#gearing up for 2023 where i will lose my mind

[lazybakerart]

the only way i will NOT enjoy the live action yu yu hakusho netflix show is if they push a heterosexual agenda. it’s shounen, which means it’s gay, and i refuse to watch kurama be anything less than flaming.

[byuntrash101]

final lap

reader x dom!sunwoo

smut | nsfw | mdni

racer!sunwoo is kinda mean and big, thigh riding, dry humping, sir kink, orgasm control, orgasm denial, hair pulling, begging, edging, praising, impact play, humiliation, degradation (slut, whore, bitch in heat), a tad of self degradation, multiple orgasm, creampie, cum play,

requested | part of my 2023 prompts event [closed]

after a race there's only one thing that can ease sunwoo's nerves...

[❛ no ones here. we can be as loud as we want. ❜ + ❛ you can be rough. i can take it. ❜]

TUMBLR IS BASED ON REBLOGS. PLEASE REBLOG MY WORK 🖤

a/n: this is inspired by this ✨glorious post✨ sunwoo graced us with. when i saw it knew i had to write racer!sunwoo. look at those thighs!! tell me im not the only one losing it for the thighs and veiny forearms!!

There was something about the speed that put Sunwoo in a sort of trance. Ever since he was a boy he aspired to be a racer. It was his calling.

And tonight after winning the race of a lifetime is not different. 

Even now sitting in the changing rooms, after the press conference, after being handed out the platinum cup he was still feeling the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He still felt the strain that was put on his body with every abrupt acceleration. He still felt his body shifting through every single dangerous turn. It was like he was still on the track, swallowing laps after laps, until the last one. 

This was Sunwoo’s experience after every race. And after every race he found that one thing was bringing him back down, pulling his mind out of the haze.

A quick jerk off.

You knew that. You knew that he liked to catch a few minutes of peace after a race to blow off some steam. But now that you’ve been dating for a few months you figured that maybe you could help him out this time. 

When you knock on the door while your heart is hammering against your ribs. You don’t want to come across as annoying but maybe he really does enjoy doing it himself.

“Come in” you hear the voice of your boyfriend from the other side, annoyance tinting his voice.

“Ah it’s you” he says, surprised features relaxing slightly upon seeing you.

You sigh in relief when he seems to not be bothered by your visit. You lightly strut over to where he is sitting, your skirt lightly flowing around you. Somehow he seems embarrassed.

“Hmm…y/n” he starts off hesitantly. “I’m not… done… here” he says carefully.

Instantly your eyes shift down to his crotch. You try your best not to look too avidly at the veiny forearms resting so close to his bulge and failing miserably as your tongue swipes over your lower lip.

“Yes about that…I came to offer my help” you announce wearing a bright smile.

“That’s cute, baby but no, it’s ok you know I…”

You knew Sunwoo was going to need a little convincing so you thought of a plan. Your hands swiftly went under your skirt and without an ounce of hesitation you slid your baby blue panties down your legs, letting them pool at your ankles.

Sunwoo cut himself off as he watched the blue article of clothing fall to the ground and how your skirt scooted up your waist as you lifted your legs to step out of it. You were never this bold with him and he felt himself twitch at the thought of knowing that the only thing that was guarding your precious center from his eager eyes was this skimpy little skirt.

“Please Sunwoo” you pouted as you walked up to him. “Let me help you” you whined as you straddled one of his thighs repressing a moan when you felt the thick leather of his racing gear press against your unclothed folds. 

Sunwoo watched you in awe, completely silenced by this brand new side of you he had never known.

You started to rock your hips on his thigh, hissing at the pleasurable friction. While Sunwoo let his hand slip on your thigh, fingers firmly wrapped around it.

You were not suspecting that if you still had a secret for Sunwoo it was the same for him. The reason why he always isolated himself after a race was because he didn’t have it in him to be the tender and affectionate lover he normally was. The adrenaline changed his brain chemistry and turned him into something a lot more primal. Something you might be scared of.

And right now you were making it very difficult for him to hold it off.

“Fuckkkk” he cursed under his breath when he saw the glistening mess you were making on his leg. And you felt his muscles tighten underneath you, making you whimper. 

Sunwoo sunk his nails in your fleshy thighs as he heard you, only being able to guess how swollen and pretty your pussy was, the skirt still hiding you from him. But somehow that made him even more riled up. He wanted to rip it off you right now. 

“Sunwoo, please” you asked one more time, your hands landing on his bulge, palming it lightly but before you could unzip his pants he catched your wrist in his hand. His grip was strong, a lot stronger than usual. When you raised your eyes to look at him, his chest was rising and falling rapidly and his gaze was dark, raw lust pooling in his orbs, the burning desire contorting his face in an almost painful expression.

“Y/n don’t make this hard for me” he breathed out, deep voice shaking slightly. Trying his best to keep the monster at bay.

“It’s okay” you start, smiling back at him. “You can be rough, I can take it” you assure. Sunwoo’s eyes go round in surprise. Did you pick up on why he was acting the way he was? Did you pick up on the side of himself he was so badly trying to hide from you?

“Y/n… I-” his grip grew even tighter around your wrist.

“Please. Sunwoo. I can handle it”

This is the last straw for the racer. He won one battle today. Maybe he can give this one to you.

As soon as he gives up the atmosphere around him changes, the tension goes up a notch.

Sunwoo let go of your wrist to grab a fistfull of your hair, harshly pulling on it making your head fall back.

“Can you really handle me?” He hissed through gritted teeth while you felt his member twitch under your fingertips. Your breath is short, a hot wave of arousal rushing to your groin as you felt the delectable sting on your scalp.

“Yes sir” you reply in a mere whisper, your hips working themselves back on his thigh. Instinctively yearning for friction as your lust for him grew again.

Sunwoo smirked at the title. It was the first time you called him like that and he could see himself getting used to it very fast.

As you noticed Sunwoo’s change of attitude you started to rock yourself harder on his thighs. Making an even wetter mess.

“Good little whore” Sunwoo praised while his free hand went down to palm over his restricted bulge. Instantly your eyes snapped back down to avidly look at your boyfriend’s busy hand. But he tightens his grip around your hair, yanking it harshly to catch your attention.

“No.” he clicked his tongue. “Look at me. Look me in the eyes” he commanded and you obliged. “Show me how your slutty little cunt pulse on my thigh” he propped his chin to your skirt still resting over you, shielding you from his brown orbs.

Hesitantly you reached for the hem of your skirt and you slowly lift the thin fabric. Sunwoo’s smirk grows wider while his eyes take a darker tone, an evil glint lighting his gaze.

“What a good little slut” he praised in a low rumble, pressing harder on his cock, growling when he felt himself leaking precum for you.

“Come on harder” he ordered as he tensed his thigh again, hand leaving your hair to push on your hips, strong grip conducting each of your movements until your mind was only a hazy mess, mindlessly wrecking yourself on your boyfriend’s thigh.

“You gonna cum?”

“Yesss” you sing in bliss, feeling your lower stomach becoming tighter and tighter with the familiar build up. Sunwoo pressed harder on your hips while you moaned without restrain completely forgetting about the thin walls of the changing room.

“You gonna be a good girl?” he asked again, hands going softer on your side.

“Yessssss” you hissed, your release being within reach, your mind barely able to form the simple word.

“Then you’re not gonna cum” Sunwoo suddenly says and your half lidded eyes snap back to him. Your eyebrows meet on your forehead in need when you notice him being dead serious. “Only whores cum humping their boyfriend’s leg like a bitch in heat” his voice is cold, cutting, ruthless.

“Sunw- Sir… please” you whine, unable to stop the intoxicating back and forth.

“I said” he wraps both his hands around your narrow neck. “No” he firmly states. His hands barely press on your throat but the glacial eyes and the commanding tone is enough to bend your mind. You whine in defeat as your hips slowly come to a stop. Red, swollen and aching cunt visibly pulsating on the leather. 

Before you can even mourn the loss of your climax Sunwoo is back pulling at your hair.

“Up” he says, guiding you by the hair then pulling you down until you are on all fours. “Clean your mess” he shoves your face on the slimy puddle you left behind. You stick your tongue, gliding it over the smooth leather, ready to do anything for him. Completely fucked out your mind, you don’t think anymore only your body reacts.

In a matter of seconds you manage to completely erase any trace of the sinful thing you were doing moments ago, the taste of your own arousal making your head spin and your heart pound. 

“That’s my good girl” Sunwoo praised, drawing soothing circles on your heated cheeks. “Good girls get rewarded” he whispered as his gentle hand guided your face to his groin. You whimpered as you pressed your cheek to the concealed object of your desire. Your arousal dripping down your thighs.

“‘s that what you want baby”? his honey voice made your center quiver.

“Yess” you purred in bliss feeling the heat of his cock through the thick leather.

You heard him chuckle as his hand unzipped the racing pants. He shimmied them on his thigh and you saw the glorious print of his shaft under his gray briefs. You swallowed thickly, eager to finally lay eyes on him. He also pulled his underwear down revealing the thick member clapping against his stomach you lightly gasp in awe.

He lazily strokes it a couple times in his veiny fist while you watch in a trance.

Then he gets up and guides you to bend over the chair, both your knees on the cushion and your elbows resting to the back of it. With a flick of the wrist he flipped your skirt up your back to uncover your ass. He smacked his lips in anticipation while he guided his tip on your drenched folds. The hot tip glided smoothly over your already over sensitive clit. You held your breath while he teased you. Biting your lip to keep yourself from begging. 

“Such patience” he praised before you felt his large palm slap your ass cheek, the unexpected pain pulling a moan from your lips. 

“Want this cock baby?” he asked as he started to push himself in. 

