#hahaha jets a piece of work

[ssreeder]

I'm sorry but "his entire world was turning upside down"??? LET'S GOOOO. "Zuko's death should have been a victory, but instead it felt hollow" SUCK IT SHITHEAD

-Fragile heart

(no I'm not done reading. It just made me comically happy to see jet suffer 💀) (what have you done to me)

I have created a monster, maybe we should change your name from fragile heart anon to - no longer gives a shit anon.

Why does everyone wanna see my boy Jet suffer?! (I mean i do too but i want everyone in LIAB to suffer lol)

I wonder how long Jet is going to think he killed Zuko when really it was Shen & is someone going to tell him or is he just going to randomly see Zuko somewhere and be like sup????

[sequinsmile-x]

hello! I'm in looove with your writing!! 🥰❤️ I was wondering if you ever thought about writing something about Hotch watching Emily sleep? like a 5+1 thing or something like that? maybe it's a weird request but I thought I'd ask hahaha

Thank you so much <3 and not a weird request at all, I love it and I LOVE writing 5+1 format fics.

Sorry for kind of teasing you all about this fic for over a week. But I hope it was worth the wait, please let me know what you think <3

This fic is a real rollercoaster of emotions and I hope you enjoy the ride!

-x-

These Pages Must Show

Everything else had come later. Her obvious intelligence, her unending kindness, her sense of humour. It all slowly chipped away his armour until he found himself standing on her doorstep asking her to come on just more case, well aware by that point that she was someone he could trust, the ashes of his marriage still clinging to his suit.

Five times Aaron watches Emily sleep, and one time she watches him.

-x-

Words: 6.9k

Warnings: Angst, grief, pregnancy

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut:

One

Everyone except Aaron falls asleep almost the moment the jet takes off.

It had been a long, hard, case. They’d barely had time to sleep, their hotel rooms more a place to freshen up and keep their things rather than rest. He was tired too, exhaustion settling deep in his bones, but he drinks a coffee to keep himself awake - desperate to get as much paperwork done as possible on the journey home to free up some of his weekend to spend time with his son. His time with Jack had been limited since the divorce and he made the most of it where he could, pleased that, despite everything, he and Haley were making things work for their son so he would grow up knowing both his parents loved him. 

Aaron is pulled out of his concentration when he hears a soft snore from across the table, and he’s unable to stop himself from smiling when he looks at Emily, her mouth hanging open ever so slightly, her grip on the book she’d been reading loosening. She’d been the last to fall asleep out of everyone. They’d spoken for a little while, conversation flowing between them in a way that was easier now than ever before, the case in Milwaukee that had almost been the last for both of them fraying any final strands of mistrust. 

She snores again and he suppresses a smile even though she’s fast asleep. There’s something endearing about the fact she snores. It was a piece of information about her that he’d store away, something that made her seem human, a reminder he sometimes needed to tell himself she wasn’t perfect. 

He’d noticed her beauty the moment they met. He wasn’t blind, despite his mistrust of her, and it had taken him aback, the stirring deep in his gut, the flip of his stomach that he hadn’t had looking at another woman since he’d married Haley quickly chased away by guilt. He didn’t have to be good at his job to know that’s why he’d been so harsh on her, aiming his frustration outwards because it was easier than wondering why just looking at her made him feel more than he’d felt in months. 

Everything else had come later. Her obvious intelligence, her unending kindness, her sense of humour. It all slowly chipped away his armour until he found himself standing on her doorstep asking her to come on just more case, well aware by that point that she was someone he could trust, the ashes of his marriage still clinging to his suit. 

She snores again and shifts in her seat, her grip on her book loosening even further, and he sees it start to slip to the ground. He stands up and catches it before it hits the floor, grabbing it as it slips out of her lap, his thumb pressed on the inside of the spine to keep it open on its spot. He looks around for a bookmark to hold where she’d got to, but can’t see one on the table in front of her. The outside of the book may have been worn, the cracked spine and faded edges giving away just how many times she’d read it, but none of the pages are dog-eared. He doesn’t want to cause any damage to something she clearly values, so he digs through his pocket for a receipt, smiling in victory when he finds the one from when he’d bought everyone coffee that morning. He slips the thin piece of paper into the book and closes it before placing it on the table next to her half-drunk cup of tea. 

He smiles when she mutters something under her breath as she sleeps, her eyebrows furrowed as she shifts slightly in her seat, and he sits back down, content to carry on with his paperwork in silence. 

When she eventually wakes up from her nap, shaken out of it by a small pocket of turbulence, he’s in the kitchenette, so he misses how she looks curiously at her book. How she smiles when she opens it and looks back and forth between his empty seat and the receipt detailing everyone’s coffee order that morning, the coffee order she knows he bought. 

As he steps into the main cabin past the curtain he smiles at her, “Would you like a cup of coffee?” 

She shakes her head, suppressing a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand, “I’ll never sleep when I get home if I do.” 

“Tea?” He asks, placing his cup of coffee on the table, “There’s chamomile.” 

She hesitates for a moment, not wanting to inconvenience him, to make him go back into the kitchenette just for her, but then her gaze drops to her book, the slip of paper sticking out of each end of it, and she presses her lips together to capture her smile. The simple act of kindness warming her from the inside out, the crush on him she’d been desperately trying to ignore tearing itself out of the box she’d locked it away in. 

“Yeah,” she replies, smiling at him, keeping her voice low so she doesn’t wake the others, finding herself chasing just a few minutes alone with him, “That would be nice, thank you.” 

He smiles and nods, turning back and disappearing behind the curtain. She blows out a slow breath the moment he’s no longer in sight, desperate to gather herself as her breath puffs out her cheeks. She’s barely able to chastise herself for something as pedestrian as having a crush on her boss, when he’s placing the cup of tea in front of her, his smile soft as he sits down again. 

“Here you go, Emily.” 

It’s just her first name, something the rest of the team uses outside of work all the time, but she knows it’s the first sign that something between them has changed. That a bookmark made of a receipt and a cup of tea have somehow shifted them into something different. She wraps her hand around the mug, warming her palms with it, letting herself feel the slight burn so she can think of anything other than how fast her heart is beating against her ribcage. 

“Thank you, Aaron.” 

___

Two

His shoulders slump the moment he steps into his apartment, the weight of the day finally pressing down on him. He dumps his briefcase on the side table before he checks the locks behind him, jiggling the chain to double-check it is secure. 

It’s only when he turns around and faces his apartment he realises just how quiet it is. He frowns, the anxiety that had never quite gone away since Foyet had attacked him here in his home licking at his insides. If circumstances were different, if his son hadn’t lost almost everything that was once familiar to him, Aaron is sure he would have moved. That he would have found somewhere else to call home, a place where he wouldn’t sit on the couch, his eyes fixed on the piece of carpet where he’d once almost died. But he wanted Jack to have something to hang on to, one thing that felt normal in the new life they were living, and this apartment was safe to him, so Aaron stayed. 

He’d rather fight his own demons head-on than create any more for his son, especially since he cost him his mother. 

He’s quiet as he opens Jack’s bedroom door, the only light in the room the nightlight in the corner, and any anxiety disappears the moment he spots his little boy fast asleep in his twin bed, the woman sleeping next to him, her cheek pressed against the boy’s sandy hair, answering the other question Aaron had. 

Emily had offered to babysit at the last minute. Jessica was sick so couldn’t pick Jack up from school like she usually would, and that combined with an emergency meeting with Strauss had left him in a tough spot. Emily was with him when he took the call from Jessica, had watched as his grip had tightened on his phone, and she was already offering to look after Jack before he’d even hung up.  

Ever since Haley’s death, she’d become a semi-permanent feature in the Hotchner household. She brought them meals and her company, and occasionally Sergio once Jack found out that the cat existed and decided they’d be fast friends. She looked after them and never expected anything in return, her smile endlessly kind as she assured him it was no bother to her, that she loved spending time with the two of them. 

When he allowed himself to look ahead, when the heavy, hazy, grief that had settled around him cleared just enough for him to see what he wanted in the future, she was in it. She was it. He’d long accepted that the feelings he had for her were deeper than friendship, a four-letter word he kept locked in his chest, the key of the cage he kept it in lodged in his throat, because he knew now wasn’t the time. He had to put Jack first, to make sure he was okay, and he had to make sure he was okay himself too.

He didn’t want to enter into anything broken, didn’t want to fracture what he’s sure would be something precious if he looked after it properly. 

He allows himself a moment to simply look at them. Jack looked as peaceful as he ever did these days, his face slack and half pressed against Emily’s chest, his small hand around the neckline of her shirt. Emily is lying next to him, on top of the covers her arms secure around him with an open storybook abandoned in her lap. 

Aaron knows from experience that sleeping like she is for too long would hurt her back, a lesson he’d learnt the hard way when Jack first started sleeping in his own room again just a few weeks ago. The victory that he was no longer in Aaron’s bed with him not dampened by the fact they were both squished together in a smaller bed. He walks over and reaches out, his hand hesitating for a moment before he touches her, careful to make sure he’s only touching her arm before he gently shakes her, stopping the moment he sees her eyelashes flutter. 

“Emily.”

She grumbles, her voice rough and adorable as her eyebrows knit together as she peels her eyes open, “Aaron?” 

“It’s me,” he says quietly, smiling softly when she blinks, her eyes briefly wide as she realises where she is, her grip on Jack tightening, “I just got home.” 

“Oh,” she says, looking down at Jack, “I didn’t realise I’d fallen asleep.” 

He hates that she sounds apologetic, like there should be anything to be ashamed of for feeling comfortable enough around his little boy to drift off, “That’s okay, if I didn’t think your back would hate you in the morning I’d have left you to it.” 

There’s something about the admission that makes her blush, and she’s immediately grateful that the only light in the room is the nightlight in the corner, “Well, thank you,” she says, kissing Jack’s forehead as she disentangles herself from him, smiling shyly at Aaron as she stands up straight, “I’ll leave you to say goodnight.” 

He smiles gratefully at her and nods as she steps out into the hallway. He retucks the bedding around his son and sits on the edge of the bed, taking a couple of minutes to watch him, to soak in everything he’d missed so many months of, everything he’d make sure he’d spend the rest of his life protecting. Eventually, he kisses his forehead and whispers his love against his soft skin before he leaves the room. 

When he walks back to the living room, Emily already has her jacket and shoes on, her car keys in hand and a soft smile on her face. 

“Thank you for looking after him.” 

She waves him off, shaking her head as she rebukes the gratitude, as if it would never occur to her to do anything else, “It’s my pleasure. He’s a great kid.” 

He nods, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he stares at her. He wants her to stay, wants to bask in her company as easily as his son does, but he finds himself stuck, one foot firmly in his past as he tries to take a shaky step into his future, the path unsteady and unsure. 

“I should get going,” she says softly, stepping towards him, her arms crossed over her chest, her smile still endlessly kind, “I’ll see you two tomorrow for his soccer game?”

He can see everything in her eyes that she hasn’t said, can see the assurance in her smile, the way she leans forward for a hug steadying the foundations for what was to come. He hugs her back, lets himself feel the weight of her against him for a second longer than he should, and then he lets her go, and he hopes she can hear everything he can’t say yet too. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Emily.” 

I’ll be ready soon.

She smiles softly, “See you tomorrow, Aaron.” 

I’ll be waiting.

___

Three 

He ignores the sympathetic look the nurse on the desk gives him. 

He’s almost tempted to chastise her for not checking his credentials, to remind her that this was the secure wing, but he recognises her as well as she recognises him. 

He’d been here every day for over a week. 

The journey to Emily’s room is familiar, the click of his shoes on the laminate floor echoing around the hallway, playing a tune that turns his stomach as it mixes in with the repetitive beep of the machines in every patient room. She’s asleep when he walks in. She almost always was as her body recovered from the injuries that should have killed her, the injuries that had killed her. 

He knows it’s stupid to visit her every day, that if JJ knew where he was she’d tell him off, but he can’t help himself. Especially today when some of the dirt he’d thrown in on top of her coffin was still lingering on the cuff of his pants. 

He sits next to her bed, his hand automatically wrapping around hers, their once strong embargo on not touching each other except for hugs goodbye long gone. There had been a moment, just before the day when he now knew Sean McCallister had called her, when he thought they’d finally made it to the moment he’d been waiting for, his reasons for not asking her out on a date no longer outweighing his reasons for asking her out. He’d kissed her, her smile soft as she pulled back from it, her fingers running through his hair as she promised she’d see him tomorrow. 

She’d pulled back from him overnight, the one kiss they’d shared still making his lips tingle as she suddenly had excuses to not spend any time with him and Jack. He’d assumed she’d changed her mind, or that he’d misread all the signs somehow, and it was only when it was too late, when she’d already put herself in danger to protect the team, to protect him and his son, when he realised what was happening.

Aaron wished she’d told him what was happening. Wished that she’d given him a chance to help, but he knew she’d done what she thought was right, and he couldn’t bring himself to hold that against her. 

Not when he was about to send her away. 

He doesn’t know how long he sits there, his eyes fixed on her bruised face and his hand around hers, before she slowly wakes up, a small groan escaping her as the pain that came with being awake washes over her. 

“Aar…” she trails off, his name stuck in her throat as she tries to fight off the sleep that was always threatening to drag her back under, and he squeezes her hand, lifting it to his lips to kiss her knuckles before he even thinks about it. 

“It’s me, Emily,” he assures her, “It’s Aaron.” He smiles when she finally opens her eyes, the love he felt for her swirling in his gut as she looks him up and down. 

“You look smart,” she says, her blinks slow, her eyelids drawn down by medication and pain, “This is nicer than your normal suits.” 

He squeezes her hand, his jaw tight as he clears his throat, “I came straight from the cemetery.” 

He doesn’t have to say anything else, even in the state she was in she understood, her weak grip on his hand briefly tighter, “Oh,” she says, her lips pressed together, “That was today.” 

He nods, “Yes,” he replies, “I made an excuse and left the wake. I had to come to see you.” 

He can’t bring himself to tell her that he needed to see her because he needed to remind himself that it is all fake. That the weight to the coffin he’d carried wasn’t her body but sandbags they’d put in the casket to make it seem real, that the gravestone with her name etched onto it stood at a grave that was empty apart from the weighted casket. It was too real, everyone else's grief weighing down on him, the guilt that he'd done this, that he’d taken her life from her filling his lungs. 

“Hey,” she whispers, dragging his attention to her, “Don’t do that.” 

He smiles wryly, his thumb tracing over her pulse point, a much needed reminder that she’d somehow survived, that she was still here even if no one else knew it, “Don’t do what?” 

“Blame yourself,” she says, her smile weak, “You did what you had to do to protect me.” 

He hums, not quite sure that he believes her, self-hatred so familiar to him, such a cornerstone of his life, that it was easier to feel than everything else. “Yeah, I just wish it hadn’t come to this.” 

“Me too,” she replies, the apology she’d given him a thousand times since she’d first woken up dying on her tongue, “I heard the doctor talking. He said I’ll be stable enough to move soon. Will you be told when it happens?” 

He shakes his head and watches the slightly hopeful smile slip off her face. Every time he’d come here there had been the possibility that she’d already be gone, her room empty, the smell of disinfectant in the air removing the final traces of her from his life. “It’s safer that no one knows.” 

She swallows thickly, the knowledge that this could be their goodbye, that it could truly be the end of the thing between them that never had a chance to get started weighing heavily in the room. She can’t bring herself to think about it, much less talk about it, but she knows she wants him here with her as long as possible. She forces a smile and squeezes his hand, making him look up at her. 

“Can you do something for me?” 

“Anything,” he replies immediately, and they both know he’d do it. That if he could spare her any of this he would. 

Her smile turns genuine, the love that would feel cruel to admit to now flooding through her, “Can you read to me for a little while?” She asks, nodding towards a book on the side table, “I keep trying but with all the meds they’ve got me on I can’t concentrate.” 

He reaches for the book, raising his eyebrow as looks back to her, the pristine cover and perfect spine giving away that it was new and had never been read, “I didn’t take you for a Dickens fan.” 

She narrows her eyes, “One of the nurses gave it to me,” she says, “I didn’t exactly have time to pack a bag.” 

He smiles and opens the books with one hand, the other still wrapped around hers, “From the start?” He asks and she nods. He smiles at her before he turns his attention back to the book, “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” 

___

Four

He wakes up early, drawn from sleep by the sun streaming in through an unfamiliar window, his face in the direct line of the gap in the curtains. 

It was rare that he got to wake up slowly, so he takes advantage of it. Lets his senses return one by one, each one of them reminding him where he is before his brain kicks into gear. The sound of her soft snores. The smell of her hair from where her head was tucked under his chin. The feel of her tangled around him, their limbs wrapped together like a vine. The taste of her still lingering on his lips, something he chases with his tongue as he wets his lower lip. When he opens his eyes and looks at her, tilting his head just enough to see the profile of her face, a sense of peace he thought he’d never experience again washes over him. 

They’d taken things slowly. 

When she came home, a shell of the person she’d once been, he’d wanted nothing more than to drag her into his arms and protect her. He’d stopped himself, his palms itching with it as he reminded himself she needed to do this how she saw fit. She’d had so much of her freedom stripped away, some of it by him, and she needed to claw it back, needed to try and find her footing again in a world that had shattered around her. The first step back towards where they’d been before was when they came to their agreement that she’d tell him about her bad days. He’d tried, and failed, to remain detached. The lie that he only cared as her boss obvious to both of them, but he knows that it had contributed to her keeping her promise to come to him on that very same case. 

After that, there were times when it felt like nothing had changed. Like she hadn’t died to protect him and he hadn’t buried her and they were as close to becoming something more as they had been before. He still let her take the lead. Would say goodbye at his front door or hers every evening with a hug that lingered a little too long and a promise to see each other tomorrow. 

When she kissed him it was a reflection of the last time she had. A perfect parallel that somehow spoke of everything they’d been through and everything yet to come all at once. As soon as the kiss ended he asked her out, a question that had prompted laughter from her, her agreement to go out with him lost in between more kisses and her teasing of just how long have you been waiting to ask, as if she didn’t already have the answer. 

She let him pick the restaurant, a glint in her eye he knew spelt trouble when she found out he’d chosen a French place she’d mentioned to him once. The moment she orders their food in French, switching easily between it and English as she asks him questions between listing items to the waiter, he knows he has lost the last piece of his self-control, his obsession with her exactly as she already was, every part of her perfect to him, bone-deep. 

She’d taken him to her place afterwards, her smile uncharacteristically shy as she wrapped her hand around his and dragged him into her apartment. They barely made it inside before they were on each other, knocking into walls and counters as they finally gave in to everything they’d denied themselves for years, her belongings falling to the floor and left there, unimportant as they finally found each other. They’d explored each other slowly, taking time to learn the bodies they knew had changed since anyone else had last seen them, and when he fell asleep with her pressed up against him, her skin warm and sticky against his, he knew this had been his last first date.  

