#did any part of her care about the titans? we don’t know!!!

[blackbatcass]

I think a part of me will always be a little bit obsessed with NTT tara markov. she sucks. she was created from the beginning to be a sadistic evil spy and then die. she’s an angry fifteen year old girl who just wants to prove she’s worth something. she loves her brother. she’s a liar. she is so, so angry. she was shaped entirely by 80s misogyny. she is so damn good at the damaged-girl act that she almost starts to believe it herself. she’s a hothead. she would kill her brother herself if she thought she had to. she had never had a birthday party before the titans threw her one. she is so good at living her little narrative, at joining the titans and getting to know them and lashing out when she’s hurt and slowly gaining the trust of her new family, she’s so good at it that she has to keep telling herself how much she hates it because if she stops for one second she’ll start believing it. (she never does because tara markov is a liar and she’s best at lying to herself.) she was created to die. she was never not a traitor. she was always a liar. she was also always an angry fifteen year old girl who just wanted to prove she was worth something.

[helenofsparta2]

Having the whole plot between Nico and Percy be resolved simply with “You’re not my type” in Blood of Olympus was such a huge disservice to both characters

They are pivotal parts to each others journey. No person in PJO influenced Nico as much as Percy did, aside from Bianca, and no person represents Percy’s guilt and the responsibility he had to shoulder more than Nico does. The writing for both characters really suffers through this lack of a real satisfying resolution.

First to talk about what Percy represents for Nico:

Percy, first of all, represents Nico’s introduction to the mythological world

He is the first demigod Nico ever came in contact with

He saved him and Bianca from the manticore (somewhat)

Nico stated in Blood of Olympus than Percy had reminded of the heroes of his mythomagic game come to life

Nico wholeheartedly believed that Bianca would be safe, if Percy was with her and created this image of the perfect hero in his mind, putting Percy on a pedestal

2.

In Nico’s mind Percy is irrevocably intertwined with Bianca and everything that happened to her

Despite Nico naively believing, that Bianca would be safe if Percy were around, he was instead the last person to ever talk to her, and present when she died

Percy informed Nico of her death (Dead silence. I stared at Chiron. I couldn’t believe nobody had told him yet. Then I realized why. They’d been waiting for us to appear, to tell Nico in person, Titan’s curse)

Nico turned him into the scapegoat for her death, so that he could let all his grief and anger and bitterness out on him

Bianca sent Iris-messages to Percy, so that he would find and help Nico (“Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Her ghost only appeared to Nico when Percy was with him

Percy is the only person Nico knows of, who also grieved for Bianca (“Bianca,” I said. My voice was thick. I’d felt guilty about her death for a long time but seeing her in front of me was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. I remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she’d sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her. “I’m so sorry,” I said. Battle of the Labyrinth)

3.

Percy is the person who protected and cared for Nico more than anyone else in pjo

Tried to convince Bianca to think more deeply about her decision of joining the hunters, especially thinking of him (“Biance, this is crazy,” I said. “What about your brother? Nico can’t be a hunter.” (Titan’s curse)

Searched the woods in the dark for hours after he had disappeared (Annabeth and Grover helped me search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of Nico di Angelo.)

Didn’t tell Chiron about Nico’s parentage to protect him from the Gods. (I don't think Nico understands who he is. But we can't go telling anyone. Not even Chiron. If the Olympians find out—") Titan’s curse)

Decided to completely commit to the prophecy, solely so Nico didn’t have to bear that burden and go trough any more suffering(It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger," I said. "I owe that much to his sister. I… let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more." ) Titan’s curse)

Searched for Nico in the months after Titan’s Curse (Now, six months later, I hadn’t even come close to finding him. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Battle of the labyrinth, chapter 3))

Saved his life on Geryon’s farm. (“Either way, you get my friends,” I said. “But, if I succeed, you’ve got to let all of us go, including Nico.”)

Always offered Nico a place at camp half-blood to the best of his abilities (“We missed you at dinner,” I said. “You could’ve sat with me.”“No.”“Nico, you can’t miss every meal. If you don’t want to stay with Hermes, maybe they can make an exception and put you in the big house. They’ve got plenty of room.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Invited him to join him on his birthday (“Is that… is that blue birthday cake?”He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he’d ever been invited to one. “Come inside for cake and ice cream,” I said. “It sounds like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Reminded him that he was still a child (I smiled. “Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.” I tossed him the statue, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Helped him to get the sword of hades back to impress his father (Then I looked at Nico. Unfortunately, I recognised the expression on his face. I knew what it was like wanting to make your dad proud, even if your dad was hard to love., Sword of hades)

Acknowledged everything Nico did in The last Olympian and is one of the main reasons why Hades has a cabin at camp. ( “But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that.”)

4.

Percy was Nico’s first, and after Will, his biggest love

Nico had feelings for Percy, which didn’t leave him for around 2 1/2 years, and accompanied him throughout the most challenging parts of his life. 

Feelings, which were so deep, the god of love personally acknowledged them.

Favonius even called Percy, the person Nico cares about most in House of Hades.

This was more than just a mere crush

Percy is so completely intertwined with most aspects of Nico’s character arc, in both PJO and Hoo, be it his feeling of ostracism, his relationship to Bianca or him coming to term with his own sexuality, that them not having a final interaction, makes his writing feel shallow and unfinished. Especially Nico coming to terms with his crush on Percy opens up the opportunity for a really heartwarming conversation and a moment of character growth and maturity for both of them, instead of it being wasted on one throw-away line.

And it’s the same the other way around. Nico is also a huge part of Percy’s journey.

He especially represents Percy’s biggest failure.

The first five Percy Jackson books are characterized by Percy having to take up responsibility and him being afraid of not being able to fulfill them. Be it responsibility for camp, the world, Bianca’s death, the prophecy, his friends, teh unclaimed demigods, or everything else. Most of the time, Percy was able to make sure everything turned out fine. He saved camp, he saved Olympus, he finished his quests, made the right decision for the prophecy, and he made the gods swear upon teh styx. But there’s one exception. And that is Nico.

Percy did everything in his power to make sure Nico would be spared any more hardships. He took up the burden of the prophecy, explicitly, so that Nico doesn’t have to go through any more hardships

He searched for him after Titan’s curse, kept his identity a secret and even risked himself, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson dying if it meant saving Nico

Still, Nico is one of the characters, if not the character, who has suffered the most in PJO and Hoo, even partly because of Percy (though, of course, Nico having a crush on him was not Percy’s fault at all)

He lived alone at 11 years old on the streets and in the labyrinth, while getting manipulated by an ancient evil spirit

He was isolated and ostracized at camp half-blood

He experienced the horrors of Tartarus completely on his own

He got captured by the giants and slowly suffocated to death in a small jar

He had to deal with internalized homophobia and his complicated feelings regarding Percy

He has been a vital part of two wars at only 15 years old

Had to admit his crush involuntarily in front of Jason, etc.  

One of the things Percy battles with in Heroes of Olympus is this overwhelming sense of guilt. He blames himself for almost everything that went wrong over the last few years. Be it for Iapetus, Calypso, or especially Nico. Having Percy acknowledge this complicated relationship he has with him during House of Hades, but not allowing the two of them to talk it out is genuinely baffling to me, and one of the (albeit many) reasons why I really don’t like most of Percy’s writing during Heroes of Olympus, despite the fact that he is my favourite character by far. This could have led to a moment of character growth, where Nico helps Percy to aknowledge that he feels guilty for things he had little to no control over, while Nico himself realizes how important he actually is to Percy.

They are also so similar in terms of who they are and what they’ve been through, that even if you ignore their history with each other, it seems insane, that they didn’t interact in any meaningful way:  

Both were ostracized at camp half-blood because of their parentage, and so far are the only two half-bloods we know of with that experience

They are (together with Hazel) the most powerful demigods in the Riordan verse, and have feats which far surpass anyone else’s

Both are in some way afraid of their powers

Both went through Tartarus

Both have relatively similar relationships to their godly parents

Both have gone through immense trauma and loss

And if you read heroes of Olympus, it actually very much seems to build towards a final resolution of their relationship

Percy and Nico were, aside from Frank, the two people closest to Hazel; both saw her as a little sister, and Hazel treated them both like her brothers

Nico was the first person Percy met from his old life

Percy was the one, who received the visions of Nico being captured

From everyone present, Percy trusted Nico to lead the others to Greece in his moment of greatest desperation

They both had introspections about the other in house of Hades, Nico having to deal with his crush and Percy with his guilt in Tartarus

But, in the end, after they met again, nothing happened. The only scene we really got was the “You’re not my type” line and Percy being surprised by it for a couple seconds. That’s it.

We saw no meaningful conversation between the two of them, no acknowledgement of what they’ve been through together, no lasting feelings. Nothing.

In regards to their relationship, Percy acknowledging everything that Nico has been through led to nothing. Nico acknowledging his feelings for Percy and finally letting go of this pedestal he had placed him on led to nothing. You could argue that their entire relationship, which has been built up since Titan’s curse led to nothing. And considering that they are so important characters for each of their character arcs, their characterization very much suffers from this writing decision.

The two of them, together with Hazel, are my three favourite Riordan verse characters by a long shot, but some very important aspects of both of their characters fall so flat to me through this lack of a satisfying resolution.

 Both of them deserved so much better.  

They are the friendship with the most missed potential in the entirety of the Riordan verse and probably the most fleshed out and nuanced relationship Rick ever wrote.

R.I.P.  Nico di Angelo, and Percy Jackson, you will always be brothers in my mind.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Reclaiming What Was Lost (Part 13)

Previous | Masterpost | Next

“Will you come up to the roof with me?” Dick asked softly, he’d pulled Jason aside once the Teen Titans filtered out to head home, Tim and Ellie had lingered a bit longer to hug their family members, but even they had left now. “There’s someone else who’d like to talk to you, if you’re up to it?”

Danny was there in a flash, sometimes Jason forgot about Danny’s enhanced hearing until moments like this when he leaned against Jason’s shoulder and half glared at Dick. “Who is it?” He demanded to know suspiciously, Dick looked startled. 

“Oh, it’s…” He glanced back and forth between the two of them. He’d probably wanted to talk to Jason alone and underestimated the extent to which the two of them didn’t do anything alone at this point. At least not without prior discussion and, usually, having a tracker on each other. “Diana was hoping to see you again.”

Jason’s breathing caught in his throat and stopped entirely for a long moment. Danny looked up at him worriedly, pressing impossibly closer and giving a questioning little trill. “Jason?” He prompted softly. Jason shook his head, trying to knock himself out of his stupor, it didn’t particularly work but at least he was breathing again. He had been both hoping for and dreading this, and now that it was happening he didn’t know what to do.

“Jay, I don’t think she’s mad,” Dick said softly, stepping a little closer and resting a hand on his arm, ignoring or not noticing Danny’s little growl when he stepped into their space. “She doesn’t have a no killing rule like B. She is… upset, but I think it’s because of what happened to you, not because of anything you did, or being disappointed in you.”

“I hope so, because I don’t think I could stand her being disappointed in me.” Jason meant it to be a joke, but it came out far too raw. He took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, and nodded. “I’ll come,” He agreed, shaking out his arms and drawing on what determination he could.

“Can I come,” Danny asked softly, still tucked against Jason’s side, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes Jason thought were probably unintentional. He didn’t mean to pressure Jason into letting him come, he just wanted to be there to help in any way he could.

“Yes, you can come. Just.. let me handle it okay? Unless she attacks me I guess-”

“She won’t!” Dick put in, shocked at the suggestion. 

“Right,” Jason said, nodding again. “But unless she does, just hang back and let us talk,” He told Danny gently. 

“Alright,” Danny said. It might be just a little bit of a struggle for him because he was used to jumping in when Jason was struggling to express his feelings, but Jason believed that he would do it. Unless Jason asked Danny to, so he’d just have to resist doing that impulsively if things got hard. Danny was good at expressing Jason’s feelings for him, but Jason didn’t want to rely on Danny for this, especially because he didn’t know the history between Jason and Diana.

“Alright, she’s waiting for us now. She has been for a bit but I didn’t want to break up the party and she said she’d wait as long as we needed. I know she was always your hero Jay, but she cared about you too,” Dick encouraged, before leading the way up to the roof. The stair to the roof access had never felt so long to Jason, he was glad to have Danny right behind him or he might have turned back.

Jason hesitated in the doorway when he saw Diana’s outline, sitting on the edge of the roof with her back to them, her long curly hair swishing slightly in the night breeze. She must have heard them though, because she turned to face them and smiled softly. Jason took a deep breath and stepped out of the doorway, walking across the roof towards her. She met him half way in a flash and he flinched as she reached out to him, and pulled him quickly into her arms. 

“You’ve grown so much, Little Bird,” She murmured into his hair. She was barely taller than him anymore, it had felt like she would tower over him forever, and now they were the same height. He was an adult, he was grown, he still felt small in her arms. 

He hugged her back and burst into tears, pressing his face into her shoulder. 

“Ohh, little warrior,” Diana soothed and lamented, cradling the back of his head and holding him close as he sobbed like he hadn’t since he was a child. “You’ve been so brave, I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through.”