“Yes please Sir” you politely ask, doing your best not to wiggle your hips to get him to fill you up faster. 

“Good girl” he moaned as he bottomed out. His tip perfectly pressing on your sweet spot with this angle. You hissed, your fingers curling around the back chair. “I’m going to fuck your brains out” he growled. And the promise made your stomach knot. 

He didn’t waste time to keep his word. He started to plow into you, pulling all the way out just to smash himself back in.

You started to squeal in pleasure as your cunt desperately held on to Sunwoo’s length rearranging your guts with every thrust.

“Good girl. That's it. Squeal for me” he grunted, strong grip bruising your hips. “No ones here. we can be as loud as we want.”

But everytime you grew closer to your release, every time he heard you go high pitched, every time he felt you pulse around him he would slow down, going down to a painfully slow rhythm. Thrusts merely teasing your eager walls as they pulsed and demanded more. 

It made his cock twitch inside you when he heard your desperate whimpers and your disappointed sighs. He loved to torture you. And he intended to toy with you just like this until you couldn’t take it anymore. Until you broke.

After what felt like hours you finally voiced out your frustration.

“Sir please” you started timidly.

“What baby?” he asked, his honeyed tone letting your ear the smirk that was spreading on his lips from behind you. “What’s wrong?” he fainted worry.

“Please…” you were out of breath, exhausted. “I want to cum” you sighed.

“Awww. Want? what an ugly word” he said as he completely stopped. Dick deep into you but completely still. Somehow this was even worse. You started to whine and wiggle your hips yearning for any kind of friction again, even the slow pace. You needed something, anything. 

“Please let me cum Sir” you pleaded, your voice trembling in need. When Sunwoo started to move slowly again a strangled moan escaped you.

“But baby only whores beg to cum like that” he says rubbing soothing circles over your ass as he picks up the pace ever so slightly, making your center quiver. “is that what you are?” 

You stayed silent, teeth sinking into your bottom lip while you tried to regain a semblance of sanity. But Sunwoo gave you one single violent thrust to keep you in your trance, earning a high pitched moan. 

“Are you a whore baby?” he repeated being as taunting as ever. 

And you just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Yess” you shouted in defeat. “I’m a whore Sir. I’m your little dirty whore” you started to push your ass back and forth on his cock, Sunwoo didn’t stop you he enjoyed seeing you break. “Now please fuck me like the fucking slut I am.” you sobbed, completely giving in.

Without another word he went back to the brutal and exhilarating pace. You completely lost it, abandoning your body and mind to his cock. You moaned and screamed without restrain. 

“Cum. Now, slut” he ordered as he landed a couple more spanks on your red ass. 

And the pain rocketed you over the edge. Diving head first in the blissful abyss. Walls quivering on Sunwoo’s thick dick. Climaxing so deliciously as he came inside you, delivering thick ropes of white thick cum inside your needy little hole that was milking him to the last drop. 

As soon as he pulled out your legs gave out and you collapsed on the chair, gooey cum lazily dripping out your worn out and shapeless cunt. 

Sunwoo stroked your hair affectionately.

“You were right baby” he pressed a kiss on your hairline “you handled me perfectly”.

a/n: thank you for reading guys. feedback is soooo greatly appreciated if you enjoyed drop a comment or an ask. i wuv u <3

[dangermousie]

2023 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

Yes, we have a lot of December left, but I don't think anything else I want to check out will air before 2024 hits (it's cdrama so caveat is - you never know.)

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2023; if I watched it but it was made in a different year, it's not on the list. This was a pretty good cdrama year, all in all.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

30 legend of twin flower - Not dignifying that drama with capital letters, as the only capital that should be associated with this is capital punishment - which is what watching this feels like.

29 Dominator of Martial Gods - sounds like a bdsm gay porn title. Would probably be better acted and written if it was.

28 Beauty of Resilience - you'd need a lot of said resilience to sit through this incoherent, barely acted mess. The thing that I remember the most other than my annoyance is all the jingly-jangly head gear on JJY. Perhaps they could have sold some of them and spent the money on a better script.

27 Divine Destiny - if you think you have too many brain cells and want to get rid of some, boy do I have a drama for you!

26 Wanru’s Journey - honestly it's probably tied with SEL - I mean it's worse but it has actors who are nowhere as well known and a fraction of SEL's budget. Still, this is a big fat nope. I will not say what I think of Aoi Rupeng's "acting" or I'd have to put money in the curse jar.

25 Snow Eagle Lord - Gulinazha's stone face, nonsense plot, terrible CGI. Take your pick as to why this is terrible.

24 Scent of Time - it was uneven but fun but then that ending was dumb enough to destroy the whole thing. Show me on the doll where common sense hurt you, makers!

23 Royal Rumors - Jeremy Tsui and Meng Ziyi are utterly wasted in this nothing trifle of a drama.

22 Legend of Anle - I had high expectations but alas. This is the drama version of color beige. There is nothing offensive about it but nothing good either. Mediocre actors are mediocre, good actors become mediocre, this is just a waste of our finite time on planet earth.

21 Romance on the Farm - it's not you, it's me in action. I can see why people would like this wholesome slice of farming family life, but it's tailored to trigger every one of my "nope" opinions.

20 Back from the Brink - if I were 12, it would be my favorite thing. I am not 12.

19 Journey of Chong Zi - objectively a terrible drama with plot holes the size of Mars and a leading lady whose face has apparently frozen when the wind changed. But I am a total sucker for the trope of upright shizun falling for his demonic disciple and going mental so here we are. Objectively, garbage, subjectively my precious!

18 Love you Seven Times - just call poor Ding Yuxi "Atlas," he carried this mess so hard.

17 Blooming Days - trashy dogblood harem fight fun throwback. It's not that great (and the fact that it was shredded doesn't help) but it's probably the last gasp of that genre for the foreseeable future, so I am grading on a curve.

16 The Starry Love - a fun fantasy where the secondary OTP stole the thunder but overall a really solid fantasy xianxia romance.

15 The Longest Promise - it could have been better - the secondaries were unbearable and there was too much of them and what they did with Alen Fang's character still gives me rage fits, but the main couple was impeccable and lovely and I rooted so hard for them.

14 Chang Feng Du/Destined - visually gorgeous, solidly acted, impeccable first half. Bland as hell second half. Win some, lose some.

13 Circle of Love - this drama is a nonsense trash heap on fire. After a typhoon hit it. It was also the most entertaining, addicting drama on this whole list.

12 Hidden Love - the sole modern on this list, this story has barely any plot but it made me care about the young, decent lovers so hard.

11 Choice Husband - starts out wacky, continues with angst and blood and happy ending. I loved it, but I've always had a soft spot for melo and schemers turning devoted.

10 Pledge of Allegiance - bromance, super solid acting, visuals, a really dark take on officials and the world. Insanely underrated.

9 Provoke - a truly fun Republican revenge and love tale, showing that short format can be wonderful.

8 Gone with the Rain - some of the secondary characters are rage-inducing (hi there, cardboard boy!) but the scheming, ruthless, vulgar FL is amazing and her slowburn with her age gap general who is delighted by her out-there-ness is great!

7 Wonderland of Love - Fei Wo Si Cun goes wholesome and the result is surprisingly entertaining. Battle couple, glorious visuals, a fast paced plot. It's the first Xu Kai drama I enjoyed in years (and he plays a rare cdrama ML it would be pretty neat to pair up with in rl.)

6 My Journey to You - that ending is infuriating (and I am OK with open endings if done properly) but what a visual feast, probably the most gloriously shot drama on this list, and that's a tough competition. Also it packs a hell of a lot of couples and familial and adversarial relationships into its slim running time; assassin lady won over by a gentle man is my favorite trope and so this is extra great.

5. Till the End of the Moon - the ending is a rage-inducing disaster for me, but this drama was the most incredibly emotionally intense, visually eye popping experience. It was deeply flawed but when it was amazing, it was like nothing else in its visuals, its characters and its narratives. It took insane risks; some paid off and some did not, but it was glorious.

4. Story of Kunning Palace - I don't often care for reverse harem stories but this one was such fun - the main OTP was glorious (strong FL, unhinged ML) but honestly everything about this was just so excellently done.

3. The Ingenious One - the most adult drama on this list. Smart protagonists, intelligent plot, emotions that felt true, this is a revenge and a mystery and found family and goes into so many directions you do not expect (Su Mengyu's PTSD after his first kill - that is something you never see in dramas, definitely not prolonged and profound - not like this.) If I was to say which drama was objectively the best on this list, as opposed to favorite, it would be this.

1 (tie) Lost You Forever 1 - this is an exquisite emotional jewel of a story about damaged people moving forward, with damage always present - their past informs their present and always will. The narrative about Xiao Yao and three very different men in her life makes me think that it's an equivalent of a neutron bomb going off right before the main narrative starts and now we are watching the survivors wander in the wreckage. This is very high fantasy setting but it's one of the most emotionally human narratives out there.

1 A Journey to Love - everything I ever wanted - assassins, ride or die adult OTP with genuine believable conflicts, great and complex secondaries, beautiful fights. Oh, and yeah Liu Shi Shi domming the hell out of every man in a ten mile radius, as she should.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It's a tie between Lost You Forever Part 1 and A Journey to Love. LYF1 is a bona fide art piece but it's only part 1 and who knows if part 2 will be any good (seeing the huge ep number cut, I have my doubts) and so it's incomplete. AJTL is an old school wuxia romance with incredibly competent, adult people in love and great cast of secondaries. I can't pick.

