#girl was willing to give up the halo and her ability to walk again if it meant no more warrior nuns had to die

[simplykorra]

nothing surprises me now

[ikeromantic]

In the Spotlight

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfiction, approx. 1700 words. This scene occurs after the events of the romantic epilogue and includes some of what happens in the part 2 introduction. Mostly fluff!

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Uncomfortable Questions

Kyubei bowed low and held the position. It wasn’t his first time to report to Nobunaga, but it was his first time to do so without explicit instructions from his lord. He was nervous, but it didn’t show. Kyubei could hold an icy composure as well as Akechi.

“Report.” Nobunaga’s tone was flat, hiding his own frustration.

Hideyoshi and Masamune weren’t trying to hide theirs. The one-eyed dragon was pacing and Toyotomi’s scowl could have peeled paint.

“There is no evidence,” Kyubei cleared his throat, “that the forces at Kasugayama are involved in the attacks on Azuchi. However -” he paused. This was the part that made him sweat. “The disappearance of Lord Akechi and the lady chatelaine coincide with the vanishing of their ninja, Sarutobi Sasuke.”

“I don’t believe it.” Masamune stopped, one hand dropping to his sword hilt. “There’s no way that ninja got the drop on Mitsuhide.”

Hideyoshi nodded. “Agreed. My guess is that they are working together.”

Kyubei interrupted. “I find that unlikely, my lord. At least, in the manner you suggest. If I may?”

Nobunaga indicated he should continue.

“My sources tell me Shingen Takeda is ill, and between the loss of his ally and his ninja, Kenshin is unstable. Seeking conflict within his own forces as well as outside. It is unlikely he is aiding Kasugayama. Though he must have known Sarutobi's absence might . . .” He frowned, wondering how much he should imply, what he could suggest.

Ieyasu saved him the need. “Mitsuhide was making plans for an extended absence. I think we should consider that he has left, with Sasuke, to visit the chatelaine’s homeland.”

Mitsunari nodded. “This would make sense. There could be something about the events of the night he disappeared that forced them to leave sooner than he expected.”

“There’s more to it, and if I know that snake -” Hideyoshi’s rant was cut short by Nobunaga’s raised hand.

“Enough. I did not wish to bare Akechi’s secrets, but Ieyasu is correct. Mitsuhide sought my permission to take the chatelaine to her home. He was uncertain how long they would be gone.”

The room exploded with sound, warlords talking over one another. Hideyoshi was ranting about safety and plots; Masamune demanded permission to seek them out. Keiji was laughing. Ieyasu and Mitsunari were relatively silent, waiting for the excitement to die down.

Nobunaga’s carnelian eyes quieted each man in turn.

When he could be heard again, Kyubei continued. “I made contact with Ranmaru. He is seeking out the forces responsible for the attack on Azuchi, along with other spies in our network.”

“Ranmaru? That boy is afraid of his own shadow. Completely unreliable,” Hideyoshi muttered, not unkindly. “He should be here.”

Kyubei couldn’t help the slight smile at that. He didn’t approve of Ranmaru’s tangled loyalties, but one could not argue with his ability to act a part. “Of course, my lord. But Ranmaru insisted. And he does have many friends to rely on for information.”

Ieyasu stood. “This doesn’t answer my questions though. Where is the chatelaine? Is she safe? When will she return? We all know Akechi has his . . . plans. I’m not worried about him. He’ll turn up when and where he wants to. But she’s -”

“You’re worried about her!” Mitsunari beamed. “I knew you were just trying to hide it when you told me-”

“Shut up.” Ieyasu glared. “I’m just . . . the enemy could use her against us. We need to know where she is.”

“Agreed,” Masamune spoke up. “I will put together a team. We’ll find her.”

“My lords, I am afraid she and Mitsuhide are beyond any team.” Kyubei sighed. “The greater concern is what this impacts and how it will be used against us. The Ikko Ikki are moving. The Mouri clan have resumed pirating, and we know it was Kichou that executed the attack on Azuchi. In addition, we have rumors the shogun in exile is drawing a new following.”

Mitsunari frowned. “Yes, I reviewed several shipment records and troop movements from old loyalist daimyo. It appears we are not done with the shogun as of yet.”

Kyubei bit his lip. The scribe they’d installed should have been satisfied to live in luxurious exile, but it seemed the old shogun’s loyalist stirred his greed. Or maybe they were using him as a puppet. He had no way to know, as the spies in Ashitaka’s court had all fallen silent.

Nounaga spoke again. “Hideyoshi, you and Keiji will pursue the Mouri. Masamune, I want you to make contact with Kasugayama. Offer a truce. See what they can offer up about their missing ninja. They may be willing to hunt down our enemies with us, as it does them no benefit to see this land descend into chaos.” His gaze fell on Ieyasu. “You will join Kyubei’s efforts to track down Mitsuhide and the chatelaine. Your research and his current knowledge will yield results.”

“May I assist Lord Tokugawa?” Mitsunari’s innocent smile could have been worn by an angel. He was completely oblivious to the sudden grimace on his friend’s face.

“You may, in your spare time. I need your mind fixed on calculating provisions, troop movements, bridges, and roads. There will be fighting soon.”

Mitsunari acquiesced with a bow.

Kyubei delivered the rest of his report, and then was dismissed. He went straight to the Akechi mansion and opened a bottle of sake. Alcohol was a vice he rarely indulged in, but today he felt like he needed it. He’d exposed some of his lord’s business without permission. He had no idea how or if this would impact Akechi’s plans. And now . . . he’d be working with Ieyasu. It would be difficult to keep the secrets he needed to keep.

He kept drinking until the room spun and the lights all wore halos. Kyubei might have kept it up, but he ran out of bottles and couldn’t make the walk to fetch more. Instead, he fell asleep, sprawled out on the floor of his lord’s office.

***

Mitsuhide felt a mix of relief and distress when his little one explained the plastic stick on the bathroom counter. It meant they were not having a child together. Not yet, at any rate. And this was good. He was in no position here to father a child. But . . .

The image of himself holding a child. His. Hers. His heart felt too big for his chest, thinking of what such a child would be like. His very own son or daughter. One with his love’s sweetness. His eyes. Her nose. His perception. It made him ache, as if he had an old bruise, a wound that hadn’t healed. Which was completely irrational.

He looked out the train window at the rapidly passing countryside. Trees. Hills. Houses. Different and not so different from the world he knew. He should be spending this time planning the next few days, not moping. Kitsunes did not mope.

“Are you ok? Are you nervous?” His little mouse put her hand on his leg, comforting.

“Yes and yes.” Mitsuhide turned his head to give her a sideways smile. “I have never had to meet the parents of my betrothed.” He had expected Nobunaga to marry a woman to him for political purpose. Some well-bred woman who knew how to run a house and had courtly manners. A woman he would never love, but could put up with, at a distance. Yet here he was.

She laughed. “It will be ok, really. I talked to okaasan and she is excited to meet you. She’s happy for us.”

“And you father?” Mitsuhide raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sure he’ll get used to the idea. He’s just . . . to him, I’m still a little kid. But I’m sure once he sees us together, he’ll come around.”

Mitsuhide was less certain about that. He’d known several fathers and they fell into two categories, most of the time. There were the men who could care less about their children beyond their use to the clan. And there were the men that treated their children as things of wonder. Not that they coddled them - but they cared. About their education, their work, their friends. He was sure his lover’s otousan fell into that second group.

The train stop came sooner than he might have liked. The two of them disembarked. There were only a handful of people getting off the train here, so it was easy to spot her parents.

They were dressed conservatively. Her father was a little shorter than Mitsuhide, and a little thicker around the middle. His greying hair was thin on top, and he wore glasses. Her mother was small and wore a smile he would have known anywhere.

The parents caught sight of them at about the same time Mitsuhide’s study of them finished.

“Otou-chan! Okaasan!” His little mouse flung herself across the platform, and was swept up in a hug from both sides. Tears ran down her face, and her cheeks were stretched in a wide smile.

Mitsuhide felt out of place in this moment of familial warmth. He had no such experience himself, and did not want to intrude either way. He stood quietly, holding their bags. Waiting as they exchanged hugs, kisses, and stammered apologies and explanations. As if they could make up for half a year apart in a few minutes.

Her father finally looked up and met Mitsuhide’s eyes. His were dark and suspicious. Protective. “You.”

His little one smacked his arm. “Be nice, papa. This is my fiancé, Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide, this is my father, Minoru, and my mother, Youko.”

Mitsuhide bowed low. “I am pleased to meet you both.”

Her father didn’t reply, but her mother did. “We are so glad to meet you too! It was such a surprise . . . our little girl . . . disappearing and then -”

“And then coming back with a weird boyfriend,” her father interrupted.

Oh yes. This was already going very well. Just as expected. Mitsuhide straightened and put on his best ‘trust me’ smile. “If there were any way we could have done it differently, I promise we would have. I hope we’ll be able to lay any worries you have to rest.”

She stepped over to his side and took his arm. “Yes, I plan on explaining everything.” His little mouse was the one to look nervous now. And no wonder. After much discussion, they’d decided on telling her family a version of the truth.

In fact, Sasuke and Miyake were supposed to come out the following day to provide backup evidence for their story. But even with that, they were asking her parents to accept a lot all at once. Mitsuhide did not see their chances of success as being very high, but for her, he would try anything.

Next: Bonding

[kusagrasskusa]

Kabuto and Adoptive Reader - "Shihaikigo"

Part 1, possible a part 2 (will be linked if it comes out)

Summer: Kabuto had been walking home from a fight and met a little girl there. She had a special kekkei genkai called a Shihaikigo, meaning "controlling marks," which contained the ability to control half the mind of an opposer. She's willingly taken to the Sound Village after she began to trust Kabuto and there she met Orochimaru. She would either be sent to another Sound Villager to be raised or stay under Orochimaru's watchful eye until her kekkei genkai gets stronger. If Kabuto were to aid Y/N in life and to raise her, he could be killed in order to break down Y/N. She's very distrustful in a lot of people but Kabuto since they met. Her kekkei genkai is something that is strong enough to rival a Sharingan or Byakugan so Orochimaru plans to use to for himself one day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laying there, on the sidewalk on a rainy night, helpless was a child with long, messy, hair and a soaked light-grey dress with red stains. She had no shoes, no home, no comfort, and nobody. She was essentially useless; helpless in this dark, cruel, magical world full of demons, heros, and killers. No matter where she searched for any kind of sanctuary or light, there was nothing. She was left with no motivation or thing to hold on to as right inside the very woods that surrounded the village she is in, was a clan hidden deep within. In this clan was very few powerful, but nonetheless meaningful and strong.

They managed to survive alone and strongly for centuries since their beginnings, as their kekkei genkai is the ability to control 25%-50% some signals heading towards someone's brain, which can therefore nearly control their actions and thoughts and feelings. Of course, such power comes with restrictions. The hair of the people in the clan is very sacred; although it could be cut, it limits the ability for them to use their kekkei genkai forever, even when the hair regrows. If their power is overused, they will be become sick and possibly will be paralyzed, mentally unstable, and others even among death.

This power is stores within three marks on the person's body; it doesn't matter where they are as long as it's on the head, neck, palm, or shoulders. The mark travels between the brain and fingertips, and the user then has to touch their opponent with their fingertips in order for their power to be in use. As mentioned, it has a limit so typically the user's kill is fast and clean. For it's dark advantages and evil disadvantages, this power is represented with horns and a halo;

This clan was feared quite a lot for it's abilities, and most people are raised to never use their abilities as it could be dangerous. But some people would use it on accident as it was surprisingly much easier to use than thought. And it was a certain child's accidental use of that power that caused her to be so helpless on the pavement of Konoha on a dark, wet night. It was empty and alone on these streets aside from the sound of slow footsteps immersing from the left side of her.

The six year old girl barely turned her head to the person walking passed her; he didn't even seem to notice her. But upon seeing his silver hair, a sparkle appeared in her eyes; it was too foggy to even notice the difference between this snake and the ninja she thinks he is.

"Kakashi, is that you?" Ahe asked weakly, slowly standing up. She pulled her arms to her chest, shaking as the cold rain began to rain down harder. The man in front of her stopped, paused for a moment, then slowly turned around k face her. "Oh...I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." The girl's look returned to hopeless as she hung her head low.

"Why are you out here all alone at night? Where are your parents?" He asked emotionless as he pushed his glasses up, eyeing the helpless girl. The girl was silent for a moment before whimpering a little. Then all at once, she broke into tears and collapsed onto the concrete floor beneath her. The man stared at her hopeless form for a minute, watching her cry and whimper before he finally crouched down besides her. He pet her back before sliding his hand up under her chin, moving her head up so he could see her clearly.

"You are part of the L/N Clan, aren't you? You possess the Shihaikigo kekkei genkai, do you not? I can see marks on your skin." The silverhead asked, cockkng his head to the side. The little girl sniffed as she wiped away her fallen tears, her lip quivering as she nodded. After a moment, he hummed. "Why is there blood on your dress?" He asked as he wiped away her tears.

"I didn't mean to," she whimpered out. "It was an accident..." And just from that, Kabuto understood. The blood was from her parents; she accidentally killed them. He smirked lightly upon seeing her fragile body break down once more, but this time she lunged towards him and wrapped her small arms around him and clenched his clothes tightly. She cried into his chest as Kabuto brushed his fingers through her chair.

"It hurts, doesn't it? To have lost everything you had ever cared for just like that. And you fear the people around you will hate you; hurt you emotionally snd physically; kill you. It's truly frightening. Such a shame someone so oung has to endure such a thing, hmm?" He asked as he pat her back. She remained in her broken state, his more quiet and listening closely to him. "However, what if I told you there was a way to make these problems disappear? I know people who will except you and love you and raise you for who you are."

Y/N pulled away, her small hands wiping away her tears once more. "But...but...killers don't deserve happiness," she breathed out softly. Kabuto clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

"I think you'll find that everyone deserves happiness. Except," he paused, gritting his teeth as a wider smile appeared over his face. "Excpet those who try to take it from you because they have no idea what you've been through. Selfish people like that will never deserve happiness." Y/N pure yet terrified E/C eyes stared deep into his; she was so young, so naive and so gullible.

"I, for one, believe you deserve happiness. You're a little girl who made a mistake. That's all," he spoke, looking down at her with such manipulation in his eyes. "You deserve a good home with a warm bed for you and nice food. You deserve good parents and most of all, happiness. Don't you want that?" Y/N slowly nodded her head, never breaking her gaze into his eyes. She was so helpless that it was sickening for Kabuto to pry on such a little girl and obviously only for her kekkei genkai.

Y/N sniffed, sighing a shakey breath before replying. "Thank you...so, so much, suh-sir. I really do want things to go back to normal," she replied. She wrapped her arms around him again and sobbed away her last tears in his chest as he held her close. He was patient with her but the heavy rain and fog was making it very hard to see through his glasses. Suddenly, he burst out in a little laugh.

"How rude of me to offer this before I even introduced myself. My name is Kabuto Yakushi. What is your's?"

"My, my name? It's Y/N L/N," she mumbled as she pulled away from him for the last time. "I just really, really, want things to go back to normal. Please, take somewhere safe, please," she begged. Kabuto softly wrapped his larger hands around her waist and picked her up while standing up straight as well. He held her close smiling softly at her with closed eyes and a tilted head. Y/N smiled back at him and giggled for the first time in a while.

He than began his walk to his original path with Y/N in his arms. Along the long walk, he would ask a question about her age, clothing type, school life and grades, hobbies and other things, and he'd give his own answer as well. Anything to get to know each other. Puddles splashed with each step he took and the clouds seem to just get darker and darker. But luckily, about 30 minutes later, it all came to a stop once Kabuto had arrived to his destination: the hideout of Orochimaru or Otogakure.

