#disclaimer that i do try my very best not to kill spiders

[frogayyyy]

if i was a spider i would simply not crawl towards the giant human that could kill me

[reactionimagesdaily]

I dont understand bionicles at all, so maybe a crash course into like. 1) what a bionicle is 2) general plot of the bionicle story? happy 5k btw <3 love ur page!

OH BOY OH BOY, this is a question I've been waiting for. Thank you so much for asking, and I’m glad you like my page!! <333

A couple of disclaimers, before I start: I'm going to focus mostly on the mainline plot, but let it be known that there WERE a bunch of serial stories and comics and games that added to the story overall. Bionicle was, I think, one of the first big instances of a plot that was consumed through a bunch of different mediums.

I'm also going to try and do a lot of streamlining - it's not that I DON'T want to talk about bionicle, but there's 10+ years of story to cover, so... yeah. :P

Also! Sorry in advance to anyone whose 'read more' function doesn't work, because this is gonna be a doozy

So, what is a bionicle? From a meta perspective, Bionicle is a Lego theme that ran from 2001-2010, and was briefly rebooted from 2015-2016. It's name is a mashup of biological chronicle, and it was hugely successful in its time, essentially helping to save the Lego company from bankruptcy. The idea is that you use finnicky technical pieces to build humanoid figures (and sometimes their vehicles!) and then. play with them

From a textual/lore perspective, I'm not sure Bionicle is an in-universe term lol. But the characters that we recognise as 'bionicles' are grouped into a bunch of different classifications - 'Toa', 'Matoran', 'Makuta', 'Glatorian', and so on. The characters are kinda like inverse cyborgs, where there's metal on the outside and flesh and muscle on the inside. They often function like robots (e.g. have removable and replaceable masks that they constantly wear over their faces) but are still essentially living creatures.

So, what's the general plot of the story?

...[inhales deeply] Okay

In the time before time, there's an island called Mata Nui that sits in the middle of the ocean. It's populated by these dinky lil' guys called 'Matoran' that live in six villages organised by elements - fire, water, ice, air, earth, and stone. They eke out a life as best they can, facing dangerous wild animals (collectively called 'Rahi') and worshipping the Great Spirit, who is confusingly also called Mata Nui. (They named the island after him.) The great spirit, they say, once watched over them all, but was long ago forced into an enchanted sleep by his evil brother.

(These are the matoran. Look at these cute little guys :3)

One day, six canisters wash ashore, on the island's golden beaches. And out of these canisters step six strange figures called Toa. Tall, strong, and heavily armed, there is one of these 'Toa' for each of the villages, and each of these guys have control over an element. They are the main 'heroes' of this story.

(These are the six Toa. Here's a fun game - spot the girl!)

Each of the six Toa are named characters - from left to right we have Onua (wise and grounded), Lewa (fun-loving and mischievous), Pohatu (friendly and confident), Tahu (hot-headed and impulsive), Kopaka (cold and quiet), and Gali (intelligent and compromising). Some of the Matoran are also named characters - there's Jaller, the captain of the guard at the fire village, Hahli, a sports player from the water village, Matoro, a translator from the ice village, and Takua, who's technically from the fire village but is also an 'outsider' who tends to wander the island. Takua is especially important because he becomes the Toa's 'chronicler', following them around on their adventures and writing everything down for posterity.

Without getting into too much detail, the Toa spend two real-life years getting into wacky highjinks. They hunt for masks (as aforementioned, the masks they wear can be removed and replaced) that grant them special powers, fight the Rahi, and also face up against a terrifying race of creatures with mind-control powers called the Bohrok that are determined to strip the island of all life. They also fight against a being called Makuta, a mysterious shadowy figure who claims to be the brother that forced Mata Nui into his slumber. When they first meet him, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to throw them off, before turning into a nebulous black void and doing his best to murder them all to death.

(Makuta as he appears in 2001's 'Mata Nui Online Game'. As far as villain introductions go, marching out to meet all the heroes and then telling them "I bore you, for I am nothing. It is from nothing that you came, and it is into nothing you will go. The people of this world are builders, but look into their hearts, and you will find they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I will destroy you." is pretty fucking solid though I say so myself.)

There’s a lot of cool worldbuilding and mysterious details about the island. At one point, the earth Matoran note that they can only dig so far into the dirt before they come across some hard material - some type of metal - that they just can’t break through. Also, amidst the stars in the sky, there’s an ominous blood-red star that’s appropriately known as the Red Star. What’s it doing there? Nobody knows

Also at one point, the Toa also get mutated into new forms after falling into a liquid that's called 'energized protodermis' but should really be called 'McGuffin Sauce'. There's a lot of changing forms and characters being mutated in this series in general, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that Lego always needed new figures to make into toys.

(This is how the Toa look after being mutated. In these forms, they're referred to as the Toa Nuva -and let me assure you that that distinction will soon become necessary. :P)

So, in 2003 in our world (I’m not sure about the timeline within the lore), Takua the chronicler finds a mysterious mask and brings it back to the Turaga, who are the wise old rulers of the Matoran (The most promiment of the Turaga is the Turaga of fire, who’s called Vakama. He’s an even-tempered and wise old man who’s not above hitting villains with his walking stick if they threaten his village.). It turns out that the mask is special - it’s the mask of Light, and it’s part of a prophecy that involves the arrival of a seventh Toa who’s destined to defeat Makuta. So Takua and Jaller go on an adventure to try and find the seventh Toa.

Meanwhile, Makuta isn’t just going to sit around and wait for the Toa who’s destined to defeat him to rock up: he unleashes his secret weapons, the Rahkshi, who are, in lore, suits of armour driven by slugs. Sounds corny - in practice, they’re hella intimidating.

(Look at these bad boys)

Some more adventures happen and, to make a long story short, the Rahkshi kill Jaller and Takua the chronicler puts the mask of light onto his own face, transforming into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. The audience surrogate and ‘weird’ character was the secret hero all along!! I love that honestly.

(Takua and Takanuva - before and after)

As someone with light powers, Takanuva is essentially the perfect counter to the big bad Makuta, who has shadow powers, so he finds Makuta’s lair intent on beating him. Makuta challenges him to a game that’s called ‘Kohlii’ but is basically this universe’s version of lacrosse - Takanuva accepts and proceeds to wipe the floor with him. During their fight, they fall into another conveniently-placed pool of energized protodermis and become merged, forming a new being called ‘Takutanuva’. Takutanuva doesn’t stick around very long, because he’s this weird contradictory being of both light and shadow, but before he fractures he opens a gate underneath Mata Nui and lets the Toa, the Turaga, and some named Matoran get through. Inside, they find a hidden city - a whole other world.

Takutanuva then manages to use his powers to hack the universe and bring Jaller back to life. Hooray! After that, he dies, and Takanuva is back. Makuta is nowhere to be found. [eyes emoji]

So now the Toa, the old Turaga, and a couple of Matoran are inside this whole new location, and they’re all wondering what the heck is going on. Well, not all of them are wondering. Vakama, the head Turaga, steps forward and admits that actually, the six (seven) Toa heros that we’ve come to know and love... aren’t actually the first Toa. Gasp!

The next two years of sets and story are essentially one giant flashback, as Vakama tells the current heroes about adventures past. It turns out that the hidden city they’ve found is called Metru Nui, and once upon a time, Vakama and the other Turaga were Toa themselves, fighting to keep the city and the matoran safe.

(New (old) Toa! The flying green one is Matau, who was a stunt-driving excitable madman, and then on the ground from left to right we have Whenua (nerdy chronicler), Nokama (schoolteacher-turned-superhero), Vakama (anxiety-ridden leader), Nuju (absent-minded stargazer), and Onewa (racist prick who needs (and gets) a character arc). To differentiate themselves from the Toa that we’ve come to know and love, these Toa are the Toa Metru)

They had a bunch of adventures of their own. They fought the Vahki (capture robots upholding an authoritarian police state) and the Morbuzakh (evil sentient vines), and they also had ‘arch enemies’ in the form of the Dark Hunters, who were mercenaries that hunted Toa.

Also, that story about Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep? Not a story so much as a history lesson! Ultimately, the reason that the city of Metru Nui was abandoned was because Mata Nui WAS awake, watching over them all, but then Makuta forced him into slumber and essentially caused a cataclysm. The Matoran were rounded up and forced to sleep as well, and the Toa Metru had to flee the city. When they came back, it had been overrun with Visorak (basically giant spiders), and they had to fight hard to defeat the horde and its leaders and escape with all of the sleeping Matoran.

Once they left Metru Nui (and arrived on the island that would become Mata Nui), the Toa Metru sacrificed their powers to wake up all the Matoran - which is how they transformed into the wise old Turaga. Also, the Matoran woke up with no memories, which is how they’d never known about Metru Nui up until this point.

Anyways, after exploring Metru Nui and making plans to move back in, everyone does some digging around and discover something about Mata Nui: his spirit is fading. Whatever Makuta did to him, it not only put him to sleep, but it’s also slowly killing him. After presumably having an existential crisis, the gang come up with a solution: there’s another legendary mask, the Mask of Life, that should be able to resuscitate Mata Nui, or at the very least, keep him from kicking the bucket while he’s sleeping.

(The Mask of Life! If you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is shaped like a humanoid figure (because, yaknow, life) and if you think that’s not the tightest shit ever you can get out of my face)

So, the modern-day Toa (the Toa Nuva, if you guys remember the name) are like ‘okay, give us the location of the mask, we’ll go and find it’. So they get sent to another island, this one called Voya Nui, and they arrive and... get their asses handed to them? What?

A quick backtrack: a gang of thugs called the Piraka had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life, wanting it so they can use its power to blackmail powerful organisations and generally get ahead in the criminal world. (From a Meta perspective, they’re,,, really interesting. Up until this point, the villains in Bionicle had either been wild animals, or villains with grand overarching plans. These guys are basically overpowered street thugs, complete with their own theme song - the ‘Piraka Rap’. Look it up on YouTube; it’s fucking hilarious, because the rest of Bionicle is generally timeless, but the Piraka Rap was basically dated as soon as it came out. I love it.)

(The Piraka themselves! Fun fact; in Bionicle lore, ‘Piraka’ is a slang term for ‘thief’ and ‘murderer’, and was also considered so vulgar that if a Matoran called another Matoran ‘Piraka’, war would be declared over it. These guys are really just going around calling themselves slurs. I have to respect that.)

So, yeah. The Piraka defeat and imprison the Toa Nuva when they get to the island. Now what?

Well, now it’s time for the Matoran to get involved! A group of named and previously-established Matoran set out to see if they can rescue the Toa. There’s Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro, who I’ve already mentioned, and then there’s Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii. And I need to take a break to say that all these characters have been with the story since 2001 (it’s now 2006), and they’ve all contributed to the plot before!! Kongu is a prominent Matoran from the air village who led a flight of giant bird-riders to save the day one time, and Nuparu is an engineer from the earth village who basically invented mechs to help the Matoran defend themselves against the Bohrok. These guys are BADASSES and I want to bring up how a really strong initial 3 years of storytelling laid a great foundation for so many small characters. It’s just neat! :D

Anyways, these Matoran travel to the island of Voya Nui in canisters (like how the original Toa landed on Mata Nui) and while they’re sailing the ocean blue, their canisters are struck by lighting from the mysterious Red Star. And that lighting, say it with me now, TRANSFORMS them! Specifically it transforms them into Toa. They end up calling themselves the Toa Inika, because they’re searching for the mask of life, which is also called the ‘Ignika’.

(The Toa Inika. Being transformed by a bolt of lighting means that in addition to their regular elemental powers, they also have electric/lighting abilities.)

Souped-up and ready for action, the Toa Inika manage to defeat the Piraka and rescue the Toa Nuva. However, through plot shenanagins, the Mask of Life ends up being sent to the bottom of the ocean around Voya Nui, and the Toa Inika learn that under the waves is a hidden city - Mahri Nui. As they descend, the Mask of Life does something odd; it sends out a wave of energy, transforming the Toa Inika so that they can breath underwater. So now, they’re the Toa Mahri. (Because they’re headed to Mahri Nui. You get me?)

Mahri Nui is ruled by the Barraki - ancient warlords who were imprisoned under the sea many thousands of years ago after they became powerful enough to threaten Mata Nui himself. They were put in a prison called The Pit, but during the cataclysm caused by Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep, the city of Mahri Nui sunk into the water and slammed into the Pit. Many prisoners and Matoran died, but the Barraki were freed. Uh-oh, spaghetti-ohs.

Speaking of Makuta - guess who’s back! Thought dead after no-one could find him after Takutanuva died, it turns out that his spirit is possessing a robot body that had previously been a prison guard. He spends some time hanging out with one of the Toa Mahri, Matoro, basically playing mind games with him and trying to get him to turn to the dark side. Eventually, three different characters and factions smack the shit out of him, and he slips out of the robot body to go do... something else (watch this space). 

This year of story was REALLY plot-heavy and I kinda can’t do it justice here. The important developments are that the Toa Mahri eventually manage to reclaim the Mask of Life, and Matoro yoinks it. While his teammates act as a big distraction, he swims away and puts on the mask. It basically grants him ultimate power, but it also fuckin’ kills him. His final acts are to teleport his friends to safety, and then release a massive burst of energy that burns him up and saves Mata Nui’s life. The Mask of Life, with no-one left to wear it, sinks into the ocean.

(“In his last moments, Matoro feels no fear. He know he has succeeded--the Toa Mahri are safe, able to resume their lives in Metru Nui. The Turaga and Matoran will know that they became true heroes. Matoro does not see himself as a hero. As a Matoran, a Toa Inika, and a Toa Mahri, all he ever tried to do was his duty. Now that duty has led him to his destiny.”- Bionicle Ignition 11: Death of a Hero)

[dries tears] Anyways, now that Mata Nui’s life has been saved, the only thing left to do is wake him back up. To do that, the Toa Nuva (the Toa that showed up at the very beginning of this story, if you recall) need to journey to the core of the universe, and a civilisation called Karda Nui. Three of the Toa Nuva - Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka - are sent to a village in the clouds, where they protect the local matoran and battle the forces of Makuta. Because, as it turns out, the big bad Makuta that we know? Makuta is actually the name of his species. The guy just wanted to feel special, apparently. The Makuta that the Toa have been fighting for over half a decade is technically called Makuta Teridax (or just Teridax), while the other Makuta have other names that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Anyways, while those three Toa are figuring that out, the other three - Tahu, Gali, and Onua - journey to a place called the Swamp of Secrets in order to find a set of keystones that supposedly contain instructions on how to awaken Mata Nui. And it’s there that they find an unlikely ally: the Mask of Life itself.

See, the Mask of Life has always been a weird one - if you recall, it released an energy pulse for no reason that transformed the Toa Mahri and let them breath underwater. (It’s also done some other fucky stuff that I haven’t been able to mention - there’s a short story about how one time, a guy touched it, and it gave him the ability to involuntarily bring everything around him to life, which ultimately drove him mad. So. You know. That’s fun.) Well, it turns out that when the mask sank into the ocean after Matoro’s death, it ultimately ended up in the swamps of Karda Nui, and it senses the battles raging about it. More than that, but it remembers Matoro’s bravery as he donned the mask knowing it would kill him, and remembers how his final wish was to save his friends. Wanting to know what it means to be a hero, the Mask of Life creates a body for itself, and ventures out into the swamp to discover its destiny.

(The Mask of Life has a body now!! Good for him! Good for him.)

There’s some more shenanigans that I’m skipping over - at one point, Takanuva (Toa of light, remember him?) rocks up to help. Long story short, our eight heroes - Tahu, Gali, Onua, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Takanuva, and the Mask of Life - fight their way through the Makuta and into the very core of the universe - the Codrex. Inside, after yet more shenanigans, the Mask of Life figures that in order to wake Mata Nui up, it will have to sacrifice the body it’s built for itself. The moment is sad, but the mask remembers Matoro’s sacrifice, and is inspired to act. He sacrifices his dreams of becoming a hero, and in doing so, becomes a hero... ;_;

The mask flies deep into the Codrex, its body dissolving; when it reaches the bottom, it creates a massive energy storm that the other characters have to escape. (Our heroes make it out - most of the villains end up getting vaporized, big RIP.)

And just like that, the journey is over. After years of battle, the Toa Nuva have completed their purpose, and awakened the great spirit, thus bringing peace back to the land. Everyone meets back up in Metru Nui - the Toa Nuva, the Toa Mahri, the Turaga, the remaining Matoran. It’s a glorious day. And as they gather, something happens.

Deep, deep beneath the ocean, energy pulses through rock, and machines that have been dormant for millennia begin to whirr and move. The island of Mata Nui - long abandoned as the Matoran moved back down into Metru Nui - cracks open like a wallnut, each half sliding into the sea. From underneath where the island had been, a tremendous head rises out of the ocean, countless galleons of water pouring off of it. Titanic shoulders follow. Then the chest, and the limbs, and slowly, surely, Mata Nui rises.

Meta context: for years, the nature of Mata Nui has been a mystery. Is he a metaphysical being? Is he a real person? No-one was sure... but they know now. That solid material that the earth Matoran couldn’t mine through, all the way back in 2001? That was his skin. The mysterious red star that created the Toa Inika? That was a failsafe machine orbiting Mata Nui, poised to create new Toa as necessary. The island of Mata Nui was atop his head, Metru Nui was his brain, Karda Nui was deep in his guts. The Matoran were workers to keep him functioning, the Toa were basically his immune system (the canisters they arrive in are literally shaped like pills)... All this time, all these stories, all these characters, this entire world - they have all been inside a robot the size of continents.

(Fucking hell. Look at this. The clouds come up to his ankles.)

Celebrations ripple through Metru Nui as everyone realises what has happened. The great spirit is awake again! The Toa have won! But as the Turaga raise their voices to try and congratulate the Toa, a chill spreads over the spectators as the air grows cold. Everyone stops and looks around. What’s happening now? And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice rumbles. It’s a familiar voice. An unwelcome voice. A voice that most of the gathered heroes thought they’d never hear again.

It’s the voice of Makuta - the original Makuta. Makuta Teridax.

And what does he say?

“I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM EVERYTHING YOU SEE.”

Matoro’s sacrifice had ensured that Mata Nui’s body did not die, but before the great spirit’s consciousness could return, Makuta supplanted it with his own. After that, all he had to do was wait for the Toa Nuva to achieve their objective. And as they finished the fight and won the day, they handed victory to him on a silver platter. No longer does he need to strive to rule the universe - he is the universe.

(Meta perspective again but like: FUCK, man. I can’t emphasise enough how mind-breaking this was for the kids who were invested in the series. Think Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War, except probably more devastating, because there wasn’t a direct sequel lined up to give the heroes another chance, and there wasn’t a way to ‘undo’ it. This was a plot development that we all had to live with T_T)

(You can tell things are bad because his eyes changed from green to red.)

And what of Mata Nui? What about the spirit that the Toa were actually trying to wake up?

Oh, Makuta stuffed Mata Nui’s consciousness into the Mask of Life - and then blasted the Mask into space.

[inhales deeply]

man...

Okay, in all honesty, part of me wanted to end it there. But you know what? We’ve come this far. And there is more to the story. So I’m going to ignore my concern I won’t be able to do it justice and blunder on.

 Bionicle’s last chapter (2009-2010) follows Mata Nui himself - no longer an abstract spiritual concept, but rather a concrete character. A god felled from his pedestal, struggling to find a way to save his people. And it’s AWESOME. Armed with only the Mask of Life and a sentient shield named Click, he wanders the shithole deserts of the planet he crash-lands on, bringing the disparate tribes together, uncovering secrets about who made him and what his ultimate purpose is, and learning what it means to be a regular person. Also, at one point, in a move very reminiscent of the god that he once was, he turns a guy into a snake. You know. As a ‘fuck you’.

(There’s something really cool to me about a main character being someone who essentially lost all the power of the cosmos. Mata Nui might just be my fave character in this whole story honestly.)

Eventually, Mata Nui discovers some crucial pieces of information. Firstly: the planet that he’s landed on, Bara Magna, is his ‘homeworld’ in that it’s where his giant god body was built. Secondly: the two moons orbiting Bara Magna (the jungle moon of Bota Magna and the ocean moon of Aqua Magna) were once part of the planet itself, and split off during a planet-destroying cataclysm, leaving behind a desert wasteland in their wake. Third: the function he was ultimately built for (his ‘destiny’) was to reunite the three celestial bodies into one planet, bringing life back to Bara Magna’s harsh desert environments. He was on his way to complete this task when Makuta crashed his systems with a computer virus - which was what forced him into the ‘slumber’ that he was in for most of the mainline story.

His fourth, and probably most important discovery, is that he’s essentially his makers’ second attempt at a world-fixing giant robot. Before creating him, his makers (the ‘Great Builders’) constructed a giant robot that malfunctioned and exploded. Long-deactivated, the pieces of it are still scattered through the deserts of Bara Magna - in fact, many of the villages on the planet are set up in or around these giant robot pieces. Mata Nui figures that if he can reconstruct this old robot, he can use it to complete his destiny, and maybe even save his people.

It isn’t easy. He has to convince the villagers he’s come to befriend (the Agori) to give up their homes and their safety, and he has to find an experimental power source that’ll actually get the giant metal body moving again. But eventually, he figures it all out. Powered by the experimental source, the Mask of Life, and probably also friendship, he inhabits this enormous form and rises once again. Without missing a beat, he reaches out and begins to pull the moons towards the main planet. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to fix everything, or die trying.

(The power of skybeams)

However, it won’t be that simple. Makuta senses that Mata Nui’s spirit has inhabited a new form (and I don’t mean that in a metaphysical way, I mean that in a computer/technology way), and he quickly jets over to Bara Magna. Obviously, flinging the fucker into space wasn’t good enough. It’s time for him to destroy Mata Nui, mano y mano. Giant robot y giant robot.

(Makuta and Mata Nui, facing off. God I love this picture.)

It’s the final battle - for real this time. The two giant robots begin to punch each other, and Mata Nui is up against some obvious disadvantages. For one thing, he can’t risk attacking Makuta with all his might, because he doesn’t want to hurt his people, who are still inside the giant robot. (Inside, they’re fairing... poorly. It’s like facism, but if facism was being actively enforced by God.)

In the fight, a hole gets blasted in Makuta’s body, and out pour a whole LOAD of Rahkshi. (Remember those guys?) However, Tahu and Takanuva also manage to escape, and join a ground battle that’s breaking out between the Agori (and their protectors, the Glatorians), the Skrall (a tribe of warriors native to Bara Magna who are absolute dicks - I’ve had to gloss over them, unfortunately, but believe me when I say that they’ve been major antagonists for as long as the narrative has focused on Bara Magna), and a bunch of guys who are called ‘Piraka’ but aren’t the gang of thugs from Voya Nui. (I think they’re the same... species?) Long story short: large-scale shitfight is happening at the feet of the two robots that are slugging it out. Makuta, being a dick, decides to try and literally stamp on all of Mata Nui’s friends down below, and Mata Nui has to desperately hold him off.

Around this point, the Mask of Life (which is really the MVP of this whole story) uses its convenient energy bursts to imbue Tahu with a set of golden armour that allows him to release energy blasts of its own. (Why it singles out Tahu, I’m not sure, but I’m presuming it’s because Tahu was the first face of the series and it just makes thematic sense for him to be a major player in the final battle.) Tahu uses his new golden armour to disintegrate ALL of the Rahkshi - and there were a lot of them on the field of battle, let me assure you. Makuta feels the loss of so many creations at once, and falters, and Mata Nui seizes his chance. He’d done his work well before Makuta had arrived, and the jungle moon is now in low orbit above the planet. Pouring every last ounce of his strength into one more push, he surges forward and up, pushing Makuta up and making sure that his head is right in the path of the falling planet.

Crunch.

(Kudos to Makuta Teridax for being such a persistent antagonist that the only way to get rid of him for good was to drop an entire damn planet on his head.)

Mata Nui guides the falling body carefully to the ground, letting it open and freeing his people. The remaining Skrall and Piraka surrender. The Matoran and Toa meet and mingle with the Agori and Glatorian. Mata Nui raises his hands, and completes his purpose; aided one last time by the Mask of Life, as well as his body’s innate systems, he enacts a synthesis on the now-united celestial bodies. Lush forests and large bodies of water appear in the desert. Life flourishes. Birds probably start to sing. Mata Nui has completed his purpose, and vindicated all of the heroes who fought for him for so long.

He feels himself fading. He lets his spirit withdraw into the Mask of Life. A new slumber - this one, earned, and of his own volition.

Perhaps one day, he will return.

(“We will honour Mata Nui, and all those who fought for him, in our memories. But the time has come to move on. His destiny is fulfilled, and for many of us, it has yet to be written. My friends, it is time to go.”- Tahu, The Mata Nui Saga, chapter 34.)

And there we go! Very, VERY long, but that’s the general plot of bionicle. There are an absolute tone of details I’ve missed out or skipped over, and I encourage you to search them out for yourself if you’re interested. But them’s the basics! :D

[waitimcomingtoo]

Hi love! I've had this idea for a bit and I think it would be perfect in the same universe of your plank all over me one shots! Okay do you remember that interview where Conor Maynard planked Tom with the fake interviewer?? What if Tom tried to do the same thing to prank y/n but as soon as the fake interviewer walks in she immediately knows what's happening so then gives super weird answers or tries to mess with tom in all the answers she gives?? You don't have to do it if you don't want to tho!

Plank All Over Me - Prank Interview Edition

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Synopsis: Tom and Connor Maynard try to prank you, but you prank then right back

Disclaimer: you don’t have to have read the others to understand, but check them out ;)

Plank All Over Me

Plank All Over Me - Yoga Edition

Plank All Over Me - Couples Tag

Masterlist

“What’s going on guys? It’s Conor Maynard here and I’m joined by an old friend of mine.” Conor pointed to Tom.

“Tom Holland.” Tom smiled at the camera.

“You May have heard of him, probably not. He’s not very well known.” Conor joked.

“I know, mate. I’m so lucky you’re putting me on your channel. Could be my big break.” Tom replied.

“My other friend Josh Pieters is in the other room with Toms girlfriend, the incredibly famous and lovely Y/n L/n. If you’ve seen my video where Josh, Casper and I pranked Tom with a fake interview, you already know what’s about to go down. If you don’t, Josh has an AirPod in under his headband. We’re going to be giving him things to say and he has to say them to Y/n. We’re gonna try to really freak her out. Are you ready Tom?”

“Very ready. Y/n, I love you pretty girl but you had this coming.” Tom rubbed his hands together. 

“Looks like she’s in the room. Introduce yourself.” Conor instructed. “But make it uncomfortable.”

“Hi, I’m Josh but you can call me Josh.” Josh said with a blank stare. You vaguely recognized the boy interviewing you but you couldn’t pinpoint where he was from.

“Oh uh, hi Josh.” You laughed lightly. “I’m Y/n.”

“Tell her you had a pet called Y/n and something terrible happened to it.” Conor snickered.

“I had a fish called Y/n when I was younger.” Josh informed you.

“Aw, that’s sweet.” You smiled.

“Yeah. It was my best friend until my brother swallowed it alive.” He said with no emotion.

“Oh.” You replied, not knowing what else to say. You began to sense something was off. He was wearing a headband, for one, and he didn’t look like he normally wore them. Someone was up to something.

“Even more uncomfortable.” Tom ordered.

“I’m a big fan so it’s very nice to meet you.” Josh said. “A huge fan actually, if you know what I mean.” Josh gave you a wink and you swallowed thickly. It suddenly dawned on you where you knew him from. He was Josh Pieters, the YouTuber who pranked Tom. You’d seen a number of his prank videos with Casper Lee and Joe Sugg and had a feeling that this one would be no different. If he wanted to prank you, you’d give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Not that uncomfortable!” Tom said.

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” You answered, preparing to have a little fun.

“Be normal. Ask her about the Marvel making Eddie a girl.” Conor said.

“For those who don’t know, the character Eddie Brock, who later gets infected with the symbiote Venom, is a male in the comics. How do you feel about Marvel changing the role to be played by a woman after your audition?” Josh asked. You thought about your answer for a moment.

“I think it was a really dumb move, actually. I originally auditioned for the role of Anne, who’s Eddie Brocks girlfriend. I think they should’ve kept Eddie a boy since women are weak, useless creatures and I hate them all.” You answered matter-of-factly and Josh looked a little taken aback. You nodded as if it confirm your answer and Josh looked lost.

“Oh.” Josh said and leaned to the side as if he were listening to something you couldn’t hear.

“I’m kidding. I love that they made Eddie a girl. I was so excited when they called me and told me who I was playing.” You followed up. You didn’t want them to catch on too soon that you were messing with them. You had to dial it down.

“Ask about the Spider-Man/Venom relationship.” Conor told Josh.

“And me. Ask about me.” Tom added.

“If it fun getting to play Tom Holland’s on screen girlfriend as well as being his in real life girlfriend?” Josh asked you and you smirked. So Tom was behind this as well. Now was your time to really mess with them.

“Not really, if I’m honest.” You answered.

“What?” Conor laughed.

“What?” Tom deadpanned.

“Really?” Josh asked while stifling a laugh.

“It’s just, there are so many attractive men in the Marvel cast, Tom included don’t get me wrong.” You assured him. “I kinda wish they let me date one of them on screen since I already date Tom off screen.”

“Ask her who she’d want to date.” Tom demanded, watching you with hooded eyes.

“Who do you wish you were dating?” Josh asked you.

“Definitely Chris Evans.” You answered too quickly for Toms liking. “Oh, did you mean what character?”

“I’m gonna die. I’m actually going to perish.” Tom backed away from the microphone and covered his mouth with his hands.

“Keep going. Ask more about Tom.” Conor instructed.

“But you like working with Tom, right?” Josh tried to bring the conversation to a positive point.

“Again, not really.” You shrugged.

“Interesting.” Josh stated, silently begging for the boys to tell him what to say. No one was prepared for your answers.

“Ask why.” Conor said as Tom fanned himself in the background.