Why was he crying? He was crying for the child who he had been, the child who had to grow up far too fast and who had died. He had still been a teenager when he was resurrected, he was barely out of his teens now and he had missed those years he’d grown the most in a haze of glowing green rage. He wore a helmet so no one would know how young he was. Running his fucking empire of crime when he could have been in his second year of university if the Joker hadn’t killed him. Could have had a… not good, but maybe decent relationship with his adopted father. He grieved furiously for what might have been had the world been kinder.

“You’re still a warrior Jason. You’re protecting your people, as any good leader should. I’m proud of the man you’ve become,” Wonder Woman told him and Jason sobbed again, clinging to her hard enough that it would probably hurt an ordinary person but she was sturdy. 

“You- You have no idea how much that means to me,” He gasped brokenly. 

“I know, and I mean it. You will build a good life for yourself here, things will be better,” She cooed, rocking him gently. “You have your lover, you have your brothers, and your friends. And me, now that we know that you’re back you won’t be alone anymore. We won’t lose you again,” She promised him. “Just promise me that if you are ever in a situation like that again, you’ll call us this time.” 

“I promise,” Jason agreed and it felt like he was finally able to breathe, after so fucking long the weight on his chest lifted a little. Danny believed in him, Dick and Tim didn’t fight with him, but Danny would have followed Jason anywhere, and not fighting was not the same as believing. That Diana was proud of him, that someone else truly believed in him, meant more to him then he would have imagined. “Thank you.” 

A part of him wanted to pull away, pull himself together as quickly as possible to avoid the appearance of weakness. But he needed this, she had been like a parent to him and he had been so starved for parental love. He took a deep breath and tried to pull away, but she held him tighter.

“Take as much as time as you need to,” She told him softly, earnestly enough that he let himself believe it and relaxed back into her arms. She just held him as he cried out the years and the abandonment of his father, the death of both of his mothers, and all the shit he’d been put through with the League. “Never doubt that you are loved.”

Finally Jason pulled back and wiped the wetness from his eyes. They felt puffy and a little sore, but he felt much better anyway, if thirsty as hell! Jason glanced around and saw Danny hovering nearby, looking uncertain and worried. “I’m okay Beloved,” Jason said, opening his arms to his boyfriend who flitted into them immediately and held Jason fiercely, nuzzling into his chest. 

“Thank you for coming to see us, Diana. Um, this is Danny, Hyena. He’s been my partner since pretty soon after I came back, and my boyfriend a bit more recently.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Diana said warmly, reaching out to shake Danny’s hand waiting till Danny decided he was willing to let go of Jason with one hand at least. Jason could tell as they shook hands they were both squeezing too hard, testing each other. “Don’t you hurt him, he’s been through enough,” She warned Danny softly.

“I’m not planning on it,” Danny agreed, leaning against Jason’s chest lightly. “We’ll invite you over for dinner sometime soon, if you’d like to come. Won’t we Jason?” He asked, glancing up at Jason who nodded.

“Of course, just give us a heads up and you’re welcome to visit any time really,” Jason reiterated.

“Thank you, I would like to get to know the man you’ve become as well as I did the child you were,” Diana told him. “I will call you soon. I want to have another… chat with Bruce tonight.” She said grimly, she gave Jason one more hug, and nodded to Danny before she leapt off the roof and across half a block in one bound, carrying on out of sight quickly.

“I told you it would go well didn’t I Jay?” Dick said, and Jason had almost forgotten he was there. He’d been hanging back, watching the touching scene. As he walked forward he brushed some tears from his eyes even as he smiled, the sentimental bastard.

Jason stepped forward and scooped Dick up in a tight hug, lifting his feet off the ground as Dick wheezed. “Ya, you did, thanks Dick,” He said before putting Dick down just as quickly. “Now don’t overstay your welcome. I want to go home,” He muttered gruffly, he had had just about enough emotions for today. 

“Right, of course little brother, I’ll see you soon,” Dick agreed, patting Jason’s shoulder before he headed out as well.

Jason turned back into Danny’s waiting arms, drooping and letting his forehead rest on Danny’s shoulder, letting Danny hold him. God he was exhausted. What a fucking day. He let Danny guide him home using his powers to lower them through the roof so they could skip the stairs.

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

It seemed like after that disaster of a meeting the news that the second Robin was back was hot gossip in the hero community. It worked its way around the grapevine and Jason received calls from a few more heroes who found out who he was. Not all of them went well, some seemed downright disgusted by what he’d chosen to do with his life. But it was mostly fine, he didn’t really care what they thought about him anyway.

There was one call Jason still hadn’t gotten, and wouldn’t admit that he was waiting for, but he’d heard about what had happened to Roy. Kidnapped and cloned and kept unconscious for years by CADMUS. Ah the joys of being a child hero huh?

He went by Arsenal now apparently, and it seemed like what they’d been through, while not exactly similar… Well, they both had just about comparable levels of angst. Surely Roy wouldn’t judge him, surely Roy would reach out? Or was he too mad that Jason hadn’t reached out first, that he’d had to hear his friend was alive through the rumour mill? Jason would understand that honestly, he’d thought about reaching out, he really had! But somehow he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Danny could tell he was worried and was worried too in turn, hovering near him more often and watching as Jason compulsively checked his ‘work phone’. Danny had asked what was wrong, but when Jason had just shook his head he seemed to resign himself to waiting out whatever this was and supporting Jason as well as he could. Jason didn’t want to worry Danny, but he didn’t want to talk about his quiet yearning for his old best friend. Speaking about it would make it too real, and Danny would probably advise him to just call Roy. It wouldn’t be bad advice, but Jason just wasn’t ready to hear it.

Jason was just starting to resign himself to the fact that he was going to have to reach out himself when the phone call finally came. When it rang Jason snatched it up quickly and answered it before the ringing could disturb Danny’s sleep. Pausing the movie Danny had fallen asleep to so that he could focus on the call.

“Hey Fuckface, too good for your oldest friend now?” Roy’s voice came through the phone. It was deeper and rougher then Jason remembered but it was still familiar, it still had that slight, almost unplaceable accent that Roy had. 

“Course not, it’s good to hear from you,” Jason said, smiling despite the fear that Roy was mad at him. Fuck it was good to hear his voice again!

“Then why didn’t you call me?” Roy demanded, furious and hurt. Jason couldn’t blame him.

“I… I wasn’t ready to, after everything. I wasn’t ready to be Jason again for a really long time and then I was worried it was too long and you’d be mad. I’m really sorry, I should have reached out,” Jason said, ashamed of himself.

“No… I’m still mad but I do get that,” Roy admitted, the wind leaving his sails abruptly. “I couldn’t go back to being who I was after what happened to me either. That’s why I go by Arsonal now, you heard that right?”

“I did ya, and I heard what happened too. I’m sorry dude, we both got the shit end of this ‘hero’ stick huh?” Hood said with a bitter little chuckle.

“Yep. And everyone’s still pissy we want to be a little selfish with our skills now. But I just want to live a good life and have a little fun now! And provide for my little girl.”

“Your-” Jason cut off, his jaw dropping for a moment. “Holy shit, Roy do you have a kid?!”

“Ya I do. Her name is Lian and she’s the light of my life. Her mama’s in prison so it’s just the two of us, so I do what I gotta do to provide for her while spending the least amount of time away from her I can manage. The jobs I take have gotta be worth getting a nanny to take care of her too, and you would not believe how expensive childcare is!”

“Congratulations dude! I’m sure you’re a great dad,” Jason cheered softly. He was, though the Roy he’d known before he went missing would probably have been a shit father the way Roy talked about his daughter now left no doubt in Jason’s mind Roy was a good dad.

“Thanks dude, I certainly try. What about you? No kids but I’ve heard through the grapevine you’ve got a partner?” Roy asked with a teasing note to his voice. It was like no time had passed, it made Jason smile even as he blushed just a little.

“Ya, Hyena has been through a lot of the same shit as me. He understands me, you know? He’s… he’s really good to me, puts up with more of my shit then he should have to and I love him for it.” 

“Damn, I’d like to meet him. And see you. It’s been too long since I’ve had contact with… any of our old crowd you know? They just don’t understand anymore,” Roy sighed, Jason echoed the sound. 

“Ya, I do know. You should come visit, we’ll get some drinks and the three of us can bond. You’ll like him, maybe you’ll get two friends for the price of one,” Jason suggested hopefully. 

“Ya, maybe. That would be nice. How about.. Next Thursday? Weekends are always busiest for our ilk, eh?” 

“Ya, that sounds good.”

“You don’t have to ask Hyena first?” Roy questioned curiously. 

“No, he won’t mind. He’s pretty content to go wherever I go honestly,” Jason said with a little shrug. 

“He’s there with you right now?” Roy sounded amused. 

“Ya, he’s asleep with his head on my lap,” Jason chuffed, glancing down at Danny and stroking his hair, his presence barely registered to Jason anymore. He was always there, being with Danny was like being alone, but so, so much better. Being with Danny had all the comfort of being alone with none of the loneliness, coldness, or opportunities to spiral. He felt his heart flutter as under his hand Danny’s purr stuttered and then grew louder as he cuddled in closer. 

“Hmph, will you wake him up so I can give him a shovel talk?” Roy asked, and Jason got the impression he was only half joking. 

“No need, Nightwing already gave him one, and they’re all pretty performative anyway since he could beat up God in a Denny's parking lot… To be honest that’s something that’s bothered me. Not the power thing, I mean people want to give him a shovel talk about me, but no one’s given me one about him. And I’ve definitely hurt him worse than he’d ever hurt me, but there’s no one… left. Besides his little sister and I don’t think she will. She needs to believe he’s indestructible because he’s all she has left,” He sighed, letting his head fall back against the couch cushions.

“Holy shit dude,” Roy breathed on the other side of the phone, with a sigh that made Jason wince with the static. 

“Ya, sorry, I think I got a little too deep there. This is the first time I’ve talked to an… actual friend in a while you know? I’m back in contact with my brothers, and Diana came to visit. But I haven’t reconnected with any of the old crowd and I don’t really want to talk to my brothers about my relationship, you know?”

“No, I mean, Ya I get it, and no worries. We really should meet up for that drink, and maybe it’d actually be best if it’s just me and you first time? That way we can catch up and you can tell me all about your worries. Maybe I’ll even give You a shovel talk, stand in for whoever would have done it for him if they got the chance? But I was talking about him being able to beat up god.”

Jason let out a bark of a laugh, he’d forgotten Danny’s powers weren’t out in the open yet.“Ya, he’s powerful as hell, he just doesn’t use them much because it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of us.” Jason agreed, nodding even though Roy couldn’t see him. “Meeting alone first sounds like a good plan. I’ll get the Birds of Prey to kidnap him for the evening, Harley and Pam absolutely adore him, and not just cause he killed Joker.”

“I’m sure they do,” Roy said a bit absently. “Hey, Jay?”

“Ya?”

“I really missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

[clockwayswrites]

A Broken Sort of Normal, Part 18

WC: 1565, Masterpost

“Here to bring me to a debrief?” Danny asks the shadow lurking in the doorway. He swears that Batman almost looks chastised at that. “It’s fine, Batman, I know how these things work.”

“The core Titans are insisting on being there, for moral support,” Batman rumbles. “If you aren’t comfortable with that, they’ll be sent away.”

Danny chuckles; that really is like them. “No, I might as well only go through it all once. Besides, that’s sweet. Can I at least take the time to put on real clothing?”

Batman narrows his eyes at Danny. “You’re still injured. Loose clothing only.”

“Gods, how does no one see what a dad you are,” Danny teases.

Batman smiles, just for a moment, before he turns to sweep over dramatically out of the room. “I’ll send in Flash with some approved clothing.”

“That better be my Flash you’re sending in!” Danny calls after Batman. When the doorway is free of the luring hero, Danny lets himself fall back against the pile of pillows.

A debrief. How is he supposed to explain any of this? So far he hasn’t been allowed to explain things, really. Part of it is that he’s spent most of the last several days asleep. When he has been awake, it’s to a rotating cast of heroes; all heroes that he was close to and knew behind the mask. With every able bodied hero busy with clean up, no one has been able to stay long. He sees Barry the most, what with the other’s leg, but even Barry is busy helping coordinate the recovery efforts.

(Danny’s also pretty sure that they’re using the chance to visit him as a way to make people take a break.)

While the heroes are with him, it’s been mostly Danny getting updated on everyone and whoever is with him getting information to update everyone else with. They won’t even let him work, but they do pass on information about his crews at least. It’s Wally who’s with him the most. Wally was there the first time Danny woke and as Danny breathed through panic attacks and to patiently reply to the endless stream of messages for Danny.

Speak of the devil… Danny’s phone chimes again.

He can’t look at it.

He hasn’t been able to look at it since the first message from Jasmine came in. Since they all remembered.

Wally hadn’t asked. He had just let Danny shake apart in his arms and has handled Danny’s phone from then on. ‘This is Danny’s boyfriend. He’s alive and will recover. He’ll contact you at a later time.’

“I thought we put that thing on silent,” Wally says with a glare at the phone as he steps into the room.

