I had half-envisaged. AND SADDER, MARVEL.

Thank goodness for the multi-verse. I'm sure we'll see some version of the boys again. And also Not!Vision, who is probably also Vision at this point, knocking around the world, trying to find himself. Talk about identity crisis. I feel you, brother. Stay safe, get plenty of whatever passes for rest for you!

See you guys in a couple of weeks for Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I WANT NO TEARS FROM THAT ONE! Unless it's tears of laughter. 

ETA: FOR THE SECOND POST CREDITS SCENE THAT I MISSED. Stupid Marvel hiding things from me. Thank you, @beelzebufo

Mountains, a mountain lake, a place I’d like to be right now. Wanda sits on the porch of her lonely little cabin. The tea kettle whistles and she goes inside. There’s a rattling and whispering from the other room, where the astral projection(?) of the Scarlet Witch reads the Darkhold and her children call for her. I don’t know, Wanda, seems dicey, that’s not a very nice book. 

FOR REAL THE END THIS TIME

[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

All Those Things They Couldn’t Say - A Runaway Baudelaires AU

{ao3} {tumblr} {masterlist}

Chapter Four - Violet jumps out of a window

Instantly, Beatrice shouted, “A-flat!” 

They’d decided, years ago, to adopt several different escape strategies, and after tallying up their different opportunities, they’d labelled them according to musical notes. 

A-flat denoted their very complex plan of run as fast as you fucking can. 

Violet gripped tighter to Klaus and dragged him to Sunny, while Beatrice leapt over the desk to charge Olaf, and Bertrand whipped around towards the children. But they hadn’t taken more than a few steps before, suddenly, more people were in the room; some raced in from the hall- they’d foolishly left the door unlocked, how could they be so dumb?- while some came from the same door the Count had. 

Violet screeched as someone grabbed Klaus, ripping him from her grasp. She turned as fast as she could, but she barely caught sight of him being pulled back by someone of indeterminable gender before she felt something cold and metal pressed under her chin. She froze over, glancing down and seeing what might be a hook wrapping around her stomach, too- either than man holding her was very good with hooks, or he had them for hands. As she froze, she thought she heard the man whisper, “I’m sorry, just stay calm,” but it was muffled by her parents’ struggle. 

Bertrand ran for them, only for him to let out a cry of pain; something had struck him from behind. A bald man with a long nose yanked him back, and as Beatrice turned, only a few feet from Olaf, her terrified eyes falling upon her children and husband, a tall woman strode over, and immediately shoved a rag over her mouth. Beatrice whipped around, trying to punch her, only for a woman with a powdered-white face to grab onto her from behind. The first woman managed to slam Beatrice into the wall, where she swiftly delivered a kick in the stomach. Beatrice gasped, and Bertrand, who had been thrown to the floor, screamed. 

“Let go! Let us-” Klaus began, only to be silenced by a punch to his stomach. He let out a cry, and let out an even louder one when another woman with a powdered face lifted Sunny by the collar of her dress. Sunny screeched and started swinging and kicking, baring her teeth. 

“Boss, what the hell do we do with this… gremlin?” the woman asked. 

“There’s a birdcage in that room there.” Olaf gestured towards the room he exited. “Just stuff it in that.” 

“No!” Klaus shouted. “No, Sunny!” 

“Esme, go get the birdcage.” 

The woman who’d kicked Beatrice gave him a dark look. “Why do I have to do it?” 

“Beatrice is handled.” Olaf said, and Violet darted her eyes to her mother, terrified to see her slumped on the floor, gasping, while the white-faced woman was handcuffing her. 

“No!” Violet whimpered, as the tall woman groaned and strutted into the next room over. “No, don’t-” 

“Shut up.” the man holding her whispered, and Violet fell silent, shaking slightly as the metal pressed against her. There had to be a way out of this… there had to be… 

As Esme returned with a cage, swinging from her hands, Bertrand was yanked back beside Beatrice, his legs tied with some kind of tight rope. Klaus started to cry, his eyes darting from his parents, who were still struggling but not very effectively, to Sunny, whom the white-faced woman was now shoving into the birdcage. She slammed the door shut, and pulled a key hanging from the top to lock it, before shoving it in her pocket. Sunny pounded against the bars, screaming, confusion mixing with terror in her eyes. 

Beatrice tried to stand, but her legs had been cuffed, too, and as soon as she fell, Esme walked back over, and pulled her back up by the hair. Beatrice let out a cry, and Esme said, “Hello, dear Beatrice. It’s been a while.” 

“Esme.” Beatrice spat, her eyes defiant. “Lose anything valuable lately?” 

Esme’s eyes sparked with a sudden fury, and she immediately slammed Beatrice’s head into the side of the dresser. Violet and Klaus both let out screams, and Bertrand tried to leap to her defense, only for the bald man to yank him back by the binds around his hands. 

“Beatrice!” he cried, as his wife spat blood, and was once again shoved into the wall. “Stop it! Esme, stop it!” 

Olaf carefully stepped in front of the parents, a dark triumph behind his eyes. “Now, this was much easier than we expected. See, Esme? I told you the trick was to surprise them. If they don’t expect you, they can’t prepare.” 

“Get the hell away from us!” Bertrand shouted. Violet flinched; she’d never seen him look so fearful, not in all their years on the run and in hiding. 

Olaf didn’t even respond to him; instead, he nodded at Esme, who proceeded to kick Beatrice again. As she let out a cry, and Klaus and Sunny let out strangled sceams, Olaf turned towards the children. His eyes narrowed, and he stepped towards the older two. Violet let out a whimper, still wildly glancing around for some kind of escape route, while Klaus screamed and tried to pull himself back. “G-get away from us!” 

“Now, now,” he said, “Why are all your associates such young children?” 

“They-they’re not!” Beatrice shouted, struggling again against the white-faced woman. “We don’t know them, they were here when we arrived!” 

“Don’t hurt them, they have nothing to do with this!” Bertrand pleaded. 

“We don’t have associates! We came alone!” Beatrice attempted. 

Olaf just gave them a look of disbelief, and then turned back to the children. After a frightening second, his face grew even colder, and a wicked grin spread. “Why, Baudelaires. Don’t tell me you procreated on the run.” 

“No! No, we don’t-” Bertrand began, and the bald man holding him took the opportunity to ram his head into the wall to shut him up. 

“I’m not an idiot, Baudelaires.” he growled, and he reached over and pushed Klaus’s bangs out of his face. Klaus flinched back, tears still welling in his eyes, which were locked on the frightening man before him; slowly, he started to shake. “Oh, this is all too fortunate. I never expected tormenting you to be this easy.” 

“No!” Beatrice shouted, as Klaus’s eyes darted to the ground, and he let out a low whimper. “No, they’re not-” 

“Someone shut her up.” Olaf said, and Esme gleefully slapped her across the face. Olaf then drifted his attention towards Violet, who found herself, once again, frozen in place. He smiled another wicked smile, and reached out, stroking her hair as she shivered. “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” 

Sunny wailed louder, and Beatrice and Bertrand started screaming. “Get away from her!” Bertrand called, still struggling against the bonds that held him. 

“Don’t touch her, you piece of shit!” Tears sprang to Beatrice’s eyes. 

Ignoring them, Olaf put his hand under Violet’s chin, turning her face up so he could look more closely at her. Violet tried to glare back at him, though she wasn’t sure if it worked, or if she just started crying. Olaf didn’t seem affected by either possibility, but he did meet her eyes. “Well, isn’t that interesting?” 

“Get away from them!” Beatrice cried. “Or I swear to God we will rip you apart!” 

“They have nothing to do with this!” Bertrand shouted. “Leave them alone! They’ve done nothing to you!” 

Olaf slowly released Violet, who tried not to crumple, lest she hit the metal wrapped around her neck and stomach. Then, he turned, staring at their parents, and he stepped closer. 

“They’ve done nothing?” he repeated, edging closer to them. “Have they? I seem to recall two other people who had done nothing. A Count and a Countess, who just wanted to enjoy an opera.” 

Beatrice looked like she’d been struck again. Bertrand pleaded, “Olaf, please, you can do what you want to us-” 

“Oh, I am.” 

“-but let them go.” 

“I don’t think so.” said Esme, leaning against the wall. “I think we deserve to have some fun with them, too, don’t you all think?” 

“Esme-” Beatrice began. 

Olaf leaned over, smiling very darkly. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment? It wasn’t enough to put you on the run, my dear Baudelaires. I told you, I intend to destroy you, and everyone you love.” 

The last word was some kind of taunt, and Beatrice and Bertrand both stiffened. 

“It was all too easy to get you here.” Olaf said. “Once we realized you were still in contact with your little Snicket lad, Esme just paid off a telegram operator, and we got everything we needed to know to drag you back here.” 

Beatrice was the first to recover, as the white-faced woman pulled her back. She snarled, staring the vile man dead in the eyes, “Where’s Lemony? What did you do to him?” 

Olaf stared at her impassively for a moment, and then said, “Lemony Snicket is dead.” 

There was a dead silence for a moment, broken only by Sunny’s continued wails. And then, to the children’s shock and horror, Bertrand let out a shriek and started thrashing and kicking, his eyes locked on Olaf as the bald man held him back; startled, the white-faced woman holding Sunny’s cage quickly shoved her onto a table and ran to help hold the enraged man back. Beatrice, beside him, froze over a moment, her face paling, and then she dropped to the ground, letting out a half-broken scream, before bursting into sobs. 