WORST DRAMA

romance of twin flower - this is a drama that should not exist. If I could hex everyone involved with it, I would. It's a terrible, stupid, shrill, badly acted drama to start with, but where it really is catapulted into stratosphere of horror is that is took my very favorite non-danmei web novel of all time, a smart and complicated tale with incredible protagonists and turned it into that barftastic abomination. Peng Xiao Ran kept making horrible drama after horrible drama but I kept giving her a chance because of Goodbye My Princess but after this disaster, I've had to accept GMP was a fluke and she is on my "if she's in it, I am out” list. Ding Yuxi is not that far yet (his performance in Seven Lifetimes was the one thing carrying that mess afloat) but he's on freaking thin ice. Anyway, I like to pretend this drama does not exist.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

It was hard because there were so many I loved this year - Deng Wei's traumatized, gentle Seventeen from LYF1 (if someone told me I'd swoon and weep for a character played by Deng Wei, I'd have told them to examine their brains asap), Liu Yuning's incredibly capable, deadly, contained Ning Yuanzhou from AJTL, Zhang Linghe's unhinged Xie Wei from SoKP, Chen Xiao's schemer with a heart Yun Xiang from TIO.

But ultimately, it couldn't be anyone else but Luo Yunxi as Tantai Jin/Demon God/Ming Ye/Cang Jiumin in Till the End of the Moon. He was everything - a demon, a saint, a martyr, a monster, a tormented abuse victim, a savior, joyful, unhinged, smart, pitiable. It was the cdrama performance of the year for me. Luo Yunxi even in a mediocre role is impressive but in a complex (series of) role(s) designed for his strengths, he is a force of nature.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Yao (Lost You Forever Part 1). Once again, there were runner ups - Bai Lu's smart a little evil FL in Kunning, the gloriously unhinged assassin domme Liu Shi Shi in AJTL, Esther Yu's assassin longing for a different life in MJTY etc etc etc. But Xiao Yao's damaged, difficult, very self-aware woman stole my heart. I was skeptical going in because I haven't enjoyed a Yang Zi performance in a long time, but she was the wounded beating soul of this incredible drama.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Where do we start? How about all of Seventeen's (LYF1) monster family? His brother, who tortured him for years physically and emotionally to such a degree his body is a horror map and his personality is permanently altered because "mommy liked you better." Psycho mother who created a situation where the kids were going to turn on each other and "let's get my grandson raped" grandma. Where is a well-placed meteorite when you need one.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xiao Yao/Seventeen, LYF1. Yes, a ship of characters played by Yang Zi and Deng Wei is my favorite. Leave me alone, I am on my tenth helping of crow already. They are both incredibly damaged, barely functioning survivors who find what they need in the other - he finds a savior and someone who sees him as a man and rebuilds himself around her and she finds someone who will always put her first and only, and subsume himself in her. Is it healthy? No. Does it make sense for them and is it making them slowly functional? Yes.

Runner up: Ren Ruyi/Ning Yuanzhou, AJTL - two adults, so competent, so chemistry full. She has so much damage and so little normalcy but is so strong and he is oddly gentle (in between murders) and incredibly self-reflective. They are each other's mirrors and I love them.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Su Mingyu/Ke Menglan, The Ingenious One - the idealistic merchant who wants to join jianghu until he sees its horrors firsthand and a slave entertainer who wants security but decides she wants him more. They are gorgeous and glorious and wholesome and I adore them.

Runner up: Liu Gong Quan/Ming Zhu, The Ingenious One - that drama was a shippy gift, especially impressive considering it wasn't even romance-centric. He's the officer who has to bring down her treasonous father but loves her. Delicious.

Another runner up is Chao Feng/Qian Kui, the angelic good girl and the scheming bad boy in The Starry Love. They stole the drama from the main OTP for me.

NOTP

Scent of Time endgame. What the hell was even that. It made NO sense.

FAVORITE SCENE

So many good scenes this year - Tantai Jin taking apart Li Susu in prison in TTEOTM, the OTP fighting in perfect sync and insane rhythm in the gorge battle in AJTL, Chen Ruoxuan's character stopping the execution in Pledge, Yan Lin's coming of age in Kunning, the poison/antidote "gamble" in MJTY, Cang Xuan detoxing in LYF1. But I think ultimately, me being who I am, my favorite scene is Xiao Yao kissing Seventeen's damaged, scarred knee to show he is in no way inferior for her. AAAAA!

In terms of pure jaw dropping visuals tho nothing will ever beat Ming Ye’s battle against the Devil God in TTEOTM.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Ning Yuanzhou, AJTL. He's sexy as hell (that height, that way he moves in battle) but he's also so incredibly competent, so adult, so self-reflective and so attracted to a woman for her strength. He also gets whumped on the reg. Anyway, my hormones are ready.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You) - I loved the unhinged, brocon poison boy. He was everything. Also Yan Lin (Kunning) - talk about sunshine; I totally got why all these people felt they needed to save him.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

My Journey to You - what the HELL was that ending?

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

legend of twin flower - that is, stab it with scissors like it stabbed the novel until it's dead.

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Till the End of the Moon - they clearly cut stuff to fit into the new regs about runtime and it made the last 1/5 rather abrupt. Gimme!

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

The emperor cannot be irredeemable. WTF, China, you are a communist country!

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

This is the year of a ML who yearns to be dommed by his FL. Long may it continue.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The Legend of Anle - the novel had a great plot, the cast were all actors I either enjoy a lot or somewhat and we got - whatever that soggy piece of wonderbread toast was.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

LYF1 - I only checked out to mock because nobody could explain the story to me and nobody in the cast did anything I like either ever or in years. And then I fell utterly and completely in love and had to eat so much delicious crow.

2023 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

Ancient Love Song is the only one on that list. It looks really good, I just need to brace myself.

BEST NON-2023 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2023

The Imperial Doctoress - best slowburn and pining and glorious character development and adult leads.

MOST ANTICIPATED

Anticipating any nonaired cdrama is a mug's game but if they air, I will definitely check out all the Fox Matchmaker dramas, LYF2, JoL2 and The Last Immortal. If Prisoner of Beauty ever is allowed out of the vault (dubious), it goes on the list too.

[aliicante]

one (1) person said they wanted to hear more about the alex de minaur jannik sinner narrative so here we go

it is 2019. your name is alex de minaur. you are 20. you are seeded first in the atp next-gen finals, you have three actual atp titles, you're ranked 18th in the world, and you're an aquarius man; consequently, you are somewhat full of yourself. you wear tennis gear with your ridiculous nickname on it. you speak spanish every two seconds in the documentary, because you must show off. you believe you are, by all rights, The Main Character.

then this skinny italian wild card pops up and destroys you.

okay. that's fine. embarrassing!!! but fine. whatever. we move on. he's cool! you're friends! let's keep going. at the end of 2020, you run into him again in the sofia quarterfinals, where you take the first set and then he destroys you again. with a breadstick to really rub it in. he goes on and wins the whole thing, which means he wrecked you on his way to his first-ever atp title. fine! okay. whatever.

it is 2021. you don't see him again, which is just as well, because you have a soaring high and then a terrible low (string of r1/r2 losses). you drop to 34th in the world; meanwhile, jannik sinner has spent the year going from 37th to cracking the top 10. things are not looking great.

in 2022, you make it to the third round of the auso for the first time, where you meet—guess who—jannik sinner. again. you're starting to get really tired of this guy. he knocks you out of your home slam. thankfully you have a relatively successful year afterwards, climbing back up the ranks.

it's 2023! this will be your year, surely. you kick it off by winning your first 500. the sunshine double doesn't go great but you do brilliantly at queen's club and los cabos, only losing in the finals to top 10 players. then.... Canada.

you beat fritz. you beat medvedev. you make it to the final of a 1000 for the first time! and then jannik sinner is there in all his ginger glory, and, well. you know how this is going to go. bye-bye first 1000 title, hello increasingly miserable h2h. you start wondering if you're going to be there for all of this guy's career-defining wins. you start wondering why the hell it had to be you specifically. this is getting ridiculous. because now it's 2024 and he won the whole entire australian open and then to really seal in the whole thing he had to go and beat you, specifically in rotterdam to make some more history.

and like, you guys are friends. pretty good friends, actually. you played doubles once and it was hilarious!! but also, consistent and absolute annihilation??? seriously???

in summary i find their friendship absolutely mindbending. alex de minaur you must be the nicest person ever because personally if someone did me like this i would spend my entire life trying to blow them up with my mind

[captainsophiestark]

The Best Kind Of Crazy

Padmé Amidala x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: Star Wars

Day 16 Prompt: "Do you know a way out of here?"

Summary: Y/N's been captured by Separatists, seemingly with no hope of escape. That is, until Padmé Amidala gets captured too. Especially since she's never been one to sit around in a cell waiting for rescue.

Word Count: 1,833

Category: Fluff, Adventure

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I stared, eyes narrowed, watching the woman laying on the floor a few feet from me. She'd been thrown into this cell with me a few minutes ago, and the longer I looked at her, the more confident I became that she was Senator Padmé Amidala.

How she had ended up in a Separatist prison cell was beyond me, but it definitely wasn't good. I was a relatively low-ranking military strategist, and they'd had to go through an armed envoy to get to me.

My attention had just started to wander again when Senator Amidala stirred. She stretched as much as she could in handcuffs, then shot up into a sitting position, eyes wide, when she realized where she was. Her gaze darted from her handcuffs to the cell door to me, and then she narrowed her eyes as her gaze stayed on me.

"Who are you?" she demanded. I gave her a small smile and raised one hand in a little wave. At least, I tried to just wave with one hand, but thanks to my handcuffs it ended up being two-handed.

"Y/N Y/L/N," I said. "Low-ranking GAR strategist and trainee liaison to the Jedi."

