#canon is in chapter 1

[oddinarydellequent]

(Ch. 3) Of Thieves and Plunder (pt. 2)

Black Clover OCs x Canon/AU FanFic

"Attention!"

Three people scramble out of their beds and attempt a salute. Captain Charlotte Roselei walks in and nods at the three standing, but glares at the one still sitting on her bed.

"When the Captain stands, nobody sits, Heidi."

Geniva sluggishly stands up. The captain lets the lack of a salute pass for now.

"Good to see you all recovered quickly. You have some catching up to do.

Members of the Sion family has requested the Blue Rose to deal with a new dungeon that emerged yesterday.

Though our sources from the Magic Investigation Department have noted that there have not been a surge in mana in the location recently, the family insists as it has blocked one of their main trade routes.

You'll be guided by one of our Intermediate Magic Knights, Serene Urania."

A lithe young woman in her early 20s comes up by the captain's side, dark blue hair cropped short in a bob framing an angular face and steely brown eyes.

With a deep voice, she says, "I want you dressed and ready in 30 minutes. Meet me at the courtyard and I will brief you on the mission on the way to the location."

"Move. Now."

They thankfully managed a salute before the girls dashed outside the infirmary.

Ethelrid can barely remember where her room was supposed to be after having only spent one night in there.

With a bit of luck, she finds it and pulls off her clothes and just as quickly puts her uniform on, taking great care to adjust her robe, making sure to pin the rose button in place.

She faces her back to the mirror to see the Blue Rose insignia.

It could be a trick of the light, but the symbol shimmers under the sun rays from the open curtains, and Ethelrid can't help but beam with pride.

Either because of excitement or anxiety, Ethelrid's heart races nevertheless.

Running down the halls has her stomach jostling the newly eaten breakfast the kind nurse gave them, but Ethelrid was not about to be late to her first mission.

Ethelrid spots her senior and throws a proper salute.

"Ah, no need for that. With me, at least. Reserve that for the captain," she says with a warm smile.

Ethelrid could barely reply with her mind buffering. Her senior's temperament at the moment was a far cry from when they were in the infirmary.

"Aw dammit! You beat me to it Ethy!" Amore whines as she jogs with a bag of hashbrowns. Nina jogs along with her.

Amore wordlessly offers Ethelrid some of her hashbrowns and Ethelrid took three, much to Amore's annoyance.

"Where's your other friend?" Serene asks.

"Oh I think she'll take a while. Been moody since she woke up." Amore says between munches of her crispy hashbrowns.

"I'll go get her," Ethelrid wastes no time briskly walking to Geniva's room.

Ethelrid knocks and is met with a "Go away!"

"C'mon Geniva, we're already running late!"

"Didn't you hear me? I said go away!"

Ethelrid would have gone with some gentle parenting - if she knew how.

Instead, she casts her Stygian Form and she disintegrates into dark sand, weaving her way under the door and goes back to her original form to a screaming Geniva.

"Ew! Get out! What if I was changing?"

Ethelrid flushes. She clearly didn't think about that, but after a quick look Geniva was thankfully decent. In fact, she hasn't changed at all.

"You're coming with, whether you like it or not."

"I'm not."

"Then why the hell did you become a Magic Knight for?"

"None of your damn business. I'm not going."

Ethelrid's vein on her forehead is becoming more prominent. What is she going to do with this petulant child?

"You know, Geniva," Ethelrid starts. "That's exactly what a bitch would say."

Ethelrid could barely turn into her stygian form before she was attacked with a strong gust of wind that hit her body against the door, busting it open.

"I should have expected that…" Ethelrid sighs as she lays on the ground. She sits up to see Geniva preparing a spear of wind primed for throwing.

"What? Are you just going to sit there and take it?" Geniva laughs. "Who's the bitch now?"

"I don't want to fight you."

"I do."

"Please just join us in the courtyard. You're making a scene." Ethelrid looks to the onlookers loitering to see the drama, but a glare from Ethelrid seems to shoo the others away.

"Sounds like what a bitch would say."

"That actually doesn't work on me as it does on you."

Geniva ignores formulating a clever reply in lieu of jamming her spear up Ethelrid's a-

Geniva and Ethelrid's vision contorts and they suddenly hold their breath as they are enveloped in a prison of water. Geniva still swims to go choke the air out of Ethelrid and bubbles do leave Ethelrid's mouth in protest.

"Are you two about done being children?" Serene disappointingly looks to the two currently wrestling in the water.

Ethelrid frantically nods, but Geniva could not give a damn.

The water prison splits the two in separate spheres and Serene releases Ethelrid immediately. Ethelrid flops to the ground, coughs out water and gasps for air.

Ironically, Geniva is struggling for oxygen from moving too much. She stubbornly fights against the water confines until she casts a desperate look at Serene.

Serene releases her immediately, leaving Geniva sopping and coughing.

"I know you're still children, but much is expected of you now that you're Magic Knights.

After all that combat in the examination and you think fighting is all there is to being a Magic Knight?

We are responsible for the well-being of the Clover Kingdom's citizens, not only through protecting them from threats but also through lending our services for upholding their quality of life.

You think you'd do any good berating and choking your teammate? Do you have no shame in front of your fellow squad members and seniors?

And you both came so highly recommended. I'm disappointed."

Serene's grimoire leaves her holster and its pages turn and glows as she casts:

Water Magic: Verdict of Libra

A sigil circle of a scale appears on Geniva's and Ethelrid's form and suddenly pain and heaviness blooms in their chest along with shortness of breath.

"Use any magic, and it will only get worse. Fluid will build up in your heart if you do. You don't want that, do you?"

There is a calm darkness around Serene, holding such unsuspecting power that dares one to underestimate her. Ethelrid dares not try to even tap a single mana in her body. She knows that Serene is not exaggerating.

"You will obey my every command. I will only lift the spell when necessary. Until then, I expect exemplary behavior. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," the two replies. Ethelrid looks to Geniva to see fear in her eyes. Ethelrid imagines her own eyes are sporting the same emotion.

They both wordlessly follow Serene to the others. Amore teasingly says, "Ooooh" before Nina slaps her on the back.

They all ride on their brooms, Amore even raising a leg to plant one of her feet on the handle casually.

Thankfully, it seems that using mana to ride on their brooms doesn't worsen the heaviness on Ethelrid's and Geniva's chest.

Ethelrid looks down at the growing distance between her and the ground and she swallows audibly but with difficulty as her chest aches.

A glyph surfaces in front of Serene and water collects around the symbol as she casts:

Compass of Sagittarius

A compass of water emerges and Serene directs the team West.

"The mission is fairly straightforward. The Sion family is requesting to investigate a newly immerged dungeon that has blocked their vital trade route to the Heart Kingdom.

Often a concentration of mana forms the dungeon and said concentration of mana often come in the form of a magical artifact.

So we go in, take the artifact and the dungeon will no longer obstruct the trade route."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Urania, but don't new dungeons often spike in mana?" Nina pipes up.

"Captain Charlotte said that there were no spikes of mana detected according to the Magic Investigation Department. Are we really dealing with a dungeon here?"

"We shall see for ourselves," Serene replies.

Nina's troubled expression does not leave her face and Serene noticed.

"Is there something wrong, Nina?"

"I just… don't feel comfortable taking a magical artifact from a dungeon. It feels like stealing! I believe artifacts must be kept untouched.

Imagine the discoveries that would be made after careful study that wouldn't be possible if the artifact was just sold for a heavy price."

"Don't worry," Serene reassures. "All artifacts are collected and stored by the Magical Studies Department. All artifacts end up in their good hands."

"There's a Magical Studies Department?" Nina's expression seems to brighten.

"Oh yes. They even have exhibits, if you like to visit sometime."

Nina eyes widen and turn to the others.

"Of course we'll go with you, Nina." Ethelrid says.

"Who could say no to that face?" Amore goes to squish Nina's cheeks.

"Boring." Geniva rolls her eyes.

"I'd say with your enthusiasm you would certainly be welcomed by the Magical Studies Department, Nina," Serene says.

"Oh… oh I don't think I'll be accepted, but thank you," Nina says, dejected.

"I'll vouch for you. If you truly want to go in," Serene encourages.

Amore has been pouting the whole time before she pipes up, "You're not leaving m- us for the MSD, are you?"

"Oh no, no dear! I think I'm happy being where I am right now. I barely even started becoming a Magic Knight. It'd be a waste to back out now," Nina reassures, "Plus-" she pauses.

"Who else would be stealing hashbrowns for you for breakfast?"

"Damn right!"

"Alright, settle down, we're here," Serene goes to descend to what seems like an opening of a cave, and from a distance flashes of purple stand out among the greenery.

"The Purple Orcas?" Three of them, Ethelrid observed. Not anyone she knows, though she barely even knows the rest of the Blue Rose.

They seem to be too distracted talking among themselves to notice the team descending until Serene called out, "Hello!"

They startle, surprised at their presence.

"Ah, the Blue Rose," a woman of tall and lanky stature replies. Her purple robe feels almost too small for her size.

"We were not expecting… company."

"Neither did we. Perhaps this can work to our advantage. Strength in numbers and all that," Serene replies.

"Oh, there's no need," a short and stout man replies this time. "We've done a preliminary survey, it doesn't seem all that dangerous.

Still, we would not like to risk civilians entering the dungeon attempting to take the treasure themselves."

"This looks like a dungeon to you?" Geniva says mockingly. "I bet I can go in and out of there alone."

"I would advise against it, young one," the man replies. "Perhaps leave the dirty work to us experienced Knights."

"What would you have us do then?" Ethelrid impatiently asks.

Seriously? Can't even enter a dungeon on our first day?

"You can help us wrangle the troublemaking locals from impeding our work. Yes, that'll do."

"I insist we go with you. Like Miss Urania said, there is strength in numbers," Ethelrid firmly states.

"Oh, dear," The woman steps into Ethelrid's personal space to look down on her with a wide, eery smile. "You would not last even a single minute down there."

"Now be a good girl and stay here," She goes to pat Ethelrid on the head. Ethelrid can only glare.

"Off we go, then," The man chimes in, "With any luck, this dungeon will be gone by tonight."

They enter the cave and disappear into the darkness, their third companion silently following behind them, but not without a long, cold look at the team through his scarred face.

Geniva goes to pat Ethelrid on the head, "Good girl." She says, exaggerating with a high-pitched voice.

Ethelrid slaps Geniva's hand away.

"Well this sucks," Amore moans. "I was really looking forward to dungeon crawling."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, kids. But we are obligated to protect the locals from entering the dungeon. Like I said, fighting is not all we do as Magic Knights."

She summons her compass again, and this time the needle turns incessantly, Serene closing her eyes until the needle stops and points southeast.

"This way," she leads the team through the wilderness.

"Excuse me, Miss Urania," Ethelrid starts.

"Yes, Ethelrid?"

"Captain Charlotte told us that we were supposed to investigate the dungeon. Even with the Purple Orcas around I believe we are still meant to join them in their survey."

Serene sighs. "I get it. You're antsy. You were anticipating to experience what going through a dungeon is like.