“Are you watching me sleep?”

His eyes meet hers and he clears his throat, suppressing a smile as his cheeks burn with embarrassment at being caught out, “No.”

She smiles at him, her eyes still bleary from sleep, her hand uncoordinated as she pushes it against his cheek, forcing his head to move so she can kiss him, “Yes you are,” she says, kissing him again, “Creep.”

She presses herself closer to him, her face buried against his neck as she curls up on his chest, sighing contentedly as he runs his hand up and down her bare back, “Good morning, by the way.” 

He feels her smile against his chest, something she chases with a kiss against the scar under her cheek, “Morning.” 

He kisses the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo as his nose settles against her hair, and he lets his eyes drift shut. He makes sure that he takes it in, that he allows himself to enjoy this moment he’d wanted for years, something that, until recently, he thought he’d missed out on. 

“What do you want to do today?” He asks, his breath skipping across her forehead, and she sighs contently, placing her hands on his chest and resting her chin on them, her smile soft as she looks up at him. 

“Let you cook me breakfast,” she says, “Have sex. Sleep. Let you make me lunch. Have sex,” she smiles when he laughs, “Have a nap, let you cook me dinner, have sex-”

“I’m seeing a pattern emerging here,” he says, his touch turning insistent on her back, his palm slipping down to the globe of her ass.

She hums as she moves so she’s straddling his waist, her elbows on either side of his head as her face hovers over his, “This is one of the many reasons I find you so hot,” she says, her smile pressed against his, “You’re so smart.” 

He pulls her into a kiss, swallowing her yelp when he rolls them, pressing her into the mattress before he sits up, “I’d better get started on your list of demands.” 

She bites her lower lip as she sits up in bed, unashamedly letting the covers fall to her waist, “I bought what you need to make pancakes especially.”

He fakes outrage as he pulls on his boxers, “How did you know I’d put out on the first date?”

She winks at him, “I had a feeling,” she says, “Now go make some food. I’m starving.” 

He leans down to kiss her one more time, “Yes sweetheart.” 

As he walks to the kitchen, as relaxed as he’d ever been, he almost trips over something on the ground. He frowns curiously, the expression slowly giving way to a smile as he picks it up, a copy of David Copperfield, the cover of it far more worn than it had been the last time he’d seen it in her hospital room. His heart skips a beat as he imagines her in a nondescript apartment in Paris, the one connection she had left to him in her hands, reading it again and again until she felt somewhere close to home. He places it carefully on the side table it had clearly fallen from, his fingers lingering on the torn edges of the front cover, before he continues his journey to the kitchen.

He had pancakes to make.

___

Five 

“I am far too tired for this shit.” 

Aaron has to stop himself from laughing at his wife, knowing he’d be in trouble if she caught him. He presses his lips together to contain his smile before he turns to look at her, his efforts pointless as soon as he spots her on their newly delivered couch, half-laying, half-sitting on top of the plastic they still hadn’t removed from it, the box of books she was meant to be unpacking abandoned at her feet. 

“We can take a break, sweetheart,” he says, walking over and joining her, the plastic crinkling under him as wraps his arm around her and drags her into his side, his hand resting on her bump, “Moving is hard even when you aren’t 6 months pregnant.” 

She hums something he thinks is an agreement under her breath and she turns her head to press her face against his neck, “I’d go upstairs and nap but the bed frame isn’t coming until later,” she’s close to pouting when she pulls back to look at him, “And I think sleeping on the mattress on the floor is a little beyond me these days.” 

He leans in and kisses her cheek before he does the same with her bump, laughing when their daughter kicks in response, and he comes up with a plan. He stands up and offers her his hand, “Stand up for a minute.” 

She huffs, “Honey-”

“Just a minute okay,” he says, taking both of her hands and helping her up, “Then you can have your nap.” 

She nods, her hands on her belly as she chases the movement of their little girl. She watches as Aaron makes quick work of pulling the plastic off the couch, her lips pressed together to cover a laugh as he curses under his breath when a piece of it is particularly stubborn. He disappears from the room for a few seconds to grab a couple of throw cushions and a blanket from where they were piled up in the foyer, and he smiles when he walks back in, almost tripping over a box in the entryway. The house was a mess, their belongings strewn everywhere as they tried to make it a home, and he was grateful that Jack was with Jessica as they tried to get the bulk of it done.

“Here we are,” he says, placing two cushions down on the couch before he grabs her hand, guiding her over, “Now you can nap.” 

She shakes her head lovingly as he helps arrange one of the cushions under her head and the other under her bump, providing the support she now couldn’t sleep without. He’s about to step away when she grabs his hand, her smile sleepy and soft and impossible to say no to as she looks up at him.

“Sit with us for a little bit?”

He nods and slips under her head as she sits up just enough for him to do so, the cushion on his lap and her head on the cushion as she resettles, She curls her hand around his knee, anchoring herself to him as she sighs contentedly, her thumb moving back and forth over the rough material of his jeans. 

“Better?” He asks, his hand landing in her hair, his short nails scratching against her scalp.

“Much,” she replies, turning her head just enough to press a kiss to his clothed leg, “Baby girl and I sleep much better with you around.” 

He smiles, the hand not tangled in her hair resting on her bump, feeling the almost constant movement of their little girl. Sometimes it hit him how close he’d come to having none of this, how close he’d come to missing out on her. His wife. The love of his life and mother of his children. It seemed impossible to think about and he shook it off every time he was haunted by the what-ifs of a different life he had no interest in. 

“We really need to come up with a name,” he says, continuing the gentle scratching of her scalp, feeling her grip on his knee loosening already as she started to be lulled to sleep, “Even if baby girl was an option, Garcia and Morgan have ruined it for me.” 

She laughs, the sound a huff as it escapes her, her words slightly slurred as they follow, “We have time.” 

He leans down to kiss her cheek, not caring that the angle is awkward and his back twinges, “We have plenty of time, sweetheart,” he kisses her cheek again, “Get some sleep.” 

He sits there for a while, his girls safe and relaxing in his arms, before he decides to carry on unpacking their things, wanting to have made some progress by the time she wakes up so she feels less overwhelmed when she does. He slips out from under her lap, smiling when she doesn’t even flinch. Her snores, which were louder these days because of her pregnancy, never stopping for a moment. He places the cushions under her head and adjusts the blanket around her before he gets back to making their house a home. 

He’s halfway through putting some of her books on the inbuilt shelves she’d fallen in love with when they viewed the house when a piece of paper flutters out from the pages of one of them. He bends down, his back twinging again from a long day of lifting boxes, and he pauses before he touches it, a laugh of disbelief as he picks up the receipt he’d slipped in between the very pages of the book in his other hand years ago. He’d had no idea she’d kept it, or how it had survived this long, the ink from the years old coffee order almost faded to the point where it was unreadable, but he finds himself falling all the more in love with her, something that always seemed impossible until it happened. 

He looks over at her, his chest tight with love as he watches her sleep for a moment before he carefully slips the receipt back into the book and places it on the shelf. He knew if he mentioned it, if he brought up the sentimentality she only ever let him see, she’d be embarrassed. 

He carries on unpacking their things, his future bright and clear and as beautiful as it had ever been.

___

+ One 

She feels nothing short of relief wash over her as she pulls into the driveway, her smile soft as she spots the lights on in the living room, her husband having waited up for her. Emily loved girl's nights, and loved spending time with her friends, even if she was on virgin cocktails these days, but there was nothing quite like coming home to her family. She sighs as she unclips her seatbelt, taking the opportunity to rub a circle on her bump before she opens the door, groaning as she gets out of the car. 

“Come on, sweet boy,” she says, her smile getting wider as the baby rolls under her skin, “Let’s go see what your brother and sister put Daddy through whilst we were gone.” 

When she steps into the house, it’s quiet. She slips off her shoes and goes in search of her husband, feeling ridiculous for how much she’d missed him and the kids in the few short hours she’d been gone. She finds him in the living room, fast asleep in the armchair with their 3-year-old asleep in his arms, her cheek squished against his chest as he held her close even in his slumber, her favourite book open on the arm of the chair. 

It was a rare treat for Emily to watch Aaron sleep. He was always awake before her, his eyes already open as he watched her wake up. It was something he’d done for as long as they’d been together and she found comfort in it, in the repetitive pattern she was once sure would drive her crazy. There was something extra special about watching him with their little girl safe and asleep in his arms, the solace she found there just another thing Clara had inherited from her mother. 

Clara had them, and Jack, wrapped around her little finger since before she was born. She was a sweet little girl, and wilful and just about everything Emily’s own mother had always claimed was a fault in her. She’d grown up thinking they were bad things too, Elizabeth’s warnings of just wait until your daughter is just like you ringing in her ears until she started to see her little girl’s personality develop. Until she realised everything that had supposedly made her so difficult were traits she loved in Clara. 

She knows that Clara would have begged Aaron to read her a story, her dark eyes wide as she looked up at him, a copy of her favourite book, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, in her hands. It was a book they’d bought for Jack, a version of the novel for children, but the toddler had commandeered it the moment she knew she shared a name with the main character. She didn’t care that it was too old for her, or too late or far too early to read a Christmas book. She didn’t care that her parents only read her the first chapter on repeat, never going any further into the story. She loved it, claiming in her sweet voice that it was her book because there was a character in it she shared a name with. Wholly unaware that she was named after a Clara from an entirely different book that held more meaning to her parents than she’d likely ever understand, their love for the name outweighing the traits of the character they’d make sure to raise their girl to surpass. 

She stands and looks at them for a moment, letting herself enjoy it and the relative peace that was rare in their home, well aware it was about to get rarer when their son was born. Emily wished she could go back to speak to her old self, to tell the version of her that had sat in a dark apartment in Paris that she’d have this one day. That she’d have a husband she loved more than she thought possible, a little girl, a son and another on the way. There were times when it felt too good to be true, like a dream. A moment in time that she was caught in that she never wanted to be free from. 

Sometimes it was hard to get away from the thought of it, the fear that she’d wake up and all of this would be gone, but she knew it was real because her dreams had never been this kind to her. A mantra she’d repeat to herself again and again when the bad days rolled around. 

She steps towards them and eases Aaron’s hand from Clara’s back, grunting as quietly as she can when she lifts her daughter into her arms, resting her on top of her bump. 

“Em?” Aaron rasps out, his eyes half open when she looks at his face. 

“It’s me, honey,” she says, smiling when he looks at her, “I’ll take her up.” 

“I can take her,” he says, rubbing his eyes as he sits up, “I don’t want you to hurt your back.” 

“I’ve got her,” she assures him, kissing him quickly as he stands up, his hand ghosting on her lower back, “I’ll meet you in our room?” 

He nods, rubbing his eyes again as he half stumbles towards the stairs, and she knows he’ll be asleep again by the time she joins him. 

She almost makes it to Clara’s room before the little girl wakes up, her grip on her shoulder the first sign she’s awake.

“Mama?” 

“Yes baby,” she says, kissing the side of her head as she steps into the bedroom, knocking the light on with her elbow, “It’s Mama,” she sits down on the bed, and pulls back to look at her little girl, smiling at the sleepy look in her eyes, “You need to go back to sleep, okay?” 

Clara grumbles around a yawn, fighting sleep even though she is halfway there, and it makes Emily laugh as she lays her down, tucking the covers around her, “Missed you.” 

“I missed you too, sweet girl,” she says, leaning forward to kiss her forehead, running her knuckles over her daughter’s soft cheek, a trick that had lulled her into sleep since she was a tiny newborn, “I’ll be home all day tomorrow. I promise.” 

Clara smiles, her eyes drifting shut, “Love you, Mama.” 

The tears that press at the back of her eyes don’t surprise her, they’d stopped doing so a long time ago. She felt safe to feel everything here, and wanted her children to feel the same way too. She kisses Clara’s forehead again and breathes her in, the sweet scent of her no tears shampoo filling her senses. 

“I love you too,” she replies, her knuckles still trailing a pattern on the toddler's cheek until she’s sure she’s asleep. 

Emily sneaks out of the room quietly and checks in on a sleeping Jack on her way by his room. She smiles as she steps into the master bedroom and finds her husband asleep as predicted, his hand on her pillow, ready and waiting for her to slip into his embrace. She gets ready for bed quickly, keen to join the rest of her family in sleep. 

When she wakes up in the morning, Aaron is watching her just like he always did, and she starts her day with a smile. 

-x-

NOTE: Because of the time consuming nature of it, and tumblr being tumblr, instead of a tag list, going forward I would just encourage those who want to know when I'm posting to turn on post notifications <3

[wolfinitethewolf]

It's here!

Alright! After a long time I can reveal my fic for @sthbigbang, Memories in the Sky!

Really hope you'll all enjoy it, and a really big thanks to the amazing artists who've all done an amazing piece for it! Please do go and check them out! I'll be rebloggin' their amazing work here, but I declare that you go and see it yourself! Actually, another thanks to 'em for putting up with how long it took for me to actually finish it, :D Asides from that, here is the lovely talent behind the amazing artwork for this:

@fleetways Their art @grimly-arts Their art @bittersweet-cj Their art

Heres the link to the AO3 version: MEMORIES IN THE SKY

But if you wanna read it here, a small summary, and under the cut shall be the fic itself :D

Sonic and Tails have had many adventures over the few years that they've known each over. Of course, when you have so many battles, even the painful, adrenaline boosting, and heartfelt battles are easy to move on from.

After battling against Dr. Eggman once again, the classic duo Sonic and Tails sit down together to catch a break and relax. However, as the two look up to the sky, some certain star formations begin to emerge, alongside with a few of their past adventures.

For the STH Big Bang 2024!

Sonic and Tails were sitting together on top of one of the many floating platforms that occupy green hill. Some stray blades of grass were gently blowing in the breeze. The sun was setting, casting its final orange light over the sea right before Sonic and Tails’ eyes. The stars were beginning to come out as the darkness rose over the horizon.

“Haha that was fun, wasn’t it lil’ buddy?” Sonic turned his head towards Tails, smiling in joy at the thrilling conclusion of another battle. “Yeah! Eggman stood no chance! Not when we are both around!” Sonic laughed, sitting up straight, shuffling the grass underneath him. “Haha, right you are! Besides, a few bots is nothing compared to literally anything else you and I have taken down without a problem!”

Tails gives Sonic a cheeky grin. “Oh really? You sure nothing at all has been a hassle for you?” Sonic grins, crossing his arms. “I am certain of it! Nothing can beat me! Now or ever!” After giving his statement, he picks up a blade of grass and fiddles with it in between his fingers.

As the two had their conversation, the sun was finally out of view. Only black with various shades of purple behind the many stars sitting in the sky. Time seemed to freeze, with Sonic and Tails being the only ones still moving and awake.

“Well… What about that time when Knuckles one shot you and took all the Chaos Emeralds?” Sonic gave a short laugh. “Well to be fair, I did not use them as much as I do now. Also he got me by surprise really…” Tails rolled his eyes. “Ok… What about the various races you lost to Jet?” “Hahaha I won a lot more races than he did! Besides, I was letting him win. After all, gotta let him think he won something.” Tails looks over at Sonic with a doubting look. “Ok. Then what about Mecha Sonic? That was more recent.” “C’mon, I had a broken ankle, you can’t count that! Also to make it fair, didn’t you also lose to him when trying to save me?” Sonic grinned, jabbing an elbow at Tails too quick for him to block with either of his tails.

“Haha, well why don’t you ask Mecha what he has to say about that?” Sonic lowered his eyelids. “Ehh, don’t want to bother him, y’know?” Sonic let go of the blade of grass he was playing with, letting it glide through the air into the ocean below them. “Whatever you say…” Just as Tails was about to add on something else, he held his breath, lowering his ears slightly. Changing his mind on whatever he was about to speak.

“Hm? Tails, you all good?” Tails perked back up. “Yeah! I’m all good!” Sonic gave a doubtful look, but moved on anyway. Tails closed his eyes, relaxing and enjoying the quiet.

The stars began to shine and sparkle, illuminating the night as the clouds covered the moon in a blanket.

“Heh. Hey Tails, don’t you think those stars over there look like the Chaos Emeralds? Like, the basic outline of them.” Sonic held a finger up to a group of stars, as Tails opened his eyes and followed where he was looking. “Huh, I guess they do kinda look like them…” Sonic and Tails stare at them in silence before Sonic speaks up. “They sure have come in handy, huh? I mean, we’ve done so much with them! Took down Eggman with them, multiple times may I add. Chaos, Time Eater, Dragon looking Metal Sonic- twice, all the Titans and the End on Starfall Island, and got rid of the Metal Virus! That's just to name a few!” Sonic had both hands on his hip, grinning in pride looking at Tails.

“Well yeah, but- wait, most of your victories were won due to the Chaos Emeralds! So you did technically get help after all!” Tails grinned at Sonic, mimicking what Sonic was doing and placing his hands on his hips in a similar manner. They both sat there in silence for a brief moment before Sonic came up with a response. “Well I mean, who wouldn’t want to fly around golden and all? C’mon, admit it, it's super cool. Pun intended.”

Tails gave Sonic an annoyed look. “First. You did need them. There is no way you would have otherwise. Second. Yeah, it is really cool. Third, That was a really bad pun. I would give that a 2/10.” Sonic gave Tails a dramatic response, pulling a “disheartened” face and resting his palm on his head. “Oh c’mon. That's quite the harsh review. I guess I’ll never do a pun ever again. This world is too cruel to say anything without judgment!” Sonic fell back onto the grass. “I guess that's the end of Sonic. His true enemy is a bad critic review.”

Sonic closed his eyes and smirked. “A bad critic review indeed.” Tails flicked a round stone at Sonic, landing on his forehead. Sonic got up, the stone falling back onto the ground from where Tails picked it up. “Ah. Enough of that. Truth is I am glad to have your help. You, Knuckles, Amy, heck even Shadow! You are all my friends! There is no one else I’d rather have my back than you all!”

“I knew that. Just waited for you to admit it.” Sonic gave a small laugh, smiling. “Ah well. You win some and you lose some.” Just as Sonic said that a stray leaf glided in out of nowhere and smacked itself into Sonic’s face, catching him off guard. Just as quickly as it landed, it took off, following the breeze. Sonic and Tails sat there for no less than a second before going into a fit of laughter, despite it not overall being that funny to begin with.