“Can you elaborate on that?” Josh asked.

“It’s just weird acting along side your boyfriend. I think he should leave the acting me to, honestly.” You smiled innocently, knowing Tom was somewhere freaking out.

“Do you think he’s bad?” Tom grabbed them microphone.

“Do you think he’s bad?” Josh repeated.

“Well, he’s very attractive. I’m sure that was a big factor in getting the part. But his American accent…”, you made a face, “not the best. Being from New York is such a big part of Peter Parker that I feel like Marvel should’ve gone with an American actor. No offense to Tom, of course. He’s great in all his other movies.”

“Wow.” Josh squeaked.

“She told me she loves my American accent.” Tom whispered, bewildered.

“Ask her about her favorite accent.” Conor tried to lighten the mood.

“Do you like British accents better?” Josh asked you.

“I’ll tell you what I like. Chris Hemsworth’s accent.” You gushed. “I think it’s the hottest thing ever.”

“Did you guys hear that?” Tom asked gravely.

“Hear what?” Conor asked him.

“My heart shattering.” Tom answered.

“Tom, it’s just an accent. It’s okay.” Conor assured his friend. Tom couldn’t even hear him anymore. He grabbed the microphone with a heavy hand.

“Ask her if she likes Australians better than the British.” He demanded.

“You think Australian accents are better than British accents?” Josh repeated Toms question.

“Is that even a question? Duh.” You laughed.

“I can’t breath.” Tom wheezed.

“I do like your accent, though.” You said, catching everyone off guard.

“She what?” Tom asked. “What?”

“Oh, thank you.” Josh said, beginning to panic.

“Where are you from?” You asked, leaning forward on your hands.

“South Africa.” Josh told you and you smiled brightly and you continued your plan.

“Wait, really? That’s so exciting. I’ve always wanted to go there.” You beamed.

“Since when?” Conor looked up at Tom.

“She’s never said anything about South Africa.” Tom said in confusion.

“It’s a beautiful place.” Josh agreed.

“I bet. England is so dreary.” You rolled your eyes. “Maybe you can take me to South Africa one day.”

“Maybe.” Josh nodded as he tried to send messages in Morse code by blinking rapidly at the camera. You smirked, knowing your plan was working.

“Change the subject, Josh. Before Tom dies.” Conor ordered.

“Ask her about the wallpaper.” Tom blurted.

“Why the wallpaper?” Conor asked.

“It’s the least romantic topic I could think of!” Tom exclaimed.

“So, this is some really nice wallpaper, wouldn’t you agree?” Josh changed the subject. This threw you off a little but you were determined to win this prank.

“I was just thinking that! You read my mind.” You said excitedly.

“That backfired.” Conor said as he watched Tom fall to the floor in agony.

“Your name is Josh right?” You asked coyly.

“Yes ma’am.” Josh answered.

“I love that name.” You complimented. “I always have.”

“Do you?” Josh’s mouth dried up.

“Totally. It’s so exotic.” You beamed. Toms head snapped up from the floor.

“Exotic? There is a white boy named Josh in every high school movie ever made.” Tom exclaimed. “Exotic compared to what? Toast?”

“Thank you. I like it too.” Josh said awkwardly, wishing the boys would give him something to say.

“It’s so much better than a white bread name like Tom. Who names their kid Tom? What is he, an apostle?” You laughed. “Josh is way cooler in my opinion. It’s like the name of a god or something.”

“A god?” Tom nearly screamed. “What would Josh be the god of?”

“Gingers.” Conor shrugged.

“Thank you.” Josh said and gave the camera a stern glare.

“Tell her about your quail.” Conor suggested.

“That’s perfect. She’ll think he’s a total weirdo! Great thinking Conor.” Tom patted his friend on the back.

“Not exactly my plan, but okay.” Connor nodded.

“Do you have any pets?” Josh began his segway.”

“I do. I have a dog named Tessa.” You answered. “She’s not really my dog, though. She’s Tom’s.”

“I know you’re an animal person. You must love her.” Josh smiled now that the prank was back on track.

“Honestly, I can’t stand her. She’s always sleeping in our bed with us and begging at the table. I’m this close to telling Tom to get rid of her.” You pinched your fingers together and watched Josh go pale.

“That was it. That was the thing that killed me.” Tom mumbled as he slumped in a chair.

“Talk about the quail!” Conor repeated in an effort to save Tom.

“I have a pet too. It’s a quail.” Josh told you proudly.

“A quail? How did you get a quail?” You asked with a smile.

“Well my friends and I bought a carton of quail eggs and put them in an incubator. Only one hatched but I’ve kept her as a pet.” Josh told you the infamous story. You’d seen the video he posted about it but decided to play dumb.

“You saved a quail? That’s amazing.” You gushed as if you’d never heard the story before.

“It was just a fun thing for YouTube but I’ve actually grown quite fond of her.” Josh said, beginning to enjoy the interview.

“That’s the mosh amazing story I’ve ever herad.” You swore. “You’re a hero. A real life hero.”

“Okay. He put a carton of eggs in a hot box. He’s not Mother Theresa.” Tom pouted.

“You and Tom should come over and meet her sometime.” Josh suggested.

“Good. Bring the conversation back to Tom.” Conor nodded.

“Yeah. I’m feeling better now.” Tom agreed.

“Tom doesn’t have time be there. It can just be you and I.” You said as you looked at him through your lashes. Josh looked panicked.

“Never mind.” Tom groaned, clenching his stomach.

“What’s your last name, Josh?” You asked as you twirled some hair around your finger.

“Pieters.” Josh informed you.

“Pieters? That’s so cute. I love the way it sounds. Can you imagine it with my name? Y/n Pieters.” You smiled. “Doesn’t that just sound effervescent?”

“It sounds lovely, Y/n.” Josh said, eyeing you strangely.

“Toms still dead but if he were alive right now, he’d be livid.” Conor sighed as he listened.

“I can hear it. And I am in fact livid.” Tom said from his newly claimed spot on the floor.

“You know who else’s last name sounds good on me? Osterfield.” You were pulling out all the guns now. “I think Y/n Osterfield sounds great. Don’t you agree?”

“Uhhh…” Josh feared for his life if he agreed.

“Don’t you dare agree.” Tom grumbled through the microphone.

“Say you like Y/n Holland best.” Conor suggested.

“That’s good. Say that.” Tom nodded.

“I think Y/n Holland sounds better than both of those.” Josh told you.

“You think?” You made a face. “I actually hate Toms last name. It doesn’t fit with anything. It’s too long.”

“Osterfield is longer.” Josh reminded you.

“I bet Osterfield is longer.” You said and winked at the camera. Tom caught the double meaning and started sweating profusely.

“Ask her if she plans to take my last name when we’re married.” Tom asked, fully panicking now.

“Are you gonna take his last name when you’re married?” Josh repeated.

“Yeah, like we’re getting married.” You laughed.

“She doesn’t want to marry me?” Tom asked, all anger draining from him. It was replaced with devastation and defeat.

“Ask her if she wants to marry Tom.” Conor said as he watched Toms fallen face carefully.

“You guys aren’t planning on getting married?” Josh asked, feeling himself beginning to sweat.

“We are.” You nodded and Tom sighed in relief. “To other people.” You added.

“She killed me and now she’s beating my corpse with a phone book.” Tom said in exasperation.

“Try to change the subject again away from marriage.” Conor pleaded for Toms sake.

“Your hair looks really nice today.” Josh blurted.

“That’s not helping!” Tom shouted.

“Thank you! I really like your hair too. I totally have a thing for gingers.” You nodded.

“Said no one ever!” Tom scoffed.

“Abandon that conversation immediately. New plan! Ask her what her favorite thing about Tom is.” Conor shrugged.

“Speaking of Tom, whats your favorite thing about him?” Josh asked, ignoring the insult from Tom.

“My favorite thing about Tom? That’s easy.” You smiled and Tom did too. “He always puts the toilet seat down after he’s done. I hate when boys leave it up. So, probably that.”

“Her favorite thing about me is how I put the toilet seat down?” Tom asked with a blank stare.

“Ask her something else about him. He’s dying, Josh. He’s on his last leg.” Conor begged.

“Finish this sentence: my boyfriend gives the best…” Josh began.

“Kisses.” You gushed. Josh looked at the camera for approval and he heard Tom sigh happily into the microphone. “Just kidding, he gives the best directions. He’s really good at giving people directions. His kisses are lack luster, but I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone.”

“Ask her what in the the absolutely, positively, burning, bloody hell that meant?” Tom quipped.

“Why not?” Josh asked you.

“Do I have to say it?” You asked.

“Make her say it.” Tom ordered.

“Yes.” Josh nodded.

“No lips.” You shrugged.

“Can’t argue with her on that one, mate.” Conor told Tom.

“Can you get her to say one nice thing about me before my ghost ascends into heaven?” Tom sighed in defeat.

“What do you love about him? There must be something, right? Why else would you be together?” Josh asked you. You decided it was time to let up.

“There is something I love about Tom.” You smiled dreamily.

“Thank God.” Tom said, leaning forward to hear you clearly.

“Finally.” Conor after.

“Really? What is it?” Josh asked.

“What I really, truly love about Tom,” you smiled at the camera, “is how he thinks he can prank me better than I can prank him.”

“What?” Josh laughed as he realized you’d be toying with him.

“Wait, what?” Tom stuttered.

“What?” Conor asked at the 50th turn the video had taken.

“Come on, Josh. I smelt BS as soon as I walked in here.” You declared. “You think I haven’t seen Conners video where you pranked Tom exactly like this? You boys must think I’m dumb.”

“Wait a minute, she what? What?” Tom tried to wrap his head around what he was hearing.

“Would you look at that.” Conor said, dumbfounded.

“You knew it was a prank and you let us believe we were pranking you this entire time?” Josh asked, not bothering to hide how impressed he was.

“Yup.” You popped the p.

“Come on.” Tom pulled Connor out of the room and ran to where you and Josh were. You burst out laughing when you saw Toms red face.

“Ha! I knew I’d get you.” You clapped as you pulled Tom into a hug. “You should’ve known better than to challenge me. You know they call me Prank Sinatra.”

“No one calls you that.” He mumbled as his cheeks flamed up in embarrassment that you’d gotten him so good.

“Modern day Prank Ocean.” You shrugged smugly.

“How did you know it was a prank?” Conor asked you.

“I watch you and Josh all the time. I know a prank when I see one. I got you guy so good, thinking I liked the name Josh and all that.” You said triumphantly.

“Hey.” Josh warned.

“Sorry.” You apologized.

“So all your answers were…” Tom began.

“Complete and utter lies?” You finished. “Why yes, yes they were. Every last one.”

“You made all that up? All that stuff about my accent and not liking to work with me?” He asked hopefully, needing to hear you confirm it.

“Obviously! When do I ever say “effervescent”? You should’ve known I was only joking, lover.” You assured him as you pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’d never say that stuff. I love your accent and I love working with you.

“And the marriage stuff?” He said softly. You knew you took it a little too far with that one.

“If you want that to happen, you know what to do.” You shrugged casually and he blushed.

“I cannot believe you pranked us this badly. I feel so defeated.” Conor sighed.

“You shouldn’t have challenged the queen of pranks.” You told him as Tom presses kissed of relief to your cheek.

“Wait, what about what you said about wanting to date Chris Evans?” He remembered.

“Thanks for watching everybody! Bye!” You said to the camera before running out of the room.

“Wait! You didn’t answer my question!” Tom said as he ran after you.

“Don’t forget to subscribe!” You shouted from the hallway.

“What she said.” Conor smiled again the camera before turning it off.

Tag List 🏷

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[wonderlustlucas]

jack pot ; part 1 - hwang hyunjin

⇢ prompt You know it’s bad when you’re high as a kite and he’s still on your mind. ⇢ pairing hwang hyunjin x female reader, seo changbin x female reader for like 2 minutes ⇢ word count 7.5k ⇢ genre fluff, angst (not heavy, just in a slow burn kind of way), slight smut ⇢ warnings drug use!!! & lots of it (marijuana), grinding, implied smut ⇢ summary College is a matter of working hard and playing hard. It’s an opportunity to start fresh, to grow as an individual and to blossom with those you befriend. People come and people go, leaving their mark on your life and showing you all the parts of becoming an adult. Some, however, do more than leave their mark. Some take just as much as they give. Things become complicated once they take the entirety of your love because you outright offered it to them.—college!au ; stoner!au ; friends to lovers!au ⇢ a/n yo!!! disclaimer: this initially was going to just be a long one shot but i decided to split it up into 3 parts, so just to let u all know part 1 & 2 does not have a ton of hyunjin interaction, they’re more character/plot building. part 3 is when things will get spicy ♥︎ i hope u enjoy! if u rb make sure to let me know what u thought in the tags mwah also i finally switched from ___ to yn are u guys proud of me :)

prelude.

Sometimes you really, truly, honestly think you could go right ahead and kill Han Jisung.

You say it all the time. Sometimes it’s a simple, “I will literally kill you,” or when you are feeling extra spicy, “Sleep with one eye open tonight.” He, of course, laughs it off like you aren’t vibrating with the urge to kick his kneecaps in. You seriously have lost count of all the times he has brought you to the brink of insanity.

And honestly, you have watched enough murder documentaries on Netflix that you probably could do it, but, you know, spending the rest of your life in prison does not sound that appealing. Plus, there’s the ever-troubling detail that Han Jisung is the closest thing you have to a best friend. So, it sort of goes against your basic human morals to backstab—literally—the most important human in your life.

But he really makes you crazy. Why you agreed to share an apartment with him in the first place is a mystery, but the fact that you leased it again for junior year is what really makes you lose sleep at night. Because, while he may be your best friend, Jisung is the epitome of a little shit. If such a compound word was in the dictionary, it simply would say ‘Han Jisung.’ Somehow, though, it makes you love him even more. Maybe it’s true that ‘opposites attract,’ or, perhaps, maybe it’s because no matter how much embarrassment and general self-loathing he may have caused you in the past, it has benefitted you in the end.

For example, his constant teasing about your lack of friends eventually led to you befriending a group of girls you always admired from afar. His snarky comments concerning your nonexistent social life finally got to you and now you can proudly wear the title of one of the best beer pong players in your class. His presence in general has taught you to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, whether it’s against him, your parents, a toxic friend, hell, even a professor. Proving people wrong, especially Jisung, is your favorite pastime.

Sometimes, though, it’s not that easy.

There’s one area in your life where you have accepted defeat. One area in your life where Jisung has his most fun. One area, or, perhaps one person, where you simply cannot step beyond your comfort zone.

Hwang Hyunjin is your Achilles tendon and Jisung is the arrow. There are times, along with all the times you’ve considered strangling Jisung in his sleep, where you have sat and actually prayed to the gods to send someone else. Someone not nearly as perfect as Hyunjin and someone not nearly as unattainable. Alas, these prayers, hook-ups, Tinder dates, anything to get him off your mind has proved futile; because here you are three years later, stuck with this stupid, absolutely infuriating crush on the only boy who has ever owned your heart because you outright gave it to him.

one.

You are beginning to think the two bubbly junior girls who led the campus tour you attended last year lied about the dining hall.

Correction: they one hundred percent lied.

Because even though the newly renovated food court looks nice—unscratched linoleum floors, shiny marble countertops and all sorts of seating to choose from—there must be something fishy going on with the cooks. Literally. Just last week, an upperclassman had a breakdown when she forked into her tuna (why anyone would want college seafood is another story) to find a worm right there in the middle of it. You have found little shards of glass in the yogurt and bugs even at You-Cook, but that’s all a part of the college experience, right?

“Are you sure there’s no spiders or anything? Did you check?” Beside you, Maddie watches with furrowed brows as you spoon a hefty serving of scrambled eggs onto your plate. Chuckling, you move down to grab a few sausages and a chocolate chip muffin before they are gone for the rest of the day; Lord knows, you are only a month in and carbohydrates have quickly become your emotional support, just like everyone else. “Yes, I checked,” you assure her, hiding a laugh with your hand as she leans over to further scrutinize the eggs, “I didn’t see any arachnids.”

“Good,” she hums, satisfied with your answer, “can you grab a banana muffin for me? They’re usually at the bottom.”

Nodding, you turn back to the blessed muffin basket, pushing away blueberry, corn, double chocolate, all because Maddie has to be different and go for the macadamia nut banana.

“Are those the dinosaur socks they were selling on move-in day?” In front of you, someone asks, and your first instinct is to look down at your feet just to confirm. 8:30 calculus simply turns your brain to mush and remembering how you dressed for the day is near impossible. “Yes!” Laughing, you lift your leg to get a closer look at the cute green t-rexes on skates. “I was sold once I heard they were a dollar.”

Tearing your gaze away from said socks, you look up and suddenly feel as if you have bumped into an angel. Maybe there were spiders in the eggs, deadly poisonous spiders that crawled up the spoon while you weren’t paying attention and bit your hand and now you are dead and this is the angel leading you to the heavens. That, or this simply is the most beautiful human you have ever seen up close and your brain does not know how to process it. Well, maybe that’s a little extreme, but you definitely have never been so starstruck in your life.

The boy in front of you says something but you don’t hear it, senses and thoughts momentarily Off™ as you gawk at him. Aside from the deep undereye bags you all have claimed the past few weeks, this stranger is as close to perfect as you can get. Sure, Seungmin and his roommates are pretty cute—but what the fuck?

Something tells you that you have been silently staring at him, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open for far too long when his brows raise in a mix of confusion and expectation. Shit. What did he say? Synapses suddenly shooting like fireworks in your brain, you desperately try to remember his reply but instead, all you had focused on was the plumpness of his lips as he spoke and not the words themselves.

Clearing your throat, you blink once, twice, hoping you were hallucinating the whole time and the boy in front of you is not Hercules incarnate.

Lucky for you or him, you can’t tell, but he is still as attractive as he was two seconds ago. “Sorry, what?” You blurt, loud, too loud, flinching at the sound of your own voice. Instead of recognizing that you are totally off your rocker, he smiles, a soft, toothy smile that has your muscles turning to goo.

“I said I bought them, too,” cutest-boy-in-the-universe repeats, looking down and you follow his gaze, “my roommates were making fun of me, so I’m glad I finally found someone who bought them.” Alas, as he tugs at the fabric of his jeans to slightly lift the cuff you see that he, too, wears the same socks. You think you’re in love.

“Well, your roommates clearly have no taste,” you deadpan, shakily meeting his eyes once he looks back up. He laughs softly, eyes scrunching at the action and you positively swoon until silence settles over you and he takes the opportunity to regard you, gaze sweeping down your frame and up again. You hold your breath because, 1) holy shit, you would get on your knees for him right now and 2) you suddenly wish you were wearing more than the ‘just-woke-up-to-get-pegged-by-calc’ fit.

“I’m Hyunjin,” he finally says and you release all the air trapped in your lungs. “YN,” you return, grasping his outreached hand and thanking the heavens it is as sweaty as yours. “Well, it was nice to meet you, YN,” Hyunjin proceeds, releasing your hand and offering a gentle smile.

“You too, Mr. Sock Man,” you grin, rocking on your heels and realizing with a pang of disappointment that your breakfast has probably gone cold. Well, that’s okay, because right now you are totally content standing here in the middle of the dining hall, silently staring at this Hyunjin with a stupid smile plastered on your face. And the best part? He apparently is just fine doing that, too.

“YN!” Somewhere behind you, Maddie calls your name and it thrusts you head-first back into reality. “Did you find a banana muffin? I can’t find— oh. Who’s this?” Appearing beside you, visibly shocked having found you in a staring contest with a very tall, very cute boy. “Oh, uh,” you huff out a laugh, scrambling to get yourself together, “Hyunjin, this is Maddie, my roommate. Maddie, this is Hyunjin. We have the same socks.”

Brows shooting up at the puzzling introduction, Maddie bites back a laugh and looks back and forth between you and Hyunjin. “Well, you don’t hear that every day,” smiling to hide her confusion, she offers him a small wave with her hand full of muffin packs, “nice to meet you.”

Hyunjin smiles in return, gaze quickly returning to you. “I’ll be off, then. Gotta get the waffles while they’re still warm. I’ll see you around.”

And before you know it, he’s off toward the other end of the breakfast counter.

“Um, what the fuck?” Maddie whispers excitedly as you make your way toward your usual table, elbow repeatedly jabbing into your side. “I have no idea what just happened. I think I’m dreaming,” you sigh blissfully, relieved to find that Jisung and Seungmin were able to claim your favorite booth. “No, definitely not dreaming. He’s totally into you. You have to hang out.”

“What?” You sputter, nearly tripping over your own two feet. Then, lowering your voice as you near the two boys, “I – no, he isn’t. How can you tell? That was like, the cutest guy I’ve ever talked to, and you think he’s into me?”

“Who’s the cutest guy ever?” Jisung pipes up, eyes lighting up and you curse him and his fucking bat hearing.

“No one,” you grumble, smiling softly at Seungmin when he gets up so you don’t have to sit on the end, leaving Maddie to sit next to the other one. “Is it me?” Jisung grins with a flutter of his eyelashes. He’s convinced the only reason you dislike him is because you’ve actually fallen in love with him, but that’s far from the truth. You don’t even dislike him—he’s just one of the first guys you’ve met who meets your sarcasm with as much ferocity, and that is a hard pill to swallow.

“In your dreams, Han,” you sneer, gracing him with a dramatic eye roll before tearing open the bag of your muffin. Comfortable conversation quickly falls into place as you eat, complaints about your classes, Seungmin trying to convince you to join them at the first party they will be attending while Jisung mocks you for wanting to stay home, Maddie asking where Felix is and Seungmin explaining that he got so high last night he ended up staying up past four playing Overwatch and is currently sleeping past all his classes.

Then, in the midst of guzzling your apple juice, Jisung leans out of his seat to call down the aisle. “Hwang! Come pull a chair over!”

Curiosity peaked, you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and crane your neck to see over Seungmin’s fat head for who this ‘Hwang’ could be until, like the universe is really trying to kill you, the Hyunjin you met not even ten minutes ago has reached your table. “Hey,” he grins brightly, dabbing up the two boys before he glances to you, mouth promptly falling open. Certain you mirror the same expression, you struggle to find your words as Jisung and Seungmin look between you in shared confusion. “First we share socks, now it’s these dumpheads?”

Ignoring the way they scowl, Hyunjin giggles shamelessly and grabs a chair from an adjacent table to sit at the head of your booth. “It would seem that way.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down. You guys know each other?” Jisung scoffs in disbelief, pointedly looking at you as if you’ve gone and disproved everything he pegged of you. “We just met,” Hyunjin replies with a shy smile, sparing you a quick glance before cutting into his waffle. Jisung looks to you and you offer an affirmative nod.

“And how are you guys friends?” Maddie asks, sensing your panic. “He’s Changbin and Minho’s roommate,” Seungmin answers.

You choke on a mouthful of juice.

“Christ, you good?” Seungmin snickers, offering a few slaps to your back. With a muffled yes, you look to Hyunjin with pleading eyes. “Please don’t tell them I said they have no taste.”

He laughs, arching a brow at you. “No way. They’ll get a kick out of that.”

“Oh, Christ,” faking a cry, you bury your face into your palms, “so much for making friends.”

“It’s okay, YN,” Jisung soothes with faux sympathy, “no one wants to be your friend anyway.”

Scoffing, the table quickly falls silent when you look up with rage in your eyes. “I bet when someone asks your parents about you, they change the subject,” you spit, shooting daggers at him before stabbing your fork into an innocent chunk of egg. To your utmost surprise but total delight, the other three burst into a fit of laughter, leaving you smirking smugly and Jisung sulking.

“Anyway,” Maddie promptly changes the subject back to her chemistry professor who has started every class playing Britney Spears. Tucked away in your corner finishing the last of your sausage and stifling the urge to get up for more, it isn’t until Hyunjin begins to speak do you realize that you have been quietly watching him the entire time. You would blame the soft morning sunshine shining through the windows and illuminating the right side of his face for making him look so ethereal, but you know that isn’t the case; from short, messy black hair, silver hoop earrings, thick, defined brows, the soft curves of his nose and the pouty fullness of his lips, you are totally, completely mesmerized.

And then, the sole of a sneaker is slammed right into your shin. “OW!” You yelp, loud, and for a moment you forget the pain in favor of the embarrassment that comes with the number of heads that turn to look at you. “Sorry. Bit my tongue,” you lie, earning an unconvinced look from Maddie. “Go on,” you nod toward Hyunjin to continue whatever he was saying before directing a furious glare to Jisung, who fails to hide his triumphant smirk as he enthusiastically types on his phone.

Just as you have bent down to rub at your throbbing leg, your phone vibrates twice against the table.

han jisung [now] stop staring, ur lucky hwang is as dense as a rock or he would have left a long time ago bc of you

han jisung [now] so THAT’S the ‘cutest guy ever’ huh? so ur straight after all

Squeezing your hands into fists, you prepare to fire back a reply that will have him crying. But he has different plans.

“Oh, Hyunjin, did YN tell you she’s a dancer, too?” He exaggerates your previous mention of dancing and has the audacity to wink at you. Thanks, Mr. Match Maker.

“Really?” Hyunjin gasps excitedly, eyes lighting up and totally missing the flabbergasted what? that sputters from your lips.

“I – well, no,” you hiss, scowling at Jisung, “I used to do ballet when I was younger but that’s it. Why, though? Do you dance?”

“He’s here on a scholarship,” Seungmin explains, “and minors in creative writing.”

“Oh,” you squeak, glancing to Hyunjin who is all but smiling like a cherub, completely oblivious, “that’s amazing. You must have a crazy schedule.” Chewing the last of his waffle, he hums in agreement. “Yeah, it gets really stressful at times. But it’s worth it,” Hyunjin chuckles. Then fucking winks.

Unable to hold his gaze, you whip your head back around in a panic and reach for the mere sip left of your juice. “Speaking of crazy schedules,” he hums, slapping both Jisung and Seungmin on the shoulders, “I must head out. This was fun. I may start crashing the party more now.” Rising from his seat, Hyunjin swings his bag over a shoulder and grins brightly. Realizing it would be rude to not say goodbye, you force yourself to look back to him and offer a feeble wave.

“And YN, don’t bite your tongue when you eat, yeah?”

You’re going to pass out.

two.

Felix likes to think of you as his corrupted child when it comes to smoking weed.

A few weeks before you would all be returning home for winter break, he came knocking on your door with a proposition. “No one wants to smoke with me. Do you want to?”

This, for sure, was not what you were expecting on a cold Tuesday night in December. Despite the general curiosity and always wanting to ‘try it’ simply to feel like a teenager breaking the rules, you told him you never smoked before. “I know,” he said with a smile, “that’s why I’m asking.”

So, you agreed. Reaching for your hand, Felix snuck you out the window and led you halfway across campus to the junior parking lot, giving you ample opportunities to back out when he felt how badly you were shaking. “Whose car is this?” You laughed in disbelief when he unlocked a beaten-up Nissan near the outskirts of the lot.

“Kim Woojin. The junior?” He replied once you settled in the passenger seat next to him. “Oh.” You blinked, confused. “He lets you smoke in his car?”

“He gets me weed, too,” Felix giggled, reaching into the pockets of his sweatshirt and coming out with two tightly wrapped blunts, each about two inches long, “I’ll turn the heat on a little so we don’t freeze but we have to keep the windows open. I’m not going to have you hotbox for your first time.” You had no idea what that meant, but you agreed nonetheless.

With a brief lesson on what to do that truly made no sense until you tried it for yourself, Felix lit the blunt, took a few small hits to get it started, and then passed it to you. Holding it gingerly between your thumb and index finger, you brought the unlit end to your lips and sucked as he instructed ‘like a straw,’ breathing it into your lungs and ignoring the faint taste of smoke. Unsure of when to stop, it wasn’t until your throat felt as if it was on fire did you realize just how much you had inhaled.

“Shit,” you wheezed, coughing and choking and watching with wide eyes at the amount of cloudy white smoke that left your mouth and nostrils. Passing it back to Felix, you scrambled for the cold water bottle he brought along, downing half of it in one go to soothe the burn. “Good?” He asked, blowing out the window and turning back to you with eyes full of concern.

“Yeah,” you huffed, “give me a few, though.”

Humming in agreement, Felix connected his phone to the car’s Bluetooth and began playing what he calls his ‘getting high playlist,’ and before long, you fell in love with the feeling.

When break was over, you were dying to try it again. Felix was more than happy to be of service.

For all of March, it turned into a daily thing.

Now, you try to smoke only once a week for the sake of not dying, or something.

australian felix kjellberg❤️ [now] come hang at 201?

When the text notification pops up in the corner of your laptop screen amid your YouTube binge, your bones jitter with a mix of dread and excitement.

Dread, because that’s Hyunjin’s room. Excitement, because that’s Hyunjin’s room.

Maddie must hear your sigh. “What’s wrong?” She asks from her cozied position in bed, hand deep in a bag of popcorn.

“It’s Felix,” you start, “but he said to go to Hyunjin’s room.”

She blinks, unfazed. “And? I don’t see the problem here.”

“Well, I don’t know,” you count on your fingers, “first, I don’t know how to act around Hyunjin sober. Second, I don’t know how to act around Hyunjin high. Third, I am very touchy when high. Fourth, Hyunjin is always touchy.”

Maddie scoffs. “That’s a pretty lame argument, YN,” she laughs, “isn’t that what you want to happen?”

“Well,” she’s got a point, “yes, but it still makes me nervous. He makes me nervous.” Closing your laptop, you shimmy out of bed and debate changing out of your cotton shorts and tee shirt. Nah. You’ll probably end up going back to Felix’s and sleeping there. You put a sports bra and deodorant on and call it a day.

Maddie finds this hilarious. “You know what should make you nervous? The fact that you’re usually the only girl getting high with, what? Six guys? You know they all want to fuck you.”

“I try not to think about that, actually,” cringing, you try to erase Felix’s voice when he’s high as a kite or Changbin’s arms from your mind, “and you don’t know that. Sometimes Ryujin and Lia are there. Or, you know, you could always come. You don’t have to smoke, just come hang out. I know you want to give Minho a fat smooch.”