Don't get me wrong, I think you all are incredible fighters. But I believe a Magic Knight's first priority must always be the people. And that's what your first mission is going to be - protecting the people."

Geniva huffs, "Didn't think I would be a servant when I went to join the Magic Knights."

"Get used to it, Geniva," Serene says. "You'll be doing that a lot from now on."

Sounds of civilization reaches the team's ears, a vendor yelling out his produce here, groans of working animals there. But among the ruckus, a fight between two men just by the trees stand out to them.

"I don't give a damn! I'm going in, they have no right-"

"And you'll be fighting against all three of them!"

"I can take them."

"No, you absolutely cannot."

"Are you just going to let that slide? Let them take what they think is theirs?"

"We can ask help from other Magic Knights-"

"What makes you think the rest of them are any different?"

The older man then notices the forms of blue behind them, and their conversation dies down.

"Is there something wrong, gentleman?" Serene asks.

"Nothing that concerns you, miss," The old man replies.

"Any Magic Knights business is our business, sir."

The younger man spats, "How about minding your own damn bus-"

"Nothing that you should worry about, miss." Though his tone was not unkindly, his expression remains firm, suspicious even.

"If you're thinking of going in the dungeon, then I suggest you don't. It's dangerous, so leave it to us."

"Of course, miss."

"Let us know if you need anything else." Serene tries for a smile, but neither of them smile back.

She sighs and leads the team to the town square, market stalls lining the streets, a cacophony of bartering and music by the bards performing by the crown jewel of the square, an ornate fountain with three tiers of statues of maidens pouring glistening water on the basin.

Amore sees people taking a sip from the fountain itself and curious, goes to scoop up water with her hands bring it to her mouth to drink.

The sweetness hits and it startles her, and she laughs as she takes another scoop but a small hand smacks her hands away.

"Hey! Magic Knights not allowed!" A kid points an accusing finger.

"Why not?" Amore replies, indignant.

"You suck!" The kid sticks her tongue out and runs off.

Eyes begin to turn at the direction of the pops of blue, eyeing the team's robes and its insignia with suspicion and by some, even resentment.

"I don't think we're welcome here." Ethelrid states.

"You think?" Geniva throws a glare back at some of them.

"Hey." A young woman approaches them, apron dusted in flour and runny raw eggs.

"If you got any business here, I suggest you take it up with the mayor. Otherwise, leave."

"We're not here to cause trouble. We just wanted to protect you all from going into the dungeon," Serene tries for a calm aura, but this only infuriates the young woman.

"We have every damn right to go to what you call 'dungeon' because its ours!" She storms off without saying another word.

"Tch," The breeze picks up as Geniva reaches for her grimoire but Ethelrid grabs her arm and pushes her grimoire back to its holster.

Ethelrid pauses on that statement. Normally, locals would not lay claim to a dungeon, not that they do especially of one that supposedly just popped out of existence between yesterday and today.

She would go approach the young woman who stormed off, but the countless glares discourage her.

"Miss Urania," Ethelrid turns to her senior. "I think it's time we leave for the mayor's office."

"Agreed."

Off to the mayor's office they go, but Serene spots a head of blue hair out of the crowd, and goes to approach them.

"Lord Sion!" Serene calls out.

The man startles and genuine surprise was his expression especially when his eyes found their blue robes.

"O-oh! The Blue Rose! What a surprise!" He stutters.

"Surprised? You asked us to come here."

"Did I? Oh, my apologies, must've slipped my mind."

His eyes shift uneasily, seeming to gather his words before he says, "Well, off to your duties now! I have a business meeting to attend to!"

He briskly walks away.

The girls turn to their senior in their confusion and Serene looks back just as confused.

"Let's head to the mayor's office for now. He'll know what we have to do."

The mayor's office is not far from the town square and as they enter the cool breeze from outside still greets them through the large open windows of the office.

Sitting in the middle of the office is the mayor himself, Oscar Sinow, as written on the plaque by his desk.

He does not seem pleased to see them but he stands out of politeness to greet them.

"Welcome to Ampora village. We have not been graced by the presence of the Blue Rose Knights before."

"We hope you will find your first time with the Blue Rose helpful, sir." Serene tries for a smile.

"I doubt that." Suddenly the mood became tense.

"What is it this time, oh Magic Knights? A survey? A perimeter? More punishments for trespassing on our own grounds?"

"Pardon?"

"Oh, going for the innocent strategy this time, are you?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Nina interjects. "But we don't know what you're talking about."

Oscar pauses and seems to be studying each one of the team.

"You're all quite young. Still so idealistic.

Hmph. You truly don't know what's going on, do you?"

"No, we don't, sir," Ethelrid replies.

He sighs heavily, and motions them to sit on the seats by the table.

"For years, the outsiders, the Sion family, took control of this village along with many others.

With their monopoly on selling goods with prices so low other merchants can't possibly keep up, they are forced to sell what little land and property they have left to the family themselves.

And the family turns those properties into mansions and most importantly - trading routes.

But of course, it wasn't enough for them, to the point that they began to covet our cultural heritage - a shrine dedicated to the first spring of this land. The spring that blessed us with clean, sweet water.

With only the treasure in our shrine in mind, they desecrate our sacred halls as if it's a simple market.

We could never sell those treasures even if we were starving, and here comes the Sion family taking them all as they please."

Nina's face was contorted in disgust and no small amount of rage. Ethelrid goes to place a hand on her shoulder.

"We of course protested against the Sion family, until they started hiring those purple bedecked excuses of a Magic Knight.

They hinder us from entering in our own shrine, saying its under the Magic Knights jurisdiction along with the artifact in it, and I said, 'Sir! There is no artifact, we all know too well, because it is our shrine! You have no jurisdiction here!'

And yet they still won't let us in. They even had the nerve to say they will be forced to use violence if we persist.

Persisted we did. And met with violence we were.

Even our strongest magic users were no match to the Magic Knights. So here we are, twiddling our thumbs helplessly as the fate of our own shrine is in the hands of outsiders."

Ethelrid suddenly stands up, recalling what the man said before they disappeared into the cave.

With any luck, this dungeon will be gone by tonight.

"We need to go before they destroy the shrine," Ethelrid urges.

-end of pt. 2-

pt. 1 / pt. 3

Ch. 1 / Ch. 2

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

book 7 part 12 part 1 thoughts!

***THIS POST CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7 PART 12 OF THE MAIN STORY!!*** This spans part 227 to part 244, focusing on Cater and Deuce.

We will get the other 3 Heartslabyul boys in 2 future updates. The second part is Ace, then Trey. Riddle is last!

Please note: this is NOT meant to be a summary or a translation; these are only my initial thoughts on the events that roughly unfold. There may be details overlooked or misunderstood in this post, so PLEASE do not use this as a translation.

We land in what seems to be a hallway at NRC. Unfortunately for me (who seeks vengeance against a certain lion for emotional damages), Leona provides no funny reaction to the bumpy travel while dream hopping. He even makes fun of those who had a hard time, calling them weak if something like that gets to them 💀 YOU'RE ALREADY ON FUCKING THIN ICE, KINGSCHOLAR

Grim gets distracted by the smell of lunchtime so he scampers off to the cafeteria to eat! But... um!??!?! Scarabia mobs in mohawks get aggressive with us.

Before they wail on us, who should appear but the owner of the dream, Deuce!! Our guy has blonde hair (it's a Japanese trope that delinquents bleach their hair). He intimidates the mobs away with some backup from dream!Trey and dream!Cater, who still appear to maintain their vice dorm leader and "#3 in Heartslabyul" positions, respectively. Sounds like Riddle is still the dorm leader as well.

Deuce, Trey, and Cater spot Leona and kind of start picking a fight with him???? They say that if Ramshackle has been taken over/absorbed by Savanaclaw, then there will be problems (or something to that effect). (SORRY, THE DIALOGUE IS SO WEIRD AND FULL OF TERMS I DON'T UNDERSTAND CUZ EVERYONE'S SOUNDING LIKE A DELINQUENTTO SOME CAPACITY)

Cute detail: it's stated that Yuu is typically seen with Ace and Deuce! So even in the world of Deuce's dream... he still thinks about their friendship!!

Leona (and Ortho), actually Being Smart, backs off and lets Deuce take Yuu + Grim over to the Heartslabyul table to eat (even though Sebek gets mad about it). Leona tells the others it's better to observe the enemy first, then demands that Idia find a way for him to listen into the conversation Yuu + Grim are having with Heartslabyul. Luckily, Idia is able to hook them up aaaaand...

We get sort of a reinactment of that part in book 1 where Trey explains the 7 dorms at NRC to us, except this time Deuce is dropping the lore in a really bombastic way.

ALRIGHT, SO. In Deuce's dream, the 7 dorms are still the same as they are irl but each dorm sort of functions like its own... gang????? And there are daily gang wars to use the facilities at school. Certain dorms rule over certain territories, and if you want to go there or do something specific then you have to beat a member of the respective dorm in a battle. Rach dorm has a suuuuper over-embellished title... THIS FEELS LIKE SOMETHING STRAIGHT OUT OF A DELINQUENT MANGA (I also want to add that the devs chose the most unhinged expressions in each character's repertoire for the following visuals:)

Heartslabyul is centered in the library; you need to pass them to borrow books.

Savanaclaw owns the botanical garden (LOL BECAUSE LEONA'S ALWAYS FUCKING NAPPING THERE *flashbacks to the time he almost kicked our shit in for stepping on his tail*). If you want any herbs or other items from the greenhouse, you need to go through Savanaclaw.

Octavinelle is in charge of the area bordering Ramshackle, around where the Mystery Shop is. Sam has apparently signed a deal with them to have his store there. You can avoid a fight with them if you pay a "toll".

Scarabia is considered moderate compared to the other dorms, but they're serious about food, as they reign over the cafeteria, as well as places on campus that produce food/ingredients, like the windmill and chicken coops. It'll be hard for you to take the Master Chef course if you aren't comfortable with constantly pummeling Scarabia kids.

Pomefiore handles the courtyard and the potionology/alchemy labs. If you have to do a makeup lesson in that department, be prepared to contend with them.

Ignihyde students usually don't come out of their territory, which is the auditorium and infirmary. hbfbyoadfadfpfas DEUCE SPECIFICALLY MENTIONS THAT ORTHO IS A NEW MEMBER AND THAT HE'S LIKE A FIERCE GUARD DOG 😭😭😭

Finally, Diasomnia has hold of the coliseum and stables. They are considered the toughest dorm and command respect, otherwise lightning will fly.

Ramshackle is basically Switzerland (ie neutral territory); the ownership is not determined by fighting but rather is determined by the headmaster. (We got no cool visual, lol)

Leona and co. try to think about ways to wake Deuce up... Since fighting seems like an everyday thing in this dream, maybe we have no choice but to go with a physical blow...? But if fighting is so normalized, maybe that wouldn't work... Plus, there are so many faces that the darkness has taken on, so it would be hard to overpower them all. They also discuss their own impressions of Deuce (ie how he looks/tries to present as an honors student versus his efforts and suspected "bad" background). In this dream, Deuce is apparently considered a top performer based on his contributions to the uh student gang wars 💀

A Heartslabyul mob rushes in and reports to Riddle that Octavinelle students are invading the library. Riddle sends Adeuce to clean up and they have this really shounen manga-esque battle where the Octa mobs call Ace and Deuce by long nicknames and Deuce even lets out an ORAORAORAORAOROARAOROAROA!!