Danny makes shameless grabby hands at the clothing. “So did I. Who is it?”

Danny’s proud that his voice doesn’t shake at the question.

Maybe it’s fair that they’ve all been avoiding the big big questions. Maybe it really is obvious that he’s still only hanging on by a thread. He certainly feels less like a live wire and more like the one, stubborn fuse still humming in the circuit breaker.

He certainly feels weak.

“Jasmine again.”

Danny sucks in a staggered breath and lets it out slowly. “Just… just tell her that I’m sorry, but I can’t yet.”

Wally presses a kiss to Danny’s temple. “I’ll remind her that you’re healing too. You just worry about getting dressed.”

“What, don’t want to help out with that part?” teases Danny as he undid the tie at the base of his neck. The Watchtower might have pretty nice quality, but any medical garb was going to be a little scratchy, and Danny is glad to have it off. He’s careful with his taped over IV port as he slides on the plain white shirt and then the well worn hoodie. It has a faded Nightwing logo and smells like Wally.

Something in Danny’s chest relaxes a little as he buries his face into the fabric and it nearly makes him sob.

“Danny?”

Danny just shakes his head.

“Oh, babe, it’s okay, I’m here. I have you.” Wally tosses the phone onto the bed and wraps Danny up into a hug. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been around—”

“Don’t, you were saving lives,” Danny says and tucks his face against Wally’s neck. “It’s what you needed to be doing.”

“Yeah, well, I’m here now. I’ve officially been pulled off duty. My job right now is you.”

“I don’t want to take you away from anything important.”

“You aren’t. Babe, you’re why we’re all still here. Let yourself be cared for, okay? I promise if anything comes up that really needs my help I’ll go, but let me make you my priority,” Wally urges.

Danny closes his eyes. “I told myself I’d never ask that of you. I know what you are.”

“You aren’t, I’m offering. Please, babe, let me make you my priority.”

He wants to. Gods does he want to. He wants to go back home to their apartment and have Wally with him and just let the other take care of everything, just for a little bit, just until it stopped feeling like his insides were hollow. Just until he could be okay enough to lie and say that he was fine.

Just until then.

“Okay. I— yeah, okay. I think I need that right now,” Danny manages to admit.

“Thank you,” Wally whispers like it was Danny doing him the great service. “First act, let’s get you out of those pants.”

“You cad,” Danny gasps dramatically.

Wally rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling now so Danny counts it as a win. “And get you into the sweatpants.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to debrief in sweats,” Danny says as he lets Wally help him finish changing. He’s a little less balanced in his feet than he’d like to be.

Okay, a lot less balanced.

Wally doesn’t even let him walk to the debrief, instead he insists on pushing Danny there in a wheelchair. Danny knows there’s no shame in needing a wheelchair, but it doesn’t help him be less frustrated at the way he feels weak down to his bones. Hell, he feels weak down to is core. At least he gets to move himself to a regular chair once they’re inside the conference room.

"Thank you for being willing to do this, Danny,” Wonder Woman says. She’s leaning forward, arms resting on the table, and offering a smile. At the table is a selection of other top tier members: Batman, Superman, a Green Lantern (Hal Jordan in this case), John Constantine, Zatanna, and, right next to Danny, Barry.

The Titans are off to the side, slightly behind the Dark members, in chairs that were obviously dragged into the room. Garfield gives Danny an enthusiastic thumbs up that almost makes him laugh.

“Of course. I get why there are questions,” Danny says instead.

“There are,” Superman agreed. “Now, as you aren’t a Justice League member and are in no way under any sort of investigation, this is going to be a bit informal. We’re just trying to make sure our report on recent events are as clear as possible.”

Danny huffs out a breath of air. His gaze darts over to Wally before dropping. “It’s a big more than that, isn’t it?”

“Kid?” Barry asks gently.

“You all want to know what I am, which is fair. If I could have, I would have told you.” Danny looks back at Wally again and gives a half hearted smile. “Sorry I couldn’t.”

“Why couldn’t you?” Batman asks, though the rumble of words isn’t unkind.

A sour smile twists Danny’s lips. “Curses are like that. Aren't they, Laughing Magician?” Danny hears Constantine and sucks in a breath and steels himself to look up at him. “How much do you know about her? About Desiree?”

Constantine shakes his head. “Not much. It’s not wise to go digging into the affairs of a member of the Infinite Realms, even an ended one.”

“Speak normal for the rest of us,” Hal says. “A who of what?”

“Infinite realms. That means a sodding ghost,” Constantine snaps.

Barry scoffs. “Ghost’s aren’t real.”

“Boo,” Danny replies. His smile is slightly too wide.

“Not funny, Danny.”

Danny shrugs. “Not trying to be. I’m half ghost.”

“How is someone half ghost?” Hal asks.

“I’m like Schrödinger’s Cat,” Danny explains. He can’t help for for his gaze to flick over to where the Titans are sitting and find Wally’s eyes. “I’m still in the box, basically. I’m half alive and half dead. Both and neither. A balance.”

“A myth.” Constantine leans forward. He taps the butt of his unlit cigarette against the table. “Or so we always thought. You telling me that you’re a halfa?”

The question pulls Danny’s focus back to the main table of heroes. “Yep. One of three. Me, my godfather, and my clone.”

Superman clears his throat. “Ah, your clone?”

Danny just gives another shrug. “Shit gets weird when you’re a teenage vigilante.”

“Danny,” Batman says, and Danny can’t help but smile again because the man is clearly one step away from pinching the bridge of his nose like he does as Bruce when one of his children is driving him mad. “Start from the beginning. State your name for the record.”

“Danny Jasper Fenton.”

---

AN: Vote was in favor of splitting it up. I've got a chunk of the next part written, so hopefully I can get it finished up next week! Sorry if there are lots of issues, words and me are struggling atm.

Poor Danny is really struggling with things as his world has once again changed. And what will everyone think of him now...?

I no longer tag, instead you can subscribe to the masterpost.

[pennylanewrites]

[love in the dark] levi ackerman x f!reader

cw + what to expect: angsty levi thinking he’s not good enough for you, self deprecation, talks of a family and kids, nudity (not sexual), brief mentions of battle scars, swearing, jealousy, alcohol consumption, eventual comfort

levi hated everything he loved about you. you were so loud and talkative and bubbly. always smiling, despite the chaos around you. always caring and laughing and mumbling made-up melodies.

he hated that other people loved those parts of you too. he hated the way erwin would light up when you entered the room, that he somehow found ways to spend more time than needed with you, that hange would tease him playfully about his crush on you, a simple cadet.

but what he hated the most was that he couldn’t speak. he couldn’t kick the living shit out of erwin and punch hange’s stupid face, scream how much he loves you.

because you were a cadet. levi was a captain. it was so inappropriate, him breaking every possible rule and code of honour to be with you.

today was a very bad day. many scouts had lost their lives in an expedition to capture two titans for research. the remaining ones needed an uplift, erwin thought. and now squad leaders, captains, scouts and the fucking commander were sitting in a circle drinking wine.

you couldn’t handle your alcohol. levi was the first person to introduce you to wine, and then whiskey. that was also the first time levi felt old. how young were you that you had never tasted alcohol before?

he smiled to himself at the memory, but the smile faltered when he looked up to see erwin helping you to a couch. you gracefully thanked your commander, slightly embarrassed at how dizzy you were. petra, your friend, looked between you and the commander, giving you a suggestive wiggle of the brows. that didn’t go unnoticed by your captain, whose hand slipped as he poured wine in petra’s glass, turning her white pants a pale hue of red.

something snapped inside of levi as he drank glass after glass of sweet red wine. erwin had so much to offer to you. money, a home, a family. you were listening intently as erwin explained the rules of a card game to you, peering over his shoulder as you sat on the couch and he on the floor.

don’t let your head fall on his shoulder. don’t let your-

a gasp came from levi’s left. of course it was fucking hange.

“i must be boring you.” erwin chuckled when he realised you were falling asleep. “i’ll take you to your dorm.” levi reached the couch with two big steps, protectively standing between you and erwin as you got up.

“i’ll take her.” he was throwing daggers at erwin with his gray eyes, and erwin was surprisingly returning the gaze.

“you don’t have to, captain. take your rest today.” erwin was not giving it up. he gave levi a pleading look, as if saying let me have this, friend.

you’re not my fucking friend, replied levi.

“she’s my soldier, erwin.” you pulled on levi’s jacket, after making sure no one saw. a silent please stop. “lead the way, cadet. you can walk, i assume.” he was cold. more than usual, barely letting you say your good nights to the room.

was he mad at you? you weren’t the one making advances, it was erwin. you didn’t know how to politely turn your commander down, nor did the alcohol running through your veins allow you to.

“your room is that way, is it not?” levi stopped sharply, making you hit his back.

“levi,” when had you ever slept in your room the last two years? “are you mad at me?”

he sighed and turned around, still alert for any guards, or even worse, erwin and hange showing up.

“you’re drunk.” was all he said before walking again, signaling for you to follow. he was silent the rest of the way, silent as he stepped out of his clothes, silent as he grabbed a towel.

“can we take a bath together?” you asked hopefully. deep down you had a feeling he would turn you down. levi was always sour after failed expeditions.

“i want to go to sleep tonight, you take too damn long in the bath.” he was right, but the way he said it made it sound like he was accusing you of being a serial killer.

“okay. you go then, i showered before.” you smiled softly and started taking your clothes off to lay on the clean linen sheets.

levi thought about tonight over and over as he sat in the hot water. he didn’t mean to snap at you, or be so mean. he was pushing you away and into erwin’s arms.

erwin could give you the world. levi could not.

and you deserved the damn world.

he couldn’t help but smile when he saw you taking up the entirety of the bed, stark naked, like you always did.

he loved everything about your body. every curve, every dip, every beauty mark. he loved the healed pink scars on your legs and back, he loved kissing them and caressing them every time you cried that they were ghastly.

he hated what he was about to do.

“don’t you dare.” your voice was quavering. you didn’t dare look away from the ceiling.

“dare what?” levi put his boxers on and tried pushing you to the wall so he could lie down. why are you crying?

“do what you’re about to do, levi.” you moved so he could sit next to you and you both rested your backs on the cold wall.

“if you know what i’m about to do, you also know why.”

“oh, eyebrows is flirting with my girlfriend. time to ruin a perfectly fine two-year relationship.” you were mocking him. he was almost mad at you, but you were trying so hard not to cry.

“that’s not it.” he muttered. god, he hated talking about these things. “i can’t…”

i can’t give you enough.

“can’t what, levi? can’t love me anymore?”

“i can’t be what you need.” he sighed and turned away. why the fuck were his eyes burning and watering now?

“what are you talking about?”

“do you want kids, y/n?”

you let out a surprised laugh.

“levi-”

“do you?”

“well, yeah. not for like, ten years, but sure.”

“there you have it.”

“what, are you impotent or something?” you tried making light of the situation, because truly, you had no idea how to approach this. so you resorted to humour, hoping levi would snap out of it too.

“no, i’m just not cut out for that family crap.” he was standing up and walking around the room now, and he was making you dizzy. “erwin is, though. erwin wants a family and three children, did you know?”

you did know. you still shook your head no.

“and he has money to raise them. hell, he has a house in the countryside, and servants.”

“well, good for him. i hope he finds a wife soon.”

“are you fucking stupid, y/n?” you hated when he talked like that. “you’re 22 years old, god damn it!”

“so?”

“other women your age are already married and have a second kid on the way. not wasting their days away fighting titans, risking their lives!”

“i didn’t join the scouts to find a husband, levi!” you were crying. god, he hated it so much. what was he even doing. levi regretted ever opening his mouth.

“don’t you understand, erwin is your way out! you’re wasting your time with me. your life.”

“levi…” now you finally understood. it wasn’t that he was jealous of erwin flirting with you. well, that too, but he was jealous of the life erwin was living. “levi, i love you.”

“y/n, i really don’t know what you’re doing with me.” he was sitting down on the edge of the bed, his back to you. you shifted on the bed, until your legs were around his and your cheek resting on his back.

“i know you don’t get it, but you’re giving me exactly what i need.”

“and what is that?”

your hand fell on top of his, and you intertwined your fingers before he could take it away.

“you give me life, levi. and that’s more than i could ask for. i know you’re scared that you’ll die, or i will, but that’s our purpose. i joined the scouts knowing the risks.”

“i just want you to live properly. peacefully.”

“so be my peace.” you whispered in his ear and got up, sitting down again on his lap. “and don’t ever think you’re not good enough for me.”

“i know i’m not, y/n.”

“i don’t care, then. i love you, i don’t want to lose this, ever. i don’t care that i’m too young, or at child-bearing age or whatever other stupid crap you’ll come up with.” he smiled softly at you, letting his forehead fall against yours.

“promise you won’t die, then?” you giggled and kissed the tip of his nose before replying.

“i promise.”

“i love you.”

“good. don’t ever do that shit again, levi.”

“don’t swear.” he muttered and guided you to lie down, still on top of him. you could feel your heartbeats turn to one as you lay in silence. “i’m sorry, y/n.”

“that’s okay. just know i wouldn’t trade you for anything. for anyone.”