She nodded, visibly relaxing when she realized I wouldn't be a threat to her.

"I'm Senator Amidala, but you can call me Padmé," she said with a sigh as she got to her feet. She quickly scanned the room again, then turned back to me. "Do you know a way out of here?"

I huffed a small laugh. "Sorry, no. If I did, I wouldn't have still been sitting here when you arrived."

Padmé nodded, looking a little distracted as her gaze wandered away from me. I obviously didn't know her very well, but I could see the gears turning in her head as she thought.

I just leaned back against the well where I sat, watching Padmé. I'd been going stir crazy for the day I'd been in this cell, and if Padmé wanted to run around kicking the walls, then I would gladly take the distraction from the nothingness.

I was about to make a comment about how unlikely I thought escape would be without help when Padmé reached up and pulled a pin out of her hair. I frowned, curious, as she crossed the room to stand in front of me.

"Hold out your hands, please."

I just watched her for a minute, trying to make sense of the strange request, then complied. What did I have to lose?

Padmé used one hand to grab my cuffs and hold them steady, then started working on the lock with her hairpin with the other. A second later, I heard a click, and they popped open.

I looked up at Padmé in awe as the cuffs dropped from my wrists to the floor. She took my hand and shoved the hairpin into it, then held out her own cuffs to me.

"Come on, we don't have much time. I'll talk you through how to do it."

I just blinked at her for a second, then jumped into action.

"That was... incredible," I said as I worked. A small smile quirked up at the corner of her mouth.

"Thank you. Now, focus on feeling the tumblers of the lock. We have to hurry."

It took me MUCH longer than it had taken Padmé, but after a few minutes, the lock on her handcuffs popped open. Padmé had stayed calm and patient the whole time she'd been talking me through the lock picking, and now she quickly shed her cuffs and took the hairpin back. She went over to the cell door, looking both ways before pressing her back against the wall where the door would normally come to rest if it opened.

"Lay down on the floor," she said, patient but firm, to me. "Look as sick and unconscious as you possibly can, and then be ready to move when I tell you to."

I did as she said, my mind still absolutely whirling. What the hell was she planning, and how did she know how to do all this? Did normal politicians learn these things?

I didn't have much time to ponder my questions, because as soon as I closed my eyes on the floor, Padmé started shouting.

"Help! Please! We have a medical emergency!"

My heart started pounding in my chest, and while we didn't currently have a real medical emergency, the chances of my having a heart attack felt pretty high.

I heard grumbling and shuffling coming closer to our cell, but I didn't dare try to open my eyes and investigate.

"Please, help," Padmé repeated, presumably once a guard had come. "We're no use to you if we're dead."

Another grunt, and then I heard the jingling of keys. No. Way.

I kept my eyes shut tight, but I heard the lock turn and the door swing open. Heavy, shuffling footsteps came towards me, but before my panic could get out of hand, I heard a loud thud.

It took every ounce of willpower I possessed, but I didn't move or open my eyes at the sound, or when I heard a louder thud and felt the floor shake a little. Only when I heard Padmé's sigh before she said "okay, let's go" did I look.

My heart nearly stopped again when I found our guard unconscious on the floor, presumably knocked out by Padmé. She pulled his keys off his belt, then came over to offer me a hand. I took it, heart racing for a few different reasons as she pulled me to my feet.

"We have to hurry," she said, glancing around as she darted out of the cell. I shook my head.

"You are a senator," I hissed, trying to keep my voice down as I followed after her despite my shock. "How do you know how to do this?"

Padmé just shrugged and shot a mischievous grin back at me that made my heart melt.

"Lots of practice."

I tried not to think too much about that answer as I followed Padmé, rushing to keep up as she led us from corridor to corridor, ducking and dodging and darting around corners. I could see a hanger full of ships up ahead, and for the first time since Padmé had woken up, I actually had hope that this crazy plan might work.

The same moment I had the thought, I heard voices right ahead of us, rapidly approaching from around a corner. Without hesitating, Padmé grabbed my hand and pulled me with her as she shouldered open a supply closet. We were almost chest to chest in the space, and when she shut the door behind us, we were plunged into near-total darkness.

Padmé held a finger to her lips (which distracted me more than a little) as the voices drew closer. I held my breath, confident we would be discovered, but the voices passed by and got steadily quieter as they disappeared down the hall. We listened until there was dead silence in the hallway, then Padmé waited an extra second before flinging the door open and heading back into the corridor. To my delight, she grabbed my hand again as we moved.

"My ship is in the back of the cargo bay. If you can get the door open while I get ready to fly, we can get out of here."

"On it."

Padmé and I split, reluctantly dropping hands as we moved to different parts of the hanger. My hands flew across the keyboard, and I only spared a half-second glance back to see Padmé climbing the ramp of her ship.

A second later, alarms started blaring. Our captors had realized we were missing, which meant we needed to leave now.

Thankfully, I managed to get the hanger door open. I yanked out a few control pieces to slow down anyone wanting to undo my accomplishment, then took off in a sprint for Padmé's ship.

She appeared on the ramp a moment later looking more stressed than I'd seen her so far. I realized why a moment later as shouts came from behind me and shots bounced off the floor around me.

"Hurry!" cried Padmé, and I poured on as much extra speed as I could manage. I saw Padmé reach behind her back, and a moment later, she had a blaster in-hand and was returning fire on our enemies. Because of course she was.

By some miracle, I made it to the ramp. I rushed past Padmé and slammed the button to close the ramp as she fired off a few more shots before turning and taking off towards the cockpit.

"Come on!" she yelled, waving for me, but I was already following her.

She slammed into the pilot's seat, and I landed next to her in the copilot's a moment later. We sped through all the takeoff protocol together, perfectly in sync, and within minutes we were safely out of the hanger and into hyperspace.

I sank back into my chair once we were officially safe, suddenly exhausted now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Then, I turned to Padmé with a grin.

"You are insane."

Padmé chuckled, suddenly looking a little sheepish.

"Well, we needed to get out of there before they could use us as leverage. And unfortunately, this has happened to me enough that I've developed some skills-"

"Hey, I'm not saying I didn't like it," I said, quickly holding up my hands. "You totally saved me, after all. Besides... it was amazing watching you do all of that."

Padmé grinned. "Really?"

"Really," I replied, heat rushing to my face. I just hoped she didn't notice. "And, you know, since you saved me... maybe I could take you out to dinner, once we're back in friendly territory?"

"As a date?"

"Yes?"

Suddenly, my crazy idea of asking the gorgeous, amazing senator on a date seemed far too crazy for the day (despite all the other crazy stuff that had happened). But to my relief, Padmé smiled. I even thought I caught a small blush dusting her cheeks as she met my eyes.

"I'd like that," she said. My heart leapt.

"Really?"

"Yes."

We shared a smile, and then Padmé sighed, her attention turning back to the control panel before us.

"I should probably let a few people know we got out of there," she said. "More than one of my friends and coworkers are the kind of people to dive headfirst into an insane rescue plan if they're told I've been taken hostage without calling me first to verify if it's true."

I laughed. "If they have even half the skillset you do, I think they'll be fine. But yeah, it'd probably be better if it didn't get to that point."

I relaxed back in my seat as Padmé started dialing numbers of GAR leadership, watching the stars fly by around us. By the time we got back to Coruscant, I would have the perfect date planned, ready for the absolute perfect girl.

I couldn't wait.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

[perchingowl]

Owl's whumpy-tober 2023 prompts

I've been thinking about whether to do whumptober or not, mainly because the prompts are much more geared towards modern day whump and I don't really vibe with that this year ^^; As such, these are my prompts for the month of October. So, let's see if I manage 31 fics ^_^

01 GETTING A LITTLE HEATED Alcohol | Fire | "It's getting hot in here."

02 HEY, WHO TURNED OFF THE LIGHTS? Broken light source | Lost | "We have been here before."

03 ON KNIFE'S EDGE Rusty Blade | Blood | "This will only hurt a bit."

04 HANGING IN THERE Rope | Dangling | "This doesn't look good."

05 BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS Drenched Sheets | Fever | "For how long have they been like this?"

06 FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE Letters | Secrets | "Why didn't you tell me?"

07 A LITTLE TORTURE GOES A LONG WAY Brass Knuckles | Pain | "Please, make it stop."

08 DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH Garotte | Fighting for breath | "Give up!"

09 CAVE-ING IN Rocks | Buried Alive | "I wish I was with you instead."

10 READY, SET, GO! Ammunition | Hunt | "Run for your lives!"

11 JUST A LITTLE UNWELL Medication | Illness | "This will help you."

12 SHOW SOME RESTRAINT Shackles | Imprisonment | "You are never getting out of that/here."

13 DREAM A LITTLE DREAM (OF ME) Roof | Nightmares | "Is this real?"

14 NOTHING TO SEE HERE Blindfold | Deprivation | "That's enough."

15 ALL WRAPPED UP AND READY TO GO Bandages | Bleeding out | "So much blood."

16 IT'S NOT THE FALL THAT KILLS YOU Failsafe | Free Fall | "I can't hold on!"

17 MUSIC TO MY EARS Table | Screams | "They always tell us in the end."

18 OVER THEIR (DEAD) BODY Spike | Pinned | "Don't move!"

19 A LITTLE SHOCK NEVER HURT ANYONE, RIGHT? Metal Rod | Electricity | "Don't touch it!"

20 ROUGH SEAS Flotsam | Dry Drowning | "Deep breaths!"

21 WHERE IS MY MIND? Ring | Mind Control | "That's not you!"

22 THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN … Bright Light(s) | Blinded | "I can't see."

23 THINGS GETTING A LITTLE HAZY Maze | Disorientation | "What is happening?"

24 THE COURT IS IN SESSION Kangaroo Court | False Accusation | "Guilty as charged."

25 FRESH OUT OF LUCK Dead-end | Cornered | "There is no way out."

26 I'M A DOCTOR, NOT A PROMPT! Medical Bag | Field Surgery | "We can't lose them."

27 ALL ALONE Bars | Left behind | "Where are you?"

28 DEAD TO THE WORLD Blanket | Fatigue | "Rest - you will need it."

29 CALM BEFORE THE STORM Open Field | Hail | "It's close now!"

30 RED TAPE Muzzle | Silence | "Shut them up!"

31 REST IN PIECES Cot | Respite | "How are you doing?"

I've made these prompts for fun and wanted to post them for reference when I upload my fics. If you want to use them, feel free to - no need to tag me. Anyway, wish me luck, the last few months have not been conductive to being a fic writer (work got bloody stressful, my laptop broke with me still not having a replacement and I have thoroughly lost track of answering to messages and comments, for which I'm very sorry).