"Stay here for a little please, Miss Y/N," Kabuto spoke lightly as he walked inside the underground home. "I must go talk to someone right now, but I'll be back with a surprise," he smiled at her as he left her by the entrance doors. She waved goodbye to him as a large smile remained on her face as she was happy to finally by out of the rain. Kabuto's face dropped as he walked to Orochimaru's room in order to discuss Y/N to him. On his way, what played in his mind was the conversation he had with her on his way here.

Such a young girl was capable of such intelligent responses and detailed storytelling. She may have stuttered here and there but overall she was very consistent and concise. She reminded him a lot of himself as he was willing to abandon his orphanage and family to make them live a better life out of fear for their lives. Y/N attacked her parents for nearly harming a few civilians out of thr goodness of her heart. The situations may have been different but deep down, his heart was just as pure as her's at one point in time.

"A member of the L/N clan, you say? My, my Kabuto, you found quite the prize," Orochimaru smiled darkly as he finished hearing the word of his pawn's finding. "Is she capable of using the Shihaikigo?"

"Yes. In fact, she ran away from her clan because she ended a life with it despite her young age," he explained with a dark smile on his face. "She has a very intelligent mind as well."

Orochimaru laughs were hushed as he considered his moves with the girl. "Perhaps after Kimimaro could be her, don't you think? After all, her kekkei genkai is worth as much as a Byakugan or Sharingan; what good is simply seeing chakra when you could control it? A power like that must be harnessed," he thought out loud. "How about this... A girl of her age can't comprehend what it's like to have a meaning or worth and what giving up her life for another would mean. We will raise her to be desensitized to any evil she sees before we break the truth to her."

Kabuto nodded, "Understood, Lord Orochimaru."

"Well, don't just stand there. I'd love to meet the child," he laughed as he looked Kabuto in the eye again, his smirk growing. Kabuto obeyed and walked out, returning again later with a soaked little girl by his side. She was so happy when she heard she could meet the one who would make her dreams come true, only to be met with fear when she saw the pale snake-like man himself. Her smile dropped and she started to shake; Y/N hid behind his leg, staring at the creature with fear in her eyes.

"Y/N, dear, you can't always judge a book by its cover. This man is Lord Orochimaru; it would be wise to-"

"Come now, Kabuto, this reaction is understandable really." The snake stared down at the little girl with interest glimmering in his dead eyes. He then extended his hand towards the little girl crouching down before her. "Give me your hand, darling. I don't bite, I promise," he laughed. Y/N's lip quivered as she looked up at Kabuto. He had an encouraging smile on his face that told her everything would be alright. That's all the validation she needed before reaching out to take Orochimaru's hand and have him pull her closer.

He held her chin and examined the three marks along her body (you choose where they are :)) before laughing once again. "You're kind is so incredible. That even a child managed to murder with it. Yes, truly incredible." Y/N's eyes widened with fear and she started to freak out even more.

"Mister Oro...Orochimaru, I don't understand," she mumbled fearfully. Orochimaru brushed his fingers over one of her marks and then stood up, patting her head.

"You'll understand one day, child. I promise you," he said as he looked at Kabuto. "Do you wish to help raise her or have other ninja do it?"

"I want to stay with Kabuto, Mister Orochimaru," the little girl called out. Kabuto's dark eyes looked down at her small form. He felt helpless against the adorable voice of the girl and sighed out loudly. She turned to Kabuto and took his hand, hugging it possessively. "Please don't leave me! I just met you and you're the only friend I got now! Please, Kabuto, I'll be good, I swear!" Orochimaru raised a brow, laughing.

"You are good with children, I see. Good. If you wish to take her, I'm sure you would have no problem finding food and clothes for her, right?" Kabuto crouched down by Y/N, her still hugging his hand, and chuckled before booping her nose. He could guess that Orochimaru may kill him in order to destroy her and use her in the future, but for right now, a little more time with the girl wouldn't hurt. After all, it had been quite a while since he had been near a child. In the back of his mind was always the home he grew up in and forever, he will miss it. If being around a single happy child will make him feel more at home, so be it.

The thing is, Kabuto doesn't care about Y/N enough to care about raising her; after all, Orochimaru may kill him. However the idea of having a piece of his past that was taken frkm him back meant a lot to him. So why throw it away? And the thing tipping the scale towards possible death was Y/N's adorable big E/C eyes and cute voice, just like some of the girls in his old home. Plus how she can expirence what it's like to be parentless and be able to relate to him kn a deep level.

"Alright, I made up my mind," Kabuto spoke.

"Kabuto, please," Y/N spoke, her dry eyes swelling up with tears again. "I want to stay with you." Orochimaru smiled at Kabuto patiently, awaiting an answer.

"I'll take her in. It's best to keep a watchful eye under such a kekkei genkai, isn't it?" He asked rhetorically. Y/N gasped loudly before smiling widely and hugging him so tightly.

"Thank you! I promise you woke regret it, haha!" Kabuto frowned, patting the top of her head.

"Let's get you cleaned up before we sleep, Y/N. While you bathe, I'll find clothes for you, okay?" He asked as he pulled away from her hug. Y/N smiled happily as she nodded grabbing his hand before desending out if the room with Kabuto. Orochimaru stayed behind, watching closely, laughing under his breath about how innocent she is and what his plans for her will be.

It had been an hour later when the two of them were ready to go to sleep. After all, although it wasn't mentioned earlier, Kabuto was dirty from fighting earlier that day and he needed to bathe as well. Of course, separate from when Y/N did. The silverhead's chamber was relatively large and minimalistic, though now more crowded with a little mattress across the room and two bags full of clothes for her age group. There was a big bed, a dresser, a mirror, and a bunch of candles around the room for a light source. There, of course, was no windows and no toys for Y/N to play with much to her dismay hut she was too tired to question.

"You will sleep in my bed tonight," Kabuto spoke as he helped Y/N climb into his bed. "If you need anything, let me know. I'm blowing out all the candles so if you need anything, you have to speak before you doing anything else, okay?" Y/N yawned and nodded in understanding.

"Yep. Thank you," she replied as she rubbed her tired eyes and laid down. Kabuto blew out each candle on every side of the room before he returned to the small mattress across the room. It was comfortable but it would be removed so as Kabuto would eventually get Y/N a chamber of her own to sleep in of course. He pulled the covers over him and set his glasses on the floor besides him. "Hey Kabuto?"

"Yes?"

"I love you as much as my real dad. Thank you."

Kabuto frowned, taking a moment to comprehend what she had said. "I care about you too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite," she giggled before slowly falling asleep under the covers.

[cake-writes]

Compromise (Interlude #3)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Story Warnings: Mom!Reader, Dad!Bucky, Ex-Relationship, Co-Parenting Drama, Slow Burn, Angst, Fluff, Separation Anxiety, Violence

Summary: You didn’t want to trust him again, because every time you did, Bucky broke your heart just a little more. Deep down, though, you wanted to get along with him. You wanted to be amicable. You wanted your daughter to know her father. You’d always wanted that. It just required a compromise.

Part Nine / Master List / Spotify Playlist

This chapter was written for @marquiswrites​​‘s 100 follower challenge! Congrats, my love! I’m so sorry I’m like a week late on this. Please enjoy.

Bucky’s heart caught in his throat. With his pulse racing just as fast as yours, he quickly got the hell out of dodge and went to the counter to pay. The check became a means of escape. Instinctual, perhaps – fight or flight, and he chose the latter because he was absolutely fucking terrified.

What did you want from him?

He cared about you. He loved you. That much was clear, but in that moment, he’d been forced to confront his feelings and he wasn’t ready to. Not yet. Not with you gazing at him across the table, teeth dragging across your lower lip in such an enticing way that it made him break into a nervous sweat. 

God, how irresistible could you be?

It wasn’t just nerves that drove him up a wall. Bucky wanted to act on the implication in your words, your teasing, your flirting. He wanted to reach over across the table and kiss the breath out of you, desperately, with every fibre of his being. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not now.

He wasn’t ready.

To be a parent, he was. To be a dad.

But to disappoint you again? He absolutely wasn’t.

Needless to say, things only worsened on the walk back to your house – the walk from hell. Somehow, he managed to keep his cool, but his mind was a mess. Anxiety. Panic. Fear. What ifs ran through his mind on an endless loop and gnawed incessantly at his subconscious.

What the hell did you want from him?

But Bucky knew what you wanted. Deep down, he probably always knew.

The sound of your heartbeat was a dead giveaway; quiet, almost inaudible, but he’d heard it quicken. He’d seen the flush come across your cheeks as you teased him – simple words to be sure, but laced with innuendo.

He wasn’t just imagining things.  

And yet, you had been the one to draw a line in the sand two years ago, to shut down any future the two of you might have had. You left him, and it had been your idea to come to an agreement for Winnie. Even now, he could appreciate that you’d done so. She was more important. She’d always be more important. 

Bucky knew you knew that, too, so what the hell was he supposed to do?

He missed you. He loved you. He wanted to be with you.

But he loved his daughter, too.

Bucky startled awake to nothing but silence, the sound of his own voice echoing in his ears.

You take me instead, do you hear me?

A thin sheen of sweat coated his body, and he ran a shaky hand through his damp hair, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down. One, then two. Pitch dark room. Moonlight spilled in through the blinds and onto his duvet.

All he wanted to do was dream – to forget – but instead, he had a nightmare.

Give her back and take me instead.

The words scratched at the back of his throat, dry and unbearable. How many times had he heard that particular phrase? Too many times to count. Too many memories of Hydra blurred the lines within his brain, made things feel entirely too real. Possibly because they were. Bucky had done awful things to secure Hydra’s future, and although he hadn’t been a willing participant, it was still him. All him. He’d done such terrible things that his mind liked to conjure them as a punishment of his own making. 

Once, he ripped a woman away from her father – made him watch. She’d been a threat to Hydra, and thus had to be eliminated despite her father’s desperate pleas to give her back, to take him instead. And now, Bucky understood.

Usually, he watched helplessly as Winnie was kidnapped, taken from him, her young life snuffed out with the flick of a wrist. Or the tip of a knife. Or the sound of a gun.

Quick. Efficient. All ways in which he’d taken lives before.

His sweet, darling daughter, dead in a millisecond. The heartbreak and pain he felt at the very thought of it – never mind witnessing it in such a vivid nightmare – could only be replicated when it was you instead of Winnie. And Bucky understood that, too.

He’d murdered a newlywed on her wedding night, right in front of her groom. Blood spatter against white spackled walls, pristine dress stained a rich, ruby red. Life snuffed out more easily than love, he discovered, when he wound up having to dispatch her new husband, too.

I love her. Give her back. Take me instead.

Bucky would have done the same for you. 

Somehow, he’d found the smallest shred of stability with you, despite his uncanny ability and willingness to blow it up because of his own insecurities – but his past still came back to haunt him anyway. 

With a shudder, he dragged his hands down his face in an attempt to forget the horrors.

It was in times like these that he missed you the most. No matter what, you’d always offered him so much comfort and love despite everything he’d done. Quiet, gentle comfort he’d grown so accustomed to that, even two years after the fact, he still had yet to figure out how he’d survived without.

You’d rouse with a sleepy mumble of his name and reach out for him, small hand coming to rest against his heaving chest. The harsh pounding of his heart beneath your palm would wake you a little more – as would the feel of Bucky’s too-hot skin, sticky with sweat, and you’d blearily blink your eyes open to look over at him in the darkness.

Shh, he’d say. Go back to sleep, doll. I’m fine.

Fine. Always fine. 

Always a lie. 

Just like the crooked smile on his lips, meant to reassure you that it wasn’t a lie this time. Even though it was.

Oh, Bucky… Come here.

You’d see right through him in an instant. Stroke his hair. Whisper sweet nothings to him in the softest, kindest voice he’d ever heard, delicate and strong all at once. And when you’d tell him that everything was going to be alright in such dulcet tones, well, he just had to believe you, didn’t he?

Sometimes he’d break down a little at your gentle touch and even gentler words. He’d wrap his arms around you, hold you tight, cling to you like you were his lifeline and in a lot of ways, you were. He often told you things in confidence that he’d never told anyone before; it felt good to have another person to join him in the darkness, no matter how slight. How selfish. 

And you’d stroke his hair.

Christ.

With an aggravated sigh, Bucky snatched up his phone from the nightstand. He desperately wanted to seek comfort from you like you’d done so many times before so long ago. The problem was that he felt conflicted, now, because of a multitude of reasons: your relationship was already so strained, for one, and it was bound to affect Winnie. Not to mention he knew. 

He knew you wanted to be with him, but you deserved better.

If he reached out, he’d be taking advantage of your feelings for his own selfish comfort. It would complicate things. He’d disappoint you again. He’d ruin what little good relations the two of you had, and it would negatively affect Winnie.

Dear, sweet Winnie with a halo of blood around her perfect little head. His darling daughter, dead in her big girl bed. Bullet in her brain.

Three in the morning. You wouldn’t be awake, but right now he just couldn’t shake the need for your kind, soothing words.

She’s alright, Bucky, you’d say. She’s fine.

He knew you would.

Thumbs hovering over the keyboard on the screen, he couldn’t help himself. Selfish. So, so selfish.

 Bucky, 3:18am Sorry. I know it’s late. Are you awake?

 As soon as Bucky hit ‘send’, he immediately wanted to take it back. He’d managed so many times without you before, and he could do it again. All he had to do was try. A nightmare. That was all. Winnie was fine.

It was so stupidly selfish of him to reach out to you like this, knowing what he knew. He didn’t need you to comfort him, did he? He just wanted it, wanted you.

Needed you.

When his phone vibrated less than a minute later, it made him jump.

 You, 3:19am What’s wrong?

 You had to work in the morning. Why were you up?

Staring at your message, Bucky wasn’t really sure what to say. He started to type one thing, then backspaced and tried another, only managing to get a couple of words in before he changed his mind again. A text was so impersonal – not like how sweet and caring you were in person, in bed with him, and he had some difficulty finding the right words for the situation.

Three or four attempts later, his phone vibrated again and he froze.

A phone call.

Bucky barely had time to bring the device up to his ear before you’d already started to ask on the other end, “Who was it this time?”

Bucky swallowed thickly, before he rasped, “Winnie.” Then he cleared his throat and tried again, “It was Winnie.”

“Winnie? Okay, hold on,” you told him, and then he heard some shuffling – fabric against the microphone, and your voice came through a little more muffled. “Must have been pretty bad tonight, huh?” Your tone was light despite the dreadful subject; then came a creak, a pause, and you let out a soft laugh. “Don’t worry, she’s fine.”

His phone vibrated again.

In confusion, Bucky pulled the phone away from his ear. You’d sent him another text, which he quickly opened to find a photo of Winnie sleeping soundly in her big girl bed. No blood. No halo. She was fine, and fast asleep in what was probably the most uncomfortable position he’d ever seen in his life.

He couldn’t help but let out an undignified snort.

“See?” you said, voice much clearer now, albeit still holding onto the last remnants of sleep. “Our daughter, the contortionist. I bet she got that from you.”

Gentle ribbing, despite how uncomfortable this afternoon had been.

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” he croaked, but his heart felt lighter than before. “How’d she fall asleep with her leg like that?”

“I don’t know,” you responded, laughing some more. “She sleeps like that a lot. I think she saw it in one of her cartoons. Just kind of stuck.”

Bucky let out a soft hum of acknowledgement. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Another laugh, quieter this time, faded into silence before you asked him softly, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

You knew. You always fucking knew and he hated how much he loved it. And just plain hated it, because you saw right through him.