“really?” his arms tightened around you. a form of saying, me neither. you’re my everything.

“yeah, i like my men to have thin eyebrows.”

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Okay, we gotta talk about Pit Madness in the comics.

I keep seeing a bunch of people saying it’s not real. Problem. It is. It’s just rarely brought up.

It might not be the earliest reference, but we have this panel with Talia talking about how madness seizes him after dipping in the Lazarus Pit

Batman #244 (1972)

But this isn’t the only time we get reference to this. The panel below also talks about lore of the Lazarus Pits and again mentions that madness.

Batman: Bane of the Demon. Issue 3 (1998)

This gets referenced again in Hush when Bruce is fighting who he thinks is someone pretending to be Jason having been resurrected in the Pits during Hush.

Bruce is thinking about how he almost out Jason in a Pit after his death, but due to the madness the Pit can cause and Jason’s injuries to the head, he thought against it.

Batman # 618 - I think it’s volume 11 in the Hush omnibus (2003)

We see a reference to it again regarding Jason in the Lost Days. What’s super interesting here is that Talia states the Pits did NOT drive Jason mad, but Ra’s warns her that it’s possible the madness can occur up to years after a person’s dip.

I find this particular one fascinating, simply because of the lore that Pit Madness can take hold decades after a dip in a Pit.

Red Hood: the Lost Days #2 (2010)

Now, regarding Jason. There has NEVER been any concrete proof he’s suffered from Pit Madness. It’s very popular as a head cannon simply because Jason’s characterization is so all over the place.

Edit: Please keep in mind Jason was calm, cool, collected, and conniving in Under the Red Hood. Saying he’s Pit Mad there takes away all of the impact and gets rid of his motivations. Please be aware of this.

Now, that’s not saying there’s not a connection between Jason and the Pits. There was an entire arc in Red Hood and the Outlaws (2010) regarding this which also deals with Jason’s time with the All-Caste.

I still haven’t gotten around to reading that part, but it’s where the permanent augmentation theories come from. Oh, and Jason can canonically make constructs from Lazarus Water. Ra’s can too, but yeah… it’s a thing.

Red Hood and the Outlaws 2010 #27 (Released in 2014)

But while there’s no confirmation Jason’s dealt with Pit Madness, you know who has? Cass

Batgirl 1 #72 or 73 (2006)

Cass was revived after taking a blow for someone. And Shiva revived her, but there’s no permanence to it. And to my knowledge, I could be wrong since I’m not as familiar with her runs, this is the only time it gets referenced with her.

But going back to my original point that started this: Pit Madness is real. It’s just rarely seen in the comics. And if you want to use it, that’s fine - just be careful about its use since you can ruin characterization with it.

Edit 2: while there isn’t much of Pit Madness seen in the comics, it does seem to wear off over time. We also know a dip in the Pit temporarily increases brain power and physical strength/ability.

We also know that there’s a Lazarus Pit under Gotham and that its waters leech into Gotham’s water supply.

That’s referenced in Teen Titans vol. 3 issues 40-41 (2007) - forgive me. I don’t feel like looking up those panels

[4ttack-ur-heart]

Not In This Life

Paring: Eren x gn! Reader

Warnings: manipulative eren, violence, spoilers for season 4.

Genre: angst

Summary: Eren confronts you, Armin, and Mikasa about how he actually feels. Is that all really true though? Maybe your confession will give you an answer.

THIS WAS A REQUEST!! I tried to save the ask as a draft and it disappeared 😭 sooo thank you anon for requesting and I’m sorry it’s not attached.

This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Not like this. The tension in the room was dangerously thick. Gabi sat at the table with Armin, Mikasa, and you.

Your hands were tightly clutching your thighs as Armin spoke to her. She killed Sasha. Your roommate. Your friend.

“We won’t kill you,” Armin said, his eyes downcast.

“Why not? I know you must want to.” Gabi’s eyes were filled with a dim glow.

“Why would I want that?” He sighed. “Always with the killing. It’s all you ever think about… just like someone else I know.”

The door opened suddenly, and footsteps entered the room. It was Eren.

"Oh, look. It's the brat that killed Sasha."

The three of you gasped upon seeing him. He looked so different and you could tell the light from his eyes was gone. Now just a dull glow. Your breath hitched in your throat at the sight of him.

“Eren..”

Eren’s hand raised to show a deep cut on his palm, blood trailing out. He sat down at the table across from everyone.

“I don’t want any trouble.” He said, his voice deep and sullen. “More conflict isn’t necessary to solve Eldia’s problems. Hange and the others are fine. We’re just relocating them.”

“Eren.” Armin started, surprising even himself almost. “We’ve all wanted to talk to you too.”

It almost seems too surreal. Your thoughts swirled through your head as you tried to listen to Armin’s words.

“…did they really convince you to join their side?”

Silence. Eren’s gaze was set on the white tablecloth. His blood oozed out of his wound and the crimson liquid stained the cloth.

“I am free, Armin.”

The words made you shudder. Mikasa and Armin both tensed next to you.

“My actions are governed by nothing but my own free will.” He continued.

“So you’re saying this was all on you?” Armin asked, his voice a bit shaky in disbelief.

“Yes-”

Mikasa shifted and cut in. “No. You’re being manipulated! The Eren we know would never involve civilians and children in war, even if they were enemies.”

“And you wouldn’t put us at risk either. You care about us more than anything.” You argued, making Eren’s gaze shift to you. His eyes were different, anything but loving. This was no longer the kid you fell in love with.

“Right?” Mikasa added, her tone becoming shakier and her eyes glossy. She stood up at the table. “You saved me from those kidnappers back at the cabin. You wrapped this scarf around me because you care!”

“I said keep your hands on the table, Mikasa.” Eren’s voice was sharp. She was startled by him and sat back down. You glanced towards Gabi next to you and her eyes were wide in dread, not looking at anything but the table.

Eren explained about his talk with Zeke and the Titans. “Armin.”

The blonde looked up at Eren.

“What made you start visiting Annie? Do you really believe it was your own free will?”

“W-what?” Armin’s eyes widened. “I don’t-”

“If memories play a major role in shaping us into who we are, then a part of you has become Bertholdt. Do you understand? An enemy within an enemy. He’s gotten in your head. You’re the one being manipulated by the enemy.”

“Hey! Why would you-?” Mikasa quickly cut in.

“You’re being controlled too.” Eren quipped. His eyes then met yours. “And so are you.”

He made your breathing quiver as you refused to believe him, you wanted to refuse. But the way his eyes held no sentiment or remorse for his words signified everything.

Eren looked back to Mikasa. “The Ackerman clan was designed perfectly to protect the King. Your instincts were dormant until I awakened it inside of you when I ordered you to fight. Your blood mistook me as the host you needed to protect.”

“No- that can’t be.” She whimpered and clenched the tablecloth in her hands.

“It can’t?” Eren’s tone had a bit of surprise in it. “Why not.”

“Because it wasn’t a mistake.” 

Eren stopped her and continued clarifying her Ackerman blood background.

“No, I-” She whispered.

“In other words: slaves. You're a slave, Mikasa.”

Armin stood up abruptly and slammed his hands on the table.

“Stop! Leave her alone!” He pleaded. You glanced at Mikasa and you could see her holding back her tears. Her head was down and you quickly placed your hand on hers in consolation, she grasped tightly onto yours.

You were only half paying attention to Eren’s speech. Now, your fixation was settling your friend. Your thumb swiped over her hand in small circles. Her soft cries escaped her lips.

It wasn’t until you heard Eren say those horrible words that you stopped.

“Ever since I was a kid, Mikasa. I've always hated you.”

“Eren, how could you say that to her?” Armin yelled and climbed over the table, desperate to grab at Eren.

Mikasa shoved you off of her and quickly stood up. Her hands seized Armin and pinned him down to the table, his arm bent dangerously behind his back.

“Mikasa, let go!” You shouted and gripped her elbow.

Armin looked at her in shock and she quickly let go of him. Mikasa backed away with tears streaming down her face and gasped at what she had done.

“No, I-I was just…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence before Eren cut her off.

“You see? That blood is all you are.” Eren said.

You held an arm up in front of Mikasa as Armin once again jumped onto the table and swung his fist at Eren.

Gabi stood up abruptly as the table flipped over and Eren fell back on the floor. Armin let out a yell and raised his fists again as Eren quickly stood up.

You both watched in horror as Eren punched Armin in the jaw, evading his other attempts to hit him. Eren grabbed the collar of Armin’s uniform and threw him into the wine cabinet, bottles and glasses toppling over and shattering on impact.

“Eren!” You yelled with tears in your eyes. You were about to take a step forward to break them up when Mikasa held you back.

Turning towards her with wide eyes, she shook her head, the tears still falling down her face. “No, he’ll hurt you too.”

“Jeager!” Three soldiers quickly came into the room upon hearing the commotion.

Eren stood back and watched Armin try to get back up. “I’m fine. I’ll handle this.”

“Just tell me where Zeke is.” He said.

Armin weakly raised his fists again and that’s when Eren beat him. Again and again.

“Eren, stop!” You yelled. Tears now rushed down your face as you watched Armin get beaten up mercilessly. The blonde dropped to the floor in a heap, blood trailing out of his mouth.

“Armin.” You pushed off Mikasa’s arm and quickly knelt beside Armin on the floor. Turning him over, you brushed the hair out of his eyes and used your sleeve to wipe the blood off.

Your hard stare met Eren’s eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you? How could you do this to them? After everything we’ve been through.”

“Funny… you used to follow every choice I made.” He said with the same dull voice, his eyes searching yours for the reaction he craved. “Unless those feelings of yours never went away.”

You paused, he knew?

“It was cute at first, I’ll admit, but like Mikasa, it seems like you were never your own person. Pathetic. Everything you did was to always appeal to me, wasn’t it?”

No (y/n), don’t let him manipulate you. This is what he wants.

“Every day you stood by me with hope that I would love you the way you loved me. Tell me, how does it feel knowing all that work you did was for nothing?”

You gritted your teeth as tears continued to fall.

“This isn’t about me, not about us! This is about you and we don’t want you to do something that you will regret.” Swallowing the lump in your throat, you slowly rose to your feet and glared at Eren. “Yes, you figured it out, Eren, and you’re a damn fool if you try to deny how you felt too!”

Eren’s breath hitched and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Remember all those times we snuck out after hours and talked about our future? It didn’t matter what crazy scenario we made up each time, we were always together in the end!” You yelled. “I don’t think a man who spent his youth 'hating' me would allow himself to become so vulnerable. You told me everything.”

Mikasa knelt by Armin and cradled him in her arms. You moved closer to Eren, the sudden sound of guns cocking made you tense up as the guards all trained their rifles on you. 

Eren quickly held up his hand at the guards. His eyes never left yours as they lowered their weapons. Honestly, his immediate defense surprised you.

“Is this what freedom is to you?” You continued, gesturing to your two friends still kneeling on the floor. “It looks like now you’re the one who's a slave, and your master is a worthless bastard.”

Eren gritted his teeth and scowled at you. “Let’s go.” He gripped your upper arm tightly, the other guards doing the same to Mikasa and Armin. “Take the brat that killed Sasha, too. We’re going back to the place where it all started... Shiganshina.”

Gabi stumbled against the soldier's grip while Armin and Mikasa went with no struggle. Eren still hadn't moved yet, keeping you in place. You clenched your teeth in pain as Eren tightened his grip every time you twisted your arm to break free.

“Sir?” One of the guards asked from the doorway.

Eren shifted his vision away from you. “Take them. We’ll be down shortly. I have some business to take care of first.”

The guards escorted your friends away from you. Now, you were all alone. With Eren.

Silence rang between you two as his other hand gripped your other shoulder. He turned you to face him, but you kept your gaze down.

“Hmph, you spent years standing by my side, and now you can’t even look me in the eye.” Eren tutted and gripped your chin with his hand, forcing your eyes to meet his. “There we go.”

You tried to break from his grip, but his hands only tightened more and you had to resist struggling when it began to hurt.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” He asked suddenly. The question seemed innocent, but his eyes told a whole other story.

“Tell you-”

“Don’t play dumb with me, (y/n). I’ll tell you right now it’s not the wisest decision.”

“Y-yeah. The day you left.” You muttered with tears in your eyes.

"I see.” His tone turned solemn.

“Eren, I love you.” You started, pausing briefly to take a shuddering breath and try to rid your tears. “W-was any of it… ever real?”

The memories, laughter, adventures... anything? 

He stared at you, taken aback by your words. “You said love not loved... you still love me?”

You sniffled as the tears slipped down your cheeks, trying to avoid his gaze. “Y-yeah, I still do.” You didn’t want to. With all the actions Eren has pulled recently, you didn’t want to. But yet, you still did.

“You shouldn’t.” He commented, thumb swiping over to brush one of your stray tears.

“I don’t want to.”

“But you do.”

Silence washed over you. His eyes were piercing under the grip he still had on your chin.

“Why?” You asked. “Why this way, there wasn’t any other option?”

This time his gaze evaded yours. “No.” He released a heavy sigh and something changed in his eyes. It’s like any small ounce of compassion he held just faded. “It’ll work out in the end. This isn’t over, (y/n). You always come running back to me and I always welcome you.”