A bunch of books are chucked around in the ensuing battle, which causes Sebek to literally FALL TO HIS KNEES and check on them. He laments that they've been damaged and is very upset by this. However, Sebek becomes truly ENRAGED when he actually opens a book and notices its contents are faulty. Like the spelling is screwed up, the pages are blank, or the writing that's there is hard to read. Sebek concludes that the contents of the books are fucked because the dreamer, Deuce, has not read these materials himself to understand them. AND DEUCE DARES TO CALL HIMSELF AN ASPIRING HONORS STUDENT???! SEBEK WON'T STAND FOR IT!!

... This fucking green haired fool shouts at Deuce and provokes a fight by shaming him 🤡 LMAO, Sebek calls the books just papers bound by a cover, IT CANNOT BE CALLED A BOOK!! He tells Adeuce to READ the damn books and then hit each other with the knowledge they gain from reading... OKAY NERD

They open up a book that should list the rules of the Queen of Hearts, but because so much of the book is blank, only like a handful of rules are written down. Deuce says that's not correct, there are WAY more rules--in fact, 810 of them! This starts to wake him up, but dream!Ace becomes darkness and tries to convince Deuce that, at NRC, only strength matters so he doesn't need to study to get to be an "honors student".

HJBAHJBAFSBHDSAHBAS HLAFHL DEUCE STARTS HAVING FLASHBACKS TO ALL THE TIMES ACE FUCKING BULLIED HIM AND DEUCE LEGITIMATELY GETS SO MAD HE FULLY WAKES UP

Wait, this is so sweet 😭😭😭 The image that Deuce has in his mind right before he wakes is his and Ace's reunion with Yuu and Grim at the end of book 6...

Deuce joins us to beat back dream!Ace. Of course Ace isn't this one, the real Ace is way more insensitive and annoying!!

Deuce starts to sort of talk down to himself. He says if his dream turned out like this, then there must have always been a part of him that "wants" to solve everything with his fists. Ortho comforts Deuce by saying that though Malleus's dream is created based on a person's desires, the output can be highly variable depending on the individual.

Sebek starts scolding Deuce again for not reading books in their entirety, and they discover one book that seems to have more information than the others. "The Story of the Trump Soldier" is a famous children's book in the Queendom of Roses, containing short stories about the Trump Card soldiers that serve the Queen of Hearts. Deuce says that he has always admired those soldiers and how cool they are, especially when they chase lawbreakers through the rose maze!

AWWWWW Deuce would beg his mom to read this book to him when he was little.. and when he finally learned how to read himself, he'd read and reread the book from front to cover. WDBHLYOIDFFIADIADF WAIT WHY IS THIS ACTUALLY SO CUTE... OTL

Deuce wants to continue reading where he left off and Sebek says the ideal way to read is in quiet so you can focus on the words. ASBHBLSAIHIDBASSD THEY CRACK A JOKE ABOUT HOW SEBEK ONLY EVER SHUTS UP WHEN HE'S READING...

Sebek seems to demonstrate genuine interest in what Deuce reads. I half anticipated him to follow up with an insult, but Sebek is actually very mindful about different reading levels. He even makes a comment that a simple children's book such as this is able to be the start of someone's love for literature, that it can still have the power to move someone as it does Deuce. That's honestly really powerful.

They then get into a conversation about picking books for each other; Sebek suggests that Deuce pick out an easy book for Yuu and Grim to read sometime. We also learn that Sebek would do this for Silver, but that Silver would get sleepy and never fully finish Sebek's recommendations. Deuce has this nice line where he goes "Even if these books are empty now, someday they will be filled", expressing his desire to become that honors student ideal for real and not just superficially.

Guys, I'm glad you like reading (I like reading too) but now is REALLY not the time for it... 🤡 The moment's cute and all (and it definitely feeds into Sebek's character arc about opening up to non-fae), yet it still feels weirdly placed to have so much casual banter when everyone knows what's at stake.

aiuaidbadab Sebek says that he will check out "The Story of the Trump Soldier" when he's out of the dream world... which is so sweet, right up until he transitions into mocking people who don't understand the emotional value of books. Silver apologizes to Deuce for Sebek's attitude and they prepare to hop into the next dream.

But wait! Where's Leona...?

... BRO WAS NAPPING ON SOME LIBRARY CHAIRS WHILE EVERYONE ELSE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE JOYS OF LITERATURE 🤡 ASJVUFEOVEOQIVib;WBIEQTOIPfwpib He finally wakes up with a stupid hot yawn and asks if they're done with their errands.

Okay, NOW we're ready for the next dream. Off we go!

We land in front of Heartslabyul dorm.

OH LORD Grim's gonna be fried up and eaten, I swear... Leona gets mad at him for clinging to his necklace while they fall out of the sky. Grim claims he didn't notice it was Leona because his hair was all over the place (Grim just grabbed what was close to him), and that leads to Leona filing a complaint to the manager (Idia). "Oi, daikon radish sprout! Make travel more convenient for me." Idia refuses, claiming he's too busy and that since travel only takes a moment, Leona can suck it up. He also has the BALLS to say Leona shouldn't pull a selfish second prince move ,adbilbiodsbiasdi AND THEN LEONA GOES HE HAS SOME CHOICE WORDS FOR HIM NEXT TIME THEY MEET FACE TO FACE, YANNO?????? Omg guys... the girlies are FIGHTING...

On the other hand, Deuce LOVED dream hopping. The wind in his face is even better than what he experiences when he rides a magical wheel. Even if he can't control where he's going while falling, he really liked the rush.

Up comes dream!Ace. He asks if Leona's over for tea or something, which makes me laugh a little because even though Leona knows how to act all proper, he LOATHES actually doing it. Anyway, Ace says that there was a Magicam notif about an urgent matter, so they're going to hold a trial. Deuce is confused that such an important announcement would be made via social media, then tells Ace off for not being in dorm uniform for the trial. Deuce also says that students from other dorms are NOT allowed to be present for trials since they're one of Heartslabyul's most sacred traditions. Riddle would behead you so fast! ... Which confuses Ace. SO YEAH FELLAS, I THINK DORM LEADER!CATER IS CONFIRMED...

Ace leaves for the trial, with Deuce chasing after him. The rest of us decide to go after them, since all the Heartslabyul students would be gathered at the trial and it will be easier to determine who the dreamer is.

But up comes... Deuce?! This must be the dream! or NPC Deuce. So we decide to deal with him early and get him out of the picture. He doesn't revert to darkness at any point, so we speculate that this is because we haven't run into the dreamer yet, or maybe because the darkness has yet to register us as a threat to the dream's stability. In any case, we tie up dream!Deuce so he doesn't interfere!

To the courtroom we go! I think it's the first time we've seen this asset...?

It's very lively inside, some students aren't in dorm uniform though.

OH MY GOOOOOD dream!Riddle is a regular ol' student now. Interestingly, he's got a little red heart as his card suit. It's a similar color and placement to Cater's diamond mark, but he shares the same suit as Ace. sdhlbabiyfaio AND HE'S NOT WARING HIS DORM UNIFORM, HE'S BREAKING A DARN RULE HIMSELF

(Trey is still vice dorm leader!)

The courtroom doors open and someone zooms in on a skateboard! It's Cater, the Heartslabyul dorm leader and our resident dreamer.

He is surprised to see students from other dorms present, especially Leona. ADBKHLADBILADBSI LEOAN LIES HIS ASS OFF ANS CLAIMS DEUCE INVITED HIM TO TEA AND CATER BELIEVES HIM

Cater takes a selfie with Leona and posts it on Magicam. Dream!Riddle interrupts to let him know the trial is starting 15 minutes late, so Cater apologizes and says they should begin for reals.

Leona and Idia have a brief exchange about dorm leadership. Most students probably want to be dorm leader more than not being dorm leader. They each express their own opinions about their title; Idia doesn't want to live under someone who is incompetent (he thinks highly of his own skills) and Leona just hates the idea of following someone else's lead. Spoken like the duo who don't have vice dorm leaders, eh...

Uuuuh so it looks like the trial is for a mob student that was too afraid of Cater to invite him to a croquet game. Cater decides to skip to the part where he gets mad and commands Riddle to behead the mob. Sebek complains about the lack of actual deliberation, but Cater dismisses it. All that he needs to render a judgment is his anger, right?

Mmm, that's interesting. Cater's being just as strict as Riddle is irl and continues to use Riddle's power as a means to punish others. His reputation is also just as scary as Riddle's is in book 1, and Cater mainly seems to be using his emotions to judge others. So in one way, yeah, Cater is laxer with the rules (he allows other students to join trials, lets people wear the wrong uniforms for important ceremonies, makes announcements via Magicam, etc.) but is still a force to be reckoned with.

Dream!Trey suggests hearing some witness testimony since there are special guests in the audience today. They have Deuce bring up witnesses, so Deuce picks Yuu and Grim. On the stand, we claim we don't know anything and the jury records our statement using their smartphones.

abhldbilasiyasoyfe THSI IS SO DUMB THAT LEONA GAVE UP TRIYNG TO UDNERSTAND THE SITUATION AND PROCEEDS TO NAP 💀

Deuce drags the still sleeping Leona up to testify. Despite being handled so roughly, he doesn't wake up one bit!! Leona mumbles something in his sleep, it's an order to Ruggie about how he wants a deluxe menchi katsu sandwich at noon. Cater announces that this is SUPER important testimony so the mobs hurry to write it down.

Last up is Silver! He's the only one that takes being questioned seriously and answers with sincerity. He is asked where he was and what he was doing at the time the grave offense was committed. Silver says probably enjoying tea in the dorm. Dream!Riddle asks why, is it his unbirthday? To which Silver says his birthday (May 15) is a little further away.

This makes dream!Trey realize it's an unbirthday, so Cater announces they MUST have a party! And... BOOM, the background goes dark with tons of neon light fixtures! Cater demands food (which I guess is the context for his new SSR's initial artwork) and has dream!Riddle DJ FOR HIM??????!?!??!?!???????? 😭OKAY, I did NOT want to side with Kingscholar but I'm afraid I have to this time... This has got to be the most nonsensical dream so far, which I guess is fitting seeing the source material www

Deuce wonders if Cater is dissatisfied with Heartslabyul irl, because the Heartslabyul in the dream seems so different. Leona drops it on us that this is actually the Heartslabyul of the PAST, when the previous dorm leader was in power. Deuce would not know about it because he's a first-year student.

BEFORE ANYONE SAYS "Omg, Cater former dorm leader theory real!!!", the game does NOT confirm this. Leona speaks about the previous dorm leader as if it was another student. He never once names Cater. (Oh, and we learn that Leona challenged his dorm leader for the seat when he was a second-year student.)