[weshipyourride]

Meet Bikeflights Ambassador An-Mei Ellisor

Bikeflights Ambassador An-Mei Ellisor thrives on persevering. If something goes wrong in a race, she embraces the test of her mental strength, knowing it will only make her stronger to finish no matter what.

It’s not hard to pinpoint the genesis of this mentality. In the summer between sixth and seventh grade, An-Mei was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer originating in the lymphatic system. Though it was caught early, An-Mei still had to endure chemotherapy, weight loss and losing her hair.

Needless to say, she persevered. And with a little help from her mountain bike team.

An-Mei was an endurance athlete from an early age, primarily running and swimming. When the opportunity to explore triathlons came up, she reluctantly added cycling to her repertoire.

Coincidentally, as cycling was added to the mix, she had just become old enoughto join her Auburn, Alabama community’s NICA team in the fledgling Alabama league. With some encouragement from her mom, An-Mei joined the team.

The transition to cycling was a bit rocky at first. She found padded shorts uncomfortable and was reluctant to commit to another activity. But the timing of her team’s Sunday practices provided just enough motivation to continue.

“I stuck with it because I preferred going to practice over church,” An-Mei said with a smile.

As the racing began, she received some added motivation: She was good, thanks to her endurance background.

The summer after her first NICA season is when An-Mei was given the devastating diagnosis. Her treatments began just prior to entering seventh grade, a time when the weight of social standing and physical appearance is starting to be felt by many kids. With the help of a wig, she chose to keep her cancer a secret from virtually everyone at school. But her mountain bike team knew.

“I still wanted to participate in the NICA season, and my parents thought it would be good for me to not be shut in a little room, so my team knew what was going on. They were very supportive in terms of treating me normal. I was still learning to ride trails. They didn’t make it about cancer, they made it about bikes.”

Despite having only finished chemotherapy in October of that year, An-Mei was competing in NICA races by the spring, often finding herself on the podium.

By the time she entered high school, her consistent success in racing helped her complete the transition from reluctant participator to passionate cyclist. In addition to NICA, An-Mei began racing for a regional development team. As high school ended, she was a NICA state champion with US National Championship experience and was headed to the renowned collegiate cycling program at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

Entering Fort Lewis in 2022 An-Mei earned the distinction of racing varsity as a freshman and joining her college teammates at US Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships.

An-Mei began to realize with all the racing exactly where her strengths and pure enjoyment lie: Endurance.

“I hated doing intervals. So I thought I’ll just go ride my bike for lots of hours and then go race lots of hours,” she said, before elaborating, “I ride my bike purely because I love riding my bike, and if I don't love it, then I'm not gonna gain anything from it because my mind's not gonna be in that mentality to want to train.”

With that mentality, she set her sights on the 2023 Leadville Trail 100 MTB and SBT GRVL, two iconic events in endurance racing.

It seems to have paid off, as An-Mei took third in her age group in both events, and just over a month later she won the US Marathon National Championship in her age group.

For 2024, however, she’s shifting gears a bit and taking a step back from racing.

An-Mei says her cancer experience and the possibility of a recurrence has taught her to take advantage of every moment.

“Things like that happen, and you can’t fear them, because you can’t stop them, but you can use them to motivate you to try new things and get out of your comfort zone.”

In lieu of racing in 2024, she plans to take the summer to solo bikepack from Portugal to Poland.

This winter An-Mei is taking some time off the bike to simply enjoy living in Colorado, exploring snow sports and volunteering with the adaptive sports program at Purgatory Resort in Durango.

Her ultimate goal – after graduating college with a degree in marketing and certificates in resort management, avalanche science and digital marketing – is to develop an outdoor sports facility that lowers barriers, both financially and physical ability, for people to participate in the outdoor sports she has grown to love.

[thetoxicgamer]

‘It must suck to hate me’: Leffen cements FGC legacy with second Evo title in as many games

Multi-time Evo champions are difficult to discover, but the number drops even more when looking for players who have won titles in many games. Leffen is the newest member of this select club, having won Guilty Gear Strive at Evo 2023 on August 6 with a crushing 3-0 win over NBNHMR. After over a decade of playing Super Smash Bros. Melee at the highest level, and winning Evo 2018 in what is currently the game’s final appearance at the event, Leffen has continued to branch out into different fighting games. https://twitter.com/EVO/status/1688361520676364288 Since picking up Strive at launch in 2021, he quickly rose to prominence as a top player—even managing to win Evo 2021 Online for Europe, though that isn’t counted as a direct Evo title. Winning Evo 2023 in Strive makes him a two-time Evo winner like Mang0 and Armada before him, but he was able to do it in a second game outside of Smash, something that no other Smash player has managed to do before—which also allowed for him to shut the haters, and Mang0, up. https://twitter.com/Light_S21/status/1688383194096177152 “It must really suck to hate me, it must be a really tough job,” Leffen said to Dot Esports. “I mean, with Mang0, it’s all fun and games because we’re good friends. I think he knows deep inside that him saying that kicked my motivation into an extra gear because I had already done so well.” After winning the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5, Leffen noted that he didn’t have “a chip on my shoulder” like he would have had he not won a big event recently. So his mindset heading into the top six at Evo was a bit more relaxed until he woke up and saw all of the hate and doubt on social media. Because of his outspoken and occasionally aggressive nature, the Smash community has a very love-hate relationship with Leffen. That somewhat carried over to Strive, especially when he picked up a divisive character like Happy Chaos. But even though hundreds of people were calling for his defeat, he didn’t let it phase him and instead made him think “You know what? I think I really want to win this one too.” https://twitter.com/Light_S21/status/1688383194096177152 “Lud’s event was one of those tournaments where I came in as an underdog and every set was scrappy, like I had to clutch out almost all of those sets and lost a bunch in the beginning,” Leffen said. “After that, I thought “It is fine to win like that, it’s impressive” but in my mind, it’s way cooler to win as a favorite and a top seed. I want to win right through practice and knowing all of my matchups, not relying on playing good that specific day. I think the coolest win is when you win and it’s like, oh, of course, he won.” With that mentality shaping his perspective from early July, Leffen dedicated himself to focusing on Strive so he could give that tournament his best shot. Because, win or lose, approaching it like that meant he can “push himself the furthest” toward his goal of winning Evo in that way. https://twitter.com/edwin_budding/status/1688360125789081600 And win he did, dominating the top six through winner’s side and dropping just a single round along the way. It was a crushing performance from someone who knew they were favored and wanted to definitely show he is the best in the world. “When I got into grand finals and did that announcement and asked who was rooting for me or NBNHMR, everyone was rooting for him because he plays Nagoriyuki and is from America,” Leffen said. “I just thought to myself that I am going to make this such a boring set. I want to make them shut up. Like, this is America and I’m Swedish. I get it. I accept my role. But I wanted to make it clear. I didn’t want a scrappy set where I won because I had a set advantage. I wanted to make a statement.” https://twitter.com/TSM_Leffen/status/1688644695491227650 For anyone trying to belittle the win as “easy,” NBNHMR is a known decimator of Happy Chaos players and a top Strive competitor in his own right, which makes a win that dominant even more impressive. https://twitter.com/tradewarhj/status/1688360900363763712 So after winning a tournament with 2,474 entrants, a new record for Guilty Gear and topping Evo 2022’s biggest output despite being dwarfed by Street Fighter 6, Leffen is going to take a week off before deciding on his fighting game future. https://twitter.com/TSM_Leffen/status/1688360441784025088 Leffen has said on several occasions that he wasn’t going to be able to split his focus across Strive, Melee, and other games like SF6 so cutting at least one was an inevitability—and something that Tekken 7 Evo champ Arslan Ash also struggled with. He said he wants to continue competing in Melee and Strive, along with trying SF6 but is looking at it realistically. For now, he plans to continue playing SF6 to see if he can qualify for Capcom Cup, especially since he can compete online and not have to travel for it thanks to how the Capcom Pro Tour format, while “trying to find the best solution” for his competitive future. Read the full article

[discoscoob]

New Loki | Loki x Female Reader

Loki (Marvel) X Doctor Who

You become acquainted with the new Loki and it isn’t exactly smooth sailing as you find it difficult to accept this new version of him and he doesn’t plan to fill the gap your Loki left behind.

Part Fourteen | Part Sixteen | Chapter Index

Words: 1.6k

Warnings: angst?

Read on AO3

Once you woke up you were sharply alerted to the ache that ran through your neck, due to the fact you had slipped into sleep while you were still on the floor of your bedroom. You had no idea what time it was as you pushed yourself off of the hard floor with a groan of pain, in that moment you were positive that you would never allow yourself to fall asleep on a floor again.