“It’s late,” Bucky deflected. No matter how much he may have wanted to talk about it, he didn’t want to drag you down when he was already bothering you like this. He’d woken you up. It wasn’t his place to do that anymore. Not that it ever really was. “Thanks for the photo. I think I’m gonna make it my wallpaper.”

Another joke. Another deflection.

Hollow.

There was another deafening pause, before you offered, “Are you free for breakfast?”

“What?”

“Winnie would love to see you,” you told him, and he could just hear the smile in your voice. “I’ll even make some french toast.”

“I don’t— I don’t wanna impose,” Bucky stammered at the unexpected invitation, already feeling the anxiety pool in the pit of his stomach. What’s worse was that he did want to impose. He wanted to impose very much.

“Then you can help,” you teased. “Come on. It’s just breakfast.”

It wasn’t just breakfast.

“We’ve gotta leave by eight, so let’s make it seven?” you mused aloud. “Yeah. How’s seven?”

He forced down the lump in his throat. “Seven’s… Seven’s fine.”

“Okay, good! See you in the morning.”

Without missing a beat, he responded almost automatically, “See you then.”

Then the line went dead, and Bucky stared blankly at his phone.

What just happened? You’d just talked him into breakfast so easily. How?

He still had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do. His thoughts started to race for the umpteenth time, full of panic and dread, but no matter how rational he tried to be, an undercurrent of excitement still ran through him like electricity. It made him feel good. Warm. 

Breakfast with you. Breakfast with Winnie.

His girls.

Despite all his nervous energy, Bucky actually managed to sleep soundly for once. So soundly, in fact, that he slept right through his alarm.

Part Ten

[lloydskywalkers]

So on the incredibly rare occasion that I do write romance, I have the ability to write one (1) single romance and that is all, and that’s Dumb Fools in Love. Which hopefully fits here, because it’s Glass Girl’s namesake day, so i gotta at least try for @speedythecat, it’s what she desERVES.

(happy valentines this is disgusting fluff anyways i love u speedy)

Lloyd likes the way construction paper sounds. It’s kind of therapeutic, the sound it makes as he drags the scissors through the middle. It’s even more satisfying when he uses them to start stabbing gaping holes through the paper, because he went and ruined the stupid heart shape again, and now he’s running out of pink and red construction paper that doesn’t look like he took a vicious katana to it and went crazy.

“Stupid scissors—”

He doesn’t know if Rain even likes pink or red that much, Lloyd reminds himself dismally, as he untangles his fingers from the scissors. Just that they’re thematically appropriate to the essence of the holiday, or whatever, and they apparently must’ve been the only two colors that existed when whoever came up with Valentine’s Day was around. He hasn’t even found actual purple in any of the little cards he’s seen, just some floral lavender.

Lloyd glances down to the pile of pink and red paper strewn across the table in front of him, then back to the instructions he’s printed out for himself. Then back to the paper.

Maybe he can just like, die instead.

Lloyd is about ninety percent sure that he can’t be the only person to ever look up “how to make Valentine’s Day cards” on the internet before, but it still feels like a crushing blow to his pride and an overall dumb move in general as he does.

But he’s only slightly desperate right now, and he really doesn’t want to reach fully desperate, so he’s willing to suck up his pride if it means not totally ruining his girlfriend’s hopes and dreams by giving her a sub-par and ultimately disappointing Valentine’s Day card that looks like he doesn’t even understand the holiday in the first place.

To be fair, though, he kinda doesn’t.

Like, Lloyd knows what Valentine’s Day is, obviously. He’s not an idiot. He’s just…never really participated in it…as a person. It seems like all the others have cute little stories of getting paper cut-outs and candy hearts in grade school (which he can get behind, if there’s candy), but Lloyd’s experience in grade school was general scorn toward anything love-related at all. Valentine’s Day was well out of the question. Lloyd didn’t even know it existed until he walked straight into a street stand that looked like red and pink had thrown up all over it, before being drowned in like, twenty-dozen bouquets of roses.

He’d been an awful brat of a child then, so at the time, he’d dealt with it by kicking the stand over and being totally grossed out. Now, however, he’s left wondering if those bouquets are worth the money, or if he should invest in the slightly bigger ones they sell over on the east side stands.

How the tables have turned, Lloyd sighs miserably to himself, struggling to peel another stubborn strip of glitter glue from his hand where it’s dried there, sparkling mockingly at him.  Finally digging the glue free, Lloyd brushes his hands off and glances down at his paper.

Go for handmade.

Well, that one’s easy, ‘cause there’s no way Lloyd’s physically bringing himself to walk into a store and buy Rain some cheesy card with a bunch of generic hearts on it. This, of course, leaves the problem that Lloyd now has to come up with the card, and the only thing that’s coming to mind are generic, cheesy hearts.

Hmm. Lloyd taps the edge of the table, humming beneath his breath. He can draw pretty well, but he’s not like, an artist. Not like Cole is, or anything. Lloyd is a lot better at cartoon characters and funny little caricatures of the others than he is, say, detailed roses or something.

Rain likes cats, right? he muses. He could draw a cat, and then maybe have it holding a heart, or something. That’d be kinda cute, maybe. And then he’d get to make some awful pun like “you’re paw-sitively purr-fect”—

Lloyd slams his head down on the table. Nope. This is why he’s not allowed to come up with the idea himself. He’s worse than all the awful grocery store cards put together.

Something in his nose tickles, and he sneezes, sending up sparkly dust all around him. Lloyd blinks, then bites back a moan. Belatedly, he realizes he’s just dunked his head in glitter dust.

It could’ve been the glue, he tries to comfort himself.

Figuring he’s already doomed, Lloyd makes peace with the fact that he’s just going to live the rest of his day resembling a blond disco ball, and lifts his head to return to task, squinting at what’s next on the list.

Make it personal.

Again, that one should be easy too, because it’s Rain. But what’s supposed to count as personal? Is it like, I-love-you personal, or here’s-a-reference-to-inside-joke-number-fifty-eight kind of personal? Should he do both? He and Rain have too many inside jokes, though, it’ll take him half the day to pick one, and he’s already running out of time. Rain’s supposed to be back at noon, and Lloyd does not have that kind of time to kill.

He drums his fingers against the table-top, staring at the outlined drawing of Rain his fingers have absently started sketching out, right next to his doodles of little cats and a mini-Overlord raging terror on the glitter glue scattered across the paper.

Lloyd frowns at the last one. Oops. Well, he can’t give her this now.

“Is that supposed to be the Overlord? You can’t give Rain that for Valentine’s Day.”

Lloyd jumps half a foot out of his chair and slams his knee into the table just so that his entire leg goes dead, his shriek of surprise strangling off as he chokes on the erupting cloud of glitter dust.

By the time he winds down coughing, wiping the reflexive tears from his eyes and glaring, Kai is just staring at him, mildly concerned and whole lot unimpressed.

“A little warning, please.”

“I’ve been standing here for five minutes, bud, it’s not my fault you’re in dreamland.” Kai glances down at the table-top of scattered construction paper and glitter dust, and his mouth trembles, like he’s holding back laughter. “Are you…trying to make a card, or mass-murdering our construction paper supply?”

Lloyd feels his cheeks go scarlet, and he sputters. “I’m not — no, I’m just—” He waves his hands in the air, wishing he could disappear. “Valentine’s Day,” he finally says, haplessly. “Rain. Card.”

“Ah,” Kai says, nodding. He eyes the butchered pile of paper. “It’s going…good, then?”

Lloyd buries his face in his hands, groaning. “I keep ruining it. I’ve never done Valentine’s Day before, Kai, this is a disaster. Rain’s gonna hate it.”

“Aw, don’t say that,” Kai says, sliding into the chair next to him, patting him on the shoulder. “Rain’ll be fine with…whatever…you end up making. It’s not that big a deal.” He laughs, rolling his eyes. “I mean, it’s not like she’s going to get horribly upset because you butchered her favorite holiday and dump you for some chump with better taste.”

Lloyd freezes dead, his eyes widening. He has not yet considered this option. What if he does ruin Rain’s entire holiday with his awful gift? What if, by completely disrespecting her last name’s namesake — thing — she does get horribly upset and runs off with like, Ariya to the desert or something, and—

Kai blinks, then his eyes go wide. “Lloyd, wait — no, it was a joke, Lloyd, don’t get that look on your face — Nya!”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

And that’s how Lloyd ends up cornered by his entire team at the kitchen table, covered in glitter dust and currently living out his worst life as they try to decide the best way for him not to totally sabotage his love life in one go.

“Honestly, I never really got Valentine’s Day,” Kai remarks. “I didn’t get the whole grade school experience as much, since we homeschooled for the most part. It’s just a lot of hearts and chocolate and flowers and stuff, right?”

“Um, it’s a lot more than that,” Jay rolls his eyes. “It was classroom warfare. Your like, entire life status was measured by how many Valentines you’d get. It was totally lame,” he scowls.

“I dunno, I always got a whole lot,” Cole muses. “I could never figure out why, though. I wasn’t super popular, or anything...”

They all stare at Cole for a beat, where he stands haloed beneath the kitchen lights in all his wavy-haired glory.

“Hopeless,” Jay sighs.

“This isn’t grade school, though,” Nya says. “This is Lloyd’s actual relationship, which we are helping him with, so let’s hear actual helpful stuff, please.”

“Again,” Kai shrugs. “Flowers. Chocolate. Hearts. Bam, you’re good.”

“For crying out loud,” Jay groans. “How do magazines keep labeling you the smooth one.”

“Hold on, he’s got a point with the chocolate part,” Cole points out.

“Of course, you would choose that part to focus on,” Zane sighs.

“Guys, enough,” Nya cuts over them. “I said helpful stuff, not the most generic ideas ever. I mean, chocolate’s nice, but Lloyd’ll probably eat it all before it gets to Rain anyways—”

“I would not!” Lloyd protests.

“—and the card’s gonna be the focal point, so hearts are covered.” Nya glances down the pile of butchered construction paper in front of Lloyd, and winces. “We’ll, uh, help you with that part. But first, let’s plan.” She tugs a half-torn piece of construction paper toward her, uncapping a marker. “What all does Rain like, for starters?”

“Well,” Lloyd pauses, thinking. “She does like flowers, and — no, no I am not going to ask Lief for help, no way, not a chance.”

“Just a suggestion!” Jay throws his hands up in defense. “He’s her friend, though, so he’d probably have some ideas, y’know?”

“So. Not. Worth it.”

“Okay, okay, geez.”

Nya rolls her eyes, but scribbles ‘flowers — not from Lief’ on the paper anyways. “Good, but that’s still pretty standard stuff. Anything else a little more creative? Something that really says Rain to you.”

“She likes rocks,” Lloyd nods.

The marker squeaks violently on the paper, and Nya makes a dying sound in the back of her throat. Kai breaks into snickering, and Jay whacks him on the shoulder, giggling.

“There you go, bud, perfect Valentine’s gift. Give her a rock.”

“No,” Nya says firmly, glaring at Jay. She then turns the glare on Lloyd, who immediately shrinks lower in his seat. “Rocks, Lloyd, really — okay. Okay, do you know anything else she likes? That’s not rocks?”

“Uh, she likes…glass?” Lloyd says, weakly. “And um, seashells. And tea, and — she really does like rocks, I’m serious! Like, cool ones—“

“You are not giving Rain a rock for Valentine’s Day!”

“A cool rock!”

“That doesn’t make it any more acceptable!”

“Ughhh.” Lloyd slides down in his chair with a dying moan, throwing his arms over his face. “You ruin everything. She likes those little paper cranes, I guess. And, uh…”

“You,” Zane reminds him. “She likes you. Therefore, she will most likely love anything you give her, since it’s from you.”

Normally, Lloyd would just scoff at that, but Zane’s voice is so sincere it actually helps, a little. Lloyd sits up in his seat a bit, his crossed arms loosening. “Well…”

“Yeah! So why don’t you just draw her a cat that says like, ‘you’re purr-fect’, or something?” Jay suggests. “That sounds like you.”

Lloyd slams his head against the table, once again accidentally dunking himself in glitter dust. He can’t bring himself to care this time, because the whole world apparently just knows him for terrible puns.

“Stop being so melodramatic, you’re going to remind her of her brother,” Nya clips. Lloyd chokes on his tongue, and dissolves into a fit of manic sputtering as Kai claps him on the back, encouraging him to breathe.

“—was just a joke, Lloyd, don’t take her seriously.”

“—time and place, Nya, time and place—!”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

It takes several disastrous attempts and more than a few marker wars — Kai in particular is sporting some spectacular pink sharpie marks along the side of his face, and Lloyd’s got streaking red marks across his forearms as the price for protecting his own face — but Lloyd end up with one brightly-colored, cursive-lettered Valentine’s card for Rain.

He’s feeling pretty confident in it, actually. It says everything he wants it to say, while looking pretty but dignified, and it’s only got one cat on it, so he’s — he’s pretty sure Rain will like it. A lot more than any of his other disastrous attempts, he assures himself. Now all he’s gotta do is grab the flowers Nya made him promise to get, and according to both Wikihow and his family, he’ll have the perfect Valentine. Armed with that knowledge, Lloyd strides confidently for the kitchen table to grab an envelope.

Only to freeze dead when he comes face-to-face with Rain, who’s bent over studying said disastrous attempts from earlier, that he’s left out in full view on the kitchen table like a complete moron.

Rain’s currently got one of his first attempts in her hands, her finger tracing the little design he’d drawn. Her hair’s down right now, all silvery and smooth and falling over her face, so he can’t see her expression.

Lloyd is highly considering running for the hills by like, hurling himself out the kitchen window, when Rain turns around, the end her nose still red from the outside cold, freckles standing out more than usual on her cheeks. Lloyd freezes in place.

She holds up one of the ruined cards. “Are all these...for me?”

Lloyd’s soul makes the executively wise decision to exit his body right then.

“They’re — I — no, they’re for, uh—”

Lloyd’s mind backfires. Shoot, he can’t say they’re for someone else, they’ve got ‘I love you’ and other sappy stuff all over them, what’s he supposed to do—

“They’re, uh, for my grandmother.”

Rain raises an eyebrow. “Your grandmother…named Rain,” she says slowly, reading the name that’s brightly plastered everywhere.

“Her name’s Rain too,” Lloyd tries, weakly.

Rain raises her other eyebrow. She wordlessly holds up one of the cards, pointing to where “Rain Allira Valentine” is highlighted. Lloyd mentally makes a note to murder Kai later as her finger slides down to the “Mr. Rain Valentine” right below, her lips trembling as she tries to hold back a snicker.

“Um.” At least she’s laughing, Lloyd tells himself. She hasn't run off to the desert yet. “I have a better one for you, I swear. Those are just — really, really bad first attempts, which you were never supposed to see, ever.”

Please forget they ever existed, is on the tip of his tongue, but Rain’s expressions softens, her eyes fond as she looks from the cards to him.

“I don’t know, these are…kinda sweet,” she admits, her cheeks going a bit pink.

“Oh,” Lloyd says, his own face heating. “That’s! That’s good, I guess. I mean, this new one’s — it’s a whole lot better, though, and uh…” He frantically rubs the back of his head, trying to get his brain back online and working properly again. Unfortunately, the action sends a tiny shower of sparkles raining from his hand, and Lloyd remembers in horror that he never got that glitter dust out.

Rain smirks, biting back a laugh. “Hold on,” she says, stepping in close. “You’ve got some — here.”

She pushes a hand through his hair, her fingers gently tangling through the thick blond strands before pulling away, leaving her fingers stained in glitter dust. She gives a tiny snicker, then brushes at his hair with her other hand, neatly sweeping a shower of glitter dust from it before carefully tousling his hair back in place.