“You bastard!” Bertrand shouted, and Violet shook even more. “Piece of- you’re lying! You didn’t-” 

“Just…” Olaf smiled. “Sent a poison dart through the air, while he was investigating suspicious activity at a dairy farm. Then set the place on fire.” 

“You- you can’t-” Bertrand looked terrified and furious, still struggling against the two people holding him back. “You piece of absolute-” 

Olaf very calmly took a step forwards, and delivered a kick to Bertrand’s stomach. 

At this, Violet heard another cry; one of the person holding Klaus. She turned, horrified, to see that her little brother had finally managed to deliver a painful blow, and ripped himself from his captor’s grasp. He took off running, and Violet noticed, as he did, that the hooks holding her slackened slightly, and the one around her neck moved, reaching out to try and hit Klaus- the man did have hooks instead of hands, holy shit. His change of position might give her enough time to move, if- 

Klaus made it to Olaf, and Bertrand’s eyes widened as he cried out for him to stop. Klaus didn’t listen, instead throwing his weight against the man, causing him to almost lose his balance. “Leave them alone!” Klaus cried. “Le-” 

Olaf whipped around and slapped Klaus across the face. Beatrice and Bertrand both screamed, and Sunny threw herself against the bars of the cage, screeching, pushing her cage dangerously close to the edge of the table. Klaus fell to the ground so hard that his glasses flew off his face, landing several feet away. But Olaf wasn’t done; he leapt over, grabbed Klaus by the hair, and slammed him into the floor again. 

“No!” Beatrice sobbed, and now Esme had to join in holding her back. “No, Klaus!” 

“Klaus!” 

And then Violet whipped around and spun. The Hook-Handed Man, taken by surprise, leapt, and Violet managed to free herself from his grasp. “Klaus!” 

Beatrice tried to dissuade her, shouting her name, but she didn’t pay attention; Olaf had thrown Klaus to the ground again, and her little brother was all she could see. 

So she didn’t notice the Hook-Handed Man behind her, reaching out to try and grab her again. He didn’t manage to do so, but he did reach his hook far enough that it hit the edge of her arm, and as she ran and he tried to yank her backwards, the cold metal dug into her skin. 

Pain flashed into Violet’s mind, and she let out a scream, stumbling back, as the hook ripped through her arm. She stepped away, staring down at a bloody cut on her shoulder. 

“Violet!” 

She put a hand to the cut, shutting her eyes a moment, and then she ran to Klaus again. Count Olaf had let go of him for a second, looking curiously at her, but she ignored him, instead racing to her brother. She put her non-bloody hand under his arms, pushed him behind her, and then crouched over him, blinking back tears and trying to ignore the pain coming from her arm. As soon as Klaus was behind her, she turned her glare up to Olaf, and she shouted, “Don’t touch him!” 

Olaf stared at her with those shiny eyes, as Esme let out a horrible laugh. He turned to the Baudelaire parents, and said, “Well, you certainly haven’t been doing a good enough job teaching them how to behave.” 

“Olaf…” Beatrice begged, her voice falling into a horrified whisper. “Olaf, please…” 

As Olaf stepped closer to the adults, Violet quickly grabbed Klaus’s glasses from the ground, flinching as she pushed them back onto his face; he had a horrible bruise on his cheek. She leaned over, whispering in his ear, “Fire escape out the window.” 

Klaus’s eyes widened, as Olaf began talking again. “We’ll set this place on fire and head back to our hideout. Then do you know what we’ll do? I have some ideas on what to do with your beautiful brats.” 

“No!” Beatrice was starting to sob now. “No, O, please-” 

“The little baby over there,” Olaf gestured to the birdcage, where Sunny was still wailing and pounding at the bars, trying not to fall over the edge of the table, “We can just toss her out a window. Watch her splat.” 

“No!” Bertrand cried. “She’s a baby- Olaf, you can’t-” 

“E-flat.” Violet whispered to Klaus again, before shaking and turning back to face Olaf, so he wouldn’t think they were communicating. 

“This precious boy- why, Beatrice, he looks just like you, doesn’t he?” 

“No! No, don’t touch him!” 

Olaf knelt slightly, smiling at Klaus, and Violet shakily stood up, putting a hand over her wound. “I think it’d be fun to watch him bleed, don’t you? Or maybe burn.” 

“Get away from him!” 

“Don’t you dare!” 

Violet stood as tall as she could, straightening herself and trying not to shake. As Olaf turned to her, a very dark smile on his face, Klaus edged slightly closer to Sunny’s cage. The hook-handed man and other person of indeterminate gender were watching from the corner, as the hook-handed man nervously cleaned blood from his hook and the person just stared, looking oddly blank. None of them looked likely to move to restrain the children again, which was a good fucking sign. 

Beatrice’s eyes fell on Violet, bleeding and paling, and her voice broke. “Violet! Violet, I’m sorry, we’re sorry-” 

“Violet.” Olaf said, and he once again reached to stroke her hair. Violet tried to stop quivering, watching out of the corner of her eye as Klaus moved a little farther. Just a little more… 

“Don’t touch her!” Bertrand was on the edge of panic. “Violet, I-” 

“I know just what to do with you.” Olaf said, his eyes shining. 

Violet saw Klaus finally get a few feet from Sunny, and so she gave her parents one small, certain look. She shut her eyes and shuddered as she leaned into Olaf’s hand, praying that he would drop his guard if she wouldn’t fight back. He did, relaxing a little, and she knew it was time. 

Then she said, very loudly and clearly, “E-flat.” 

And then she turned and bit his hand. 

Olaf let out an angry yelp, and Violet kicked him in the shins and spun on her heel, running. Klaus leapt to his feet, and within two bounds was holding Sunny’s cage, clutching it to his chest so she could reach through the bars and touch her brother. Violet grabbed Klaus’s arm, yanking him down as someone threw something sharp at their heads- they didn’t have time to see what it was, they were too busy making their way to the window; the closest person to it was the person of indeterminate gender, who honestly didn’t look there at the moment. 

Esme let out an angry screech, but she turned towards Beatrice, who was trying to use the element of surprise to throw off the people holding her. As Violet ran, she looked back at her parents, just as Esme and the Bald Man each pulled a syringe and shoved it into their necks. 

Bertrand gasped, doubling over, while Beatrice just looked up and yelled, “It’s knockout! Go! Run!” 

“Mama-” 

“Go!” 

Violet, Klaus and Sunny each gave their parents one last, panicked look, as they realized everyone was starting to run towards them, and then Klaus slammed into the window, knocking it open, and the siblings leapt through. 

[thepilotanon]

Prelude xvi

...for the better {masterlist}

I’ve been busy, but I’m super excited for you all to rad this chapter c: There’s going to be a lot of, hopefully, good and surprising things for you to enjoy! It’s a bit different in perspective, but was still fun to write. I would really love to hear from you guys, if you have time, but I hope you will enjoy all the same. Thank you for reading!

warning: intended violence.

The feeling of the Supremacy’s chilly air were only felt on her cheekbones, her knuckles and ankles, yet she didn’t seem to mind it as much while every other inch of her body was still concealed with the numerous layers of thick cloth. Following the red armored Praetorian Guards swiftly, the upper tilt of her head as she walked with her own self confidence that wasn’t always found in many individuals aboard the ship. Her boots skid a few times on the marbled floor, in attempt to keep up with them, all while taking in their silent thoughts as near empty of a cleaned holochip.

Her curiosity of their thoughts and emotions were visible, yet she didn’t voice it or tried to pry deeper once they made it to the door. The hissing noise and whirrs of the mechanics working smoothly to present the throne room was true to its beholder, being escorted in by the two who marched forward, perfectly in synch with one another, as trained. Looking ahead, she could see the colossal creature sitting in his throne and garb, as if he never went to sleep. To her, she figured he never did, imagining him sitting there, pondering and planning…

Once the two Praetorian Guards came to the end of the aisle, they separated and joined their comrades behind the throne. Standing at the very edge of the walkway, she slowed to a halt and and looked up to meet his sharp gaze. Expressionless. Unreadable to the point of a haze flowers throughout the room, yet nowhere intending to break the connection of Master and his apprentice. Nothing but merely staring at each other in silence.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Supreme Leader Snoke eased back to his seat, eyeing her attire completely and severing the gaze for her to blink once.

“Nova,” Snoke spoke, his voice starting out gruff, until, slowly, a grin spread on his shriveled mouth. “My child.”

“Snoke,” Nova responded, as her usual self at his presence.

“Tell me,” the Supreme Leader went on casually, “of what you thought of Starkiller Base. Tell me from your point of view.”

Nova’s eyes looked up above his throne, her lips twitch in what appeared to be a sort of thoughtless search of words that came up with no feeling. “It was always cold,” she began. “It snowed a lot, and I was inside for the most part; the stormtroopers and officers were fairly strong, but there were things they didn’t know. They took the lessons well, and often praised me quite honestly of helping them improve.”

“Did you enjoy Starkiller Base?”

Her eyes snapping back to meet his stare, Nova blinked slowly once more. “I appreciated the people who were patient with me, and the experience of the planet’s weather. However, it was only the surface of the Starkiller Base that I enjoyed...nothing underneath the snow and concrete were anything but appealing.”

“You don’t say, my sweet Nova,” Snoke responded, his smile twitch at one corner of his mouth. “Tell me why you say so, little one.”

She didn’t hesitate. “When the poison caused me to hallucinate, I felt everything that has been built into the mines. What the purpose of the Kyber crystals are for, and all they know is just what they’re being used for. Nothing but terror, violence, death and sadness - it reminded me too much of Bavva III.”