Her nose wrinkles in disgust. “I love you, and I appreciate the invite, but I don’t feel like babysitting a bunch of stoners, even if Minho is there.”

Laughing, all you can offer her is a shrug. “I don’t blame you,” grabbing your phone, wallet, and charger, you make your way over to her and bend over to press a goodnight kiss to her forehead, “if you need me, don’t. I’ll probably be dead.”

“Oh Lord,” Maddie cackles, watching you struggle to open the window, “don’t die. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“I’ll try,” you grin, military saluting once you’ve managed to flop over the ledge. With one last wave, you close the window behind you and thank admissions for giving you a room on the first floor.

[9:34 PM] YN: omw now, gather your forces to help me in :)

Nights in 201 are always interesting. First, their room is on the second floor, so climbing through the window is an experience. Things would be a hell of a lot easier if you could just walk in and out of residence halls as you please, but with the officer at the front desk documenting who comes in and who goes out, there would be a knock at the door at midnight asking you to leave. Second: as Maddie said, 201 means the whole squad is showing up. And when the whole squad shows up, you’re bound to feel a mix of anxiety and desire deep within your bones no matter how hard set you are on Mr. Hwang. And third: you know you’re in for one fucked up night.

[9:42 PM] YN: hereee

Standing awkwardly behind their building, you try and calm the nerves that always come when you know you will be with Hyunjin. Considering how close the two of you have become over the past few months, one would think you would have gotten a grip on those pesky feelings.

Yet again, it’s kind of hard to do that when he looks and acts like that all the time.

When the window slides open, you are expecting Changbin to hang halfway out for you to grab on to with the rest of them holding onto his legs. Instead, a tall, metal ladder of sorts is pushed out until it lands with a thud! at your feet, granting you a perfect staircase into the room.

Well, you certainly don’t see that every day.

Blinking in confusion, you do not know whether to focus on the crowd of boys waving at you from above or this abomination of a stepstool that was practically thrown out a window for you. Accepting the chain of events as just another fever dream of an experience in 201, you shake your head and begin to ascend on shaky legs, graciously taking Jisung’s hand and clinging to both him and Seungmin as they help you into the room. “Thanks,” you huff, giving them both a hug in return to their chivalry. And they dare say it’s dead!

Behind you, Changbin and Hyunjin lift the ladder-stepstool mutation back into the room and it isn’t until they have folded it into a more compact piece and set it against the wall do you speak up.

“Did you… buy a ladder?”

“Yes!” Minho bellows, thrilled by your successful entrance. “Isn’t it great?” After pulling back from a hug, he keeps his hands on your shoulders just to shake you like a bobble-head.

“Yes,” you grunt once he’s released you, head swimming, “a lot easier than hauling both me and Changbin through the window, right?” Looking to said boy, you can’t help but melt into his side when he pulls you close. “No worries,” Changbin beams, rubbing your arm, “at least we have some funny memories now.” When he moves to flop onto his bed, you realize with a shudder that you are alone with Hyunjin.

Well, technically not alone since they are all right there, but alone in the sense that they are not paying attention to you nor him.

“Hey, YN. I missed you,” he singsongs, engulfing you in one of his monster bear hugs. Disregarding the heart palpitations they may cause, Hyunjin’s hugs are truly the best and you wish you would initiate them more if it didn’t seem like such a big deal in that smooth brain of yours. “I missed you, too,” you mutter into his chest, squeezing your arms around him as if to engrave this feeling into your mind forever. “We saw each other, like, five hours ago,” he reminds you, finally pulling back and taking your will to live with him. God, he has no idea.

“And? You’re the only one here who doesn’t make me suicidal,” you lie because, in reality, he actually does. Just in a different way. “Aw,” he coos, large hand squeezing your side and you think you could orgasm on command, “good thing we have tonight, then, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you squeak, finally remembering to breathe when he steps away to sit beside Seungmin on his bed. Suddenly, you are feeling incredibly grateful no one is next to Changbin because, well, 1) he is closer to Felix and 2), you need a distraction.

“Hello, Felix,” you greet the boy sunk deep in a bean bag chair, busy grinding leaves and packing them into the bowl of a bong. “How are you this fine evening, YN?” He asks once you have settled beside Changbin, brows knitting together when the older boy drapes his arm around your waist.

“Good. Tired, though. How ‘bout you?”

“You didn’t have to come if you’re tired! We all know you work your ass off, no one’s gonna judge if you chose to stay home and sleep,” Felix expresses, giving you a look that screams ‘mom.’

“No! I’m not that tired,” you assure him, reaching for his hand and squeezing for extra effect, “you know I wouldn’t miss this. You’ve made me a pothead.”

With a proud smile, he returns to his designated job and begins working on the second, smaller bong. “So,” stretching to set your things on the desk beside Changbin’s bed, you turn to him with a knowing smile, “how’s the album coming?”

“Great!” He beams, eyes lighting up at the topic. “Jisung is a great addition. Did I tell you we started meeting with someone else, too?”

“No, who?”

“He’s a sophomore, Bang Chan?” Somewhere behind you, Felix passes a bong to Jisung for the first hit. “Bang Chan? Holy shit, Binnie,” repeatedly punching his arm to express your excitement, “that’s amazing! I didn’t know he was into music production. Not that I’ve ever talked to him, but.”

“No, I get you,” he hums, giving your side a firm squeeze, “he’s really awesome making beats. I hope we’re successful.” Then, reaching past you, he takes the second bong and a lighter from Felix. When he resituates himself, he’s considerably closer than before. You don’t mind.

“Ladies first?” Changbin offers with a crooked grin, handing them to you. Then, on second thought, he holds onto the lighter to do the honors. “Sure. Thanks,” you laugh, glancing across the room to find everyone arguing over which color to set the lights to as they wait for their high. Bringing the tube to your lips, you offer a miniscule nod to him and then he is setting flame to the bowl. Sucking strong enough to generate bubbles, you unplug the bowl once he stops and breathe in as much as your lungs can handle in one go. Then, once you have exhaled, you quickly finish what’s left in the tube before passing it to Changbin with a pleased smile.

“That was a lot,” he points out once you have handed the bong back to him. “Hey, you’re the one who kept lighting it for thirty seconds. Mother would be proud,” you joke, reciprocating the same service and lighting the bowl until he glares at you beneath his bangs.

The best part about being high is the fact that you are constantly laughing. Things won’t even be that funny, but once someone starts laughing—you’re done for. You laugh so hard it hurts, and then once it’s all over, you realize it wasn’t funny at all. “Has anyone ever told you that you look like a squirrel?” Minho asks Jisung at some point. You absolutely loose it. It quite possibly is the funniest thing you have ever heard.

Pouting, Squirrel Boy leaves Minho alone on his bed to come crash beside you. “How are you, my tender oozing blossom?”

Squinting at him past the way your eyes burn, you make grabby hands and pull him close to wrap your arms around his teeny waist. Changbin grumbles in protest, but he’s too transfixed on the light’s soft in and out fade of different colors to say anything else. “Please, don’t ever call me that again,” you mumble into Jisung’s mop of brown hair.

“What?” He gasps, tilting to look up at you with puppy eyes. “You didn’t like it?”

“Nope,” smiling lazily, you rest your head atop his, “I love you, but I’m not ready for pet names yet.” His face morphs from a frown to one lit with excitement. “Holy shit, did you just say you love me? Do my eyes deceive me?”

“That would be your ‘ears,’ but yes,” you hum, brain simply not capable of denying it the way your sober self would. “More than Changbin?” Jisung whispers.

“Yes, but don’t tell him,” you return quietly, biting back a laugh.

“More than Hyunjin?” He counters. At this, you look up to find said boy sat with his legs to his chest across the room. Next to Seungmin, he looks like a giant; but a happy, pouty giant that keeps talking about how much he could go for a winter melon tea right now.

“Never.”

One and a half (half because it was just the rest of Minho’s terribly big hit that left tears streaming down his cheeks) and an unfinished game of Cards Against Humanity later, you find yourself in a blissful headspace. The song playing quietly through Felix’s speaker makes it feel like you are bouncing down stairs and then going up again, and the lights are oh so pretty, pink fading to red, yellow to green, blue to purple and so on. Things are fuzzy but crystal clear at the same time, the popcorn you’ve been shoveling into your mouth tastes heavenly, and your body feels like it is engulfed in a warm, comforting hug.

Or, that could just be Changbin.

Somewhere in between trying to get more comfortable and him yanking you to stay next to him when you attempted to get up and hug Seungmin for something sweet he said, you now find yourself on your back with a clinging Changbin on your side. You are so comfortable, but also insanely hot, and as you begin to slowly come down from your high as the hours tick by, you begin to realize it’s for another reason.

What started as an innocent hand on your side turned into his thumb rubbing meaningless patterns against your shirt, which then turned into his hand slipping beneath to splay against the warmth of your skin. Growing increasingly needy as the minutes go by, you turn to look at everyone around you. Jisung, who found himself returning to Minho, appears to be passed out with him on the far end of the room. Seungmin, curled up on the floor with a pillow and a heap of blankets. Felix, who finished off the rest of his weed, scrolls aimlessly on his phone still at the peak of his high.

And Hyunjin, who you assume has been fast asleep on his bed for a while now if the arm flung over his face tells you anything. For a moment, you feel sick with sadness. So close, but so far he lies, always a step out of reach. But you can’t deny how Changbin makes you feel—for right now, at least. And it would be a shame to miss out on an opportunity with someone else because the one you want is unattainable.

Right?

Changbin must sense the way your breathing increases, must feel the way your body reacts to the slightest of touches, yet he takes his time. He is soft in the way his hand travels up your arm, rough fingertips grazing over your collarbones before smoothing down over your chest and abdomen. It isn’t until you are about to burst at the seams does he give your ass a strong squeeze and urge your leg over his hips.

“Changbin,” you sigh, biting your lip to keep from whimpering when he begins pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses down the length of your throat. “Please touch me.”

He only makes a sound of agreement, savoring the way you squirm and grip onto his arm for dear life. When he offers an experimental roll of his hips to grind against you, you practically go feral. The last time you were touched in such a way was at a party in the beginning of the semester Jisung and co. physically forced you to go to, and Changbin has barely even touched you and it’s already better than the rushed sex you had that night.

“Wait,” he huffs, pausing his ministrations no matter how difficult it is to do so, “we can’t.”

“What?” You hiss, trying to keep your voice quiet, “why?”

“Because you’re high, and I’m high, and I’m not going to do anything unless you really want me to,” Changbin explains, pressing a gentle kiss to your lips when you frown in response. “But I do want you to,” you huff, chasing his mouth for another, “I trust you one hundred percent.”

“Are you sure, YN?” What about Hyunjin? is what he really means and you know he’s right. You should have never told Felix.

Trying to ignore the wetness of your underwear, you turn to lie on your back. “Whatever. Never mind,” you mumble, and when you glance back to him, you can’t help the way your heart soars with him still pressed closely to your side, blinking tiredly at you. But like he said, it’s not Hyunjin. “Just get some sleep, Binnie. Forget it happened,” smiling past the tears that threaten to spill, you ruffle his hair and press a softer kiss to his forehead.

“I’m sorry,” Changbin whispers, returning the affection with a kiss to your shoulder. In minutes, he is snoring softly beside you.

You can’t fall asleep to save your life.

Reaching for your phone to check the time, you grit your teeth once you realize it’s almost four and you definitely have been staring at the ceiling for more than an hour. For starters, you are freezing now; unlike these passed out hooligans, you are showing a lot more skin and not being under the blankets is not doing you well. And secondly, it’s hard to fall asleep when your thoughts are flying miles a minute.

Is this how it’s going to be, then? Whenever you see someone, will the little guy on your shoulder whisper in your ear that it’s not Hyunjin? Or will people deem you off limits because they know of your infatuation? People who know, at least—Changbin is the first, apparently.

Just need to get comfy, you decide, trying to ignore such thoughts and turning to lie on your stomach. Bless Felix for leaving the lights on, too—you may be coming down from your high, but the vibe is simply immaculate. Tucking a hand under your cheek and following the ropes of light on the ceiling and up the walls, you find this to be enough to calm your nerves. Enough to make your eyelids heavy. Finally.

Someone lets out a monster train snore. Seungmin, you think, biting your lip to keep from laughing. Or, it could be Hyunjin. The thought is so amusing you can’t help but squint at the boy across from you to better see his outline, hoping he will do it again just to confirm.

No, not Hyunjin.

Because he’s facing you, eyes open, a soft smile plastered on his face. Well, fuck.

No reason to panic, you console yourself, returning a gentle smile in the assumption he can even see you. And you stay like that for a while, simply watching one another for an infinite amount of time. It’s not much, but it means something, you think, lost in the way the contours and highlights of his face change with each color the lights fade to. Just as you remember the whole point of getting on your stomach was to fall asleep, Hyunjin moves. Reaching for his phone, you watch in confusion as he brings it close to his face and starts typing.

hwang hyunjin👁👄👁 [now] Come sleep w me?

You almost throw up in your mouth. You must be dreaming. Surely.

Blinking against the harsh light of your phone, you cannot help your smile as you reread the text.

[4:02 am] YN: wont that b a little sus for bin

[4:02 am] hwang hyunjin👁👄👁: If anyone asks just say he kept kicking u or something

You don’t need to be told twice. Now that he has turned onto his side facing the other direction, Changbin does not stir once you slowly move to sit up and stand, nor when you reach for the quilt crumbled at the foot of the bed to pull over him. It’s not much, but hopefully it will keep him from waking in a few hours freezing to death. Then, as you tiptoe your way over to Hyunjin’s bed, avoiding Felix now that he’s sprawled half way off the bean bag, you cannot tell if you are still shivering from the cold or if the fact you are going to be sleepingwith Hyunjin in one, tiny single bed is finally clicking in your brain. Like Maddie said, this is something you want, right?

As you draw closer, Hyunjin shifts to make room and lifts the covers for you to quietly slip beneath. “Thank you,” you whisper, pulling the blanket up to your chin and trying to ignore the feeling of being so close to him. “Of course. You looked real cold over there,” he smiles tiredly. Then, his arm cautiously curls around you to rest by your head, fingers swiping stray hairs away from your face.

“I was,” you admit. Eyes level to his lips, you strain to look him in the eyes to resist the temptation now that he’s pulled you so close. “Changbin fell asleep and I felt bad waking him.”

Hyunjin doesn’t reply. He seems momentarily lost in thought, brows slightly furrowed as he chews on the inside of his lip.

“Do you like him?” He finally asks, voice shaky with hesitation.

“What?” You sputter, shocked at such a presumption. Yet again…

“No, no I don’t. I mean—as a friend, yes, but, you know,” you trail off, squeezing your eyes shut. You desperately wish you were not having this conversation right now. “He was touching you, though. And it looked like you liked it,” Hyunjin whispers, thumb swiping against your cheekbone.

“I mean, well yeah, I did. But I’m not close enough to like him like that. It’s just a physical attraction,” realizing you are discussing what went down with Changbin to Hyunjin, you suddenly pull back and lean up on an elbow to get a better look at him, heat now spreading up your limbs like fire. “Were you watching us, Hwang?”

“Yes,” he admits, “it’s kind of hard not to.” Your heart stops beating.

“I – what?” You manage once you have remembered how to breathe. “I didn’t know you were awake, we wouldn’t have… what do you mean, ‘it’s kind of hard not to?’”

“You know what I mean, YN,” Hyunjin mutters, arm slipping around your waist and pulling you to lie down with him again, this time, your chest pressed to his. “I like looking at you. You’re very pretty.”

You definitely must still be high, because you are seriously having a hard time wrapping your mind around Hyunjin calling you pretty, as well as being so close, and somewhere deep in your mind wonders if he knows. If he knows how your heart is on the line here. Knows that with him moving closer, you are taking a huge risk.

When Hyunjin kisses you, you forget that this could be the worst mistake you’ve made in a long time. Wrapped around his fingers, you pray this is his way of saying he feels the same.

“YN!” You wake to Seungmin gently shaking your shoulder. “YN, wake up. Your phone has been vibrating for twenty minutes now. It’s Maddie.”

The wave of panic washing over you dispels the grogginess you feel from suddenly being yanked from sleep, as well as the recognition of where you are and who you’re with. Frantic, you sit up and nod in thanks to him before taking the call. “Hello?”

“Oh, thank God you answered,” Maddie cries, voice choked, “I’m sorry, I know you’re still out, but I just threw up and I feel so terrible and when I get up I feel so nauseous. Can you come home?”

“Shit, Maddie, don’t apologize,” you whisper, rushing to grab your things as Seungmin unfolds The Ladder as quietly as possible, “I’m leaving now. Don’t move, you don’t want it to get worse. I’ll be there as fast as I can, okay?”

“Okay,” she whimpers before hanging up.

“Thank you, Minnie,” pressing a kiss to his cheek, you begin to climb down. “Is everything okay?” He asks, watching as you go with a worried frown. “Yes, it’s fine. Just a little emergency, don’t worry,” praying no one is out and about watching as you climb from the back of their building, you rush back to help Maddie as fast as you can.

You stay back in your dorm with Maddie for the rest of the weekend, fetching her water and ginger ale and food she can handle, helping her to the restroom, and binging all sorts of shows and movies with her. Seungmin, Jisung, and Minho visit Sunday evening, joining you for a few hours to watch Pokémon. You think it’s just because Minho knew it would be a good opportunity to snuggle with Maddie.

You can’t help but feel disappointed when Hyunjin isn’t with them. You refrained from telling Maddie what happened in 201, too caught up wanting to make sure she was alright, and by now you are starting to feel as if it wasn’t even real. Maybe you made the whole night up in your marijuana-infused brain. And snuggled up with Jisung, you can’t help but wish it was this annoying shit you were falling in love with.

On Monday morning, Hyunjin doesn’t show up for breakfast. On Tuesday, you find out he has been hanging out with a girl he met at his favorite boba joint and apparently won’t shut up about. First, you run back to your dorm to cry to Maddie, having to explain all of Friday night to her. When she leaves for her lab, you call Felix for an emergency smoke session. When Maddie texts that she is going to be out late working on a project, you call Changbin to tell him that you really do want him to.

Like you said, it’s just a physical attraction, right?

⇢ part 2

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch57: We’re In The Endgame Now

Intro: Steve and Katie, along with the rest of their team are locked in a fearsome battle, between light and dark, life and death. And it’s a battle they cannot afford to lose because they’re in the Endgame now…

Warnings: “Language!” Character death. Please have your tissues ready, we all know where this one is going and, well, I bawled like a baby writing it so…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: I’m REALY nervous about this one!! I hope I do it justice. It flits between perspectives so I hope you can follow it, and used a lot of visuals too. Once more HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thanks to @angrybirdcr​ for her wicked work.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 56

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“Stevie.” Steve heard Katie’s voice breaking through the fog in his brain. It was desperate, shattered, and something else inside him broke even more. “You gotta get up, Soldier,” she pleaded, shaking his shoulder, “come on, please.”

And then, suddenly, it was another voice he was hearing. A voice he hadn’t heard for almost a century, but it was clear as day, the memory as fresh in his mind as it had been the day she’d said it…

“You always get up Stevie, ya hear?” His Ma looked at him, wiping the blood from his split lip, ignoring his flinch. “No matter how hard they hit ya, you never give them the satisfaction of stayin’ down, lad, never. You push back, and eventually they’ll realise that they can’t fight forever.”

Steve grit his teeth as he rolled to the side, Katie’s hand still on his shoulder as he rest against his forearm, gathering his strength to push himself to his feet. He turned his face to look at Katie, her face plate was open and there were tears streaking down her cheeks, and she nodded to him.

“We need to try, keep him distracted until Tony and Thor come round. Hopefully the others can find their way back to the surface. And then if we can get the stones we can end this.” It was a long shot, beyond long in fact. Steve knew that. Katie knew that. But whilst there was hope, no matter how small a hope it was, or how beaten they felt, they had to try.

As he shifted again, ready to rise to his feet he felt Katie shift a little so she was shielding Steve with her body as she knelt by his side, and when he glanced up at her he saw her focussed to her left, utter hatred and fear clouding her pretty face.

“In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal.” Thanos spoke as Katie and Steve both glared at him from their vantage point on the floor. “But I’ll tell you now, what I’m about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet…I’m gonna enjoy it. Very, very much.”

And then, as they watched, behind Thanos, a blue light beamed down form the sky and when it dissipated it left what looked like thousands of soldiers stood in rows. Thanos had brought his entire army. The so called Children of Thanos, hundreds upon hundreds of Chitauri and those damned dog things they had fought in Wakanda…

Katie took a shaky breath, and let out a sob as she realised that any hope they had was gone. They might, just might have stood a chance against Thanos alone, but not against his full army. She locked eyes with Steve before he looked down at the ground, away from her eyes, his own tears filling his eyes as he understood this was it.

This was the end. For them, for their kids, for the world.

According to some, there’s a calm serenity that descends on you when you know your time is up. But Steve didn’t feel calm, he felt anger, hatred, and all towards himself. This was down to him, he’d brought this upon his family, his friends. He should have left those fucking stones in the past and dealt with his feelings of failure. Instead, here he was, a failure again. Beaten on a battlefield by the very man they actually killed some five years previously that was now about to wipe out the entire world. How fucked up was that?

“We are not going like this.” Katie was now openly sobbing as she shook her head, looking from Steve to the assembled army. “Not like this. We stand up, and we go fighting, you hear me?”

Steve glanced at the broken shield on his arm, swallowing as he remembered Jamie looking at him when he told him he used to be Captain America. His beautiful baby boy’s eyes that were so like Steve’s mother’s, wide with awe, and pride. Well fuck this. Katie was right, his Ma was right. If he was going, then he was going down fighting. Alongside his best gal, his partner, the woman who gave him more strength than any serum ever could.

With a low groan, Steve pushed himself to his feet, teeth grit, fierce determination across every line on his face. With a shaking hand he tightened the leather straps on his broken shield around his arm and stood tall, turning to Katie.

“I love you,” he choked out, holding out his right hand to grip her left gauntlet, “’til the end of the line.” She turned to him, her eyes streaming with tears before she reached up and pulled his face to hers, pressing a fierce kiss to his lips.

“The very end.” She stuttered out, before they turned to face their death.

Captain America and Supernova, Steve Rogers and Katie Stark, Man and Wife walked slowly towards Thanos, who simply stood, his head cocked to his right. However, they’d barely made it four foot when their communicators started crackling.

“Hey, Cap, you read me?”

It was faint…and broken…but it was a voice they hadn’t heard in five years other than in their dreams. A voice they would never forget. 

Both of them stopped dead. Steve’s mouth dropped open and he looked at Katie, raising a shaking hand to his head in an attempt to press the coms piece further into his ear, not quite sure he was believing what he was hearing.

“Cap, it’s Sam. Can you hear me?”

Both Katie and Steve’s chests rose and fell deeply as they tried to understand where Sam was. They knew Banner’s snap had worked, but surely if everyone came back where they had vanished then they should be in Wakanda. Nevertheless, Steve instinctively glanced upwards, and Sam spoke again.

“On your left.”

They both turned in that direction, and immediately saw a sparkling yellow circle forming in the air. As they watched, utterly dumbfounded, three figures stepped through and Katie realised from their Silhouettes alone who it was- Okoye, Shuri, and T’Challa in his full Black Panther garb. Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as T'Challa’s mask faded away, the King looking at Steve. The Soldier took a shaky and relieved breath and a thankful smile broke through the filth and grime that covered his face. T'Challa gave him a small nod, before he turned to Katie and bowed slightly, the way he always did.

Katie’s breathing suddenly became erratic as her sobs began again, but this time they were punctuated by laughs and stutters of utter relief which turned into a yell of pure joy when Sam zoomed in above them in his Falcon armour. They watched as he flew and circled back round, Katie’s hands flying into the back of her hair, gripping as she doubled over and cried, simply unable to believe it. 

Steve could do nothing but watch in a relieved, thankful and astounded awe as dozens and dozens more portals opened up all around the battlefield. He knew who the man that descended at the front was- Doctor Strange and he was joined by three people he also knew to be Rocket’s friends- The Guardians of the Galaxy- then came Spider-Man, his mask flopping down to reveal an alive and well Peter Parker behind it. Katie tore her eyes away to look for Tony who was now sitting up, a look of utter shock on his face. He found her eyes and gave a small twitch of his mouth as he scrambled to his feet, and turned to Thor who was now grinning ear to ear as he watched the portal that was bringing Valkyrie and the Asgardian army to their aid.

The chanting of the Wakandan Army rang around the battle field as row by row the guard stepped through another portal headed by Bucky, his gun held firmly in his arms and Steve watched his best friend’s handsome face which wore a look of resigned determination, and the number of people arriving to support the Avengers continued to rise as Dr Strange conjured portal after portal.

A familiar red energy alerted them both to Wanda’s appearance, where she landed not far from Bucky, her eyes blazing. And then, with a clang Pepper landed a few feet away from Katie clad in her own Iron Suit and Tony joined them, shooting his wife a proud look.

Finally there was a loud roaring, crashing noise and Katie and Steve spun to see Scott Lang as the Giant-Ant Man emerging from the rubble with Banner, Rhodey, Rocket and Clint. 

The group of thousands behind Katie and Steve up their fighting stances, brandishing whatever weapons or powers they had, battle cries loud and Steve looked around, almost bursting into tears himself at the emotions flooding his chest. He glanced at his wife who looked back, wiping her eyes, her breathing still deep as she couldn’t quite believe how all these people had come to help. Steve didn’t either, but all he knew was they had. And now they were almost if not completely equal on numbers. And they had hope once more.

In fact, they had more than hope. They had a chance. And that was good enough for the Captain. He’d beaten worse odds before, and he was damned sure they could do it again, especially when he turned to look at Thanos and saw for the first time something that looked like fear, apprehension even on the Titan’s face.

He turned to face Katie again as she gave him a nod.

“Call it, Captain.” Her voice was full of determination as her face plate slid back into place.

So, call it he did.

“AVENGERS!” Steve’s cry echoed across the battle field as he held out his hand, summoning Mjolnir to his palm. Thor landed by his side just as the hammer slapped into Steve’s glove and he glared up at Thanos, his teeth grit with utter determination. “Assemble.”

Behind him, Thor gave a loud battle cry as did Black Panther and the Avengers’ army began to charge. Katie, Tony and Pepper flying in formation with Sam as they sped forward. Almost instantly, the two sides collided violently, and the fighting began. Bullets, beams, punches, kicks, knives, spears all flying and smashing against one another. The air was filled with yells, grunts and the clanging of metal against metal as the battle raged on.

****

Thor and Steve found themselves fighting off a large group of the dog like creatures and somehow Steve ended up holding Stormbreaker. Not for long, because that belonged to Thor. His Thanos killing axe. No way was the God of Thunder letting the Captain wield that. 

“No no, give me that! Thor held out his hand, tossing Steve Mjolnir. "You can have the little one.”

Steve took it and shot off across the ground towards another group of Outriders. Above him, Katie, Tony and Pepper were circling back to back, their booster beams shooting at anything and everything, spiralling into groups below, helping anyone they could. Katie spotted that Clint was swamped a little so she flew down, freeing him before she shot into the air and found herself flying alongside Sam.

“Mrs R.” He turned to face her and she gave him a nod, smiling broadly although she knew he wouldn’t see her.

“Good to see you Sammy!”

“You know me, never one to miss a good fire fight!” He smirked, shooting his semi-autos at something that was flying into the air in front of him.

Tony shot down, barrelling into a group of Chitauri warriors, just like he had in New York. With a whoop he scattered them like bowling pins, landing and shooting off guns and beams, before something hit him hard on the side of the head and sent him soaring through the air. He landed, and pushed himself up on his elbows ready to fight but before he needed to, Lang’s giant Ant-Man crushed his assailant, striding away.

And then, the kid was there. Parker was running straight to Tony. In the suit Tony had made for him. The Billionaire blinked, retracting his helmet as Pete’s usual, incessant and enthusiastic rambles filled his ear.

“Hey! Holy cow! You will not believe what’s been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must’ve passed out ‘cause I woke up, and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? He was like, ‘It’s been five years. Come on, they need us.’ And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time..” he started using two fingers to demonstrate Strange’s swirl in the air but Tony stopped him, the emotions of seeing the kid alive again were swirling in his chest, and with watery eyes he stepped forward and pulled the kid into a hug.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked, shocked at his mentor’s display of affection before he hugged Tony back. “This is nice.”

The fight raged on and on and on. But no one gave up, they knew they had no option but to win this, for the sake of everything and everyone on the planet, and none more than Steve, who was fighting with every goddamned bit of strength he had to get back to his kids and his wife.

Across the field he could just about make out Clint, who was sprinting like his life depended on it. Which, in fairness, it did. The gauntlet was clutched to his chest and he spoke into his coms, asking his leader for instructions.

“Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?”

“Get those stones as far away as possible!” Steve instructed, punching another creature in the head.

“No!” Banner yelled back “We need to get them back where they came from.”

“No way to get them back.” Tony sighed. “Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel”

“Hold on…” Lang spoke, and Steve saw the 100 foot or so man shrink out of the air. “That wasn’t our only time machine!”

The sound of Scott’s van horn, rang out across the battle ground and Steve immediately ran up a pile of rubble to higher ground, trying to spot the van, following the noise.  

“Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?” Steve asked, looking up.

Katie shot above him and he watched her as she circled over the fighting armies before she stopped, hovering and pointing down underneath her

“Yes!” She yelled victoriously, as Valkyrie flew alongside her on her winged horse, shooting her a look.

“You’re not going to like where it’s parked!” The Asgardian finished, pointing her spear to it.

Tony flew up into the air shooting another Chitauri warrior off his, well, whatever the hell you called those flying scooter things, before he glanced down at Lang.

“Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?”

“Maybe ten minutes”. 

“Get it started.” Rogers instructed. “We’ll get the stones to you.”