“There,” she says. “Now you don’t look as much like a disco ball.”

“Maybe I wanted to look like a disco ball,” Lloyd says, petulantly. “Lloyd Disco Ball Garmadon, that’s me.”

“Then I’d have to make you another Valentine’s card,” Rain says, and Lloyd finally spots the envelope she’s been keeping behind her back. “Because I definitely messed up your middle name, if that’s the case.”

Lloyd blinks rapidly. “Wait, you got me one?”

Rain freezes, looking unsure. “Um…yes? That’s kind of…the point, right? You give Valentine’s to people you lo—like—um, love.”

Lloyd’s definitely red now. “I-I probably wouldn’t know,” he finally stammers. “Darkley’s wasn’t too big on Valentine’s.”

Lloyd immediately wants to hit himself, because Rain’s here being sweet and talking about love, and he’s bringing up Darkley’s like a motor-mouthed moron. And now Rain looks sad, and is it too late for Lloyd to pitch himself out the window—?

“Well, lucky for you, I know all about it,” Rain suddenly says, firmly. “You’ll just have to spend the day with me, so I can give you the run-down.”

“That I can do,” Lloyd grins brightly in relief.

“It’s a date, then,” Rain beams, before her smile hitches in laughter. “And you, um, you have more glitter. On your cheek.”

Lloyd wipes quickly at his face. “Oh, come on — did I get it?”

“No, now you’re just — okay, stop, I’ll get it, hold on.”

Rain steps nearer again, brushing her thumb across his cheek once, then again. “There,” she nods satisfied. She doesn’t move back, though, standing close enough that Lloyd can count her freckles, and see every shade of teal in her eyes. There’s a hint of a smile left on her face, and Lloyd swallows. This would probably be like, the perfect time to—

“For FSM’s sake, kiss her, you moron, she’s totally set you up for it—”

Kai’s voice cuts off in a strangled choking sound as Nya throttles him while both Rain and Lloyd go scarlet, and Lloyd makes another mental note to murder Kai a second time later.

“Wanna go out?” Lloyd suggests hastily, his face flaming. “The candy’s probably not gonna be on sale yet, but I bet we can get someone to cut us a deal.”

“Yes,” Rain nods fervently. “Let’s — out. Go out. Of here, sounds good.”

“Great,” Lloyd says, then snatches both their jackets from the hook before fleeing, Rain trailing behind him as they sprint past the others, stifling laughter as Lloyd desperately avoids making eye contact with anyone. Rain’s muffling giggles too, though, and Lloyd can’t help breathing out a laugh as he flings open the doors tumbling out into the chilly February weather.

“So, I have a question,” he says, as their footsteps fall into pace down the street. “What do you think of like, rocks as a present?”

“Hm, I don’t know. Is it like, a cool rock?”

“I mean, hypothetically? Yeah, a super cool rock.”

“Well, if it’s super cool. Then that’d be a good one, I guess.”

“I knew it—!”

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 209

This is the “Fuck All Cameras” Episode, which is kind of awesome, but also a little outdated in this age of smartphones.    If Piccolo blew up my phone just to keep me from taking pictures of his friends, that’d be really inconvenient.    My boarding pass for the flight home would be on there, for example.   

We open on this dude, who’s just doing martial arts stunts for a crowd of bystanders.   Who is he?   We never find out, but he does look pretty cool.  

This somewhat less cool-looking dude shoves him out of the way before we can learn anything about him, and this reporter lady starts interviewing him instead.   

So it’s the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai and Videl’s here to enter, but she also specifically wants to fight Gohan, so she’s trying to find him.     Instead she runs into Sharpner, who for some reason is now madly in love with Videl.    I mean, I don’t blame him, Videl’s awesome and all, but we saw none of this in Sharpner’s previous appearances.   He sat next to her in school, so I guess he was trying to get close to her until he was ready to shoot his shot.    But now he’s wearing a suit and offering her a bouquet of roses, so this seems awfully sudden.

Basically, Sharpner’s throwing out everything he knows to try, and he can’t even get Videl to turn around.    This is downright painful to watch.    Some dork probably told Sharpner to “just tell her how you feel” and here he is doing it and he’s going down in flames.   You can make the argument that his approach here is kind of crappy, but it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t have a chance here and he never did.   Videl didn’t cut her hair for Sharpner, she did it for the boy who taught her how to fly.    There’s no topping that, and he doesn’t even know that’s what he’s up against.   

I don’t know, I feel for Sharpner here.   That feels weird to say, because he’s presented as kind of a dick, but he’s not that bad.    Yeah, he tried to pick on Gohan a little, but by the end of the day he respected him for being tougher than he looks.   Vegeta beat the shit out of Gohan multiple times, and everyone loves that guy.   I’m not saying Sharpner “deserves” Videl or anything, but it sucks that he clearly worked up a lot of courage to make this big play for her affections, only to find out that he’s a bit player in someone else’s story.   

Likewise, this little girl overheard Sharpner’s invitation to go to some stand that sells fruit juice, and she’s smitten.    Sharpner’s the handsomest guy she’s ever seen, he’s really old, like maybe ten.   He’s offering to buy her juice and she’s taking him up on it.    Apple, please!     But alas, he wasn’t talking to her, and she’s just a bit player in his story, just as he is for Videl’s.   

This is why I don’t respect people who just blow this story off as being nothing but guys screaming at each other for ten episodes.   Yes, it has that.    It makes time for that.  But there’s also a lot of exploration of the human condition in this thing.  You just have to be willing to root around for it.   

Now, let’s hurry up so we can talk about the Punching Machine.

This shot of Goku strolling through the tournament grounds is awesome.   He’s got his best friend and his grown-up son with him, it’s just really great to see.    The funny thing is, Goku’s only been absent from the show for a handful of episodes, but it still feels like it’s been seven whole years.    It’s just awesome to have him back, and in his old stomping grounds, ready to kick some ass and hug some children.

Trunks isn’t sure what to make of Goku, but he thinks his own dad is stronger.  Goten replies that Gohan always said Goku was the “strongest in the universe”, which is weird because Gohan was demonstrably stronger than Goku before he died.    Modesty’s one thing, but it’s strange that Gohan would just flat-out say something like that.    I mean, Gohan honestly had no idea that he had surpassed Goku until Goku asked him to fight Cell.  Could it be that he still can’t accept his superiority on that day, even after all this time?

Goku can’t get used to seeing Krillin with hair.    He asks why he stopped shaving it, and 18 walks by.   Well, it’s not because 18 likes the hair better.   She shaved his head in Res F and seemed to like him better that way, or at least that was my take.  

Then Goku finally notices 18 and he’s all “What’s she doing here?”  

And Krillin’s like “Me, Goku.   She’s doing me here.   That’s your answer.”

Goku’s all “How’d you have a baby with a robot?” and Krillin has to explain that 18 was never a robot, just a human with cybernetic enhancements.    This is a polite way of saying 18 has reproductive organs.    This feels like a bit of a retcon to me.   19 and 20 had entire chunks of their bodies chopped off, and they appeared to be wholly metallic, except for some fluid that might have been blood, and Dr. Gero’s human brain.    17 and 18 claimed to be modified humans, like Gero/#20, but we never saw either of them take any heavy damage, so it was never clear how much of them was still human.    At the time, it didn’t especially matter, but once 18 settled down with Krillin and had a baby, it was worth clarifying that this was possible for her.   But if she had been in some epic battle and half of her face got ripped off, she’d probably turn out to be metal underneath, and the implication would be that she was just a brain in a robot body like Gero.  It just depends on what direction the character went in.  Schrödinger’s uteurs.

Later, Gohan runs into Videl, but he explains to her that he’s entered as the Great Saiyaman, so she has to call him that for the whole day.   Then she shows off her flying ability to him, but she gets kind of frustrated that she can’t keep up with him.

Then Sharpner runs into them, and he quickly gets the impression that Videl is sweet on this Great Saiyaman person, if that is his real name, which it isn’t.

Gohan tries to leave, probably because he’s afraid Sharpner might recognize him from school, but Videl decides to play along.  She doesn’t actually tell Sharpner that she’s dating Great Saiyaman, but she doesn’t deny it either.    You can tell from the way she smiles that she enjoys watching him think about it.   

Also, when the tournament contestants are summoned to the preliminaries, she takes Gohan’s arm in hers, just to twist the knife.   Gohan’s even more unnerved by this, because, as Uncle Raditz once told him, he’s one of the mighty Saiyans too.

Speaking of Raditz, is that him posing in his underwear for a bunch of fans?    Is that Luffa on the far left?     Computer, zoom in sector 4 and enhance!

I mean, it’s not the standard color, and I’m not even 100% sure that’s supposed to be a woman, but the skin tone and the swagger are there.    This isn’t a fan, either.   You can tell by the gym bag she’s carrying....... which must contain her usual fighting clothes.    It’s perfect.    Anyway, she’s here to scold Raditz for skipping Tail Day.  

So this reporter and camera crew are trying to get interviews with the contestants, but Vegeta and Piccolo blow them off.

Goku’s more accomodating, but they don’t understand what he means when he says he’s dead and he’s only visiting for the day. 

And that’s when Piccolo gets fed up and starts blowing up cameras.    Maybe he just doesn’t want Goku explaining the afterlife to the media?   

Then we see this dude signing autographs... Is this Jonathan Joestar?    

I mean, am I on drugs today?   This episode is full of cameos.    I came for the exploding cameras, but I stayed for the JoJo references and OC photobombs.

Meanwhile, Sharpner has made it his business to unmask Great Saiyaman and expose his identity to the world.  Not sure how or why that would improve his standing with Videl, but I think at this point he’s just upset and this is the only outlet he has for his anger.    I would give him credit for not stalking Videl or anything weird like that, but that may be more self-preservation than discretion.    Videl would kick his ass in two seconds and he knows it.  

The Z-Fighters all assemble in the area for the preliminaries, where all the other competitors are.   A bunch of them are working out with weights to pass the time.    I really don’t get that.    This just seems like a bad time to lift, you know?    Also, why bring dumbbells with you.   You have to lug them around the whole time, check them on the flight, etc.  

On the other hand, I totally get that guy on the left who’s stone cold taking a nap.   I guess this is why I never had any talent for combat sports.

Hey, guess who it is?   It’s the World Tournament Announcer!    He’s still hosting this thing, and he’s delighted to see Goku, Krillin, and Piccolo return.   As far as he’s concerned, these events are downright dull without awesome guys like these to make them cool.   WTA’s gotten spoiled on gonzo super brawls, and now regular fighting just doesn’t do it for him anymore.  

So the funny thing about all of this is that WTA is one of the few people who know that Goku and his friends beat Cell, and not Mr. Satan.   King Furry figured it out, based on his recollection of Goku fighting King Piccolo, and he announcer knows it because he witnessed Goku’s battle with Piccolo Junior.   That, and WTA watched Mr. Satan win the 24th Budokai, which must not have been nearly as impressive as the Goku/Piccolo battle from the 23rd.  

Also, WTA is thrilled to see Goku’s brought even more cool dudes to join the action.  He doesn’t understand Goku’s halo, but he still hasn’t made sense of Krillin’s resurrection from back in the day, so by now he’s just given up on trying to figure it out.   He only asks that Piccolo doesn’t blow up the ring again, and Piccolo’s all “We’ll see,” which is probably exactly what WTA wanted to hear.    Yeah, he doesn’t want the ring destroyed, but he likes the idea that it could happen at any time with this crew.    Piccolo’s a master showman.  

Does WTA remember that Piccolo’s the same guy who tried to conquer the world?   He revealed himself at the 23rd Budokai, but the announcer doesn’t seem to remember, or maybe he figured out that Piccolo turned face by the Cell Games.   

In any event, Gohan is pleased to see that there’s at least one person who knows and respects his father’s greatness.   

Meanwhile, Sharpner tries to jump on Gohan from one of the rooftops, hoping to pull off his sunglasses, but Gohan bends down to pick up something at the last second, so it goes pear-shaped in a hurry.

Holy fuck he was picking up Captain Ginyu!   This episode is truly a cavalcade of stars!    

Also, Sharpner hit the pavement so hard he cracked it, and yet he’s still alive and unhurt, which lends to my theory that even ordinary people in Dragon Ball are much, much stronger than real-world people.   Bulma could kick Brock Lesnar’s ass, is what I’m saying.  He’d F5 her and she’d just jump back up and bitchslap him so hard that it’d break his neck.   The cops couldn’t arrest her for murder because she’d be too strong for their feeble handcuffs.  

Later, Sharpner gets a kid to pull off Gohan’s sunglasses while he lurks nearby with the camera.   It’s too fast for him to recognize him on sight, but he knows the camera got a good shot, but then Piccolo destroys it, along with every other camera in the vicinity.    So that takes care of Sharpner.   

Okay, just to explain for younger readers, back in the day cameras relied on film, which had to be chemically developed before you could see the picture you took.   So that’s why Sharpner didn’t just look at the photos he’d taken before it was too late.   I think camera film is still common knowledge, but I’m trying to make sure this blog post will make sense in case someone finds it on archive.org in 2030.  

Anyway, Piccolo just flat out explains that he destroyed every camera in the area.  There’s a real Ron Swanson energy to Piccolo.    “I don’t like flash photography so I murdered all of the cameras.   You’re welcome.”   Seriously, though, he did it just so Gohan can fight without fear of his disguise falling off.   He’s a good friend. 

So, in past tournaments, the preliminaries were this single-elimination tournament to choose eight fighters for the quarterfinals.    This time around, they have a much faster system: The Punch Machine.     Basically, everyone has to punch a device that measures how hard you hit, and the top 15 scorers get to participate in the tournament.    The 16th slot automatically goes to Mr. Satan, since he’s the defending champion. 

While the Z-Fighters are amused and/or disgusted by Satan’s antics, I think it’s pretty awesome how he comes out, holds up his title belt, and greets the other fighters by asking “Who among you will surpass me?!”     I think in the dub he shouts “Who wants this?!” referring to his title belt.    He knows one of these guys might beat him.   If not today, then some day, and for all his glory-seeking, he accepts that.    Plus, he gets the crowd all fired up.    Goku just isn’t built that way. 

So Mr. Satan does the first punch, which I guess is meant to establish a frame of reference for the machine.   It scores him at 137, and I assume everyone thinks no one else can top that, since he’s thought to be the strongest man in the world.   

While the gang lines up for their turn, Goku asks if Tien and “them” are coming.    He really doesn’t know Chiaotzu’s name, does he?    Is he using “them” to refer to Launch too?    Or is he just not sure of Chiaotzu’s gender?    Maybe he thinks Tien married a robot too.    He has no idea.

Anyway, Krillin explains that Tien probably won’t be here.   “No, dude, he just looked at us and said ‘I’m leaving now.   Goodbye forever.’  And then we never saw him again.   Pretty sure he’s not coming.”

All ofthese girls are here to cheer on Videl for when she takes her turn on the Punch Machine.   Are they friends from school?  Where’s Erasa, then?   It seems a bit odd that they’re allowed back here, unless they’re entered in the tournament too, and they don’t appear to be dressed for it. 

Anyway, this Punch Machine business really annoys Vegeta.   Is that Nappa behind him?   Wow.

18 takes her turn, and she tries to hold back, but she ends up getting a score of 774.    Whoops. 

Krillin scolds her for this, because now the officials think the machine is broken.    She tries again and gets like a 206, which is still suspicious, but at least they can sort of buy that. 

So the others just sort of barely tap it to get believable scores, but even so, they’re still higher than what the officials would have expected.

This is especially shocking to Videl, who hasn’t met the Z-Fighters yet.