Deuce reflects and realizes he never really knew anything about the third years because he never bothered reaching out to them. YES, HERE'S A POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL LESSON OTL He also thinks back to book 1 and how not enough strictness (like what they are seeing now) is its own vice, like how too much strictness can also be trouble.

asfuiadofadaefi WHAT THE FUCK

Leona proposes the idea that Trey and Cater are both "using" Riddle. He compares the scenario to how people will bring up a young leader, Riddle, as a pawn in order to overthrow the previous regime (ie the lawless Heartslabyul). Then Trey and Cater become advisors to the new ruler, manipulating him in order to create the kind of country THEY want. It's a tale as old as time. anfbiyoaafiyodgovyqefoiy I HATE HOW MUCH OF A BIG BRAIN MOVE THAT IS...AND OF COURSE FUCKIGN L*ONA OF ALL PEOPLE SAYS IT

The dream!Heartslabyul boys encourage us to eat and drink. Most of us are force fed or pressured into taking a bite/sip, but Leona won’t fall for it. Cater tries to get him to drink mysterious juice from a bottle (does Leona wanna be beheaded?), but bro’s not having it.

Ortho (the one guy who cannot eat) interrupts and reminds everyone that the darkness is trying to lull them back to sleep. We then get the reveal that Trey, Riddle, AND Cater are the darkness, meaning that this Cater is a clone and the real Cater is elsewhere.

Battle time~

Aaaah so Ortho couldn’t identify Cater as a clone because apparently it takes a really strong imagination to make convincing copies??? That, and he comments that Cater sees himself an objective way?? Something, something, because this is a dream, it is hard for Ortho to determine what the true composition of something is.

LOL???? The real Cater barges in, he saw the other Cater’s Magicam post about Leona coming over for tea and got excited about it??? He sees the black sludge everywhere and is sooo confused… It’s literally the meme of the guy walking in with pizza boxes only to find the room on fire 😭

Dream!Riddle is on a rampage and beheading everyone, and THAT triggers Cater to wake up. His own dream fucked up THAT hard.

Deuce is about to be collared but Cater uses Split Card to make a bunch of clones that catch the strays of Riddle’s UM and protect Deuce. This must be the context for his new SSR's groovy!

He and some new clones join us to beat up the darkness! As they’re melting away, dream!Trey and Riddle call out to Cater AND CATER SAYS THEY’RE DISGUSTING, THE REAL TREY AnD rIDDLE QoULD NEEEEVERRR… “Could you please disappear? Bye bye ⭐️”

OH MY GOD 😭 Cater Diamond is not beating the bi allegations… First it was him excitedly running into the courtroom when he saw that LEONA was there, now he’s all like “It’s thrilling to be woken up by the prince”. I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHO THE REAL LIONKISSER IS HERE FOLKS.

zbsnsbiska Cater compliments Idia’s video an says it’s sooo cute 😂 but Idia is not thrilled with that comment.

Cater says that he’s not unhappy with Heartslabyul irl (Deuce’s misunderstanding, ig??). He actually likes the dorm the way it currently is. So I guess Leona's theory about Cater trying to revolutionize Heartslabyul wasn't true after all?? ADFHJAFBUASDUO CATER ROASTS LEONA BY SAYING HE'S NOT THE TYPE TO BE SAYING THAT BECAUSE WASN'T LEONA TRYING TO DO THIS SHIT IN BOOK 2.

ADBILABIYOAOYOIB CATER MOM MODE?????? He scolds Leona and says the Heartslabyul underclassmen are cute because they're stupid and easy to deceive, he doesn't want them to become twisted and gross because of Leona's' poor guidance. THEN CATER CLAIMS HE HIMSELF IS A KIND RELIABLE AND COOL UPPERCLASSMAN THAT WOULD NEVER EVER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DEUCE... Is this the same guy who fucking tricked us into painting the roses red for him??? THAT Cater??? *stares at him* Leona says no way will Deuce buy that bullshit BUT DEUCE DOES INDEED BUY CATER'S BULLSHIT OTL YOU POOR SWEET SUMMER CHILD...

ADFBHUFSYUOFSOYFEO CATER CALLS SEBEK "SEBEK-CHAN"... This throws him off, because "Sebek-chan" is something his older sister calls him, but when Cater says it, it sends a shiver down his spine!

The group agrees to head to Ace's dream next. Before they depart, Cater seizes this opportunity to take a group selfie~! aberiylaiyladasd Cater wanted to take a pic of his dorm leader outfit as a souvenir, but then he says he also wants to take tons of pics of Leona-kun! (Leona says this feels like harassment adshasd) adshuvoayafeyovifpbiVIYFWPF CATER DIAMOND YOU WON'T FOOL KME, I KNIOW A LIONKISSER EHWN I SEE ONE.

Aaaand we set off to the next leg of our journey! That's it for this update.

Man. I did NOT expect a Deuce and Cater-centric update to be THIS bulky but here we are, I guess 💀

The highlight of Deuce's dream was definitely the part at the end where he shares his favorite book with Sebek. Now, I still got HUGE gripes with the pacing and how the characters continue to waste valuable time chit chatting and hanging around but that aside, I really liked what this moment did for both Deuce and Sebek's characters. We get confirmation that Deuce truly does want to work and study hard to be an honors student--and as for Sebek, we get to see him actually opening up and sharing something he genuinely loves with others. You can tell just how much he values reading; he doesn't dismiss Deuce for reading an "easy" book and sees actual value in it being a jumping point for others to get into other books. He is constantly sharing books he loves with his friend Silver and encourages Deuce to do the same for Yuu and Grim. AND THIS IS FURTHER PROOF THAT SEBEK IS THE BEST B--*is bricked into silence*

Anyway, I'm glad they didn't stop Sebek's character development in Lilia's dream. I'm definitely now getting the sense that Lilia's dream was just the initial "rude awakening" for him when he's confronted with a dose of his own racism thrown back at him. He's not used to his loving grandfather being so vitriolic to him on the basis of his race. And now in more recent updates Sebek is being exposed to the good side of students from other dorms (such as Jack), as well as connecting with them via shared interests (like he is now with Deuce). It's so adorable how Sebek promises he will check out the book Deuce loves so much once he returns to the real world, AHAHHHHHHH H HHHH H H H H H HH H H H H H H H OTL SEBEK-CHAN LEMME SQUISH YOUR CHEEKS MYR PRECIOUS BABY BOI

Something else I appreciated about Deuce's dream is how his friendship with Ace, Yuu, and Grim is made relevant. When he first runs into Yuu and co., he worries that Ramshackle has been absorbed by Savanaclaw and doesn't want to fight his friends. Then when things are cleared up, Deuce still invites Yuu and Grim to come eat with Heartslabyul. He and Ace fight together very well in his own dream--so well, in fact, that it reminds me a lot of how Silver and Sebek are perfectly coordinated with one another when they fought the flowers in GloMasq. It's Deuce's own (loving) anger towards the real Ace that ultimately wakes him up. And you can tell that Deuce places value in his relationship with Ace, Yuu, and Grim by how he acts. AND THEN WHEN HE WAKES UP HE'S THINKING OF THAT TIME WHEN ALL OF US REUNITED... HOW IS THAT NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME TEAR UP A LITTLE...

I thought I wouldn't enjoy Cater's dream, but I actually found it to be very fun! I loved how silly and nonsensical it was; it really tickled my Alice in Wonderland-loving bone. asdvhdvsoidsa I'M SHOCKED AT HOW MUCH WEIRDLY PLACED L*ONA CONTENT THERE WAS IN ACATER'S DREAM OTL I expected him falling asleep to be a gag at some point, and I was right (it happens in both Deuce and Cater's), BUT I WAS NOT EXPECTING CATER TO BE SUCH A LION SIMP, NOR WAS I EXPECTING L*ONA TO MAKE THAT REALLY SMART ANALOGY ABOUT A POTENTIAL HEARTSLABYUL REVOLUTION... **slams an angry fist on the ground** LITERALLY SHAKING SOBBING THROWING UP OVER HERE 🤡

The twist with the real Cater being somewhere else was really interesting, but it's a shame we never got to go deeper with this idea or get exposure to the "real" personality of his. I think there was another missed opportunity (although this would still prolong the pacing problems, lol) with dream!Deuce being taken out so early. I thought for sure that dream!Deuce would escape his binds and interrupt the trial, and then that would lead into a whole Ace Attorney style segment where they try to deduce which Deuce is "real". It would parallel how Cater's UM allows him to make clones, as well as how Cater keeps putting on an act and not showing his true self to others. At the climax of the trial, the OG Cater could make his grand appearance and the rest of his dream could still proceed like the version we really got. I DON'T KNOW, I THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN COOL TO SEE... (<- totally biased Ace Attorney fan)

That being said, Cater's dream felt... more geared toward comedy than being serious? And it's not like we haven't had dreams like that before, but it feels especially hollow because we've been waiting SO LONG for him to get more depth, be if exploring his dark side or explaining more of his general inner thoughts. It sucks we didn't get any of that.

Cater's not a character I care for a ton, but I think I saw a side of him today that's pretty funny! He was delivering banger roast after banger roast, especially when he called out Leona for trying to overthrow another regime while accusing him of doing the same. dbiabsiofobiapb Also love that we get a reminder of how underhanded Cater is (something I felt we didn't see outside of book 1 when he tricked Adeuce into doing his chores for him). He fr abuses his status as a "trustworthy" senior and accuses LEONA of corrupting the kids to gain Deuce's support 💀 That scene was so funny, it had me in stitches!

With every new dream, I think I become more and more confused about how these things even work. It feels like they offer a completely contradictory explanation or a new detail to overcomplicate the situation every update, and now I have like NO understanding of anything. What confuses me the most about this update is how BOTH Deuce and Cater claim what we saw in their dreams does not reflect what they actually want. Like... Isn't Deuce ASHAMED of his delinquent era? Doesn't he NOT want to go back to that? Isn't he trying hard to study and to be an honors student irl? That's the opposite of what the dream shows. Yeah, it would be more convenient for Deuce to understand and succeed if everything were decided with strength instead of smarts, but this is still actively NOT what he would want, especially given all the time and effort he sunk into reforming himself. Cater also very explicitly states the has ZERO interest in being dorm leader, so why is it that his dream manifested this way??? I suppose you could say he's lying (because he very much is a liar) and is hiding his true desires?? BUT EVEN THEN THIS DOESN'T MAKE TOTAL SENSE BECAUSE HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN DEUCE OVER THERE??????

So how are these supposed to be their "happiest" dreams????? THIS MAKES NO SENSE and all I'm getting from this (until the writing clarifies) is that the devs didn't actually make the dreams "happy", it's partly this way because they just wanted a convenient excuse to write scenarios that would be interesting for the players to see, such as Leona being king or delinquent Deuce or Savanaclaw Rook or whatever OTL I'm hoping this gets properly explained by the end instead of continuing to flounder and leaving the fans to come up with all the answers for themselves... (I also pray for us to stop wasting time doing nothing while the world is about to end, but given that this is an Important Part of the Pattern, I'm guessing there is no chance this is happening. A BIRD CAN ONLY DREAM.)

Alright, that's all from me. See you next main story update for Ace and Trey's dreams...!

[1000sunnygo]

One Piece Academy Chapter 52: Disaster on the Mystery Mountain (Pt.2) Translation

PART 1 | Index

next on January 10th!