“Woah! Look at the ocean!” Tails joined in with Sonic gazing at the sea to see the beautiful sight of the stars reflected by the ocean's surface, with various ocean life illuminated underneath submerged by water. “Wait, aren't you supposed to be afraid of water?” Tails gave Sonic a sly side glance. “Well when I am in it. I mean, it can be beautiful. But from afar, and not too close to me…” Tails snickered. “I mean, you say that while we are sitting on a small floating platform almost right above the ocean…” Sonic wrapped one arm around Tails’ shoulder. “Ahh shut it you. You’ll make me wanna run off.” “Don’t be dramatic…”

Sonic and Tails continued to admire the stars as Tails decided to turn Sonic’s earlier comment into a game of sorts. “Look! Don’t those stars look like Trip’s helmet! When you look at it reflected in the water!” Sonic pointed his head downwards. “Yeah they do buddy!”

Sonic picked up a stone off the ground and skilfully tossed it at the ocean, as it skipped across the sea. “The highlight of it all was I remember in Cyber Station when Knuckles knocked me down a platform and sent me flying! Man, now that I think back on it that happened quite a bit, with you having to catch me. Heh. What fun…” Tails gave Sonic an irritated look. “I am pretty sure that was you being stubborn and just leaping before you looked, which then led me to having to catch you…. Quite a few times…” Sonic shrugged. “Eh, same story…”

“Well what about in Speed Jungle when you ran off so fast you were stuck having to beat that robot at the end of the zone all by yourself? You were having a hard time until me, Amy, and Knuckles arrived.” Sonic held a finger up to his chin, rethinking the scenario. “I don’t believe that exactly happened. More like that Knucklehead could not keep up…” As Sonic said that he tossed another stone at the sea, skipping like the previous one. “Oh yeah? You sure about that? Why don’t you sit back and think for a minute?” Tails questioned, as Sonic sat there with his arms folded, reimagining the event.

Sonic had blazed through the jungle, scattering vines, fog, and leaves everywhere. He skillfully jumped in between platforms or walls, not coming to a halt for even a mere second. While he was having a fun time, the rest of his crew was not.

Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were trying their best to keep up with their blue friend, as he left them behind in the dust. It was very easy to see where he was going due to his speed leaving quite the trail behind him. Vines he used to get across were still swinging, wooden bridges still swaying wildly.

“Sonic! Wait up!” Tails cupped his hands around his mouth in an attempt to make himself louder. However, the hedgehog was either ignoring him, or was too far ahead to hear anything the group was saying. Tails spinned his namesakes faster, in hopes of catching up. “Sonic!”

After many failed attempts to catch up, the trio came to a halt to catch their breaths. Amy had her hands on her knees, Tails was gasping for air, and Knuckles stood there, not out of breath but irritated about being left behind. Amy let out a sigh of defeat. “Why does Sonic keep running off like that?” While she finally had the chance to stop running, she picked out stray twigs from her quills and dress, scratches all over her.

Knuckles had his nose to the ground, not saying anything more than a grunt, leaning up against a tall and rounded off rock. Tails was sitting on the ground plucking out all the twigs tangled in his tails’ fur, mattered and rough. “Hopefully he’ll be alright until we reach him…” Amy said as she sat down to catch her breath.

The sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping echoed around as the blue blur slowed to a walk when in a darker space. Of course, he was speed walking. But nonetheless walking. There was only a little light source guiding him. Only just enough to see his own hands and legs in front of him. For the most part he was feeling his way around.

The jungle surrounding smelt damp and moist; thick warm air making it somewhat hard to breathe. As Sonic guided himself using the smooth stones and rough bark of the trees, he saw a small light up ahead. Getting excited, he dashed forward, finally about to get out. But just as he was halfway there, he tripped over a loose stone, which sent him flying into a vine, launching him upwards as he smacked himself into an overhanging platform. The sound of stones cracking against each other rang out as pebbles and dirt fell alongside Sonic.

Sonic fell with a thud. He got up and tried wiping away the dirt that had gotten into his eyes. He shook any remaining dirt and stones that had gotten stuck to him. Coughing out what had gotten into his mouth, he went at a steady pace towards the exit, rubbing his watering eyes.

Stumbling over his own footing as he readjusted to the dark terrain, eyes still watering, he finally made it out of the dark space, sneezing out the dust that had gotten up his nose. “Gah!” He had to shield his eyes as he stepped out into the sunlight. Shaking it off, he sprinted forwards, only to immediately bump into something cold and smooth. A badnik. It was shaped as an egg, (to no one’s surprise) and had two robotic arms coming out of it.

Sonic grinned, standing up straight as he dashed forwards, trying to get a hit only for it to grapple the above terrain and lift itself up much too high for Sonic to reach. As it gripped the branches of some trees and vines, some fell down gently onto the ground, which would include an oversized leaf falling onto his face, blocking his view.

Unfortunately for Sonic, that was much more than enough time for the badnik to throw itself back onto the ground and send a nasty hit right at him with one of its arms, sending Sonic soaring through the air, rings scattering across the ground. He hits the side of some terrain, cracking the wall underneath him as he tumbles amongst chunks of earth, crunching, sliding and cracking. He lands on his chest, getting buried alive.

Before Sonic could even get out of the rubble, he was grabbed with force and slammed into the ground. A web pattern formed underneath him in the terrain as it cracked open, dust and dirt flying up into the air. Sonic trembling, tries to get back up only for a flurry of hits to keep coming at him. The smell of dust and earth becoming more clear with each his as the sound of earth splitting apart booms through the jungle.

Amy was fidgeting with her hammer while Knuckles and Tails sat together resting up a bit before some loud sounds burst out from up ahead. Clearly Sonic got himself into trouble. “Looks like he needs our help again…” Knuckles mumbled out as he started to walk forward, with Amy getting up to follow along. Tails was already spinning his tails madly, trying to reach Sonic as fast as he could. “Tails wait!” Amy called out as her and Knuckles followed along, the three following the sounds of earth shattering.

Sonic was receiving hit after hit, sending him further into the ground as the small crater in the ground got deeper and deeper. It felt as if in slow motion that a window opened; astray grass speeding through the wind came to a halt, the dust and debris froze, and the robot paused. Quickly, Sonic curled up into a ball, spinning as fast as he could.

The robot sent another hit, however that would be its downfall as once it made contact with the hedgehog, its arm was sawed clean off, sparks and metal flying through the air with a loud screech. An upside for Sonic which he was not prepared for was that the pressure from the hit also sent Sonic flying out of danger, like a slingshot. Still curled tightly in a ball, he cleaved a line of trees right in half until he landed harshly into the ground.

Sonic got up almost in an instant, ignoring the pain all over his body and the sharp ringing in his ears and pumped his fists into the air, happy that he disabled one arm. He sped right back to the fightzone, ready to hit it again when another arm took place of the damaged one and hit Sonic midair. Sonic let out a startled yelp as he was hit once again, tumbling through the ground.

By now due to all the attacks on the poor terrain, there was a very thick cloud of dust going through the air, which was making Sonic’s throat dry and giving him the urge to sneeze more and more. Determined to win, Sonic leapt at the robot once more, attempting to smash clean through another arm.

Carefully navigating the dark, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles safely made it to the exit, where they could already see that quite the fight was going down. Debris was soaring everywhere, a thick coating of dust was making it harder to breath in the area, and the ground was trembling wildly. To top it off, the group could hear Sonic’s iconic spindash bouncing off metal and making an impact in the ground. “We have to help him!” Amy shouted out over the chaos as she grabbed her piko piko hammer out and charged forward, as Knuckles and Tails followed into the battle.

Sonic could not even see where he was going anymore; there was too much dust and dirt fogging the field. While stumbling around to get his footing he was getting attacked from every direction and slammed back into the ground. It was getting far too intense for him to deal with at this rate, with the ground looking like a minefield, and the wildlife facing the consequences. Just as the robot prepares for another blow, it’s knocked right over, landing in one of the many craters in the terrain below, dense, hollow metal making a low clang as the ground shifted beneath it.

“There you are.” Knuckles made his way towards Sonic, head turned down. “Look what happens when you run off.” Amy ran into the scene, treading lightly over gaps in the ground or smoking pits. “Knuckles, don’t be like that, just help him up.” Knuckles grunted in response, waving his arm through the thick smoke as he went to lift Sonic up. However, his arm was shoved aside as Sonic struggled to get up himself, coughing out smoke that he had inhaled during the fight.

As he stood up, shaking under the pressure of the cuts and bruises he had received from the attacks, he turned to face Knuckles, annoyed with the idea of needing help. “M’kay, dealt with worse.” Once up he shook his head and body off, as stones and debris rolled off and clattered on the ground. Coughing too much, he gestures with his hand to the robot getting back up.

Gears and metal clacked together as the metal frames grinded in its strain to get back up. A curved, smooth dent in the side of its body from the hit Knuckles delivered. Lighting up its eyes, the engines whirred loud and fast, as it prepared for the new opponents.

Amy sprinted ahead, mad at it for harming Sonic. Before she could get a swing with her hammer however, the robot grabbed an overhanging tree that had been knocked right down and lifted itself up high, far out of reach from Amy. “Hey, that's not fair! Get back down here!” Amy pouted helplessly as she stared furiously at it.”Tails! Lift me up there so I can give him a taste of my hammer!” However, Tails was instead gazing up at it with a finger up to his chin, lost in thought.” Sonic dragged his right foot through the rubble, the terrain crunching with each step. He put a hand over his friend's shoulder and tilted his head. Tails looked at him, his tails swaying softly in the dirt, dust sticking to his fur and glinting in the lighting. “I think I-”

Tails was pushed out of the way by Sonic when one of the arms launched at them. More dirt flying into the air and all over the group. Tails had protectively shield him and Sonic with his namesakes in reaction to the sudden movement. All the fur on his tails became rough and mattered, feeling like cotton candy as more dirt clung onto them.

Knuckles’ eyes lit up in rage as he lifted up a chunk of rock and threw it at the badnik’s arm, snapping it as the sound of static popping and crackling rang out. The rest of the arm hangs limp, shards of metal falling onto the rest of the arm like rain; static springing out of both ends. It retracted the arm as two new ones took its place.

“Great! How do we disable this thing!” Knuckles clenched his fists and glared at the badnik with pure rage. Another arm launched itself at where Sonic and Tails had landed, as they narrowly dodge it by a hair, jumping opposite directions. Recoiling the new arm fast, as it snapped back to its base.

Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic start dodging the fast attacks, rolling out of harm's way. However, Tails was focusing on the robot more, analyzing its movements. Everything was moving in a pattern for him. Seeing outcomes and logic to use against it.

Sonic was running as best as he could, due to the beating from before. However, his shoe skidded across a loose stone, and he face planted into a deep crater. Seeing another arm target him, he rolled onto his side just in time. The gears clicked over and over as it struggled to pull the arm back. Tails looked closer, and saw what had happened. Because of the crater taking in a lot of damage, there was still loose rubble and terrain that was barely holding up at the edges. So when the arm had dug itself into the ground with force, all that rubble had come down and buried the arm.

The only downside to that was that Sonic had not rolled fully out of the crater, and had his left leg and arm buried. Tails knew what to do. “Knuckles! Climb up the arm and attack the robot from where you impacted it before!” Knuckles nodded, not hesitating for a second, stumbling in small gaps or indents in the ground.

Gripping onto the cold, silky surface of the arm, he dragged himself upwards, digging the tip of his shoes into the small gaps so he did not slide or slip. As the badnik tried to free itself, shaking and jolting, Knuckles pressed himself closer, so he would not go free falling with every movement.

He got higher and higher to the base, his leather shoes squeaking with every step, it became easier to move up, as the base was more stiff and solid unlike the middle and end where it's unstable. Almost able to stand, he started to run up, seeing the small dent on the side of it.

Jumping into the air, he threw a huge hit at the mark, a loud boom as a giant hole revealed gears and wires, metal sheets rattling inside it, resting at the bottom.. Static popped as the robot's arms stopped moving. Knuckles seeing it shut down gilded off it, gracefully landing on the damaged ground as the robot creaked and loosened its grip on the above canopy. Falling with a massive thud that shook the nearby ground, the lights illuminating the eyes dimmed.

Knuckles grunted, as Amy and Tails helped get Sonic’s limbs out of the rubble. “Well that takes care of it.” Brushing off dust, he made his way to the three and grabbed Sonic with one hand, lifting him out without any effort. “This is what happens when you run off. Next time, wait.” Knuckles left it at that and turned his back away, waiting for what they would do next.

Tails ran in front of Sonic, worried. “Are you alright Sonic, that looked like a pretty nasty beating…” Sonic merely closed his eyes and grinned, holding a thumbs up to his pal, assuring he was ok. Sonic then gestured to the path ahead, ready to move on.

Relaying the memory, hand cupping his mouth, he turned to Tails, as his buddy finished ‘correcting’ what Sonic had ended on. “Well I don't remember Knuckles having to step in. Are you sure you remembered that correctly?” Tails rolled his eyes, knowing that Sonic was just lying to keep up his ego. “Regardless, you needed our help when you faced it off alone.” “Ehhh, I think I still had dust in my eye…” Tails laughed it off. “Whatever you want to believe, since I’ll have the correct memory here.” Tails tapped his forehead, taunting Sonic with the fact that he was very much going to bring it up another time.

“Actually another thing I really remember was that giant dragon thing!” Tails shifted. “Do you mean Trip’s superform, or the one you fought?” Sonic picked a stray quill out of his head. “The giant purple one. Don’t really remember much of it now, since it was a while ago, but yeah.” Sonic flicked the quill out of his hand, falling into the ocean with a small splash. Sonic slouched over a little, resting his face in his hands.

Tails gave Sonic a confused stare for a solid 10 seconds. “You mean to tell me you remember Speed Jungle more than something you fought in your superform?” Sonic laughed, his warm breath visible in the cold, sharp air. “Yeah. Wasn’t the coolest thing I fought…” Tails still in disbelief moved on, thinking about how Sonic could forget that so easily.

A cold sharp breeze blew by, raising the fur on Tails’ back. He wrapped both of his tails around his torso. Sonic sat back upright. “Gettin’ pretty cold, huh?” Tails’ ears perked up a little. “No, just a cold breeze. Nothing much…” Sonic looked down at the sea, and behind him at the terrain. “Well I mean I would get something warm like a blanket, but we are sitting on a platform high up so…” Tails glanced down at the scenery below. “Nonono it’s fine! Like I said, just a small breeze.” Sonic shrugged. “Eh, if you say so…”

As the night went on, a small, thin sheet of fog covered the ground and sea, made visible by the various lighting all around. Only just visible.

“Oh Tails, don’t you think that looks like Chaos when he consumed all the Emeralds” Tails corrected Sonic, unfolding his Tails from his body. “You mean Perfect Chaos?” Sonic rolled his eyes at the correction. “Same difference…” “No not really…” Sonic folded his arms. “Moving on from that…” Tails sighed.

“Man, now that I think about it, Chaos did a heck lot of damage. Like, he tore down all of Station Square, huh?” Tails drew in a breath. “I mean, he was like, very big and the flooding did not help. He also drained all the Chaos Emeralds too.” Sonic and Tails both visualized that very event, looking up into the stars as if they were watching the event right before their eyes.

Everything was in ruin. Towers and skyscrapers had tilted over and banged into other buildings, causing collateral damage. Flames from gas stations and electronics flickered and spread, smoke rising through the air and making it hard to breathe or see, as it burned everyone's eyes.

Lights from street lamps and stores flickered on and off, reflecting in the rising water. Streets and pathways had crumbled and caved in, sinking beneath the water. Car alarms were blaring all around, making a loud and distressing sound. However, above all was the deep, piercing roar that Chaos let out as he laid waste to anything still standing, turrets of water blazing through the streets.

G.U.N helicopters circled around, whirring and piercing through the wind.Attempting to disarm the creature, they had sent missiles and rockets at it, screeching as they sped past. No explosions or bangs were heard however as they did no damage to the creature made of water, sinking down to the base of him and floating out to sea.

Finding the attackers, Chaos sent sharp and precise jets of water at the vehicles occupying the skies, cutting clean through. Each one making a loud bang or pop as they all blew up, whatever was left of the frame falling into the water or structures and causing further damage.

Everyone was screaming and running in terror, hiding in toppled buildings that could no longer fall, or evacuating the area, footsteps rippling the water.

However, a few did not flee; standing on a fallen road was Sonic, watching Perfect Chaos continue his reign of terror. As the water levels rise, the smell of salt water and oil becomes more overwhelming by the second, burning at Sonic’s throat. His fur had become damp and heavy, pointing more downwards. His gloves and socks were soaked, darker in color.

He watched as Eggman’s ship slowly flew in, the engines working at a high pitch. “Eggman! Looks like he’s after the Chaos Emeralds too!” Unable to do anything from down below, he watched as Eggman flew in closer to the main scene. Static rings out at a high frequency before they adjust, Eggman’s voice blaring though. “This Egg Carrier Two was made because something like this could happen. You have defied your master, stupid beast. Now you must be destroyed at all costs!”

Facing Perfect Chaos, Eggman prepares to launch something, alarms going off. Chaos sees this and opens his mouth wide open. A ball of energy grows at quick speeds, before a massive laser of blue and purple goes forth, cutting the stress and towers in half as he raises it up to the Egg Carrier, not stopping until it’s facing the sky. Smoke bellows out from the gaps of the Egg Carrier, as sparks follow suit. Purple particles fade out from where the laser was last.

Emergency alarms go out as the ship begins to fall downwards, gliding in between structures, no longer in sight. Last thing to be seen of the ship was the giant ball of fire that shot out from wherever it landed, a giant boom rattling the skies. Before Sonic could make a taunt about that bening the end of him, a small scream is heard as he goes flying high up into the sky, seated in his Eggmobile.

Sonic had seen too much damage in one day for his liking, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. “I’ve had enough! Who do you think you are anyway?” Chaos however, could not hear his angry shouts as he was too tall and too far away. What he did not prepare for was a small, red neon orb to gently fall from the sky towards him. Red particles flickered off the light, fading into the air.

Shuddering above the ground, Sonic holds his hand underneath it, palm facing upwards. “Oh, it’s you, the one who sealed Chaos… In the Master Emerald! Tikal!” As the red light hovered there above his hand, red light reflected with ease over Sonic as water dripped down his fur, glinting and highlighting the dark shadows. Despite his senses burning under the intensifying smell of salt water and smoke, he kept his focus on the moment happening right before him.

A bright flash consumed Sonic’s line of vision as it died out to reveal Tikal standing in front of him, grasping both of her hands. Drawing in a breath, she spoke to the hedgehog. “My heart has always been in the Master Emerald along with chaos’. Now he is filled with anger and sadness.” She looks up at Chaos, in fear and worry, voice quivering. “If it goes on, he’ll eventually destroy the world like he did before!” As she says those final words, Chaos lets out a long, ear-splitting roar as the Chaos Emeralds emerge from him, circling above him.