Your headache had failed to disappear, in fact you believe it had only worsened, while your eyes felt heavy and irritated as you shuffled towards your en suite in search of something to remedy your sore head.

You paused in front of the mirror above your sink and took in your appearance, your eyes were puffy and blood shot while dried tear tracks stained your cheeks, your hair was disheveled and your lips were chapped.

You let out a tired sigh as you pulled open the cupboard behind the mirror and searched for a bottle of pain killers which rattled together as you twisted off the lid and dropped two into the palm of your hand, before you returned the bottle to its shelf.

You ran the tap and gathered some water in your cupped hands which you brought to your mouth to help swallow the pills and then you splashed your whole face with some cold water to help awaken and refresh yourself.

When you looked back at your reflection, with your palms lent on the edge of the sink, droplets of water fell from your chin and the tip of your nose and some wisps of your hair clung to the sides of your wet cheeks. You let your eyes fall shut and remained like that for a moment as you basked in the silence.

You startled when you heard a knock on your bedroom door, at first you contemplated ignoring it but whoever it was persistently knocked again. You sighed with defeat as you grabbed a fluffy white towel to dry your face and made your way across your bedroom to answer the door.

As soon as you laid eyes on Loki, your face dropped and you immediately tried to shut the door back in his face but he slammed one of his hands against it and forced it to remain open as he said your name, which caused you to freeze because this version of Loki hadn’t ever been introduced to you.

“How do you know my name?” You asked him, rather harshly.

“He put it in my head, the other version of myself, he put everything in here.” Loki explained as he gestured to his mind, “everything you did together.”

“They’re his memories, not yours.” You stubbornly told him, as if he had stolen your Loki’s memories from him.

“Look, I know this is difficult for you to wrap your head around, but we’re the same person-”

“Don’t patronise me!” You brought your hand up to point at him, “I’m not stupid, I know you’re the same person but you’re not my Loki and you never will be! It doesn’t matter if you have his memories, I didn’t experience them with you, you’re not the one I fell in love with. I can’t just start over with you and pretend you’re my Loki because you’re not and you won’t replace him.”

“Good, I wasn’t expecting to.” Loki bluntly replied. “I didn’t experience any of those things with you either, I’m not here to pick up where he left off. A few hours ago I didn’t even know you existed.”

“All right.” You nodded before you paused, “why did you come here, then?”

“I came to tell you that your auntie and the Doctor are missing.” Loki told you and you instantly stood to attention.

“What?!” You stepped out your bedroom and brushed past him as you rushed down the corridor. “Why didn’t you tell me that first?! Where did they go?”

“You interrupted me.” Loki defended himself as he followed behind you, “and I didn’t see where they went, they were already gone by the time I woke up. On the floor, might I add, it was extremely uncomfortable.”

“I fell asleep on the floor too but you don’t hear me complaining about it.” You rolled your eyes.

You were walking ahead of him and didn’t even bother to look over your shoulder as you talked to him, as you focused your attention on looking through each door you passed on the corridor in search of your auntie and the Doctor.

“Sorry, am I only allowed to complain about something if you complain about it first?” Loki sarcastically asked.

“Yes, precisely.” You answered in a deadpan tone. “Donna! Doctor!”

“Oh calling their names, why didn’t I think of that? I don’t know what I would ever do without you.” Loki mumbled to himself behind you and you shook your head with an annoyed sigh.

“What are you doing here?” You asked him as you finally turned around to face him.

“Believe me, I’d rather not be here.” He answered.

“You know how to fly the TARDIS, why don’t you go? Or did my Loki not put that in your head?” You asked, practically daring him to take the ship and leave.

“Oh, no, he did. I just didn’t think the Doctor would appreciate me flying his ship without his permission.” Loki shrugged.

“How very considerate of you.” You retorted, “but that never stopped you before.”

“Ah, you’re getting me mixed up with the other me again.” Loki called you out and you glared at him.

“So, what? You’re the righteous version?” You asked as you crossed your arms over your chest and Loki pulled a face, almost looking offended.

“Heavens no. Since it would appear you don’t need my help, I will be on my way.” Loki decided as he brushed past you, his shoulder knocked yours as he did.

You paused as you watched him take large strides towards the control room from over your shoulder in silence. You considered your situation and weighed up your options and by the time he was out of sight you realised you needed his help. With a sigh of defeat, you reluctantly followed after him.

When you entered the control room, you saw Loki silently staring at the screen of the monitor and from the look on his face you could immediately tell that something wasn’t right.

“What is it?” You asked as you approached him with caution and he raised his head to glance at you before he looked back to the screen.

He rubbed his fingers back and forth over his chin, “I think I know why your auntie and the Doctor have disappeared.”

You shuffled closer to him with wide eyes, eager to know what his suspicion was, while you tried to control your worry from overwhelming you.

“Thanos.”

At the mention of his name you felt sinking in your chest.

“If was successful and erased half the universe, they might have got caught in it. You see, the Doctor didn’t jump to a different time after we left the refuge ship.” Loki explained, his eyes on the monitor which displayed the time and date.

“No,” you shook your head in denial, “they must be somewhere. I will find them.”

Loki’s eyes followed you as you rushed around the console.

“What are you doing?” He straightened his back with interest as he followed you.

“I already lost my Loki, I’m not losing them too.” You determinedly whispered, mostly to yourself, as you stood in front of the telegraphic interface and dug your fingers into it. You closed your eyes and let your mind clear of everything except Donna and the Doctor and when the TARDIS began to rumble beneath your feet, Loki ran to the monitor to watch the screen.

As tremors continued to shake through the control room, Loki held onto the console to keep himself steady as he watched the date on the monitor quickly scroll up, every second that passed a new year was displayed.

“The TARDIS seems to think they’re somewhere.” Loki thought out loud, he made no effort to hide the amazement on his face, since your eyes were closed.

Once the tremors subsided, the date on the monitor stopped on 2023 and as if they had been hiding in a pocket of space, Donna and the Doctor were thrown into the control room out of nowhere.

At first you jumped back with a gasp after opening your eyes, surprised that it had actually worked, while Loki gawped at them as if he had seen a ghost.

The Doctor immediately started patting himself down, before he brought his hands up to his face, feeling his cheeks, his chin and his nose, while Donna was engrossed with looking at her own arms.

Once your mind shifted back into gear, you ran around the console and straight into Donna’s arms, to wrap her in a tight hug, which she quickly reciprocated.

“What happened?” She muttered into the hug, while the Doctor ran around to the monitor and mumbled a quick ‘excuse me’ to Loki as he placed both his hands on his waist to shift him out of the way, Loki offered him a glare in response.

You began to quietly explain what had happened to your auntie once you both pulled back from the hug, explaining as much as you knew about Thanos and his plan, by scraping together everything your Loki and the other one had told you about him.

Meanwhile the Doctor was piecing it all together himself, by eavesdropping on your conversation from where he stood at the monitor which he had used to look at his reflection to ensure he hadn’t regenerated.

You were all too distracted to notice that Loki had connected himself to the TARDIS’ telepathic interface, until you heard the sound of the wheezy engine fill the control room which began to quake with turbulence, as you all silently stared at the God of Mischief, wondering where he was taking you.

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 167: Weapons in the Form of Words

Cassidy groaned in pain and put a hand to his head, finding blood there from a cut at his hairline.

"Damn...what the hell…" he uttered, as it slowly came back to him. Clayton's other guards surrounding him...his cover was obviously blown. Which mean he was in deep shit. He noticed he was in some kind of cell, like the kind where the museum kept any detainees until the police came to pick them up.

"Cassidy Gold…" Clayton said and then chuckled.

"If only you could understand the irony in your name," he mentioned, which confused Cassidy greatly.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to tell me what you've reported to your boss," Clayton replied.

"What does it matter? You're going to kill me either way," Cassidy retorted. The Collector smirked.

"You're smarter than you look," Clayton said.

"What do you want us to do with him, boss?" Clayton's head of security, a man that Cassidy only new as Garvy, asked.

"You know what to do…" Clayton responded. Garvy smirked.

"And I assume you'd like the body to never be found," Garvy added, as he cracked his knuckles.

"I know a nice little spot in the bay we can weigh the body down. Current will take it before they even know he's missing," the man said, as Cassidy swallowed thickly.

"Actually no...I want this body found. I want you to take him out to the Fremont Troll Bridge and once you take care of him, you'll leave him there. I want him found, very publicly, and more importantly, by Weaver himself," Clayton stated.

"Uh Boss...that's a pretty public place. We'll have to wait until the middle of the night to do it," Garvy stated.

"Then tie him up and wait," Clayton snapped, as he glared at Cassidy.

"I want to Weaver to find him there and know that I am the one that did this, without the proof, of course. I want him to see that he, for all his power, that he was not able to best me. That I was able to take away one of the most important things in the world to him," Clayton stated, causing great confusion for Cassidy. Why would this man think that Cassidy was important to Weaver? He barely knew the man.

"I got the satisfaction of watching his idiot detective Nolan and his wife crumble under the weight of knowing I had a hand in the demise of their daughter. And now it's Weaver's turn to lose," he said with a smirk. Garvy himself even looked a little confused, but he wasn't paid to ask questions.

"We'll get it done, boss...let's go. Looks like you get a few more hours to live, before we put a bullet in your skull. Too bad you're going to spend them in a trunk," Garvy said, as they pulled Cassidy along, while the other guards shared a laugh.