And then as Tony watched, ready to cover Lang as he broke for it, a woman materialised next to him. Nothing should surprise Tony anymore, nothing, but it did. And he had absolutely no idea why.

“We’re on it, Cap.” She spoke softly, before the pair of them shrunk again and FRIDAY kept a lock on them as they flew away, no bigger than ants.

Okay, so maybe Lang didn’t need covering after all. Tony watched them via FRIDAY’s scanners as they flew towards the van, and he saw Katie and Pepper fighting in tandem, the pair of them bringing down a huge Chituari beast that looked like a gorilla. He grinned at the sight of his wife and sister kicking ass, and then spotted Strange in the corner of his eye, trapping a load of Chitauri in his magic, sending them through portals to fuck knows where, not that Tony gave a shit.

Recalling the conversation he had held on Titan with the Wizard, he suddenly felt a desperation to know, so he landed, turning to look at him.

“Hey. You said one out of fourteen million, we win, yeah?” He asked, glancing around. “Tell me this is it.” 

“If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen” Strange replied, and Tony groaned. Jesus this man was infuriating. 

“You better be right.” Tony shot back, pointing an iron clad finger at him.

As Scott was hot-wiring his van, because of course it was dead, the fight continued and the gauntlet was in some kind of relay across the battle field towards them. T’Challa took it off Clint and as Thanos advanced on the Black Panther, Wanda landed in front of him, her eyes blazing. She then began to fight Thanos furiously, and she seemed to be getting the upper hand as bits of his armour began to peel off him as rose in the air, surrounded by her red power as she attempted to tear him apart. 

In desperation, Thanos gave the instruction for his ships to fire down on the battle field, not caring whether he put his own army in danger as collateral. As the missiles began to hit the ground, everyone tried to dodge as best they could. Strange and the rest of his troops held up their arms conjuring magic shields to attempt to keep their allies as sheltered as possible.

Steve was too engrossed in the fight around him to pay too much attention to where everyone else was, but he heard his wife loud and clear, his ears tuned into her as they always where.

“Where are the stones?” Katie she asked frantically, and Steve had to admit, he’d kinda like to know as well. It was then that he heard Peter Parker yelling, and realised he had the gauntlet.

“I got this…” there was a scuffle "Ok, I don’t got this. Help! Somebody! Help!”

“Hey Queens,” Steve said, winding his arm back, “heads up!” He took a couple steps forward flung Mjolnir towards him. Peter shot his web at it, where it latched on and he was catapulted him through the air where Katie caught him.  

“Hang on, I got you, kid!” She assured him as they flew through the air and she tossed him to Valkyrie as she flew past, Parker’s yells ringing in her years. But, as Katie watched, the Asgardian’s horse was hit by the fire from Thanos’ ship and Peter was blasted to the floor.

“Tony, have you any idea how we can shut that thing down?” Katie asked desperately, looking at the ship. “We need that damned thing out of order to stand any chance!”

“I’m working-“ Tony began, but he trailed off as the cannons stopped, lifting upwards before they began to fire into the sky.

“What the hell is this?” Sam asked, as he flew alongside Katie, as the two of them fired at a couple more Chitauri in front of them.

“FRIDAY, what are they firing at?” Tony asked, his voice slightly worried.

“Something just entered the upper atmosphere,” FRIDAY replied.

Then a huge, bright ball of pulsating energy came surging down straight through the ship, where it then turned, and shot straight back up through it again, destroying the engines.

It was Danvers.

Katie’s mouth dropped open as the woman hovered above the now fast descending ship as it crash-landed in the river.

“Now that’s how to make an entrance,” Katie glanced at her brother where he was hovering not far away from her. He turned to look at her, and even though she couldn’t see his face she knew he was rolling his eyes.

“I used to make a perfectly good entrance, thank you Kiddo.”

"Danvers,” Steve glanced up, hardly able to keep the smile of his face, even though he knew this was far from over. But Thanos was worried now, he could see from the Titan’s body language, and that was enough of a boost for the Super Soldier to sweep straight back into Captain mode as for the first time since the battle began, he felt that they could actually win. “We could use an assist here…”

“What on?” Carol asked, flying towards Katie.

“We need to get the stones to the brown van…” Katie circled, and then she spotted Peter who was crouched in a crater, the gauntlet tight within his arms. She landed, her helmet sliding away and Carol gently dropped besides her and looked down at Peter.

“Hi. I’m Peter Parker,” he said, looking up at Carol, his breathing deep and his nose blooded.

Carol smirked, almost flirtatiously. “Hey Peter Parker. Got something for me?”

Peter pushed himself up and handed her the gauntlet, before he looked at the Army who was crawling towards them. “I don’t know how you’re gonna get it through all that.”

Wanda then landed next to Katie and glanced around, her red power surrounding her. “Don’t worry.” The Sokovian woman said as Valkyrie landed on her winged horse 

“She’s got help” Okoye stepped up alongside them all as she looked around. 

“Where’s Nat?” Wanda asked as Pepper landed next to Okoye. Katie hung her head slightly as she looked at her, as more and more of the women from the battle joined them- Mantis, then Shuri  Hope, Gamora and Nebula.

“She didn’t make it back from the mission to get the stones.” Katie said gently, swallowing as she shook her head.

Beside her, Okoye spun her spear in her hands, her face stoney as she eyed up the army which was advancing on them. “Then this…this is for her…” The Wakandan woman turned to Katie who nodded.

They began to stride forward and Thanos’ army charged a swarm of aliens, Chitauri and animals alike. Okoye took out the larger fighter that Katie recognised from the train station in Edinburgh as Wanda, her, Pepper and Valkyrie destroyed two leviathans. Carol Danvers shot straight towards the van with the Gauntlet, at a rate of knots, going through every blockade that was in her way with ease.

However, Thanos was hot on her tail.  

“She needs cover!” Katie yelled as she flew down, followed by Pepper as Shuri and Hope also stood tall, the four of them unloading their various weapons and succeeding in blasting Thanos backwards. Danvers sped past him, but through the heat and flash of various beams and weapons, no one spotted him launching the remaining half of his sword towards the van until it was too late. 

Steve felt the explosion and looked up at the huge flash of light, seeing Danvers being catapulted back through the air, her grip on the gauntlet lost and it fell to the ground. Then, it was almost like time slowed down as Thanos paused, looking at the Gauntlet, at the same time as Tony sat up and did the same. As Steve sprinted towards the pair of them Tony went to tackle him from behind only to be batted away to the side somewhere. Steve continued to sprint, he was almost there, almost, and then Thor landed swinging his lightning covered axe at the Titan before his hammer flew into his hand and he used both weapons to hold Thanos at bay.

Steve threw himself on Thanos’ back grabbing at the axe, pulling with all his might in an attempt to slice it straight through his neck. But it was to no avail. With a mighty head-butt Thanos sent Thor sprawling backwards and he reached up and pulled Steve off him, flinging him through the air like a rag doll. He landed hard, his head colliding with something, and he was out cold.

“Steve!” Katie saw him sprawled on the floor, and was about to go after him, but she saw Thanos reaching for the gauntlet. Surging her suit forwards she shot at him, desperation flooding her system, and she kept her beam going as she flew down. Her fingers grazed the gauntlet before a harsh kick to her head sent her flipping back and through the air with no control over her flight plan. She landed heavily, groaning as she felt blood trickle down her temple, zoning in and out, the sounds of the battle muting slightly as she lay on her back, her helmet flying open as she took deep gulps of air, blinking as the stars swam in front of her eyes. 

****

Tony, meanwhile, had come to. He sat up, and saw that Thanos and Danvers were locked in combat, Danvers’ hands were both wrapped round Thanos’ left and Tony could see that he now had the gauntlet. He grimaced as Thanos went to head but the woman, but nothing. It simply bounced off the energy surrounding her, a shocked and almost frightened expression crossing Thanos’ face.

At that, Tony felt a glimmer of hope, maybe she was their secret weapon. The one in fourteen million, six-hundred and five that meant they were gonna win. As he watched she surged upwards, forcing Thanos to his knees but the Titan pulled the Power Stone out of the gauntlet and clutching it in his right hand he hit Danvers hard and she flew through the air, landing harshly.

With pure desperation, Tony turned to look at Strange who was watching him. The magician simply raised one finger, which was trembling slightly. Trembling, Tony assumed, because the one win he foresaw was now at risk. But as he looked at the man, Strange’s eyes filled with sadness and Tony realised that it wasn’t Carol he saw winning the battle after all.

It was him. 

Tony now understood completely. And he knew what he had to do.

***** With a heavy moan, Katie sat up, just in time to see Tony grappling with Thanos. With an angry cry she fired her suit up again and shot forwards, but as she did, Thanos cast aside her brother easily. She bore down on him, shooting her beams, using her boosters, a loud yell escaping her mouth as once more she powered everything she had into her firepower. FRIDAY yelled a warning as one of the Chitauri Leviathons came straight for her and she just managed to dodge it by flying sharply to the right, but was caught heavily by one of its fins and for the second time in as many minutes she was spiralling though the air with no control. The heads up display in her helmet flickered slightly and there was ringing in her ears mingled with FRIDAY’s desperate calls. The ground was rising fast to meet her but just in time she managed fire up her thrusters and right herself in the air. Spinning round she saw Tony knelt up, his helmet retracted as he stared at the Titan, who was leering down over him with a twisted grin on his face.

“I am inevitable.” It was the second time Katie had heard him say that, only this time, he rose his hand which bore the gauntlet.

Katie’s desperate scream echoed around her helmet, and before she could so much as move, the Titan snapped. But instead of the beams of light and the shaking of the ground that had happened when Bruce did it, there was nothing.

Katie’s face plate slid back, because the thought the displays were damaged, but her eyes widened as Thanos glanced down at his gauntlet. She realised at the same time he did that the stones were missing. And then, as if in slow motion, the pieces started to slot into place, both figuratively and mentally.

Tony knelt tall, the stones twirling round his hand. Lights circled his forearm and bicep and he let out a loud yell, the utter pain and power consuming him. It burned into every cell on his body and it took everything he had inside him to keep himself upright. This was it the end that he always knew he was going to meet. And strangely, he wasn’t scared. Not for him anyway, this was his destiny, the only way it would ever end.

“We’re in the Endgame now.”

Morgan’s face flashed across Tony’s mind, then Pepper’s, then his sister’s as his head fell back, the power surging up his arm and shoulder. Pulling his head up with an almighty wrench, his eyes locked on those belonging to Thanos and he could feel the stones vibrating on his gauntlet, humming, almost like they knew what was coming.

Maybe they did, because, from the look on Thanos’ face, he sure did.

Well, eat shit, you fucker!

Tony took a deep breath, before he spoke with the most conviction he could ever remember having, raising his fingers.

“And I…am…Iron Man.”

 For a split second, Tony’s eyes flickered to his sister, who was watching the entire event unfold, paralysed in mid-air behind Thanos, her helmet retracted and mouth open in a silent scream. He gave her a soft smile as he concentrated hard on what he wanted to happen.

And then, he snapped his fingers.

The power surge made Tony collapse forward, his skin was burning and his throat felt like it was being closed off, and there was nothing but silence in his ears. He pushed himself to his feet, hand clutched to the arc reactor in his chest as he tried to speak into his coms, but the words wouldn’t come. Staggering a few feet, he stumbled to a large upturned piece of concrete laced with rebar before he fell down against it, hard.

****

Steve, who had just got to his feet was aware of a bright flash of light and the vibrating of the ground underneath him and knew instantly that someone had snapped. He spun round in desperate hope it wasn’t Thanos, and then, as he saw one of the dog-like bearing down on him he braced himself, aiming a hard punch to its head. But he connected with nothing. He paused, his eyes widening, mouth falling open in shock as he watched Thanos’ army turn to dust all around the field and he realised that they’d won. It wasn’t Thanos who had snapped, it was one of them. With a relieved sigh, he wheeled around expecting to see Thor or Banner with the gauntlet, his mouth suddenly going dry as he realised the effect it had on Banner the last time but they were nowhere to be found.

And that was when he spotted his wife, deactivating her suit as she ran, scrambling over piles of concrete and stones to get to someone.

****

Tony’s breathing was laboured and his eyes were fully wide when Katie finally reached him, grabbing his gauntlet clad hand.

“Tony, come on, look at me!” Her brother was dying, she realised that. But they’d won. And, as she looked at him, she knew he understood that too. Morgan, Pepper, Kiddo, Jamie, Emmy, Steve, their family were all safe. The world was safe. Tony tried to speak, and she knew he was trying to tell her it was okay, that he accepted what was happening, but his voice was merely a whisper.

“I…”

“Shhh, save your strength.” Katie gently placed her hand on the side of his head, down the cheek which wasn’t badly burnt and she was aware that someone had landed next to her. Rhodey dropped to his knee gently, his hand falling to Tony’s shoulder as he looked at his friend.

“Mr Stark?” Peter Parker landed between her and Rhodey. Katie turned her attention back to her brother as his head collapsed against the concrete, her vision blurring with tears as the kid continued to speak. “Hey Mr Stark, can you hear me? It’s Peter.” Tony’s face turned to the young man, a flash of recognition on his face as he tried to smile. “We won, Mr Stark” Peter took a shuddering breath. “We won, you did it Sir, we did it. I’m sorry, don’t….” He began to cry as Tony’s head lolled to the side and then Katie was aware of someone else behind them, gently pulling Peter up and away. Pepper crouched next to her right, gently squeezing Katie’s arm before she touched Tony on his shoulder, placing her other hand over the arc reactor on his chest.

“Hey,” She smiled said softly.

“Pep…” Tony managed to whisper as his hand fell on top of hers and Katie placed her own over his.

“FRIDAY?” Pepper spoke with a thick swallow, even though Katie knew there was no need to ask the AI. The stones had almost killed Thanos and Banner. Tony stood no chance. There was no way back.

“Life functions are critical,” the AI spoke and Katie bowed her head, her tears falling to the ground.

“Tony,” Pepper said softly, and Katie looked back at her brother, who was smiling up at his wife. Pepper gently smiled back, as he turned his head to his sister and she tried her hardest to keep it together.

“The stars,” he mumbled out, and Katie nodded choking back a sob as she gripped his hand tighter, finishing the saying for him.

“And back.” He voice was choked with tears and she reached up, wiping her face furiously.

Tony gave her a soft smile, as he turned back to Pepper who gently ran her hand up his arm. “We’re gonna be okay” she said, her voice soft as she glanced at Katie

“We all are.” Katie assured him, sniffing slightly.

His head lolled back once more and Pepper spoke gently, this time her voice cracked. “You can rest now.” Her hand brushed his hair back from his temple as he lay so still. For a second, Tony’s eyes glanced over Katie’s and she followed his eye-line to see Steve stood, stock still his face crumpled in sorrow. For a moment the two men locked eyes, Tony once more giving the faintest of smiles before his body slumped back against the surface behind him.  Pepper bowed her head as Katie glanced down at her hand, still over the top of Tony’s as the light went out in his chest.

He was gone.

Katie let out a soft sob as she removed her hand gently taking Tony’s with her. Kneeling up, she pressed her forehead against his, scrunching her face up against the physical pain that was brewing in her chest. Pepper leaned up to kiss his face as a silence fell around them, not one single sound coming from the battle field. Pepper dropped her head to Tony’s shoulder and then she too began to cry. Katie placed a soft kiss to her brother’s cheek, his skin still warm and then bowed her head, listening to Pepper’s sobs through the silence of her own.

Steve limped forward, dropping heavily to his knees besides his wife. “Katie…” He spoke softly as she turned to face him, his eyes were red and the dirt on the parts of his face visible under his helmet were interlined with the tracks his own tears had made. The two looked at each other for a second, before Katie’s face crumpled and Steve wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face into his chest, her small body shaking with silent sobs, hands fisting around the Kevlar of his uniform. Steve lay his cheek against her head, his own tears pouring down his face as he held her to him. His eyes scanned the immediate vicinity of the battle field and he saw Clint in the near distance, dropping to his knee, his head bowed, hand resting on his fist. In front of him T’challa did the same, then Carol, and then Bucky. Everyone around took the knee out of respect to their fallen warrior.  

It was Thor that broke the silence, but not by speaking. There was a huge rumble of thunder and Katie jumped, pulling back from Steve slightly, looking upwards as lighting flashed in the sky. The clouds that had descended with Thanos’ ship began to part slowly, a chink of the red sunset falling onto where Tony was sat, shards of light bouncing off his Iron Man suit.

Katie turned away from Steve and gently reached out with a shaking hand to close Tony’s eyes

“There, he could be sleeping.” She sniffed softly, her hand falling to Pepper’s shoulder. Pepper reached up and gripped it, almost painfully as she turned to her sister-in-law, her face streaming with tears. There was a moment’s pause before Katie wrapped her arms around her, gently stroking her hair.

“We should, we should move him.” Rhodey’s voice cracked. Taking a deep breath,  Steve pulled himself to his feet with a groan and he looked around.

“Has any of the compound survived?” He asked softly, wiping his face as Sam approached him.

“The Hangar area and the labs are totally gone, Cap.” Sam shook his ehad gently and Steve looked at him properly for the first time in five years “But some of the living quarters and part of the training facility seems to be okay.”

“Can we check it’s safe to house people?” Steve did what he did best, compartmentalised his feelings, parking for the time being as he shifted back into Captain mode. “We need to set up somewhere to treat the wounded.”

Sam nodded.

“I’ll come with you.” Rhodey offered before he looked at Steve. “I’ll get onto the Emergency Services and Ross too.” With that, Rhodey took off straight away whereas Sam remained where he was, his eyes fixed on Steve who gave him a weary smile.

“It’s good to see you, Sam.”

“Well like I said, when Captain America needs your help.”

There was a pause, before the two men hugged, clapping one another on the back.  Stepping back,  with a nod, Sam launched back into the air.

“I leave you for what, five minutes and you start another war?”

Steve spun round to see Bucky, watching him, a slight smile on his face.  For a moment, Steve stood still, just observing his friend before he rushed forward into a manly embrace, choking up once more.

“Jerk.” Steve gave a watery laugh as he stepped back, shaking his head.

“Punk.” Bucky retorted gently, before he looked down at Katie who was still knelt by her brother, her arm round Pepper. He gave a sigh and dropped his head.

“Sorry.” Bucky offered to Steve, not sure what else he could say.

Steve nodded, wiping his face as he glanced around, the Captain and the Sergeant both surveying the survivors. Banner was stood with Clint and TChalla, the three of them talking with their heads bowed. Clint reached out and patted Banner on the arm as the green man began walking towards where Steve was stood.

“Some of the living quarters are secure.” Rhodey spoke in Steve’s ear and he nodded.

“Okay, let’s set up some form of command centre, a triage maybe if we need it.” He took a deep breath and turned back to Katie as he dropped to his knee again, a little gentler than last time and he touched her shoulder.  

“Honey,” he spoke softly, wiping away the blood from her temple, “we can move Tony now, take him inside. That is if you’re ready.”

She turned to him, taking a deep breath she nodded. “Pep?”

Pepper gave a sniff and nodded as well.

“I’ll take him.” Banner spoke solemnly as he stepped forward. Katie watched as he picked up Tony’s limp body as easily as if it was a rag doll and set off walking through the rubble.

“I don’t want him to be alone.” Pepper spoke, looking at Katie, before she stood up and walked after Bruce.

Katie took a deep breath. She didn’t want to leave her brother either but she knew there was nothing more to be done for him, he was gone, and there were other people that needed their help. She turned to face Steve who was still knelt next to her. He reached out to gently cup her cheek with his hand, and it was then she noticed the bone-deep almost foot long gash down his forearm.

“Your arm.” She took his wrist in her hand and gently flipping it so she could look at it. “I’ll be fine.” He brushed off her concern.

Knowing better than to try and argue with him, she looked around and asked with a shaky voice. “Did anyone else…” “No.” Steve shook his head, instantly understanding. “There’s a few injuries but, everyone’s fine.” “Except Tony.” Katie’s breath caught in her thoat as the tears once more flooded from her eyes.  

“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” Steve’s voice cracked as he wrapped his arms round her and cradled her close, the pair of them lost in their grief for their fallen brother. *****

The night began to draw in.

Thanks to Rhodey, the Emergency services had swamped the area to begin a full clean up and treatment of the walking wounded. And there were so many people to greet, so many to thank, so fucking many. Once it was clear they were no longer needed, Strange transported everyone who needed to go back away, shaking Steve’s hand and informing Katie how sorry he was that there had been no other way to defeat Thanos.

But she wasn’t listening, Steve could see she’d gone into auto-pilot. And when she eventually told Steve she needed a break, he gave her cheek a soft kiss and watched her as she walked slowly into the compound, knowing full well that her breakdown would come later.

He continued to liaise with the military, speaking to Colonels, Captains, Commanders alike, but eventually he found himself alone, walking over the destroyed grounds, with absolutely no clue how he’d gotten there or how long he’d been there. All he knew was that it was dark, and quiet.

With a sigh and a glance down at his bandaged arm, Steve’s attention was caught by something shining in the beams of the searchlights that had been erected around the compound. As he looked harder, he noticed that it was a piece of his shield. Bending down, his fingers swept the dust and debris off the large piece of red, white and blue Vibranium. Picking it up, he swallowed slightly, remembering the horror and surprise he had felt as Thanos had hacked through it, as if it had been made of nothing but aluminium.

“So you met Danvers?” A familiar voice cut through his thoughts, shattering his peace.

Steve looked over his shoulder to see Fury stood behind him. He stood up and gave the man an exasperated look. “You were holding out on us.”

“In a fashion” Fury shrugged. “Code red only.”

Steve gave a snort, not in the least bit surprised.

“He’s a spy. Captain, he’s THE spy.” Tony said, gesticulating with his arms to make a point “His secrets have secrets.”

Steve looked down at the fractured piece of his shield which was held in his hand, before he glanced out over the now destroyed compound where the battle had been raging mere hours before and he shook his head.

“You know, all this, bringing everyone back,” he sighed heavily, “the victory kinda feels pyrrhic with losing Nat and Tony.”

“They both made their choices.” Fury sighed, softly. Both gave their lives for a cause they believed in.”

“Tony didn’t even want to do this, you know.” Steve shook his head. “He said no at first but I talked him into it.” “Since when did a Stark every do anything they didn’t wanna?” Fury turned to face Steve straight on. “He made a choice. As did Agent Romanoff. And you need to allow them the both the dignity of their choices by not blaming yourself. They clearly thought it was worth it.” With those words the Captain was catapulted way back in time to a conversation in a blown out London bar.

“You did everything you could. Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him?” Peggy asked and Steve looked at her, incredulously. Of course he did. She nodded and continued “Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it.”

“What?” Fury asked as Steve shook his head, a sad smile on his face.

“Nothing. You just reminded me of someone.” “I won’t ask.” Fury shrugged before he changed the subject. “I hear you and Nova have been busy these past five years. Couple of kids, huh?” Steve smiled as he looked at Fury, the thought of his children temporarily stemming the hollow feeling in his chest at the loss of his brother-in-law and friend. “Yeah.”

“Then you should go home. Be with them.”

“Is that an order?” Steve arched an eyebrow looking at him.

“You don’t work for you me anymore, you haven’t done for a long time, in fact I’m not sure you ever really did,” Fury smirked a little, “and I don’t think you never will again.”

He gave Steve a significant look, one which Steve instantly understood. This was Fury’s way of relieving him from his leadership of the Avengers.  It was symbolic more than anything because Steve didn’t need releasing from service at all. But this was closure. It was Fury’s promise to Steve that he would never be called upon to fight again if that was what he chose.

And he did choose. He was ready to quit. His fight was done. He had other priorities now, and everything they’d been through over the past few months had shown him that. Tony and Nat had both sacrificed their lives, so that he would keep his, and he wasn’t going to dishonour their memory by putting his family at risk ever again.

Steve looked down at his feet, before he glanced up at Fury, and held his hand out. “It’s been an honour,” he said, as Fury shook his hand, “but you’re right. It’s time for me to hang up my shield, for good this time.” He looked down at the broken metal in his hand, “well, what’s left of it.”

“Or you could pass it down.” Fury suggested as Steve looked back at him, snorting.

“I think Jamie is a bit too young, and Katie would murder me if I even-”

“I don’t mean to your son.” Fury cut Steve off, shaking his ehad. “But Captain America has been a symbol of hope for years. And that’s something the world is always gonna need Cap, regardless of who it is. So think about it, maybe there’s someone else worthy of that title and shield, broken or not.”

Steve watched, pondering his words, as Fury gave him a final nod, and turned back towards the destroyed buildings

****

Chapter 58

[makeste]

I just wanna enable you to talk more about Katsuki so. top 5 (or 10, or however many you feel like) Bakugou romantic ships? not like number 1 will be a surprise but hey ;p

ah, shipping. the perfect topic with which to take a breather from leg puns and the quirkless!Bakugou debate. nothing controversial about ships lmao.

disclaimer: these are literally just my favorite Bakugou ships, as asked. I have few to no NOTPs, and I’m not anti-anything, nor do I have any opinions on whether or not any of these will or should become canon (as it really makes no difference to me, since I ship them all platonically as well). basically I have no skin in the “shipping somehow has winners and losers” game. I’m just here for the emotional energy and the lulz and the character development.

anyways this is a top six because I couldn’t bear to leave either of my two favorite rarepairs out whoops.

BakuDeku - like you said anon, not a surprise lol. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; for me, these two are the core of the series. honestly it sometimes strikes me as ironic that this ship is so often written off as abusive or unhealthy or toxic, because I often find myself thinking that roughly 90% of all of Bakugou and Deku’s problems could be sorted out just by them communicating with each other. and I don’t mean just their own specific relationship problems -- I mean all of their problems. Bakugou is having an emotional crisis about something? have him talk to Deku. Deku’s overwhelmed by a problem and way overthinking it? have him talk to Bakugou! they balance each other out, is the thing. when one of them veers off course, the other is the compass to steer them back on track. that’s the power of rivals!! and aside from that, this relationship is just so complex, and I am weak for absolutely all of it. it’s just this perfect blend of push and pull and friction and trust. it’s the type of ship where the two of them have such a strong connection that it’s like gravity; they can’t help but orbit the other, even when that orbit is sometimes unsteady. it’s just such a powerful bond and just... guh. I have way too many emotions about it so I am just going to STOP NOW and move on to the next ship.

TodoBaku - so by now we have reached a point where pretty much everyone in class 1-A is an expert on handling Bakugou, and ngl, it’s my favorite thing ever. but what makes the TodoBaku relationship so especially appealing is that Shouto is completely unafraid to just step right up and declare his friendship to the entire world. Todoroki “I’m calling it like it is” Shouto, who, after giving the matter careful consideration, correctly judged himself and Bakugou to be the closest of friends, and thus decided that they should intern together and he should introduce him to his family and get his sister to cook his favorite foods. and the entire time, Bakugou is all “please no one listen to this delusional freak, we are not friends at all,” even as he proceeds to get himself involved in all of the Todoroki family drama, and saves Shouto’s brother’s life, and learns all of his sister’s recipes, and presumably cries himself to sleep at night wondering how he could have let this happen.

Kacchako - what I like about Ochako’s relationship with Katsuki is that she’s one of the few people who’s not afraid to call him out on his shit. she’s not just warmly tolerant of him like some of the others; she has expectations of him, and will unabashedly express her sound disappointment if he fails to be the person she knows he’s capable of being. I feel like Ochako has no patience for him taking his sweet time with his character development, and is just “goddammit young man, just sort your shit out with Deku already and go back to being best friends like you both so clearly want, and while you’re at it please try to treat other people less like garbage”, and various other things that are all true but that he of course hates to hear, but TOO BAD lol. anyway so I love that, and I love that she’s just as stubborn as he is. and I also love that there’s genuine, mutual respect between the two of them as well. never forget that Katsuki is the one who first brought out Ochako’s homicidal badass side. anyway so they basically complement each other very well, and I have my fingers crossed that one of these days Horikoshi will decide to actually have them interact with each other again because damn.

KiriBaku - Kirishima, on the other hand, is warmly tolerant of Bakugou, and openly admiring of him even, but it tends to be in a way that brings out Bakugou’s best qualities. Kiri just has this way of bringing out Bakugou’s confidence in himself. like, he’s very good at saying precisely the right words to make Bakugou grin that smirky little grin of his, the one that’s all “oh yeah, that’s right, I’m a badass.” and seeing as Bakugou, for all his pride and bluster, is surprisingly prone to having mini crises of confidence, this is a valued skill that I’m very grateful to Kiri for having! and what’s nice is that Bakugou is very good at returning the favor, since Kiri is prone to crises of confidence as well. the little flashback right before Kiri unveils Unbreakable for the first time is one of my favorite moments in the series. when this ship is firing on all cylinders they really bring out the best in each other. and also they are both dumb bros which is an extremely undervalued dynamic. I love it when Bakugou is all “HEY KIRISHIMA LET ME BLOW YOU UP A BIT” and Kiri is just like “YEAHHHH!” heh.

KamiBaku - and now for the first of the two rarepairs! first of all I would just like to state that I absolutely cannot fathom why KamiBaku is a rarepair to begin with, unless it’s simply because everyone is already too obsessed with the previously mentioned ships. but at any rate it’s a damn shame, because the cuteness of this ship is off the fucking charts, and right now it’s all just going to waste. what I adore more than anything about this ship is the way Bakugou tolerates every single fucking thing Kaminari does and LETS HIM GET AWAY WITH IT. he lets him call him “Kacchan.” he lets Kaminari manhandle him into various getups (the A Band shirt; the Santa outfit) on multiple occasions while putting up absolutely no fight. he basically allows him an almost unprecedented level of closeness, which Kaminari proceeds to BLATANTLY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF at every turn seemingly unchecked! and he is the all time champ at tricking Bakugou into participating in social interactions (tying the ribbon to his foot during the Christmas gift exchange, telling him he won’t get any food at the New Year’s feast if he doesn’t help cook, etc.). he just loves him and wants him to be included. honestly this one of the most adorable relationships in the entire goddamn series and I am tired of it being slept on. the people deserve more KamiBaku dammit.