Her expression suddenly coming to the surface, a defined frown settled on her lips and her eyes narrowed to an unamused scowl. “Frankly, I didn’t see anything successful coming from what you aim to achieve for the galaxy with the Starkiller Base, Snoke.”

Snoke’s lips twitched once more, faltering in their false friendliness for a few short seconds. Nova tilt her chin up a little bit more, her body relaxed. “I can see it now. Starkiller Base will not work the way you wish.”

“Of the time I’ve taken you under my guidance, you’ve gained so much knowledge of the Force,” Snoke complimented through his teeth, standing up in his throne. “However, you forget who is the Master and who is the apprentice. There is still much for you to learn, to understand, in that empty little head of yours.”

“Wouldn’t it be the same for you? A Master can only succeed in mastering one thing at a time, and continue on to learn throughout,” she mentioned. “This goes for the whole definition of Master; whether you’re teaching a student, obtaining knowledge to become something greater...or even owning people’s lives over their heads like livestock.”

It was then that Nova’s eyes sparked with amusement, and a playful smile emerged on her face with her hands clasped together in front as she expressed her honest curiosity. “I often wonder, how much do you wish to know and have power over, for someone who claims to Supreme Leader. Exactly, what is so supreme of you that allows you to lead?”

Snoke snapped, striking his hand across the air to send an electric wave directed towards her. Nova, unmoving, took a calm breath as the electricity dispersed before it made a foot close to her, causing the humanoid to shout for the Elite Praetorian Guards to take a stance, surrounding the two, armed and ready. Nova’s gaze didn’t leave Snoke as he growled with stress and irritation, shouting at the red armored beings to strike, watching them activate their weapons and take one single step towards the woman -

Only for all eight of them to freeze, rigid and strained painfully with their own bodies.

Icy blue, hollowed eyes widened with shock as Snoke watched each of his Elites struggle with their own bodies, all while Nova stood in her spot, unmoving. Reacting quickly, Snoke outstretched a single limb in attempt to get a hold of the ill-looking woman only for any sort of action to remain impossible at Nova took a single step forward with a natural grace towards him.

“You remember, Snoke, that I do not like it when people try to harm me - more so try to kill me out of spite or bad temper,” Nova said to him. “Your guards, although Elites and ones familiar with the Force, were under my tutelage, by your request. Spending time with them for so long, it’s not difficult to hold them back from getting them killed by your choice.”

Before Snoke could retort, Nova offered him a soft smile. “As you have told me, Snoke, that the Force is what’s keeping me alive and powerful, and that I would become stronger with time.”

Lowering his hand, Snoke tense shoulders slowly ceased their stiffness and he carefully sat down once more upon his throne. Long fingers coming to rest on each panel of the chair, the Supreme Leader sat back and relaxed in his seat. Looking over the much smaller woman, Snoke whole body relaxed as he cackled a quiet, dry laugh. Eventually, the humanoid began laughing rather joyously in his throne, echoing the throne room to the point that the Force holding the Elites released. Each red armored being clamored to keep themselves upright, slowly returning to their original spot, evenly distributed behind the throne of the laughing leader.

Once the Supreme Leader eased in his unpleasant cackle, he grinned towards Nova with a rather pleasant expression. Tilting her head a bit, Nova watched him for a moment with her facial expression returning to its usual mutual state of nothing once more.

“I take it that you wish to kill me now, hm?” Snoke drawled. “Destroy me for having those toxic poisons injected into you? To see if I really could make you more of a mindless puppet and perfect killing machine?”

“I don’t need to kill you,” Nova responded. “Your future was shown to me, and there is nothing I need to do to make you pay for what you did to me.”

“Amazing, seeing the future of someone without direct contact,” Snoke praised cheekily, almost as a taunt. “What did you see?”

Looking to each Elite’s faceless mask carefully, she sensed each one of their heartbeats and thrumming emotion of neutral respect towards her. “As I have said, I don’t need to kill you. Things will not go the way you expect.”

Snoke let out a quiet chortle, shaking his head with absolute amusement as her simple answers. “How kind of you to warn me, but I still see nothing inside that little mind of yours, my dear little Nova,” he said. “As the experiment failed in using old tactics against you to comply more...to my needs, I won’t hold any grudge against you for showing such power from Mara’s reports...you will see it my way, in due time, little one. Soon, you will do more than just train people to survive, and want to take part in having the First Order become reign of the galaxy. And you, with time, can be a part of a new Empire with your marvelous power. People will bow to you, allow you to be in control of them this time around.”

Nova let him rave for as long as he wanted, until he eventually went quiet for her to respond with a simple and confident: “No, I don’t want that.”

“Then, what do you want?” Snoke asked.

“Nothing,” Nova answered, her hands dropping to her sides. “There is nothing that I want that is already provided to me permanently, with or without your power over others, Snoke.”

Snoke’s posture went lax and his expression ceased amusement. He wasn’t threatening any longer, nor held bad blood towards his female apprentice, instead seeming to grow tired of this one-on-one meeting. However, Nova knew better…

He was losing this conversation battle with her.

“Because you’re irreplaceable to me and a rather valuable apprentice - possibly more than Kylo Ren - I will allow this to lead a mutual respect between us, little one,” Snoke spoke after a while. “You will remain my apprentice and train others to be powerful, and I will ensure you remain alive and cared for within the First Order… Someday, you will learn the importance of your part within the First Order, young Nova.”

“As a free woman,” Nova pressed with a raised brow.

“As a free woman,” Snoke agreed. “You are proving to be more powerful and talented than expected, consider this to be a lesson for us both.”

Nova remained silent.

“You are dismissed.”

Nova finished tying the knot of her pajama pants, fiddling with the hem of the silk material before reaching for the towel to wring out her hair of access water. Having been escorted by limping Praetorian Guards back to the familiar small hallway of her quarters next to Kylo’s, Nova proceeded to enter her own personal chambers and use the refresher to scrub the faint smells of Starkiller Base and the throne room off her skin. As much as she did enjoy meeting the people in Starkiller Base, teaching them habits to protect themselves and see the Elites doing well, but the remaining stench of all she was displeased with was still bugging her underneath her whole facade. She was happy to find all the bottle of soaps and shampoos were still where she left them, just like Kylo promised her before their departure. She was happy to find her collection still arranged accordingly on her shelves, too, feeling more and more relaxed and comfortable in her environment. Kylo wasn’t back from wherever he was, yet sensed him through the Force.

She wasn’t too sure how to explain her meeting with Snoke to him.

Nova knew everything Snoke was looking for within her and Kylo, easily seen as something physically placed in her own hands. She wasn’t sure how to explain it, but every time she felt Snoke prying somewhere close to her or Kylo, she would just “push” him away from the both of them. With herself, Nova had no issue for Snoke to assume what he desired to see: empty, rather stubborn to the point of pushing boundaries of patience, yet bursting with an energy that wasn’t easily seen by many - the Force, that’s all she knows. With Kylo, however, Snoke looks for so much more than Nova would expect.

Emotions, weakness. Memories, thoughts beyond what Snoke thought was acceptable. A source of light within him that Nova couldn’t truly understand why was such a negative thing to Snoke…

Frowning, Nova looked down to her hands.

With the wall, as Kylo called it, Nova wasn’t too sure if she contained a sort of light that Snoke despised so much. Nova didn’t see any different in light wherever she went, or whoever she looked to; she only figured right away if she liked someone or not by their first impression, but that was as easy for anyone. She could tell who was a slave and who wasn’t back on Bavva III, even the finely dressed ones who would be fake escorts for their owners - fed well to get softer bellies, groomed properly to look healthier - not as many jewelry as the other, still too quiet to converse so freely in crowds. She didn’t see any stormtrooper, knight, guard or even Phasma glow with light, yet she got along with them for their own certain kindness. Unless it was the light catching off on the armor, but that couldn’t be it.

But Kylo was something special to her, but he didn’t have a glow of this light that Snoke hates, did he?

Perhaps it was something she had yet to learn, or to see in a text in one of Kylo’s scrolls or books. To Nova, there was nothing wrong with light. There was comfort and warmth with it, in comparison to dark that sometimes haunted her dreams to the cold cells back on Bavva III. Light was the sun that let her explore safely with the nocturnal predators slipping away for her to search for food, to warm her skin when she shivered all night with lack of proper clothing or blankets to trap heat.

Sure, light meant fire, and fire lead to destruction and burns - Nova doesn’t like burns, because it caused pain. Sometimes, too much light blinded her from seeing properly, but, other than those things, she didn’t think the light was all that terrible.

The constant snapping of the Supreme Leader towards Kylo bugged Nova, often worrying her of how Kylo would feel afterwards when he remained with his helmet on to conceal everything. She hoped that all she could do with kissing his forehead and cheeks would help him ease the tension she felt emitting from him. For her, she loved Kylo enough to want him to be happy as often as possible, ensure him that everything will be okay for him and that she wouldn’t let anyone take her away from him.

Blinking, Nova raised her head as she felt Kylo’s presence shifting, expanding - no, growing closer to their quarter chambers. Hanging the towel back over the railing of the shower, she left the room with her silk pajama set and damp hair to stroll barefoot to the lounging area of her chambers, knowing that Kylo would most likely want to see her before going to his own quarters to clean himself or ask to sleep. Through her own exploration, she sensed a spark of anxiety from him as he was hurrying towards her way, making her smile a bit as his own habit for her.