~*~

The uniformed officers went about putting crime scene tape up around Baron Samdi's residence and the entire block was a bustle with activity. David had called in the suicide, though he hated that he couldn't call it what it really was. And Baron Samdi was only making things worse. He was already in front of the news cameras, lamenting about the death of his son and how troubled Franklin was. He was positively boiling in his own skin, as the other man touted Franklin's troubles and his attempts to try and help the troubled man. Unfortunately, David couldn't know that it was about to get worse. As the scene seemingly began to calm down and the body was removed, he finally felt okay in bringing Snow and Regina out of the house and escorted them to the car. But that's when they were instantly swarmed by the media.

"Detective Nolan...is the story that was just released by Franklin Samdi's attorney true?" one reporter asked. David looked at the woman and had no idea what she was talking about. But then Franklin's threat echoed in his mind and he saw Baron suddenly wasn't enjoying the media attention any longer, as they shouted questions at him. He got a weary feeling in his stomach when they started practically shoving their microphones in Snow's face.

"Is it true, Miss Blanchard...that you're really Margaret Nolan?" one reporter shouted.

"Did Baron Samdi orchestrate your captivity to boost his son's career?" another shouted.

"Please Detective Nolan...a statement!" another shouted.

"Detective...is this woman really your wife? And if so, why have you kept that fact hidden?" another called, as they started pawing at Mary. With that, he ushered her and Regina into the car.

"What the hell are they talking about?" he wondered, as Regina took her phone out and started scrolling the local news sites. Her eyes widened.

"Guess Dr. Facilier junior wanted to make sure none of us could ever keep a low profile again. But we can deal with this later. We need to get to Lucy," Regina said, as she continued to read the articles. David agreed and put the car in gear, as he headed for the hospital, but not without reaching over and clutching Snow's hand.

~*~

"Dr. Aeson?" a voice asked and Jenna looked up, only to find a handsome Asian man standing there.

"Yes?" she asked, managing to find her voice. He smiled.

"I'm Dr. Narita," he introduced himself and he his hand out. She smiled and shook it.

"Thank you for coming, Dr. Narita...it's a pleasure to meet you," she responded.

"The pleasure is mine, Dr. Aeson. I've been following your work for quite some time now," he said. Her eyes widened.

"My work?" she asked in surprise.

"You're a very gifted surgeon, especially for someone so young. I wasn't even finished with medical school yet at your age. You're something of a prodigy," he mentioned. She felt her cheeks color in response.

"I guess I've always know I wanted to help people heal...and that's why this case is so baffling. For all my skills, I can't find a reason this little girl is in a coma," Jenna said, as she handed him the file.

"It is a puzzling case...have you spoken to the family recently?" he asked, as he looked over the file.

"A bit earlier and I'm afraid I didn't have much to offer them in the ways of comfort," she replied.

"Let's talk to them. It may not be needed, but family history never hurts. I'd like to take blood and genetic samples from the parents. It may not do any good, but at this point, we shouldn't rule out anything," he mentioned. She nodded.

"I agree...they're in the waiting room," she replied, as she led him there. Jacinda and Nick stood up, as they came out, while Henry and Luke hung back behind them.

"Anything?" Jacinda asked desperately.

"I'm afraid there is no change, but this Dr. Anthony Narita. Since this case is a bit baffling, I called in a specialist," Jenna said.

"Since nothing is coming up on any tests, I'd like to begin a series of neurological tests. I'd also like blood samples from her parents to test your genetic material," he said.

"Of course," Nick said, as he offered his arm.

"We'll take you both back to get your samples," Dr. Narita said, as he led them back to an exam room.

"Dr. Aeson...a moment," Weaver called and she walked over to the Police captain.

"What can I do for you, Detective Weaver?" she asked.

"I want you to test Henry and Luke as well against Lucy," he said quietly. She looked at him strangely.

"But they're not biologically related to the girl," she reminded.

"So it would seem...but I think you need to trust me and do those tests. I think you'll find the results incredibly enlightening," he stated.

"But what do I tell them?" she asked.

"Tell them it may help Lucy in case she does need blood. It would help if you had more than one source," he replied.

"Detective...this is highly unethical. I don't know what you're playing at, but I could lose my license for taking blood under false pretenses," she hissed.

"And I can promise you that there is more at stake here than just Lucy and that man that just went with Jacinda is not what he seems. If you care about this little girl...you'll test their blood," he responded. She sighed and then walked over to the two young men.

"Would either of you be willing to have your blood tested? Sometimes in cases like these, we've found that it's best to have more than one blood source, if possible," she said.

"Sure...if it helps Lucy, I'll gladly get tested," Henry said eagerly.

"Me too," Luke agreed, as she led them back to be tested.

~*~

The Enchanted Forest 2

The palace of Rose Red and Fandral

Storybrooke Year - 2023

Fandral led them through the corridors of the palace with Carina beside him.

"How old are you now, Carina?" Emma asked curiously. The blonde smiled.

"I just turned sixteen," she replied.

"Has Summer been cursed too?" the girl asked.

"I'm afraid so...but we're going to find her," Emma assured, as Fandral squeezed her shoulder. They arrived in the library and all except Carina and Fandral were blown away by the truly massiveness of it.

"My Gods...I've never seen anything close to this before," Belle mentioned, as she marveled at it.

"Yes...it is quite spectacular," Fandral agreed.

"There must be...millions of books!" Robin exclaimed.

"Probably closer to trillions," Fandral corrected.

"Rose?" he called.

"Over here, my love!" he heard her call and though it was hard for any of them to tell where her voice was coming from, Fandral seemed to have no difficulty in finding her. They followed and saw her on a tall shelf ladder putting a book away. She looked down and gasped.

"Emma...is that you?" she asked, as she started to climb down. Unfortunately, she mis-stepped and fell. But she wasn't alarmed, because Fandral easily caught her.

"My darling...you must be more careful. You could have been hurt if I wasn't here to catch you," he chided, clearly worried about her. She smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Oh, you'll always be here to catch me, my love," she responded, drawing a smile from him and another kiss. Carina rolled her eyes.

"So yours are like this too," Emma teased her with a nudge.

"It is constant...they're so embarrassing," she complained. Emma chuckled.

"Trust me, I know...believe I know," the older blonde agreed. Fandral finally put Rose on her feet and she greeted Emma and Belle with hugs.

"It's so good to see all of you...are Snow and David with you?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not, my darling...that's the problem. There has been another curse," Fandral responded, causing Rose to frown.

"He's right...and we don't know where this one took them. That's why we're here...Aphrodite said that your library has recordings for all the realms. If there's a book that knows where they are...then it's here," Belle interjected.

"Of course...come. The east wing is where all the storybooks for all the realms are stored. I don't believe I have met any of you though," Rose mentioned, as she noticed the newcomers with them.

"Oh, of course...this is Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Princess Anna of Arendelle, and her husband, Prince consort, Kristoff," Emma said, introducing them.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you...Snow has told me about you," Rose said, as she surprised Elsa by taking her hands.

"We will find Leo...I promise," she offered. Elsa looked surprised.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Oh, she and my mother gossip at least twice a week through a magic mirror, or at least, they usually do," Emma explained.

"Yes...magical Skype, I believe Snow calls it. This explains why it's been a while since I've heard from her though," Rose said, as she and Fandral led them to the east wing.

"This place is truly incredible," Belle marveled, as she held Gideon's hand while they followed their hosts.

"Yes...my family has been guardians of this library for centuries. It fell into a bit of disarray when my parents died and my Uncle took over. He did not take the responsibility of maintaining it seriously," Rose explained.

"Hermes was quite unhappy with him, but fortunately, she no longer has to worry about stories that have been written not being properly stored," Fandral added.

"Sounds like that comes with some extra perks like my parents have with the chalice," Emma mentioned. They smiled.

"Quite right...as you may have been able to tell, we have not aged much either. Asgardians age much slower, as you know," Fandral said.

"Yes and because the library fell into such ruin under my Uncle's tyrannical rule, Hermes has ensured that will not happen and granted me an Asgardian lifespan," Rose explained.

"I am eternally grateful to her for that, because I could not imagine living without my darling Rose," Fandral said, smiling fondly at her, as they arrived in the east wing. There was a massive wall filled with Once Upon a Time books, all neatly shelved.

"This is massive. Do we have to search through all of these? Because...I'm not sure we have that kind of time," Emma said, as she groaned and then took a sip of the elixir Aphrodite had made for her.

"Emma...are you okay?" Rose asked in alarm.

"That's kind of the other part of the story. When the curse was cast, Mother Gothel wanted to make sure I couldn't interfere," Emma replied.

"She poisoned my heart and made sure I was left behind. For all intents and purposes, I should be dead, but I survived long enough for Elsa and the others to find me," she continued.

"And your parents...they don't think…" Fandral asked, but trailed off. She nodded sadly.

"Yes...even when they get their memories back, they're going to think I'm dead," she confirmed.

"I can't even imagine…" Rose uttered, as she turned back to the books.

"Normally, this would be a most daunting task, but fortunately for us, your parents will be easy to find, because of who they are," Rose said, as selected a book. It was just like the original book and Emma looked at her in surprise.

"How did you know right where it was?" she questioned, as she opened it, finding the pages filled with her parent's complete story.

"Your parents story is quite enthralling and our little ones love hearing about their adventures as much as any. Their journey to Camelot is an especially popular one at bedtime," Fandral mentioned.

"Little ones? Have you been holding out on us?" Belle asked.

"Mama! Papa!" they heard two voices, as two children around Gideon's age scampered into the east wing. Fandral caught the blonde boy and dark haired girl in his arms.

"Ah yes...I forget the rest of you haven't met them. Snow and David know, thanks to our regular communication, but I forget it's been quite a time since we've seen the rest of you," Rose said.

"Yes, these are our twins. Our son Benjamin, or Ben for short," he stated, before gesturing to the little girl.

"And our daughter Arianna, or Ari for short," Fandral replied.