[escaping-peril12]

BRO??!?!??1?!?

[ruporas]

special operatives (silly interaction beneath read more)

[ID: Digital Art in color of Trigun Maximum, characters included are Wolfwood, Elendira, and Legato in a casual meeting situation. The piece consists of orangey yellow lighting and purple shadows. Wolfwood sits on the left side, facing Elendira who’s on the right. He’s seated on a plain wooden chair with one knee up and he’s holding the strap to his Punisher in his left hand while his right sits against his thigh, He has an irritated expression as he speaks to Elendira. Elendira is sitting in a fancier seat, her right arm rests against Wolfwood’s propped up knee, her left hand holds her suitcase. She’s sitting cross legged with an amused expression. Legato can be seen in the back at the center of the image in his mobile body case, one of his eyes shown to be glaring at Wolfwood. End ID]

[ID: Sketch, uncolored comic. Elendira says to Wolfwood, “I’m not telling you to dedicate yourself to him, but just accept the situation at hand. We could get along better if we were on the same page.” Wolfwood responds, “Don’t peg me me for an optimist. I’m not dumb. But, I’m also not going to just live in resignation. Plus, I don’t have any interest in getting along with ya.” Elendira coos, “Aw, you sure? I have a wonderful shoulder to cry on when the weak people you’re trying to protect eventually dies in the coming months. Though, I guess it’s fine. Someone like you might just die before then anyway...” She snickers in her hand while Wolfwood is speechless and just glares. Legato is faintly drawn in the back, glaring at Wolfwood, muttering “worthless” repetitively. End ID]

[xnlpnnn]

[odysseus-day]

tgr prediction before nora dances on my grave this weekend: jeremy kisses jean in the heat of the moment and jean immediately has a panic attack and scurries away like a little mouse to hide and we get an insane miscommunication arc out of it. and i bang my head against the wall even though he's so me. because wtf else are you supposed to do when someone kisses you? certainly not emote normally, no sir.

[evesedenramblings]

Take my hand. Let’s go find lore in the official Project: Eden’s Garden AMONG US stream. Together.

[jeeliebeeliegoomiebear]

On Isolde and Many Doors (and One Key)

Thinking about Isolde and how she feels like she is constantly trapped in a small cramped room full of 1 million doors. Each door represents a presence that haunts her, an identity that lives inside her that calls to her from beyond the grave, a new mask to dawn.

If every person in the world were to have a room, most would have just one door, their own. But not Isolde.

Isolde feels like an empty vessel who is only there to serve as a point of entry for other people and their spirits. She has been forced to become so repressed by her environment, upbringing, and her nature as a medium that she finds it easy to forget herself. Her “self” is not someone she has ever been allowed to know.

The room grows increasingly smaller, claustrophobic and strangling her with pressure as the amount of doorways in it only increase, every new person she meets a new doorway she is plagued with, a new voyeur who has granted themselves full access to her life and her body. Something she is now willing to let them do. It is easier that way. Easier to let someone else command her vessel, something that never solely belonged to her to begin with. An escape from all the pressure, the expectations, the perfection demanded from her. It is something she should do. The duty of someone like her. Something to hide her wretched face from view, to give the people what they want, to uphold her family’s legacy. A performance that was never allowed to end. Each new door lead right back to that.

The only exception is Kakania. The only person Isolde believes has ever really seen her as more than a host for other identities or something to mold into shape, prop up as a set piece. A perfect lady. The star of Vienna. A tragic heroine. A dangerous hysteric witch. A curse manifested. The only one who was ever interested in finding Isolde’s door and that door alone. When she is with Kakania, a new door does not appear in that ever shrinking empty room, although at first she expects it to. For the first time she meets someone and is not greeted with a new ghost to haunt her. Not a door. But a key. A key that Isolde knows can unlock her own door, even when she herself cannot find it.

[thesongistheriver]

Life continues to be a bit of a dumpster fire, so once again the next chapter of Raise My Hands, Paint My Spirit Gold is slow going. Have a snippet!

“My uncle,” Arthur said, rubbing the back of his neck. “My mother’s brother.” Merlin’s brow furrowed. “I thought your mother’s brother was dead.” “She had two,” Arthur replied, before his brain caught up to the conversation. “Wait, how did you know that the other was dead?” “The Black Knight.” When Arthur didn’t show any recognition, Merlin continued, “The wraith, remember? Oh, wait, Gaius knocked you out and you missed that bit. With the sword.” “You’re talking gibberish, Merlin.” Merlin’s nose wrinkled not-at-all adorably. “I’m actually not, but I’ll have to explain it another time."

[skeletons-and-roses]

Pennywise: I know your secret~

Richie: Wait how do you know I’m gay?

Pennywise: Ya know how I can smell fear?

Richie: Yeah…and?

Pennywise: I can smell your fruitiness from a mile away!

Richie:

Pennywise:

Richie: I’m gonna kill this fucking clown

[slimybeth69]

Such Small Hands

unbeta'ed, cross posted from my ao3.

dark!joelxreader (no physical descriptions girthy age gap--no actual age mentioned but reader could be in her mid twenties- early thirties, no use of y/n. No physical descriptions but reader has an extensive background. Canon to the last 3 episodes of the series.) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, mentions of potential SA, graphic depictions of blood, reader brings up her past and shitty family (if it ain't for you, sorry). This takes place after the events of Crybaby With as much smut as this has, this is an angsty fic and it's building bonds and falling in love (maybe). And Ellie!! Little Baby Ellie is in this one!

Chapter 1- Breathe

Okay. So you’ve upgraded from walking through the woods every four nights in the dark, to riding horseback alongside Joel and some kid. Some teenage girl with a foul mouth. Who's looked at you the entire time like she wanted to put a knife into your belly. The minute they picked you up it’s like she knew what Joel brought you along for. She didn’t respect you and that’s okay. She was like, eleven or something. You didn’t need her respect. You’re a grown woman. 

Joel respected you and that’s all you cared about.

Okay, respect is…gracious. He brought you here to fuck. That’s pretty much it. You’re okay with it. You didn’t have much keeping you back in Wyoming, so you thought; fuck it. Let's see what’s in Utah. It’s better than just waiting around for something bad to happen. 

Better to walk right into something bad. 

Thankfully you had Joel to just…ease all the stress away after the sun went down. 

“I’ll fuck the shit out of you like this every single night until we get to where we’re goin’.” Joel snarled in your ear quietly. He had his arm on the back of your neck, face pressed into the brick of a building the three of you were sleeping in for the night. “Wreck this slutty cunt every night, you like that? You fuckin’ want that?” He’s pressed you so hard into the bricks that your chest hurts. You nod though, against the rough redness your cheek is pressed against. His whole body is leaning against you, thrusting into you. The rough grit on your face scratches against you with every movement. . 

Joel needed you to be quiet before he even got started with you. He cut your panties off and stuffed them into your mouth and warned you if you made a sound he’d leave you here, take your horse and you’d have to find your way out of here. You knew it was an empty threat. 

Maybe. 

So you keep all your sounds deep in your chest. Trying to breathe calmly as he slammed his hips into you, holding onto your waist with his free hand. 

“God, I’d fill you up if it wasn’t for all this.” Joel continued to whisper into your ear softly. “Fill up this perfect, slutty pussy all night long. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” 

It takes every single ounce of strength in you to not moan or breathe too loudly because you would, you think about it all the time. You nod all the air gets forced out of your lungs through your nose while Joel continues his angry, rushed thrusts. You can feel  ripping hot heat building inside of you. It’s going to happen and you don’t know if you’ll be able to hold back. You bring a hand to your mouth and hold your nose closed with your fingers and your mouth hidden behind your palm. 

“Oh is baby gonna come?” Joel mocks you in a whisper. “Did I tell you that you could come, crybaby? Hm? Did I?” His hot breaths against your ear feel so good even if his words coated in that little accent he had were humiliating you in the best possible way. “You know I invited you ‘cause I would have– fuck– been cranking this hard cock thinking about you the entire time. Have to sneak away all the time just to fucking think about your stupid fucking cunt.” Joel spits on your cheek. You give him show him your appreciation by clenching your walls down on him as tightly as you can. Joel groans softly into your ear. 

You let your nose go and try to breathe, it’s so hard, it feels like you’re about to shatter at any minute. You hold back as much as you can until he gives you permission. It’s so hard, your knees feel so weak but everything else feels so good. It’s like waves and waves of pleasure washing over you with every drive upwards of Joel’s hips into the dripping, sloppy mess between your legs. It’s soaked. It’s the only sound heard over Joel’s whispers in your ear and his belt clinking softly, echoing in the empty room you two ran off too after the girl fell asleep. 

“Smartened up. Shame , I wanted to punish you. I still might.” He coos into your ear quietly. “Come.” It’s an authorization given to you as he increases his speed, the thrusts become more powerful. You can feel the little sharp edges of the mud and bricks against your soft skin of your face as he pushes into you harder. “Come. I wanna feel this perfect, slutty little pussy come on me . Do it.” It’s an order now. 

You do, you hold your nose again and just let the shattering commence. It’s such a violent take over of your whole body. Your knees do go a little limp, your feet stumble beneath you but Joel is holding you against the wall so tightly you don’t budge. Your pussy clenches down around him, his hard cock’s been inside you for at least fifteen minutes and you’ve already come once. It’s shockwaves coursing through you, a new one sent through all your nerves as he rams his hips into yours. 

Joel feels everything. Your walls clenching around him, your release leaking down his shaft and now down his balls, he’s fucking loving it. Your muscles are spasming underneath Joel’s forearm, trembling while you come on him.. It makes him fuck you harder.

“That’s a good girl.” Joel groans into your ear quietly. “Didn’t make a fucking sound just like I told you. Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought.” His fingers dig into your waist tightly. “You ready? You want my load? I’m g-gonna give it to you.” 

Your chest is being pressed into the brick so tightly you’re sure that your sternum is going to crack in half. You can barely breathe and all you can do is clench your eyes shut and hope he’s going to be done soon. As soon as you start to feel like you really need to breathe in, like it’s starting to get scary; Joel pulls away and you can breathe again. You gasp softly as he strokes himself behind you. The head of his cock is just pulled from your entrance and you feel him empty himself onto your sore, puffy lips. It’s warm and wet and you can feel it dripping as he covers you with it. 

The little sounds that come from Joel’s mouth make you smile around the panties in your mouth. 

You hear his belt being fastened. You stay leaned against the wall because you’re glued to it now. You’ve become one with the wall. It’s quite comfortable now after all this time. 

Joel presses his index and middle finger against your lips gently. You part them for him. With a quick pinch of the fabric between his fingers, he pulls your panties from your mouth quickly and you can draw real breath in. You can feel the moisture form on your tongue after so long of not having any way to swallow and wet your parched throat. 

You turn around just in time to see Joel slip your underwear in the pocket of his jacket and then he’s spinning you around so he’s in front of you, hands on the waistband of your pants, pulling them up for you. He does the fasteners and then presses his palm against your cunt through your pants and pushes upwards. Mixing himself into your juices and against your pussy. 