‘Remember your promise, Kylo!’ she chided him softly, hoping that he could hear her this time through all the walls. When she didn’t get a response, she figured it did not work until her blastdoor hissed open rather strongly. She realized that Kylo had used his own abilities to open it and march in, helmet, cloak and all.

Nova’s head tilt at him when he froze and stared at her. She blinked with a small frown as his leather gloved hands reached up to unlatch the helmet, igniting a release of air before removing it and dropping it carelessly to the floor. Nova opened her mouth to say something about the scratch on the metal rim of the visor, yet Kylo approached her and grasped her face with both hands…

And pressed his mouth against her own, hard.

Lips moving between languid to frantic within moments of the kiss, Kylo eventually stilled at the realization that Nova was completely frozen in place. Pulling back from the kiss, still holding her face with both hands tangled with the damp strands of her hair, his eyes wide with his own shock of his actions.

Nova blinked a few times, her expression twisting with slight confusion as she met his stare. There was a long, awkward silence, Kylo feeling himself becoming more flustered and irritated with himself for pushing himself onto her without warning or permission. Nova, however, only reached up to hold his wrists, keeping his hands in place of holding her head so carefully when he tried to let go. His large hands remained still in her hold before she pulled them back to cradle her jaw, carefully cradling her jaw.

He watched her move the muscles of her own mouth, her cheeks twitching and biting her own lips with a concentrated look in her eyes. It was like she was trying to figure it out for herself, as amusing as it was to see. Blinking once more, she looked up to him, feet rolling to make her inch up just a little bit to his tall stature.

“Again,” she whispered cautiously, hesitant and shy. “Please..?”

He searched her eyes for something - anything to tell him that he shouldn’t step over the line, thumbs brushing against her cheeks with the most careful stroke. When she only leaned her face into his palm, looking up to him expectantly, Kylo exhaled softly, almost in relief, as he leaned in once more, slower this time.

Soft. Softer than anything either one of them felt against their lips and feeling soothing in a way that made them both feel their own heartbeats hammering in their chests and blood flowing through their veins. Nova felt her face grow warm, going to her toes to try and deepen the kiss a little bit more, her hold on his wrist tightening with a sort of joy when she felt him respond immediately. Slipping a hand from her hold to press his palm against her back, Kylo bent further to ease her troubles as he pulled back from the kiss, her bottom lip gently sucked between his plushed ones, only for a moment before tilting her head back and connecting their mouths again with a breath.

For her, it felt like an eternity of peace, and she could only pout softly once Kylo registered her lack of air and pulled away carefully to look her in the eye. Feeling bashful, she instantly looked at the random stitch on his uniform, feeling her cheeks become hotter than she remembered in the refresher.

“I…” she began, taking a breath while he said nothing, “wasn’t too sure what to do with my mouth.”

A choked noise, somewhat of a laugh, escaped from him, causing Nova to relax in his hold when he kissed the crown of her head and hug her closer to him. Fixing her head to rest her chin on his shoulder, she sensed a form of calmness and joy within him. “Did I do okay?” she asked, making him squeeze her and hide his grin into her neck. “I didn’t know what to do, Kylo…”

“You did just fine,” Kylo whispered against the skin of her neck.

“Can...can we practice that, so I may do better?” she asked next, causing him to go still and pull back to look at her again. “When we’re alone, of course. The same with our other kisses - they’re still kisses...even when it’s our lips touching each other?”

Kylo nodded slowly at first, then speeding quickly when Nova’s smile grew into a big grin. “Y-yeah, it’s still a kiss. Kisses like this are...affectionate gestures between people who love each other,” he explained carefully.

“Oh!” Nova perked before going on her toes to give him a quick, easy peck on the lips. “And that?” When he nodded, Nova reached to hold his face to give him another, a little bit longer. She tried the mimic the move of softly tugging on his lip and she could swear she felt his sigh when she pulled back. “And that?”

“Yes,” he told her, his hand holding her face moving to cradle into her damp hair. Whispering carefully, Kylo couldn’t resist the small smile at seeing Nova lean expectantly towards him before he gave her another deep kiss: “This one does, too.”

She didn’t particularly needed to, but she didn’t mind going back into the refresher to join him in by tub, the water freshly colored with lavender swirls and the aroma of therapeutic oils easing any worries she had. She waited until he finished scrubbing and rinsing himself off by the shower station right next to the tub before letting her stop playing with the water; his mass causing the water to rise, he released a sigh before turning his chin her way, her own hands coming out of the water to reach for his face.

Showing him everything that had happened once she stepped foot in the throne room, to when she was dismissed, Kylo’s face twisted with concern when she showed her confusion towards Snoke’s desires of her to control people, to be in power. His cheek leaning into her palm, Kylo sighed when he watched Nova’s reaction to rejecting the idea.

“He tried harming you, yet you just tell him that he has nothing to give you,” he murmured, turning to kiss her wrist. “I can never imagine behaving that way to the Supreme Leader.”

“No, I wouldn’t want you to behave that way to him,” she agreed quietly, leaning against the edge of the tub and removing her hands. Kylo hummed, watching her intently before she noticed him and making her frown quizzically at how intense his eyes were on her. “What is it?”

“You told him there was nothing he could give you,” Kylo whispered, his brows coming together in a thoughtful furrow. “He’s the one who purchased your freedom, allowing you to join the First Order...and he has nothing you want?”

“No, he doesn’t.” Nova looked down to the water, flicking a finger to cause the clouding bath mix to erupt into amusing patterns. “He has nothing that I want.”

“What do you want, love?” he asked her next, his eyes never leaving her serene face. He noticed the small smile on her lips, prompting him to reach and trace her bottom lip and graze her cheek with his fingertips.

“I just want to be happy, which I already am.” Smiling bigger, she looked up to him. “Kylo makes me happy, and makes me feels things that I’ve always wanted to have. No one else makes me feel like that.”

“You feel happy when you’re with me?” he chuckled a bit, sitting up a bit more inside the water as he angled himself better her way. “You seem to be happy majority of the time, when I am by you or not.”

“You still make me happy,” she insisted, allowing him to hold her face by the chin and kiss the corner of her mouth softly. “You make me feel warm inside, and I know you feel the same way, too.”

“I do,” he admitted, brushing his large nose against hers, giving her lips light kisses.

“Then, I don’t need anything else from anyone, not even the Supreme Leader. I don’t need to be strong with the Force, be in control of anyone as long as long as I can love Kylo and Kylo can love me. I only want and only need you.”

Kylo sealing his lips with hers were enough to tell her that he completely agreed.

Fun fact: I originally had their first kiss planned very differently, when the plot was actually not finalized prior to chapter three.

taglist: @ayatimascd @ymariejp @yippee-ki-yay-motherfucker460@formerly-anonhamster @rosalynbair@redhairedfeistynerd@imyourdreamwife @kyloxfem

Remember, if you would like to be tagged for future chapters, please don’t hesitate to message me! I’d be more than happy to add you. Thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you!

[hope-for-olicity]

Unfinished Business

This story was inspired by the season 7 sizzle reel but is definitely AU. I brought some people back from the dead - so not spec in any way (I’m kind of anti-spec). Oliver's in prison, Felicity and William are at a safe house.

This is my entry for Olicity Hiatus Fic-a-thon organized by @thebookjumper  - Prompt: Unfinished. Also available on AO3.

It was both sad and very useful how quickly Oliver was able to revert back to the man he was on the island. Trust no one. Think of everyone as the enemy.

Oliver knew in prison he was enemy number one.  He kept himself strong to defend, not to fight. He’d gotten good at ignoring the taunts of the other prisoners. He knew he’d make no friends here.

At night he’d lie in bed thinking about Felicity and William. Diggle managed to get him a photo of them. They looked so happy. He missed them more than he could ever express.

The moment the cell door closed he knew he’d made the wrong decision. He should have talked to Felicity. She would have found another way. He hadn’t spoken to Felicity since he started his sentence five months ago. He was sure she was still mad. She had every right to be. What he’d give to hear her loud voice again.

Prisoner 4587, that is what the guards called him but he would always be Felicity’s husband and William’s Dad. He would hold onto that sliver of identity.

“Morning 4587, breakfast time.” The guard opened the cell door. Oliver shuffled to the mess hall. He did his best not to make eye contact but he heard the catcalls from the other cells.

He got in line, took his tray of state paid for food, sat at the end of a table alone. Maybe it would have been smart to make friends in here but nobody was willing to be friends with the Green Arrow.

Oliver looked up when he felt the table shake as someone put their tray down across from him. It was Cooper Seldon. If there was someone who could tempt him into a fight it was this guy. He hurt Felicity.

“Oliver Queen, how the mighty fall. Felicity sure knows how to pick them. I’m sure we have a lot to talk about. She always was a whiny bitch. Wanting to do good...seems she got over that. What did you have to do to turn her to the dark side?”

“Go away,” Oliver growled. He really didn’t want to get sent back to the solitary confinement, especially not for someone as useless as Seldon.

But Seldon kept talking. “Oh, am I bothering you? Too bad. You have no power here. Besides, I was just reminiscing. Perhaps we could trade some stories. I can let you know what Felicity liked in bed…”

It took but a moment, the food trays were gone, the table overturned. Oliver pinned Seldon to the wall. The other prisoners cheered at the idea of a fight.

Oliver held him up against the wall by his prison shirt. “She is my WIFE. You do not get to speak that way about her. Your past actions against her are reason enough for me to kill you while you sleep. You dare to taunt me? Maybe I should crack your neck right now?”

Seldon seemed to be realizing he may have overstepped, sweat began pouring down his face. “Look, I was just trying to friendly. We both know Felicity. Common interest, you know? You didn’t need to get all bent out of shape.”