Lowering his head as he let out a low rumble, the Emeralds blast forward like shooting stars, scattering everywhere. Dark blue plummeted down, clattering like an empty glass bottle as it hit the pavement, scraping the concrete as it rolled on its side, resting at Sonic’s shoe. Before Sonic could even dare to pick it up, the light diminished, dulling to a dark and lifeless gray. Any energy radiating from it faded as its neon pulse slowed. Its final breath was visible in the vivid blue static that bounced off it and onto the ground, jittering across the water.

Tikal in pure dismay, stared down at the cold Emerald, covering her mouth with her hands. “He’s absorbed the Emeralds power! He must be sealed in the Master Emerald, now!” Sonic, looking down at his reflection in the glass Emerald, shook his head. “How can that help?” Sonic looked up to face Tikal, clenching his fist in front of his chest as he stepped forwards, scuffing the Emerald on the ground. “It won't change how he feels inside. His heart will still remain in turmoil and his anger just won’t vanish! He’ll just be trapped forever!”

As he finishes his sentence, the ground below shakes and quivers as Chaos does more damage close by, bellowing cries of rage. Tikal, trying to talk over the commotion, steps closer to Sonic, making herself more easy to hear. “What choice do we have?” Her voice becomes more filled with worry each time the sounds of something being torn apart echoed through the scene.

Nearby, while Sonic had his conversation to Tikal, his friends had seen the displaced Emeralds shoot out and had gone after them. Big had found one by pure chance, as it had drifted through the water and plinked against the cold metal hook of his fishing rod. Neon red fizzling out as if the water was draining it and fading off to sea. Grabbing it out, as water slid down the smooth Emerald, he calmly made his way towards his dear blue friend.

Tails, knowing very well about the situation, did not hesitate to go and fly towards the one that had fallen closest to him. Finding it wedged between the windshield of a car. Glass fragments lay atop the Emerald and hood. Tails grabbed it firmly and yanked it out, small shards of glass flying outwards from the force, chattering on the ground. He brushed off any remaining glass with the side of his hand briskly. With no time to lose, he sped towards Sonic, his tails whirring behind.

Amy had been watching Chaos from afar, standing on a relatively straight tower watching him ditch the Emeralds. Various colors reflecting off of the metal structures and flooding water. In a mere second, a blinding streak of cyan light whipped right past her head and landed with a bang as small chunks of rubble bounced off her hand, protecting her face in reaction.

Opening her eyes and moving her hands to her sides, she saw cyan static pop and fizzle as a darkened Chaos Emerald was left behind. No longer warm or pulsing, but dead and gray. Grabbing it in her palm, she swiftly went to find Sonic.

Knuckles had already known beforehand. So in advancement, he already had a stale Emerald in one hand, clenching it firmly to assure that it would not be going anywhere else. Using only one hand to cling onto the surface of an unstable pillar, he located the other Emerald.

It was drifting away from the city as the water levels had risen. Retracting his namesakes that he had dug into the pillar, as concrete burst outward, he glided downwards towards the lost Emerald. Nabbing the last one, he landed with a splash. To his luck, the water was shallow since he was standing on a sunken bridge. Slowly, he began to make his way back to his friends, water above his waist.

Sonic and Tikal had stood there in silence as Sonic watched Tikal fear the worst about the situation. Hearing slow footsteps, he turned to see Big with an Emerald in hand. Big, oddly calm and happy, reached his arm out, a Chaos Emerald in hand. “Sonic! I found this in the water and thought you could use it!” Big's low voice rattled off the Emerald as Sonic carefully took it out of his hand, not knowing what to say as he saw his other friends arrive with the rest of the Emeralds.

“Hey, Sonic!” Amy cheerfully waved to him as she ran up with another Emerald. “Here, take this!” She enthusiastically shoved it into his other hand, hoping that he could fix everything. Knuckles casually dropped in with two in tow, grinning. “Hey guys, what's up?” Tails joined in next to Knuckles staring at awe at the ones he had collected.

Another loud roar rippled the water as the skies shook and trembled. Tails, seeing this as his chance, walked closer to Sonic, explained what needed to be said. “Chaos only used the negative powers of the Chaos Emeralds.” Locking eyes with Sonic, as Knuckles moved in closer, he continued. “Sonic, you should be able to harness their real power!” Knuckles drew in a heavy breath, stubbornly agreeing. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think Tails is right about this.”

Tails nodding to what he said, finished what he was saying. “Negative forces aren’t the only way to empower the Chaos Emeralds. Our positive feelings toward each other can make them work. Our hearts together form a stronger power!” Knuckles walked up to face Sonic, as he handed over both Emeralds. Sonic cradling them in one arm as he reached over to pick up the one that had fallen beside him earlier.

He looked up to face Tails, as the last Chaos Emerald was offered in the base of both his hands, arms outstretched. Sonic reached out to grab it, holding on for a second. “Thank you.” Gripping onto it and lifting it from Tails, the Chaos Emeralds began to pulse in their lost colors, like a heartbeat.

In a mere second after, a golden light spiked outwards from the hedgehog, growing stronger and bigger each second. A burst of energy sprang outwards, a loud boom as Sonic was no longer on the ground. Rather, he was hovering above it. His now golden quills turned upright. Warmth radiated off of him as the water on his shoes slid onto the ground. A golden aura covered him as the air surrounding him quivered and became disoriented. Looking up to the sky, his eyes now a crimson red, he took, knowing what to do.

Flying above broken streets and upturned roads, he blasted across the terrain, dodging broken glass or metal that was sticking out from every direction. Darting in between buildings searching for Chaos, his golden light trailing behind. Each time he zoomed across the water, it split at the very surface, spraying outwards, fizzling if the water droplets came in close contact to Sonic.

Blazing through a cloud of thick smoke, he spotted Chaos’ emerald eyes. Making a sharp turn, he made a straight beeline at him. Halfway there, he started to drift off and feel dizzy. He was losing the energy to keep going. He needed more rings. Almost bouncing off the water, he spotted a group of golden rings. He took a detour and grabbed them off the ground, cold metal contrasting the warmth of his aura. Feeling a boost of energy, he picked back up the pace, hovering higher up over the sea, he made his way back to Chaos.

Reaching Chaos, he collided with the base of his form, water spraying outwards from where he went blazing into it. Now inside the body of water, he started to spiral right around his base, going higher and higher up, bubbles bursting out from behind in a cyclone. He held his breath deeply, not certain on his ability to breath underwater in a Superform. Sonic’s golden light illuminated Chaos from the inside, bouncing around and making him look like a night lamp. Reaching his neck, his spiral narrowed, until he reached his mind, floating stiffly above his eyes, the only organic things visible inside Chaos.

Chaos screamed in pure agony as Sonic spin dashed into his brain, being vulnerable and out in the open. Loud, high-pitched wails rung out, over all the alarms going off and fire crackling. Flailing his head around, as water gushed out, he slunk into the water, retreating from the scene. Sonic had burst out of Chaos before he sunk down with him too, his gloves and socks heavy from the water absorbed into them.

Sonic looked around in between the toppled towers for where he had gone. A stiff silence filled the air as nothing but the warm buzz off the Chaos Emeralds energy radiated from him. Seeing a tall figure reform in the distance, Sonic shook his head. “Gonna take more than that to leave the battle.” He went forwards, ducking inbetween buildings and windows, not letting anything stop him from reaching Chaos.

Enraged by the attack, as he saw Sonic rapidly jet towards him, he began to act out. Raising his head to the sky, screeching slow and deep, he summoned golden orbs of light around him, launching them forwards at the hedgehog, looking similar to Sonic dashing about in his form. “Well that's not good!” Rolling around in the air, he dodged the attacks, as they collided with the background instead. Since Chaos was not being direct with where they hit, rather, sending them in one general direction, some collided into the buildings ahead of Sonic.

Groaning under the weight of the many walls of metal, as one energy blast hit a tower, the top of its frame began to slide downwards, before the sound of metal screaming against metal rumbled. It came falling down, metal wires and poles snapping as it crashed into the side of another tower. Glass blew outwards from the pressure, bouncing off of Sonic as he sumersalted just quick enough to avoid being crushed between the two structures.

Now with nothing stopping him, he made his way towards Chaos’ head, instead of trailing up the base of him like last time. Curled into a ball, he sliced clean through the water as he made a direct hit to his brain once again, causing more wails and screams. More water gushed out of Chaos as his head dramatically dangled around, banging into the sides of structures. He slowly slunk back down once again, disappearing into the water. From all the chaos and screams, Sonic’s ears had begun to ring loudly, muffling the sounds of anything else.

While Sonic floated there in the spot, arms crossed as he scanned the terrain for where Chaos had popped back up, the water underneath him bubbled. Out of nowhere, Chaos’ tentacles had burst out of the water, attempting to grab Sonic. Sonic merely batted an eye as he watched Chaos grab him, only for the tentacle-shaped water to fizzle and evaporate, not even touching him. Sonic laughed at the attempt, as he whipped his body right around to see Chaos had rised back up behind the attack.

Not even bothering to curl up and hit him with force, he zoomed right up to him, and sent a kick right at his head once more, dealing the final blow. All the water-formed tentacles had burst, falling back into the sea as Chaos screeched once again in a high pitch, much longer than the last two. Water dripped back down into the ocean, as if he was melting. Going down, he faced his head high up into the sky, letting out his final cry as he sunk back down. Once gone, a giant blue flash filled the air, blinding Sonic, and everyone watching nearby.

Sonic, feeling light-headed, knew that his Superform was coming to an end, raced across the landscape to reach his friends, watching as the water flooding the area started to sink down. Only just making it to his friends, he fell through the sky, as Knuckles and Tails caught him, watching as their friend's golden glow almost melted off, fading away along with the warmth of the Chaos energy. “You alright Sonic?” Tails softly asked, wanting to know if he had sustained any injuries from the fight.

Sonic, getting up and leaving his friends grasp, stood up, dusting off some rubble that was stuck in his quills. “I think if anything my shoes took more damage than I did.” Laughing it off, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, turned to see Chaos in his regular form confronted by some chao. “Chaos has changed again. This time, for the better.” Knuckles filled in, seeing him peacefully watch the chao happily call out to him. “Yeah! Super Sonic must have neutralized it, so it’s nice again.” Tails added, watching the happy conclusion.

“Well at the end of the day, I was left with having to buy new gloves, since they forever more smelt like salt water.” Sonic had joked to Tails, as they finished recapping the memory to each other. Tails just laughed at Sonic’s remark, cold air soothing his throat. “At least you had your Superform, that kept you dry. We all got soaked. My tails looked all thin and shaggy!” That time they both laughed.

While sitting there in silence, Sonic took a long breath. “2 to 1.” Tails turned around, hummed in confusion. “I mean, I’ve spotted two shapes in the sky, and you’ve seen one. So that means I am in the lead.” Tails lowered his eyelids in a skeptical way. “Oh really? I can make it 2 to 3, just watch.” Sonic grinned. “Heh, let's see then.”

Both were intensely staring up at the sky for another cluster of stars that were shaped in the image of something familiar to them. As the night moved on, the wind gently whistling by, fog receding back into the air, Tails almost jumped, pointing right above him and Sonic. Sonic squinted his eyes, leaning back as he could not crane his neck up that far. “Don’t you think that looks like Starline’s glove?” Now on his back to see it clearly, Sonic could indeed make that out to be the doctor's glove. “Yeah, but how’d you see that? It’s right above us?”

Tails held up a finger. “I told you I’d get you 2 to 3!” Sonic shrugged, letting out a long exhale. “Well actually 2 to 2.” Sonic said under his breath before saying something else on top of that. “He sure did a lot of messed up things while he was around. Even went after you, didn’t he?” Tails hummed in response, nodding his head stiffly. “What even happened back there? Since me and Shadow were outside dealing with other things. “Honestly not much, he just tried to grab me again, which failed.” “Surely he did more than that!” Sonic doubted Starline turning over just like that. “Honestly, apart from when he had me tied up on the rollercoaster, he did nearly nothing.”

The chateau’s smell of pine wood wafted through the air as Tails, Belle, Rouge, and everyone else there evacuated the people staying to a safer location, as Starline had sent down an avalanche as part of his plan. The ground was faintly rumbling, already giving the warning to leave. Footsteps echoed around the fancy building as everyone ran out. However, while the main crowd was going one way, someone was walking forwards, towards the group of heroes.

Omega’s static voice rang out as he ‘encouraged’ the guests to leave. Tails was covering his ears since he was right beside him. He could, however, hear Rouge. “We should get going, too.” Before they could even take a step, someone announced themselves. “No, you’re not going anywhere.” Starline was standing there, facing down Tails.

“I am having a very long day, so I’ll keep this simple. All I need is young master Prower there… Hand him over and you can go. Deal?” Amy clenched her hammer tightly. “Dream on, jerk!” Amy and Rouge jumped forward to attack the deranged doctor, floorboard creaking as they both stepped forward. Belle just watched, mouth open as she became confused. “Who is that guy?” “Dr. Starline? An Eggman wannabe.”

As Tails says that, Starline presses something on his glove, as a red, loose aura forms around him, deflecting both Rouge and Amy’s attacks easily. Belle, getting worried, steps back a little, the wooden planks on the ground groaning under her weight. “That doesn't look like a wannabe to me…” “Don’t worry. Nobody can beat Amy when she’s made up her mind!” As if to show, Amy gets a direct hit to Starline’s jaw, cracking loudly. Rouge also gets some pretty good hits in too, winding him as she gets him in the chest with a kick.

Getting irritated with the halt in his plans, he pressed something on his glove again, as a blue aura danced around his body. In a flash, he was in front of Tails, a loud boom as he came to a stop. Even Tails had jumped in shock, his namesakes wildly spinning behind him. Starline grabbed onto said tails, pulling at his fur roughly. “Time to go, fox.” He said that last word with a hind of venom, clearly annoyed. Tails, gritting his teeth so hard that he heard them click. “I dont think so.”

Quickly facing Belle, he grabbed her tail, rough rope rubbing against his gloves as he tugged it. Wooden gears clicking into place as the sound of a thin, tight rope quivered. Starline only just noticed her presence right then. “What in the world…?” Belle got scared, voice shaking. “Ah, my tail-” Before she could finish, her legs jumped up in front of her, getting Starline right under the jaw, teeth clashing up as they gritted against each other painfully.

Tears welled up in his eyes, as he grasped his bill, shaking from the shock. “Oh come on! What even was that!” He started to see stars, the hit being a lot more powerful than Tails expected. As the three stood there, with Amy and Rouge approaching fast, the ground shook violently, as rumbling got closer to where they were. “Wait, what is that Sound?” Starline muttered, still feeling sore, a metal taste filling his mouth.

Rouge, Amy, and Tails ran out of the scene as fast as they could, with Tails holding onto Belle’s arm. Starline however, was still disoriented, and could not get out of the way, head beginning to ring, and still seeing stars, making it impossible for him to tell where to go. As Tails and co were safely out of the way, the snow began to build up on the giant glass windows, pressure building up in seconds as more and more snow, trees, and debris piled up.

Starline then realized what would happen, shielding his face with his palms. As if on queue, the glass and wooden beams gave in, snapping like a twig as glass shattered and mixed in with the snow, clattering against the wooden roof and remaining walls. As the snow reached Starline, along with all the shards of glass and splinters of wood, giving Starline nasty cuts, he yelled out as he was buried alive. Underneath the cold, he began to shiver violently, frostbite starting and making the pain in his bill worse. It did not help that some snow had lodged itself up his fancy jacket, giving him a nasty shock.

Tails and everyone else, including the guests, were safe on the higher floors, looking outside as everything down below was buried in thick, solid snow. Even some trees had snapped and fallen down with it. All the fresh snow, being high up the mountains, gave the air a cold, damp, metal smell.

“Huh, I guess not much really happened after all…” Tails just nodded. “Yeah, thankfully his avalanche backfired at just the right time.” Sonic just burst out laughing, almost choking as the night air made his throat dry and hoarse. Coughing a little, he grinned, still chucking. “But you and Belle gave him a good hit! He had it coming if he tried to mess with any of you!” Tails just gave a small laugh, avoiding hurting his throat from the piercing cold. “Yeah, Belle can defend herself much more than she’ll give herself credit. After all, her frame is pretty sturdy and can withstand a lot of damage.”

Sonic sat upright shivering, pressing his knees to his chest and wrapping. “Wow, getting a lot more cold than before!” Tails had his namesakes lightly pressed up to his sides, as he had thicker fur that was withstanding the cold much better. “Well yeah, it's late at night and the sun has gone down. It’s not like there's going to be warm rays of moonlight.” Tails sassed off Sonic, in a know-it-all voice, winding him up.

“Well with all the crazy things going on around us, there might be a moon that acts as the sun!.” He had his hands to his hips, grinning. Of course Sonic was just saying that to be annoying. But Tails played along. “Whatever floats your boat…”“Ahh Tails, why so mean!” They both sat there, as they laughed.

All the fog that was on the ground disappeared, making the reflections in the water much more clear. Sonic and Tails were still holding their heads up to the sky. While the glove and helmet were still fairly easy to see, the stars appearing like Chaos had disappeared somewhere else. Sonic opened a single eye to the glove, lying back down on the ground with his arms propping his head back up. “Well, Starline did much more than try to take you.”

Rather than answering, Tails just focused primarily on the glove. “I mean, he did some pretty bad things. He brought Eggman back to his old self, which then brought the Metal Virus, he then, like we just talked about, tried to take you. He then kidnapped Belle until the Chaotix got there. To top it all off, he then did something to Surge and Kit. It’s a shame that we still don’t know the full story to that either, only that he used a bunch of stuff to make them…”

Sonic’s face had gone from calm to more focused and thoughtful, still not happy with Starlines actions. “Well I am pretty sure he also broke Zavok, Mimic, and Rough and Tumble out too…” Tails had his finger to his chin while Sonic sat upright. “Wait, he was the one who did that?!” Sonic, genuinely confused, stared at Tails with his mouth agape. “Yeah, I thought you knew that already…?” Tails lowered his eyelids as Sonic shook his head. “Nope, too focused on other things to realize that…”

“Well now you know…” Sonic just hummed. “Well I guess it's good now that he is gone.” Sonic held his breath as he stared down into the water. “Do you think Surge and Kit rea-” “Warp Topaz!” Sonic turned an ear to Tails in confusion. “I don't recall Starline using the Warp Topaz on them-” Tails shook his head frantically. “No, I can see the Warp Topaz! When reflected in the water, the stars look like the Warp Topaz! So now it’s 2 to 3, putting me in the lead!” “Oooh. Wait, if you see the Warp Topaz reflected in the water, would that not make the stars show an upside down version of it?” Tails shook his head, humming a no.