“Oh shi-” Joel whispers, his fingers brush your cheek gently and there's a stinging pain. You pull your head away in alarm. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry.” He sighs. The pale light of the moon lets you see his apologetic eyes and sorrowful expression. “It hurts?” He asks, concerned.

“What is it?” You ask nervously, bringing your own hand to your cheek. As soon as your fingers graze the skin more hot, stinging pain. 

“Couple of scratches. Bleeding a little bit.” Joel reaches with the sleeve of his jacket and wipes at your cheek gently. “I have some antiseptic in my bag. I can clean them up for you. Shh.” He whispers, grabbing your hand. 

Joel leads you into the room you were all sharing for the night. The girl– Ellie, is still asleep. The only time she actually looks nice and not like she hates your guts. Cute kids for the most part. 

You watch as Joel knees down beside his pack and begins to rummage through it. After a minute he pulls out a small first aid kit. 

“Sit.” He tilts his head down next to him and you listen and kneel beside him. “It’s gonna sting a little.” It’s hushed as to not disturb Ellie. 

You nod at him, swallow hard and turn your head so he can have access to your cheek. It’s starting to sting now even when you’re not touching it. Joel rips open a little alcohol pad and gently, with much more tenderness than he’s ever used with you, he runs the little cotton pad across your cheek with his thumb. It stings worse. Burns like a fucking bitch. Your eyes water, from the pain and the burn of the alcohol fumes. 

It’s too much. You have to spin your head back but Joel grabs the back of your neck and holds you so you can’t turn away.

“Shh shh shhh.” His soothing shushes and the clenching of your jaw do little to stop the pain but then Joel has one hand on your chin and is tilting your head to look up at him and he’s leaned in, blowing gently on your wounds. The cool air does much more for the fiery pain in your cheek. It immediately calms the sting of the alcohol and your jaw unclenches. “Good girl.” He whispers and presses his lips to yours carefully. “I am sorry. You should have said something if I was hurting you.” He looks down at you, his finger still under your chin.

“You said you’d leave me.” You smirk a little, just the corners of your mouth. Joel chuckles very quietly.

“So obedient.” His eye scan your face slowly. “Pretty, too.” The words make your heart flutter in your chest. “Tell me when I hurt you. I don’t want to do that.” He kisses you again softly.

“You guys are fucking disgusting.” Ellie's voice rings out sleepily as he kisses you. You snap your head in her direction. “Get a fucking room.” She's rolling over in her sleeping bag. 

Joel’s finger leaves your chin and he’s chuckling again. 

“Get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us.” Now he’s walking to his own sleeping bag and kicking his boots off. “I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you up when I need to sleep.” He motions for you to get in your sleeping bag. 

“I can do first watch.” You insist. “I’m not really tired.” You sit down on your bag and cross your legs underneath you. Joel shakes his head and urges you to lay down. 

“Sleep. I mean it. I’ll wake you when I’m ready.” He insisits. 

“Fine.” You climb into your warm sleeper and roll away from him so you two aren’t just staring at each other. 

Your cheek starts to sting again and you wonder what it looks like. There is a mirror in your bag, you can check tomorrow. You were tired, your eyes were closed before you knew it.  Joel doesn’t wake you up that night.

He sat, leaning against a wall watching you sleep, keeping you and Ellie safe. He kept himself awake knowing he hurt you and that made him feel bad. He only wanted to inflict consensual pain on you. Not the kind that made you bleed. So he let you rest.

“How did that happen?” Ellie gives you a knowing look as you inspect your cheek the next morning. The whole cheek is just scratched and torn up to shit. Looks like shit. Looks like you got smacked with a brick. You roll your eyes at her and snap your compact shut. Ellie’s eyes dart to your compact and your bag and she starts to stammer.

“What? You wanna look at yourself?” Holding out the compact to her. 

Ellie grins and nods, taking the compact from you. She opens it, and inspects her face and hair. She tucks some behind her ears, and sits down next to you on the rocks near the river. 

“So what happened? You trip and fall last night?” Ellie is a spitfire, that’s for sure. 

“Ohhh just wait.” You stretch your arms in front of you. “Just you wait.” 

“Wait for what? A dick? I don’t think so. No thanks.” Ellie snorts at you. You chuckle.

“Oh wait for some pretty girl to come along some day and make you all weak in the knees too. Don’t think it can’t happen. You’re only twelve or something.” You wave your hand at her dismissively. This is the most you’ve talked since you’ve been on the move. 

“I’m fourteen.” She says blandly. 

“Same difference. You’re too young to get it.” You look down at her now. “Just wait till you meet a cute perso-” 

“So you think he’s cute? ” Ellie wrinkles her nose in disgust. “He’s like fifty.” 

“Thankfully, I’m not fourteen .” You smile at her sweetly. She keeps her nose wrinkled at you. “Oh leave me alone. Why’re you giving me a hard time?” You hold your hand out for your compact but she keeps it in her hand. 

“Why are you here? Are you his girlfriend? He said he doesn’t have a girlfriend when I asked him.” Ellie is staring at you, holding your compact tightly in her hand, turned slightly away from you.

“No. I’m not his girlfriend. ” You sneer at her. 

“Then why were you kissin-” Ellie starts.

“ You were just dreaming.” You sneer again, softer this time, a little embarrassed maybe.

“Wasn’t dreaming, but okay.” Ellie rolls her eyes and hands you the compact. You take it from her and throw it back in your bag. 

“You one hundred and seven percent were dreaming, but okay.” You run your hand over your forehead gently. This pulls a small chuckle from the fourteen year old girl next to you. 

“One hundred and eight percent wasn’t .” She eyes you. “I just don’t want him getting distracted. Forgetting what we came out here for.” She turns now, to look at the water. 

“And what is it that you're out here for?” You look at her with a little disdain. She’s annoying. 

“None of your business.” Ellie snaps at you. You’re taken back with the response.

“So then stop talking about it.” You snap back at her. “You sound dumb when you bring things up and then tell people you can’t talk about it. If you wanna be mysterious you gotta hint at the something you’re doing.” You inform her, matter of factly.  “Gotta say something good like ‘The secret we’re after is more important than whatever sappy love story you two are trying to act out in this evil dystopian bullshit fuck wasteland’ or whatever foul mouthed bullshit you can come up with.” You leer at her. 

The corners of Ellie's mouth curl up ever so slightly.  So do yours. She’s not too bad, you guess. 

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m trying to be mysterious.” She’s smirking. “Is that what you’re trying to do?” She keeps smirking.

“What? Be mysterious? No, I don-” 

“No, act out a love story in this evil dystopian wasteland?” Ellie’s smirk is turning into a grin now, a satisfied one. “You are, aren’t you?” You curl your lip up at her.

“Do you know how to swim or would you sink right down to the bottom if I pushed you in?” It’s said with no emotion. Ellie laughs. Not at you though, she stands and extends her hand down to you. 

“You’re not too bad. Good for a laugh if anything.” She helps you to your feet and you both brush the dirt pebbles stuck to your pants. 

“I’m still up in the air about you.” You say, wrapping one arm around her neck. “You kinda smell. Bad.” You tease.

“Says the kettle.” Ellie holds her nose with her fingers. “Oh it’s not that bad. I washed last week.” You wink down at her knowing you both washed in the river this morning. 

“I can hear you two from a mile away.” Joel grumbles as you walk back into the building. 

“At least we aren’t fighting anymore.” Ellie looks at you with a small smile. 

“Thank God.” Joel sighs a sigh of relief. “About time, honestly.” Joel looks up at you and frowns softly, his eyes falling to your cheek. 

“Miss Mysterious is fine.” Ellie teases, gently pushing a shoulder into your upper arm. She’s not much shorter than you. “Stop looking at her like she’s got a broken leg. She’s got a cut on her face.” Ellie looks at Joel almost annoyed. 

“ She is fine. It still doesn’t look great. Looks like you two got into a fight and she lost.” He goes back to reorganizing his backpack. Joel’s not very funny, but alright. You start to roll up your own sleeper. “Do either of you know how to shoot? Either of you?” 

“You’re gonna teach me? Really?” Ellie’s eyes look like they’re glowing. She's so excited. She’s rocking between the heel and ball of her foot. “Don’t fuck wit-” 

“Stop cussing.” Joel shot her a look. You give him a look, because the things that come out of his mouth after dark have made you blush. “You know how to shoot?” His eyes shoot over to you and see the look you’re giving him and he waves you off. “Do you?” 

“Yeah. I don’t need you to teach me. Go teach her. She’s obviously very excited.” You point down to her rocking feet. “She’s practically dancing.” 

“Come with us.” Joel got to his feet, swinging his pack over his shoulder. In his tone, you get a little hint of after dark Joel. This isn’t a request, it’s a demand. You’re middle tingles. 

“Okay.” You say obediently after you’re done rolling up your sleeper and attach it to your own book bag. 

Ellie is already outside. She didn’t even wait for either of you she was so excited.

“You got your own guns?” Joel asked, looking down at you while you walked out of the building together. 

“Yeah, two. Revolver and a pistol. I have some ammo for them too. Not a lot but some.” You explain, watching where you’re stepping. “Pretty good shot. Not fantastic but I’ll hit what I’m aiming at.” Your face stings as you talk, you try not to notice but you do. 

“Alright. You’d be offended if I asked you to show me?” He asked carefully. You had to think for a minute if you were or not. 

“No, I’d ask you to show me too. I’m gonna. So, we’ll just show each other I guess.” You do look up at him now and smile, your cheek stings even more. 

“Know how to shoot a rifle or just a handgun?” He looks down at you and you see his eyes flick to your cheek again. 

“I can shoot both. I just don’t have a rifle of my own to carry.” You look away, not liking that he’s looking at it. You know that it wasn’t done on purpose, just got carried away in the heat of the moment.  You don’t want him to feel bad for it. You liked what he was doing to you. If it had hurt you would have said something but how good it was feeling surpassed a scraped up cheek. You’ve delt with and seen way worse in your life. This was nothing. 

“Okay, good. Jesus where did–” Joel started but Ellie stepped out from behind one of the horses and smiled happily. 

“You two stop kissing and come on already. I wanna shoot. I’m so ready!” She exclaims. 

Joel shakes your head and stands behind you as you get on your horse, pushing you up with one hand on your ass. 

“Ooooooo.” Ellie voicalizes from beside her own horse. 

“Watch it.” Joel snaps at her. You watch as he gets up on his saddle and then grabs Ellies arm and pulls her up while she pushes herself up with her foot in the stirrup and a little hop. She’s up behind Joel with her arms around him. 

Sometimes you wanted to ask her if she wanted to switch but then you think she’d make fun of you, so you don’t. 

But all you can think about is the one night before you left. You didn’t invite Joel inside that night after the cabin, you just told him to meet you at your place in four nights. And he did…and then he stayed. Joel stayed the whole night and after you were done. He kissed all along your body and snuggled into you so sweetly and all of the nasty and obscene things he does to you is all washed away because of how sweet he is. Not that you don't like the nasty and obscene things, you love them. 

Joel is turning you into a foul mouthed little princess in the bedroom or whatever wall he can press you up against… or flat surface he can lay you down on. It’s been three days and the man hasn’t had to get creative yet. Might never have to. He’s a pretty simple man for what you know about him. 