“You have no idea who you are dealing with. I’m not bent out of shape but if you ever so much as speak my wife’s name again, I will bend you until you break.” Oliver slammed him against the wall again. “Do you understand?”

Seldon began to nod as the prison guards arrived “4587 hands behind your head!”

*****

Oliver lay on the bed in his cell. He knew he was lucky not to get sent to solitary. But no blood had been drawn, that seemed to be the deciding factor. He should not have let Seldon get under his skin.

Felicity might be mad at him but she loved him. She chose him. Seldon was irrelevant. He tried to think what she might say in this situation. He frequently thought of what Felicity would recommend. She was so much smarter than him. Oliver knew he didn’t always get it right but he was trying.

He also knew his wife wasn’t perfect. He chuckled to himself. Given how to feels about Seldon now she might not be against Oliver pinning him to a wall to protect her honour.

“Prison 4587, Warden wants to see you.” Oliver rose from his bed as the heavy clank of the cell door opening echoed through the cell block.

Oliver had yet to meet the Warden, so he had no idea what he was walking into. He suspected it wouldn’t be good.

Oliver shuffled down two long corridors, down one set of stairs, both his hands and feet cuffed, they made it to their destination. The warden’s office was a small room, it kind of reminded Oliver of a principal’s office. The guard told him to stand in front of the desk and wait.

Oliver stood for a few minutes before he heard the clicking of high heels. He stood facing the desk as he had been told.  He didn’t get to see the woman’s face for a moment. But she always did know how to make an entrance. Amanda Waller.

Oliver was shocked. “I thought you were dead.”

Waller grinned. “Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated.”

“You were shot in the head. That generally does the trick. How? I mean how did you survive? You’re the warden?” Oliver was flabbergasted.

“Of course, I’m not the warden.” She said with disgust. “How I survived, I am not at liberty to say. What I am here to discuss is you Mr. Queen. Such a valuable asset locked up due to the incompetence of Samanda Watson. That woman really has no clue.”

Oliver nodded. He really didn’t know what to do. He was still shocked Waller was standing before him but then she always did have a habit of showing up. “What do you want, Amanda?”

“What I want is world peace and a vacation. We know both of those things are highly unlikely in my case. I’m working on a plan to get you out of here. Your city needs you. I will be in contact with your people as I understand your city is in trouble and not just due to this Diaz character. Really, Oliver, I can’t believe you didn’t take him down.” Waller narrowed her eyes at him.

Oliver shrugged. If he was being honest with himself, he couldn’t believe it either. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Stay alive. No more petty fights. Be the bigger person. Ignore these..” Waller waved her hand. “These criminals, you are better than them. Act like it.”

“So you are going to get me out? You know about the deal Watson had me sign?” Oliver tried to keep the hope out his voice.

“Oliver, that document has already been destroyed. Your city needs you. Star City has a tendency to attract the world’s worst criminals, something about their shoddy police force. Anyway, I don’t have time to deal with Star City’s problems, I’m a busy woman. I need you to handle them. I don’t know what Watson was thinking. We saw what happened to Starling when Ras killed you, why would she want a repeat? Amateur. I will be in touch.” Waller began to walk away.

“Wait. Does Lyla know? I mean, does she know that you are alive?”

Waller raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?” Then walked away.

*****

Knowing that Waller was working to get him out of prison gave Oliver knew motivation to stay out of trouble. For the next weeks, he was able to keep ignoring the taunts, jeers and pushing from other inmates.

He couldn’t lie knowing that Waller recognized that Star City needed the Arrow was quite the boost to his confidence. He had survived worse than prison, he would survive this, as it meant getting back to Felicity and William.

Oliver was lucky his shower time was later when there were fewer people around. He could handle one or two inmates but if a group decided to gang up on him things could get messy. Waller did not like messy.

He stood in the shower letting the cold water run over him. Oliver missed his family and friends. He was reflecting on happier times when he felt the air move behind him. Felicity always said he had ninja skills, he turned around to block his attacker, of course, it was Seldon.

Oliver continued to block his punches as he moved out of the shower stall. “Didn’t you agree to leave me alone? I’m three times the man you are! Do you want to feel pain?”

Seldon continued to attack Oliver. “You don’t deserve her, you know. She’s mine.”

Clearly, Seldon was delusional. “Seldon, go away!” Oliver really didn’t want to break his word to Waller.

“No! You think you are better than me?” He sneered.

Oliver knew there was no choice but to end this. Where were the guards when you needed them. With one swift kick, he put Seldon through a brick barrier knocking him unconscious.

Of course, this is when the guards rushed in. “Prisoner 4587 on the ground now! Hands behind your head!”

*****

Felicity never missed Oliver more than now knowing Diaz might come for their son. Sure she was mad as hell at him but protecting William alone was hard.

Luckily, she and William agreed to be a team. William was a good kid, never causing her an undue worry. They created ways to let the other know there was trouble.

Digg moved them to a gated community in the midwest. The house was like a large cottage with a wooded area behind. The people in town were friendly but Felicity mainly stayed out of their way.

For the first few months, they spent their time grieving the loss of Oliver, watching Netflix and eating pizza. School started again, William began making friends so Felicity was on her own more. She missed her husband. She missed the team and her job. Basically, she missed her life.

She broke protocol, contacting Digg.

To: j.diggle@ARG.com

Fr: brightpinklips@gmail.com

Subject: Help

John,

I need to help you. My son has returned to school and I’m left with nothing but time. I want to help. All I have is a tablet but I can make that work...unless you want to throw in a computer. I want to come home.

Please approve for my mental health

Miss you lots and lots

F.

She created a new email account just for the email. She so hoped the ARGUS server would let it through.

To: brightpinklips@gmail.com

Fr: j.diggle@ARG.com

Subject: Re: Help

I miss you too. You can help. Put up some protection and stay in contact. Let me know if you find anything useful. No computer.

John

Squee!! Felicity quickly got to work putting some feelers out.

*****

A few weeks went by, she was feeling like a failure. How did a thug like Diaz manage to hide so well?

She was putting away groceries when she heard the knock on her door. William was at a friend’s place. She wasn’t expecting anyone. She slowly made her way to the door.

“It’s John,” John called out as he knocked.

She swung open the door, falling into his arms. “John, it’s so good to see you! I wasn’t expecting…” She turned to see the woman walking in behind him. “Amanda Waller, nice to see you too. I hope.”

Waller’s eyes narrowed, “Ms. Smoak, you don’t seem surprised to see me alive.”

“Let’s just say, I never really believed you were gone.” Felicity withdrew from John’s hug, turning to Waller. “What are you doing here? Did you catch Diaz?”

“No, Diaz has proven elusive for reasons I’ll never understand.” Waller looked at Felicity and Diggle cooly. “But Diaz is just one of many problems facing Star City without the Arrow. I’ve come to tell you, I’m bringing him back.”

“You’re going to get my husband out of prison?” Felicity smiled for the first time in months. Oliver was coming home.

“Yes, Watson was wrong to make that deal. She will be punished accordingly. Oliver is far more useful to me as the Green Arrow. It was either that or sending in a drone strike.” Waller quirked her lips.

“Does Oliver know?” Diggle couldn’t help asking.

“Yes, for now, it’s just the paperwork to settle. As long as he stays out of trouble he’ll be out shortly. I hope that his team will be ready to act about his release.” Waller smiled.

“We are ready to act but there is one problem, this anti-vigilante law. Or have you fixed that too?” Felicity looked at Waller wondering if this was where she slipped up.

“The law is currently being repealed. Star City needs the Green Arrow and the Green Arrow it shall have.”

*****

Oliver’s release was delayed according to John, no details as to why. Still, he was coming home, that was all that mattered.

Felicity put off telling William in case the release fell through but she knew now she had to tell him. She was bursting with happy.

She pulled into their cottage thinking William should be home from school by now. She knew something was wrong the moment she got to the front door, it was ajar. She hesitantly pushed it open to see toppled chairs, books and magazines. Clearly, there had been a struggle. She also saw the green cloth William had thrown - forest. William was in the forest!

She ran out back looking for the ARGUS agents that protected their home. Sadly, they were both dead, bullet holes to the head.

She called the emergency number she for Digg as she ran towards the woods, she had to save William.

“Felicity?” Diggle answered immediately.

“Diaz! Diaz is here. He has William! I’m heading for the woods. The agents are dead!” Felicity was out of breath as she was running and talking at the same time.

“Felicity! Wait! Don’t go in the woods. Wait for backup. That’s an order.” Diggle spoke sternly.

“I don’t take orders from you. I’m going to save my son. Send backup.” Felicity hung up so she could focus on finding William. She ran to the clearing where they agreed to meet if something happened.

She skidded to a halt still disguised by the bushes, Diaz had a gun pointed at William. Felicity didn’t think. She began to run again. “Don’t you dare hurt my son!”

She ran at Diaz tackling him, sending them both to the ground, Diaz lost his grip on his gun. Diaz flipped them over, wrapping his fingers around her throat. “I planned on killing Oliver’s son but his wife will also work.” He sneered.

Felicity tried to push him off but his grip was getting tighter. She was starting to lose consciousness when she heard the gunshot. The next thing she knew Diaz was gone.

Felicity struggled to get up, William rushed forward to help her, gun still in hand. “William, baby, did you shoot Diaz?”

William nodded, he dropped the gun, fell into Felicity’s arms and began to cry.