So then it’s finally time for Vegeta’s turn.    As it turns out, this marks the start of an epic battle, one of my all-time favorites.    You don’t see a lot of talk about this one, but Vegeta vs. Punch Machine is a real classic.   Over the course of the next six episodes we’ll--

Uh...

...

PUNCH MACHINE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Videl is stunned.    Punch Machine was her godfather, but now it’s just a bunch of scrap metal.    And that red cushiony part on the front.   

Look at this heartless bastard.   He killed Punch Machine and he doesn’t even care.  It had one more day till retirement.    I... I can’t go on anymore.   

Yeah, that’s the Great Saiyaman Saga.    Not so great, actually.   They should call him Stand-Around-And-Let-Punch-Machine-Get-Murdered Saiyaman, because that’s what actually happened.    I guess “justice” is only for humans and cat people now.    Way to drop the ball, Saiyaman. 

[neonthewrite]

Vanguard (Trust AU)

(So I guess it’s just a given that I’ll forget to crosspost stuff if I don’t post them at the same time. That’s okay, though. Here is another glimpse into the unlife of Colfax as a vampire.)

 Colfax has lived a really long time. As one of the founding members of the Vanguard, he might seem like just another enforcer, but he's really .... not. At all. And the Vanguard doesn't like it when vampires make a spectacle of things, because secrecy.

Colfax happens to be really good at bringing the drama in these situations.