IidaBaku - last but not least, a relationship between two people who I’m pretty sure have only actually interacted with each other a handful of times, and most of those times involved them shouting at each other! ah, yes. the stick in the mud and the delinquent. god’s natural enemies. except that in this case the “delinquent” is a star student who tutors other kids and goes to bed every night at 8:30, and the stick in the mud once hatched a legitimate plot to kill a man. what I am trying to say is that these two are actually WAY more alike than they would ever care to admit, and I’m kind of obsessed with it?? this is one of those ships where all it would take is one well-applied trope and the possibilities are endless. you could literally just pick one out of a hat. fake dating, roommates, only one bed, undercover as lovers, WHATEVER. and not only does this have the potential to be the most hilarious ship in the history of time, but it also has potential to be disarmingly, shockingly sweet, I shit you not. there are a couple of little moments in the light novels that I absolutely adore, where they’re each taking care of the other with the other having absolutely no idea. Iida makes about four attempts to tuck Bakugou in during the forest training camp arc because his covers have fallen off and he doesn’t want him to catch a chill, and Bakugou unknowingly returns the favor by preventing Iida from stumbling across the preparations for his own surprise birthday party before the others are finished getting ready. by shoving Iida into an elevator and ordering him to go back to his room with absolutely no explanation given lmao. anyway, but the point is the potential is definitely there for cuteness and chemistry and mutual respect while arguing nonstop like an old married couple.

so there you go! honestly Bakugou somehow has chemistry with just about everyone in his class, which is super impressive for someone with the personality of a rabid wolf spider. god bless him.

[greekgeek21]

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - there is a fight scene included

I am not dead, just extremely busy. My summer lacrosse season just ended, so hopefully I get some inspiration to write some new chapters. In the meantime, I hope this will tide you over for some time.

Keep in mind, this was written weeks ago, so I am not in the mood to answer any weirdly specific questions about my artistic choices. In other words, if you don't like it, you don't have to read it! I know, it's a truly monumental realization.

For my kind & loyal readers, don't forget to comment, like, and follow!

- your author

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Avengers or PJO!

Ω ♆ Ω

By the grace of the gods, the group managed to pass the sirens without an issue. It seemed like the mortals had finally accepted that it was in their best interest to listen to the Seven. So, as soon as Percy warned everyone to fill their ears with wax, they filled their ears with wax. Of course there were a few complaints, but that was expected. Nobody was perfect (no matter what Narcissus insists).

From there on out, the nerves were building. Percy had informed the team that their next stop would be Polyphemus' island, and everybody, mortal and demigod alike, knew what that place was. It was where the most infamous cyclops lived, but most importantly, it was where Annabeth was being held, if Percy's father was to be trusted.

Since it would still be another two hours or so, according to the sea expert, until they reached the island, the group decided to try resting. Some tried to nap, while others sharpened their weapons or hung out on the deck. It was futile, but they were trying to prepare themselves for a situation that they had never before encountered, not even Percy.

It was safe to say that everyone was scared shitless.

Ω ♆ Ω

Leo had decided to go downstairs and tinker with some stuff from his belt as a distraction from their impending doom. It was working too! He was in his own little world that only machines could enter. That is, until Tony Stark walked up to him.

"Whatcha doing, kid?" he asked, peering over Leo's shoulder to catch a glimpse at the boy's creation.

"I'm making a mini automaton to help us find Annabeth when we get to the island," was the answer.

Taking a closer look, Tony started to see it. It was a very small machine, but if you looked closely, it was clear that it was made of metal. The automaton was about the size of a quarter, and looked like a celestial bronze spider. Leo was currently adding the last two legs to it when Tony walked up.

When Leo looked up, he held up his creation with a proud smile. "This baby can be our spy. It's eyes are tiny cameras, and it's made almost completely of celestial bronze. We can send this in, and then know where Annabeth is before we storm the place."

Tony nodded, "Yeah... Pretty good idea, kid."

And ok, so Leo was freaking out a little bit on the inside because one of his idols had just complimented his work. But on the outside, he just smiled a little wider.

"You haven't even seen the best part. You've gotta see it after I turn it on. I added stealth-mode so nobody should even be able to know it's there," Leo said, grabbing the spider and flipping it over to press a button.

As soon as he had, the spider flipped itself over in his hand and started crawling up his arm. Tony was a little creeped out, but it was blocked by the fascination for this new kind of science the demigods had. The spider should have to be controlled by a human, but it was moving like it was almost...thinking on its own. There was no way it had an AI, but that was the only solution his mortal brain could come up with.

"Is it an AI?" he asked.

"Nope. It's a greek automaton. They don't need AIs. I programmed it to listen to a few simple commands when needed, but if we don't order it around, it'll just stick around me waiting for orders. Pretty cool, right?"

"Awesome," Tony whispered, in awe of how smart this seventeen year old kid was.

"Thanks. I think I finished it just in time because I heard Percy calling us back upstairs," Leo said. Before he had even finished he was walking towards the deck, not a care in the world for the metal spider crawling around on him.

"Oh, I'm definitely becoming friends with this kid," Tony muttered to himself before following Leo.

Ω ♆ Ω

"Did you get it done, Leo?" Percy asked as soon as he had seen him.

"Yep. Here it is." Leo held up the automaton-spider.

Percy smirked. "Oh, Annabeth's gonna love that."

Leo shrugged, acting clueless. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The spider was just the first thing I could come up with."

"Sure it was," Piper snorted.

Leo fake-gasped. "Beauty Queen! How could you ever think I would lie?! I would never!"

Clint whispered to Natasha, "The kids clearly have a strong bond that only comes from fighting for their lives with each other."

Frank turned to them, surprising the spies that he had heard them, "No shit, Sherlock."

Before anything else could be said, Percy reclaimed the entire group's attention. "If you look to the right, you can see Polyphemus' island. We're going to dock on the south side of the island because that is the only way to get on without climbing a cliff and facing carnivorous sheep. Hazel should be able to disguise the ship until we invade the base, so don't worry about being seen. Leo will send in his spider to check things out and then we'll follow after we know where Annabeth is. Everybody got that?"

At the noises of affirmation, Percy nodded. "Good. Suit up if you're not already."

Of course, Tony had to break the calm solemnity by saying, "Cap, I thought that was your line?"

Everybody collectively rolled their eyes.

Ω ♆ Ω

After they docked, Leo released his spider with specific orders to find Annabeth Chase while staying hidden. That was working until Polyphemus' stupid super-senses could smell the celestial bronze. Leo hadn't known that a blind cyclops would be able to smell metal, but you learn something new everyday, right?

The spider lasted all of five minutes in the cave before Polyphemus smelled it and crushed it under his giant smelly foot. Percy had thought that the cyclops would take longer to reform, but when had he ever been that lucky? Something that completely baffled him was how the mortals got him to not eat them. The dude had been pretty desperate for food the last time Percy had run into him, so how had the weird boss guy gotten him to hold off?

The only thing he could think of for them to feed him would be...nope! He's not going there right now.

The last thing the spider had transmitted to the group was a picture of a mortal holding a gun to Annabeth's head while she was gagged and chained. It made his blood boil.

"I'm going to kill them," He growled, starting to get off the boat and storm the place.

Jason stepped in front of him before he could, "Easy, Perce. You don't know what you're walking into. They want you to go in half-cocked, so we can't give them that. You know Annabeth can handle herself, so just take a breath and we'll figure out a plan."

Percy took a shaky breath, but it did nothing to cool his anger.

"Jace, if you don't step out of my way in the next two seconds, I will be forced to move you, and trust me, you don't want me to do that."

The son of Jupiter stood his ground, "I'm not moving. I know you Percy. Hurting me would go against your fatal flaw. I'm your best friend; your family. I know you would never intentionally hurt me."

Jason glanced over at the rest of the group, who hadn't dared to move if it upset Percy even more. The guy was a ticking time bomb, and they needed to defuse it before it went off and destroyed any chance of getting Annabeth back safely.

Percy almost looked in pain as he spoke his next words, "Jason, I love you. You're my cousin, but Annabeth is my everything. I will hurt you to get to her."

Jason sighed, expecting that answer. "Then at least let us come with you on your suicide mission. I'm not letting you die without me."

"Fine, but hurry up. I'm leaving now," and Percy shoved past Jason and started the trek up to Polyphemus' cave.

Jason turned to the others, who were all staring after Percy with shocked expressions. "Well you heard him! Move your asses!"

That seemed to startle them awake. Everyone but Bruce started moving.

Ω ♆ Ω

By the time the team had been able to catch up to Percy's fast pace, he had already reached the nearest entrance to the cave. It was a dark, narrow path that had walls of rock on either side reaching up for hundreds of feet.

"This is the part in the horror movies where I start screaming at the tv to not go in there and they still go in there," Piper whispered.

They were all just staring at the darkness, and it was getting awkward. For someone who was so hasty to get to Annabeth, Percy was sure taking a long time to get there.

"Are we gonna go in or..." Tony said.

Percy sighed. "Yeah. We're going in. Just don't separate from the group."

He led the way into the cave with Steve right behind him. Percy appreciated having someone else who could take some of the responsibility off his shoulders. Almost his entire time in the godly world, he had been expected to be the leader because of his father, and he had stepped up, but that doesn't mean it didn't weigh on him. Annabeth was the only one who had been able to help him with the stress, and without her, he was losing it. He had already been barely hanging onto his control over his powers, but now without her, what he was doing could barely be called control. It was more like holding back a rampaging bull with a string.

Ten minutes later, they found themselves hiding behind the wall that led to the room where the gang was waiting. Just as the spider had shown them, Annabeth was kneeling under the gang leader's feet while he held a gun to her head.

She looked murderous, so at least something was still normal in the world.

Steve poked his head around and gave a quick scan of the room before turning back to them, "Ok so we've got at least ten humans, with five monsters. One of the monsters is as tall as a building so I think he's the largest threat. Tony, Clint, Nat, and I will deal with the humans if you guys handle the monsters. The main priority is getting Annabeth to safety. Percy, that's your job."

Saying that last bit was just to clarify for everyone else, though they looked like they didn't need to hear it. Percy had a determined look on his face, one that said he wasn't going to allow anyone else to have his assignment.

"You got it, boss," Tony remarked. "Do you just want to storm in there?"

Before he could get an answer, Percy charged into the room, leaving his friends entirely unshocked, but the Avengers were looking a little mad.

"Don't worry, plans aren't really his thing. Even if we do make them, they never go our way. It's better to go with the flow when fighting with Percy," Hazel reassured, and then turned to follow her godly cousin. The rest of the Seven followed, leaving the Avengers to just stare at each other in confusion.

"I like their style," Tony said before flying into the room.

Natasha sighed. "I'm really starting to regret meeting these kids."

Clint smirked at her before leaving, closely followed by Steve and the Black Widow herself. For all three of them, everything about this mission was against their nature, but there wasn't much they could do about it. They were in unknown territory with a group of newly-allied teens and no backup. It was a shitshow before they had even left.

Ω ♆ Ω

Frank was fighting a dracaena, and it was making it super annoying. The thing would not stop talking about grocery stores. It was quite distracting when trying to kill it.

"Seriously! Can you believe how nobody can see how bad those chains are?!" it exclaimed.

Frank sighed, ready for it to be over. Whenever he would try to stab it, it would just slither away right at the last second, all the while continuing to complain.

He decided to use his shapeshifting abilities to catch the thing off-guard. In reality, he could probably deal with it in seconds, but when he really used his inner son of Mars, it drained him. He needed to save his strength if he was going to fight Polyphemus.

Speaking of, so far, the cyclops had stayed out of the fighting. He was just sitting on his throne made of rock, picking at his teeth with what Frank really hoped wasn't a human bone.

Frank changed into a squirrel for a second, climbing up onto the back of the dracaena with the animal's speed and before the monster could react, he changed back into a human and stabbed it through the back with his spear.

"Huh. I guess you can shut up," he remarked as the monster turned into dust.

After, Frank turned to help Hazel take down an empousa. She had already defeated four before that, so it was a pretty easy fight. He had been keeping an eye on her throughout his fight. Sure, he trusted she could take care of herself, but it was also his job to watch her back.

"Thanks," Hazel told him with a quick peck on the cheek after they finished.

Believe it or not, that kiss on the cheek was a major improvement. It had been a real adjustment for Hazel to learn how couples expressed affection nowadays, and it had taken even longer to start showing it herself. It helped that Frank preferred words over touch, too.

"No problem."

Ω ♆ Ω

"Get some, térata!" Leo screamed, running up to the manticore and sending giant, continuous blasts of fire at it.

He had heard of Dr. Thorn from Nico, Percy, and Annabeth before, and had somehow retained the knowledge that it was extremely durable on the outside. That meant that he had to think smart in order to beat it.

So far, Leo was distracting it and holding it off with his fire while he thought of a plan. However, he could only hold it off for so long. He would eventually tire out.

Come on, Leo, THINK!

Then it hit him.

It was so simple! He had been told the story of how the Nemean lion was defeated at Camp. Now usually, he would totally ignore any schooling he was given, but the stuff they were taught at Camp was much more interesting than algebra. So yeah, he remembered some stuff.

So, he decided that his best shot at beating Dr. Thorn was landing a large enough hit inside of him. That meant he had to figure out a way to get him to open his mouth. That wasn't really the hard part, though. The hard part was figuring out how to not die when he had to get closer to the monster.

"Estoy jodido..." he muttered before taking a step forward, never once stopping his assault on the beast.

The Manticore didn't seem to be moving back from the intensity, but rather reveling in the fact that he hadn't gained one burn from the fight. He was just waiting out Leo.

That was not a fun revelation for the son of Hephaestus to have.

And that was when the thorns started attacking him. He should've been expecting it, really. The guy had a tail of poisonous thorns and he hadn't used it yet? Something should've registered in his mind. But that was past-Leo's mistake. Present-Leo had to deal with the super tall, scary, poisonous, and royally pissed-off greek monster in front of him.

Dr. Thorn let out a war cry and swung his tail around, releasing a line of spikes at Leo, who managed to just barely duck out of the way. He was not keen on becoming swiss cheese!

"Ok. It's time to end this." Leo sighed in annoyance, jumping back up and charging.

He swung his battle hammer up and lit it on fire, deciding that he might as well stick with the common theme of stupid ideas. He managed to keep dodging attacks all the way up until he was within ten feet of the manticore. Then, he threw his weapon at the monster, praying to Apollo for good aim. He had fixed the sun chariot plenty of times, so the god had to owe him at least one favor.

Once again, Leo's stupid demigod luck kicked in and the hammer somehow embedded itself in the monster's mouth, which had been opened in a prideful roar. Honestly, the son of Hephaestus didn't know HOW he did it, just that it worked.

With the distraction of having a flaming hammer in his mouth, Dr. Thorn didn't see Leo running up with his arms raised and prepared to fire. By the time he did, it was too late because long blasts of fire were flying straight towards his open mouth.

The monster was able to mutter a silent curse before he disintegrated into dust, once again sent to Tartarus.

"Take that, bitch."

Ω ♆ Ω

Piper was absolutely sure the Fates were laughing at her. They had to be. There was no way that she just happened to be stuck with the two empousa. It didn't help that Jason was struggling to not drool over the girls. She just had to keep chanting in her head that the monsters were using their charm powers on him, and he was not actually attracted to the disgusting things.

After the two monsters tried to both swipe at her at the same time, she growled and shouted, "Jason! Get your head in the game and come help me!"

He had been blinking and shaking his head for the past two minutes and it was getting quite frustrating to have these donkey-cyborg-vampires ganging up on her with no back-up. Once this was over, she was going to make Jason work to get back in her good graces.

With just a little bit of her charmspeak added into her order, Jason was finally able to break free from the empousai's spell. He quickly willed his gladius to be a javelin and launched it through one of the monsters, which made it explode into a shower of golden dust. A traitorous part of Piper's brain insisted on calling that move hot, but she was able to school her expression back into a scowl before her boyfriend could notice.

The other empousa let out a shriek and said, "You MONSTERS! That was my sister! I'll make you pay for that!"

They only had a second to appreciate the irony before she launched herself at them with even more fervor than before, fueled by the rage of losing her "sister."

Jason couldn't help but notice how she was wearing a cheerleading costume. It was very ripped and destroyed, but it was clearly a cheerleading uniform. And as he was deflecting her claws, the ADHD part of his brain realized that the logo on the uniform was for Goode High School, Percy's old school. He almost wanted to laugh when he remembered the story of Kelli, an empousa acting as a cheerleader during Percy's freshman orientation. Percy had always said the monster had a nasty habit of coming back quickly, but Jason had just thought it was an exaggeration. But no, he and Piper were really fighting Kelli, one of Percy's recurring monsters.

It would be hilarious later, truly. But for now, he had to actually kill the thing.

Kelli had backed off when she realized that attacking out of rage wasn't going to work against two experienced demigods, and that also gave Jason and Piper a chance to make a plan themselves.

"Got any ideas?" he asked Piper.

She grinned with a terrifying amount of murderous glee. "I thought you'd never ask."

And then she told him her plan, which was essentially just using him as bait while she got to do all the killing. The prideful Roman part of him wanted to insist on him killing it, but he managed to reign that in when he saw the look on Piper's face. She was not asking, she was telling. Who was he to say no, especially after he hadn't been able to fully resist the empousai's charm?

A scary thought told him he was turning into Percy. He brushed that off for later nightmares.

"Come get me, bloodsucker!" He shouted, raising his arms up in a taunting manner. If he was acting like Percy, might as well go all the way right?

With yet another shriek, Kelli stormed at Jason, completely disregarding the daughter of Aphrodite that was stepping back and preparing to literally stab the monster in the back with her dagger.

Sometimes Jason wonders how a creature could be so stupid. Their plan was so obvious!

It went off without a hitch, technically. Piper let the empousa get a little too close for comfort before she killed it, but he trusted her to get the job done and she came through. Kelli had been prepped and ready to bite into his neck right before she exploded into dust.

It was one Hades of a trust exercise, that's for sure.

"Please don't let it get that close next time, Pipes," he breathed out while he put away Juno's Gladius.

Piper gave him a quick peck on the lips, "Not a chance, Superman."

Ω ♆ Ω

Considering the circumstances, the Avengers weren't doing half-bad. They were actually fairing pretty well. They knew how to deal with humans, so their job wasn't that hard. The only difficulty was that there were four of them and ten of the bad guys. They were sorely outnumbered.

Currently, Steve was fighting two at once, with a third opponent already knocked out a few feet away. He was blocking one with his shield while punching the other in the face. He then switched roles, instead kicking the first attacker and driving his shield into the gut of the second. The one he gutted gasped and fell to the ground, and was knocked unconscious was a simple hit to the temple. While he was distracted with taking down his partner, the still-conscious bad guy recovered from the kick and was able to land a hit to the back of Steve's head. Clearly, the fighter had been prepared to have achieved some form of disorientation from the Captain, but all he got was a pissed-off Avenger.

"That tickled."

It took less than five seconds for Steve to take him down after that.

Natasha also started with three adversaries. Key word being 'started.' It had taken barely any time to take down the first two. And all she had to do for the third was a scissor kick and hold until he passed out. She had just finished doing that when a call from Clint got her attention.

"Nat!" he shouted.

She turned on instinct and threw a throwing knife at the person running up behind her straight into their chest. They stopped with shocked features before falling to the ground in a heap, dead weight pushing the knife even further in and no doubt killing them faster.

"Getting rusty, Clint?" she teased, throwing a look over at her friend.

"No," he defended. "I'm just making sure you're not getting rusty!"

The archer hadn't realised one of his two attackers had sneaked off to go after the "bigger threat." He would never let Nat know he thought she was the bigger threat, though. That would be fueling an ego he knew was somewhere deep down in her.

Tony had been given two people to fight as well, and he was doing pretty well. He had the obvious advantage of being in the air, so all the gang members he was fighting could do was try to shoot at him with their guns, and his armor was designed to withstand a nuclear bomb. Bullets weren't gonna do much damage.

"Guys, seriously, we should just talk this out. We both KNOW I'm going to be knocking you both out in five seconds, so why don't you surrender instead? It'll be so much easier for the both of us!" he said, raising his hands and readying his repulsors.

As expected, the bad guys didn't show any sign of slowing down their useless attack on him. With a roll of his eyes and an obnoxious sigh, Iron Man shot them both in the chest, knocking them out cold.

"That felt too easy. Did that feel too easy to you?" He asked the other Avengers as they gathered back together.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tony," Natasha said, "That fight was too good to be true."

Now that the truth had been revealed to them, the Avengers could blame what happened next on the Fates.

Ω ♆ Ω

There it is! I hope you liked it

other chapters :)

[spideyhexx]

Here’s my loose pitch for a Spider-Woman movie. It’s not super specific in some areas, I just wrote down my ideas. The main characters I’d have is:

Jessica Drew (Spider Woman)

Otto Vermis (HYDRA leader)

Herbert Hoover (High Evolutionary)

Bucky Barnes

Sam Wilson (Captain America Sam Wilson)

Olivia Octavious (the female counterpart of Otto)

Disclaimer: I know a bit of Jessica’s origin and I know some of these characters don’t obviously fit that but I put them in because this is how I’d want them to be in it? For something different, you know? Also I like Bucky & Jessica....they’re a lot more alike than I thought they’d be.

- her geneticist father moves to a place (I think it was something with the wendagore mountains in the comics but not sure) with high levels of radiation that put Jessica at risk of dying

- As she falls ill, her father and Herbert (high evolutionary) inject her with spider serum that’s supposed to help her not die but it puts her in a coma

- The high evolutionary constructs a chamber for her to lie in while she’s in the coma

- Jessica doesn’t wake up until many years later. She was blipped away and when she comes back, she’s no longer in the chamber, and has no memory of her life/name

- Herbert finds her and tries to act as a friend but she’s resistant. He at most tells her her name, Jessica Drew.

- As Jessica is living her life, her powers start to show. She falls into a romance with Jerry, only to accidentally kill him with her powers (venom blasts).

- The townspeople look at her as a monster and that she’s highly dangerous. This is when she runs off and runs into Otto Vermis, a high ranking official of HYDRA. Or if using HYDRA feels too repetitive, Otto could be just working on his own and be a manipulative bad guy. Or he could be working for a different corrupt organization. HYDRA isn’t needed, but is tied into Jessica’s origin which is why I’m including it!

- Otto offers his home to Jessica, and tells her he could help her. Otto trains Jessica to be an assassin for HYDRA, becoming the Arachne but Jessica continuously is rebelling against them. This changes when Otto brainwashes her and sends her out to kill Cap, Sam Wilson.

- She’s caught by Sam/Bucky and brought in to a prison facility where Olivia Octavious is eager to experiment on Jessica and her powers.

- Bucky has a one on one with Jessica. She tells him she’s fighting the voices in her head telling her that HYDRA is good. She tells Bucky she’s going to kill Otto, and that she needs his help. She begs him to help her escape.

- He reveals Olivia’s unethical plans to Jessica as well, and how against them he is.

- Bucky feels for Jessica and helps her escape the prison facility which ends in a fight between Sam and Bucky.

- Jessica goes back to HYDRA and kills Otto, but before, he tells her she was made from an evolved spider, instead of a mutated human (lying to her to mess with her).

- Jessica, distraught, runs off. She changes her appearance and tries to live in San Francisco away from everyone. There, she meets Lindsey McCoy (when of her close friends from the comics!) and she moves in with her. (In a sequel I’d do the storyline of them becoming PIs together)

- Meanwhile Olivia’s rage and her desperate need to continue her experiments causes her to go out looking for Jessica.

- Bucky and Sam also set off to find Jessica, afraid of what she might do and afraid of what Olivia might do

- When they do, it results in another battle where she’s desperately telling them to leave her alone and how she wants to just live a normal life, how she feels so alone, how she’s not sure if she could even control her powers.

- Bucky and Sam sympathize with her. Bucky had Sam promise that they’d be the only ones trying to help her, but Sam betrayed this and had called for assistance, where they reprimand Jessica and lock her up once again.

- Bucky is very mad at this. Sam understands his anger, but knows Jessica is a loose canon right now, and it’s for the best, which Bucky hates to admit that Sam is right

- This is shortly deterred when Olivia blows up part of the prison to kidnap Jessica. She takes her to her facility where she begins to experiment hoping to find out things about her powers. This reveals to Jessica that she IS a mutated human, unlike what Otto told her.

- Jessica breaks out of Olivia’s restraints and Olivia unveils herself in her doc ock get up.

- Her and Jessica fight, Jessica injures her pretty badly and that’s when government agents show up. Jessica flees as Olivia is taken into custody.

- As Jessica flees, she runs in to bucky. He’s supposed to capture her if he finds her but they share a moment of insane trust where he tells her to go, run far away from here. To stay low. He gives her a comm device to reach him if she ever needs help. Jessica hugs him, truly hugs him, the first admiration she’s felt towards someone in so long, and thanks him for all that he’s done.

- So she’s off on her own.

- The end credit scene is Jessica in a bar with her hood up. She’s watching tv when they show the newsreel of when spidey’s identify is revealed. Jessica, astonished by another spider person, who seems in peril, quickly leaves the bar, leaving us wondering if she’s off to NYC to see this spiderman.

- Another end credit scene depicts Bucky looking at his comm device, like he’s hoping it’ll beep and her voice will come through. Sam comes in and Bucky hides the device. Sam tells him he knows what he did, and starts to make fun of him for doing so, because it MUST mean that he likes her. Bucky deflects it a bit and just says she reminded him of himself. He just felt the need to help her. She deserved a good life and it wouldn’t be behind bars for stuff she wasn’t even fully conscious she could do.

So yeah that’s it! Let me know your thoughts! Be easy, I don’t know everything about all of these characters alignments in the comics but I like this idea for a first Spider Woman movie and I thought it would be cool to have Sam and Bucky apart of it too!

[hellyeahheroes]

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales story and character review

So let’s state a disclaimer, I didn’t like the PS4 Miles character as it was blatantly clear that they never read a Miles story with the actual mistakes they made(Miles going to the wrong school, Rio being a science teacher, Jefferson loving vigilantes/supers, using MJ as an origin for Miles, the skin lightening of both Miles and Rio). It was insulting because they clearly researched and had a fidelity to Peter Parker as they had references from both of the 616 and Ultimate Universes but with Miles, they somehow missed the first thing about Miles: he doesn’t want to be Spider-Man. I didn’t like this version. Notice the past tense.

Miles Morales PS5 redeemed him. I am half-way as I’ve done all of the side quests and pretty much half of the main story. And I also seen the whole main story on YouTube. So yeah.

First off, the first thing I noticed about Miles was his fresh-cut. It was, to quote my brother, “a hot mess” in the first game. I was delighted to hear that the first thing the “black” consultant told the Insomniac developers. His edge was fucked up. Second thing was how social Miles was. Third thing is that they retconned Miles going to Midtown. Yes, in the first thing they did actually have kid in Brooklyn attend a public school in Queens. I am pretty sure in the remaster the changed it to Brooklyn Visions.

These changes along with the fidelity of the relationship between Miles and Ganke were what sold me on this version of the character. I get it. No one wants Peter to die and honestly, they probably should have just used Anya, but Miles is popular now and it’d be stupid to just not capitalize.

So let’s talk about a few characters starting with the actual main character of the game: The Tinkerer.

Let me tell you that at first I thought she was redundant. I am not going to spoil it, but it was obvious the moment she is introduced in the game and Miles mentioned her twice before she is formally introduced. It’s clear that she was the focus. I felt that she was redundant because there is a literal harem of morally dubious women who Miles has a close connection to that she takes aspects from. Tinkerer is an amalgamation of all of them. She is a girl leading a gang(Diamondback/Tomoe) who is a genius inventor(Ceres). She wants revenge against a company that is poisoning the city and killed her brother so she becomes a ruthless vigilante(Tiana). Her powers or devices are that she manipulates a metal to form any shape she wants(Tomoe). Her relationship of Miles is one that is really platonic with some romantic undertones(literally every single person that I mentioned) but it is torn apart because Miles lies and keeps secrets from her(Katie Bishop).

What sold me on her character is the work they did in her collectibles which I implore you to collect because they provide so much depth to her character and also, it doesn’t really bother to explain Miles’ character in this world but hers. This girl is hurt because her loved one was killed and she saw Miles as family or a second brother. They hung out together and as soon as Miles went to Visions, they drifted apart. I’ve always wondered about the kids Miles left in his whole transfer situation and Tinkerer was one of them. Her pathos and identity is very much tied to Miles. And I love her.

Look, at first, I was reluctant to want her in the main comic, but someone put in too much work to not include her in Miles’ main rogues gallery. I hope that Saladin sees it and implements a version of her in the MM: Spider-Man comic. She also reminds me of Gear from Static Shock except she is not a gay white man.

Ganke was spot on. This is the best adaptation of Ganke I’ve seen.

Yes even better than Homecoming.

Ganke is part of Miles’ Spider-Man. He is not just the fat Asian kid providing tech support. He is the motivation and is apart of it too unlike the thing they tried to do with MJ and Peter in the first game. This also shows the clear contrast of Peter and Miles. Peter never trusted anyone enough to be that involved in his being of Spider-Man. Miles knows that he can’t do it alone and relies on Ganke for information gathering and webs. Ganke is important and this game nailed it.

Aaron Davis is in this game and no one is surprised. This version of Aaron...is different. Okay in the comics, he is a foil to Miles in that while Miles is becoming more heroic, Aaron is becoming more villainous. It’s no coincidence that Spider-Man and the Prowler look similar but the gist is that if Miles didn’t get bit by the spider, Miles would have become Prowler 2.0. The game eschews this dynamic because it is hard to pull that off after the mangled Miles’ origin so they opted for the Prowler to foil Miles in a different way: keeping secrets from family and friends and being protective of family because fear of loss. Aaron, after losing his brother and never getting a chance to reconcile with him, is hurt and wants to protect Miles and subsequently Rio. Miles, throughout the game, is becoming increasingly worried about his mom running for city council and painting a target on his back. He shows his frustration and distances himself from his mother in his work as Spider-Man. Aaron does the same to Miles when he finds out that he Spider-Man. There comes a point where the two collide and Aaron goes further into the extreme which I won’t spoil. You get it.