"Children...this is Emma," he said, as they looked up at their father and then at the blonde.

"From the story, papa?" Arianna asked and he nodded.

"Yes...and these are her friends. We are going to help them find Emma's parents," he explained. Emma smiled and leafed through the book, reliving their adventures, like when they fell through the portal to the Enchanted Forest, then Neverland and the whole Atlantis debacle. Then Zelena's arrival in Storybrooke, followed by Elsa's and the Queens of Darkness. She paged through their journey to Camelot and then their intrepid adventure to the Underworld to save her father. That had brought about the melding of Storybrooke with residents from the Land of Untold stories and she still shuddered at the memory of Dr. Jekyll. Ultimately, that had culminated in the Final Battle with the Black Fairy, which had been followed by a period of relative peace. Henry had decided to leave to explore the realms a few years later, which subsequently brought Alice to Storybrooke looking for their help. They had thwarted Clayton, Facilier, and the Tremaines for a time, allowing Henry to go on to marry Ella. Lucy had been born then and they celebrated each birthday with her...until her eighth when Gothel had finally slithered out of hiding to tear them all apart.

"Here is it...Lucy's eighth birthday party," Emma said, as she read the words.

"And despite all they had done to stay together, a curse would once again separate Snow White and Prince Charming. And this time, the Collector assured them that reuniting would be more difficult, for they were being taken to a large city within the Land Without Magic. But thanks to the magic of true love, young Summer was able to encase her brother fully in a bubble and herself partially in one, ensuring that they would end up with at least one of their parents. And so the curse was wrought and tore asunder the Charming family, leaving Emma behind. But despite what Gothel and the Collector promised, all was not lost. The bubble allowed young Bobby to retain his memories and with that, he was determined to find his father so he could help him save his mother. Upon arriving in Hyperion Heights, the Facilier's evil grandson locked Snow White up in his mental hospital to ensure that she could not seek out her true love…" Emma read.

"Oh Gods...he put my mother in a mental hospital again," Emma lamented.

"Not to mention I don't believe I have ever heard of a city called Hyperion Heights," Robin mentioned.

"It could be a suburb. We should return to Storybrooke and then we can use the Internet to search for it," Belle suggested. But as Emma turned to the next page, she realized they would not have to. The page illustrated her baby brother venturing into a large city to find their father and in the background was a very distinct landmark.

"We don't have to," Emma said, as she turned the book to show them. Belle gasped.

"The Space Needle!" she exclaimed.

"What does that mean?" Anna questioned.

"It means we know where they are," Emma answered, as she shared a hopeful look with Belle.

"Seattle," Belle stated.

"Can we portal to there?" Elsa asked. Emma shook her head.

"No...there's no magic. We'll need to portal to Storybrooke and then get on a plane. Which still takes time," she replied.

"Perhaps I can offer the bi-frost as an alternative?" Fandral questioned. Emma smiled.

"That would be great," she responded. He smiled.

"It is only a two hour journey to the edge of realms and then we'll be in this Hyperion Heights before sundown," he stated.

"We?" Belle asked curiously. Rose smiled.

"Our friends are in trouble and it sounds like there is another coming battle. We will definitely be coming as reinforcements," Rose stated, as they prepared to leave for the edge of realms, where they would summon the bi-frost and cross into the Land Without Magic…

~*~

Detective Rogers was actually surprised when the elevator didn't stop on the 84th floor and kept ascending to the 85th. It appeared so far that Ivy Belfry was not lying and now he was very curious as to what might be uncovered here. As he stepped off the elevator, he heard a noise and drew his firearm. He cautiously moved through the darkened corridors and saw the shadow of a fan spinning slowly. He determined the noise was coming from there and he moved sharply around the corner, leveling his weapon. But he quickly lowered it, as he saw a girl on the floor, curled up against the wall. Her clothes were in tatters and her hair was dirty and matted. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes and he put his weapon away. Rogers observed the chains around her ankles and put his hand out.

"It's okay...I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help," he assured, as he showed her his badge.

"Do you know who did this to you?" he asked.

"There...is a woman that comes to check on me. She put me here...I don't know here name," the girl responded.

"If I were to show you a photo, would that help?" he asked. She shrugged and he pulled out his phone, as he found a picture of Victoria Belfry from a recent article. He showed her the phone and her eyes widened.

"That's her!" the girl confirmed.

"Okay...we're going to get you out of here. Can you tell me your name?" he asked.

"Eloise," she answered and his face went ashen.

"Eloise Gardener,"

~*~

Jacinda rolled her sleeve down, as Dr. Narita finished taking a blood sample.

"Do you really think this will help?" she asked nervously.

"I'm not sure...but it never hurts to have blood on hand," he replied, as he readied the sample for the lab.

"I know it's not much consolation, but we're doing everything we can. And I won't stop until I have some answers for you, whatever they may be," he assured, as he stepped out. Ella sighed and exited the exam room, finding Henry doing the same.

"Hey...you gave blood too?" she asked curiously.

"Uh yeah...I know I'm not related, but they said it couldn't hurt if I was willing to give a sample," he replied. She smiled gently.

"Thank you," she said gratefully and he cautiously took her hand.

"She's gonna be okay...we just have to have hope," he told her. She smiled thinly.

"That sounds like what the characters in your book would say. Have hope and faith," she recalled. His eyes widened in surprise.

"You read my book?" he asked. She grinned.

"Of course I did...it's Lucy's favorite and I can see why. You are a gifted writer...your characters are so vivid. I've never read fairy tales quite like these though," she replied. He shrugged.

"I guess everyone has their take on the classics," he said.

"I like your take. The women are total bad asses!" she said with a laugh and he chuckled.

"Yeah...I suppose they are," he agreed, as they returned to the waiting room, just as Snow, David, and Regina entered the hospital again.

"Hey...I thought you guys went home?" Jacinda asked.

"Uh no...there was just something we had to take care of. No change?" Snow asked. Jacinda shook her head.

"No...but a Dr. Narita is now consulting on Lucy's case. He took blood samples from us and Nick's boyfriend Luke. Dr. Aeson must be taking Nick's now, because he's not back yet," she replied.

"Nick is alone with Dr. Aeson?" David asked. Jacinda shrugged.

"I guess so," she replied, as a bad feeling settled in the pit of David's stomach.

"David…" Snow uttered and he gave her a look before rushing back there. He flashed his badge and none of the orderlies tried to stop him, as Weaver approached.

"I take it you were successful?" he asked quietly.

"We got it...but we almost didn't," Snow responded.

"Yes...the headlines are already out there. Franklin Samdi committing suicide is trending," he mentioned.

"Except I'm almost positive that Baron is behind it. He's a master at hypnotism. I think he used a trigger word. On his own grandson," Regina said quietly. Weaver shrugged.

"A grandson that was born from a son he either abandoned, didn't know or care about. Power is like a drug for him and he'll do anything for it. Believe me...I know," Weaver replied.

"The lure of the dagger is one thing for him...but the Chalice is even more appealing, because it does not come with the ties that the dagger does...and…" Weaver continued, as he shifted uncomfortably.

"And?" Regina asked.

"I have reason to believe that it can possibly kill me too," he revealed.

"But I thought that was impossible. Only the dagger can kill you," Snow refuted.

"In the state it is now...but if its power were to be turned dark, then it could theoretically destroy the dagger," he stated.

"Theoretically?" Regina questioned.

"Obviously, it's never been done. The chalice's power has always remained pure and in the hands of the truest loves. The Dark One dagger has never been challenged, because the object that could challenge is made of pure light. The chalice and the dagger are opposites. But if they were suddenly objects of alike darkness…" he explained.

"Then one could probably nullify the other," Regina surmised.

"Only someone well versed in magic could pull something like that off, but both Facilier and Gothel qualify," he said.

"Well, they're not getting their hands on it," Snow assured, as she looked toward the door that led back to the exam rooms.

"Don't worry...David will stop him if he's dared to go after Eva," Regina assured. This entire night had been a nightmare, but if David could catch Nick, then that would be a definite victory in their column. The sooner he was locked up, the sooner he was away from their son and wasn't able to hurt anyone else.

"Uh...did you and David really just witness a suicide?" Henry asked, as he was looking at his phone. She sighed.

"Unfortunately yes," she answered.

"Wait...there's another story here that's saying you're not really Mary Blanchard, but the thought to be deceased Margaret Nolan?" he asked. She sighed. Media attention was the last thing they needed and probably Franklin's last ditch effort at revenge. She looked at her phone and rolled her eyes at the headline.

"Henry...it's a really long story and I promise we'll explain," she said tiredly.

"Suffice to say that I had amnesia and Baron Samdi took advantage of me after that accident with the crazy professor. He kept me from David and let him think I was dead. That's the short version," she said.

"Yeah, it says here that he threatened his son to keep you locked up or he'd ruin his practice," Henry said.

"This is going to ruin his reputation for sure. I guess that's a bright spot...bad press won't be good for him," Regina mentioned.

"Yes...and we'll find a way to use it to our advantage, because we're about to have more problems," Weaver said, as he returned.

"What now?" she asked, as they saw Rogers walking into the waiting room and watched him approach Victoria Belfry.

"Victoria Belfry," he stated.

"Yes, what it is?" she asked in a bored tone.

"You're under arrest for the kidnapping of Eloise Gardener," he announced, as he cuffed her and led her out, while Henry and Jacinda gaped in surprise.

"Eloise Gardener?" Snow asked and Regina shot a look of dread toward her old mentor.

"No…" she stammered.

"I'm afraid so...the witch is free," he stated gravely. Snow sighed and gripped the chalice from inside her bag.

"I need to find David and we need to wake Lucy now," she said, as she hurried toward her room.