Reading time approx. 5-10 minutes; Some violence described

Vampire Trust AU co-created with @creatorofuniverses , with more stories available on @alittleblogoftrust

~~~

Year: 2008 Colfax adjusted the collar of his shirt, an attempt to make the tie more comfortable. As with most brand new clothes, that was a tough task. The whole suit was fresh from the tailor, ready for him to go and carry out a task he wasn’t fond of. He’d have loved to ignore the messages, but this was critical and he was the nearest Vanguard enforcer.

Someone was drawing attention. A spree killer, the media was saying. It was spreading information faster than the Vanguard could control what was getting out. That would not do.

After seeing some of the photos his sister had sent him, it was a marvel people weren’t already whispering about vampires. Disbelief had worked for so long, but now, it was harder than ever to keep people’s noses out of it. Photoshop was powerful, but so were conspiracy theories.

Colfax adjusted the cuffs of his jacket next, a frown fainter than starlight on his face. He’d tracked their quarry to the unassuming little neighborhood of quiet shops and a dive bar or two. The edge of downtown was only blocks away, but here, the hunting ground was near perfect.

He looked like he could be waiting for an event. Standing at a corner by a homey little coffee shop, Colfax wasn’t hiding. In fact, he was as obvious as he could be without making a scene. Haloed by a street lamp, passersby gave him a wide berth.

He was willing to wait there past the last call if he had to. The vampire making a name for themself in this city was in the pub across the street--an old business that held on while the shops around it changed faces every decade or so.

The place was on the police’s list of suspect places, and in fact most nights they’d had a man undercover to watch for any patterns. There had been three deaths within a mile, though not all victims could be placed there. If Colfax were to guess, the pub was the place to spot lone prey on the move without drawing too much attention. Even across the street, he’d already noted three people walking alone on the same block within easy view.

He wasn’t left watching people go by for as long as he expected. Before midnight even approached, Colfax spotted a young woman passing the pub with a pair of friends. When they continued down the block, she waved a goodbye to them. She’d parked nearby, so she said, and would see them tomorrow. Innocent, noisy, and brazen against the night. She may as well have worn a sign declaring her a free meal.

Any other time, it might be Colfax taking her up on that challenge. The most danger she’d face would be lightheadedness for a few days, perhaps a harsh dehydration headache.

If she fell victim to the other one, she would become famous, but not in a way most young people wanted.

By the time she was snatched into an alley mere steps from her car, Colfax wasn’t standing under the streetlight anymore. He arrived at the alley in time to see a flicker of motion as a door closed. Just across from the pub’s back door, an unoccupied building waited, locked up and perfect for waiting out prey like a trap door spider.

Ah. Clever.

A locked door didn’t mean all that much to Colfax. He followed into the abandoned building, a part of him awakening to relish the chase. His target might be another vampire, but a hunt is a hunt. Halls and offices stood in place of a jungle, and he followed unerringly after the faint sounds of movement.

The other vampire didn’t make things difficult for him. Doubtless they expected no one to have noticed the woman disappearing from the street. Doubtless, they had allowed themselves to become arrogant after weeks and weeks of the same without any retribution.

Hunting in the same place wasn’t a problem. In fact, it was still fairly common among the stubborn ones who didn’t want to move around too often. Vampires could claim their territory if they were willing to stand up for it, and the hunting in their radius was good enough.

Making a name for oneself? That was frowned upon.

Colfax stalked his quarry past several spacious office rooms filled with old cabinets and furniture that had been collecting dust for years. Chairs and trash bins stacked high in some areas, like misshapen pillars distracting the eye and hiding strange shadows.

Luckily, Colfax could see quite well in the dark.

He followed the sounds to what might once have been a conference room. His nose wrinkled slightly as he approached the door. A lot of blood had shed in that room, and so far none of it fresh. It was the vampire’s lair, without a doubt, and the young woman might be facing the end of her life soon.

Colfax rounded the threshold of the door without an attempt at further stealth. Once he found the other vampire, he didn’t need to hide. He wasn’t the one in trouble.

The lair was about what he’d have expected. A long table lay on its side, blocking off the view of the back third of the room. In front of it, the old carpet was stained over and over with the death blows of many people that had then been found all over the city. Dull blades piled in the corner, machetes and cleavers for what purpose Colfax wished he wasn’t privy to.

Really, it was just so over the top and needlessly flashy.

Colfax adjusted his lapel while the stunned vampire blinked at him. Already the troublemaker had the young woman entranced and staring helplessly up at him. His lips were parted and his fangs were showing, but he’d yet to break her skin. She only sported a bruise on her arm, shaped like the vice-like grip that dragged her away.

Credit to the upstart, he recognized what Colfax was and snarled. “Let me guess,” he hissed. “Vanguard?”

Colfax didn’t deign to give him a quick answer, and instead fiddled with the cuffs of his jacket again. Once he’d assured they were neat and even and his opponent was annoyed, his gaze flickered up again. “Vanguard,” he confirmed. “You’ve drawn notice.”

The vampire grinned, smugness and pride the only emotions he had room for. “Yeah? Here to give me a certificate? Maybe a trophy?”

“A warning,” Colfax answered. Already he was bored, and he had a feeling he knew exactly where this conversation would go. The vampire would resist him, and get arrogant, and he’d have to get dramatic. “The single warning you are allowed to cease your high-profile killings and allow the growing media interest to peter out before you quietly leave town and establish roots elsewhere.”

The vampire sneered. “The Vanguard hasn’t done much for the past three hundred or so years,” he pointed out. “I’ve been at this for nearly seven hundred, you poor brute. It isn’t what it once was, no matter what they might have told you when they signed you on as a new suit. I will do as I please.”

There it was. The exact sort of thing he could expect from a hotshot like this. Plenty of age behind him, a lot of experience, and the hubris to go with it.

Luckily, for his dramatics’ sake, precious few could surprise him with their age.

“Your warning has been given,” he declared. “Without promise of cooperation, I am at liberty to pass judgment. Should you request it, I can be swift.”

The other vampire actually let his claimed prize drop to the floor. She landed in a seated position, still staring up at him. Despite the harsh impact, she didn’t make a single sound of pain.

“Back off, enforcer,” the vampire warned. “I don’t care what you tell your masters about this, that you couldn’t find me, or you couldn’t keep up. If we have to fight, I won’t go easy. This is my town.”

Colfax side-eyed the woman on the floor. The poor girl was probably going to have some wild nightmares after all this, hypnosis or not. When he met the other vampire’s gaze again, he tugged on his hypnotic ability, just for a moment. “My masters,” he echoed, neutral in tone yet somehow as derisive as could be.

Vampire hypnotism wasn’t the easiest ability to master for most. Some could take centuries to effectively enthrall their victims, and decades of unlife were required at minimum for the ability to appear at all. It was a tricky defense, and took a lot of practice. Only the most practiced or the geniuses among their numbers could hope to turn it on one of their own kind.

Colfax happened to be both.

The other vampire’s eyes widened, and he lurched to the side with uncanny speed. He aimed to reach the door and find a better hiding place, perhaps, but Colfax could match his speed; he fed regularly, too.

His body slammed into the other’s with enough force to send them both flying against the door frame. The metal squealed and bowed in the middle, and Colfax latched a hand on the man’s shoulder just above the collarbone. Both of them had their fangs bared. Colfax’s eyes blazed with quiet anger, the other with loud rage.

“Seven hundred years,” Colfax said, as he leaned his free arm over the other vampire’s chest. “So Edward and Isabella had gotten married. Did you also attend the wedding? The coronation? What other fantastic things have you done in this long life?”

“Enough to last,” his opponent hissed. A kick with enough speed and power behind it to break cement came swift and unguarded at his ribs. Colfax’s bones didn’t yield, but he stumbled back anyway.

He followed the other vampire into the hall, leaving behind the hypnotized young woman. She was safe, and had been the moment Colfax stepped in. He let the other dart around a corner ahead, anticipating an ambush.

Indeed, as he came to the corner, a heavy shape dropped from above, barreling Colfax against the opposite wall. Drywall cracked as the man pinned him with a snarl, and Colfax opted not to fight back. Nonchalance would go a lot farther here than any defiance he could offer. The other’s snarl only became more pronounced.

Keyed up on bloodlust and adrenaline, the other vampire hissed in his face. “I was having a nice evening, enforcer,” he complained. “I think I’ll make my biggest spectacle yet tonight. I’d like to see the Vanguard try to cover me up after this.”

It was just too easy.

“I’ll oblige you,” Colfax spat back, once again meeting that gaze and giving a yank of his hypnotic influence.

As the man faltered, Colfax pushed back against him, grasping the front of his shirt and hoisting him up easily. As the vampire flew backwards in his abrupt toss, he struck the corner of the hallway and something snapped while the wall splintered. A screech echoed in both directions down the hallway, only exciting Colfax’s instincts further. He was upon his quarry before the other vampire even landed on the ground.

With his spine broken, the hotshot could only lie there as Colfax lurked over him. Behind his pain and anger, new fear lurked in his undead heart. Centuries weren’t easy to build up, but he might as well be fresh to his abilities compared to Colfax.

“You don’t even know how to brag about your age,” Colfax spat with contempt. “Allow me to demonstrate.” He stomped downwards on the man’s ribs to prompt a breathy howl, then squatted down.

“A thousand years ago, I watched the English skirmish with the Danes.” He grasped the man’s arm as it flailed at him, snapping both bones in it. “A thousand years before that, I heard news that Ovid had been banished from Rome.”

The man tried to sit up and twist away, and Colfax settled with a simple, straight hook to the face to leave the vampire leaning dazed against the wall. “I wasn’t done. A thousand years further and King David was building his promised land. He knew about our kind, you know. Someone like you thought to make sure of it.”

Vampires don’t strictly need to breathe, but the other was panting with open fear now. He tried to scoot away only for Colfax to grab the front of his shirt again. He pulled him close to meet his eyes one last time. “A thousand further still and my name already meant something. I could go on, but it seems you understand. You’ll be a spectacle, but not for the public. The Vanguard accepts your example. Congratulations.”

After so much teasing and pain, the other didn’t have the energy to resist. Colfax leaned forward and snapped as quick as a viper, opening the artery at the side of the vampire’s neck. All without taking a single drink of the dead blood flowing slowly there. A final insult.

He leaned back, spitting into a handkerchief and wiping away the remaining blood while the other vampire slowly and painfully ran out of stored energy to sustain his unlife. It was no stake to the heart, but that was a hunter’s method.

Colfax left him there as he stood and wandered back towards the conference room. He sent Gwen a quick text with the address of the building; she would likely have it razed and rebuilt. She liked projects like that to cover up a scandal and reinvigorate an area at the same time.

The young woman was unconscious when he found her. After a check that he wasn’t completely covered in blood that might get her in more trouble, he hoisted her up easily and carried her back out of the place she’d almost died.

He knew an officer to call to patrol the area and happen to find her and get her home. For unwittingly aiding the Vanguard, she’d earned a modicum of special treatment.

It was the least he could do. 

[themutantunderground]

In Another Life Ch. 3

Aka The Single Dad John!AU

John is raising a daughter on his own, working at Xavier's, and balancing "superhero" duties when Clarice moves into his apartment building. He's curious about her. On her end, Clarice isn't sure what to make of John and his daughter. It's better to not get close to people, but it's also nice to be wanted.

Ao3 | FF.net

"So. Portals?"

"Yep," Clarice said, "Portals. I think it'll be the best way to get everything up here from the yard, and it should save us a lot of trips."

John leaned back against the kitchen counter, curious. There were a few standard teleporters at Xavier's, but he didn't know of anyone who could create actual portals. Clarice had mentioned using her ability as a way to get everything up to the apartment quicker, but he had thought she might have telekinesis or something.

This was unexpected.

On the other side of the kitchen area, Lorna was standing next to her husband Marcos. They had brought Clarice's lamp down from their apartment on the next floor up and decided to stay to help out. They had also brought along some breakfast in case Clarice hadn't had any, plus Marcos was still finishing off his plate. Harry had texted back to let him know he would be down in a few minutes, and Shatter replied to say he would be over right after he finished walking his dog Reggie.

John had sent a text to Ororo to let her know that he and Riley were going to be late and so would Marcos and Lorna. He didn't think it would take too long, so he was pretty sure he would be there in time for his first class, but Ororo had said she would take his students if he did wind up missing it. Riley would be late for kindergarten, but her teacher wouldn't mind, not when she was helping out somebody in need.

Riley sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter beside him, her head tilted to the side. "What's a portal?"

"Well, short stuff, it's a cosmic hole that rips through space and time to let you get from point A to point B instantaneously," Lorna said, her tone playfully matter-of-fact.

John rolled his eyes at her not-so-kid-friendly explanation, and she grinned back at him. "What? It is."

Marcos looped an arm around her waist. "You do know she's five, right?"

"I'm just being honest."

Riley blinked and looked up at John, her scrunchy-faced confusion making her extra adorable. "Huh?"

John laughed and ran his hand over her braid, giving it an affectionate tug. "It's…Well, you know how Kurt can teleport? Get from one place to another like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"Yuh-huh."

"Well, it's like that but…" Okay, so he wasn't exactly sure how to explain it either.

"I can show you," Clarice said, smiling at Riley and stepping toward her. "Here, hold out your hands." Riley obliged, cupping her hands and putting them together in front of her. Her wings flexed in excited anticipation.

Clarice raised her right hand and spread her fingers wide. A hole appeared above her palm, small and bright with shimmering purples and blues.

"Ooo," Riley cooed, instantly drawn to it and Clarice. "That's so pretty."

"Ready?" Clarice asked.

Riley nodded. Another portal hole appeared, this one glowing above Riley. Reaching over, Clarice picked up a Halo tangerine that Marcos and Lorna had brought and dropped it into the portal above her hand. It tumbled through that portal and popped out above Riley, falling straight into her outstretched hands.

The five-year-old's eyes lit up as she held the tangerine out toward John. "Look, Daddy! So cool!"

"I saw," John said, impressed. He had heard that portal creation wasn't easy, mainly because, as Lorna put it, it was basically the ability to rip through time and space. He took the tangerine from his daughter and peeled it, handing half of it back to Riley and holding the other half out to Clarice. John smiled. "Very cool."

Clarice tucked a locked of her hair back behind her pointed ear before taking the tangerine slices from him. "So, yeah, I was thinking I could just create a portal here and a portal on the ground, and we could carry everything through that instead of going up and down the stairs."

"Is that what you told those asshole movers before they split?" Lorna asked, her eyes hard. John knew she wasn't mad at Clarice, quite the opposite in fact. She must have seen the movers leaving but not been able to do anything from her apartment. If she hadn't been six months pregnant, she probably would've launched herself off her balcony and confronted them.

John frowned at her over Riley's head. "Language."

"I'll donate to your Cuss Jar later," Lorna said, not looking away from Clarice.

Clarice shook her head. "No, I think they're just generally as…" John lifted his eyebrows and she frowned. "I don't think they liked that I was the one who hired them."

"They didn't like that you were a mutant, you mean."

"Maybe we could talk about this later," John said, resting his hand on the top of Riley's head.

Clarice glanced at Riley and nodded. "Great idea."

The five-year-old was watching the adults with intense focus, and this was actually a subject she could follow. Even though she was a little kid, Riley saw her unfair share of sideways looks and avoidance tactics. She just looked so different than what people considered the norm, and not everyone was willing to accept that about her. Every time some punk kid didn't want to play with her because of her purple skin and her butterfly wings or someone steered away from her, eyes averted because she might be dangerous, he wanted to confront them. Sometimes he did, but other times, he didn't because he knew it would just upset Riley more.

"I think we should start moving stuff," Marcos said, clapping his hands together and giving Lorna a long look.

She nodded, sending a small, encouraging smile Riley's way. "Yeah, sounds good."

Riley peeled off another slice of tangerine and held it out to John. "I can move little things."

He took the piece of tangerine and popped it into his mouth before swiping her off the countertop. "How little? Little like a toaster? Little like a lamp? Or little like a mouse?"

"Clarice doesn't got mice," Riley said, a bright grin popping onto her face. "And little like me!"

"Well, now, that's really little."

"Like super tiny," Marcos teased, "I don't think Clarice is going to have anything that small."

"Nuh-uh, I'm bigger now, Marcos," Riley said, making a face at him, which got a laugh from Marcos. "I'm a big little."

"You sure are," John said. He set Riley down and kept a hand on her shoulder as he looked over at Clarice. "I think we're ready to do this if you are."

"Yeah, let's go for it," Clarice said. Stepping toward the window, she looked down at the yard and then stretched her hands like she was literally tearing open a hole in the air. It appeared in front of her, a glimmering ring straight out of science fiction movie. Beyond it, the front yard and all of Clarice's things were visible. Clarice stepped out from behind the portal, and it wavered a little before stabilizing.

"I can hold it like this for a few minutes," she said, "Then I'll have to take a break." She sounded somewhat distracted, and John guessed that part of her attention was on keeping the portal open.

Riley slipped away from him and darted toward the portal. He stepped after her, but she jumped through it and then jumped back into the apartment. She laughed, a sound of pure joy and amazement, and leapt back out on the lawn again. "Clarice, I love it!"

"Looks like it," Clarice said, but she smiled as the little girl bounced into the apartment, "What are you, part rubber? You're so bouncy." She held out a hand to Riley, who took it and pulled her through the portal, out into the front yard.

"Let's go," John said, watching the two of them. Marcos lifted an eyebrow at him as Lorna headed out to the front yard, hopefully to pick up something light or use her abilities to lift instead. "What?"

"She's good with Riley," Marcos said, shrugging, a cunning smirk on his face. "Just saying."

"She's probably got a boyfriend, and besides, I'm too busy," John said. How could she not already have a boyfriend? That seemed basically impossible. "And we're not having this discussion standing in her apartment."

"Then we can go out to the lawn," Marcos said, gesturing toward the portal. "And you're not that busy, John."

"Marcos…" John shook his head and shoved his friend out of the apartment, through the portal. First Riley commenting on how beautiful Clarice was, and now here was Marcos. Next was going to be Lorna trying to set him up on a date.

[my-mystic-messenger]

Hey sweetie ^^ can you do a cheating HC with RFA, saeran and V and MC revenge ?

Girl give me some revenge and I’m SOLD! Cause I’m the baddest bitch on the blog (get it, cause this is tumblr haha). Anyway, poor jokes aside I really enjoyed writing this and hope you enjoy! 

|| REQUEST ARE (ALWAYS) OPEN!! ||

Zen

♬ when you’d called Zen he really hadn’t expected it

♬ over the course of the last couple of weeks you’d been very inactive

♬ no one seemed to know why, not even Seven

♬ which made Zen all the more happier that you were reaching out to him

♬ maybe you were finally willing to talk about what was bothering you

♬ when you told him you wanted to meet at a certain bar he already knewsomething was off

♬ you’d always scolded him for his drinking and didn’t drink yourself

♬ he didn’t comment though, not wanting to interrogate you

♬ when he finally arrived at the bar, you were already there

♬ you sat at the counter with your head hanging over the beer in frontof you

♬ he took in the sight and sighed before calling your name

♬ the second you realized you were no longer alone you looked up andbeamed

♬ you even waved, only to hide the sadness you obviously felt

♬ you’d shared a quick hug as a greeting and had taken the seat besideyou

♬ all in all the evening went fine until suddenly a couple of young menyour age entered and you tensed

♬ one of them looked through the bar and when his eyes fell on you, heglared

♬ Zen could already tell that he would be trouble

♬ when the man reached the two of you he’d huffed, arms crossed overhis chest

♬ he’d told you what a cheap little bitch you were for already havingfound someone else while constantly preaching to him, called you adirty hypocrite and a bunch of other mean things

♬ had you not been holding onto his arm, holding him back, Zenwould have punched the guy right then and there without a secondthought

♬ you didn’t say a thing, looking so small with your head bowed andlower lip trembling

♬ the guy had just huffed and taken his leave, a satisfied smirk on hislips

♬ what kind of scum was happy about making a girl cry like that?!whenZen asked what the deal was you told him that he was yourex-boyfriend