Jerk.

A sob left your lips and you managed to rip your face out of his grip. “You know what, Eren?”

Eren’s gaze stiffened when he heard the tone in your voice. “What.”

“I don’t care what you do. Whatever the hell you do, just know I’ll never stop loving you.”

“Don’t you understand?!” His hands grabbed your wrists tightly. “You can’t love me.”

“Eren, ah- you’re hurting me.”

“Don’t you get it? Things aren’t going to end the way you hope.”

“I don’t care-”

“You should!”

Your wrists were still clutched tightly in his grip, but he loosened his hold enough to let you gently cup his face.

“If it’s not in this life, then another one perhaps. I love you, Eren.”

Eren’s face scrunched up in anger, a distraught look crossing his features. “N-no, (y/n). Please, you can’t. The worst has yet to come.”

“Tell me.” You pleaded, your thumb swiping over his cheekbone. “Tell me you don’t love me. I just want to hear you say it.”

Eren stayed silent and dropped his stare. Thoughts ran through his mind.

“Tell me.” You urged.

“I…”

He couldn’t.

“It’s safer for you if I don’t.”

“That didn’t answer my question, Eren.” You scoffed.

“Fine.” His voice was hard. “I love you.”

His hand moved from your wrist to grasp your palm. “But I can’t. You’re right, maybe in another life, we can make this work.” Eren’s eyes met yours. “Just not this one.”

“Wait-”

“Everything I’m doing is to protect you!” He yelled. You blinked at him.

Protecting you? It didn’t make sense. He’s only started a war Eldia wasn’t ready to fight.

He took your hand in his and placed a light kiss on your knuckles. Your eyes softened at the sudden gesture.

A soft metal clinking was heard and before you could even register what happen, your wrist was shackled. The other cuff latching to his own.

“Let’s go.”

“Eren-”

“I told you, (y/n).” Eren looked at you with tears in his eyes. “Not in this life.”

———————

Tag list: @cullenswife @sad-darksoul

[linkspooky]

ON MADELYNE PRYOR

Shout out to all the comic book stans who follow my blog.

So X-Men 97 inspired me to do a re-read of X-Men from the beginning. My previous read of X-Men jumped all over the place, it was basically X-Men up to Dark Phoenix and then I jumped all the way to the 2000s to 2010s. In my current read I just got to Inferno and holy fuck mom, I never thought I'd like an X-Men arc more than Dark Phoenix but here we are.

This is an entirely personal opinion which I'm not as good at expressing because I prefer over-intellectualizing my feelings, but Inferno is the only other comic book arc to make me feel the way that Judas Cotract did in how tightly and perfectly written as a tragedy it is especially for the female at its center.

Are there any women in all of fiction more doomed by the narrative than Terra Markov and Madelyne Pryor?

I mean I've written about Judas Contract before but what makes that arc so special to me is how it's about a character, a victim, a girl named Terra who by all rights should have been saved by the heroes, but not only fails every step of the way but at every point in her life really. Terra is someone how manifests her victimhood in completely unsympathetic ways but the fact that she basically had no chance in life makes her sympathetic nonetheless.

This comes from the decision that Perez and Wolfram made right from the start to kill her off and never offer her any redemption, which while incredibly callous on the author's part just makes the tragedy even stronger. That's what tragedy is, it's meat to reflect the cruelty and unfairness of life, it's kind of like reality bleeding into fiction.

George’s strength was he also understood the characters 100 percent as I did so there was never any question. He knew. We had talked enough about the characters to know we were exactly on the same page with them. So I said, “Everyone keeps complaining that we’re like the X-Men” and the X-Men had just gotten Kitty Pryde. I said, “Why don’t we really screw around with them completely?” — this is the fans — “…and make them think we’re stealing Kitty Pryde only she’s gonna be bad from Day One.” You always had characters pop up, certainly at Marvel, who were bad that get redeemed. But this character would never get redeemed. She was insane. In fact, she was the catalyst for everything. She wasn’t working for Deathstroke. He was working for her in many ways and she was leading him because she’s crazy. She’s a total psychopath… and she’d be 15. 

Terra's a total psychopath and she's fifteen and that's the tragedy. Was there really any other way that Terra could have turned out? A girl who has been abandoned, who was given incredible powers but no love, support, or nurturing and clearly doesn't have a home or any stability in her life if she's working as a mercenary at that young. A girl who thinks herself a villain and a player in the game but is clearly being manipulated by a fifty plus year old man who is smarter, more mature, and a serial user and abuser of people.

Terra's not just the villain, she's the protagonist of the tragedy walking through the play unknowing that her every single decision will lead to her inevitable end.

Judas Cotract and Inferno are two arcs that most evoke the feel of the Tower in Tarot to me. The Tower is just, ruin and destruction, a complete loss of control, the realization that everything you thought was wrong and in fact the world doesn't care much about what you think. It's a reminder that life isn't even cruel, it's nothing, it's random.

However, first you have to build up the tower before you start pulling the jenga blocks out one by one. Terra spends several arcs with the Teen Titans showing disturbing unchildlike behavior, but one of the so-called Heroes even notice that there's something wrong. When she does get close to blowing her cover, a violent incident where she nearly badly hurts Beast Boy after he comes onto her way too hard which is an understandable reaction as a victim of SA that gets brushed under the rug too.

It makes the heroes look worse as well. If they were heroes dedicated to saving people at all costs shouldn't they have noticed the trouble of someone right next to them? Yet, they all kind of collectively remain oblivious the same way that most victims in real life especially of Terra's kind of trauma are left to suffer in silence. Not to say the Teen Titans are bad, they are kids, and therefore it makes sense they don't have the emotional maturity to notice - it just makes them look more human.

So to summarize my point above what makes Judas Contract is a good tragedy and why Inferno makes me feel the same way narrows down to two reasons.

Madelyne and Terra are both doomed by the narrative, there was no saving them right from the beginning.

However, the fact that the heroes failed to save them reflects poorly on them.

Finally, Madelyne Pryor.

Oh Madelyne the world did you so dirty. I'm partially to blame because I skipped right to the 2000s in my first read, but before this point I'd known nothing about Madelyne other than that she was a clone of Jean Grey who died.

My first impressions of her when she was introduced shortly after Dark Phoenix weren't all that great either. Chris Claremont writes good female characters, that's not really a hot take. I'm sure you've heard of Storm, Rogue, Mystique, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost etc.

However, I've noticed there are like two tiers of female characters he tends to write. There are the first stringers which are your storms, your rogues, these are characters who are meant to be independent and have arcs. Then there are the second stringers who are just meat to serve a role in the story. This isn't a criticism on the way Claremont writes women, I mean all stories have major and minor characters.

Madelyne Pryor was never meant to be a main character. There wasn't anything about her character that I disliked per se, she is independent, she seemed to have a life outside of Cyclops, she tries really hard to separate herself from the image of Jean Grey. However, she was clearly written to give Cyclops a wife and child in the aftermath of Jean's death and a reason to retire.

While the editorial mandate that made Claremont pull Cyclops out of his happy ending so he could rejoin a team with the original five x-men for the sake of nostalgia sucks, it is also the best thing to happen to Madelyne's character.

Madelyne before that point was a perfectly functional character for her role but she wasn't all that dynamic, she liked planes, she didn't like Jean's ghost hanging over her, she's pretty spunky and headstrong but she was at most a good supporting character but that's all she was. Claremont just decided to double down on that, Scott actually treats his wife like she exists to do nothing but support him and his emotional issues. Madelyne gives all the support that she can give and then Scott just up and leaves anyway. The woman who only existed to be a love interest to give Scott a happy ending, now has no other reason to exist without the man she's supposed to love and her happy ending turns to ash in her mouth.

This is the same feeling I was talking about with Terra, this is a person who was basically failed at every step of the way. A person who has no family. no support, it's almost worse in this case because Madelyne thought she did only for that person to toss her aside.

There's no saving Madelyne, and the fact that Scott didn't save her, that he didn't both trying until he was too late makes him the villain.

If anything Inferno is better than Judas Contract at dragging the heroes down to their lowest points, because The Teen Titans failing to save Terra is understandable because of how young they are but there's no excusing Scott's actions. Madelyne may run around in a skimpy outfit calling herself the goblin queen but the villain of this story is named Scott Summers. He had a responsibility and obligation towards Madelyne to save her and he failed, and it makes him a bad hero and an even worse person.

One of the key components of a tragedy is also agency. Agency is basically the freedom a character has to choose and how much their choices matter in the grand scheme of things and impact their narratives.

Tragedies are often defined by how little agency the characters are shown to have, and how limited their range of choices are. One of the biggest themes of tragedy is fate and inevitability at all. For example one of my favorite tragedies antigone is about a girl with very little power in the ancient greek city of Thebes who still makes a choice to give her brother a proper burial even though she knows she'll be executed for it.

Dark Phoenix is all about agency. Jean Grey is dealing with three different forces trying to take her mind, her agency. There's the corrupting influence of Phoenix, there's the Hellfire Club who wants to make her into a puppet, and then there's Charles Xavier who wants to put a lid on her tremendous powers. Everyone trying to take agency away from Jean eventually leads her to snap and try to take all of that agency back by embracing godhood because who has more agency, more control than a god? Even Jean's act of killing herself at the end was reclaiming her agency, it's her choice to die as a human rather than be executed, or to lose herself to the phoenix.

What breaks Madelyne is not Scott leaving her. Which made me like her character a lot, like the moment Scott left Madelyne was shown just how stubborn and determined she was. Madelyne stood out as the only normal human amongst the x-men who still held her own like Moira did (i guess Moira is a mutant now but I'm still in the 80s so w/e).

What breaks her is the revelation that she never had any agency in her life to begin with. Scott was always meant to fall in love with her, he was always meant to leave her, because she was nothing more than a womb for Sinister's breeding project. Once again it's masterful how Scott looks equally as villainous as Sinister in this scenario in how neither of them regards Madelyne as a person, just an object to project their desires upon.

(Honestly Jean Grey doesn't come out looking all that great either considering how little sympathy she has for Madelyne because she just sees her as an obstacle to getting back together with Scott. If anyone Jean should sympathize with Madelyne the most because they've both been toyed with cosmic forces out of their control, but I guess it goes to show how selfish and destructive Jean and Scott's love for each can be).

Is there any sequence more tragic in all of comics than this series of panels?

The symbolism in these panels too and how it relates to the themes of agency with Madelyne's character. Madelyne was a free and self-driven woman (or at least she thought she was) living out her dream of being a pilot which to her the ability to fly her wings represents her freedom and indepedence. The only thing she thought that could make her happier was Scott, but in the end not only did Scott take her wings away, he took away her everything and gave it to someone else.

"Time to lose those wings, Maddie. You can't really fly, anyway. You're not special like us."

If there's any words to express the inherent tragedy of Maddie's character is this, she's a person who thought she was free to fly, that she was real, that her life mattered only to have all that taken away from her. Maddie like Terra thinks she has agency that she's making decisions but she had no real choices from the beginning.

That's also a good way to express what makes tragedies hit as hard as they do. Tragedies slap you with the realization that you're not special. The hero is not a hero, they don't have plot armor, they're not immune to consequences, they're human and just like all humans they fail.

Even the act that Madelyne thinks is reclaiming her agency by gaining power as the Goblin Queen is in fact, not her choice. She doesn't choose to sell her soul, she's tricked into doing it by a rebellious demon that wants to kick Illyana out and reclaim limbo for himself. In Madelyne's one act of trying to steal back her power and freedom she is still just a pawn in another person's scheme.

There's also Madelyne going through literal hell itself to reclaim her son, only to make the decision to sacrifice him along with several other infants which seems to make her usympathetic but ironically makes her more sympathetic to me.

There's the obvious reference to Medea there. If all the parallels aren't obvious enough already, Jason and the Argonauts gets namedropped during the arc.

One of my favorite things about Medea the tragedy by Euripedes is that Medea is not just a girlboss who gets revenge on Jason and then walks away. Straightforward revenge narratives are bad because revenge is... bad actually. The decision to inflict more pain and suffering in the world doesn't break the chain of suffering.

Medea kills her children to show that Jason is not entirely in the wrong, and Medea is not entirely in the right. They are two human beings who's relationship is blowing up in the worst way possible. I mean Jason himself does have some points in the play, he's making a political marriage to save both of them, the only reason he's exiling Medea is because Medea made loud death threats at Jason's new bride. It's not just the heartbreak of being abandoned that drives Medea, it's her pride, the whole play started because Medea didn't want to settle for being a side chick.

Medea wants revenge against Jason but she doesn't take her revenge on Jason, she takes revenge on everyone around him for the purpose of making him feel as alone and lost as he did her. She'll kill her own children, even if it kills her to do so, just to spite him a little more.

Which leads to one of my favorite scenes in all of fiction, Medea holding the knife over her own child's throat, bargaining with herself trying to convince herself to do something she objectively knows is wrong.