This change, while different, isn’t terrible. It’s actually really well thought out. It accomplishes the same thing in that Aaron is not a good role model but he is a good person to Miles. It allows Miles to reflect on his own behavior towards his mother. So I’m with it.

Oh and before I forget, Danika being in this game sold me that they actually started actually researching Miles. They ignored the weird racial commentary that she became enamores and she became a foil to JJJ. A voice of youthful and helpful positivity vs Randian cynicism and skepticism. A social justice activist vs an arrogant self important commentator. And it was fun listening to her. Hopefully Saladin brings her back. I am currently on Underground base liberation missions where she teams up with Ganke and Miles in putting them down. Just started, but there was already some mild hint that Ganke is crushing on her(they are a couple in the comics). So yeah.

The cons because like Ganke, I love pros and cons list. Two things about this game annoys me. First, the move to Harlem and this forced narrative of Miles being Harlem’s Spider-Man made no sense because just look at the map. Harlem is part of Manhattan. There is nothing stopping Peter from visiting Harlem regularly. Brooklyn, however, would justify having their own Spider-Man. As, if you didn’t know, Brooklyn is emerging into becoming the next big city as the area is thriving. Also, gentrification. Point is there is a reason why Miles connection to Brooklyn is important. It is foil to Peter who is from Queens and wanted to move into Manhattan island because part of it was he saw it as a measure of success to get out of the old neighborhood and make it big. Miles loves Brooklyn and doesn’t want to move out. Trying to replicate his love for his city in Harlem just because it’s predominantly black and brown is lazy and honestly if they included Brooklyn in the game, it would have justified the price of this game. Which brings me to the second point.

This game is too short on content to be costing $50 dollars. Just to point out something, all of the DLC from the first game cost 10 bucks a pop and you had as much content in those three expansions as you do this game. Infamous First Light was the same exact thing in relation to Infamous Second Sons and it cost 30 bucks. Uncharted Lost Legacy cost 30 dollars. I could go on. Point is that it shouldn’t have costed nearly the price of a full game when in comparison to the previous iteration, it wasn’t. Now I’ve seen people say that hating because it’s short isn’t warranted or pull up this quoted fact that video games are too long. Anti-consumerist bullshit aside, the difference between the main storyline of the previous game and this one is not repetition. It’s the lack of variety in enemies and deesculating storylines. In the first game, there were a variety of enemies that had their own AI and attacks. And you adjusted accordingly to whom you were facing. There were classes of enemies within the variety. You had the rudimentary common criminal which had 4 classes and how to deal with them and from that point, each enemy afterwards were variations of those four classes and each provided a different challenge. The repetition wasn’t boring because it provided a new challenge. This game only gives you three types of enemies and while 2 are vastly different from anything in the previous game or it’s expansions, the need to limit the series to focus on narrative becomes unwarranted because you are still getting less for nearly the same price.

That’s all. Have a great day. It was a fun game. Really.

@ubernegro

[dal3ks]

jealousy

pairing: peter parker x female reader 

word count: 1.8k

warnings: a little bit of angst, cursing, slight dom aspects, smuuttt, both characters are of age! 

a/n: this was a fic i had posted on my main account @a-dorin​, but i am in the process of switching over content so that it is a strictly star wars account! just a disclaimer, i am not plagiarizing or stealing content, as this is my fic!

“(y/n), you will be paired with conan for the lab today. i’m sorry that m.j. is not here today. i’m not quite sure where she’s at,” your chemistry teacher stated, glancing at you.

“it’s fine,” you shrugged, your eyes locked on the paper in front of you.

however, it was not entirely fine. conan, the guy your teacher paired you up with, was your old crush. well, not entirely old. you guys talked at the beginning of the semester, when junior year started, and things went well until conan found another girl, emma. he didn’t tell you about her, either. you found out the hard way, noticing how he nudged his way into her social media posts. it was typical boy behavior, but it hurt your feelings nonetheless.

conan slid into the seat next to you, running a hand through his dark hair. he still was extremely attractive in your eyes. he was a lacrosse player, so he was extremely built. he was tall, with latino roots. his olive complexion paired with his green eyes killed you. his shoulder muscles rippled through the dri-fit shirt he was wearing today.

“hey,” conan’s tone was cool, “you ready for this awesome lab today?”

your eyes met his, “it’s probably not as cool as emma.”

“ouch,” conan muttered, “her and i, we didn’t work out, by the way. she found another guy, i guess.”

“oh,” your tone dripped with fake sympathy, “did you find out the way i did?”

“uh no,” you could tell he was uncomfortable, “actually, i pulled up to her house, and there was another car there.”

“i’m sorry,” you felt a flash of real sympathy. although conan was a dick to you, his situation still sucked.

“well,” you drew in a breath, “let’s get started.”

you and conan began the lab, and you began to warm up to him as time went on. by the end of the lab, he had you giggling and flirting back with him. what you didn’t notice, was your best friend, peter parker, glaring over at conan.

“so,” conan began, “you think you could unblock me on snap? i’d love to catch up sometime.”

heat rushed into your cheeks, “like a date?”

conan nodded, “yeah, like a date. i wanna start over with you, if that’s okay. i know i can’t make up for my past actions, but i would at least like to try to resolve things.”

“um,” you stammered, “i just might take up your offer. i’ll talk to you later. i gotta go to lunch.”

you got up from your chair, searching for ned and peter. you guys all sat together at lunch everyday, as you all were a tight knit group. you found them, and trailed behind them slightly. once you guys were all at your table, you could sense the tension. especially from peter. something was up, as both of them were silent.

“is everything okay?” you cleared your throat.

“is flirting with conan okay?” ned’s tone was laced with sass.

“come on,” you huffed, “we were paired together for a lab, that’s all.”

“he broke your heart,” ned scoffed, “we do not go back to toxic boys. i thought we went over this like a million times. i don’t want to hear it young lady.”

“i heard him ask to unblock you,” peter’s voice was eerily quiet, “are you gonna do it?”

“probably,” you were beginning to grow frustrated with the boys. couldn’t they just let the past go?

“wow,” peter muttered, shoving a carrot into some ranch.

“what is the big deal?” you raised a brow, “it’s just as friends.”

“that’s not what his eyes said,” ned rolled his eyes, “c’mon, you can stay the night tonight with peter and i at his place. we’ll supervise you to make sure you don’t add that toxic ass dude back. we just don’t want your feelings to get hurt again, that’s all. conan hurt you really bad last time. we’d just hate to see that happen to you because we’re your best friends. i hope you know where we’re coming from.”

you sighed, realizing that ned was right. typically, people never changed their behavior, but conan seemed sincere. maybe you would unblock him, but not initiate any conversation, “okay, i’ll come over tonight. is there anything you want me to bring?”

ned shook his head, “nah, everything is on me. we’ll just order a pizza or two and watch movies all night.”

******

you entered peter’s apartment, blanket in one hand, snacks in the other. although ned told you not to bring anything, you still felt bad for pissing off the boys. you figured some of their favorite snacks would help clear the air.

it was about midnight when you arrived at the apartment. you had to cover a shift at work, then buy the snacks at a convenient store. so, you were a little later than expected. ned was already knocked out on the couch, but peter was still awake and alert, watching whatever was on the t.v. an empty pizza box was on the coffee table, but you figured there were some leftovers in the fridge.

“hey,” your voice was quiet, as you were careful to not disturb ned, “sorry i’m late.”

“it’s okay,” peter’s eyes brightened when he saw you, “i was getting a little worried.”

“i’m okay,” you giggled, “i didn’t know spider-man got worried.”

peter hopped up from the couch, “hey, can we talk?”

you set your snacks down on the coffee table, slightly alarmed, “um, yeah.”

“we can talk in my room,” peter motioned his head towards his room.

you followed him to his room in the dark, holding onto his shirt. you felt anxiety bundling up in your nerves. what was there to talk about? you thought everything about conan was discussed at lunch. once you were in his room, peter turned on a lamp, illuminating the room with a dim light.

you felt peter’s lip meet yours, kissing you eagerly. he pulled back, “i’m sorry, i probably just fucked everything up between us.”

you shook your head, “i guess i’m just a little shocked.”

the truth was that you were in love with peter. even though you were best friends for years, you had been in love with him since your freshman year. conan was an attempt to move on, as you believed that peter liked m.j. you figured that wasn’t the case anymore.

“is it?” peter’s voice was soft, “i’ve had feelings for you for a very long time. i thought it was obvious.”

“is that why you were jealous when conan was flirting with me today?” you inquired.

“maybe a lot,” he murmured, “i just want to have you to myself. i don’t like sharing.”

you blushed at his words and how smooth they sounded, “well i’m not yours yet.”

“you can be,” peter’s lips brushed against yours.

“make me then,” you stated, surprised at your bold words.

peter began to kiss you hungrily, his fingertips brushing the small of your back. as the kissing became more intense, his hands dipped under the fabric of your hoodie, his hands trailing up and down your back. gently, he lead you to his bed, where you laid down. he got on top of you, careful not to hit his head on the frame of his bunk bed.

“be careful,” you giggled.

“it just forces me to be closer to you,” he smirked.

he kissed down your neck, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses. your fingers laced into his curls, tugging slightly as he began to suck on your collarbone.

“please don’t leave a hickey,” you warned. if your parents saw you come home with it, you’d be dead.

“too late,” he chuckled, “can i take your hoodie off?”

you nodded, and his hands carefully unzipped the hoodie, taking it off of you. his eyes immediately met with your chest, and a hand squeezed one while his mouth met with the other. a moan escaped from your mouth, and his hand covered your mouth.

“we can’t wake up ned, princess,” he ordered, his command in a hushed tone, “just relax and let me make you feel good.”

you felt yourself almost come undone over his words. it was your first time someone made you feel this way. surely this wasn’t peter’s first time with a girl. he was just so confident with everything.

“is this your first time with a guy?” peter’s voice interrupted your thoughts.

you nodded, slightly embarrassed, “yeah.”

he tilted your chin, so that your eyes met his, “don’t be embarrassed. just relax, and let me do all of the work, princess. whenever you want me to stop, tell me. i’ll tell you what to do. and don’t worry about ned, he’s out for a long time. we won’t get caught.”

“okay,” you responded, eager for peter’s next move.

his fingertips traced the waistband of your leggings, “can i take these off?”

“yes,” you answered, sitting up slightly so that he could easily take them off.

his hands trailed down your legs, his eyes hungrily taking everything in, “god, you’re so beautiful.”

gently, his lips brushed against your thighs, and you suppressed a moan. a hand slipped into your thong, his thumb pressing against your clit. once he felt how wet you were, his face reddened slightly. peter began to suck on a breast, his thumb remaining on your clit. his eyes met yours, and you knew you were going to cum soon.

his tongue trailed over your nipple, and he slowly inserted fingers inside of you, “is this okay?”

“yes,” you moaned, “god it feels so good.”

“i told you i want to make you feel good, princess,” he murmured, kissing you gently, “are you going to cum for me soon?”

his fingers picked up their pace, pumping inside and out of you, while his thumb remained on your clit, the pressure intensifying. his mouth left sloppy kisses all over your breasts, his teeth slightly tugging on your nipples.

“peter,” you groaned, “i’m gonna-”

“then do it princess,” he commanded, “cum for me.”

you pressed your lips against his as you came, your thighs trembling. his fingers slowed, and he pulled them out of your thong. you felt embarrassed as your realized how wet everything was now. it was all over his hand, your thong, and on the sheets.

“don’t worry about it,” peter’s tone was gentle, “i loved it. i’ll grab some new sheets, and grab your bag from the den.”

“can we cuddle after we’re done cleaning up?” you figured it was close to one now, and you were exhausted.

“of course,” peter gave you a quick kiss.

he came back moments later with your bag. you got dressed while he changed the sheets. once he was done, he scooped you in his arms, bringing you close to his body.

“i love you,” he pressed his lips on your forehead.

“i love you too,” you kissed him, “and i mean it.”

“good,” peter beamed, “conan is in for a surprise then, huh?”

[rwby-grimm-guardians]

RWBY Grimm Guardians Arc 4: Re-Bonding In Mistral Ch 5 (Part I)

Welcome back to Re-Bonding In Mistral! We finally begin chapter 5 and, with it, the second half of Vol 5.

For those of you wondering, this chapter takes place during Volume 5’s episodes 8-10 from Blake and Gambol’s POV, as the three episodes are mostly about the Belladonnas. As such, this will be a long chapter.

Also, this is a semi-original chapter. Blake WILL understandably lose her cool here and you’ll get to see a special something regarding Gambol. Plus, you’ll get to see how EVEN MORE badass Blake’s parents are.

Also, due to how long this chapter was, it HAD to be split into two halves.

I know some will not be happy with how I wrote Ilia, but oh well.

As usual, please give constructive criticism and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still own nothing. Also, Adam and Blake’s problems with him WILL be mentioned here, so do be careful when reading.

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(In Kuo Kuana...)

“What are you thinking?” Gambol asked, sitting on the railing of the balcony of the Belladonna Family Home. Blake sighed, “I don’t know… I’ve let Yang know how we’re doing, she told me that she reconnected with her mother and that she, Ruby, Weiss, their families and Team JNPR will be heading for Haven soon... And now I’m wondering what the hell to do next.” Her sister raised an eyebrow, “Does this have to do with Ilia?” Her younger sister gave a weak chuckle, “You’re too damn observant.”

With a heavy sigh, Blake nodded, “Why am I still thinking there’s hope for her?” A few moments passed, before Gambol shrugged, “Well, I can only tell you what I would do.” “What you want to do is something you need to find out yourself.” She explained. Her younger sister sighed, “Not that simple...or easy.” “Nothing’s ever easy or simple, Blake.” The older of the two explained. “That’s what life is...and always has been. You need to figure out things for yourself.”

The two then heard Sun shouting, “Hey! You two ready to go?” “Be right there!” The black haired teenager shouted, before her eyes drifted to the side, noticing a note taped to the railing. “What the hell is that…?” Gambol asked, walking to her sister’s side. Cautiously, Blake opened the letter, before hearing the taller of the two hiss in anger. The note...was from Ilia, saying, “B, Things going too far. Not sure what to do. Find a quiet spot, I'll find you. Come alone. Please. -I”.

The black haired teenager tightened her fist, before putting the note in her coat. “Blake, it’s a trap. You KNOW that.” Gambol said. Blake nodded, her face filled with anger...and resolve, “I know. Which is why you’re coming along.” The elder of the two sisters raised an eyebrow, before nodded in realization, “In THAT form, right? Got it. And if they try to kill you?” Blake froze, before biting her lip. Finally, she sighed, “You’re free to reap chaos.”

Soon, Sun opened the door to the balcony, asking, “Hey, are we going recruiting or what? We've got the entire nocturnal secti-...” He stopped talking when he noticed that Blake wasn’t saying anything, sporting a concerned expression on her face. He also noticed the anger in Gambol’s eyes, before asking, “Is something up?” The younger of the two sisters nodded, “No, we’re good. We'll meet you there.”

“We...need to take care of something first.” She explained, before walking away. Gambol watched her sister leave, before easily noticing a quiet sound of rustling in the trees behind them. Whatever was happening...she knew she needed to stop it. “Make sure kaa-san and otou-san stay safe.” She said to the blonde. “Please.” Sun paused, attempting to absorb the events happening, before nodding. “I promise. Keep yourselves safe too.”

The older faunus smiled with a nod, before following Blake in a different direction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Some time later...at a darkened alleyway…)

‘I swear to the Gods, Ilia. Please do NOT do this to me…’ Blake thought. ‘Do NOT betray me trust…’ Clenching her fist, she approached the alleyway, calling out, “Ilia...?” A familiar voice said, “I’m here.” The cat faunus paused, before drawing out her VBCS, convincing the chameleon-faunus to walk out of the alleyway and dropping her camouflage with her arms raised. Blake sighed, “Ilia, I need you to understand me. I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to be.”

“My family and I can protect you.” She explained. The older teenager knew she was putting too much faith into this… But she needed to, at the very least, TRY. Her hope rose, as did her disbelief as Ilia said, “I’m sorry.” Blake bit her lip, hoping that she was actually getting through to her former friend. “You can make up for it by helping us stop Corsac and Fennec…” She explained. “PLEASE Ilia.”

Ilia shook her head, “No.” “I’m sorry.” She said in a hostile tone.

And just like that, whatever hope, belief, and trust Blake had for her former friend went out like a push of smoke… All while she was kicked and forced to the ground by Yuma and Trifa, dropping her VBCS in the process. As the weapon rested at Ilia’s feet, Blake soon found herself bound by spider web silk, before glaring at the teenager who she thought was her friend. “I tried to warn you, Blake.” Ilia said. “I’m sor-.”

The chameleon faunus was cut off by the cat faunus growling, “Like hell you are.” “But I am. I'm sorry it has to be this way…” The chameleon faunus said. “But you and your family are holding the Faunus back!” Blake snarled in anger, attempting to break free of her binds to no effect, “Because we're trying to protect people?!” “In what world do you live in where attacking the innocent is the right thing to do?!” She snapped.

“The same one as you!” Ilia snapped right back. “There's no such thing as innocent! There's no right thing to do! Only what's best for us!” “You know damn well that’s a lie!” The cat faunus shouted.

Ilia glared at the older teenager, shouting right back, “And YOU know that there are humans that still hate the Faunus! And those who just stand by and let the hate happen!” “But you know what snuffs out hate?” She asked her former friend.

“Fear. I don't like hurting people. But I'll tell you this…” The chameleon faunus said, tilting her weapon at Blake. “It's gotten us results.” The cat faunus was unfazed, tilting her head and saying in a flat, yet terrifying tone, “Yeah? Then look where it's gotten you.” The younger teenager’s eyes widened...and for a brief moment...she felt a cold shiver run down her spine at Blake’s words.

Ilia ultimate shrugged it off, but it was obvious to Blake that her former friend was frightened of her. Somehow...something in the cat faunus felt satisfied by that. “So what, you really think killing me is for this so-called greater good?” The cat faunus asked. Ilia shook her head, “No…”

“But getting rid of your family is…” She said. She watched as Blake’s eyes widened in shock and horror, before her expression turned into pure rage. “WHY YOU FUCKI-!!” The cat faunus shouted, only to be cut off as Yuma and Trifa slammed her head into the ground, disorienting the black haired teenager.

Due to her hearing being temporarily disabled, Blake could barely make out any words that Ilia was saying. Right now, all she knew was that her family was in danger...and she needed to help them. The cat faunus felt rage boiling in her chest, trying to think of an idea that could get her out of this mess. Then one thought of Gambol crossed her mind. Blake could get Gambol to help her...but she would need to get her to the cat faunus’s location first.

Soon, Blake’s hearing came back to her, hearing Ilia say, “Yuma, with me.” “Get her to the docks.” She said to Trifa. As the two White Fang agents left, the cat faunus knew she needed to act quickly and put this off right. Blake clenched her fists tightly.

“Alright traitor, lets go.” Trifa said, tugging on the silk...only to find her captive stationary. She then heard a growl from the cat faunus, “I’m going to make you suffer for attacking my family.” Blake didn’t want to do this to Gambol, but she knew it was the only chance she had to escape and get home. She looked straight at her VBCS, reciting a chant that Gambol had told her during their trip back home...

(A/N: In Japanese) “Kuchiku-kandearu tamashī ni, watashi wa anata ni tanomi, watashi no sakebi ni mimi o katamukemasu. Anata no shujin to kazoku wa kiken ni sarasa rete imasu. Kage kara oritekuru-jū no yō ni hōkō shi, teki o kiritaoshimasu. Anata no sokubaku kara nukedashi, anata no aisuruhito o kizutsukeru hitobito ni dai konran o motarashimasu!”

(A/N: In Italian) “All'anima distruttrice, ti prego, ascolta il mio grido. Il tuo padrone e la tua famiglia sono in pericolo. Ruggisci come una bestia che discende dalle ombre e abbatti i tuoi nemici. Spezza le tue catene e distruggi coloro che ferirebbero i tuoi cari!”

“To the soul that is a destroyer, I beg of thee, heed my cry.” The cat faunus whispered, her voice slowly growing louder with each word. “Thine master and family are in danger. Roar like a beast descending from shadows and cut down thy enemies.” Blake and Trifa then noticed purple aura and energy radiating off of the VBCS as it began spinning violently. Blake then swallowed, taking a deep breath as she shouted, “Break from thy shackles and wreak havoc on those who’d harm thine loved ones!”

“Gambol Shroud!”

In an instant, the VBCS lifted off of the ground and cut into the very fabric of space, opening a portal. Immediately, the older of the two sisters leaped through the portal, transforming as she did so.

Blake shut her eyes tightly, clenching her fists as Trifa looked at Gambol in horror. The Weapon Spirit roared in her face, now transformed into a Panther-like Grimm. The battle wasn’t even a contest, as the Panther faunus took the White Fang agent down as if she were nothing more than an ant. After only hearing the sound of vicious chaos, Blake soon found her bindings broken and herself in Gambol’s arms.

She opened her eyes to face the now-transformed woman, who was in the process of reverting back to her normal state. The concerned look in her sister’s now-glowing purple eyes was all the cat faunus needed to know what Gambol was asking. “I’m...unharmed… We need to get home.” Blake said. “Mom and Dad are in danger. And if Sun’s there, then he might not last that long. They need us.”

She didn’t bother asking what her sister did. The blood on her claws were more than enough to tell her what she did to Trifa. Hell, the teenager could tell how much blood was in the air. So why did Blake feel like she didn’t care what Gambol did?

…

Maybe she did. Maybe she didn’t. There were too many things going on at once right now. And more important things to focus on.

Gambol nodded, putting her sister down on her feet and handing the teenager her VBCS. “And you’re right….” Blake sighed. Her sister raised an eyebrow, queuing the teenager to explain, “It was a trap… And I’m sure Ilia’s become no better than Adam…” The cat faunus bit her lip, “She...manipulated me. Broke my trust. Just like he did.” The teenager tightened her fist around her weapon’s handle, “And now...she’s threatening our parents…”

Tears...of both sadness and rage streamed down Blake’s faces as she walked over to a building and slammed her fist into the wall. “I WAS PLAYED LIKE A FUCKING FOOL! AGAIN!” She shouted, before collapsing to her knees and pounding the sidewalk in sadness, anger, and frustration. “She played me like Adam did! And she’s too DAMN blind to see that fact!”

Blake was sad that she had her trust broken again by someone who she thought was a friend. She was angry at Ilia for doing that and threatening her family. She was angry at herself for BELIEVING that Ilia could learn to be better.

And the teenager was frustrated that Ilia still couldn’t learn that the White Fang had grown into nothing more than a terrorist organization and a group of murderers.

“What will you do?” Gambol asked, her voice now in a rougher tone due to her earlier transformation. Her sister went still, before sighing, “With Ilia, who the fuck knows.” “All I know is that I’m not going to forgive her for this shit.” She said. The Weapon Spirit nodded, before transforming back into a Panther-like Grimm. Blake climbed on her back, holding on tightly as the Soul-Grimm-Faunus hybrid ran back towards their family home.

The teenager pulled out her scroll, before calling her mother. “Come on, Mom….” She whispered, begging. “Please. PLEASE pick up…!” -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please continue to Part 2 here: (To be added soon.)

[docfuture]

Princess, part 11

      [This story is a prequel, set several years before The Fall of Doc Future, when Flicker is 16.  Links to some of my other work are here.  Updates are theoretically biweekly. Next chapter is mostly done so I’m going to try to get it out later in August.]