♬ oh, so he was the one you’d mentioned once

♬ but then why did he treat you like that?

♬ you explained that you’dcaught him cheating on you with another girl, that you’d broken upwith him, kicked him out of the flat you shared and ignored all ofhis attempts to apologize

♬ after hearing that, Zen just kind of lost control

♬ he got up and marched towards the other, determined to break at leastsome of his bones

♬ you’d tried to hold him back, mainly because you were worried abouthis career and reputation and while he’d found that very noble andsweet of you, Zen hadn’t cared

♬ the asshole had to pay for treating a lady in such a disgustingmanner

♬ he’d walked straight up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and oncethe guy had turned, thrown the first punch

♬ of course this being a bar it ended in a huge fight that quicklyescalated

♬ Zen fought well, showing off his years in the biker gang

♬ not only did he beat your ex to pulp, he also managed to fend off hisbuddies trying to protect him

♬ obviously he eventually got a hit back as well and the second thatwas the case, you intervened

♬ you pulled Zen along and took him to your place

♬ once there you sat him down, quickly getting out the first aid kit

♬ his knuckles were bloody and his lip was split, but otherwise heseemed fine, luckily

♬ you’d cleaned his wounds with alcohol, chuckling lightly when Zen hadhissed

♬ you’d scolded him too, told him that he was an idiot for startingsuch a public fight

♬ he’d only replied that to defend your honour, he would have done muchmore

♬ you’d blushed then, thanking him in a whisper before pressing a softkiss to his lips

♬ it hurt just a little, but Zen found his didn’t mind at all

Yoosung

★ Yoosung couldn’t really believe his luck

★ after having called you for a quick chit chat you’d asked whether hewas free

★ he’d been a little confused as to what the occasion was, but hadanswered yes

★ you’d asked him whether you could come over, play some video gamestogether

★ something in your voice had sounded off, but he didn’t prod

★ you’d probably tell him once you were ready to do so

★ he’d obviously agreed, telling you to give him an hour to clean alittle and go buy some snacks

★ you’d thanked him and hung up

★ like a clockwork you’d showed up at his door an hour later

★ however, you hadn’t looked good at all

★ you were wet from the rain and it almost looked like you’d beenwalking around for much longer than just the walk from your apartmentto his

★ he’d pulled you inside and wrapped you in multiple towels and ablanket

★ he’d also made you a hot chocolate, just for good measures

★ you’d thanked him, but didn’t further elaborate as to what hadhappened

★ now Yoosung tried not to prod, he really did

★ for about an hour he managed ti just sit beside you and silently playsome COD

★ then he suddenly stopped the game mid round, turned towards you andshowered you in questions

★ he’d tried to hard not to, but it just bubbled out of him in a hit ofexcitement

★ you’d sighed, clutching the controller in your hand

★ then you’d explained about how you’d just found out that yourboyfriend cheated on you, with a good friend on top of it

★ you also explained that you hadn’t had a chance to confront him aboutit, that you’d just kind of fled your shared apartment to get somespace to think and somehow ended up calling Yoosung

★ now Yoosung was generally a good and innocent boy, but he’d hung outwith Seven enough to know how to handle a situation like this

★ he advised you not to break up with him just yet, you still had theright for some payback

★ then he explained the plan

★ a little less than a week later he came over to your place while yourboyfriend was around

★ after playing some Halo together he’d excused himself to go to thebathroom while you remained in the living room with your stillboyfriend

★ which was perfect, that way he would never suspect you

★ he snuck into the bathroom and got out the two things he’d prepared

★ one, he snuck in a red sock into the guys white wash, smirkingdevilishly

★ you’d told him about his macho behaviour and fragile masculinity,which made wearing a ‘girl’ colour like pink probably hell for a guylike him

★ above that, he was also extremely arrogant and narcissistic about hislooks, which Yoosung wanted to change as well

★ he opened the guys shampoo bottle and got rid off all of it, only toswitch it out with depilation cream

★ after that he snuck into the kitchen, changing his usual protein barsup with so called high calorie bars, which were used by athletes togain weight

★ with the little amount of exercise he did in comparison, the guywould blow up like a balloon

★ it would be interesting to see how confident he remained with no hairand 10-20kg more on his ribs

★ that night you broke up with him, leaving him to his demise beforemaking your way over to Rika’s old apartment with all the belongingsyou had left

★ surprisingly, Yoosung had been sitting in front of it, waiting foryou

★ when you asked him what he was doing there – meanwhile unlockingthe door and letting him in – he’d replied that he’d wanted to bethere for you just in case you hadn’t taken the relationship endingpoorly

★ you’d chuckled then, put down the luggage you had and pressed a sweetkiss to his cheeks whispering that every ending just meant a new,better beginning

Jaehee

♨ you’d become great friends and honestly Jaehee couldn’t have askedfor a better influence in her life

♨ you’d saved her from herself and she was just waiting for a chance torepay the favour

♨ when you even offered to help her with the café, run it together,she’d been overjoyed

♨ not only was the doing was she truly enjoyed, but she was sharing theexperience with her best friend

♨ you seemed to enjoy your work as well, always showing up chipper witha big, bright smile

♨ one day, however, you’d looked utterly devastated upon entering thecafé

♨ Jaehee had been very worried, as she’d never seen you like thisbefore

♨ when she asked you at first, you’d refused to talk about it,apologizing for your bad mood

♨ you didn’t want it to affect your working abilities nor the mood ofthe people around you

♨ the entire day she watched you fake smiles and do your best untilJaehee just couldn’t take it anymore

♨ she pulled you to the back and confronted you about it, not in amean, but concerned manner

♨ eventually you caved and told her all about your boyfriend and howhe’d cheated on you

♨ you told her that you didn’t know what to do, as the two of you hadbeen dating since High School and lived together

♨ not to mention that you didn’t know anything but him

♨ basically, you were in the same situation as Jaehee had been, scaredto let go of the familiar routine

♨ however, as Jaehee had learned that sometimes it was for the best tolet go, so had you

♨ it was hard to remain calm and collected though, in the eye of such asituation

♨ even Jaehee struggled, despite usually always keeping her cool

♨ cheating scumbags deserved bad things happening to them and Jaeheewould take care of that

♨ for now, however, she had to help you

♨ she told you to go home and break up with him, confront and get ridof him and all remains of him

♨ you were scared at first but she promised that she’d be there foryou, no matter the outcome

♨ when you came to work the next day you reported that you’d done it

♨ you’d fought a lot, but eventually he’d left

♨ now, however, he wanted the things he’d left at your place back andyou didn’t know what to do

♨ you didn’t want to see him again

♨ especially since you didn’t trust yourself to be strong about it

♨ you also hated the idea of letting him off the hook so easily andJaehee understood perfectly

♨ she had a solution for both of your problems, seeing as she’d doneher research on revenge the night prior

♨ after work she came to your place with a couple of things in her bagyou’d need

♨ she told you to let go of your frustrations by burning the picturesand destroying his things

♨ at first you had reservations, but then she reminded you of the factthat he’d destroyed your relationship and a couple of photo’s andjunk were a small price to pay for that

♨ you agreed and so the destruction began

♨ you burned all your photos, dunked his toothbrush in the toilet,ripped and cut apart all the clothes he’d left at your place anddestroyed everything else that remained entire

♨ however, Jaehee wasn’t quite done with what she had in mind

♨ cheaters deserved what was coming for them

♨ while doing research she’d found a very interesting and elaboraterevenge scheme

♨ she wrapped the destroyed remains in a thick layer of duct tape,followed by a layer of bubble wrap then a whole bunch of pinkglitter, another layer of duct tape, bubble wrap and more glitter andso on

♨ that way he’d need ages to unpack, have glitter all over his flat forages and find his stuff destroyed

♨ you were so thankful when she came with you to send off the package,you hugged her once you’d gotten rid of it

♨ the two of you held onto each other for a long time, happy to havesave one another

Jumin

♛ Jumin had met many scumbags over the course of his life

♛ he worked with a lot of them and very few seemed to respect anythingbut their money, least of all the women in their life

♛ even his father seemed to lack some sort of ground respect, seeing ashe jumped from one women to the other

♛ however, if there was one thing he would and could not forgive it wascheating

♛ it was poor taste in business and it was distasteful and disgustingin the context of love

♛ not only was he a firm believer of marriage, but also monogamy andfidelity

♛ you either stayed with the person despite having lost interest or youbroke up with them, there was no room for a third option

♛ so when you showed up at his apartment, hugging yourself, lower liptrembling and tears running down your cheeks Jumin had been utterlyoverwhelmed

♛ of course he’d had enough courtesy to avoid drilling you for a reason

♛ honestly, he’d been quite confused as well

♛ why on earth you’d pick him for your emotional worries was beyondhim, as everyone else in the group mocked him for being distant andcold; emotionless

♛ when you told him that your boyfriend had cheated on you, it finallyclicked

♛ he’d been one of his golf partners whom you’d met at an RFA party twoyears ago, as Jumin had insisted on inviting him

♛ the guy owned his own firm and was good business, so he’d figured theRFA would benefit from him

♛ he’d been wrong about that for multiple reasons

♛ for one he hadn’t donated anything and the other, he’d lost you tohim

♛ Jumin hadn’t minded, seeing as you’d seemed happy by his side, now hehated himself for his cowardice all the more

♛ he’d been prepared for you to blame him for it, but anger was thelast thing on your mind

♛ you wanted to leave him, but didn’t have anywhere to go since Rika’sapartment still freaked you out and your parents lived relatively faraway

♛ then you began crying again, sobbing about how you’d been sosupportive of his long working hours, when in reality he’d beencheating on you with his assistant all his time

♛ that, struck a nerve with Jumin

♛ he excused himself for a moment and left the room

♛ no one cheated on you and especially not with an assistant

♛ he bought the guys company that night, pondering to destroy it beforedeciding for something more practical

♛ he declared him his new Chief Assistant, now that Jaehee was gone,and promised himself that he’d make his work experience hell

♛ and God did he make it hell

♛ if people thought that Jaehee had suffered, they had no idea whatJumin was capable of when angry

♛ when the rumors about Jumin being gay came up again, Jumin decidedthat it was a great chance to go over to part two of his plan

♛ one evening he called the guy to his office, sitting on his deskwhile waiting for him

♛ he’d asked him to shut the door before almost pouncing him, pushinghim against the door and whispering dirty things into his ear

♛ the guy tried to flee but Jumin told him that since he’d fucked hisassistant it was only fair that Jumin got to fuck him now

♛ the guy fled the firm that day, resigning angrily

♛ he also kicked you out, effectively leaving you homeless

♛ well, not for long as Jumin decided that he would not lose you tocowardice another time

♛ that day you moved in with him instead

Saeyoung/Seven

☼ Seven wouldn’t call himself the emotional type

☼ sure, he hated himself and his life with a burning passion, but hedidn’t let the emotions rule

☼ as one could observe seeing as he was still alive

☼ needless to say that when a person like him actually to God got mad,it was scary

☼ really scary

☼ and shit was about to go down

☼ he’d been working on a new computer program when he’d heard the doorbang open

☼ he stopped in his tracks, instantly turning to see what the securitycamera’s had caught

☼ how on earth someone had managed to enter his home without a securitybreach was incomprehensible to him

☼ until he saw the footage of you cursing and kicking the door in,obviously fuming

☼ it didn’t explain how you got in exactly, but at least it was alittle more understandable, seeing as you knew how his securitysystem worked

☼ he didn’t have much time to think about it though, as mere secondslater the door to his room was thrown open to reveal you standingthere, obviously angry about something

☼ he sincerely hoped it wasn’t him

☼ he asked you how on earth you’d gotten in alive

☼ اخرس had been your reply

☼ had you just told him to shut the fuck up in perfect Arabic?well…one truly did see everything if one lived long enough to

☼ when he asked you what was going on you gladly explained and once youwere done, Seven was fuming too

☼ his first instinct was to destroy the guys life but hacking it butyou had a better plan

☼ you didn’t want to destroy his life…just his relationship to women

☼ oh man, if Seven liked one thing that it was a good portion of dramaand well planned revenge

☼ in fact, your version of revenge wasn’t nearly as illegal as his andmuch, much, much more fun

☼ you told him to get out one of his female costumes or knock himselfout mixing and mashing them

☼ basically, Seven’s job would be to catfish the guy only to revealhimself as God Seven Defender of Justice and a very well endowed MAN

☼ Seven instantly agreed, excitedly jumping out of his chair to seewhat he could pull off

☼ you told him that it didn’t matter how he looked exactly as long asit was approachable and borderline cheap looking

☼ Seven decided for his blonde wig, his maid costume and a lot ofmake-up

☼ once he’d gotten himself ready you gave him a look over and nodded,dirty grin on your lips

☼ he implanted a little bug in his dress for you to hear and partiallysee what was going on before you send him off to the location you nowknew your boyfriend picked up girls

☼ the planned worked miraculously well

☼ he instantly fell for Seven who – to your surprise – had a verytender and believable female voice

☼ it made you wonder whether one of his identities had been a women

☼ your soon to be ex-boyfriend didn’t hesitate to invite Seven to hisplace and while you were angry, you were also utterly amused

☼ they go to the place and the second the door shut behind them, theguy began feeling Seven up

☼ you applauded your friend for playing along with this, moaning in ahigh pitched sound and grinding against the other

☼ when your boyfriend eventually reached under his dress, he froze andhis face was caught on camera too!

☼ Seven just went on to undressed, leaving him in nothing but a pair ofboxers that were rather revealing

☼ you had the pleasure to watch your boyfriend scream like a littlegirl and basically flee his own apartment

☼ GOLD

☼ when Seven returned you pulled him into a hug and told him that hewas your hero, a true defender of justice

Saeran

☀ pissing Saeran off isn’t particularly hard

☀ however, thanks to therapy he’d learned to control his aggressions

☀ he’d even become somewhat peaceful

☀ well, as peaceful as it got

☀ he was, however, highly protective of the things that he thought ofas dear to him

☀ you just happened to be one of those

☀ so when you came to him for your daily visit trying to act nonchalantand bubbly but failing miserably he asked you straight away whom hehad to kill

☀ he would do it, no questions asked

☀ he also didn’t like beating around the bush

☀ you’d squealed and told him that it wasn’t like that, that murderreally wasn’t the solution

☀ good, you understood that he meant what he said

☀ luckily he didn’t have to ask you to explain, as you knew better bynow than to wait for him to do so

☀ instead you just explained, sighing deeply once you were done

☀ you’d expected a lot of possible reactions, but not Saeran gettingout a a switch blade in front of your very eyes, rather sharp anddangerous looking

☀ he told you he’d personally make sure that the guy would never cheatagain

☀ which you knew meant he’d personally castrate him with thatparticular shiny knife

☀ in an attempt to stop him from mutilating another person for whateverreason you reminded him that intellectuals didn’t have to stoop tosuch a level

☀ violence wasn’t the answer

☀ Saeran decided you were right

☀ there were better, less traceable ways to ruin the guys life forbreaking your heart

☀ no one but him was allowed to do that!

☀ so, as an intellectual, he plotted a little scheme to cover all theimportant basis

☀ he basically hacked his entire life

☀ he got into his bank account and cleared the entire thing, donatingeverything to various charities

☀ at least the guy was good for something

☀ he found some nudes in his private folders and decided to publishthose on Facebook

☀ Saeran also found the idea of him losing his job quite amusing, whichis why he send a particularly graphic dick pick to his female boss, acrude message attached to it

☀ he also found out the mails of all the girls he’d been in contactwith, he’d cheated on you with

☀ needless to say he took care of those as well

☀ he send each and everyone of them the lucky news of having been usedas a side-bitch he’d found out the term was, as well as proofof those words

☀ oh boy, your ex would wake up to a shit storm the next morning

☀ Saeran grinned at the thought of it

☀ once he was done he sought you out

☀ you’d been sitting on the couch the entire time, legs pulled to yourchest and arms around them

☀ he realized then that revenge was sweet, but it wouldn’t really fixyour sadness

☀ he took a deep breath and walked over, taking a blanket to pull itaround you before taking the seat beside you

☀ he told you how sorry he was and that while he didn’t reallyunderstand what exactly you were going through he understood how hardit must have been on you

☀ he also made sure to mention that he would have never done such athing to you

☀ to his surprise you’d smile, sweet and private, before turning to him

☀ you’d cupped his face and kissed him, feathery light and barely therebut enough to make his heart race

☀ you knew

Jihyun/V

📷 being blind wasn’t always easy

📷 while living a normal life was more or less possible, certain thingsbecame impossible

📷 specifically those that you hadn’t done before going blind like inV’s case

📷 or things that necessarily required eyesight

📷 such as taking photographs…or taking revenge on someone

📷 after taking down Mint Eye and sending Rika off to Alaska to gethelp, V’s days had become peaceful

📷 and utterly lonely, he realized

📷 he had the RFA but even chatting became more difficult than it neededto be when you were blind

📷 phones just never quite got what you were dictating them to write

📷 not only that, but the members tended to spam the chat so listeningto that robotic voice go off when Seven send a chain of shortmessages again was rather irritating

📷 V found himself staying away while simultaneously craving contact

📷 needless to say that it was a very complicated situation to be in

📷 however, you did bring some light into his quite literal dark

📷 once a week, on your free day, you stand in front of his door withone junk food or the other

📷 sometimes it was pizza, other time burgers or just a whole bunch ofsweets

📷 and every time you brought something to do as well, be it braillecards or a book to read to him

📷 it was the kind of surprise he started looking forward to

📷 especially since you always seemed so excited about things

📷 however, once week he was surprised to find that you were late

📷 you’d never run late before

📷 when you showed up about fifteen minutes later and apologized hecould hear and sense that something was off

📷 you sounded sad and exhausted

📷 for a while you just continued as per usual, making him stuff himselfwith junk food before forcing him into a game of some sort

📷 well, forcing wasn’t the right word, really but he liked to use itjokingly

📷 eventually, however, he heard you sigh and knew that you were readyto open up

📷 so he asked and you told, the entire thing

📷 you also mentioned how you hadn’t felt comfortable mentioning it inthe chat, how you only really trusted V with such delicateinformation

📷 he felt both honoured and lost, since there was very little he couldhelp you with

📷 other than giving advice, of course

📷 thats how you ended up with a couple of pickaxes and black spraypaint, sneaking into a garage in the middle of the night

📷 he couldn’t even help you in your plan, but he could be on the hearout, just in case

📷 you destroyed that car

📷 all tires were slashed, all windowsshattered and everything else was perforated

📷 it was a damn good feeling to let go of all your anger andfrustration and from V’s silent laughter you could tell he foundlistening to you just as funny

📷 you let the axes were they were and added some paint to the car,writing cheater all over it

📷 once you were done and happy you gripped V by the arm and tugged himalong

📷 the two of you ran, both laughing as you made your way to his place

📷 you thanked him for the evening, telling him that you hadn’t laughedlike that in the long time

📷 he returned the words and suggested that maybe you could come overmore than just once a week

📷 that maybe…sometimes you could even stay?

|| REQUEST ARE (ALWAYS) OPEN!! ||

[kalta79]

Mystic Pizza

Summary: A 'truce' meeting between the Turks and Cloud and his allies goes horribly wrong. Set soon after the ending of the original game. Mature content.

“Do we have to do this?” Reno asked Tseng as he sat between Rude and Elena in the conference room.

“Now that Sephiroth is dead, Rufus wants us to sit down with Cloud and his allies to try and mend fences and come up with a good way to restore the planet. They should be here at any moment, so behave yourself.”

“You know you can behave yourself if you really want to.” Elena whispered to him as she saw the familiar rebellious look on his face.

“If you would behave yourself less, you might have better luck getting Tseng into your bed.” Reno whispered back, smiling as her face started matching the same shade of red as his hair.

Feeling her face burn with outrage and embarrassment, she was about to deliver a scathing retort when Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, and Vincent arrived. They sat down across the table from the Turks.

“What do you want now?” Cloud blurted out sullenly, and Tifa nudged him sharply.

“We hope you meant it when you said you wanted to make amends.” Tifa said, taking over. “There’s a lot of work to be done to make things right.”

“You can start by dismantling all the Mako reactors!” Barret exclaimed. “You can start by leaving Wutai alone.” Yuffie interjected.

Reno was about to make a nasty comment when a knock on the conference door interrupted everything, and Vincent opened it to a pizza delivery man. He had four large mushroom pizzas. Tseng paid the man for the pizzas, and Tifa made Cloud give the delivery man a big tip.

“I hope mushroom pizzas are acceptable to you all, I’m told mushrooms are a very healthy and environmentally friendly food.” Tseng told Cloud and his allies as Rude and Elena passed out plates and napkins.