MEDEA I’ve made up my mind, my friends. I’ll do it—kill my children now, without delay, and flee this land. I must not hesitate. That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving.                                      No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life,                                will kill them. Arm yourself for this, my heart. Why do I put off doing this dreadful act, since it must be done? Come, pick up the sword, wretched hand of mine. Pick up the sword, move to where your life of misery begins. Don’t play the coward. Don’t remember now how much you love them, how you gave them life. For this short day forget they are your children                          and mourn them later. Although you kill them, still you loved them. As a woman, I’m so sad.     

Why would Madelyne after going through all that trouble to find her son, instead choose to give him to the fire? It's because for a person who was given so little choice over her own life, the choice to self-destruct is still a choice. The choice to destroy something with your own hands rather than let it be destroyed for someone else is still a choice.

That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving.                                      No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life,                                will kill them.

I think I may like Madelyne more than Jean at this point?

The same way I like Terra more than Raven. They're very similiar characters, but it takes possession by Trigon to get Raven to attack the titans. Terra just tries to kill them by her own free will. She's willing to bury herself if it gives her one last chance at burying the titans to too. Madelyne on the other hand is willing to walk barefoot into hell, if it means she can drag Scott and the X-Men with her. Jean does things under the influence of the Phoenix, but she chose to die as a human being at the end of Dark Phoenix. Madelyne however made the opposite choice, throwing all her humanity away she gave herself wholly and unreservedly to the fire.

Also damn, x-men 97 did this arc so dirty by speedrunning through it in one episode. This is also one of the most well set-up arcs in the X-Men comics with so many threads like X-Factor, X-Men and New Mutants all coming together. It really deserved its own season not like 2 episodes, and then Madelyne dying halfway through this season.

[elmundodeflor]

Come here, sit down. I have something important to tell you. A message that could save both our lives.

You’ll have two kids, Gabi and Falco, by the time you’re a little over forty. Well, no, it’s not like you’re gonna be a parent. At least, not in the sense that you’re probably thinking. But you’ll care for them. A lot more than you’ll ever want to admit. You’ll brew them your best tea, tell them bedtime stories about giants from a foreign land.

Gabi, the girl, she’s hotheaded, and reminds you of that time you saw firecrackers on a Marley festival. She gets angry at the world often, but she’s kind. And smart. And has a heart that has so many broken, empty spaces, she can take everyone else in; no questions asked.

Falco would never hurt a fly. He has this soft, warm gaze in his eyes that never deceives, never hides. They both look after me, us, though they’re just that— two children of war. Gabi carries my wheelchair, now holds the cups the same way we do. Falco tells her to shush whenever his instincts warn him, she’s making me talk too much.

I don’t know, I guess all this was to say: don’t listen to me. Ignore everything that you’ve ever been told. You’re not guilty of any of these wounds. It was never fair of you to take so much ache in such a tiny, fragile frame.

When I talk to myself, I’m not talking to you, did you realize? When I feel this huge pull at my chest, it’s like a part of me is breaking yours apart, as well.

I apologize, Levi.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

It’s understandable, that you run behind closed doors if you hear my footsteps. That my words make you tremble, and you go search for mom under the covers. You’re scared of me. I’m your nightmare. A ghost that paces in the darkness and looms in the corners of your sweet, sweet innocence.

Every punch I received, every slash that left my skin burnt open, it made you bleed. Every time I doubted myself, my own will to fight, I shrunk you. I made you smaller.

I turned into a monster. You search for me in the shadows, in the closet, under the bed. I’m everywhere. I’m all of them. I’m all those who hurt you, when all you needed was a pair of arms to stitch you back together.

I’m worse than the sum of every enemy. Titans, the nobles, the underground thugs who tore you to shreds. They were on the outside. But me, Levi— this pain—, it lives within us. It’s buried so deep, that it stings, and it makes every scrap of us sink to our very core.

I’m sorry. I am. Don’t listen to me, okay? When I talk to myself, every choice that I regret, it’s not about you. It was never about you.

Even so, though, why do I feel this way, then? Why is it that, every time I wanna hurt myself, I can hear you shout? Why is it that, whenever I put pressure on my shoulders, I can see your hands clinging at my sleeves?

I’m here, you’re there. So close, yet so far. And even at that, what I wanted to say is that there’s still hope.

There's still hope for the both of us.

I’m your monster, right? So, if you turn the lights up… remember? I disappear.

I can still recall every last bit you. Tender, naïve, hopeful, happy. So, turn the lights up, you little Levi. I want to look up in the mirror and find you there, looking back at me. I want you to take control. To take over the two of us.

Your voice is softer than mine, it has always been. Your voice can speckle the small, ordinary things in life with threads of marvel. It can create worlds, where days are ever-sunny and the air smells of herbs and tea.

Your voice will bring us home. I’m sure. Your voice will fill it with warmth seeping from its windows. I’ve been a monster too long, little Levi, but you’re still there somewhere. So, scream. Scream as loud as you can. Grow all the huge and all the brave that I could never be, for the sake of us both.

Or be tiny. Be tiny, and precious, and never let this sappy old grump rob you of your wide-eyed gaze.

And don’t believe a word I say.

And do what Gabi and Falco do for me. When I’m too weak to walk, they let me rest my hands on their shoulders. When I’m tired, or grey, or sick, they climb to my bed and tell me stories about kids who fought dragons and saved their loved ones. They’re my adults. They clean my shelves, they comb my hair, they heal this crumpled soul of mine.

You see? Maybe I’m not the adult that you’d wished me to be. I don’t always treat ourselves with kindness. I don’t always forgive ourselves for what we’ve done. So please, please, please, take care of me now. Be my adult, if only for a little while. I’m tired, and grey, and sick. And I need you. I need you like I need Gabi and Falco. I need you like I need mom.

And I’m sorry.

I apologize, Levi.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

But for right now, it’s you who has to show me that there’s still hope in this cruel, yet beautiful world.

That there’s still hope for the both of us.

[writing-for-life]

Hi my dear, I hope you're doing well.

I've been thinking about TLOS (SPOILERS)

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and about Morpheus' "relationship" with Iris. I was shocked for a moment, but then I was like "ok".

What was it like writing this? Where did you get this idea from? It's a bit risky, but it's also amazing haha. Was it always Iris or did you think of other gods/creatures for this?

Haha, of course it’s risky, that’s how I roll 🤣

So in case people haven’t read The Light of Stars and don’t want any spoilers, this is the exit sign…

But first of all, I’ll give you Pierre Narcisse Guérin:

I mean, how could you not? 🤣

So that painting was somewhat of an inspiration. Morpheus and Iris have a short history, but they were never an item (who knows with Greek gods though, right? 😉).

Where to start? The easiest way in is probably authorial intent. I needed some hook to make Morpheus believe that Thalia was special in some way. Well, to him she is anyway, but as in, “Why can she transcend certain rules?” Of course everyone who read it until the end knows that nothing is quite as it seems, but that revelation comes fairly late, and up until then, we do believe this is a possibility. And that’s a way in, because if he has a past with Iris, it’ll of course make him think.

Then, I obviously very heavily played on Psyche in the Underworld before you-know-what happens. There are many parallels, many Easter Eggs peppered all over the story that people might only recognise in hindsight, or only if they know their Greek mythology fairly well and recognise the references to Aphrodite’s tests, but Thalia’s path is not unlike that of Psyche (and the butterfly references are also because of that of course). I can’t possibly pick out every reference now because I’d recount the whole novel, but there are many.

Now, what does Psyche have to do with Iris?

Eros fell in love with Psyche, that was obviously the whole reason for her eventually falling asleep (the Stygian sleep was brought on by opening Persephone’s box, and I just took the liberty to spin enough yarn to say that Hypnos/Morpheus/Dream has to be involved in that. Because—sleep 🤣). And generally, Eros is assumed to be the son of Aphrodite. BUT there are a few retellings that make him the son of Iris and Zephyros. And how utterly terrible would it be if

a) Iris had a child that she fears might not be Zephyros’ but Morpheus’? And she she then gave the boy away to Aphrodite to bring him up as her own so Zephyros wouldn’t find out?

b) That child was Eros, who later fell in love with Psyche, and Morpheus played a part in them nearly not getting together (all’s well that ends well of course) without knowing he nearly ruined the love life of his potential son (which is totally something that would happen, he’s just not very good with his kids 🙈).

c) Millenia later, Dream’s own mother uses this to play a slightly twisted game.

d) That c) was exacerbated by the fact that Iris had a twin called Arke who sided with the titans during the titanomachy and hence lost her wings. And I just turned her into Dusk, Night’s handmaiden. Bold move, don’t care, my fic, because it made sense for the premise 🤣

When I wrote TLoS, I probably already had plot bunnies for a The Pillars of Creation (the sequel) without intending to ever write it (that has obviously changed). Suffice it to say, and as people will probably expect from me 🙈, nothing is quite as it seems, and there will be many twists and turns, but it’s a good side plot for the bigger issues at hand.

That probably all sounds super complicated and like blasphemy for Greek mythology lovers, but the Greeks retconned their own gods and their stories so many times that I felt no shame to make it work for me. I just love playing around with Greek mythology, and it made a lot of sense if we assumed that some Greek gods were really aspects of the Endless. And that people only believed they were gods like [Hypnos/Thanatos/Teleute, Nyx etc] while others gods were truly separate beings.

And even without that background, the story still worked. I hope 🙈🤣

Because quite frankly: There’s also something that hearkens back to Eros and Psyche in Morpheus and Thalia themselves, and how their story ends (for now). In more than one way. IYKNYK 🖤

@morpheusbaby3 ask answered

[themattress]

............Actually, let’s amend that statement.

In regards to the past few episodes of G-Witch, there’s been discourse about Miorine’s actions, how right or wrong they were, how culpable she is in the presently unfolding disaster on Earth, etc. And looking it all over, I gotta say...for the most part, this is 100% on Prospera, not Miorine. Because here’s the thing: Miorine in-universe and out gets a lot of praise for being really smart, a prodigy, a girlboss, etc. and yes, she is all that...but she’s also still a child. Realistically, there was no way that Miorine, for all her talents, was going to stand a chance matching wits against an experienced adult master manipulator like Prospera, and I’m not sure why anyone expected otherwise. Prospera knew exactly how to get into her head and how to lie or half-truth with believable conviction, so of course Miorine was going to be manipulated. l feel like assigning blame to Miorine is in the same vein as assigning blame to Sansa Stark for being manipulated by Cersei Lannister, or blaming any given Teen Titan for being manipulated by Slade Wilson. How about we just blame the grown-ass adult instead?

With that said, there was one thing she did wrong, which also gets misunderstood. See, looking at the situation from an objective lens what she pulled on Suletta in Season 2, Episode 5 was completely justified in terms of accomplishing what it needed to for Suletta. She’d tried being straightforward with Suletta and it didn’t work; Suletta’s known and trusted her mother and “sister” way longer than she has Miorine and couldn’t be persuaded to abandon them; they needed to abandon her if she was ever going to wake up from her brainwashing. However, the way in which Miorine did it was completely wrong-headed. Letting both her own personal realizations and anxieties mix with Prospera’s manipulation led Miorine to believe she’s doomed by blood and is her father’s daughter no matter how hard she tries not to be, so the best thing for everyone is for her to embrace that, to emulate her father and cut off all emotional ties, to let people believe she doesn’t care even when she does because “they’re better off that way”. Some people claimed she’s continuing an abuse cycle, but that doesn’t work when she’s this self-aware about her actions. What’s actually happening is that Miorine is continuing to abuse herself, and thinking that’s fine so long as she’s the only one who remains miserable as a result (and, as we all know...she wasn’t.)

Bringing up the Teen Titans and Slade again, this line from Robin fits well here: “Focused, serious, determined...as much as I hate to admit it, he and I are kind of alike. But there's one big difference between me and Slade. He doesn't have any friends.” Miorine should have realized that no matter what the similarities to her and Deling, she has friends and he doesn’t, and she should have reached out to them instead of just keeping things between herself, Prospera and Guel, neither of whom are people she likes. What she should really be kicking herself for now is just cutting Suletta loose and expecting her friends to pick her up rather than incorporating said friends in her plan of cutting Suletta loose from the beginning. Because now they don’t know what the Hell’s going on and are stumbling around blind.

Does anyone at this point, Suletta? Does anyone really? Thanks a lot, Mio-Mio!

[havendance]

Okay, I'm finally returning to the AU where Jason and Barbara are swapped so that she dies in a Killing Joker and Jason is paralyzed in A death in the family.

The simplest way to set up this AU (and why over-complicate things yet?) is to have it so that when Barbara Gordon opens the door, the Joker shoots to kill. However long later, when Jason is beaten half to death by the Joker, he survives the bomb, but he’s left paralyzed from the waist down. The Doctors say he’ll never walk again.

For now, Barbara Gordon is dead and we shall leave her there. She doesn’t haunt the narrative in the same way that Jason did. She was an adult when she died, removed from her former mantle. She wasn’t Bruce’s daughter. Her death weighs on Gordon, but then Sarah Essen returns to his life and his dead daughter fades into the background. Bruce, Dick, and Jason remember her, but there is no Batgirl memorial in the cave. She is just another symbol of the dangers they face. She comes up in vague aborted references and heavy silences.