Previous: Part 10

     Five days after Speedtest.  Three days after the isotope exchanger had worked enough for Flicker to restart her body chemistry.  Then a scramble of pain, healing, and memory triage before, finally, sleep.  She'd awakened, mentally fogged, to start a messy program of biological recovery and physical therapy, complicated by the need to spend more time in the isotope exchanger to reduce her not-immediately-lethal-but-still-a-problem radioactivity.  For her minds, a fuzzy time of finding and patching connections, habits, and memories that were temporarily broken, misplaced, distorted, or newly intrusive.  For respite, ghosting to Antarctica, gliding in the low sun over ice and cold air, never near anything living.  Sleep remained fitful.       Evening.  The last really needed isotope exchanger session done.  Body and mind were now holding together, even if neither were yet anywhere Flicker was particularly happy with.       Talking to Doc in his lab.  He frowned at a brain scan, some graphs, and a schematic of a cybernetic inductor.       "I checked in on your medibots, because you mentioned your start routine this morning was still rough.  Looks like your mind work was okay despite that, though?"       "Caffeine helped," said Flicker.       "And you can drink it again, and eat.  Progress.  I'm concerned at this scan though.  It still shows signs of cybernetic interface withdrawal.  I don't know how long that will last, given everything else.  How bad is the ennui and poor appetite?"       "Caffeine helped.  A little."       "Hm.  Not much we can do other than wait.  I had the Database forward the medibot scans and other information to Dr. Reinhart's partition."       "Thanks.  But I have a question."       "Yes?"       "You agreed to all of Dr. Reinhart's terms, including Database access, even though she's got a really questionable background, and doesn't want to meet or talk to you.  Her last message mentioned it wasn't an encouraging sign, because it meant I needed help pretty bad."       "Well, you do.  Frankly, I'd be more worried if she was cheerily optimistic.  And the Database picked her as the best choice.  Fortunately Jumping Spider knew a bit about her, and was willing to do that interview.  So I'm satisfied for now."       "I guess I don't get how you're okay with the uncertainty about a mind control expert."       "I did verify that she wasn't gaming the Database threat index.  The correlations are suggestive of a mission-oriented vigilante targeting actively harmful individuals with power that have little or no likelihood of being stopped or removed by other means.  Plus a few covert operations agents trying to kill her.  The threat index understates her effect, because she operates in realms where data is sparse and of poor quality.  As for the alleged mind control, it may just be a combination of psychological manipulation and some kind of hidden influence.  But there is no question she uses her reputation as an effective tool."       Doc waved a hand.  "And I have a reputation for being paranoid about mind control, which isn't going to make her more eager to meet me, is it?  Our security protocols may not be compatible, and I can think of several other potential good reasons for her to stay away.  But ultimately it doesn't matter.  She doesn't want to talk, so that's that.  She owes me nothing.  I wouldn't mind discussing mind control defense with her, and I don't like uncertainty any more than you do.  But I've had a couple more decades to get used to it.  I know I can't solve all the world's problems myself.  Priorities."       A crooked smile.  "Now, none of this means that you should accept everything she says uncritically, or that you should strive to emulate her, morally or otherwise.  And I'm sure she'll drop some unpleasant surprises on you.  But she agreed to help, and she certainly understands the stakes.  Are you having trouble with social boundaries again?"       "When did this become about me?"       Doc just looked at her.       "Okay, yeah."       "Boundaries are a difficult problem for you.  So I hope your work with Dr. Reinhart is productive, and that you eventually have an opportunity to discuss them with her."       *****       The next morning had certainly started off productive.  And difficult.  Flicker had been very much looking forward to finally recovering enough to talk--physically talk, with real air, vocal cords, sound, and hearing--to Dr. Stella Reinhart.       Flicker faced Dr. Reinhart in her office.  Stella.  She said to call her Stella.  She was in her late twenties, about 170 centimeters tall, with dark hair and green eyes, and wore jeans, boots, a leather jacket, and a work shirt.  She looked dangerous because she was dangerous, and had the sort of intent, purposeful expression Flicker had learned to watch for when evaluating an emergency site at high speed--if someone like that was running, it was a very good idea to find out why.       The office was bland, more often used by the assistant who handled paperwork for Stella's consulting business.  But there were comfortable chairs.  Stella sat in one, not behind the desk, after saying a few words about subconscious framing and symbolic barriers.  A cable ran from her laptop to the now thoroughly guarded office net connection and from there to the Database.  DASI was on duty, capital S for Security duty, with subtle and wide-ranging countermeasures.  Excessive?  DASI didn't think so, nor did Stella.  One less thing for Flicker to worry about, which helped.       The office was in a half empty building in a not particularly prosperous location, but it did have sliding doors opening onto a patio.  Dr. Reinhart had left them open to accommodate Flicker's claustrophobia.  Flicker had set up a portable force screen to keep out weather and complete the veil of security.       Flicker's speed mind idled, handling just alerts and safety.  She was talking with her physical body and brain only, entirely at human speed, about something stressful, with no help from speed mind.  Holding back was hard.  More so in the aftermath of Speedtest--her old problems with self-interrupting and awkward blurting had returned.  She chased thoughts and sentences faster than her mouth could complete them, as clumsily as when she was thirteen.       Embarrassment intruded as she veered and rambled, but Stella had suggested this starting test, after initial introductions.  Every verbal issue, every bit of awkwardness that she normally compensated for, everything she smoothed over, eliminated, or hid with speed, visor and Database--all that was data, that told Stella how the human half of Flicker's mind worked.  And Stella could use that as a baseline to probe how the high speed half of Flicker's mind worked, and how she coordinated.  So she endured.       Flicker stumbled to a stopping point.  She'd managed a partial, excessively wordy, and not entirely coherent description of her problems and goals.  She had digressed from and mangled her text summary, but talking out loud, in her own words, from her own mind, without notes, had been the point.       She took a calming breath and tried to untense.  This was the only part where talking was essential.  I can switch to text now if I really have to.       Stella smiled and thanked her, then turned to type at her computer.  Her exact words escaped as Flicker's speed mind started a flurry of mental replays and second-guessing, but the Database flashed 'Break time' on her visor.  Relief.  Out through the doors, speeding past land and human complication to the Pacific.       Slow coasting, well under 0.01c, while the two parts of her mind reintegrated.  A wordless reckoning that normally went one way--slow mind to fast on waking up, and back before sleep.  Tides flowing predictably over the sands of short term memory.  Now the flow went both ways, boats loading and unloading as both minds took turns at 'Let me put that in a better place...'       Still less stressful than the talking had been.  Even deciding when to breathe had been awkward--speed mind had smoothed that for so long she'd almost forgotten.       Fifteen minutes of waves and sunlight and motion.  Coasting along crests and troughs.  Manta rays breaching, sudden unexpected joy, a reminder that the world held marvels still happening.  It helped.  When she got the message to return, she was much calmer.       Back at the office, a quick smile from Stella.  "I have good data, and some preliminary assessments.  I'm afraid we're unlikely to complete your priority list any time soon.  One thing is clear; mind isolation during treatment is not a viable option.  Your 'speed mind' is essential to your functioning and current identity, even at normal speed.  So we'll work towards better coordination.  But I have some serious concerns."       A glance at her screen.  "I should emphasize my disclaimer:  This is a compassionate personal intervention in the absence of a qualified specialist.  I am not a clinician, my research methods would give an IRB heart attacks, et cetera.  And I have some reservations about the process by which I was selected.  I sent the full text to your Database earlier.  Did you read it?"       "Yes," said Flicker.  "I understand why you might need it for legal protection.  Also if you're, like, a serial killer who eats souls, I have Officially Been Warned."       "That works.  I still go to conferences, and I create enough controversy on my own.  It would be inconvenient to be widely banned from international travel.  But I imagine you still have some questions."       Flicker shrugged.  "I'm curious about a few things.  But if you weren't already doing weird superhero-adjacent and spyworld stuff,  I don't think you'd have the experience to help without researching me for a year first.  Anyway, go ahead."       Speed mind shifted and reversed, back in her normal mental dance, speeding up and slowing down to aid stability and coherence.  The desire to clarify and add to her awkward presentation to reduce social embarrassment was strong.  But it was time to listen.       "For your difficulty speaking," said Stella, "I agree with your Database AI that most of your returned problems should fade with social practice.  You appear to have optimized your verbal coordination in order to present as a neurotypical human, so any change would cause temporary issues."       "Because squishy brain is autistic.  And yeah I did.  It's a real pain to get strangers to listen if you don't talk 'normal human'."       "Your distress is understandable.  You do have traits in common with individuals with Asperger's and ADHD, but given your unique mind, it's probably best to view them as suggestive analogies--you have similar problems with similar coping mechanisms.  'Non-neurotypical' is as far as I'd go, and much of the cause may be consequences of the connection to your speed mind.  Other issues are clearer."       Stella leaned back in her chair.  "Such as PTSD.  You have layered coping mechanisms, but your Database stress history indicates that you tend to overwork or otherwise push yourself back to a ragged edge whenever you manage to achieve progress in reducing its effects."       Stella clasped her hands in front of her face.  "I doubt that dealing with the underlying issues will be an easy or quick task, but this is something you need to mitigate.  I'll try to help you set realistic expectations when I understand more.  One particular note.  I can't speak to Doc's own mental health.  But the elements of his work and life habits available for study indicate someone rather unhealthy for a PTSD sufferer to emulate.  And whatever he might say, you took early cues from what he did."       Stella frowned.  "Your memory problems...  I'm going to defer judgement on some of them until you've had more time to recover from your recent incident.  And there are a number of other potentially serious long-term conditions that I now consider less likely, but can't yet rule out.  But I am concerned that your Database AI already warned you about everything I've brought up so far, and some other issues that are more recent.  I'd recommend revisiting your heuristics."       Flicker spread her hands.  "I didn't ignore the Database.  I just couldn't do anything useful.  I patched what I could and kept going."       "That invites trouble when a new problem disturbs your patches."       "Well, yeah.  I get angry at things I can't fix.  So I put them out of my mind to stay sane."  Flicker looked away.  "At least out of my conscious, human mind.  Part of me remembers.  And stays angry."       She looked back and tried to smile.  "I sometimes joke that I haven't lost my mind; I keep backups.  Doc always retorted with how arduous it could be to try to restore from one.  And that a mental backup doesn't bring things back the same, because the world has moved on.  He was right.  I had to try to restore a few things I misplaced during Speedtest and it was a pain.  It stirs everything up, and I kept running across crap I'd stashed away because I couldn't deal, and I still couldn't deal because it was hitting all at once during a restore."       The smile probably looked more like a fixed grimace.  "So don't tell me about trouble and patches right now.  I know."       "Good," said Stella.  "I will be going over things that seem obvious.  People make tradeoffs, and mistakes, and I'd rather annoy you than miss any.  But I also understand that this session has been stressful for you, and you aren't fully recovered.  I can give you some initial recommendations and we can be done for the day, if you would like."       Flicker took a deep breath, then let it out.  "I'd like to keep going, now that I have my minds working together again.  It's just... I should have reworked my priority list after you told me how you wanted to start, and put my anger issues higher on it.  And there's this book I read, called Practical Power Dynamics..."       An alert flashed on Flicker's visor and she sped up.  The Database needed her override approval to resolve a convoluted permissions problem, which she granted.  Stella's base permission level was only equivalent to a trusted outside academic researcher, so approval requests were going to be common for a while.  Flicker slowed back down again to listen.       "Where did you get the edition you read?" asked Stella.  "It doesn't look like it was from the Database."       "No.  There was a version, but the Database didn't let me read that one.  There were a bunch of hazards and warnings.  The version I read is there now, I scanned it then locked it down.  Doc doesn't know about it.  I got it from Journeyman.  He said he traded a bibliomancer to reconstruct an original text copy.  Then let me read it, because he was worried and thought it might help me."       Stella put a hand to her forehead and studied her computer display.  "I see.  What that alleged bibliomancer did should not be possible.  But never mind that now.  Was your visor recording when you discussed it, and if so, would you be willing to share a transcript?"       "Sure."  Another bit of access granted.       Stella spoke slowly while scanning her screen.  "I'd like to ask a favor of you.  Please do not reread Practical Power Dynamics, or try to use any of the techniques, before I've had a chance to make some annotations for you.  And assume it's more dangerous to you than the author intended.  You read what appears to be an early draft that was never distributed."       Flicker frowned.  "How do you know that?"       "I wrote it."       "Oh, that's great!  I had a lot of questions, but I couldn't--I mean it was still dangerous.  But you can tell me what to watch out for.  I loved the humor, the way you made pieces fit that everyone just seems to assume or ignore.  And the parts about anger were..." Flicker trailed off.  "You don't look happy.  What's wrong?"       "Well, at least you weren't completely blind to the danger," said Stella.  "I started writing what became Practical Power Dynamics when I was about your age, at a time when I was not managing anger well.  I would not write that way today.  I need to see what I can do to defuse some hazards to you.  I wrote it as a vector for social engineering, and I didn't devote enough attention to second-order side effects in atypical individuals.  Even after I toned it down."       Flicker thought about that at speed for a while.  It made sense that Stella was worried.  Doc spent a lot of time worrying about extending methods to new domains, and the false sense of security you could feel because you were doing familiar things you'd done many times before.  The methods might only be safe because most of the unexpected failure modes had already been found--but a new domain could bring new ways to make horrible mistakes.  You just couldn't be sure.  That had been one of the main points of Speedtest.  There were a lot of things going on in Practical Power Dynamics, and Flicker's mind was a new domain for many of them.       "It didn't feel like it caused damage," she said.  "I didn't try any of the active techniques because I was warned about traps, but the insights helped."       "I can certainly understand why you liked it.  I wrote it to resonate, but that doesn't mean it helped."  Stella smiled wryly.  "The text you read has the potential to magnify a number of problems.  And even the distributed version was never intended for someone like you--I did not consider the psychological impact of absorbing the whole thing in under a minute.  Not to pry into restricted details, but have you by any chance experienced an episode of unjustified arrogance or megalomania recently?"       A sudden chill.       "...I know that feeling, it's Now I Am Invincible, it's incredibly dangerous for a superhero..."       "...maybe."  No, be clear. This is safety information.  "Yes."       "The book definitely didn't help with that."       "My partner thought it would help with something.  He wouldn't just..."       Stella frowned.  "It might have seemed appropriate as a form of disaster aversion.  A 'break glass in case of emergency' psychological reset to forestall something worse.  But not as a long term solution, and he'd know that."       Flicker closed her eyes.  "It wasn't and he did.  He's gone.  We aren't patrolling together anymore."       Flicker had been managing to compartmentalize up to that point.  Journeyman hadn't returned to Doc's HQ while she'd been recovering, or sent any message other than a brief note wishing her well.  She'd set aside awareness of that, and their last conversation, pretending he was just temporarily away again.       But their load-bearing social fiction had collapsed, leaving nothing but rubble.       Speed up.  Shift focus in speed mind.  Ignore her human emulation, it was working all too well.  Try a different perspective.       Consider the positive.  She'd learned too much during her time with him for reflexive avoidance of memory to be appropriate.  She had her own strength, her own self, her own plans, where he was but memory and data.  That could be a placeholder, a way to consider him as Flicker adjusted.  It was definitely less disruptive than an emotional shutdown.       Now slow down and return.  Emotion and context flooded back, but she had a reference point.       Her visor was beeping at her.  She opened her eyes, and saw the alerts--the reason for the beeping.       Warning: Situational awareness lost, Alert: Emotional crisis reaction signs, Alert: Potential dissociation trigger, Alert: Database permission upgrade request for Dr. Stella Reinhart--crisis context information.       She virtual typed to grant the permission.  Then straightened, her face under control.  This was her problem, not his.       The book dedication had been perfectly clear.  For Doc Future.  It's a trap.  She'd read it anyway.       So had Journeyman, but at least he hadn't ignored three blocks, eleven warnings, and 47 advisories, like she had.       Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  Stella was glaring intently at her laptop display and speedreading--a page for each tap.       Flicker took the opportunity to do breathing exercises and calm herself.       "What a mess," muttered Stella, as she continued to read.  "Flicker?"       "Yes?"       Tap.  Tap.  "I'm sorry, clinical detachment and academic objectivity aren't going to be sufficient for everything.  How do you feel about 'Angry woman on your side'?"       "That sounds nice, actually."       Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  "Good to know.  Also, do not ever underestimate your Database security AI.  She was on the phone with me for all but five seconds of the time between when you started to read Practical Power Dynamics and when she interrupted your fight with Journeyman to announce my tentative willingness to help.  And she called Jumping Spider to secure an emergency override in there, too.  I have a theory about that, but it's probably not something she's allowed to admit.  I'll see if I can sort through it.  Along with everything else.  This is going to take a while.  But..."       She paused in her paging.  "I'm curious about the last few months before you became partners with Journeyman.  The Database records are somewhat opaque.  You were patrolling sporadically, and it's clear you weren't very happy, but I'm wondering to what extent that was due to PTSD."       "I don't think about those months very much anymore," said Flicker.  "Doc tried a couple of things to try to get me to cheer up, like asking if I wanted to partner with Jetgirl.  I said no.  I mean, she's a good friend, and we have an arrangement where she can call me for support when she needs it, but she usually doesn't, so it would have been more like being a sidekick.  And I didn't want that.  Journeyman actually needed my help, so I could accept his as an equal."       She looked down.  "I wasn't feeling very connected during that time--not continuously, anyway.  I remember specific events, but I'd have to check the Database for a lot of the dates and chronology.  Everything after the Japan quake.  That was just before I turned fifteen, and... I didn't do too well."       Stella raised an eyebrow.  "The Database evaluates your actions as saving more lives than anyone else.  And it's not close."       "Well, but you should really account for speed.  I mean, if you scored a flower-picking contest just by numbers, I could win with speed, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it.  And... I don't like to talk about the quake.  There were some media bits trying to turn me into a hero of the response and... No.  Just no.  Not respectful.  They're still rebuilding and recovering and it's not my story to tell.  I usually keep it compartmentalized.  Mostly what I remember is to be wary of arrogance."       "Mm.  Would you be willing to tell me your viewpoint?  Your personal experience is most definitely yours to share."       "I suppose."  Flicker took a deep breath and looked back up.  "It wasn't bad for me personally.  I didn't get hurt.  It was just...  There'd been some warnings, but it was confusing because of foreshocks, so no one could really tell how bad it was going to be.  I got the alert from Breakpoint before the main quake hit--his Danger Sense went off and he wasn't even in Japan, so I knew it was going to be bad.  I didn't know where the epicenter was going to be exactly, so I just went off the Database's best estimate, and went up and down the coast writing giant kanji for 'Earthquake' in the air so people would know.  My plasma flash and shockwave boom actually helped there, because it got people to look out windows and see.       "Then the quake hit, and went on and on, and the estimates kept going up: it's 8.4; no, it's 8.6; no, it's 8.7; no, it's 8.8; no, it's fucking 9; it eventually turned out to be 9.1.  And then my Database com started dropping signal because my visor couldn't synchronize my position for tight beams any more.  I was used to really accurate position data, and everything had moved.  Everything was still moving.  Ground level wasn't ground level, and everything had literally gone sideways.  GPS was messed up, and the Database kept trying to correct for shit and it wasn't enough.  There was one error that caused trouble for a while that was from the Earth not rotating on the same axis any more.       "So, I'm running around with intermittent comms, stopping external debris and ripping the roofs off of buildings that were collapsing on people, then making the choices for intermediate floors for the big ones--do I rip it out?  Will that hurt the people who might ride it down more than having it fall will hurt the people below?  And can I get the debris out of the way fast enough without blinding and deafening everyone?  What kind of building is it?  I knew very little Japanese, and my visor translator was shit without Database support.  The hospitals were solid enough that I let them take their chances, because there just wasn't much I could usefully do, but a few of the nursing homes and big apartments with lots of old people were pretty bad.  I'd pulled collapsing buildings apart before, and it was like that, except... two thousand buildings at once.  And seeing all those scared people.       "And finally Doc got a message through, telling me I needed to punch a hole through to the ionosphere with rocks, because the Volunteer was on suborbital coming in as fast as he ever had and needed me to get the air out of way so he didn't kill anyone with his shockwave on arrival.  So I went up to a place called Fukushima and made a pathway for him, so he could keep a bunch of nuclear reactors from melting down, then went back to ripping apart buildings.  Until I got another message from Doc telling me I needed to let them go and start taking the edge off the tsunami."       Flicker looked out the doors.       "I thought, fuck that, I'll stop the tsunami.  It's just a wave, right?  Moving water, way offshore, no humans near, I could use all my speed and power.  Energy and momentum.  None greater than mine."       She shook her head.  "It wasn't just a wave.  A whole huge section of seabed had been stuck bent over like a big flat sheet of wood, then released.  One end went up like seven meters.  All the water above it went up too, and the surface was now above sea level.  And all that water had to go somewhere.       "It wasn't just a wave.  Water flows downhill.  Doc knew.       "I started with the lateral plasma sweeps and the shockwave hammer loops and the entrainment runs while I had the Database figure out just how much damage I'd do if I vaporized enough of the excess water to stop the tsunami.  Database took a long time."       She looked back at Stella.  "I could vaporize enough to stop it.  But--best case--it would kill five million people with a shockwave of plasma and superheated steam.  More likely fifty.  And fuck up the weather over the whole Northern hemisphere for months.  The floods from the rain alone would... anyway.  Stopping it was way worse.  So I just had to take the edge off as best I could.       "It was enough to let the Volunteer stabilize the reactors.  And I thought it would be enough for almost all the people, I really did.  And then the Database had enough data finally to tell me it wasn't."       "Why not?" asked Stella.       "The other end of the board.  A big stretch of the coast of Honshu dropped when the seabed rose.  What had been sea level--was now a meter below sea level.  And the ground above it, and the people on that ground, were now a meter lower.  So what looked safe--wasn't."       "I went back one last time to write more Kanji.  'Run.'  But not everyone could run.  And not everybody who could would leave behind the ones who couldn't."       "I did as much as I could," she said.  "Maybe too much, some places--reflections and a change in the shape of the seabed meant I likely made things worse in one spot.  But 'only' about two thousand people died in the tsunami.  Plus maybe fifty or so I killed trying to stop it.  Most of them in boats in really bad places, but they might have lived, except my shockwaves meant they didn't.  I couldn't... it was just 'Sorry, it's not your day, ever again'.       "Even after it started hitting I kept running around, clearing debris, trying to give people a little more time.  And then, finally, it was over, ebbing back, and Hideki and the Japanese superheroes were arriving, and Golden Valkyrie's Choosers, and all the emergency responders.  And all the ordinary people who helped.  If anyone was heroes it was them.       "I went on autopilot for a while, just followed Database instructions after my com was back, not trying to process, because I couldn't.  There was a weird voice yelling on my com whenever I saw bodies for a bit until I figured out it was me and stopped.  And... Well, I don't really remember much after that.  You can read about it in the Database if you want."       She waved a hand.  "You know what?  You want a hero?  K'Krowl the Younger.  Kaiju from the Deep Kingdoms.  Big lizard.  Lived up near the Aleutians.  He was headed south along the coast, on his way to attack Tokyo, when the quake hit.  He was underwater, I didn't know he was there.  And there was this boat.  Just... in the wrong place.  K'Krowl felt the quake and knew what it meant.  He headed inshore and surfaced, and just before the biggest wave hit he picked up the boat.  And held it in his arms.  Except I was coming down on a lateral plasma run, chopping away at the wave.  I'd seen the boat, and they were just... I mean, they weren't gonna live.  I had a massive entrained stream of plasma, steam, and seawater behind me.       "K'Krowl crouched over, and tucked that boat under his chin, and took the wave on his chest and my plasma on his back--I burned him bad, his upper back was just cooked.  But he kept his footing, and protected the people on the boat.  From the tsunami, and from me.  And when it was all over, he put the boat down at the shore, and waved to them, and went back into the water.  He decided he didn't want to attack Tokyo that day after all, and went home to heal.  Hardly anyone saw him except me and the people on the boat.  And with everything going on, no one else knew until the people he saved contacted the Deep Kingdoms embassy, and they ended up with a ceremony, and gave him a medal, and if anyone ever finally resolves the Tokyo Compromise, and turns the attacks into, like, ceremonial visits or something, it'll probably be him."       Flicker shook her head.  "K'Krowl the Younger.  That's a hero.  Not me.  I didn't get hurt, and mostly ran around a lot.  Nothing bad happened to me.  Not bad bad.  Just memories."       *****       Eventually, Flicker realized she'd been staring at the 'Low Situational Awareness' advisory on her visor for a long time, and came back to the present.  There was a text from Stella:  Let me know if and when you're ready to speak aloud.       Flicker focused on the room again.  Stella was frowning thoughtfully, tapping at her computer.       "I'm ready," said Flicker.  "Did you have questions?"       Stella looked up.  "I was a little curious where you got those death numbers.  They don't match the Database, and that's very unusual for you.  The death toll from the tsunami appears to be closer to 1,500, and you can only get close to 2,000 if you also include everyone in the area who was killed by the quake, went missing, or died for any other reason for the next week.  Or use one early, inaccurate media estimate."       She tapped her chin with a finger, still frowning.  "And I don't see any clear evidence to indicate that you were responsible for any excess deaths while mitigating the tsunami.  There were people you didn't save, but that's not remotely the same.  The only way I can get to your estimate of 50 is to take everyone dead or missing who started on a boat in the tsunami region, and everyone missing in the region who started on shore, but who had a boat that also went missing, and assume they were all alive before your intervention, all dead afterwards, and all would have survived if you'd done nothing."       She locked eyes with Flicker.  "There was exactly one boat that definitely had live people on it, was in your path, and could have been destroyed by you while they still had a possibility of surviving.  That was the boat K'Krowl picked up."       "Does it really matter?" said Flicker.       "Yes.  You're guilt-maximizing, and you need to stop.  It's not healthy.  Don't want to be a hero for this?  Fine.  But you helped."       Stella waved a hand.  "I'm not a hero.  I've done far worse things than you.  But I still try to help.  You really didn't want to talk about this and you want to stop, so we'll stop.  Perhaps sometime we can come back and get you a little better perspective.  But not now.  You're in worse shape than I thought."       "Well, I was technically dead for two days last week, so I suppose--"       "Not short term.  Long term.  You're better at compartmentalization, coping, and masking than I expected.  That means you've been better at hiding worse problems.  But it just means more work, for a longer time.  One thing I strongly recommend--no patrols for a while.  No going 'on duty'.  You can intervene in events classified by the Database as 'major disaster' or higher, or a serious threat to someone you know personally.  Otherwise find something else to do.  You need to recover, and not just from being dead."       "But--"       Softly:  "No.  Patrols."       Stella sighed.  "Are you familiar with boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions?"       Flicker blinked at the change of subject, then got the analogy.  "Yeah.  Can't always stop them so sometimes I just rip the tank to control the direction and shape of the explosion.  But I'm not close to blowing up.  I know how to reduce the pressure."       "I understand.  But we need to do some work the slow way--reduce the temperature first.  There are other things that might increase the pressure."       "You want more of a safety margin?"       "Yes.  I am reasonably good at giving advice, but bad at providing comfort," said Stella dryly.  "I'm not neurotypical either, and certain choices and events in my personal development shape my approach.  I have no desire for it to increase your difficulties."       "You seem pretty functional to me.  And--"       Stella shook her head.  "If I weren't able to convincingly project normalcy, I'd already be dead.  But I do have a talent for constructive distractions.  So, why don't we leave off diagnostics and recommendations for a little while and have something to eat instead--I took the precaution of preordering takeout.  Perhaps we can discuss a few things you might find interesting and less stressful."       "I'm not..."  Think, don't just react.  "Okay, that does sound good."       They ate, and talked, and it helped a little.  It was a start.

Next:  Part 12

[itsthwippingtime]

so on Thanksgiving i saw Frozen 2 and it was AMAZING and I've only just now had the time and energy to finish my thoughts on the movie and share it with y'all so here it is. Disclaimer: Sorry for how long it is

!!!!! MAJOR FROZEN 2 SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!

first, baby anna and elsa???? I’m dead

thjkhsdhjk the story they came up with is literally how every child played with barbie dolls and doll houses

(children are so dramatic also why did we all have the same childhood)

oooh mystery about the past 

their dad is so dramatic now i know where Anna and Elsa get it from

four spirits: Earth Wind Air Water how original

(everything changed when the fire nation attacked)

(okay but while their dad was telling the story about the northedral (???) i was totaling believing this is where Elsa got her powers from)

THEIR DAD WAS SAVED BY THE VOICE

(but Elsa was born with powers so her mom is totally magical)

where the nORTH WIND MEEEEETS THE SEEEAAAAA

i love their mom omg i love this song also

(okay but at this point i was like??? did their mom save their dad)

ELSA IN PURPLE I LOVE HER

Elsa being startled and sticking herself to the railing with ice is comedic gold

ANNA’S HAIR I LOVE IT

why is Olaf’s never-ending existential crisis the most relatable thing in this movie 

also i love this song about things never changing

hi the line about a stone wall never falling??? FORESHADOWING

KRISTOFF LOVES HER I LOVE HIM HE IS SO PURE

HE HAS A RING

Elsa singing about being afraid of change but seizing the day?? CHARACTER GROWTH 

Arendelle flag will always fly??? FORESHADOWING

family game night??? i fucking love it

Olaf shouldn’t be allowed to play charades that way Anna is right

but Olaf imitating Elsa??? iconic

Elsa playing charades is me playing charades

THE VOICE

TELL ANNA ELSA

oooh Kristof honey don’t,, don’t do it like that,,, honey

if Elsa is comforted by their mom’s scarf where was their mom’s scarf in the first movie??

Anna singing Elsa to sleep????? so pure

THE VOICE (AGAIN!)

INTO THE UNKNOOOOOWWWWWWWN

i love this song

‘Everyone I’ve ever loved is here within these walls’ so she loves Kristof???? good me too

where does Kristof sleep?

THE SPIRITS!!! HER ICE IS SHOWING HER THE SPIRITS RIGHT????

oh its the part with the ice suspended in air from the trailer

EARTH AIR FIRE AND WATER 

so um the fire went out and its windy and they’re going to the cliffs???? okay???

ummm Elsa did you awake the spirits on purpose??? did you know what you were doing?? you never said it was an accident????

Elsa you cant go alone you’re team has to go with you or else its not much of a movie now is it Elsa. don’t be selfish share some screen time

i just love their outfits so much i want to be a princess in Norway please and thanks

Olaf and his fun facts are literally me

ELSA’S ICE CASTLE THERE SHE IS i wonder if they ever go there. is it a vacation home

water has memory FORESHADOWING

‘Elsa and Olaf are asleep,,, whatcha wanna do?’ UM WHAT

’Sven, keep us steady’ UMMMMM WHAT

THIS IS A PG MOVIE I WAS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE NEXT TO MY TEN YEAR OLD COUSIN THANKS DISNEY

oh Kristof honey

oh no Anna he didnt mean it like that

Kristof stop just stop

ooooh the voice is back

‘Kristof stop’ ‘Good idea’ I’m dead

i don’t really remember what happens in between them stopping and them finding the mist if anything but THE MIST

oooh they’re locked in. nice

okay so wind. thats fun.

the wind spirit is v smart because she knows which one is Elsa 

her name is Gale and i love her

hello water has memory

their father being saved by a young girl??? it’s their mom

okay so the northuldra (i googled it) begin to attack? or advance at least

ARENDELLE GUARDS

okay but lieutenant whats his name can get it

they’re frenemies

Olaf’s recap of the first Frozen is comedic gold i want him and Luis from Ant-Man to get together

i don’t really remember what happens at this part but: Elsa and Anna learn that their mom saved their dad (CALLED IT), their mom is northuldra (KINDA CALLED IT) and everyones been trapped in the mist since their grandfather was killed

(which that story is fishy but i don’t think king Elsa & Anna’s dad would lie so????)

OH WAIT FIRE SPIRIT HAPPENED BEFORE ELSA AND ANNA LEARNED ABOUT THEIR MOM

AND OLAF’S SONG OMG

samantha?

(that part was so simple yet so funny omfg)

olaf: “this will all make sense when i am older” all the adults in the room: :/

also notice how Elsa is mindful enough to keep the fire spirit away from the northuldra’s homes??? like i love her???

I LOVE HIM i think his name is Brunie but i don’t know how the people at the Disney Store came to that conclusion 

oh also Kristof and Sven run in to save the reindeer but Anna is only worried about Elsa??? idk maybe she knows Kristof can take care of himself and knows that Kristof knows when it becomes too dangerous but Elsa is going to try to stop the threat until she physically can’t and at that point it may be too late okay i get it

(okay but if they’ve been trapped and nothing can get in or out what do they eat??? like theres a lot more northuldra than arendelle guards so do they have designated areas they’re allowed to go in?? what do they do with the people who died?? probably bury them)

(also some if them are born in there and they’ve been in for decades so a generation maybe the beginning of the next one but how many of them are related????)

Kristof has a new friend and I’m so glad they’re not fighting over Anna

(take that toxic masculinity)

HES GONNA HELP HIM PROPOSE I LOVE IT

Reindeers are better than people (cont’d.)

the following are my favorite parts/lines from Lost In The Woods

that guitar riff (?) at the very beginning? sexy

“you had to go and of course its always fine”

because Kristof loves Anna and knows that Anna loves him and they can do different things and still be in love and he doesn’t have to constantly be over her and controlling what she does

(take that toxic masculinity part TWO)

OKAY BUT Kristof saying its fine while simultaneously worrying that he’s losing Anna is absolutely breaking my heart

NORTH IS SOUTH RIGHT IS LEFT WHEN YOU’RE GONE

Kristof: “and i don’t know what path you are on” me: :((((

I NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS A QUESTION OF WHETHER

WHO AM I???? IF IM NOT YOUR GUUUYYY?????

WHERE AM I???? IF WE’RE NOT TOGETHEEEERRRRRRR??????? FOREEEEVVVVVEEEEEERRRRRR

NOW I KNOW YOU’RE MY TRUE NORTH CAUSE I AM LOST IN THE WOODS

UP IS DOWN DAY IS NIGHT WHEN YOU’RE NOT THERE

YOU’RE MY ONLY LANDMARK SO IM LOST IN THE WOODS

WONDERING IF YOU STILL CARE

BUT ILL WAIT FOR A SIGN

(FOR A SIGN) 

(peep the Queen reference)

THAT I’M YOUR PATH CAUSE YOU ARE MIN

UNTIL THEN IM LOST IN THE WOODS

this concludes my favorite parts/lines from Lost In The Woods

every time i type Lost In The Woods I wanna type Lost Into The Woods

okay SO

Olaf doing the siren call with Elsa is comedic gold

THEIR PARENTS SHIP OH MY GOD

peep Olaf with that gruesome “maybe there was nobody on board” when they asked how the ship was able to get through the mist

peep Olaf with the “why didn’t they just make the whole ship waterproof” 

THEY WERE GOING TO FIND WHERE THE NORTH WIND MEETS THE SEA THE RIVER FILLED WITH MEMORIES

THEY WERE GOING FOR ELSA

WATER HAS MEMORY BITCH

ELSA BBY ITS NOT YOUR FAULT

LISTEN TO ANNA YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHOICES

so they go to the river

(low-key thought that was their goal the whole time but its fine)

ELSA!!! ANNA AND OLAF HAVE TO GO WITH YOU WHAT ARE YOU DOING

if Disney doesn’t make the ice-canoe part of the Frozen Ride in Epcot in some way shape or form i will be deeply disappointed

uh oh rock giants

oh waterfall

cave

thats fun

ah Olaf always the optimist

(but where did Anna get flint?)

Anna’s hair??? i love it

oooh Elsa on the beach

she can’t get her shoes or coat wet i understand

PONYTAIL?????