“It’s like when you flip a drawing, it looks odd or incorrect one way, and perfect another way.” Sonic squinted his eyes, darting from the sky to the sea. “I mean they both kinda look the same either way-” “Nope!” Tails butted in. Sonic looked up to Tails. “Well I mean, can we really say you get another point? There are a whole heap of stars that look round. You could say any of them are the Topaz.” Rolling his eyes, Tails pointed to the silhouette in the water. “No look, there is the spiral, curling inwards, and the smaller stars further apart look almost like a gradient, which makes sense given the material it's made of.” Sonic, letting out a long sign. “Well I guess that makes me second place now…”

Tails pumped his fists discreetly, whispering under his breath victory. Sonic had leaned back into the soft grass, feeling it brush up against him lightly. Resting with his eyes closed, and taking in another breath, he turned his head to face Tails. “Didn’t we use the Topaz to get all the Chaos Emeralds at once during the Metal Virus?” Tails turned his face down to Sonic, picking off fluff and dirt stuck in his glove. “Yeah, me and Amy had gone after Zomom, while everyone else went after different Zeti.” “Oh yeah! I kinda forgot since I was getting tired. Although I think I only got Cream’s side of the story when she jumped in to help Gemerl with Zeena.”

Still keeping his eyes shut, he turned his head back to the sky, repositioning his head as his quills settled behind his head in an odd way, sticking out in funny angles and poking at his head. “That's an idea. Why don’t you tell me about Zomom? See how you and Amy fought him compared to me?”

Tails stared down at him in a funny way. Sonic did not notice though as he still had his eyes closed to the sky. “Well he had an Emerald and we were not too experienced with fighting him…” “You came back to us, can’t have been that much of a hassle. I mean, it’s Zomom of all people.” “Ok, but still, remember when you fought him he had no Emerald!” Chuckling, Sonic nodded, agreeing.

Wind was whirring by, ears buzzing as he and Amy fell out of the warp portal. His skin was prickling and his fur was standing on end. Getting back to his senses, he reactively grabbed Amy by the arm with both hands, just before they fell onto the ground. “Woah! That was pretty close!” Amy quietly said, looking down to the ground. Smashed glass bottles were scattered everywhere, light glinting off them. Tables were turned or snapped, objects broken on the ground nearby.

“What happened here?” Tails, darting his eyes around until he found a spot on the ground that had no broken glass, flew over slowly, his tails chopping in the wind. “Looks like either the Zombots tore this place apart, or Zomom.”

Landing on the concrete path they both looked around for any signs of Zombots. Something clattered and smashed behind Amy, as she turned around, gripping her hammer tightly, ready to hit the incoming attacker. “Amy wait! I just knocked something over when I landed on the ground with my tails.” He whispered, hand on her shoulder as she dropped her arms downwards. “Tails! You gave me a fright!” Grinning sheepishly, he put a hand behind his head, scratching it. “Sorry…”

Amy sighed as her hammer disappeared from her hands, looking around. “So, where is he?” “Well…” Tails’ ear swiveled around to his right, picking up something. Watching closely, he saw a small group of Zombots inside a crumbled building walking in a line, carrying small plates of food. He pointed to them, catching Amy’s attention. “Judging from the fact that he likes to eat, we follow that.” He whispered at her, as the two stepped around broken glass, heading towards the door of the building they were in.

Tails led the way, ducking under toppled tables and chunks of stone that had fallen from some kind of structure. Using his soft tails like a duster, he briskly shoved aside glass or objects that they could stand on and cause a bit of noise. Only soft scratching of the glass could be heard, scraping against other glass shards or the rough stone underneath them. Amy was pinning her dress down, worried of it snagging onto something and getting caught or dragging it down and making a loud sound.

“Ok, gotta be even more careful here.” He whispered almost under his breath, with Amy only just hearing him. Grabbing the door knob he froze, feeling the inward metal patterns on the fancy handle through his thick glove. He shook his head lightly as he gestured with his hand for Amy to follow.

Walking along the wall, he found a broken window that reached the floor to the ceiling. Pressing their shoes firmly against the ground, leather squeaking with the slow pressure, they both darted towards a vending machine, hiding behind the side of it as they saw the Zombots leaving through another broken door, hanging by a single hinge. Tails had his hand out, stretched in front of Amy as he waited a few more seconds before giving a thumbs up as the two cautiously jogged down the hallway, reaching the door frame and looking outside.

There was Zomom, in the far end of the room, eating non-stop as the group of Zombots they followed dropped their plates down in front of Zomom, leaving almost instantly in their sluggish walk. Confused on what to do, Amy shrugged, holding her palms up to the ceiling. Tails shrugged too, not having a plan as they could not just sneak up on him in the open. They both turned their heads towards Zomom again, watching as they tried to come up with a plan.

Tails sighed, looking at Amy. She gave him a confused look before Tails stepped forwards, brushing debris away with the side of his shoe. “Um…” Tails cleared his throat, as Amy gave tails a concerned look. “Hey Zomom. Long time no see…” His voice was all over the show, shaking in fright of not having a better idea.

He turned his head at a freakish angle, facing the two as Tails bumped his shoulder into Amy, trying to get her to play along. They both took one step forward, sweat trickling down their heads. Zomom, with his mouth full, spoke to them with his thick voice. “Huh? Oh. You’re Sonic’s friend with the weird tail.” He had his gaze on Tails’ shifting namesakes, as he folded them behind his back, keeping them stiff. Uncertain, Tails wiped his head with the side of his glove, trying to put on a fake smile. “Uh yeah, sure. Listen, Zavok sent us to find you.”

In the middle of chewing he spat out; “He did?” Amy looked to Tails, more sweat dripping down the sides of their heads. She too put on a nervous fake smile as she spoke up. “That's right! He needs the Chaos Emerald back. If you give it to us, we’ll take it to him for you.” Her voice was shaking, and Tails could even hear her heart starting to race. He added on to Amy’s sentence. “You won’t even need to stop eating!”

Clutching his fists, Zomom yelled out, angry. “No way! I’ve got Zombots bringing me food from all over!” Standing up, towering over Amy and Tails, spitting out food from his mouth as he yelled. “You two already interrupted my post-lunch pre-dinner snack! So now, I’m gonna squash you!” Tails and Amy backed up, as Tails bumped into an upright bottle on a bench, falling to the ground and smashing, getting the attention of nearby Zombots.

“Run!” Tails and Amy both jumped over the bench, and through the hallway they came through as Zomom jumped after them, swinging his arms around like crazy. Almost out the window that they came through, Zomom landed, caving in the ground he was on and thundering the area, sending the two running away to the ground. Tails banged his head against one of the toppled tables, as a throbbing sensation grew at his temples.

“C’mon Tails, we gotta get out of here!” Grabbing Tails by the shoulder, she lifted him up as she ran, avoiding the further collapsing building as Zomom’s arms hit the walls around, caving in the roof. As he and Amy made it out, Zomom jumped through the hole above, soaring through the air as he chased after the duo.

“How is someone that big that fast?” Amy yelled out as the jumped over obstacles blocking their path on the road. Zomom landed with a thud on the ground once again, toppling Amy and Tails, sending astray items flying. Tails, getting up on his own, hand pushing against his knee, turned to Amy. “Just keep running! Amy grabbed her hammer, swinging around to face Zomom. “No! We came here to get that Chaos Emerald and end this nightmare!” As she ran up to the Zeti, her footsteps heavy as she carried her weapon over her shoulder, Tails flew up. “Wait! Amy, no!” He pinned his ears back, hand outstretched as he tried to get her to stop.

Swinging her hammer, scraping against the tiles on the floor, upturning them as they flew alongside her hit, she got Zomom right in the face, digging into his skin. Holding her hammer in place, looking to Tails as he landed besides her, she gave a confused glance. “I… I can’t believe that worked!”

Raising his head upwards, Zomom had his mouth wrapped around her weapon, teeth scraping against the sturdy material. “Hrmm… Weird flavor…” Tails was starting with his mouth hanging open, not having anything to say, as Amy went pale with disgust and anger. Digging her heels into the tiles on the ground, she pulled really hard on the handle, trying to get it out of his mouth. “Stop that you gross weirdo!” Tails sighed, as he jumped into the air, spinning his tails hard at the back of Zavok’s head. Yelling at the sudden hit, Amy fell backwards, the force of her pulling it out slingshot her onto the pavement, scattering the tiles she hit before.

“Ow! I’m gonna chew you extra hard before swallowing!” Spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke. Amy looked up, her ears tilted back. “Hes… He’s being metaphorical, right?” Tails just smiled, eyes closed, folding his arms. “Why bother with us when you can have my lunch?” Zomom froze as Tails flew up, closer to his head. “I dropped it while you were chasing us. Which is too bad, because it looked really yummy!” Getting up he thundered down the path that he came from, ground shaking with each step. “Ooh! Where?! Where?! I’m starving!”

Tails, looking shocked, as blood rushed to his head,he landed besides Amy; “That was.. A lot easier than I thought it would work out!” Amy was holding her hammer briskly in front of her, watching in disgust as a thick coating of saliva dripped off it and onto the ground. She lowered the head of it to the ground, keeping it away from her. “Tails, what are we going to do? Zomom is too strong for us to take down, and too stupid to outwit!” Cupping his mouth, Tails looked around for where he had run off too. “I don’t know. Sonic made this look way easier before.”

Tails darted an eye behind him, thinking he heard something. “He seems easily distracted. What if one of us baited him while the other grabs the Emerald?” Tails scratched his head, focusing on the scene around him. “It’s risky, but it's worth a shot!” A loud scream shook the ground as Amy whipped her head around, still keeping her hammer a spaced distance from her. Tails’ pupils shrunk, heart racing and blood rushing around, making him go warm.

Watching Zomom smash everything around him in a fit of rage, buildings clattering and rumbling as he hit the walls and pillars, everything crumbling down besides him. “There's nothing here!” Ripping a door right out of its frame, he threw it at Tails, rolling out of the way as it split in two, skyrocketing through the air. “You lied to me!”

Tails and Amy backed up, watching Zomom. “Now you made me hungry and angry. I’m hangry! You wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry!” As he says that, a group of Zombots begin to emerge from the sides of buildings, groaning. “Ah! Time to get to higher ground!” Tails grabbed Amy swiftly, as he lifted her up by the arms. “I don’t think that's going to work!” Amy called out, as Tails glanced down. All the Zombots were climbing the walls of the building Tails was trying to land on. “Grr. Hang on!” Tails flew even higher up, soaring through the sky as he tried to get away.

Holding Amy up was straining his arms, as he started to tire, falling slowly. “I’m gonna have to land!” Before he could, his arms gave out, blood flowing through them fast. Pins and needles were stabbing at his forearm as he watched Amy fall. “Gah!” His namesakes chopping through the air came to a slow halt as he too started to fall downwards.

Amy used her hammer to wedge the head between a chimney and the side of the roof, dangling off the handle. She looked up to see Tails falling slowly. “Hang on, I got you!” Moving her hammer out of the gap, she jumped up, catching Tails in both of her arms as she landed on her feet, a small thud as the leather soles on her shoes absorbed the impact.

“Thanks.” Tails slid out of Amy’s arms, hovering above the ground before landing back down, wind pushed outwards. Tails looked behind Amy’s shoulder, seeing shiny green glint behind her. “Look out!” Without even looking back to see what it was, she swung her hammer around her torso, getting the Zombot right in the chest as the substance formed a giant hole where she hit it. “We gotta keep moving!” Amy nodded as the two started to navigate the buildings, watching as a wave of Zombots followed behind.

Launching her hammer onto the ground, as she propelled herself upwards onto the tiles of a red roof, she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Nearly out of breath, she saw Tails fly in besides her, staring at her sudden stop. “We can’t keep this up!” Hearing a Zombot grab a tile, as it slid down and clattered on the ground, she ran forwards, alongside with Tails. “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

Zomom, watching from the ground, clenched his fists. “Argh! You two are so annoying!” Jumping up into the ground, he lowered his fists into the pavement, shaking the whole town. Tables, tiles, and stones all flew upwards, alongside the Zombots, Amy, and Tails.

Amy was tripping over, about to fall off the roof she was on. “Tails!” As the ground continued to shake, Tails flew in and grabbed Amy under her arms, straining to lift her up. Flying above the commotion, he dropped Amy on some stable ground, collapsing besides her. She looked down at him. “Are you ok?” Tails got up, dusting off the glass that had launched into his tails. “Yeah, just worn out.” “But we got to kep moving!” “No, we need to stay right here!” His voice quivered, as he stood up.

He looked down to the ground, as the dust settled. They were standing atop of the portcullis, the walls connecting to it cracked and damaged. Hearing Zomon run up to them, Tails signaled for Amy to stand at the left wheel, while Tails stood at the right wheel. Holding his arm out, he watched Zomom get closer. “Hold it… Wait for it…”

Zomom, almost underneath them, ground shaking each step. Tails’ namesakes twitched. “Now!” Curling up and smashing into the wheel, chains clattering against the wall as they broke apart. Amy hit her hammer right into the wheel, spinning wildly. With both doing it at the same time, the gate closed at a rapid speed, almost hitting the ground in a mere second.

Zomom cried out as he got winded, the gate closed with him underneath it, metal bars jammed into the ground. Tails grabbed Amy as he flew down, almost feeling pity for the Zeti crushed in such a way. Almost. He was dazzled, groaning as he lay there, not even trying to get back up. “How do you like that? Overpowered.” Tails patted the blue Emerald, adding onto what Amy said,, “and outsmarted!”

Tails yanked out the Emerald, scratching against the metal that had it held in place. Tails and Amy ran off, heading back into the portal. “Hey! Get back here! Without that I can’t control the-!” Zomom cried out, only to be interrupted by the Zombots groans as they circled him.

Tails and Amy jumped into the Warp Portal, feeling their senses become distorted as their vision blanks out, only to be met with the sight of emerald green grass, falling down. Tails landed on his soft namesakes, cushioning his fall.

“Ha! He stood no chance against my lil bro!” Sonic had his arm around Tails, beaming as he listened into Tails’ story. “Well Amy was there too…” He sheepishly grinned, looking away as he had a hand to the back of his head. “But you also did it! Neither of you could pull it off solo!” Looking up to Sonic, Tails smiled, nodding.

“Wait what is the score so far?” “Uhh… I’m in the lead with 3, and you have… 2?” Sonic jumps up to his feet, darting his head back and forth, scanning the sky cartoonishly. “Welp, gonna have to change that-” Tails shook his head. “I don’t think rapidly looking around is going to help push you in the lead…”

Sonic crossed his arms, pressing them close to his body, feeling the warmth from his breath brush up against his chest. “Well I don’t see you pointing out any more soo… I’ll go ahead and say this is a good method!” Sonic had his hand over his head, scouting the sky. “Well I’d like to see that happen…” Sonic pouted, in a mocking tone; “I’d like to see you get one over me!” Tails’’ namesake whacked Sonic’s leg.

Most of the shapes that the duo pointed out had scattered into the distance, no longer visible. At this point, the sky was clear of any clouds, none above, around, or below them. Glaring down was the moon, acting like a beacon. Tails, by this point, had slumped forwards, in a light sleep. It had only been 10 minutes, but as it was late into the night, it became very hard to stay awake.

Something stood tall over Tails, wrapping him in darkness. “I found one!” Sonic burst forwards, over Tails, as he jolted upright. Tails froze for a second, before turning his head around to see Sonic. “C’mon, was that really necessary?” “Haha sure was, since now I have 3 points!” Tails cocked his head. “Oh really?” Sonic pointed up over the horizon.”I present to you, the Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme!”

Tails sat there, looking up at where Sonic was pointing, confused. “What Cream Sundae?” “Right up there! See?” Tails lowered his eyelids. “Yeah, I see the ice cream, but what did you say?” Sonic froze, looking down at Tails, eyes open, before laughing into the night. “Oh yeah! You weren't there! Me and Chip met someone who was making some sundaes! Chip really liked them. Heh, actually that's why I nicknamed him that while he had his lost memory.”

Tails lit up. “Oh Chip! I miss him…” Sonic jumped down, crossing his legs as he looked up to the sky. “Yeah, me too. A real big shame too that we know for a fact we can’t see him again, since he won’t be here for a good few hundred years, but that’s why our time interacting with him was even more special.”

“I guess that is true. But like, what kind of sundae is called that?” Sonic hummed a confused sound, shrugging gently. I guess explaining it all in the title? Either way, I just called it a supreme sundae, since that name is far too long for me to bother ‘round with.” “I mean it would be a pain to write out, but saying it is not exactly a problem…” “Says the one who writes in advanced code hourly!” Sonic quipped in.

“Yet here you are, unable to.” Tails remarked to himself, holding up three fingers to his forehead. Sonic stared back at him, holding his breath in as he thought of a reply. Letting his breath go, releasing the small strain on his chest as he took another breath in, his throat dry from the cold air. “Ehh, sure. I mean, after all, I’ve never done anything at all that is so much cooler than being able to read a buncha 0’s and 1’s. Yet let’s both agree on that.”

Tails had pressed his knees close into his chest, wrapping his arms around them, his namesake’s folded in against his sides. Most of the cold air was not affecting him much to any degree, the only shivers he would get were down his spine, as it was more exposed to the sharp air. Sonic managed to somehow sit there with his legs dangling down the side of the platform, rubbing up against the dirt on the sides of the platform, rough small clusters of dirt, sticking to the back of his legs.

“How’re you not cold at all?” Tails looked directly at Sonic, a cloud of fog escaping his mouth. “Well when you think as much as I do, that's enough willpower to fight off against any kinda weather.” Tails frowned. “With actual facts.” Tails unfolded his left tail to gently whack Sonic’s arm. “Well then I dunno, I just don’t notice it I guess?” Tails shrugged, but before he was able to turn his head back to the sea, Sonic added on, “I even remember Chip asking me that haha!”

Tails pressed himself even more closer, as the night air dropped in temperature. “Was that when you were in Holoska?” “Indeed it was! I explicitly remember Chip’s wings freezing up badly whenever he followed behind me, so sometimes I carried him over to where we were heading off.” “Really?” “Yeah! We were looking for a Moon Medallion to open up the gates to get to the next temple, but it was taking a while to get through since the ice was making it hard to run.”

Sonic and Chip were making an advancement through the white blurs of snowfalls whizzing by as they ran, no sounds other than the piercing wind and Sonic’s footfalls. Running down the path through the thick snow, Sonic only left faint footprints behind, running at such high speeds that he left near no weight for each step as he burst forwards.

Chip’s little wings were slicing through the snow, beating fast as he tried to keep up with Sonic. Although he was not going full speed, the snow and frost was making it difficult for Chip to manage flight at all. Constantly wavering alongside, he came to a sudden slow, lowering to the ground. Sonic felt a change in winds, as he dug his heels into the snow, sinking down slightly as his weight settled atop of the fluffy powder.