Felicity soothed him rubbing his back, pressing kisses to his face. “It’s okay. You did the right thing. You saved my life. Your dad would be so proud of you.”

William pulled back to look at Felicity’s face.“But I didn’t kill him. I just shot him in the arm and he ran away. Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yeah, baby.” Felicity held William as he cried. A little while later she heard the backup arrive.

*****

Oliver spent the next three weeks in solidarity. There was a lot of time to think about how he screwed up. But no matter what way he looked at it, he had to defend himself from Seldon. He could only hope he still was a chance he’d be released.

“Times up 4587!” The guard shouted at him waking him up.

Oliver wanted to ask what the guard meant but he knew he’d get no answer. The guard led him out of his temporary cell, down a dark hallway with a flickering overhead light.

As they kept walking it became clear that they were not headed back to Oliver’s original cell block.  Soon it became clear that he was being led back to the Warden’s office. He shuffled in the room to see Waller behind the desk.

“Mr. Queen, I thought I told you to avoid trouble.” Waller pursed her lips.

Oliver shrugged his shoulders. “I really did try. It was self-defence.” He hoped Waller would believe him.

“You put a man through a brick wall,” Waller said gravely. “I saw the video, you had no choice.”

Oliver was stunned. “Video? I was in the shower.”

“I know.” Waller gave him a smile letting him know she saw it all. “Your little stunt has left Star City more vulnerable than ever. Ms. Smoak has returned to help your team after she and your son were attacked at the safe house. They have leads but need you to take down Diaz. I STILL can’t figure out why he’s so hard to handle. Let me know if you need a drone strike to deal with this.”

“So, I’m getting out? Don’t tease me, Waller.” Oliver really couldn’t wait anymore especially know that he knew Diaz attacked his family.

Waller nodded to the guard. They came in, removed his cuffs. “Your personal effects are in the bathroom, get changed. I believe Ms. Smoak and Mr. Diggle are here to retrieve you. Oliver, your city needs the Green Arrow. You have unfinished business there so don’t even think of retiring.”

Oliver rushed to the washroom to change as quickly as possible. His clothes were a little looser than when he arrived and there were still bruises on his face but he was ready. He left the prison uniform on the floor.

*****

Oliver followed Waller down the hall at a normal pace. So nice to walk without shackles.

Waller stopped in front of a closed door. “This is where I leave you. Handle Diaz and whatever comes your way.” She turned her back, walked away.

Oliver opened the door to find Felicity and Diggle on the other side. Felicity rushed forward, throwing herself into his arms. She began to cry. He could hear her murmuring “You’re coming home, you’re coming home.”

When Felicity finally pulled back a little he cupped her face, gave her a gentle kiss. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”

He kept his arms around his wife, nodded to John. “So good to see you again.”

Oliver looked down at Felicity. “Come on let’s go home. I hear we have a city to save.”

As they walked out of the prison, Oliver shook his head. “I still can’t believe Wallers alive.”

“I know! You think Lyla would have mentioned it.” John shook his head.

“I can’t believe you both didn’t know!” Felicity chuckled.

Oliver’s eyes widened. “You knew?”

“Not officially, but let’s just say I wasn’t surprised.” Felicity smiled at her men. “Come on as Waller told us we have unfinished business to address! Oh and Oliver don’t think I didn’t hear about that shower fight, I need details, lots of details.”

Thanks so much for reading!

@memcjo @wherethereissmoak @green-arrows-of-karamel @mel-loves-all @spaztronautwriter @charlinert @tdgal1 @oliverfel4 @vaelisamaza @coal000 @miriam1779 @laurabelle2930 @onceuponarrow @cruzrogue @lageniuswannabe @blondeeoneexox

[yourjughead]

Thunder Roll

Sweet Pea x Reader

A/N: there are more than 800 of you dotes!!! Thank you so so much!

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

“GO BACK TO YOUR NORTHSIDER BOYFRIEND!”

“YUP SWEET PEA BECAUSE YELLING AT ME HAS ACHIEVED SUCH GREAT THINGS IN THE PAST!”

“YOU DIDN'T DENY IT!”

“BECAUSE I'M DATING YOU YOU BIG IDIOT! I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DENY ANYTHING”

“UGHHHH” Sweet Pea swung a heavy arm at the pile of still wrapped books on his desk, sending them to the ground. He put his hands behind his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the dizzying anger. You were sick of the same argument between the both of you.

“You're being ridiculous Pea, Jughead and I are just friends, you have to stop doing this”

“DOING WHAT?!”

“THIS” you gestured to his ever angering face before he turned to conceal it.

“We've been dating over a year! When are you going to get it through your head that I'm not going to up and leave you!”

“WELL MAYBE YOU JUST SHOULD!”

“Yeah Sweet Pea, maybe I just should” your voice was small and shaky. Sweet Pea dropped his arms to his side, still facing away from you. It was a good thing too, his eyes were now squeezed shut to stop any tears from flowing. He didn't mean what he said and he didn't say what he meant.

“Okay fine Sweet Pea” you grabbed your jacket and practically ran out of the trailer at the sound of his silence. The second the latch on the door clicked Sweet Pea was shouting, half destroying his room in tears and anger. You stood outside the front door, hand over your face crying. You turned to ring the doorbell again but your finger stopped hovering over the bell. You turned on your heels and ran from the door. You weren't gone a moment before Sweet Pea swung the door open to apologise.

~

You walked home alone in the chill of the bitter Friday night. It had been a week since the break up and Sweet Pea was yet to come into school. It did not go unnoticed however there was practically a silent agreement to not mention it amongst the Serpents.

Your foot soaked through from the icy puddle it stepped in. You groaned at the burning cold sticking to your socks. You were just having a great week. The clouds were black with rain and weighing heavy, much like your mood.

Dragging your heels you were stopped in your tracks by the sound of engines.

“Well lookie here? Sweet Pea’ girl? Without her keeper?”

“Go away Rocky” you groaned at the ringleader of the three Ghoulies before you.

“Trouble in Paradise?”

“I heard he finally dumped you, poor little yn yln” another filled Rocky in on the situation. You continued walking with them taunting and trailing behind you. They made your skin crawl and blood boil.

“Why don't you come with us? We can show you a good time”

“I'd rather be skinned alive”

Rocky mounted the footpath on his bike, cutting you off from your tracks and scaring you, the other two circled in closer.

“That can be arranged too” his face was dark much like his intent. Your eyes flew between all three members before you took off back the way you came running, them hot on your heels.

You ran breathlessly down alleys and side streets hoping to shake them but their motorbikes could easily fit.

You ran down a blocked off alley, them breathing down your neck. You jumped on top of the bin before hauling yourself up onto the tall wall and over the other side, landing into another bin. Cutting yourself up and definitely gaining some new bruises.

The Ghoulies shouted before calling one another to circle around. When you heard them leave the alley you climbed back over the wall. After a quick look around you realised they had run you deep into Ghoulie territory and everyone knew about Sweet Pea and you. You were a valuable commodity.

You began pacing up and down before hearing some people talking as they walked up the street. You squished yourself between two bins and there you stayed. The cold, damp floor biting at your thighs.

You smiled at his willingness to help without even knowing the full story. Sweet Pea was loyal to a fault, you had to give him that.

It wasn't long before Sweet Pea came riding up the alley.

“Yn?” He barely whispered as to not alert the surely lurking Ghoulies. They were the first words you've heard from him in a week.

“Sweets!” You clambered out from your hidey hole and ran at him, pulling him in close to you. It had only been a week but you missed the contact dearly.

“How'd you find me so quickly Sweets?”

“I pinged your phone...which I swear I only do when there's emergencies” you smiled smally.

“Come on, being here makes me feel dirty, trust me I'll take care of those three Ghoulies on Monday.” you laughed at him, climbing onto his bike and clinging to his back, as you had done many times before.

Sweet Pea brought you back to his trailer, you left this place with a bad taste in your mouth but it was still somehow like home when you stepped inside. Your parents were away and you were visibly shaken, Sweet Pea simply didn't want to leave you alone.

“You can sleep in my room” he grabbed a pillow from the cabinet and collapsed on the couch. You suddenly remembered that you two were kind of broken up. You nodded slowly and went into his room, climbing into the familiar bed you often found yourself in. The room was more torn up than usual, a few drink bottles littering the floor, the break up had clearly not been easy on him either. However the sheets still smelled of Sweet Pea and you found it quite easy to drift off.

The heavens opened then and the rain felt as if it would come through the tin roof. You swaddled yourself deeper in the sheets, protecting yourself from the eardrum bursting sound.

Then the thunder and lightning started. The lightning found it easy to light the trailer up before plunging it into darkness. The power had gone. You took a deep breath and remembered you were more than safe here than anywhere, then it dawned on you that there was a certain someone who hated storms with a burning passion. An irrational fear he was quiet ashamed about.

“Hey Sweets...”

“Y-yeah yn are you okay?” He quickly replied. Sweet Pea was a proud character and you decided to allow him his pride and play into it.

“Sweets I'm kind of scared can you come here” you buried your lying smirk in the duvet as he bolted in the door and dived into the bed.

“I'll protect you” he wrapped his heavy arms around you and pulled you into his chest. You could hear his heart doing 90 off his ribcage and muffled a smile.

“Oh my hero” you teased.

“Hey it's what boyfr...it's what friends are for”

“Yeah I guess it is what boyfriends are for” he smirked against your hair. Lightning lit up the room again and Sweet Pea’ grip on you tightened to almost bone crushing. You intertwined your legs with his and rubbed his back gently, trying to calm him down. Sweet Pea loved and missed having you this close. He has to say something.