(Now that I think about it, in a world where Barbara Gordon’s dead, I bet Helena ends up as Dick’s second primary love interest…)

Meanwhile, with Jason, we have a fairly standard Jason Lives!AU with the slight caveat that he’s in a wheelchair and can never become Robin again.

We’re not going to spend long on that because it could go any number of ways and I don’t want to be here all day, but to his some major points:

A Lonely Place of Dying doesn’t get triggered. Batman without Robin when Jason is paralyzed is worse, but not bad enough for Tim to feel the need to interfere. His parents probably still die in Rites of Passage because Batman is highly unlikely to leave Gotham to chase after some random kidnapping for ransom when he’s being overprotective of his recently paralyzed son. Or just have the Drakes die in a plane crash and skip the racism.

Jason as Robin is a character who doesn’t have many ties outside of Batman. Stuck in a wheelchair, he struggles even more with dilation. Barbara’s dead. Dick’s around more, but he still spends most of his time with the titans. He can’t be Robin and that means that he feels like he can’t be part of that community, losing the few connections he had there. On the civilian front, his injuries lead him to being held back a year. He doesn’t know any of his classmates, and stuck in the hormonal battleground of high school, he acutely feels the way that being stuck in a wheelchair makes him different.

I still need to read Oracle: Year One, but Jason is initially attracted to computers because of the anonymity the internet offers. On it, he can pretend to be normal; people don’t see the chair before they see him. From there, it expands into a way he can still help Bruce and be involved in the mission. Bruce says he doesn’t need to do anything, but with so much of their relationship tied up in being Batman and Robin, Jason wants to.

There is another Robin eventually. Dealer’s choice as to who. You can make an argument for Tim (the classic option), Steph (Girl power + Steph & Jason friendship) or, I don’t know, Lonnie ( I know he has fans, though, in full disclosure, I am ambivalent towards him). Whoever the choice, it’s alternatively important that they have the approval of both Dick, who originated the mantle, and Jason, who left it vacant.

But that’s enough about Jason. You want to know who I really want to talk about in this AU? You guessed it! Helena Bertinelli and Cassandra Cain.

It’s time for No Man’s Land baby~ (absolutely no one is surprised.)

Bruce leaves on an international guilt trip and brings his son with him, much to Jason’s annoyance. It’s over three months before he’s able to convince Bruce to return, and even then it’s only on the condition that Jason enrolls in a boarding school where it’s safe. (Jason is so looking forward to turning 18 when he can finally prove to Bruce that he can take care of himself.)

Meanwhile, Huntress is the sole vigilante presence in No Man's Land. It isn’t long before she recognizes the limits of her own mantle and takes on the mantle of the Bat. In this universe, she is called Batwoman.

It is as Batwoman that she runs into Cassandra, who has been living on the streets of Gotham.

No wait, better idea. Headcanon time: In between acting as two separate vigilantes, Helena also somehow finds the time to run a makeshift classroom for some of the kids stranded in No Man's Land. She recruits them to do odd jobs and in exchange,, she shares some of the food she has stashed wavy and tries to make sure they have at least some education. 

Cassandra is curious and comes first for the food and then for the stories and the reading/writing lessons she doesn’t understand. When she sees Batwoman for the first time and makes the connection, she becomes even more intrigued.

When Batman enters and starts working with Helena, Cassandra saves them both in a handmade costume and ends up as the new Batgirl.

Helena remains as Batwoman after the end of No Man’s Land in this AU. She misses being the Huntress, at the end, but she has Cass to look after now. They grew close in the chaos of No Man’s Land and now the girl’s moved in with her. Helena needs to be better for Cass. She can’t go back to killing because, on one level, Cass wouldn’t let her. On another, she doesn’t want to betray her trust. So she holds the line. She stops her more self-destructive tendencies and tries to do the best for Cass despite the fact that she doesn’t understand her on a fundamental level.

This all leads to her being a more integrated part of the batfam. She's featured in more Bat comics and plays a major supporting role in Batgirl.

Post-No Man’s Land, Jason turns 18, moves off to college, and starts his own Birds of Prey type team. Bruce stalks him, Jason yells at him for it, etc etc.

And now, we’ve arrived at the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Red Hood!Barbara Gordon!

Barbara Gordon’s Under the Red Hood arc is a narrative commentary on fridging and is ideally written by a female author. In this universe, Barbara Gordon was a character who was killed off and vanishes from the narrative. She was a thing pre-crisis but never really a presence post. She is a tombstone next to Sarah Essen. A name mentioned when arguing about the Joker, quickly forgotten to focus on his paralyzing of Jason.

She comes back loud and angry, insisting on being remembered. Look at me, she shouts. Look at my pain. My story should be about me. She sets up a series of circumstances and clues all point to her. To the terrible things that happened to her. Bruce and Gordon have made her death about them, she’s taking it back. Reclaiming it for herself.

She also torments and antagonizes Helena and Cass. They replaced her, they took her place. They don't even know what they've done. They are the first to see her face and they don’t even recognize her. They don’t know the legacy they have claimed. Barbara Gordon rages.

And then, of course, future writers ruin that shining star of an arc by making her ~evil~ and ~crazy~. It’s probably all because coming back from the dead made her infertile and she can’t ever be a mother. Women, am I right? (eyeroll)

Anyway, I want a Red Hood!Barbara Gordon arc now.

[rachelbachelcos]

Let’s Talk About Fairy Tail!

Before you start reading this just know that this does contain spoilers up to the end of the show. Also. YES. I will go on for hours about this show if you let me.

Recently I finished my third? fourth? rewatch of the Fairy Tail anime and was once again reminded how much I love it. Now I’m not one who likes to rank my favorite shows or have “Top 5’s” and the like, but Fairy Tail would definitely be at the top of mine if I did. It has definitely become one of my top comfort shows. 

I started watching anime sometime around 2018, so I haven’t been in the anime community for long, nor was I around when Fairy Tail started and when all of the opinions on the series were being voiced. Not long after I got into Fairy Tail, I learned that there was a lot of hate around it that I never really understood. Is it perfect? No, it definitely has its flaws. But many fan favorites aren’t.

I think what most people don’t understand, and need to, is that everybody consumes different media for different reasons. What I might be looking for in a show is not the same as what you are looking for in a show. One of the biggest tropes that Fairy Tail has and plays into is “found family”. This is the main reason that I keep coming back to watch this series. For individuals like me, who have always struggled to fit in and connect with their family, this is huge! This series makes you feel like a part of the guild, and like you are part of their created family. The guild accepts and embraces all of the differences and personalities of its members, something that people like me wished our families could do. They will do whatever they can to help each other. It is mentioned all the time how the guild is like a family, with Makarov always referring to its members as his “children”. I have never wished to crawl into my screen and be part of a fictional world more than this one.

Fairy Tail is a series that is bright, colorful, and full of hope and joy. It also is full of action and adventure. I’ve seen the argument that one of its problems is that nobody ever dies and there is too much “power of friendship”, but is that really such a bad thing? Sometimes we need the lightheartedness and comfort knowing that our favorite characters are going to be ok, and make it out alive. To put it into fanfic terms: sometimes we need a little more fluff, and less angst. There are plenty of other series that specialize in tackling more serious topics and dramatics. If I wanted to watch a bunch of people get killed, I’d go watch Attack on Titan. I’m certainly not watching that for its wholesome vibes. Reality already has so much intensity and drama. If I’m trying to escape from it for a bit, am I really escaping if the media I’m consuming is also full of it?

When it comes to pulling at your heartstrings, Fairy Tail actually does a pretty good job at that without anybody dying. For starters, the Tartaros arc as a whole is emotional. Between fanfics and edits that I had seen prior, I was aware of Aquarius’s key getting broken and her leaving before I even watched that episode. However when I did watch it, even knowing it was going to happen, it tore me up. I cried so hard. Don’t even get me started on the dragons at the end of the arc. Another emotional moment for me was during the Tenrou arc when Cana told Gildarts that she was his daughter. That moment made me tear up, but with happy tears. It’s especially endearing to see how they changed and adapted to that new relationship over the course of the rest of the series, especially Gildarts.

Speaking of character development, Fairy Tail actually does this well for some of the characters. Let’s start with Lucy. Yes. Lucy Heartfilia (I will not tolerate any Lucy hate)  has some great development. At the start of the series, she is shown to be scared and hesitant during missions and fights, and relying on the others to take care of business. Gradually she becomes stronger, both with her magic and mentality. Her growth feels like a natural and realistic progression. Come the end of the series Lucy has unlocked new and powerful sides to her magic, and fights alongside the others. Honestly, considering her background as a socialite, her development is even more impressive. I could write a whole ass essay about her character if I’m honest. It’s tempting.

Ok. Here’s my hot take: I don’t think that the fanservice in Fairy Tail is as bad as people make it out to be. Yes it is there, I'm not trying to say that it isn't, but for me, I don’t think it ever really took away from the story. Off the top of my head, there is mainly one instance that sticks out to me where I felt that it was excessive and unnecessary, and that was during the Grand Magic Games arc during Mirajane and Jenny’s battle. I also want to point out that it is the same characters who have the most fanservice that are deemed the strongest, while being simultaneously feared and looked up to for that strength. The fanservice is not their only character defining trait. I think if it were, then it would be a problem.

Some time after I started writing this (which I have been doing on and off for awhile now) I came across this video on TikTok that talked about one of Fairy Tail’s best factors is its enjoyability, and I loved that simplistic explanation of the series. 

I have so many more thoughts about this series, but I’ll stop here. My other thoughts might eventually get their own posts. Especially if I feel like spending time focusing on specific characters or moments (that Lucy character analysis is itching for me to write it). On that note, I am always down to scream about Fairy Tail if you are!

Other places to find me: Instagram, TikTok

[phoenixkaptain]

Random Teen Titans thoughts, 1966 edition:

-nothing can escape Aqualad’s notice. Not giant, noticeable ears or giant, metal conquistadores

-I’m pretty sure TT #1 is the introduction to characters, especially Robin, saying “Quick like a bunny, Kid Flash!” which is just really funny to me

-this happens more often than I thought (I’m rereading these early comics), but Robin almost always explains things when asked. And his explanations are always long and in-depth and he is a giant nerd

-Robin says “What can possibly happen?” because he’s Robin and that’s just what Robin does

-Robin says “Hope there’s nothing more popping from that pyramid!” because he did not learn his lesson the first time

-the villain made a giant, metal conquistadore, but the weird animals with human faces were just incarnations of the beast god. Nobody questions this

-I think Kid Flash practices by juggling with his feet. Otherwise, I have no idea what the panel was implying

-“You’re strictly feom Squaresville if you don’t put down the drags - like you’re cubed, but def!”

“You sure that is English, Penny?”

I love this interaction and I’m with Garn on this one, sorry, Penny

-Aqualad says “great waves and all that jazz” basically mocking the interjections they’ve all been saying (including him) and I just think that’s funny

-Kid Flash says “Better find a hole in the sky, and hide this egg-beater, Robin!” and no, context does not make it make any sense

-Wonder Girl ties her hair to a tree branch because her grip is slipping. Miraculously, this works

-the image of Wonder Girl holding up Aqualad, who is holding up Robin, who does not seem to notice nor care about his current predicament, is both adorable because Robin has such complete faith in his teammates and hilarious because he is dangling precariously with only an Aqualad to keep him from falling

-Aqualad says “Quick like a bunnyfish- if there is such a thing!” I’m pretty sure he’s making fun of Robin

-Gotham banks have machine guns set up in their walls, in case of burglaries. This explains quite a lot

-Robin says his math mark (his math grade) could be better, and I do not believe him

-Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd’s shop is called Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd’s Hot-Rod Hive: the Hottest Buckets This Side of Dragsville, and I don’t know how to feel about that

-Robin gets handcuffed to a speeding motorbike. He can’t stop the bike, but I just don’t understand the thought process. If Ding-Dong wants him dead, why did he not just kill him? Ding-Dong is a ding dong

-Kid Flash: “I failed.”

Aqualad: “I failed.”

Robin: “We all failed.”

10/10 leadership

-The narration claims that there was an outstanding outcry for Speedy to be added. I don’t know if I believe them. This is only issue #4

-Speedy decides it would be better to break into the Teen Titans’ hideout and set off the alarm, instead of giving them any head’s up that he’s coming. He’s right, it was better

-someone swapped Speedy’s arrows with explosive-rigged arrows and expected Speedy not to notice

-Davey (important character)’s dad tries to intimidate Robin, which was just hilarious. You really think Robin, Boy Wonder from Gotham City (the city with machine guns in the bank walls) is going to be intimidated but a bad dad? Silly

-Kid Flash says “I’d know that beautiful racing form anywhere!” of Davey, and I just think that’s funny

-Davey’s dad is the absolute worst. He made his son cry. He’s such a dick

-Davey says “I’m going like a big-tailed bird, Robin!” and I just don’t understand the relevance

-Davey’s dad decides to be less of an asshole, which is nice

-this exchange between Wonder Girl and Robin:

“He’s cute- cuter than any of you characters!”

“You can bet your magic lasso, W.G., that we will hook up with Speedy again!”