“Too far to the right.” Joel says as he sits beside Ellie on her right, you’re on her left.

“Stop flinchin’.” You whisper to her. “It’s okay. Breathe.” You’re encouraging. “You got it.” 

“This thing doesn’t aim right.” Ellie grunts.

“Breathe.” Joel mimics you. “You got it, aim again.” 

Ellie lifts the rifle to her eye and aims. She takes too long trying to center and she starts to shake under the weight of it. You watch her out of the corner of your eye like your dad watched you when you were learning to shoot. She tries to breathe, shoots at the wrong time and misses.

“The target is too small.” She complains. You chuckle under your breath.

“I made it bigger than I should have.” Joel grumbles. “Eject the cartridge.” 

“You gotta stop flinching. Take a deep breath before you aim. Calm yourself. Then, don’t hold your breath while you aim, breathe slow, real slow and then when you are ready to shoot, do it when you have no air in your lungs. Be ready for it.” You say low, trying not to interfere with Joel’s teaching method. 

“I’m not flinching!” Ellie exclaims. You don’t push it because you were a fourteen year old girl once. 

“She’s right.” Joel says to Ellie. “Take her advice. Here, watch.” Joel takes the rifle from her.

“The rifle just sucks.” Ellie grumbles as Joel aims. “It doesn’t aim right.”

“You’ll see.” Joel aims and shows her how he’s breathing. “Deep breath in…slow breath out.” He murmurs. “You pull the trigger like you love it.” 

“Mhm.” Ellie is unimpressed. 

“Gentle…steady…nice and slow,” Joel whispers.

“You gonna shoot that thing or are two things getting pregnant out here?” Ellie smirks at you. Her reaction makes both of you jerk your heads back at her and gawk. She’s very satisfied with herself as her eye dart between the two of you staring at her. 

Joel grunts, brings the rifle back up to his cheek and in one second, aims, pulls the trigger and hits the piece of wood he had set up on an old rotted out tree truck. Knocks it right off.  His head whips back at Ellie and he points back at the target that’s now on the ground. She frowns.

“You dick.” 

You all pack up again and get on the horses after her unsuspected snide outburst. It didn’t seem like it came from a bad place, like it had the last two days. Still, Ellie didn’t need to call you both out like that. 

After an hour or two of just walking along on horseback together in silence. Ellie asks Joel about the community back in Jackson.  Asks if that’s how things used to be back before the outbreak. You listen because you were young, still learning about the ways of the world yourself when all of this happened. He explained that the country was way too big to be run the way it was in Jackson now. Some people wanted to own everything. Some people wanted everyone to own anything at all.

It made you shiver on your horse.

“Which one were you?” Ellie asked. Good girl, you were interested too. 

“Neither. I just did my job.” Joel explains flatly. 

“Which was…building?” Ellie asks as if he’s already told her.

“Yeah. We were called contractors.” He looks back at her over his shoulder. Then glances at you.

“The Contractor.” She says all big and tough sounding. You smirk and hold back a snort of laughter. “That’s pretty cool.” She says after a moment.

“Yeah. We were pretty cool.” He looks back at her again and then looks at you. “What are you smiling about over there?” He asks, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“Oh nothin’ Mr. Contractor man.” You tease him. Joel smirks at you.

They talk about football of all things. Football . You thought at least with a teenage girl around you’d have someone who’d wanna talk to you about stuff but no. Joel is the coolest guy on the planet to her. It’s kinda sweet. 

“Home of the ‘Big Horns’.” Ellie reads the large stone sign in front of the large building you guys have seen growing larger and larger as you got closer and closer. “What is that?” Ellie looks at you from behind Joel.

“It’s a type of sheep.” You explain to her. “Big horns.” You make big horns with your fists and curl them up from your forehead to down back behind your skull. 

“Oh, I see?” She looks at Joel from over his shoulder. 

“One step closer to your dream.” Joel says and Ellie giggles with excitement. You decide to ask another time.

“Don’t see any Fireflies though.” Ellie says knowingly. Your head snaps in her direction so fast your ponytail hits you in the face. 

“Fireflies?” You ask with a raised eyebrow. You hadn’t had the best experiences with them in your past. Don’t know many people who did. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Joel says. Eyeing the gun on your hip. You accept that it is probably something to worry about but he doesn’t want to scare the girl. Ellie looks around as you guys make your way into the university. 

“Did you ever go to a university?” Ellie asks you after Joel explains what they were to her. You shake your head and laugh softly. 

“No, I was too young. I was a couple years away from graduating high school.” You explain fancily. “I had a boyfriend and everything. I was cool in high school.” You wink at her. “I got picked up by him in the mornings because he could drive and has his own car.” You wiggle your eyebrows at her. She smiles softly and presses her head against Joel’s back. 

Joel is eyeing you up and down like he never has before. Like he just found out something he didn’t like about you. You eye him back and give him a look. 

“What?” You ask, kind of frustrated with the way he’s looking at you. “Nothin’.” He shakes his head. 

You listen while they talk about Ellie’s dream of owning a sheep ranch and your question is answered before you could even ask. 

“Did you have any dreams about what you wanted to be?” Ellie looks at you again, head pressed against Joel. You have to think for a very long time. It’s almost a forgotten memory now, something you haven’t talked about in so long. 

“I wanted to be a hairdresser. I wanted to own my own salon.” You smile fondly on the memory of your mother’s own salon as a child where she’d do your hair whenever you wanted. “And I’d have a nail salon attached on the other side where you could get everything done all at once. One stop shop.” You look at Ellie you has her lip curled. “Hey, I know it might not have been for you, but I wanted to be just like my mom growing up.” You smile at her. This draws a smile on Ellie’s face. 

“Was she a nice lady? Your mom?” She asks curiously. 

“Yeah. She was. Very nice. Very funny. I loved her a lot. She’s who I got all my sass from.” The memory of your mom makes you sad. 

“And your dad? Was he nice too?” She continues with the questions.  You have to think for a while. 

“He was a hard working man. He was smart and had a lot of skills he passed down to me. He’s the reason I’m still around today.” You don’t look at Ellie when you explain, just look down at the coarse hair of the horse you’re sitting on. 

“But not nice?” Ellie sounds disappointed for you. 

“Nah. Not always. Just had a little temper.” You try to explain nicely. 

You guys dismount your horses and head inside the university. 

A group of monkeys swing by above you. You all watch in awe, you have to cover your eyes in the sun as they use the railings of the balconies to move by you, hooting and screeching. 

“Are those monkeys?” Ellie asks the pair of you.  You nod at her. 

“Must be from the old labs.” Joel explains. “You guys ever seen a monkey before?” His eyes move between the two of you, but he’s looking at you differently than he did before. Not with the same lust in his eyes. It pangs you a little. 

“First time seein’ a monkey.” Ellie said in awe, watching the rest of them go by. 

You don’t say anything. Just keep staring at Joel who is looking right at you. 

“Lookit,” You point behind him. It's the entrance to the building. Joel looks over his shoulder and Ellie takes a couple steps ahead of you guys. 

“Why’re you lookin’ at me like that?” You whisper to him when you believe she’s out of earshot. 

“You’re just younger than I thought.” Joel whispers back. Not mean or nasty. Just sounds disappointing. You give him a disgusted look. 

“I’m a grown woman. Get over yourself. Do you have an old lady kink or something? How old are you? Hm? Sixty!?” You exclaim quietly. “I’m old enough. Older than whatever dumb math you’re trying to figure out in your head.” You walk past him to catch up with Ellie.

“Do you think doctors were here?” Ellie asks Joel. He nods and keeps looking at the papers on the desk in front of him.

While he’s not looking you decide to take a look in another room and as you step outside, a man in all black grabs you by the throat and holds his hands over your mouth. You hear Ellie exclaim for Joel but the man already has you in a headlock. His hand is reaching for the gun holstered to your hip but so is yours. 

You fight for it, desperately, scratching and clawing on the thin skin on the back of his hand. He groans in pain behind you. You realize he’s backed up against the wall so you bend your waist, he comes down with you and then you snap yourself back up and force yourself back into him, your elbow slamming into his ribs as hard as you can. 

He’s groaning behind you and you can feel his grip loosen and it’s when you’re slipping from his grasp that Joel comes from around the doorway with a knife ready. You duck under his arm and watch as he brings it down into the neck of the man still leaning against the wall. Joel is on top of him before the raider can see or feel what’s happening to him. Joels holding the knife into his throat with one hand, the other holding the man's face to the side, pushing it into the floor. 

“Shhhh. Shhhh. I got you.” Joel whispers down to the man comfortingly. You push Ellie back into the room she’s trying to come out of with your hips. It’s then that you see the raider also had a knife, and somehow, got it into Joel’s side before Joel either got his knife into him, or before he got on the ground. It’s hard to know because your back was turned for a brief moment. 

“Joel!” Ellie screams from behind you. She snuck past your defense and is running around you. 

“He’s not done.” You whisper as you grab her by the waist and pull her back, shhing her as Joel finishes what he’s doing. Once Joel stands, stumbles a bit, is when you let her go and rush with her to his side. 

He’s plucked the knife from his side and you wince, watching as Ellie wraps his arm around her shoulder. 

“Come on. We have to go.” She whines, trying to carry his weight. You jump on the other side of him, the bloody side of him, and carefully let him give you some of his weight to carry as well. You all can hear more raiders on the floors above you, running at the sound of the scuffle. 

“C’mon.” You’re trying to help Joel up onto his horse. “Plese, come on.” You whine as he goes a little limper in your arms. “Joel!” You yell at him and get his attention. He snaps up and takes his weight back from you but stumbles. 

“Joel, get on the horse!” Ellie shouts at him, begging. You watch her on your horse, waiting for him to get up.

“You have to get on this horse. She is relying on you for something, so don't let her down.” You growl into his ear and he finds the determination in him somewhere, behind the blinding pain in his side and with a grunt, pulls himself up only slightly but enough for you to drop down and put your shoulder under his ass.” “Go.” You huff and push up with your knees. Joel finally swings his leg around and is on the horse. “Fucking thank you.” You sigh and pull yourself up behind him. 

“Ellie you have to go! I can’t see!” You point her in the direction of the city ahead of you. “Fucking please go Ellie, go!” You look back over your shoulder at the sound of doors opening.

The raiders are coming out of the building now, and they’re fast. They spot you just as Ellie’s horse takes off with the right command. You attempt to give the horse the same command but you can’t find the reigns in front of Joel 

“Joel. Joel!” You scream at him, looking for the ropes that are somewhere by his hands and you can’t see them because his shoulders are too broad. Joel moves his hands slowly. You’re searching for the reigns in them but there’s nothing there. You take your gloves off and try to hold on to them while you search with your bare fingers now, but one of your gloves falls on the ground. 

It’s too late, your fingers find what they’re so desperately searching for, so frantically looking that the horse is a little startled by your movements. You get a good grip and you feel like the raiders are right behind you as you give the horse a good knock with your ankles. You hold on so tight to the horn of the saddle because you know Joel isn’t. You have both arms wrapped around him, squeeizing him so tight it’s surely hurting his side but you don’t care. 