                                        ***

“That was a nice tip.” The delivery man said as he got back into his car and drove back to the pizzeria. “Any more deliveries ready?” he asked his coworker when he walked back into the building.

“Yeah, deliver the mushroom pizzas to this address.” The coworker responded, handing him the order receipt.

“This is where I just delivered four mushroom pizzas to.” He said.

“What?!” His coworker exclaimed, then rushed to the stack of boxed pizzas ready for delivery and opened the first few boxes. “Oh no…” he breathed in sheer panic.

“What’s the problem?” The delivery man asked.

“Those mushroom pizzas didn’t have just any mushrooms on them! They were meant for a creative writing group.” his coworker explained.

“Well, I’m glad I got my tip when I did, then.” The delivery man shrugged. “Who knows what they would have given me once they started eating the pizza. And you‘re in such trouble when they recover…the one guy had a big sword with him, and one of the guys had a gun where his arm should be.”

                                        ***

“Sir, I brought you some pizza.” Tseng said as he walked into Rufus’ private hospital room.

Rufus typed on the laptop provided to him for communication, since his vocal cords had not healed enough for him to talk yet. Why aren’t you at the meeting? the screen read when he stopped typing.

“They’re just eating and chatting now, fostering the kind of relationship we want them to have with each other now. I felt it better to absent myself to let them be themselves. Reno especially…he’ll not have anyone to rebel against if I’m not there.”

Very well. What kind of pizza?

“Mushroom pizza.” Tseng replied.

Rufus made a face, or so it seemed, with all those bandages it was hard to see his facial expressions, and he started typing again. Just one bite then. You eat some too.

                                        ***

The conference room was almost abandoned, after except for Vincent who stayed behind, not because he was hallucinating, but because the mushrooms caused him to lose the ability to control his form, and he kept randomly changing into monsters. He hoped he wouldn’t hurt anyone, since he was surrounded by the current generation of Turks and those who had finally put an end to Hojo‘s madness. If nothing else, this reminded him why he didn’t want to be around people, it just wasn’t safe for anyone.

                                        ***

Tifa and Rude were looking for Cloud, who had run off for some reason, taking some pizza with him. They were following pieces of pizza crust into the men’s bathroom on the third floor, while eating some they had taken with them as well…they usually weren‘t pizza people, but something about this one was different.

“Oh, you’re such a beautiful carousel horsie!” Tifa suddenly exclaimed to Rude as she looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“I’m a horse?” Rude asked in surprise. Right in front of him, Tifa seemed to grow wings and a halo like an angel, and angels never lied. “That’s why these clothes feel funny on me!” Rude thought everything made sense now, and hurriedly got undressed.

“You’re a very beautiful one.” Tifa explained as her eyes started shining. “I miss being around horses.”

“Wait, if I’m a horse, I’m not supposed to be able to talk, am I?” Rude wondered.

“You’re a very special carousel horsie, of course you can talk.” Tifa said, petting his naked body like she had petted real horses before.

“What are these things in my ear?” Rude touched his earrings. He also found he really liked being petted by an angel. Maybe he was a special horsie after all.

“It’s a gold ring!” Tifa exclaimed. “That’s not supposed to be in your ear, it’s supposed to be on my finger!” She took it out of his ear, almost ripping it out in her haste to have a ring on her finger, because she had wanted one there for so long. “It doesn’t fit!” Tifa got upset at not being able to wear it.

“Are you supposed to ride me first before you can wear it, Angel?” Rude asked her.

Tifa gasped. “You’ve got to be right! You’re such a smart horsie!” She kissed his ear and Rude blushed, the color deepening as she continued running her hands over his well-muscled body. “Do you mind if I ride you bareback? I don’t want to hurt you with a saddle.”

“You’re an angel, you couldn’t hurt me!” Rude exclaimed.

Tifa smiled as she mounted him. At first she thought she had forgotten how to do it right, because she felt something hard that she didn’t remember, then she realized carousel horsies would have a safety mechanism to secure her to him. It felt so good when she repositioned herself properly on top of him that she gasped again, then paused when she heard Rude gasp as well. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“You’re perfect.” Rude answered. His body told him he had needed to be ridden for a long time, and now it was an angel giving him what he needed.

Tifa smiled once more, because feeling her mount so warmly firm beneath her was perfect for her too. “Giddy up, horsie!” she cried.

                                        ***

Barret and Yuffie were wandering around the building, and found themselves back in the conference room, and Barret yelled when he saw Vincent transform.

“It’s Dyne! He’s come back to hurt Marlene!” Barret pointed his gun arm at Vincent, and before he could do anything else, Yuffie kicked him in the head.

“Don’t you hurt my baby!” she yelled back at Barret, and ran to rip Vincent’s cloak off him and cuddle it in her arms like a child. “Can’t you see he’s a harmless infant? You’re just a big bully!”

“When did you have a baby?” Vincent and Barret asked her, confused.

“He’s….he’s my secret love child I guess.” Yuffie replied.

                                        ***

Having walked back towards the conference room as well, wanting more pizza, Reno overheard Yuffie mention her secret love child, and he looked in the room, and Yuffie’s appearance kept changing, looking like all the mostly nameless women he had used for immediate release over the years. And without his cloak, Vincent looked like a process server in child support cases. Vincent’s cloak in Yuffie’s arms did look like a baby, and it had red hair. The baby jumped out of Yuffie’s arms and started walking towards the door where Reno, multiplying as it got closer and closer. Panic set in as the babies lifted their chubby little arms towards him.

“Daddy! Daddy! Hold us! Let us take your money!” the infants called out, and Reno ran screaming down the hall.

                                        ***

Reno heard loud moaning coming from the bathroom when he was fleeing his money-grubbing offspring, and cautiously opened the door, spying Tifa on top of his partner, riding him like the cowgirl she once wanted to be. Reno knew Rude really needed to get laid, but judging from the obvious urgency on Tifa’s part, she needed it just as bad. “Way to go, buddy!” he said a little too loud because one of the babies was watching Rude and Tifa too, pointing and laughing at them, and when Reno talked, the baby turned to him and vanished, then Reno saw the army of babies coming down the hallway towards him again. “I hope you're wearing a condom!” Reno yelled towards Rude before he started running away again.

“What was that?” Rude asked Tifa, but before she could answer, both of them climaxed.

“You’re such a wonderful horsie!” Tifa said a few moments later. Riding a carousel horsie was so much better than she remembered.

“No, you’re a wonderful angel.” Rude replied.

“The ring still doesn’t fit!” Tifa frowned. “Maybe I’m not doing it right…maybe you’re supposed to ride me.”

“I can’t do that, you’re an angel!” Rude was shocked by the notion of a horse riding an angel.

“If I’m an angel, doesn’t that mean I should be right?” Tifa asked him.

“Yes, but…” Rude still tried to protest, as Tifa got off him and positioned herself on the floor.

“Please ride me now.” Tifa told him. “I need that ring!”

                                        ***

Cloud found himself in the training room. He heard a noise in what looked like a closet and saw a training robot when he opened the door. As he looked at it, it took Sephiroth’s form. Cloud‘s jaw dropped. “You‘re alive!”

“Of course I am!” Sephiroth said mockingly before vanishing and then reappearing across the room. “You were willing to kill me over a girl though, weren’t you?” He said, this time reappearing behind Cloud and tousling his hair.

“No!” Cloud exclaimed. “I could never do that to my…” He shut his mouth before he finished his sentence.

“What’s that? I was your what?” A little Sephiroth appeared on Cloud’s shoulder with puppet strings, grabbing Cloud’s ear. “Come on, you’re not afraid to say what you used to call me, are you?”

“My Sephy-Wephy.” Cloud whispered, feeling his cheeks burn. “How’d you know that? I never told anyone that, and I only did it when I was alone.”

The training robot suddenly activated and approached Cloud from behind. “I’m going to kill you.”

                                        ***

Elena had ended up in Tseng’s office, waiting for the man she most respected to show up. She was wearing some special lingerie under her Turk uniform, hoping that if the meeting went well, he’d finally celebrate with her. The pizza had made her feel too hot, so she had taken her suit off. Suddenly the alarm for an unauthorized fight in the training room, which sounded like a tsunami warning to Elena. She was looking out the window at the time, and she didn’t see the blue sky, it looked like the ocean to her, and she saw what looked like tidal surge coming for her, so she jumped onto the desk and started swimming for it.

                                        ***

Rufus suddenly got a terrible craving for sweets, and he looked around for something to satisfy him, and he saw the biggest lollipop he had ever seen standing close by. He didn’t know lollipops had legs, but he couldn’t let this wonderful treat escape. Rufus took his empty meal tray and swung it too fast for Tseng to react, then he pulled the unconscious Tseng onto the bed with him and started licking his licorice lollipop.

When Tseng woke up later, Rufus was still licking him, and Tseng cried out in alarm and managed to run out into the hallway, where he ran smack dab into Reeve.

“Tseng! What’s wrong? What happened to you?” Reeve had never seen the leader of the Turks looking so disheveled or panicked.

“There’s a man-eating snake in Rufus’ room! It was trying to devour me!” Tseng explained.

“What?!” Reeve dropped the books he had brought for Rufus to read during his recovery and started to head back to the elevator.

“Come back to me, my lollipop!” Rufus yelled out.

Reeve looked hard at Tseng. “A man-eating snake you say?”

                                        ***

Reeve cautiously entered the building, and made his way to the conference room. The doctors at the hospital had figured out that the pizza had hallucinogenic mushrooms on it, and the best thing to do was to let them sleep it off, so Rufus and Tseng were both sedated. But Tseng had managed to tell Reeve and the doctors about the meeting where the pizza was delivered to, so Reeve decided he had better check on everyone.

“Who’s there?” Vincent called out from his meditative position in a dark corner as Reeve entered the room.

“It’s me, Vincent. Reeve. How come you’re here and no one else is?” he asked the former Turk.

“Something happened and I can’t control myself anymore.” Vincent explained. “Everyone else left after they started eating the pizzas.”

“It’s the mushrooms on the pizza that‘s affecting you. It’s only temporary, nothing’s wrong with you.” Reeve reassured him. “Hey, where’s your cloak?” he asked Vincent in surprise.

“Yuffie stole it.” Vincent pouted. “I think she said something about going to the cafeteria.”

“Will you help me round everyone up?”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Vincent explained. “I just want my cloak back.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ve got a trank gun and a taser.” Reeve informed him. “And like I said, it’s only temporary.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Vincent said, and walked out, making his way to the cafeteria as Reeve hurriedly caught up with him.

                                        ***

They found Yuffie in the cafeteria as expected, where she was gorging herself on whatever food she could find.

“Don’t hurt my baby!” Yuffie cried out as they approached her.

“She’s using my cloak as a fake stomach!” Vincent exclaimed in outrage at Yuffie’s attempt to give herself the appearance of a woman in her last trimester with his cloak.

Reeve hurriedly aimed and fired the tranquilizer gun at Yuffie before Vincent did something drastic in his beast forms. Once Yuffie was unconscious, Vincent stiffly approached her and took his precious cloak back.

“What the hell did she do to it?” Vincent demanded to know after examining it. “It’s got some kind of…fluids…on it. Dammit that‘s gross…and I hate dry cleaners!” With that, Vincent was gone in a swirl of curses instead of his usual swirl of red.

Reeve sighed. He had hoped Vincent would help him return everyone to their beds to sleep off the mushrooms once he had sedated them. Reeve took out his cellphone and called a couple of ex-SOLDIERS he knew who were always looking for honest work. They returned Yuffie to her apartment while Reeve went to Rufus’ office to access the security cameras to find out where everyone was.

“What the…” Reeve exclaimed as he viewed the third floor bathroom camera. “Is that Rude and…Tifa?” He blushed over seeing the compromising position they had fallen asleep in. “Um…well at least I don’t need to sedate them. Wow…that’s…I…yeah…I never saw anything. Next camera!”

                                        ***

“Cloud?” Reeve said when he and the two men entered the training room.

“I killed him.” Cloud said, kneeling on the ground next to a training robot with the head cut off. “How did he know what I used to call him in private? I wonder if Sephiroth knew I wrote poems about him too. I hope Tifa never finds out.”

“Uh, not really an issue right now I don’t think.” Reeve reassured Cloud before tranking him.

                                        ***

“Are you sure about this, Doc?” Barret said to a coat rack. “I really like having a whole arm, but if you say cutting the other one off will help my gun arm function better, you’re the expert.”

One of the two men charged Barret and knocked the cleaver out of his hand, while the other man grabbed the tranquilizer gun and fired, using his marksmanship skills to get a clean shot.

                                        ***

Elena had to be tasered to safely neutralize her before sedation, because she had become convinced she was a tiger shark. An actual half-tiger half-shark hybrid, and her combat skills made getting a clean shot almost impossible. The taser had a wider field of impact.

                                        ***

When it came time to get Rude and Tifa back home, Reeve dressed Rude back in his uniform before letting the two men take him away. He couldn’t find any trace of Tifa’s panties, since that the was the only thing she was missing, and Reeve decided that her wardrobe choices were none of her business.

“That’s the last of them.” Reeve informed the men when they came back from returning Tifa to her place above 7th Heaven. “Thanks a lot for your discreet help.” He dug into his pocket and paid the men 500 gil a piece, knowing they would keep their silence.

Reeve realized he was exhausted and in need of some sedation himself, so he just went to his old office and pulled out the hide-a-bed he had kept there. No one would think to look for him here, and he didn’t want to be found when everyone woke up knowing he knew what they had done while drugged.

                                        ***

A strange noise woke Reeve up, and he saw a shadow near his desk. He carefully grabbed the taser and tranquilizer gun from under his pillow. "Who's there?" he called out. "Ssssshhhh, they'll hear you!" A familiar voice whispered fiercely. "Reno?" Reeve couldn't believe he had forgotten him when he was returning everyone home. "What are you doing?" Reeve got out of bed, realizing with more surprise that Reno was hiding under the desk. "Hiding. I can't let them find me. They'll take all my money." Reno explained. Reeve turned the light on against Reno's protests, and saw that Reno had the last of the mushroom pizzas with him. "Who's trying to find you?" Reeve asked as he activated the taser behind his back. He was out of tranquilizer cartridges anyway. "My secret love children. Yuffie told them I was their daddy, and they just want my money." Reeve looked at the second-in-command of the Turks in disbelief for a moment, then shrugged and tasered him before Reno could do anything else. The redhead hit his head on the side of the desk as a result, knocking himself out. Reeve sighed and went back to bed, after hiding the last of the pizza. He'd take it down to the incinerator in the morning.

                                        ***

Tifa woke up first the next morning, feeling very groggy and sore. She was confused as to why some parts of her body registered abuse and pleasure simultaneously when she turned over. Breathing a huge sigh of relief at seeing Cloud where he belonged in the twin bed next to her, she was confused as to why she felt a twinge of guilt when she looked at her childhood sweetheart. Finally getting out of bed to head to the bathroom, Cloud woke up at the noise she made, and he stared at her with a similar mix of relief and guilt once some of the fogginess in his eyes cleared up.

“Whatcha got there?” Cloud asked Tifa.

“Huh?” Tifa was confused.

“In your hand.” Cloud explained.

Tifa realized she was holding onto something for dear life in her hand, and she slowly convinced her hand to open up. Staring at the gold earring she had been holding onto, not understanding why a conflicting series of emotions rushed over her at first. “I’m not…this isn’t mine!” Tifa blurted out, some flashes of memory making a slow flush creep up her neck onto her face.

“Is that a hickey on your neck?” Cloud asked next, as the change in her skin tone made him notice it.

“I…I need a shower!” Tifa exclaimed, running into the bathroom and locking the door, trying to ignore the marks on her body in the bathroom mirror as she put the earring down on the counter before ripping her clothes off and getting in the shower stall. As the warm water sluiced over her body, she suddenly realized her panties were missing from the clothes she just took off.

                                        ***

Cloud looked at the closed bathroom door for a few moments, then closed his eyes to try and go back to sleep. There was something he still needed to that he couldn’t remember, so he hoped when he woke up, he’d feel more with it and know what he had to accomplish.

                                        ***

Rude woke up groggy and sore as well, confused as to why he felt drained yet happy. He also didn’t understand why he was in his own bed wearing his uniform complete with shoes. And one of the shoes felt funny. Managing to fling the shoe off because it wasn’t on properly, Rude was shocked when a pair of women’s panties flew out of his shoe towards him, landing on his head. Taking them off, he noticed a label. Blinking a few times to let his eyes focus enough, his jaw dropped when he read Property of Tifa Lockhart.

“Why would I have Tifa’s underwear? I didn’t steal them, did I?” Feeling the fabric of the panties made wisps of memories float through Rude’s head. “What…the…hell?!”

                                        ***

Yuffie woke up to a knock on the door to the hotel suite she was staying in for the moment. She felt incredibly hungover like she had the morning after her first formal dinner back home in Wutai, having never had the rice wine before.

“Who’s there?” Yuffie managed to call out. Not being able to hear the response, she uttered some Wutaian curses as she staggered to the door and opened it. “What?!” she snapped at the bellhop who stood there with an envelope in his hand.

“Um, I was told to give this to you, ma’am.” The bellhop handed the envelope to her and she managed a polite response as she grabbed it.

Ripping it open, she stared in disbelief at what she read. “A bill for dry cleaning? Are you kidding me?!” Yuffie exclaimed.

                                        ***

Barret woke up to Marlene tapping on his bedroom door, asking if she could make her own breakfast. “Sure thing, kiddo!” Barret replied, and he heard her feet head towards the kitchen. Barret sighed…he felt like had been drinking too much last night, but he couldn’t remember anything.

                                        ***

Reeve was coming back from the incinerator when Reno was trying to walk down the hallway outside of Reeve’s old office.

“That must have been some party last night I ended up at!” Reno said when he saw someone else in the hall.

“You ended up being a father about a hundred times over is what happened.” Reeve just couldn’t resist messing with Reno a little as payback for disturbing his sleep last night.

Reno paled til he was the color of snow, and the shock of Reeve‘s statement instantly sobered him up. “A father? What are you talking about?” Reno reached for his cellphone and dialed 9-1-1. “This is a life-threatening situation…I need an emergency retroactive vasectomy!”

                                        ***

Rude was approaching 7th Heaven to return Tifa’s panties, discreetly concealed in a small box in a gift bag, when something landed on the street next to him. As he stared at the cowgirl boots lying there, he heard a window slam.

“What was that?” Cloud asked Tifa when he saw her fling something out the window.

“I’m cleaning house.” Tifa replied in an odd voice. “Anything horse related has to go. What are you doing?”

“I’m cleaning house too.” Cloud answered as he crumpled the last of his Sephy-Wephy tribute poems and threw it with the others into the fireplace and grabbed the box of matches, lighting on and throwing it on top of his poems.

                                        ***

Tseng cautiously entered Rufus’ hospital room. “Good afternoon, sir.” he stiffly told his boss.

How is everyone doing? Rufus typed.

“I think we still managed to achieve our objective.” Tseng informed him. “Everyone will be so embarrassed over what they remember about last night that they will be extremely polite when they run into each other in public, most likely trying to avoid them otherwise. But they won’t risk getting antagonistic towards each other anymore.”

So a job well done after all?

“Yes sir, may I be excused now?” Tseng asked.

Go about your other business. As Tseng hurriedly left the room, Rufus thought he might have smiled at Tseng’s relief in being dismissed, but his facial nerves hadn’t fully healed yet either. He was rather embarrassed that he had licked Tseng like a lollipop, but Reeve had told him that Tseng though it was a snake trying to devour him. Rufus had heard that normal people wear costumes on Halloween, so since Rufus wanted to be normal now, maybe he would have a snake costume custom-made for the upcoming holiday.

                                        ***

When Tifa went back upstairs to go to bed after the annual 7th Heaven Halloween party a few weeks later, she was shocked to find a wrapped present in front of her door. Picking it up carefully, she went into her and Cloud’s bedroom and set it down on the dresser, gently removing the wrapping paper. Tifa loved to save momentos, to the point she had ended up having to rent a storage unit to keep items she couldn’t bear to get rid of, just to hold on to the memories. Tifa gasped when she opened the box and pulled out an angel figurine with an actual gold ring in her size as its removable halo.