Turning his head around, he looked for his companion, only to see Chip submerged in the thick snow, facedown. “Hey, you alright there Chip?” Sonic crouched down on one knee, resting his palm atop of his leg. Sticking his hand out of the snow, as it crumbled down to the sides, Chip held a thumbs up. Freeing his other hand from the snow, he attempted to drag the rest of his body out from the snow.

Sonic sighed, as he went ahead and lifted Chip out of the ground, some snow falling down his palms. “There you go.” Sonic dusted off some of the remaining fluffy powder from his friend's back, using the side of his other hand. “All good?”

Chip cartoonishly shook himself off, standing back up, as some astray snow went flying. Sonic lowered his eyelids, flinching away as some snow flew right at his eyes. “Much better!” Sonic let out a soft laugh, as some snow fell down his head. “Alright then, lets get goin’!”

Just as Sonic went to turn around and continue with their path, Chip grabbed Sonic’s glove tightly. “Sonic wait!” Sonic paused himself, whipping his head around. “Yeah?” Chip, expecting Sonic to not have heard him in time before running off, loosened his grip on his glove. “I don’t think I can fly any further, it’s too cold.”

“Huh, well hold on!” Chip looked up at Sonic, confused. “What do you mean by that-” Just as he said that, Sonic held Chip firmly in both hands, as he blasted off, snow getting kicked up as he ran forth, leaving behind a big pile of snow where he stood.

“Woohooo!” Sonic began to slide down the slope of the mountain, big chunks of snow falling down with him. Echoing through the terrain were the loud booms and rolling of snow, kicking up trees, snapping and bending to the force of the avalanche. Digging his heels into the snow, as he maneuvered around large stones and trees, he went further and further down the hillside. Behind him were feint marks that were left behind his shoes.

Sonic had Chip held secure in his hands, pressed up against his chest. Chip was holding onto Sonic’s arms as hard as he could, frozen in fear. “Wooo! Isn’t this fun Chip?” Sonic called out, over the commotion following behind him. Chip dared to turn his head around, feeling the wind whipping past him as Sonic advanced further down. “I dunno Sonic, what if we get hit by the avalanche?” Chip’s voice quivered, getting cut short with the velocity that Sonic was going down at.

“Huh? I can’t hear you over all the noise behind me!” Sonic shouted out, looking downwards at Chip, keeping his head forwards. “Try speaking up a bit!” Chip turned his head to face Sonic, then down to the ground. “Uhh, nevermind!” He called out, the pitch of his voice unstable. Chip sunk down further into his hands as he heard something loud crash down near where they were sliding down.

Looking back, Chip saw the snow and ice catching up to the duo, nearly at Sonic’s heels. “Uh, Sonic-” Before Chip could warn the hedgehog however, an upturned log soared through the air, landing a few feet ahead of them. “That's no good. Hang on!” Sonic called out, as he fell down to his side, skidding across the snow, as he held Chip up from the ground. Positioning himself, he quickly slid right through the hollowed out segment of the log.

Chip, as he had his eyes firmly shut, opened them up to see that he was fine. “Oh, that wasn’t so bad-” Wind whistling, the avalanche catched up, mere inches away from the two. Branches from toppled trees flung outwards, as a big boulder went soaring right at the two. Crashing into the snow, Sonic had lost his grip on Chip, flying through the air, along with Sonic. Chip was quick to use his wings to the best of his ability, managing to avoid a big fall.

Trying to keep up with the head of the falling snow, he darted his eyes around to find the blue blur. “Sonic! Sonic, where are you?!” His voice echoed through the mountains, until he spotted his friend tumbling out of control amongst the avalanche. Flying as fast as he could, he approached Sonic, hovering nearby. “Sonic, you gotta find something to hold onto!” Still rolling, he yelled out; “I don’t think that’ll be of much hel-'' Shaking his head, Chip spoke over him. “No, the mountain is coming to an end! You’re about to fall!” Although dizzy, Sonic tried to look ahead of him, focusing despite spinning about the snow.

Attempting to slow his descent, he dug his heels back into the snow, finding an open window once his body stopped ragdolling around. Seeing the debris kicked up, he grabbed onto the branch of a pine tree, the strong, fresh smell of it’s leaves and bark filling his senses along with the violent spinning. Climbing on, he ran up the base of the trunk, jumping up and landing on another falling tree, repeating the steps until he saw up ahead some stable ground.

Rolling up into a ball, he propelled himself forwards, only just landing on the safe platform. Falling on his back, Chip landed beside him. “Sonic, are you alright?” Looking at the hedgehogs face, he had his eyelids lowered. “Uhh yeahh, just very dizzy…” Chip looked down to see the remains of the avalanche fall down the slope of the mountain. Sonic shook himself off, as he got back up, wobbling a little. “Ok, let's get back.”

Chip flew up to his face. “But what about the moon medal we need?” Sonic messed around with his quills, pulling out the said medal. “Saw it falling down along with the snow and grabbed onto it. Don’t know how it ended up there though… But anyways, we got it!” Sonic held it up triumphantly. Chip just looked at him awestruck, seeing the mess of his quills, with snow and sticks stuck into his spines. “Alright.”

Sonic looked at Chip. “You all good though, I feel that was a little much when it caught up…” Chip shook his head frantically. “No! That was really fun! Well not at first, but nonetheless exciting!” Sonic let out a breath of relief. “Oh, that's good to hear… Want to do it again?” “Yeah!”

Sonic squinted at Chip, scratching his head, with some of the remaining snow rubbing off onto his gloves. “Since when did you have eight wings?” Chip froze for a moment, holding his breath. “We should probably sit down for a moment before heading back…” Sonic looked at his hands confused, nodding his head, as he sprung himself down. “Yeah, that would be a better idea…”

“...I mean, we got the moon medal in the end! Just cost my ability to see an object as just one object haha!” Tails was just looking at Sonic oddly. “Even when covered in a heft of snow and ice, you were not cold, but you ended up dizzy?” “I mean I was spinning about for a good while until I did some totally cool platforming to safety!” Tails rolled his eyes. “Another great mystery yet to be solved…”

“Eh, but anyways now I’m tied with you, so the actual mystery to be solved here is who is going to get the next point and end the tie!” Sonic held his arms up in a dramatic fashion, determined to win the game that Tails forgot they were playing each and every time Sonic rambled on about an adventure. “Oh yeah! Lucky you were keeping count, I nearly forgot about it…”

Tails put both of his arms above his head, stretching upwards as he let out a yawn. Sonic smirked, cocky. “I thought you were all in it for numbers?” Shutting his eyes, Tails turned his head the other way. “Only the important numbers…” “Now that is harsh.”

In the distance some birds were chirping, the sounds faint, echoing through the high mountains. Above the line of the sea, some orange was glistening, stars fading away. Tails was sleeping on his back, in a deep slumber, curled up. Sonic was snoring, leaning forwards , back arched and arms dangling down. As the warm sun rose from the sea, light hitting the two, Sonic and Tails’ communicator went off.

Sonic jolted upwards, startled as Tails calmy got up. Sonic, regaining his balance, throwing his arms up into the air. Avoiding his fall into the water, he crawled back, keeping his shoes on the ground. “Oh man, we fell asleep!” Tails rubbed his eyes as Sonic continued on. “That;s a shame, I didn’t get to break the tie… Oh well.” Moving his glove back, Sonic fiddled with his communicator.

“Hey Tails, looks like Egghead is already back!” Tails let out an annoyed moan. “Well we should’ve seen that coming…” Sonic shrugged it off. “Well I guess that leaves our little game for later to break the tie.” Jumping back up, Sonic waved his hand at Tails for him to follow. “We can have round two tonight, but not all the way until morning.” Tails replied, standing besides Sonic. “Well let's get going!”

Jumping down, wind whipping through Sonic’s quills, Tails followed suit. Whipping his Tails in the air, he caught the hedgehog, as the two took off, speeding away, orange light hitting their backs. As the last of the stars died out, two vague shapes simmered. A hedgehog and a fox, playing together, standing out from all the little stars scattered near the ocean.

[fairyhaos]

i saw this somewhere else, so i won't take credit for it, but i'm just curious

moot game! what crimes do you think your moot would commit and do you think they’d get caught or get away with it?

HAHAHA this is such a funny one omg okay

@odxrilove gives me arson vibes ngl. she's so chaotic lmaooo and gives off the mildly mentally insane personality that makes me think arson haha. and she probably gets away with it too??? no one can really trace it back to her, but people suspect bc this isn't her first offence

@blue-jisungs stealing from a bank 💀 gets caught bc she tries to get through all of the laser protection thingies and accidentally trips over her own feet and sets off the alarm

@wheeboo aiding and abetting!! rania seems like the typa person who'd be there on the sides, encouraging them to go ahead w the drug dealing or something. acts all innocent on trial, and almost gets away w it before right on the very last day there's a vital piece of evidence revealed that eventually condemns her

@slytherinshua car crash, and gets panicky about having to pay for repairs for the other person. apologises multiple times. regularly sends merry christmas money every yr bc she still feels guilty

@icyminghao breaking and entering. it was an accident actually, bc she thought it was her own house (it was dark okay) and she forgot her keys (she was tired okay) so she tried to get in thru the window before quickly realising it wasn't her home and backing out

@rubywonu money laundering. gets so rich that she never has to work ever and moves to the maldives to do whatever she wants. uses her private jet to fly to korea and go to all the fansigns with seventeen that she wins

@weird-bookworm hmm jaywalking? never gets caught tho. (idk why jaywalking is even a crime in some countries lmao)

@selenicives tax evasion. changes identity 26379154 times, knows all the best people to forge birth certificates and passports etc. gets caught only after like, 7 years

@etherealyoungk the most horrible crime of stealing my heart 😎😎 im jk haha i think she'd participate in some sort of peaceful protest and then end up arrested bc the police are being dicks >:((

[katsushika-division]

Not long after Rintaro’s birthday surprise, The member of OverDrive were all set on GC mode, Taking a glance at Eko’s recording of his “well taken” birthday message to the arsonist.

“First Jet Set Trio, Sakurai Clan, Silent Tradegy, Sounds Of Silence and now Death Row Block. How many teams do you plan to make us as targets, Onii-san?” Mai asked, Putting their camera on.

“Mai-san may be right on this one.” Yuno agreed.

“Relax. Sure, Some want to rip us to pieces…However…” Eko explained, Getting sly eyed

Both Mai and Yuno knew what was coming.

“If we want to fulfill our mission, We have to play dirty. It’s obvious they won’t heed our warnings, So we have to take it by force. There are some unlawful people in the world too, You know.” Eko mentioned, Putting his arms on his head.

“We can’t come out on top without making sacrifices. Threats and baiting won’t work, So using our mic’s is our best bet. If all of them come for us…Our infamy might be our worst enemy.” Eko finished, Placing the earlier footage into the secret channel.

“You have a point, Just promise me you won’t cut too much corners or beat around the wrong bushes, Okay?” Yuno asked, Crossing his arms.

“Promise accepted, Partner.”

“You know…I kinda like this new style we have. We can’t let the other divisions take our glory now…” Mai chuckled.

“I could never ask for better friends and teammates…Hehehe…Hahahah-HAHAHA~!” Eko chuckled, His laugh growing larger as Mai and Yuno both laughed along with him.

“Idiots.” Akari scoffed secretly watching OverDrive from her tablet. “You got another thing coming if you dare try to harm my family.”

“Akari ready to head out?”

“Coming Rin-nii!” Akari shouted back placing her tablet beside her. “Just thinking about how to deal with a few pests!”

[megamangxtheadventure]

CHAPTER 28: DUTY TO STOP 9/11 2

the song seeking purpose from final tfantasy 14 played as megaman gx attacked osama malphas bin ladin on top of the gaint plane over gensokyo "you can not win against me and my plan to strike every tower on earth at once with these legons of planes" hahaha laughed osama as he cyberized his demon form and punched hard megamn gx who crashed into the wing hanging offf for deer life.

john ward tryed to pray hurting bin ladins demon side while garcia shotgunnned him with face "you are force of wrong and you must go back to hell"

dark energy comed out of the plan as cyberman elon musk with bioweapon sandevsitan mantis blades and gorefield eldrich magic come out of platform "i have empower him with evil now fight" said osama focusing on the prests as cyber boss elon picked up megaman gx and started thrust punching his chest over and over "YOU THE WOKE MIND VIRUS TOOK MY KIDS AND WIFE AND I HATE YOU FOR IT" he said punching and punchgn at him "I WILL MAKE IT WORLDS PROBLAM NOW FUCK YTOU WOKE ROBOT1"!!!" ELON SCREAMED punched him into the jet engine as he burned

"maybe u were a shitty dad" megaman gx powered up his golden mage form and used theos ultma to knock cyber boss elon back

but he aborbved the power "my core is an anti magic antimatter sub systam you fucking woke little basterd" cyber boss elon laughed and slammed megaangx into the floor punching the super out of him

"once evil rules the world once all the woke people are dead people once everyone that maked fun of me is dead then mayebe i can be piece but i hate you i see everything i hate in you megamangx your goodness makes me fucking sick i h ate you i hate you!!!!!" elon was raged.

before cyber boss elon could deal a dueadly blow a portal opened and wuk lamat came down and smashed him real hard with big axe as he went spincoptering in the air "you are boyond help elon not even friendship can be shaving you now you let hate and evil poson your heart" wuk said ready to defend the people

megaman gx got up to see his friend "wuk i have not seen you since the war its good to have old friend here to help" and they did the badass predater handshake.

the damaged cyber elon tryed to get up now 4000 % mad "YOU LITTLE WOKE BITCH HOW DARE YOU LAY A HAND FINGAR ON ME I WILL PUT YOU DOWN ANIMEL"" BUT BNOTH MEGAMAN GX AND WUK LAMET COMBINED POWER TO DUEL HAYMAKER HIM INTO ONE OF THE PLANES JET ENGINES AS HIS LEGS WHERE GRINDED UP ON FIRE AS HE WAS BEING PULLED IN.

"it i s pain please i don't like this get me out i want to live i an like iron man EVERYONE LIKES ME I DONT WANTING TO DIE!" he said as the jet engine exploded and fires and grinding tore up his machine body then he was pulled in as bits of matal blasted out of the back on fire "your hate did this elon not us" wuk said.

they focassed back on osama maplhas bin ladin who had the two prests defeeted "elon was a fool but i am an evil master and soon a new age of terror will begin to think those that long ago tryed to fighting me now worship my evil how irony" said osama.

megamangx powered up into holy mage super form unlashing a b arrage of elemental spears witch osama dodged "tell me how to stop 9/11 2 i can not let you do this!" megaman gx shouted.

osama laughed summoning demonic wings as he rammed megamangx "i would not tell you how plan can be stopped then i can not do it idot" osama laughed clawing at megamangx with big long demon arms.

"i have an idea we need to use diemenmsonal fusion and sent all the planes into the void instad of earth" wuk said and megamangx nodded "father ward help me using your magic bible" megamangx asked "got you" said father ward who prreyed.

the power got stong as megamangx used sword of storms magic to hold osama off "i will not let you prevant 9/11 2!!!" he screaming becoming more demonic looking as he clawed and slashed

the spell worked opening a portal into the 13th instead of earth "hey bin ladin, obama sends his regards" megaman gx said blasting theos ultma mark 3 into his face burning him as he realed backwards "jump off the plane now" wuk said and they all jumped off as all 1000 jumbo jets flew into the void gate exploding inside the 13th.

"see you in hell bin ladin" megaman gx said using mage form delta to seal the void gate as he used father fall to land everyone safety in foirest of magic.

"we defeated osama for now but he will be back but at least we have illuminati on the run now" said yukari who met them on the ground.

ELSEWHERE AT ILLUMINATI BASE

a door opened as ron desantis was shocked "DONALD TRUMP BUT MEGAMANGX KILLED YOU?!?!?!?!" he was shocked

Trump made ron feel small "you think you are good enough to run this order pudding fingers get on your knees" trumpo ordered and ron kneeled as trump kicked him in the face "now thank me"

ron nodded kissing his shoe "thank u for kicking me master" ron said as trump dragged him to the throne and sat on him farting in his face "now thank me for letting you smell my yummy farts" ordered trump

"thank you master i love your yummy farts" said ron.

nikkey hailey ran into room kneeling "please master trump i wanting to huff yummy farts too and i can do it better than ron" she begged and tramp laughed at how pathatetic these people where to him

"you will both get turns to sniff my farts but now i have plans"

to be continued

[the-firebird69]

Bruce Lee's little fanboy, but not limited to any form of martial arts #...

This guy helps to harm Bruce Lee who is missing and we're going to make him do the job it's one of these weird people here who thinks he's cool and the powerful one and he is going to get his ass kicked every time don't you get on purpose and we agree and these guys are the ones for the job and it is going on fairly soon they said and they're going to try and get a car down before he has money all sorts of dumb s*** but a lot of people are not going to let that happen like us

Jet li you do know what we're saying and the max actually are going to make it work that way too

We don't need to tell you what would happen if you follow through that and such and yeah it's somebody else doing it and you're having a real war and he says I'm going to be crucified and I get a Jesus complex and I die as him with his image. He says I really need it it'll correct my behavior and I'm an elf and a loss and stuff and I'm saying that but really it's disgusting how greedy I am it says I'm not greedy at all I'm just stupid and a turd and ridiculous and wrecking my own realm and theirs and don't care I sort of don't and he says yeah people use that kind of thing and people get you there and they don't know what the effect is and I'm actually saying I should probably get him funds but probably won't and he says he'll sell the car and I'll get the s*** kicked out of me and get crucified and go to tighten and die and that's probably why good he says people will see it gets something it's probably going to happen that way

Trump

Probably

Hera Zues hahaha LOL you're such a freaking moron that's fun it's supposed to be quiet and just say that I want to say stuff like you're a f**** Joel watts and your steaming f**** and you're not a good actor or faker or a liar or cheat you're just this piece of s*** and all your s***'s rotting they pull it out in a lot of it's no good you have to get the ordinance out so it won't blow up that's probably your ass and I ain't playing sit around until it explodes and we have that but that's the mean three theme we think we for an earthquake from us doing stuff and it's seen in a movie and you thought it was working but no that's when we couldn't get to it's something I don't know where and it's blown up on purpose and they say it's because you're idiots are still there LOL and robots and we see a leave and it's like the last time and you're going to die just go around he just said you keep coming back and people keep saying no it's a message we use a method and boy you stupid you were doing it right and I don't want to do anything and you're a lazy f****** this is not even a plan

Olympus

[squadron-leader-farrier]

Gosh i now have this solid headcanon that Collins is most definitely a Chopin fan , as well as really good at playing the piano so he just spontaneously starts playing a piece whenever he’s stressed at home. when he doesn’t have access to a piano he taps his fingers and hums the tune. 