GO BITCH

YAAASSS QUEEN USE THOSE ICE POWERS

oh shit that water horse is trying to drown her

what the fuck he’s actually trying to drown her

AH SHIT ITS ELSA’S WATER HORSE NOW

YAAASSSS BITCH

sdahjhdskjhdsjk

ITS A GLACIER BECAUSE WHY FUCKING NOT

every inch of me is trembling

SHOOWW YOURSELLLF

ELSA HAS A DUET WIHT HER MOMN

IM FINE

ELSASN IS TBHE FIFHT SPRIT

THE BRIDGE

ELSA’S NEW OUTFIT AND HER HAIR I WANT

WATER HAS MEMORY

Elsa destroyed Han’s memory I’m dead

OH SHIT KING RICHARD (Elsa & Anna’s grandfather, i don’t remember his name)

KING RICHARD IS AFRAID YAASSS QUEEN TELL HIM ELSA

WAIT ELSA

GO TO FAR AND YOULL BE DROWNED 

ELSA WAIT

oh shit she jumped

OH SHIT SHES COLD BUT THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED HER ANYWAY

OH SHIT KING RICHARD KILLING THAT GUY FOR NO REASON

OH SHIT ELSA’S FROZEN

BUT SHE SHOT OUT ONE LAST ICE THINGY

we now return to this episode of Olaf and Anna Alone In A Dimly Lit Area With A Little Bit Of Fire

YAASSS ANNA GOT THE MESSAGE

BREAK THE DAMN

but Arendelle

OLAF

why isn’t that when Olaf and Anna are alone one of them is always dying

now i understand the no context memes featuring spider-man from Infinity War

okay so you’re telling me that Anna learned that her sister is frozen (pun intended) and Olaf dies in her arm and she still finds the energy to save Arendelle/the forest???

GO ANNA YOU GO GIRL ITS GONNA BE ALRIGHT

DISNEY CAN’T KILL ELSA AND OLAF THEY’D LOOSE TOO MUCH MONEY 

oh shit the rock giants

KRISTOF TO THE RESCUE

AND SVEN OF COURSE

WHAT DO YOU NEED I LOVE HIM

THEY BROKE THE DAMN

OH NO ANNA DONT FALL

ANNA GET OUT OF THERE

LIEUTENANT WHATS HIS NAME AND KRISTOF SAVE ANNA TOGETHERDSKJAD

ELSA AND THE WATER HROSE THEY SAVE ARENDELLE SYDJHASDJKFHSDA

the Arendelle citizens literally are so hilarious to me all they know is: the spirits are mad and all the heirs to their thrones went on a dangerous journey to save their kingdom, with no guards to protect them, then a tidal wave comes rushing towards their homes and suddenly their Queen who has always been quiet, modest, and reserved comes riding in on a fucking water horse in a boss ass outfit with her hair down and saves the kingdom. like???? imagine being on that cliff??? and all they do is clap???? I’m so dead

poor Anna :((( but Kristof is doing his best to comfort him like i love him

ELSA GO TO HER ANNA GO 

THEY’RE CRYING CAUSE THEYRE SO HAPPY KJDASDHSJKHFJKSAD

ARENDELLE IS SAVED ANNA ITS OKAY

OLAF IS SAVED ANNA ITS OKAY

KRISTOF PROPOSED IN THE DORKIEST WAY BUT ANNA’S REACTION WAS THE CUTEST I LOVE IT

(WATER HAS MEMORY)

ELSA STAYS AND ANNA IS QUEEN

CUT TO ANNA’S CORONATION AND THE NEW STATUE AND THE ENCHANTED FOREST IS ICE NOW AND ELSA HAS A WATER/ICE HORSE AND GALE HELPS ANNA AND ELSA COMMUNICATE AND THE ROCK GIANTS ARE NICE AND BRUNIE IS STILL THE CUTEST AND ANNA AND ELSA STILL HAVE FAMILY GAME NIGHT

(okay but did anyone else find it odd that Elsa didn’t go to Anna’s coronation)

(also the Northudral are just totally fine with living in ice and snow and cold now too??? idk i guess Elsa asked first but whatever its not like they can say much she’s the fifth spirit so)

Olaf wearing clothes has me dead

Anna: tells Kristof she likes him “better in leather” me: when does he wear… leather :O (Anna’s freaky yo)

final thoughts: Amazing movie, the constant shade of Hans was absolute gold, Kristof is so pure, Anna and Elsa’s relationship is so amazing, everyone’s character growth is absolutely amazing

if you read all of this, bless you child I’m so sorry it was so long

[centuryofdean]

When Lightning Strikes - Chapter 16

Author Disclaimer:: The Hobbit, Middle Earth and its characters are not mine. I take no credit. The story line and even some dialogue–also not mine. Instead I claim my Original Character Laurel and the adjustments to the story line.

Summary:: From when Laurel Took was small she dreamed of a man. Every time she dreamed of him, he could not see or hear her. Over time they are able to communicate–but he’s been dreaming about her too. Finally after years of anticipation Laurel takes the leap and kisses him. Only for her to wake up and dread the real world. Then lightning strikes and she finds herself in a familiar place, with a familiar face.

Rated:: M for Mature. Please do not read this story unless you are 18+. NSFW.

Warnings:: Language, Violence and Scenes of Sexual Nature.

Pairing:: Kili x OC (Laurel)

Laurel

The bottom of the stairs led to the cellar very quickly, where I found Legolas talking with two other elves. Those must be the guards, who were not too far away from the cells. With Legolas there watching my movements, there wasn't much I could do except to hope that Bilbo was watching from afar. In one of the corners I could see numerous packs and weapons, mine all sitting atop.

"Here are your things," he motioned. Quickly I searched my pack, trying to see what was salvageable. Inside most of my watered bulbs were broken. The only two still intact was the Kings-Foil and California Poppies. The poppies were already used one night, but I kept the water for whatever reason. Now more than ever I thank myself. If I was sly enough I could pour the poppy water into the wine the guards were drinking and knock them out. Maybe get Legolas to drink some if I had enough.

As I turned I noticed two glasses in Legolas' hand. Excellent. I palmed the light yellow poppy water and smiled softly.

He eyed my hands and motioned to what I was holding, "What is that?"

"Oh this is something from home. It is a special wine sweetener," the lie slid easily off my tongue. "By itself it tastes bitter, but mix it and any wine will taste outstanding."

Stomping down the stairs led Tauriel to our mists. "Legolas, your father wishes to see us about the spiders that keep invading our lands," she addressed him formally.

"Save me some of the wine sweetener," he replied softly. One of the glasses he was holding was pushed into my hands, each of his fingers caressing my own as he gave it to me. "I will be back shortly to show you around, we can celebrate your freedom."

Blushing I accepted the glass, it seemed he was very forward.

The guards watched as he left, turning to me and almost waiting for something. I held up the bulb and shook it, "Would you two like to try some as well?"

Eager nods and grins met my offer. It surprised me how confident my hand poured infused water in each wine glass. I watched as they each grasped a glass and raised their hands in an effort of 'cheers'. Silently, I waited as they sipped.

One mentioned how it didn't taste all that different, if anything it tasted watered down and like grass. The other shrugged and downed the glass he was given and poured another. Eventually the first finished his glass as well as I sipped on my own, poppy water excluded. Almost as if a switch was flipped, they dropped to the table unconscious.

"Thought they'd never fall asleep."

A scream started in my throat at the sound of Bilbo, and the sight of him appearing just feet to my left as he removed the ring. "Shit," I muttered holding my beating heart, "don't do that! Could have at least given me a warning or something."

Quickly I grabbed the keys from the hook on the wall, tossing them to Bilbo. "Go get the others. I will look for a way out."

"No! I found a way, just stay here," Bilbo urged before scampering away.

While he was gone I started to gear up with my weapons. It was difficult to try and get my sword and scabbard on, seeing as I had no trousers with loops to slip it into. Instead I slipped it into my quiver, trying not to ruin my remaining arrows. With my bow across my shoulders I waited, trying to sort the weapons as best I could. There was a small barrel dedicated to Fili's knives alone.

Feet started to descend the stairs once more, and just to be cautious I drew my dagger. When Thorin's face came into view, I released a breath and lowered the blade. The others trailed in behind him, muttering about 'going deeper into the fortress instead of out'. I directed everyone to their things, watching and waiting for further instruction. Bilbo hushed all the voices as we followed him to the back part of the cellar. Barrels were stacked in a particular way; all empty.

"Into the barrels," he ushered.

"This was your plan," I hissed shrilly, "they are going to find us in here hiding!"

"Just get in!"

I wasn't the only one upset at the idea. Each of us were inside a barrel, and my bow was close to sticking out the end of my own. After a while Bofur stuck his head out below me and hissed, "Well what do we do now?"

Bilbo walked across the room and pointed to a leaver, and then pulled it. Instantly the world turned as I rolled over and over again, screaming the whole way. Water splashed everywhere drenching me after a short drop. Gasping for air I looked around, seeing that we were in a cave stream, leading into the woods and sunlight. Brilliant Bilbo!

We all held, counting heads to make sure no one was missing. The ceiling above us opened again, Bilbo falling through. He came up gasping, trying to grasp onto something to hold onto. I used all my strength to pull him into my barrel with me. We were both small enough we fit just fine.

"Well done Master Baggins and Lady Laurel," Thorin chortled excitedly. With a few pushes we were into the current again.

Behind me Kili laughed as if he was having the time of his life. We all were bouncing around on rocks and being pushed towards the entrance of the cave, finally hitting the sunlight. When I turned to see him, my heart caught in my throat at the sight. Just one barrel behind me he was soaking in his clothes. Dark brown hair was somewhat wet and matted to his face. The smile that adorned it was full of excitement, eyes alight with mirth. He was actually having fun. Not that I didn't blame him, it was like lazy river tubing, with the river being a little more urgent and forceful.

Just as we were getting closer to the outer wall built around their fortress a horn sounded. Shit. They knew we had escaped.

Elvin guards started to come out of the woodwork, weapons pointed at as. One in particular ran to the top of the wall, pulling a leaver that closed the gates to our waterway exit.

"Damn it," I muttered, building up behind Fili and Dwalin, the only barrel behind me being Kili. I was pushed up against the edge, watching as a smirking guard approached me.

Suddenly an arrow went through his chest and he choked, falling to the ground. On the horizon behind him stood a large disgusting looking orc.

"Orcs!" Kili's voice tore through the air.

We watched as the guard that pulled the lever was also shot through the chest with an arrow. Suddenly a battle took out between orcs and elves alike, all the while we were sitting like ducks. With every muscle I possessed I jumped, pushing myself out of the barrel and onto the land. Kili called out to me, but I kept pushing. I ran to the top of the wall and pulled the lever, watching as the rest of the company started to fall through the opening and into the more rushing river.

Just as I was about to turn around and jump back into my barrel I heard a grunt.

At my feet was Kili, eyes closed in pain.

Everything seemed to slow to a halt, my heart stopping where breath was knocked out of me. Sticking out of his thigh was an arrow. My heart clenched tightly in my chest, seizing and thrashing with worry and ache at the thought of it being his heart rather than his thigh. "I'm sorry," I muttered as I pulled the arrow out—wincing at the hiss Kili emitted—and strung it to my bow and shot it at the direction it came from. The orc was hit in the chest, he shuddered as he took a step back. It wasn't a lethal shot unfortunately.

Another orc laughed evilly as he approached us. Kili tried to stand, falling to his knee when he couldn't hold his weight due to the pain. The orc raised its sword to Kili, ready to behead him. "Fuck no you don't," I hissed, digging into my chest and grabbed my knife, flicking it open with a swift wrist movement. I gave my own battle cry as I lunged, knife plunging down into the eye of the beast. The next few moments seemed to go on forever. The monster thrashed, screaming in pain as it tried to push me off of it. I did my best to stay on, grunting here and there at the hits that landed on my face and sides. Slowly it went limp beneath me. It's body falling to the ground, me riding atop of it.

Not wasting time I turned and grabbed Kili, dragging him to the ledge of the wall and lining him up with his idle barrel as I urged him to jump.

In moments I jumped into the water, seeing as Bilbo took my barrel and went with the rest of the company.

Everything seemed to blur and blend together after that. I swam with my life depended on it, keeping my head above the raging water and holding onto Kili's barrel for dear life. He fell unconscious at one point, eyes closed as his face screwed up in pain. I knew he wasn't dead, there was no way he would die from a hit to the thigh, especially since his artery wasn't nicked. The rest of the company was killing orcs and fending off elves. I was amazed watching them work so easily from barrels, taking out enemies with ease.

We finally escaped their reach, carried ahead swifter with the water. As we neared a large lake the current died. Each of us were pushing our way to shore with our hands. Kili awoke, trying to pull me with him in the barrel.

"I think we outran them," Bofur mumbled.

Thorin shook his head as he crawled to land, "Not quite. They will be following surely. Hurry now, on your feet."

The rocks started to scratch at my skin, completely soaked as I crawled on my hands and knees to land. My stomach heaved, expelling half of the lake that I had swallowed trying to stay alive. I flung off my bow, laying on my back and starring up at the sky. Kili collapsed next to me, also heaving for breath. He was hurt. Scrambling up to my knees, I looked at his thigh. The arrow pierced the fabric of his pants easily enough, but the gaping bloody black hole that met my vision brought tears to my eyes. I tore a piece of the dress off, quickly tying it around his thigh so that it would at least slow the bleeding. He rose to his elbows, watching me. Once I was finished I threw myself into his chest and cried.

"Don't you ever take a shot for me. I will strangle you myself," I heaved as my fingers worked into his hair. "I thought you were killed."

Our lips met softly as I kissed him. Everything that I could muster was thrown into the kiss, all the energy I had left. He was right. I don't think I could continue on without him, but I was glad to know that we were in it together, rather me fighting him all the way. Everything made sense of what he was saying. It felt empowering and brilliant to accept him, not deny everything every step of the way. A weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was so dizzy and lucid at once I felt as though I was floating.

It didn't come to a shock when I finally admitted to myself that I love him. I tried so hard for a long time to try to tell myself I didn't. All that time was wasted and useless.

The familiar sound of an arrow notching from behind Kili had my back go ridged. With what strength I had left I flung myself over him and placed his chest to my back as I came face to face with the metal tip of arrow. At the bow was a man.

Many things happened at once. Nearly everyone in the company grabbed something to raise to our aid. The man was quick to shoot the things out of their hands. Then coming back to rest his aim on me again. "Put down your weapons," he hissed, "or I shoot her and him."

Balin hesitantly approached the man, hands up in surrender. "Excuse me," he sounded polite, like I didn't have an arrow pointed at my heart, "but, are you from Laketown by chance? That barge just over there, can it be available for hire?"

"I am Bard from Laketown, and perhaps the barge is for hire."

At his words the arrow was lowered. Everything in me relaxed as I slumped against Kili. His arm were wrapped tightly around me, flipping us so that if the man rose his bow again he would be hit before me.

Sadly to say my consciousness flickered in and out as the rest of them spoke about bargaining. Only did I wake fully and pay attention when I was hoisted up.

"Do not worry little sister," Fili murmured softly in my ear, "Kili gave me permission to carry you. I do not want to strain him with his injury."

We were settled into a smaller boat, every one of us cold and shivering. Bilbo handed me my mostly dry pack, sitting next to me where I was curled into Kili's lap. "Thank you Bilbo," I smiled. Silence fell between those of us that were not talking to the man, Bard, or Balin. Most of them were bickering rather than talking.

Slowly the mountain in question we were in search for came into view. Each of the dwarves looked as if God himself were standing before them. The brothers next to and beneath me were sharing small smiles. "This is it brother," Kili murmured, holding me closer, "our home. We are close to taking what is ours."

"Hurry, give me the money. There are guards ahead, get into the barrels," Bard urged.

We were quick to do as he said, myself crouching into the barrel with Bilbo. After much fighting with Kili about it. ("Kili we both won't fit in there. Bilbo and I are small enough to fit in one! Quit acting like a jealous baby!")

A gasp left me when cold wet fish were poured over our heads. My teeth chattered as much as I would allow.

Now I wished I had shared the barrel with Kili, if only to snuggle him for warmth.

Tag List

@ruthoakenshield​

Previous Chapter << Chapter 15: Mirror Reflections within Sickness

Next Chapter >> Chapter 17: Across the Chasm, Beasts Lie

[millie1536]

Autistic Bessie meets Maria and Maggie for the first time! I finally finished it!

TW: Mentions of death (accidental, suicide and murder), Spiders, Mentions of tarantula death (AKA why you don’t handle tarantulas more than a foot off the ground)

Disclaimer: I love tarantulas but I’ve never had any as pets (Hopefully I can get one when I’m older) so everything about Ebony is based on what I’ve read and watched about them.

“Bessie, sweetheart,” Joan sighed as she shifted slightly to relieve some of the pain in her leg, “I need to get up, alright?” Bessie whimpered and snuggled closer to Joan. It had been three days since Joan had been able to do anything resembling housework and the house was beginning to resemble a dump.

“Why don’t you go clean Ebony’s terrarium?” Joan asked, trying to coax the young girl off her lap.

“Cuddles.” Bessie mumbled as she tightened her arms around Joan’s shoulders.

“I know, sweetie, I want to have cuddles, too,” Joan said gently, running a hand through Bessie’s long hair, “But I need to wash up and do some laundry and you told me yesterday that you needed to clean Ebony’s tank.” Bessie hummed in response.

“Then cuddles?” She asked, sitting up.

“Yes, once we’ve cleaned up around here we can watch a movie and cuddle for the rest of the day.” Joan agreed, smiling as she watched Bessie jump off her and run upstairs.

 Just as the last of the dish water drained from the sink Joan heard a knock at the front door. She stood at the sink for a moment trying to remember if she had made plans with anyone before a second set of knocks got her moving.

“Oh thank god,” said a voice as Joan opened the door, “I thought we were going to have to break a window or something.”

“Maggie? What-“

“Your mum called,” Maggie told her, “She said you needed help around the house and I figured it was as good an excuse as any for us to meet our new niece.”

“I told her we should have called first.” Maria added.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Maggie asked, seemingly offended by the suggestion that she forewarn her cousin before dropping by, “So, where is this new kid of yours?”

“She’s upstairs,” Joan said, stepping aside to let her cousin and her best friend past, “I’ll go tell her you’re here. Hopefully she’ll come down once she’s finished with Ebony.”

“Who’s Ebony?” Maria asked, “Has she got a pet or something?”

“Yeah,” Joan nodded, “A tarantula.” Joan couldn’t help but laugh at the way Maria’s widened with fear.

“A tarantula?” Maria repeated, “As in a big fury spider that could kill all of us?”

“No, as in a big fury spider that, if she were to bite us, could hurt us but is definitely not able to kill us.” Despite Joan’s assurance that Bessie’s tarantula would not kill anyone Maria didn’t seemed convinced.

Between the three of them Maggie, Maria and Joan managed to tidy up the main area of the house in less than half an hour.

“Who want’s coffee?” Maria asked as they surveyed their work.

“I’ve only got decaf.” Joan warned as Maria moved towards the pantry.

“You? Decaf?” Maggie stared at Joan in disbelief, “Who are you and what have you done to Joey?” Joan just shrugged.

“I can’t risk a caffeine overdose with Bessie here,” She sighed, “and the easiest way to prevent it is to just take caffeine out of the equation all together.”

“How are you coping?” Maria asked gently, sitting beside Joan on the sofa, the coffee completely forgotten.

“I’m fine,” Joan smiled weakly, “It’s just caffeine.”

“I’m not just talking about caffeine, love,” Maria put an arm around Joan’s shoulders, pulling her into a side hug, “How are you coping with everything? How’s Bessie?” Joan sighed, letting her head fall onto Maria’s shoulder.

“I don’t know,” She admitted, “Bessie seems fine most of the time but it’s hard to tell. I just don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Have you asked your mum? She might have some tips, you were about Bessie’s age when you were adopted, weren’t you?” Maggie asked, trying to remember how old she and Joan were when they first met.

“Yeah,” Joan nodded, “But I didn’t have anywhere near the trauma Bessie has. My dad died in motorcycle accident a few days after I was born and my mum killed herself when I was 3 months old.” Joan shrugged, she seemed to be the least distressed of the trio when it came to her parents’ death.

“Do…” Maria paused, unsure whether or not she had any right to ask her question, “Do you know what happened to Bessie’s parents?”

“You remember John Blount?” Joan asked.

“The guy who went crazy and killed his pregnant wife? Yeah, I remember.” Maria nodded.

“Turns out they had a five year old daughter,” Joan told her friends, “They kept it out of the papers for privacy reasons.” A heavy silence descended on the room.

“And Bessie…” Maggie tried but could seem to get the words out.

“Yes,” Joan said, her bottom lip trembling slightly at the thought of it, “She hasn’t brought it up and I haven’t asked her yet, I’m not sure if I ever will.”

The three women stayed huddled together until the sound of small feet running down the stairs pulled them out of their comfortable silence.

“Bessie,” Joan said, in what was becoming her ‘mum’ voice, “Please don’t run on the stairs.”

“Sorry!” Bessie called out, louder than necessary.

“We’re working on volume control,” Joan said quietly to Maggie and Maria who couldn’t help but smile a little. Then as Bessie rounded the corner, “Bessie, this is my cousin Maggie and our friend Maria.”

“Hello.” Bessie gave a small nod, unsure of what she was meant to do.

“I didn’t know they would be dropping by,” Joan said gently, moving to kneel in front of Bessie, “If I had I would have told you, alright? I promise.” Again Bessie nodded then, leaning closer to Joan, whispered,

“What am I meant to do?” Joan smiled warmly at the young girl.

“There’s no right or wrong. You can stay with us, you can go up to your room or into the backyard, you could take Maggie upstairs to see your collection, or-“

“What about Maria?” Bessie asked, her head tilting to one side.

“Maria isn’t particularly fond of spiders.” Joan told her.

“I bet Ebony could change her mind.” Bessie said confidently.

“I’m sure she could,” Joan agreed, she herself had become rather fond of the spider, “But not today, alright?”

“Alright,” Bessie agreed before nervously looking over to the women on the couch, “Um… Maggie? Would you like to meet my pets?” She quickly looked back at Joan who gave her an encouraging nod.

“I would love to,” Maggie smiled widely, “What sort of pets do you have?”

“Well,” Bessie began as she lead Maggie upstairs, “I have Ebony, she’s a Brazilian Black Tarantula, then there’s…” Joan and Maria exchanged looks as Bessie and Maggie disappeared up the stairs.

“Something tells me the two of them are going to get along just fine.” Maria laughed.

“I mean that was never not an option, really. You know what Maggie’s like.” Joan grinned but there was a hint of something else in her eyes, sadness? Anger? Maria couldn’t place her finger on it but she decided that whatever it was it was between Joan and Maggie.

 “She’s beautiful,” Maggie gasped as she looked at the large spider on the other side of the glass, “But I thought you said she was a Brazilian Black?”

“She is.” Bessie told her.

“But she’s brown.” Maggie said, not taking her eyes off the spider.

“Oh, that’s because she hasn’t moulted yet,” Bessie explained, “Sometimes they are brown until their first moult and then they turn black.”

“They can really change that much?” Maggie asked, looking to Bessie.

“Yeah, it’s really cool.” Bessie said proudly.

“Is she friendly?” Maggie asked, wanting to keep the conversation going. Bessie shrugged.

“It depends on the day. Tarantulas are kind of like cats,” She explained, “Sometimes they want to be near you and sometimes they don’t.”

“So, it’s an eight legged cat that can kill you?” A voice asked, Maria and Joan had been watching from the doorway as Bessie talked about her spider.

“The four legged ones can kill you, too,” Bessie told Maria, “People get scratched and they don’t realise how much bacteria gets under a cats claws and so they don’t clean it properly and sometimes people get really bad infections and some have died.” Maria turned to Joan.

“Remind me never to get a cat.” She said.

“You don’t have to be scared of animals,” Bessie said as she picked up a paintbrush, “Watch this.” Carefully so as not to spook Ebony Bessie removed the lid from her terrarium. Maggie and Maria watched in awe as the girl gently tapped the spider’s abdomen.

“See?” Bessie didn’t take her eyes of the animal, “She’s very docile today, if she had turned around and tried to bite the paintbrush then it means she wants to be left alone but she didn’t so I could pick her up if I wanted to,” Bessie giggled at the look of horror on Maria’s face, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to pick her up here. Whenever I handle her I move the tank to the floor so that if she falls she won’t get hurt. Tarantulas are actually really fragile, if I were to drop her from this height,” She held her hand level with her waist, “She’d die because her abdomen is so big that it would burst on impact with the floor.”

“You know a lot about tarantulas.” Maggie told the girl, again Bessie shrugged.

“They’re not like dogs and cats where you can kind of learn how to look after them as you go. You need to know what to do before you get them because some of them are really sensitive to temperature and humidity and stuff.”

 “She seems like a nice kid.” Maria said after Bessie had gone to bed that night.

“I think she likes the two of you, too,” Joan sounded relieved, “She wouldn’t have told you all that stuff about Ebony if she didn’t like you.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do when you go back to work?” Maggie asked, it was clear that she had a suggestion.

“I’m not sure, I don’t want to start her at school right away.”

“What if we looked after her?” Joan chuckled at the mischievous glint in Maggie’s eyes, “We could move in here and help out with housework, too.”

“I don’t know, Mags.”

“Hey,” Maria said encouragingly, “Remember what we always used to talk about at Uni? We all said we wanted to move in together and no seems like as good a time as any.”

“Better than some, even.” Maggie added. Joan sighed and held her hands up in defeat.

“Alright, I’ll talk to Bessie about it.”

“Yes!” Maggie cheered.

“Just for the record,” Maria said seriously, “I will be legally changing my name to Auntie Ria.”

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I hope you're ready for more crossover clownery from me because now I gotta know what factions you could see the HPHM squad being a part of if they were in Skyrim

Infinity War: The most ambitious crossover ever-

nostagliastardew: Hold my honingbrew mead. 

This is going to be fun. First, a few disclaimers. Obviously, the College of Winterhold could apply to each and every single one of the characters, since y’know, school of magic and all. I’m going to ignore that because it’s way too easy. Second, I’m also going to be ignoring that realistically, almost none of the characters would ever join some of the less moral factions in Skyrim. 

The Companions of Jorrvaskar. 

Since they’re all about honor and glory, this would be a good place for more traditional Gryffindors like Bill Weasley. Likewise, their status as werewolves and their utter acceptance of that state of being means that Chiara would be able to find a home among them. I can see Skye Parkin wanting to prove herself among them as well. Not sure if Orion would join them, but he definitely has Harbinger energy, and not just because he’s Quidditch Captain. 

The Bards College 

“Old” Ben would settle here. It’s the most harmless faction with the least risk of danger, as all they do is make pretty music. Of course, then they would start burning down King Olaf and he would run inside, terrified. I also think Diego would love it here, as music and dance go hand in hand. 

The College of Winterhold

First of all, Rowan would lose it upon arriving at the College’s library. They would never want to come out. It’s seriously the perfect place for them, even if they wouldn’t really take advantage of the whole “You can study taboo magic here.” thing. The one who would make use of that is Penny, as she learns all kinds of new potions recipes and pushes the potential of Potions magic further and further. Badeea would further her study of spell invention and portraits.

The Thieves Guild

When considering the Thieves Guild, one must also consider the Nightingales. I think we have three characters who are an absolute perfect fit - say it with me everyone: Tulip, Tonks, and Jae. Especially Jae - he almost reminds me of Brynjolf. Their lawlessness gives them real Thieves Guild energy, and with her methodical skill-set, Tulip would make for a brilliant Guildmaster. 

The Dark Brotherhood

First of all, Talbott. He’s such a loner that he likely wouldn’t seek out any of these. But this is the one faction where you don’t apply to join, they come to you and make the invitation. As you’ve pointed out, this is one of the best examples of the found family trope ever, and I think Talbott would gravitate to that. You know who else would? Beatrice. I can see her and Babette becoming best friends immediately. Liz might also like it here, if only because she would get to befriend a Frostbite Spider who is....literally...named “Lis.” Oh my god, that’s a match made in heaven. 

The Greybeards

Charlie Weasley, and I think you know why. He would do anything to speak to their leader. I also see him approving of the Way of the Voice. If nothing else, he’d have a real bone to pick with their Greybeards’ rivals, who hunt dragons for a living. Seriously though, just imagine Charlie as an old man with one of those marvelous beards. 

The Blades

While I’m not sure that Alanza herself would want to join, as she doesn’t seem to be that interested in clubs, I feel like the Blades would very much want her as a member. She’s so friendly that she would be able to bring in new recruits, and her natural gift with creatures means that she could stop dragons from being quite so hostile. That being said, Alanza probably wouldn’t want to be used like that.  For some reason, Murphy also seems like a good fit. I just feel like he and Esbern would instantly become best friends, y’know?

The Dawnguard

Similar to the Companions, but less about honor and more about justice. Not so much mercenary work as it is exterminating perceived evil. New Ben would feel right at home here. For some reason, I also feel like Barnaby would be a good fit. He’s got that dueling skill, and those protective instincts. 

The Volkihar Clan 

I definitely see Merula and Ismelda joining the Vampires. Merula’s obsession is with proving herself as the strongest and increasing her power. I’m certain that’s why she went after the vaults in the first place. She’s also not above using the Dark Arts, or at least trying to learn them - she supposedly knows the Killing Curse, but then again, there’s a difference between having been taught that spell and having actually used it. Likewise, Ismelda would join the clan just to spite her sister and her family. They’d still find solidarity, just in a group even more power-hungry and socially hated than Slytherin House. 

I really have no idea where Rakepick would go. 

Like I said, I’m ignoring the inherent evil of some of these factions. At this point, I still believe Rakepick is the kind of person who would take advantage of a faction to learn more and further her power, but I don’t see her letting herself be confined. She wouldn’t bow to any greater power, certainly not the Night Mother or some Harbinger/Arch Mage. She does whatever the hell she wants. Seriously, I pity any Daedra that tries to outwit this cunning Gryffindor, who is actually foolish enough to believe that she is the plaything in the situation. I firmly believe Rakepick would break them. Leave them completely humiliated - assuming that she was feeling merciful. Anyone who tried to mess with her would wind up soul-trapped and turned into a lawn ornament. You know what I’m saying, don’t you? I think you do. Rakepick is the Dragonborn.