-the Ant is the son of a circus strongman and an acrobat. He and Robin should be pals

-Robin calls Aqualad “Sea Flea”

-Beast Boy can’t be part of the Doom Patrol without guardian permission. He also can’t be part of the Teen Titans without guardian permission (Robin saying “Batman had to okay me!” is funny because who did Batman okay Robin to?) Beast Boy thinks they just think he’s a freak, and runs off to the circus

-I saw a review say that Beast Boy’s arc was too similar to Pinocchio, because Beast Boy wants to “be a real hero,” but I have no idea where that idea came from? Beast Boy doesn’t give a shit about being a hero, he just wants to go somewhere and feel like he belongs

-Aqualad says this: “Holy hagfish, Robin… you figure we can get away with this bit- impersonating circus performers?” which is just funny because he’s asking the circus performer if he can accurately perform in a circus (I don’t think the Teen Titans know each other’s identities at this point)

-Robin calls Aqualad “Minnow”

-Robin says they should rethink letting Beast Boy join the team, and in the end, it’s left up the the audience to decide. As in, us, the readers reading the comic. As I said before, I’ve read a lot of these comics before (up to #43), and Beast Boy does not appear as part of the team in any of these issues. Poor Beast Boy

-I ship Robin and Aqualad, and I can’t explain it. I just find their dynamic, Aqualad questioning Robin and Robin being generally unfazed, is cute. And he calls Aqualad “Minnow” come on

[aiitheoutsinfree]

Imprisonment (Gone, Not Forgotten 5)

Annie Leonhardt x Reader

Word Count: 896

Warnings: Mikasa hate, I’m so sorry, I love Mikasa too, but the idea came to me.

Summary: Campfire tensions

——————

Your first day of freedom could’ve been better, but you’re happy just to have Annie with you. Granted she’s not been acting like herself, having spent the last hour or so cuddled up to you in front of everyone else, compared to when she’d pretend she didn’t even know you.

You can feel them staring at you, and though initially you want to keep avoiding the confrontation, better to get it out of the way now. Avoiding Reiner’s look of pity, you meet her eyes.

“What do you want, Mikasa?”

She flinches at your tone, so you continue with a sigh, “Get it over with.”

“I just want to say that I’m sorry, Y/N.”

You nod angrily, Annie moving back in confusion while you unbutton your shirt. Stopping at the button just above your chest, you pull back the unhindered top portion of your shirt. Doing so reveals the scar running down your neck, going beyond the still covered part of your chest. You can feel the exact moment Annie sees it, her body going stiff as a board.

Smiling sadly, “You did this to me, Mikasa. I saw you as my sister, and you said you did, too.”

“I acted without thinki-“

“Five months! You put me in a coma for five months! And when I woke up, you acted like you were the one who was hurt! I told you I loved her, that I’d do anything for her! I…I told you that if we survived the Scouts, I was gonna propose to her! You had no right to act surprised!”

You walk to her side of the fire, leaning close to her face, and try to ignore the fact that the people who used to be your friends readied themselves to draw their weapons. Your brows furrow when you see Mikasa’s glassy eyes.

Your voice is firm but controlled, “I was in that cell for four years, and I never heard a word from you. If you cared, you would’ve said something.” You turn your attention to the others, their hands still on their weapons.

“All of you abandoned me! At least Annie and Reiner had good reasons!”

Your anger stalls when you feel Annie pulling at your sleeve. Looking down at her, she motions for you to follow. You turn toward the others before walking away.

“If any of you even attempt to enter my tent, I will not hesitate to force you back out.”

You ignore the looks of betrayal and regret as you follow Annie.

—————

Annie, upon entering the tent behind you, rests a hand on your arm.

“Y/N, would you mind explaining to me what the hell that was?”

“Which part: The scar, the imprisonment, or the proposal?”

“You know which parts, don’t try to distract me.”

You sit on a makeshift nest of blankets and pillows, staring at the ground while trying to think of what to say. The bed dips beside you, and your head is guided to Annie’s lap. Slowly, you start to speak.

“In Stohess, when you fell from the wall and Eren’s titan was running toward you, I tried slowing him down by cutting his heels. Obviously, it didn’t work.”

Annie hums in acknowledgment as she starts running her fingers up and down the arm closest to her.

“When he got up and tried to eat you, I tried stopping him again. That’s where my memory stops, because apparently Mikasa thought I was going to kill Eren, and decided he was the more worthwhile sibling.”

You look up at her, and while it’s clear she disagrees, she urges you to carry on.

“Erwin saved my life; He managed to have me imprisoned instead of executed, said that ‘while I acted out of turn, it was clearly out of love for you, and not due to any ill intentions toward the Scouts.’ He even managed to get me the privilege of visiting you daily, since where I was held was down the hallway from you anyway.”

“But how did you get out? You were with Hitch, you said Marleyans helped you?”

“They…the Jeagerists were gonna execute me, use me as an example. Pieck only saved me cause heard about me while she was undercover, said she remembered Reiner talking about us.”

At that Annie stops petting you, looking down at you. You can’t help but be struck by how beautiful she is by the light of a lamp; It’s something you’ve noted before, but it just feels so good to do so again after nearly half a decade. Annie looks like she wants to say something, but lapses into a comfortable silence upon noticing that you’ve relaxed. The two of you just look into each other’s eyes, basking in the attention you’ve both missed for so long. You notice a blush creeping up her face, and raise a brow at her. Avoiding your gaze, she clears her throat.

“So…marriage?”

“What about it.”

“Still up for it?”

“I-I mean, if you are.”

You’re not sure where this conversation is going, but your eyes go wide when Annie pulls her ring off of her hand and slips it onto your ring finger.

“This is…a promise, that I’ll fight for you, for us.”

“I love you, Annie Leonhardt.”

[skymaiden32]

Mariana Trench

AO3 link here

Fandom: Stingray

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou @amistrio @uniwolfcorn (Please ask if you would like to be updated when I update or write new stories)

The battle for Pacifica has begun...

Hi *waves in no update for eight months*

I have no words for how late this is honestly. Big life stuff happened, I went to ComicCon (which was a blast; I went as Marina and met some awesome new people >:3), exams came and went, and then I got hit by the combined forces of a whopper of writer's block and burnout from aforementioned exams.

I would say the update times will get better from here, but I'm heading into the last year of university and will get very busy from September. Fingers crossed though ^^

Anyway, on with the chapter! >:D

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9: Battle of Pacifica

------

Phones examined the bars across the large windows carefully, humming worriedly as he did so. They were too narrow to squeeze between, so escaping that way was out of the question. The doors were locked and bolted from the outside. If they ever did get out, it wouldn’t be for a long time, and the Titanican attack on Pacifica may well be over. Phones groaned, jiggling the door handle in frustration in a last ditch hope it would come loose somehow. No luck…

He stole a glance over at Fisher, who was also looking for a way out. They caught each other’s eyes, and the younger aquanaut slumped his shoulders in defeat. It looked like they’d be here for quite some time. 

------

“And you are certain they cannot escape?” X20’s screen showed his King and his immediate superior, standing side by side as the battle raged on behind them. From the looks of it, the Titanicans had their enemies on the run.

“Positive, Captain.” X20 confirmed. “I made sure of it. And even if they do get away, I removed anything from my personal files relevant to the plan…”

“I applaud you for your foresight… For once.” Titan hummed, muttering the last part under his breath. “Losing Lemoy as a base of operations is not ideal, but it is necessary.”

Trench nodded in agreement. “Well done, X20. Return to Titanica and await further instructions.” He looked back at the chaos behind him. “The battle is almost over from the looks of it, so your assistance will likely not be required.”

X20 saluted, and the video winked off. Titan turned to his second-in-command. “Return to the battlefield. I realise you might have…” the tyrant frowned, “hesitations about it, but the Princess is a force to be reckoned with. If we are to win, she must be taken care of.”

Trench couldn’t help the proud smile that spread across his face. Of course Marina was carving her path through the enemy. He’d seen her in action before. Pacificans were pacifists by nature, but the rivalry with Titanica had changed that, and their Princess had WASP training under her belt, in addition to the combat lessons Aphony had insisted she take after returning from her capture. She was a worthy opponent.

Of course he had doubts about fighting the mermaid. She had once been like a sister to him. But if his King were to get any further in his goal, it was necessary. “I will not fail, O’ Mighty One…”

“See that you don’t…” Titan turned his attention back to the window, overlooking the battle. The sea-green blur that was Princess Marina, cutting down Aquaphibian after Aquaphibian, taunted him. “You know better than anyone, I am not merciful to those who fail me.”

Trench saluted, turning on his heel, and headed into battle against his former allies.

------

“You got any paper and a pen?” Fisher asked, beyond bored. The aquanauts were sat at the small table, watching the sun set on the horizon. All they could really do was wait. The beauty of the sunset currently meant nothing. “I wanna write something…”

Phones gave him a look. “Really?”

Fisher shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like we have anything better to do.”

“Good point.” Phones stood up. “Well, to answer your question, yes, I have a pen,” he took the item out his pocket, placing it on the table in front of Fisher, “I don’t have any paper, but I might be able to grab a blank page from a book over there…” He pointed towards the small bookshelf, getting up and walking over to grab a book, when a thought crossed his mind. “Wait a minute…” Fisher looked at him quizzically as he bent down to look through the keyhole of the door. Phones smirked when he realised he couldn’t see through the small hole. The key was still in there! X20 must’ve forgotten to take it out. “Of course!”

The younger Lieutenant raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

Phones hushed him, getting more and more excited by the minute. “Never mind that, just gimme that pen back.” Fisher gave Phones a look, but did so anyway. The older man knelt down, judging the space under the door. Good. It was just big enough for this to work…

Grabbing a larger book, Phones tore a page out, slipping it under the door so it would be under the outside keyhole. He left a small slither of paper so he could pull it back towards him. Fisher’s eyes widened when he realised what his friend was up to. 

Phones took apart the pen, grabbing ahold of the ink cartridge inside, and gently threaded it through the keyhole. Soon enough, a thud was heard on the other side of the door as the key fell. Fisher gave him a hopeful look. “Think it fell where we want it to?”

“Guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Phones knelt down, and gently pulled the piece of paper towards the aquanauts. The silver gleam of the key was their reward. Phones picked it up with a flourish, exchanging a smirk with Fisher. Next stop, Pacifica.

------

Marina twirled through the water with grace as she exchanged blows with her friend turned enemy. When Trench had first appeared on the battlefield, he had muttered out an apology to Marina, heard only by her. The Princess had shuddered at the robotic voice. It was hard to forget the way she’d heard Troy’s dulcet tones behind it, now she knew it was him wearing the mask. Silently, she had given orders to the soldiers under her command, both Pacifican and WASP alike, to keep away from them as they fought. They’d obeyed, making a move to guard the throne room, where her father was anxiously awaiting the conclusion of the battle, and the return of his only child.

Blades clashed, Marina giving Trench a pleading look. If any part of him was still Tempest, it would at least stir something in him. She wished she knew what was going on his head. She wished she could see the emotions on his face.

On the other side of the watertight mask, Troy was struggling to keep the tears at bay. He hadn’t expected it to be so hard to face Marina in combat. Physically, they were almost evenly matched, with him just outclassing her, but there was something in the Princess’s pleading gaze that gave him pause everytime he went in for what should be the final strike. She was part of the reason why he’d left WASP, wasn’t she? So, why was it so hard to fight her?

“Stingray!” The panicked exclamation from one of the Aquaphibians caught everyone’s attention. Every faction involved looked up as the silver super-sub sped towards the greater WASP fleet. Marina and her people on the field grinned as it lead an attack on the Aquaphibian ships. Their enemy looked on in fear, knowing instantly that they would lose the battle. The Princess was certain she could Titan growl from wherever he was watching.

“Captain Trench.” The King’s cold voice caught his attention. “Issue a full retreat. We’ll never win with Stingray on their side. I’ll discuss both your and X20’s failures once we are safe behind Titanican walls…”

The human nodded, even though he knew his superior wouldn’t see it, and shivered. “Yes, sire.” Making a subtle gesture toward the closest Aquaphibian, the order quickly spread, and soon, the invaders were on the run. As they watched them leave, the Pacificans silently cheered, embracing each other in celebration. Marina smiled gently as her gaze swept along her people, never prouder to call herself a Pacifican. She was taken aback when she was pulled into a tight hug, although her grin widened when she realised who it was, holding her father just as tight.

On board Stingray, Phones and Fisher sadly watched as their once friend retreated with the enemy, even as the sounds of their colleagues on the comms and the sight of the Pacificans celebrating flooded their senses. Fisher cleared his throat. “I forgot to ask…” Phones turned to look his friend in the eye, grateful for the distraction. “How’d you know how to get the key?”

Phones smiled sadly at Fisher. “Troy taught me.” Phones sighed as he remembered that day. They’d been so excited to work on the same crew. Where had it all gone wrong? “It was on our first mission together.”

Fisher took note of the older man’s downcast face. “We’ll get him back, Phones.”

Phones sighed, turning Stingray’s nose back in the direction of Marineville. “I hope you’re right…”