Ellie is a good forty yards ahead of you already and you’re trying to cover ground as fast as you can. You feel like you can finally breathe, now that you’re actually moving at a good speed on the back of the horse and the raiders don’t feel like they’re right behind you anymore. 

Joels horse can fucking move. She takes off. It’s amazing. It’s amazing until you feel one of your hands losing its grip on the horn. You need Joel to wake up and hold on himself. You cannot support him like this. It’s too hard. 

“Joel.” You shout again. You get no response from him. You squeeze your arms tighter around him, pressing into his stab wound. This pulls a good groan from him and you see his neck head snap up. “Thank fuck. Okay. You need to hold on–here” Your one hand finally can adjust on the horn now that he isn’t deadweight trying to pull you off the saddle. You feel his hand on top of yours– it’s light but it’s a grip– and it gives you an opportiuity to feel at his side and check your hand,

There is so much blood. So much. It’s more blood than you’ve ever seen and it’s on your fingers. You wipe it off on your pant leg and press your hand against his stomach where you can feel the hole in his shirt.

“It’s gonna be ok.” You whisper to him as the horse carries you further away from the university. You’re catching up with Ellie, she’s slowed down a little bit, trying to wait for you to catch up. 

“Is he okay?” She asks nervously. You nod. But truthfully you have no idea. He’s gonna need stitches and antibiotics and rest for a while. You really don’t know if he’s going to be okay but you don’t scare her with that right now. 

Off in the distance, behind Ellie you see a neighborhood much smaller than the city. You motion your head to it. 

“Head that way. We’ll walk into the city from there but maybe it’ll throw off those raiders.” You explain to her over the wind. She nods and you take off again, as fast as you can towards the suburb. You look over the shoulders and the raiders aren’t following you. Not yet at least. You want to get out of here as soon as you can. 

You have Joels arm around you and Ellie is clearing a path through an abandoned house for you guys to walk through. Joel is giving you all of his weight. The whole thing. All of it. And you’re struggling but you’re doing your best. She opens a door and there’s stairs leading into the basement. 

“There’s a bed down here, I saw it when I checked before you came in.” She exclaims. “It’s safe down there, I checked for you guys.” She whispered. Her eyes had so much fear in them 

“You did good.” You groan, adjusting the weight carefully. “Wish there weren’t so many stairs.” You basically carry Joel down on your back, Ellie carries his feet so they don’t topple and mess up your weight distribution you’ve got going on. 

It’s twenty three steps from the bottom of the basement, to the bed that Ellie found and cleared off. You carry him on your back with Ellie’s help for twenty three steps. It’s so hard. He’s so heavy. Joel’s bleeding on you. It takes the last ounce of strength you have inside you to push him off your back and onto the bed. 

You fall to the ground while Ellie pushes the rest of his body, because you only got the top half on the bed. 

“Oh-” You gasp. “-my god.” You’re on your hands and knees. Searching every cavity and crevice in your lungs for a spot to put more air. “I’m going to pass out.” You feel like you will. You have tunnel vision and your whole brain feels like fog right now. Your arms and legs feel like jello. 

You fall to your side and then flop onto your back and take long drawn in gulps of air. It’s so hard to breathe right now. You’re in good shape but holy shit. If Ellie hadn’t been here you wouldn’t have been able to do it. Not at all. She helped so tremendously. 

You see her, sitting at Joel’s side. 

“He…needs…pressure…on the….wound.” You pant instructions. “Apply pressure…. with something…clean from…my bag.” You cannot catch your breath. It was so hard. It was coming though. Soon. You just over exerted yourself. You’re gonna be okay. Ellie follows your instructions. You have things in your bag to give him stitches. You know how to do it too but you’re no good to him trying to stitch him up if you can’t breathe. If you’re shaking so bad you make everything worse.

No. You needed a minute to rest. Calm your mind because that was so intense. You haven’t had to deal with something like that in a long time. It was a rush to your system. Shocked you a little.

Okay. Okay. Easier to breathe. Easier to move. Things aren’t as foggy anymore. That’s nice. You can sigh and it doesn’t stitch your side. You roll onto your hands and knees and sit there for a moment and make sure you’re really okay. 

“Ellie. I need you to clean him. Clean him up really good. Use whatever you can find in either of our first aid kids. There in our packs.” You’re still on your hands and knees. Ellie scrambles to help in any way she can. “You’re gonna wash everything with alcohol. Use the wipes or I have a bottle of it in my bag. There's only a little left so ration it out. He needs to be washed and then the needle and thread. And my hands.” 

“You’re gonna do it? You can’t even stand up!” She lift’s Joel’s shirt and a sound of disgust and almost a cry comes out of her mouth. 

“How bad?” You ask her but she’s frozen looking at it. “Ellie! How bad is it!?” You shout, grabbing her attention. 

“It’s not good.” She shakes her head and stares down at Joel on the bed. 

“Ellie, clean him up. Hurry. I’ll be fine in a minute.” You’re truthful, the breath is easier coming in and you don’t feel faint anymore. “Hurry. Please, we gotta get the bleeding under control. 

You push yourself to your feet and grab a bottle of clean water from your bag and splash your hands and face with half of it. You rub your hands together and then rinse them with the rest of the water. Once they're clean you rub your face with another clean shirt from your bag. You grab your last clean shirt and walk over to Joel now that you can think clearly. 

You had three quarters of a bottle of rubbing alcohol you found so long ago. Ellie was using it sparingly and wiping at Joel’s wound. 

“Yeah, just like that.” You take the bottle. Clean the needle and thread the best you know how and set them aside, sitting in the cap full of alcohol. “Ellie, is his bleeding still bad?” You ask, pouring some alcohol on your hands, rubbing it around. You hold them out in front of you and reach gingerly for the needle you’ve already threaded. 

“It’s bleeding but not as bad as before.” She sighs. This makes everything a lot less stressful. If he was still bleeding you’d be really worried. He wouldn’t make it through the night if he didn’t stop and it was slowing down. Keep the pressure on it. You two were doing fine. 

“Okay. Is he clean?” You give her your last clean shirt and have her wipe him one last time, once she pours a little more alcohol on the wound. “Yeah, yeah. He’s good now. Go ahead.” Ellie moves so you have more room. 

“Are you okay?” Ellie looks at you after she bandaged Joel once you were done sewing him up. You nod silently. “You sure none of that blood is yours?” She sounds very concerned. You nod again and lean your head against the wall. 

“I’m fine.” You reassure her and close your eyes. “You okay? Everything still attached?” You tease her. You hear her weeping softly. 

You open your eyes and she’s got her knees drawn up with her elbows on them, crying into her hands. 

“Ohhh honey.” You crawl over to her and just sit beside her. Don’t hug her or nothing. Ellie will let you know if she wants or needs one. “You hurt or you scared?” You whisper, worried now. 

“Just a little scared.” Her voice is muffled from behind her hands. “It was just kinda scary. I didn’t think he was going to make it.” She keeps weeping softly. 

“Yeah, I was scared too. I cried on the horse.” You look down at her next to you. “This is scary shit, kid. It fucking sucks. But you did really fucking good.” You nudge her with your elbow. “I mean it. I’m not just trying to make you stop crying. You did a really, really good job. I’m mad about it because I still wanna think you’re an annoying brat. But it’s getting harder and harder every day.” You playfully sneer at her. 

Ellie’s stopped crying, she’s listening to you talk but she still has her hands up. You keep going. 

“You’re funny and you keep me on my toes. You’re a cool kid. Maybe in the city while I look for medicine, I’ll look for a compact like mine. Bring it back for you if I find one.” Ellie looks up at you with tears on her cheeks. You wipe them with your fingers softly. “You can always cry with me if you need to. But you should be celebrating yourself that you did so good today. So fucking good, Ellie. I could not have gotten him here without you. Not at all.” 

“You’re just sayi-” She tries to protest.

“No. I’m not. I mean it. You saw me, struggling with him on my back. I wouldn’t have gotten through the house. Wouldn't have made it down the stairs. Nothing. You helped me so much. Thank you.” You put your arm around her now and bring her close to you. “Thank you so much. For being there. For keeping your cool. Thank you, Ellie.” Hug her close and you feel her relax against you. 

“Thank you for helping him.” Ellie whispered to you. “I need him.” She started crying again softly. You continued to hug her and rock her gently on the floor of the dark basement. 

After you had put her to sleep in a separate room down in the basement and shut the door,  you went to the bed where Joel lay. Kneeling beside it you take his hand in yours and look up at him, asleep. Breathing softly. His bleeding stopped thankfully. Antibiotics would be necessary, so you’d have to go into the city tomorrow and try and find some for him. 

Joel stirs. Your eyes flick up to his face. He’s looking down at you through half closed eyes. 

“You gotta take her.” His voice croaks quietly. “Take her the rest of the way for me.” He stammers slightly while he speaks. You listen carefully. 

“No. You’re gonna be okay. We already gave you stitches and I’m gonna get you medicine tomorrow.” You whisper to him, kissing his knuckles softly. “You’re gonna take her. Just like you said. She needs you.” 

Joel is back asleep before you can even finish talking to him. You sit beside him and watch as his chest slowly rises and falls. This was scary. Not what you had signed up for. You signed up to get laid in the woods. Not take care of a teenage girl while the man who was supposed to be railing you was laid up in bed.

[clegfly]

just finished omori manga chapter 7 and i am DYING laughing. this shit isnt even bad anymore its just funny bad. oh my god

[corviiids]

based on how i approach plotting ive come to the conclusion that even if i were morally and logically okay with becoming kira i would get the death note and think "okay, im going to make sure i come up with the perfect plan so i can't get caught", spend several months on it, refuse to execute it because it's not foolproof yet, and simply never get around to it. if ethics and reason didn't stop me from becoming kira then sheer procrastination would do the trick

[escaping-peril12]

Bro???

[thatmexisaurusrex]

Burnt Lasagna and Slow Dances

Hey, people! So, I made a part three to my Denial-verse series. This will be spanning from episodes 7 through to the season finale. Enjoy! 🥰

Burnt Lasagna and Slow Dances

| Pairing: BuckTommy | Rated: M | WC: 74.4K | Chapters: 15/15 |

Summary: Tommy Kinard now has an adorable boyfriend - Evan "Buck" Buckley. And for the first time in Tommy's life, he feels like, maybe, just maybe, this relationship might last.

Excerpt:

And all those different conversations overlapping was overwhelming. Tommy barely knew if he could untangle them, let alone take any of them in. But through all the noise and chaos, he saw Evan’s texts. EVAN: Hey EVAN: Saw that Tay interviewed you EVAN: I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen someone trip her up because of genuine honesty haha EVAN: Today was probably rough, though EVAN: I’ll pick you up, okay? Tommy smiled at that. And Tommy texted Evan back. TOMMY: It was rough TOMMY: Thank you, I’d love for you to pick me up Tommy heard the telltale ding of a cell phone… right outside the locker room. Tommy looked to the door, seeing Evan waiting there with a bouquet of flowers. Tommy’s smile grew wider.

READ THE REST ON AO3!