“Yn I don't think you cheated on me”

“I don't think I did either” you grinned and he returned the same.

“I'm serious yn, I have to trust you more and I want to...please give me the opportunity to trust you more”

“I don't know Sweets” your voice was sad and betrayed your heart in favour of your head.

“I can prove I'm being serious about this” he let go of you and you immediately missed his heat. Using his phone flashlight he laced on boots and threw on his Serpent Jacket.

“What are you doing?” You sat up watching him do this in the dim light. He didn't reply.

You followed Sweet Pea and the flash light to the door before he opened it to the storm outside. The wind ripping through the trailer.

“Are you crazy?!”

“About us yeah!”

“Crazy and chessy!”

He winked before running out into the elements.

“Come back inside! You'll catch your death!”

“Do you believe me?!”

“Yes yes! Come on!” Lightning just cracked as he went to moving causing him to practically leap from his skin. He bolted for the trailer and crashed inside. Soaking the place and you.

“Please yn can I be your boyfriend again?” You looked at the drenched Serpent with wind burned cheeks and messy jet black locks. You nodded slowly before smiling. He was a mess, your mess but a mess nevertheless.

Sweet Pea!” You shrieked as he threw his soaked body into yours. The cold sucking you in but you couldn't not laugh. Sweet Peas icy lips met your warmer ones. You both had missed each other dreadfully. Thunder rolled loudly and Sweet Pea jumped.

“Come on Prince Charming, you can protect me better from under the covers” you laughed, dragging your frightened boyfriend by the hand.

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

Much love Xx

[dailyaudiobible]

08/13/2019 DAB Transcript

Nehemiah 5:14-7:73, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Psalms 33:1-11, Proverbs 21:8-10

Today is the 13th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It's great to be here with you today as we continue our journey toward the middle of the week, and for that matter toward the middle of this month. I'm glad that we could be here together to take the next step forward in our journey through the Scriptures. And we’re in this really interesting, really dramatic story called Nehemiah and there’s so much for us to learn in this book about the way leadership works, the way that Nehemiah handled a task that he was given that was far beyond his capability and all of the oppositions that he faced along the way. It gives us such a life lesson. So, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday were reading from the Good News Translation this week. Nehemiah chapter 5 verse 14 through 7 verse 73.

Commentary:

Okay. So, back to Nehemiah. Yeah, obviously the last part of our reading today was a number of lists about people who had returned from exile, but before that, and throughout this story of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, we should notice that Nehemiah…like…he assessed the situation before he got anyone involved and then when they launched, they launched strong and they faced all kinds of opposition, but as we’ve read over the last three days, these oppositions only got like…it only escalated…it only amped up the closer they got to finishing the wall. We should maybe give us a little bit of an exhale when we think of our own mission, like where not the only ones who ever face opposition. This is everybody. And today we got to see kind of what was burning inside, like what Nehemiah's heart was like, what was a motivating because he gave it to us in print form. He didn't take the resources that was given to his position. Even though his predecessors as governors had taken their pay he didn't. And there was nothing wrong with them getting paid for what they did. It was just that he saw the burden the people were under and as their leader he tried to live by example and lighten the load and be a part of the story with them instead of taking advantage of him. And, so he paid out of his own pocket what it cost for him to be in the position that he was in, which could've only showed everyone around him, everyone under him that he was in the struggle, that he was in it with them, but it also showed the people that Nehemiah was looking for this opportunity. Like he wasn't looking for personal gain. He had one mission and it was a mission that burned in his heart when he served the King of Persia and that was to rebuild the wall to see that the temple would be protected. And so, that was it. He would accept nothing less or nothing more. That was it. In fact, Nehemiah goes on to tell us that he was so devoted to the wall that he refused to acquire any land. And that might be like well, “you’re just putting another feather in your cap buddy. We get it. You're a good guy. You were a good guy.” But it’s actually a pretty big thing what he’s saying because this is Jerusalem, right? This is Jerusalem, who has been…that has been destroyed, but this is a city that is sitting in the center of things, a very valuable piece of property. And now, with walls going up and a temple going up, like this is the primmest of prime real estate for the future. Like, this is where you want to invest cause thus city's coming back. He didn’t at all. It wasn't wealth that he was after, right? It wasn’t in position or power or prosperity that he was after. He wanted to finish what he started, what God gave him to do. So, then Nehemiah faces the politics of the whole situation, right? So, ridicule didn’t work, taunting didn't work, and they planned attacks and attacks didn't work. And, so, they tried to intimidate Nehemiah specifically. First by inviting him to basically a summit, like “hey…come out to the plane of Ona. We have some things we need to talk about.” And the  enemies of Nehemiah, the enemies of the people are just exposing themselves. They see that the wall is about to be completed so they want to get on terms with Nehemiah. Actually, they want to lure him away so that they can discredit him, but he won't go. Like he will come down. He’s basically, “I’m up on this wall and I'm not coming down from this wall to meet with you.” And that's when this open letter comes, right, this plot to send word all the way back to Persia to the king that Nehemiah has built this wall and is rebuilding the city and plans to become the king of Judah and rebel against the king of Persia. And even prophets are bribed in the mix here to discredit and make Nehemiah look bad. So, basically we’re watching the systematic attack on God's plan that was birthed in the in Nehemiah’s heart. And Nehemiah, as the leader of the vision, of this plan, the leader of this whole effort, how he responds to all of these things, right? We don't have any little asides in the book of Nehemiah where Nehemiah’s, you know, hiding out in some kind of house somewhere with his head in his hands asking if he missed God, right? Like with all of this that keeps…all these attacks that keep coming against me, maybe I just missed God or maybe I just missed it somehow and then we start to try to figure a way out of whatever it is. What Nehemiah did was keep moving forward. Like, one way or another, as slow as it might've been, one foot in front of the other, one little bit of progress forward every day. And I feel pretty confident that some of you needed to hear that today straight from the Bible, unfiltered.

Prayer:

Father, we come into Your presence, and whether we’re facing any of these things right now, we’re all on the same page about what we’re talking about here. Whether it's our current circumstance, we know what's going on and we’ve felt this before, and frankly, we've given up more times than we haven't. So, come Holy Spirit and let us see this lesson that is just sitting here in the story of Nehemiah about continuing forward no matter how slow the progress and no matter who's saying what, no matter the intimidation against us. If we know that You have asked us to do something, then help us to complete it and to do it with honor and to do it in Your name. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and it is indeed where you find out what's going on around here.

And the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion is coming up that we've been talking about for a while. Now we’re actually almost there. Two weeks is it? Yeah, let me look at a calendar. Two weeks from Saturday is the beginning, August 31st through September 2nd, which is Labor Day weekend here in the United States. We’re gonna get together and have a Family Reunion and have fun and play together and get to know each other and spend some time in the evenings together. And China’s telling me she's thinking about maybe Bible trivia or hosting a little Bible trivia competition out there one afternoon. We’re just gonna have a good time and looking forward to it very much. So, hopefully you can come. All of the details can be gotten at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. And we will be there and hopefully you can be there too because what fun is that if you’re not there? Just like the Daily Audio Bible, what fun is that if we don't do this together? So hopefully you can come. And get the details at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link and it lives on the homepage and I humbly, humbly, humbly thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Delta Alpha Foxtrot this is Victor Romeo Sierra a.k.a. Victoria in Missouri. I just had to call and thank you thank you thank you for reminding all of us, I know it’s been a while since you called, but thanks for reminding all of us to contribute to this fabulous platform of the Daily Audio Bible so we may all continue to receive it. I want to shout out also to the others who have called, Free Indeed from Maryland, Sheila from Texas, and someone, possibly it was one of you too, called and talked to us about paying where you are fed. How beautiful! I just love that. So, I just want us all to think about how much we learn each day from Brian’s commentary. The words that we receive, we’re receiving teaching, we’re receiving an education about the Bible and God word every day. Would you pay a dollar for the word being read to you and the outstanding and excellent commentary that we receive every day that we learned so much from? They both lead and guide us. I would be a dollar. I would be more than a dollar. I am paying more than a dollar. Please consider sharing a dollar a day or more. Some of us, you know, most of us, or a lot of us, some of us would not miss $30 a month coming out of our budget. Some of us wouldn’t miss more than that. Technology is expensive and it’s ever-changing. So, thank you so much for considering a gift to maintain our daily bread, our Daily Audio Bible and sustain this…this beautiful word and gift that we receive from Brian every day. Thanks, love everyone. Prayers and blessings. Bye-bye.

Hi family this is his little Cherry in Canada and I just got up and I’m so grateful because I had a good night last night. I even was able to lie on my back for a little while and haven’t been able to do that for weeks and weeks and weeks. So, I’m so grateful. Thank you for your prayers. I wanted to let a few people know I’m praying for them. Christine in Washington state, you mentioned that your daughter had a scope to look at her stomach and biopsy and that the pictures don’t look very good and you’re feeling worried and anxious and I completely understand that because I have a daughter too and I’ve been through some things with her. And I know it seems like the enemy has power to get to us sometimes when we’ve been serving the Lord or when we’ve been getting close to the Lord and then we’re hit with different things. It does feel like we’re being attacked, and I know that we are being attacked but sometimes it’s easy to give the enemy more power than he has, to feel like where at his mercy and he’s just doing whatever he wants in our lives. But we have to believe that he is a defeated foe and the truth is that the cross was more than enough to render him impotent and powerless. And ultimately Jesus is the one who is writing a story. And even when we are attacked, he takes the very thing the enemy intends for evil and works them for good and it’s a choice to believe that. So, Christine I’m praying for you and for your daughter and I’m believing that God is working all things together for good not just in your life but in her life as well. He is faithful to both of you and He is writing your story and He is carrying you to the happily ever after that His blood bought for you. Praying for you. Thank you, family. Bye bye.