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian Chapter 11 reactions; the ‘the sea is a harsh mistress’ edition

- on first watch this wasn’t really one of my favorite episodes. I think it’s something to do with... one of the many things I love about the mandalorian is how it made the star wars universe feel HUGE. big and surprising and unknowable, there could be fucking anything out there man we don’t know. so having first bo katan show up and then ahsoka being set up right after (quite aside from who’s rumoured to play her, which is an entirely different can of wormy beans) in additon to opening the season on tatooine... eh. I’m not that into it, it feels like shrinking the world. we haven’t even gotten to see any other type of force user yet. it is only early/mid season tho so they’re probably going to pull some unexpected twists on us 

my opinion might change with rewatches too, that happens quite a bit with this show!

- 

🎶I’VE COME TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN🎶

honestly I had kind of a hard day yesterday and watched this the next morning and kept pointing tiredly to the crest like ‘it me tho’ 

- I was unreasonably happy about seeing the calamari flan again hahaha he’s been keeping that shit in his pockets for a season and a half now (didn’t he pay with some at one other point too?)! also the sound effects for them are SO EXCELLENT, I keep thinking about how well this show does texture which is wild considering how it’s filmed 

- the warm pat din gave frog lady’s arm when he thanked her and said goodbye 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love the small ways he’s thawing 

-

my heart ached so much for him at this point, he just looks so small and tense and lost, like a kid who’s lost his parents in a supermarket

(he keeps his hand on the blaster the whole time too so he knows this is a bad scene but now they’re right out in the middle of the ocean already soooo) 

- din’s very very very dry sense of humour is so blessed. ‘a bowl of chowder for my friend’ faklhfsadkjlfhsadkjhfsd

the baby’s look when he poked the squid thing with his knife too -- yodito’s like ‘dad is a wizard??’ haha. some good baby & dad stuff in this one 

- oh din... side quest boy, side quest booooooyyy

- the shot when bo katan helped him out of the water is perfectly mirroring the scene of bb!din being pulled up to safety by the mandalorian in the flashback, which seems Very Intentional

I Extremely Do Not Trust Her in the larger scale tho. I think it’s important that din knows now that he was raised in a very specific offshoot of the mandalorians ant that there’s some Stuff he hasn’t been told, but I also think it’s crucial to remember that her pov is not unbiased either and she, in fact, already has an established tendency to selectively share information with him to manipulate him into fulfilling her goals. (which he realizes because he keeps saying ‘that is not my mission, my mission is the child’ and I could not love him more). hell, I’m not sure exactly how ‘the children of the watch’ were positioned within death watch, but she was fucking death watch too for the longest time! and she hardly left for particularly noble reasons, she just didn’t like maul! she already lost mandalore like twice, do we just have to trust that third time’s the charm or what! 

she lied to him about the scope of the mission to force him into a position to do what she wanted (fully knowing he’s responsible for a child!!) and she called that ‘the way’ just as easily as the thing about not letting his bravery be forgotten! big red warning lights, NO! I think the thing is that din is having to find his own ‘way’ of being mandalorian (/how does one be a person exactly help?? relatable content, and he’ll get there in the end I’m sure he’s so good), but her way is no less fucked up to me than the children of the watch from what we’ve seen so far. she’s good at killing imperials though which is of course a mark in her favour

(considering that the episode gives her the epithet ‘the heiress’... yeah that’s probably a hint that she’s loyal first and foremost to her entitlement, getting the position she considers hers by right of inheritance. guess we’ll see if the text agrees with her)  

- ‘mandalorians are stronger together’ yeah that’s probably why the cosmic balance makes sure they’re mostly engaged in being at each other’s throats lol 

- so I might be feeling kind of sketch about these guys but on the other hand... when that one lady saved the baby and then promptly took off her helmet to reveal she looks like t h i s ?

you better BELIEVE I was ready to fall down on one knee and propose right then and there holy shit

- ...wow if he didn’t have the jet pack din probably would have just sunk like a rock and drowned there huh 😨 that armour’s pretty heavy, turns out

- in happier news: din has become so good at reading what the child is expressing and responding/labeling the feeling for him! that’s so important to his development! ‘I know you’re hungry’ and both telling and showing him there’s a solution! still a bit of an issue that he thinks he can inform the baby of things like it’s a reasoned adult and have it understand, but we’re getting there we’re getting there lol

- that poor lady guiding them in for landing and sounding more and more worried fhkasjdlhfkjsdlahf (and he fucking TURNS OFF THE RADIO or whatever he’s using to talk to her through sdkfhaksdfhjs he takes a precious split second just to cut her off asfdjhaslkdfsdfhsda I love my salty dad) 

- when the fisherman asshole tells mando he knows where to find more of his people there’s the tinkling bell sound in the background music, I think it’s meant to convey almost childlike longing for belonging and connection, for finding someone who’ll know what to do? 

- when they took off their helmets and baby looked up at din like ‘???dad what the fuck? can you do that???’. (or like he just sensed his father taking a shitload of psychic damage all in one go)

- the way din didn’t start breathing again until they got the baby up from the water and he had him in his arms... the way he held him... sladfhasdklfhsjakdhfjsakldhfsakjldhfsjkadhfjaskdhfskajdhfjsdakhfslakhfskladhfsakljdhfjskadlhfkjsld

that whole scene was like a nightmare, so desperately unpleasant, in a way it mirrors the way the mandalorians have been hunted down and pummeled these last few generations, this must sort of be what it feels like to him subconsciously 

- din isn’t particularly inflexible as a person, after the initial kneejerk rejection he did listen to what they said and is carefully considering it (he did say ‘this is the way’ back at the end!)   

- the baby’s babbling when he wakes up and looks around in the beginning sounds half like ‘baba?’ and I almost had a heart attack

- loved how greasy and awful and dumb all the empire dudes were (and the comedy on board the ship too it was good for me) 

- the boob plates huh. shit they’ve shown with the armorer that they don’t have to do that in any way shape or form and they still brought the boob plates back :/ I guess it’s so they match up with the rebels/clone wars look, evoking that ~*era*~ and everything, but I don’t have to like it lol  

- I feel so validated in my theory that the razor crest is symbolic of din’s sense of self  (now with beautifully added commentary!) after this haha (and also so so scared now they might be ditching it for a new ship eventually). it’s in pieces, his world view is going to pieces and can’t be patched together the way it was before, from what he knows he’s about to deliver the baby to someone else who’ll understand/love/deserve him better (I do think that feeling is still in him) and he doesn’t even have the certainty of the code anymore to fill the void. oh buddy. 

the discomfort I felt when we got back into the cockpit -- into where it’s supposed to be familiar and safe! -- and saw all the ocean junk lying around, making it feel weird and changed and dirty (it probably smells like rotten seaweed in there now :( no likey)... I mean it was also very funny to see the pilot’s chair held together with a literal fishing net, but please favreau leave my dad’s car/ego alooooone 

- baby laughing his little bum off at din catching the small sea monster before it got him and then munching it......... the ‘there’s nothing in this world my dad can’t fix’ safe energy.......... I’m so scared we’re coming up on something din can’t fix 

- knitwear in star wars: I didn’t know I wanted it, but I am ELATED with having been given it

- moff gideon’s amazing evil voice... back in our ears, in our hearts, I gleefully hate him 

- at least din’s armour is clean again after that (awful) swim? one must appreciate some silver linings along the way I suppose

- din goes straight for the main pilot’s seat once they get the imperial out of it, so he must feel really secure that he’s probably the best man for the job; he is genuinely a good pilot! (and after this I am wondering even MORE who taught him. who raised you within the mandos din??)

- even while everything is new and scary and falling apart we can live safe in the knowledge that at least frog lady and frog husband had a good day and will have a good and happy frog life together with their frog children

couple goals tbh 

(I don’t necessarily know how it works for frog people but I uh. guess they got busy quickly huh hahaha good thing mando didn’t turn up again until later)

[butsomeofusarelookingatthestars]

hey! first off. i LOVE your writing!!! you’re so talented. if you aren’t too busy i would love a piece of luke x reader where reader has an irrational fear of thunderstorms? ya girl is kinda going thru it alone rn and could use some surrogate luke comfort hahaha if you’re too busy tho i completely understand!!! thanks either way 🤍🤍

Storms

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Luke Alvez x Reader

Prompt: Request

AN/ Thank you so much for your kind words lovely. I hope this piece bring you some comfort. Stay safe and take care! I’ve left this open to your imagination, lots of fluff which could be seen as part of their relationship or just before they become a couple ;) Sending you lots of love! x

You jumped with fright, the loud rumble outside causing your heart to race even faster. The darkness pressed up against the windows felt suffocating as you curled up deeper into the sofa. Although your eyes ached with exhaustion, the adrenaline pumping through your veins made it impossible to sleep. 

You were fairly certain this wasn’t what Emily had meant when she told the team to get a good rest before tomorrow’s hard work.

The case had come in earlier that day, prompting the BAU to fly out immediately and begin investigations. Unfortunately that had also meant being caught up in  the worst thunderstorms you had ever seen. It had not been a pleasant experience to say the least.

You had tried desperately hard to conceal your fear on the turbulent plane journey. Your fingers were still numb from how deeply they had clung to the seat, but you could only feel pride that you had managed to hide your terror from your colleagues. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t trust them. You just felt a little embarrassed to admit your fear. After all, you spent your  whole career chasing hardened criminals. So, it felt humiliating to confess that adverse weather conditions scared you more than killers.

But suffering in silence wasn’t much better.

Whilst the rest of the team slept soundly upstairs in the homely B&B you had found, you lay terrified downstairs alone. Being upstairs had only made the deafening thunder sound even worse. So, you had retreated to the empty reception area in the hopes of brewing a tea to calm your nerves.

It hadn’t worked. 

A flash of lightning illuminated the trees outside causing you to glance in horror. The rain relentlessly pounded against the windows as you said a silent prayer for it calm down soon. A crackle of thunder confirmed that it had gone unanswered.

“Can’t sleep?”

You jumped, startled by the sudden voice. In all the commotion outside, you hadn’t even noticed Luke approaching. He flashed you a small sleepy smile before taking a seat beside you on the sofa. 

“Something like that.” You murmured, your voice croaky due to the stress. You gripped the blanket tighter around your body as you pulled your knees close to your chest. Not only did it give Luke more room on the cushion, but it also was a source of comfort as another rumble of thunder echoed outside.

“You’re not a fan of storms?” 

The warmth in his voice caught you off guard as did the understanding shining in his dark eyes. You let out a shaky breath, realising that you hadn’t been as convincing of an actor after all.

“No. I guess it’s hard to hide from a profiler?” You muttered, clutching the cushion closer as another flash of lightning rippled through the sky. “I thought I’d gotten away with it.” 

Luke chuckled quietly, leaning back into the seat as he turned to face you. “I couldn’t help but notice on the jet earlier.” His gaze softened as he outstretched a hand to cover yours. His touch was gentle and comforting as he ran his thumb across your wrist. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” He said kindly. “Everyone has something.”

It was crazy how much he understood. How much he got you...

“It’s not storms for you?” You joked quietly, emotion evident in your voice as you gave him an appreciative smile. 

“Nah, I grew up in New York.” He replied, flashing you a teasing grin. 

“What is it for you then?” You asked, unable to keep the curiosity from creeping into your voice. What could a former Ranger be afraid of?

Luke paused for a moment, his thumb continuing to trace soothing circles on your skin. He met your gaze and gave your hand a comforting squeeze. “Seeing someone I love scared...” 

[oakantony]

continuing on with my JET program horror stories: (read them in order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)

halfway through my second week at the job, I had to go to the capital of the prefecture for some JET related orientations, training, and a TV appearance. 

the prefecture capital building was enormous. like, around 40 stories tall. it was also not near ANY train station because this specific prefecture is anti-train, which might sound kind of weird for japan. it was weird. ngl I love japan a lot, but this prefecture is basically bottom of the barrel. I mean, I get that I’m biased considering the nightmare of a year I had there, but this place had legitimate anti-train rhetoric and prefers to commute via car because there were so many car manufacturers in the area. it was basically a concrete paradise. there are some other things that make it less appealing but I’ve already given too many hints about my placement so I’ll keep that to myself LMAO

anyway, the point: I had to walk ~25 minutes in a full black suit from the train station to this 40 story building in the middle of august and was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time I got there and then I HAD TO APPEAR ON TV. “why didn’t you hop in a taxi?” you ask. 

because when I arrived at the train station, the other JETs were there, and they ALL wanted to walk. and if you recall, I was getting REAL desperate for friends, so I agreed, ready to bond with my fellow JETs, and we all headed on our way.

we get to the building and I’m immediately whisked to a conference room. where I had to speak japanese. on TV. drenched in sweat. look, I can look pretty cute if I really exert the effort, but there’s absolutely no saving myself in that state. nonetheless, the crew tried to offer me oil blotting wipes, a hairbrush, etc. It was lowkey humiliating. I did my best to put my hair up in a cute tight ponytail but the makeup I’d worn was a total loss.

I wasn’t alone, at least. 2 other JETs in the prefecture had been chosen to appear on TV: all girls. all of us were thin, white, and had light hair. big

vibes. 

so we were interviewed. the girl that went before me was this beautiful british girl with perfectly straight hair who spoke fluent japanese because she’d spent 4 years in Japan in high school (rip I was so jealous) and her interview was so nice and poised and lovely. LOVE THAT FOR ME, raise that bar, girl, give them everything!

it got to me: frizzy curly redheaded american gremlin who didn’t know nearly enough japanese, and they asked me to do an introduction, which I did. very basic, Japanese 101, so I didn’t screw it up too badly, I don’t think. but then the interviewer asked me, “What’s your favorite thing about your new town?”

I. blanked.

NOTHING? my brain shouted. GETTING RAINED ON AS I BIKE TO AND FROM WORK EVERY DAY? HAVING GONE TWO WEEKS WITHOUT INTERNET NOW? THE SOUNDS OF THE FACTORY NEXT DOOR STARTING UP AT 4AM EVERY DAY? (that’ll be a whole post on its own, I promise.)

The interviewer rephrased the question, thinking maybe I didn’t understand, but I did, so I said, “No, no, I got it, I got it. My favorite thing is nikuman.”

because the highlight of all this so far, for me, was that one absolutely fucking delicious nikuman from this post.

the room CRACKED. 

HAHAHA. like, the interviewer, the camera guy, hair/makeup, eeeeveryone was like. crying laughing. LMAOO. they literally had to take a minute to compose themselves before continuing.

“Your favorite thing is nikuman?!?” “We don’t have nikuman in Texas!” “It’s $1 from the conbini!” “It’s delicious! D:”

now, ok. I didn’t have television at this point. so I never got to see this piece on air, and I could never found it online afterwards. but I know that it’d been shared widely enough, because the next time I went to school, I walked through the gate, and a bunch of students saw me and shouted, “NIKUMAN!”

that was me. for the rest of the year. the american who really, really liked nikuman. at one point I went skiing in another prefecture and another JET said, “Oh you’re the nikuman teacher, right?” and I wanted. to die. but also, you know, it wasn’t wrong. nikuman got me through that year. 

[milquetoast-on-acid]

Milquetoast watches...Or Just Look Like One

...Or Just Look Like One S1xE3 Special Victims Unit: Episode Review

I feel like this gif fits for my rewatch. ;)

What this episode is about: When a popular teen is sexually assaulted, Benson and Stabler step into a modelling underworld of thoughtless parents, drug-dealing doctors and a trendy agency executive.

Old Lady: “I think I got the AIDS again.” hahaha what old lady? This little old lady actually says that to the paramedics!

Elliot: “A late model Sports Utility Vehicle.”

Me: Don’t you know that’s your parody name?

Check out  NTSF:SD:SUV:: It’s a crime show parody with Kate Mulgrew as the Captain...with a random eyepatch. 

Knap sack...who says that liv?

The dad is so creepy looking!

Elliot to Creepy Dad: “A trademark kinda like Jewel or Cher.” - Only thing I have to say about this...aren’t those their real names though? This girl changed hers to sound more exotic. 

Oh Look it’s Bebe Newarth! 

It's Lilith Sternin!!

Person: "This is Gulliani's New York." Oy! That takes a very different connotation these days.

________________________________________________________________

Olivia to Former Model: "Pardon, me you look familiar." Former Model: "I did some modeling when I was younger." Olivia: "The Ricky Blaine Case. You testified against Ricky Blaine, didn't you?" Former Model: "You have a pretty good memory. A lot of girls testified against the measuring man."

I love how this chick thought that Olivia recognized her from her photos. Instead it was from a case. Girl, you really need to get a life. All this girl does when she isn’t working is poke her nose in old rape cases. 

She's really tall!

The measuring man! That name for a perp. I just can’t take it seriously.  

Measuring Man: "Call my PO, I haven't touched a piece of tape in years." hahahahaha. This is hilarious this is supposed to be a serious crime but OMG, are they serious with this dialog? Measuring Man: "We were watching football at the halfway house." Olivia: "Really who was play?" Measuring Man: "Jets and Stealers." Olivia: "Try again. Cowboys, 49'ers." I love this! This is the second person they have encountered in their investigation that has made a wrong assumption. Model chick assumed Olivia knew her from her photos. Measuring Man assumed Olivia didn't watch football. Hahahaha! She just kneaded him in the balls!

Munch: "IF they fail the weigh in they don't work." Olivia: "110lbs is too heavy!?" (talking about modeling) They don't make the grade (they weigh too much) so they get pushed out! That's so messed up!

Here is a random gif of Elliot & Olivia from season 1 because I can’t find any of them from this episode. 

I wish I could be excited about a crossover here with the originals. Butttt...I never watched that 

The Stablers at home...

First of all...Kathy looks a frazzle mess. Girl is getting these kids ready for school. I can’t imagine having to wrangle that many kids. No thank you. Still loving the fact that Dickie Stabler is and has been played by the same actor for 22 years. Not to mention this kid really doesn’t know how to cut up his own food. He’s like stabbing the pancake.

Elliot is all like, yo Kathy why didn’t you tell me Maureen suddenly doesn’t eat. Kathy is all like that shit happened when you weren’t here. Elliot is all like...wtf do I do?

Elliot: "Hey, Maureen let's say we talk about food." Maureen: "NO!" lol Maureen! I just love the way she said that. And also the look that Dickie gives her.Als

Donny!? Briscoe calls Cragen, Donny instead of Don? Also everyone seems to already know Briscoe.

Munch: “He had so many half cocked booby traps around his apartment he tripped on one and blew himself through the bathroom door. We had to make three piles. Bomb squad pile, cornor’s pile, and a whatever pile.”