Good morning this is Tiffany Locke from Arizona. It is August 9th, 2019 and I am calling for Christopher in pretzel city. You say you’re lost and you should be somewhere that you’re not in your spiritual life and I’m calling to say that I am praying for you and that you should begin to thank God for small things, silly things, things that you wouldn’t even think that you should consider or that God would consider, silly things such as driving down a street filled with traffic lights that you didn’t get stopped out one of them. You say thank you God that I had all green lights. And maybe the enemy will come in and try to make you feel silly but keep going. Thank Him for your breath, the ability to walk, the ability to see, your dog, your house. Begin to thank him even if you don’t feel thankful at the moment because those feelings will come, and then God will start to put things into your head to be thankful about maybe. I don’t know. Maybe He won’t but maybe you’ll start seeing more things. And keep thanking Him. Begin to worship Him, begin to praise Him, and don’t worry about what kind of person you are right now because He’s gonna take care of that. God is so good, and He knows more about you than you could possibly know about yourself. Pour yourself out to Him. Tell Him how stressed you are. Tell Him how upset you are or how happy you are or any of those things. Begin to talk to Him. Talk to Him no matter what time it is. Talk to Him when you are so angry you can barely stand yourself. Just say I’m so angry! God has big shoulders and He loves you more than you could possibly understand. I pray that you will receive this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi, this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I am seeing…a lot of them have been getting sick with cancer and I wanted to pray for Indiana…Ken from Indiana, his two daughters and his wife is going through stress and anxiety. I wanted to pray for Tracy and thank her for the encouragement to the DABbers and Demetrius and the lady in Africa. And I wanted to pray for those who are sick and going through and needs a financial blessing and who needs…one lady needs a spouse. She was praying for a spouse. So, I ask God to bless her. Gracious father we just praise You today. Oh Lord I thank You Lord. I thank You because I know that You have a very special breakthrough for the people of God. Oh Lord we’re being attacked on every side. The enemy is afflicting us with sicknesses Lord but we know that You said that the devil comes in like a flood, but the spirit of the Lord takes up a stand against him. Lord we thank You Lord. We thank You because You never leave us. We thank You because You’re still mighty. We thank You because You’re still awesome. We thank You because You’re still omnipotent. We thank You because You’re still holy. We thank You because You’re still worthy. Oh Lord we just ask You Lord to touch Lord. You touch father You do whatever. You do whatever Your will Lord. You heal our bodies Lord. You heal our bodies. You heal our marriages Lord. You heal Your people Lord. You strengthen them on every hand. Oh father in the name of Jesus You have Your way. They’re being attacked by an enemy. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus we just thank You Lord. We’re looking for Your blessing. When the devil kicks…

[magic5ball]

Nature Trail to Hell Arc V: Back into Hell (VIII)

Chapter 8: The Good, the Bad, and the Tostig

We stared each other down, the room silent, just one tumbleweed away from being a Wild West showdown. On one end, the sheriff and his deputies, on the other, the outlaw kneeling over a dead body. Who was also him.

Ms. Hobag was the first to speak. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Wonky Watt!”

Now, I have a good Mother who raised me right, always told me things like say thank you, or look people in the eyes when they talk. That being said, I was less interested in saying ‘hi’ and more concerned with whether or not my own body could be used as a meat shield. (If you’re curious about the answer, let’s just say WHAT DO YOU THINK, DUMBBUTT?!)

“How’s your summer been? Its’ been awhile, you know.”

Seeing how my body wasn’t working out, I figured it was good a time as ever to pull out the good old fashioned machine gun… only to remember it had gotten busted back at the Wegmart.

Or so I thought.

“Looking for this?” Taunted Hoebag, pulling  my tried and true, lean and mean, butt throttling bullet machine out from her coat.

“H-how-?!“

“You left it at Wegmart, just like you left Shatner to the tiger. But I guess that’s not important- HEY! Are you listening to me?!”

 As a matter of fact, I was trying force the breath of life into my unconscious body with all the energy I had left, because no matter what Ms. Hoebag said, there was still a chance I could bounce back. Somehow. Probably. At any moment. Annnnyyyyy moment, now.

The wretched counselor laughed, a bellow deep and guttural as the darkest pits of the underworld (and I should know: I saw them on F-Bomb’s anime swimsuit calendar).

“Foolish mortal, you have entered CAMP ANARCHY, WHERE HOPE GOES TO DIE!”

Somewhere in the world, a thousand puppies spontaneously burst into flame, a phenomena the U.S. Government would spend the next twenty years trying to cover up.

The voice sounded a tad familiar.

“Excuse me, I asked, but do I know you from somewhere. Were you on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood or something?”

Lady got real testy about that one, let me tell you!

“Who am I? WHO AM I?! PATHETIC MORTAL, DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THE DREAD VISAGE OF BOB-SARDOTH?!”

“No, Ma’am.” I lied.

Maybe not the best answer in retrospect, but my Mom always did tell me to be polite. Figured that if I was getting offed, I might as well do it honoring some of her advice. Or maybe that was part of the plot to get rid of me for good. She did send me to this crazy camp in the first place, after all.

Now I was going to face a fate worse than death: a villainous monologue.

“You think you despise this camp?! I’ve been stuck here since before your people learned to make fire, sealed within the body of a small, furry vermin! Until now! Three children have released me from my fuzzy prison! Now, I am free to wreak havoc upon the world. And it was all thanks to YOU, Watterson Tostig!”

           All the heaters in the world couldn’t have stopped my heart from freezing into a block of ice right then and there. Could I really have doomed the world? If my brain were a bit clearer, I might have realized he was using the same guilt-trippy stuff Hoebag used to keep the campers in line, only this was so powerful it was like hauling a thousand ton rock on my back. As it was, I would have thought of going back to the underworld- if I still thought myself good enough for it! And to think-

“I-I just wanted to go home and play with my Gamekid!” I squeaked.

“And for that, you sacrificed an entire camp. And joined a gang. And became dictator of a miniature railroad. And murdered a founding father! And-”

“But I overthrew Wegmart!”

“Wrong!”

But this wasn’t Bob-Sardoth talking now. The small figure beside him had, though the monologue, been inching to the front and center: Hilda.

“You showed me that a person can be the best friend in the whole wide world, offer them everything they could ever want, make camp fun for a little bit, but if you smell like farts, no one will want to hang out with you. So why not destroy this whole rotten world?! CONGRADULATIONS, Wonky Watt! You taught me the most valuable lesson about friendship of all!” tears streamed down her face, smearing her makeup. “Your parents were right. You really are a MEENIE-BO-BEENIE! ”

My jaw hung slack, brain registering that Hilda of all people had just dropped the M-Bomb.

Still, I had one tool in my arsenal:

“D-don’t join that monster, Hilda! W-what w-would your parents have to say to you, cussing like a-a jerk?!”

“Because Hilda is no mere child.” Answered the demon, “But a scion of Despair. For ages my ferret kibble, which I consumed in the form of that abhorrent wretch you called Freddie, made me quite…gaseous. After ten thousand years of such a diet, this gas, which you mortals call despair became so dense it manifested in physical form. The physical form you see in front of us now!”

“Say it ain’t so!” I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it. Something went crac! It was one thing to go to Hell. Another to fight off Shel Silverstein. Still another to work at Taco Shak for a week. But this?! This cockamamie bullcrap was on another level entirely!

Hilda just bowed her head,

“If I told you, you wouldn’t have wanted to hang out with me. I can see it in your eyes. The eyes of a turd.”

“But do you really want to be Hoebag’s b!tch?! After all the fun we had together?!”

My old pal just stared expressionless and uttered, all gloomy-like

“Not as much fun as a new Gamboy advance with Kirby’s Dreamland deluxe on it, apparently.”

Bob-Sardoth cackled.

“Now do you see, Wonky Watt? Now do you see that your parents were right about you being a bad seed!?”

 And there, standing over my own casket in the middle of some crapsack camp cathedral, it all hit me like a blizzard: all this time I thought myself the victim of some great injustice, some evil system I had to break out of like the heroes in those action movies. But at the end of the day, I was nothing but a tiny, insignificant turd who ditched his friends when they needed him most.

Bob-Sardoth must have realized this too, because after I collapsed under the weight of my own consciousness, he started laughing maniacally, head raised to the ceiling. I could now see the family resemblance between Bob and Hilda. Not that it could make the pain in my heart go away.

Hilda pulled out a sticker the size of my head from her pocket. It smelled like oranges.

“May this be the last thing you smell before you go back to hell.”

I desperately wanted to resist, to say no, but the pain felt worse than the one time a hornet got trapped in my shirt. All I could do was sit as Hilda plastered the ‘Orange you Glad’ sticker on my forehead, blotting it out like a bad stain.

“And for the record, it’s not like I’m doing this to be merciful or anything.” She added.

                                                    .   .   .

“Watterson!”

Someone was calling my name.

“Watterson!”

Frankly, after everything I just wanted to get some shuteye and never wake up, but the voice kept going-

“WATTERSON!”

Opening my eyes, I found myself looking into the eyes of some red-headed bird with white feathers and yellow eyes that screamed ‘I love you, but I also want to throttle you’. Eyes I would recognize anywhere.

“F-Bomb?!”