Elliot: “Yeah, that’s great.”

hahahahah! OMG Elliot is like whatever, I don’t care. Your not funny. But it’s the look on Munch’s face that says it all. He’s like I made a funny here and your not even going to laugh at it!

Oh my! What is that blue robe he's wearing? I guess because he's a writer he's got to look yuppie artsy.

Elliot asking doc about anorexia. Elliot is asking for a friend. That friend is him.

This guy looks like a mobster who should be in polyester but is wearing a fancy suit!

Joey Pool! Lol! He's so perfect! I love that Cragen is like, I have the perfect guy to charge in their for you. Can we get more of this guy? Joey Pool is kinda like that bull in a china shop.

Speed is like vitamins!? Well, that's new.

Of course, Don is thinking about food...IDK is this supposed to be a character trait? He has a belly there for food? 

Cassidy doesn't even know interrogation techniques. OY!

That's cool eye makeup! Props to the makeup/special fx department.

_____________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts:

Not a favorite episode, not an episode that I really enjoy all that much at all. I do remember not caring much about this episode. I don’t find the case very interesting. This is an episode that I could skip. It’s not a bad episode just not interesting. About the only thing interesting is the highlight to Anorexia and the challenge to perfection for models. 

Nice tie in for the case to mirror what’s going on in Stabler family land. 

[kpopmusiclyricsalbums]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT....

Kenzie 

The hidden goddess of songs in SM Entertainment. 

The brilliant lyricist that is behind some of the most iconic songs in SM’s history. 

A graduate from the Berklee College of music, yes, that Berklee she has written 10 songs to hit number 1 on the gaon chart, and her B-sides are dreams.  

The thing that I love about Kenzie is that she knows how to twist a song into making it mean something while saying something else.  It’s kind of hidden meanings within a song that I don’t see all that much from writers.  It’s one of the reason I love Taylor Swift’s music is because I love learning something new every time I hear the same song over and over again.  The hidden depths and meaning more.  

3 Examples:

Obsession - EXO 

At first glance, the song could meaning the obsession with one’s fans/Idols, or being obsessed over someone and seeing the toxicity in it.  When I heard it, I thought it was a dig at sasaengs and fans that go to far.  Then the line at the end came in and it completely startled me.  

거울 속의 나를 보고 있는 나 / It’s me looking at myself in the mirror

It’s can simply change the entire meaning behind the song without even thinking about it.  It’s a double meaning that also is about ego, and self reflection.  Sometimes you get so caught up in everything, In yourself, you never realize the toxic part could also be from one’s own self-reflection.  The lines that follow are all of plea’s to get away, to disappear.  It’s the last line of substance in the song that flips it on it’s head.  A cry for help because sometimes your worst enemy, the thing that goes bump in your nightmares isn’t someone else, but you.  It turns the song into a dialogue with one person fighting with their own demons.  

Power Up - Red Velvet 

Power up is one of those Red song’s that people either hate or love.  (I personally loved it)  It’s one of those songs that is great for summer and is about having fun.  But it also is about recharging yourself and going for your dreams that seem so out there.  It’s also points out that maybe the reason we haven’t gotten our dreams yet is because we just need to have fun.  

It starts off with someone who hasn’t moved since they got up, and ends with them being recharged and ready to take on the world.  It’s about changing your mindset on things.  Yeah school is boring and sucks, but you could also think of it is school is learning and you are evolving as a human being.  It’s about changing the mindset. 

선생님은 내게 말씀하셨죠 / Teacher told me 

놀 때도 일할 때도 즐겁게 해 / To have fun whether I’m playing or working

그래 난 유달리 반짝거렸죠 /Yes, I shined even more

뜨거움도 새로움도 It’s mine / This hotness, this newness, it’s mine

It’s  a song to help those who need it be pumped and to get out of bed.  To go forth into the world and achieve their goals.  

Go go airplane 태양 위로 날아라/ Go, go, airplane, fly above the sun

Diving to the sky 완전 소름 돋았어 / Diving to the sky, I’m getting goosebumps

Let’s power up!

까맣게 다 타버릴 거예요/ We're gonna burn up

Doesn’t it make you enjoy Power up just a little bit more?

Into the New World - Girls Generation

Into the New World is certified Kpop Gold.  It’s the golden standard and a must for every new girl group to learn, and to be compared to.  The song is upbeat and high energy with just as much air needed to belt out the lyrics.  It’s a timeless song that has been turned into a rallying cry for protesters and Women empowerment.  Into the New World is what Girls’ Generation ended up doing for the Kpop industry as a whole for female groups, by going the tough route always working hard, facing the darkness that comes.  

사랑해 널 이 느낌 이대로 / I love you, just like this

그려 왔던 헤매임의 끝 / The longed end of wandering

이 세상 속에서 반복되는/ I leave behind This world’s

슬픔 이젠 안녕 / Unending sadness

수많은 알 수 없는 길 속에 / In the many unknowable paths

희미한 빛을 난 쫓아가 / I follow a dim light

언제까지라도 함께하는 거야 / It’s something we’ll do together to the end

다시 만난 나의 세계 / Into my new world

특별한 기적을 기다리지 마 / Don’t wait for a special miracle

눈앞에선 우리의 거친 길은 / There’s a rough road in front of us

알 수 없는 미래와 벽 바꾸지 않아 / With unknowable future and obstacles, I won’t change

포기할 수 없어 / I can’t give up

The lyrics in the chorus are talking about struggle and paths not yet traveled.  To a better place where even though the light is dim, we have to work towards it together, because that’s how things change.  It’s a rallying cry for hope, for endurance in tough times, and to make sure that people keep fighting for what they believe in.  That they know, they are not alone.  

To sum it all up, Kenzie is the secret hidden goddess of Kpop song writing.  If Kenzie releases a song, I know its going to be good.  So here a list of songs she has written the lyrics for and the links so you can listen and enjoy! 

BoA

DOTCH 

Garden in the Air 

I Kiss 

Lollipop 

M.E.P. (My Electronic Piano) 

Milky Way

Moto 

My Name 

On December 27th 

People Say…

Spring Rain 

Time to Begin 

EXO 

24/7 

Baby

For Life

Forever  

Monster 

Obsession 

Sing for You 

Transformer 

The First Snow  

What U Do?

Wolf 

Ya Ya Ya 

EXO-K 

Overdose 

EXO - CBX 

Playdate 

Rhythm After Summer 

EXO - Baekhyun 

Betcha 

EXO - Chen 

Love Words

Shall We?

F(x) 

Cash Me Out 

Danger 

Jet 

Lachata (Intro) & La Cha Ta 

MILK 

Mr. Boogie

Papi 

Red Light 

Signal  

Vacance 

Gain

Kiss or Kill 

Girls’ Generation 

All Night 

Diamond 

Europa 

Express 999 

FAN 

Fire Alarm 

Girlfriend 

HaHaHa

Haptic Motion 

Into the New World

Light Up the Sky 

Merry-Go-round 

Oh!

Oscar 

Way to Go!

Girls’ Generation-TTS 

OMG (Oh My God) 

Girls’ Generation - Seohyun 

Don’t Say No 

Girls’ Generation - Taeyeon 

All Night Long (& NCT Lucas) 

Close 

Four seasons 

I Got Love 

Lonely Night

Love You Like Crazy 

Spark  

Sweet Love 

Isak N Jiyeon 

The Sign 

NCT 127 

Limitless 

NCT Dream 

We Go Up 

Red Velvet 

Attaboy 

First Time 

Lady’s Room 

Lucky GIrl

Mr. E

Peek-a-Boo 

Power Up 

Psycho 

Really Bad Boy (RBB) 

Red Flavor 

Sassy Me 

Some Love 

SHINee 

All Day All Night 

Evil 

Graze

Green Rain  

Jo Jo 

Life

LOVE 

Love Sick 

Queen of New York 

Our Page 

Real

Rescue 

Savior

SHIFT  

Stranger  

Trigger 

Why So Serious?

SHINee - Key 

One of Those Nights 

SHINee - Onew 

Blue 

SHINee - Taemin 

Sexuality 

Want 

SMTOWN

Hotmail 

Red Sun 

Snowflake 

Super Junior 

첫눈이 와

A Day 

Angela 

Bittersweet 

Devil 

Good Love 

Hate U, Love U 

Lo Siento (& Leslie Grace) 

Storm 

The Girl is Mine 

Your Eyes 

Super Junior - Happy 

Sunny 

Super Junior - K.R.Y. 

Just You 

Super Junior - M 

Me 

Only U 

Super Junior - Kyuhyun 

At Gwanghwamun 

A Million Pieces 

SuperM

I Can’t Stand the Rain 

Let’s Go Everywhere 

The Grace 

한번 더, Ok?

One More Chance 

Sweet Emotion 

TVXQ 

하구달 

Humanoids

Like Now 

Oasis 

One 

Phantom 

Rainbow 

Remember

When We’ll Be Together  

Your Man 

TVXQ & Super Junior 

Show Me Your Love

Masterlist

[blackypanther9]

Part 17 - New...

Your POV....

I lived in Freiberg for 2 months. After that I traveled around a little. I saw almost everything of Germany. I like it there. I can speak the language too and I had money. Much. I ended up in Merseburg in Saxony - Anhalt. It was cool and I never wanted to move away again. I had a flat and was happy. But I was also in Haiti...actually right after I left Freiberg. I found a cave and a friend. He was some kind of sorcerer and blocked the only way in and out, with a symbol... I will explain to you now what happened...

Thanos will find me, if walk around in the open. I knew that. I can be safe 4 months, then I need to hide good. I was invisible in Asgard and Jotunheim for some reason. I was safe. This cave...was the best hiding spot.

The sorcerer assured me of that. He even made a marking on the stone, which blocked the entrance and escape. It had the helmet of Loki on it, but nobody can see that symbol. It's Magic. Just if I want to be found, it shows up. I love Magic.

Anyway. Then I said again, that I was in Merseburg. I was. Here is the tricky thing... I am still in the cave, but also on another place. I will never leave the cave, ever. I can transform, thanks to meditation, my soul into a body of another being. I knew someone from here, she sadly died long ago. I talked once with her about these problems, and she said, if she dies...I can use her body as my host... I know it sounds cruel and all, that I use her body now...but I don't have other options. My old and actual looks are too fucking obvious, I had to do it. My soul is in that body of my dead friend and my real body meditates and is in a freezer. My old body doesn't need to rot away. In the freezer and in my Jotun Form, I would need thousands of years to have one rotting spot. I am safe. Just so you know. That also means I look very different...well actually not....

My hair is more short, like hair of a boy...The vertex was more left than in the middle. So the hair was right, the front, longer and more oblique than left... It was black (Or your favorite colour !), the skin had more color (Or less color !) and the voice was a little, A LITTLE different. Not completely different, just a little higher, but the difference was almost not to hear... The rest was looking like me. Same high, wight, eyecolor and the clothes I wear so dearly... did fit on this body too. I bought a TON of Midgardian clothes, faked my papers and acted like everyone else here to fit in this Realm. Well... 1 year and 6 months had passed... And there was still no sight of Loki... He probably died. I gave up hoping, of his return. He is probably dead now... But I didn't want to go back to Asgard too. After 6 more months passed... I was about to pack, one night, my things up. I think it was 2 weeks after the celebration of the second year here. I did not want to return to Asgard again, but I had to. Loki is dead. The others argued with me in my head, but I made up my mind and was ready to go. Suddenly the doorbell rang at my door...

"Coming ! Just a second !", I called.

I closed my bag and then I ran to the door. I looked through the spy and saw a weird man on my door. Then I remembered who he is ! He is in the TV ! I learned fast how to use what, believe me... I was a fast learner. Once showed, forever in mind. Ha ! That guy on my door was the playboy Tony Stark. What was he doing here ? I slowly opened the door and looked at him confused.

"With what do I have the honor to have you on my door, Sir Stark ?"

He turned to me and smiled a little.

"Hello. You are Lucie Anster...right ?", he asked.

"Yes. That's me...Why ?"

I really had this fake idendity...

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is offering you a job with us. You are good at chemistry and electrics...right ?", he asked me.

"Yes...?"

I am honest...I lived in another Universe on Earth...pretty often and well....I can a lot....I am a devilish genius ... at least most of the time...

"Well...you can fight ?", he asked me.

I looked around a little nervous. I opened the door a little more and gestured for him to come in.

"Please come in...I don't think anyone needs to know about what we talk here..."

He nodded and stepped inside the house.

"Thank you.", he said.

"No problem... Follow me, I will bring you to the living room."

We arrived at the living room and I went in the kitchen.

"Take a seat on the sofa. Do you want some coffee or water ?", I asked him.

"A cup of coffee doesn't sound bad... Thank you."

I made myself a cup of tea and Tony a cup of coffee. I took the milk and sugar out of the shelves and brought them to the table in the living room. After that, I brought his coffee and my tea inside. I placed the coffee infront of him on the table and then went around the sofa to sit on one of my chairs and placed my cup of tea infront of me on the table.

"Thank you again, Lucie.", he said.

"No problem...", I answered, while I put a few pieces sugar in my tea.

After 5 minutes of silence, I broke it.

"So...about what else do you ask me ? Yes I can fight. Yes I am a genius in chemistry and electrics, at least most of the times. Why is it so important that you know that ? Not to be rude..."

"It wasn't rude. I understand it. I need to know also if you are good in mythology..."

"Well....about some things I know much things, but not about everything in myth..."

He nodded. He slowly took a sip of his coffee, he stared at me surprised after he took a sip of it. He put the cup down.

"Wow... This coffee tastes really good ! Better then my own ! What is your secret ?", he said amazed.

"I won't tell."

He sighed and looked down.

"Damn..."

"Maybe I will tell you sometime.", I winked at him.

"Cool !"

"So...back to business... Why do you ask all this ?"

"Well...we met two strange guys...from As....As....Ard ?"

"......Asgard....?"

"Yes ! That's it ! Well since two days...someone stole the Tesseract, kidnapped Clint Barton and a few scientists..., killed in these 2 days 80 people and has a weird Scepter...."

I looked at him in shock and confusion.

"The one who killed and all, calls himself....Loki.... and someone called Thor was after this guy too and the Tesseract...."

"Wow...."

"Do you ever heard of these two ? In myth I mean."

"I did. Quiet a lot..."

"Do you mind helping us with this case ?"

"Do you have any papers or something about Loki ?"

He nodded and shoved to me a fact file. I opened it and saw a picture of Loki. I closed it quickly again and gave it back to him.

"I pack my things and we can go !"

"You accept ? What do you want in return ?"

"Nothing. For now at least."

"So...That guy is really Loki ? The God of Mischief and Lies ?"

"100%. It is the Loki."

He nodded again and I ran into my room, packed the rest of my things and then I ran back. With all my things. I just had one problem...I had a cat...A real one, named Luna... He saw her and me with worry in my eyes.

"I guess animals can't be taken there ?", I asked.

"Oh... If it is a good cat...it can come too."

I smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it....But I can pet it sometimes, right ?"

"If it isn't too scared of you...Why not ?"

She meowed at me and I calmed her a little.

"How do we get there, Mister Stark ?"

"Call me just Tony. We take my jet and fly there.", he answered.

"Cool."

"Yup."

We went outside and he took from me some bags and put them in the luggage space. I took my cat with me on the seat and stroked her the whole flight. She didn't lose hair. Her hair was always on her and no matter what you tried...it doesn't get off of her body.

Tony was amazed, as I told him that and he quickly came behind my secret...I experimented on something like that...I had some little mice and tried it out. Until I did it right. I gave my cat a little of that into her food and since then, she doesn't lose hair anymore. 20 minutes later we arrived there and Tony told me, that they had captured Loki and he was in a glass - kind - prison.

Why would he start havoc ? What had Thanos done to him ? This bastard ! We immediately went into the office of the Director...Fury, Tony said, was his name. After we arrived there I saw Thor immediately. I clenched my fists.

"- He is my brother."

"He killed 80 people in 2 days.", the red haired woman said...Natasha....or better Black Widow....

Thor hesitated.

"He is adopted."

"Director Fury... I brought Miss Lucie Anster. She accepted the job almost immediately.", Tony interrupted.

Someone with blond hair stood up and streched out his hand for me to shake.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Steve Rogers. I am Captain America.", he said.

I took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too."

Then Thor was on it. He opened his mouth but I shushed him.

"You are from Asgard. Thor the God of Thunder. I know you already."

He smiled at me and I a little back.

"Ah...Miss Anster...It is great that you could join us and help us with this case.", the man with a covered eye said....I guess this is Fury.

"It's a pleasure that I can help here.", I responded.

"We have questions about this....Loki....", Fury said.

"I know a lot about him. Even more than the others who study mythology. What should I tell you ?"

"Is Loki Odin's brother ?", Fury asked.

I laughed.

"Hahaha ! They all say that ! No. He isn't. He is the adoptive brother of Thor. Loki is Jotun. The Jotuns are Frost Giants. If you get touched by them, you get a mean frostbite."

Now it comes !!

"Then how could we touch him ?", Tony asked and Steve nodded.

"Well...that is complicated. Odin took him and I guess he put on Loki a magic spell. So that his powers of a Jotun are hidden and in his Asgardian form they won't work."

"Ah...", Steve said.

"Loki is a troublemaker. Not just because of his title. He was someone who got a pretty difficult life...I don't know. At least myth says it."

"He really is a troublemaker.", Thor agreed and chuckled.

"Where is Loki ? I need to see him.", I said.

The others looked at each other.

"Are you sure ?", Thor asked me worried.

"Yes. I need more details... They all say he looks like slenderman in some way.",

Well...in school in other Universes they did....The others laughed.

"Follow me kid. But please...be careful and don't push any buttons.", Tony said.

"Okay."

"Meow !"

I got startled. I turned around and saw my cat walk after us. I smiled softly at her.

"What is actually its name ?", Tony asked.

I smiled.

"Her name is Luna."

"Oh, a girl. She is very sweet.", Tony complimented.

"Thank you."

My cat followed us the whole time. We stopped at a door and Tony gave me the keys.

"Your cat can go in too. Just watch out. The key is for just this door here."

Tony tapped at the door. I nodded, smiled at him and then unlocked the door. I went in and held the door open, to look at Luna again. I clicked my tongue. She looked up at me.

"Do you want to join me, sweety ?", I asked her lovely.

She started to purr and walked in too. She cuddled with my leg after that.

"Good girl.", I said and stroked her.

"She truly is. How did you do this ?How did you raise her to be like that ?", Tony asked.

I smiled at him.

"Much love.", was my only answer.

He smiled and walked away, I closed the door and then turned around to see Loki. He had a little longer hair. They were no longer smoothed out... They were now more free and... the hair tips stand off like small spikes. Nice. He stared daggers into my eyes...that's new... And his eyes....WAIT !! ARE THEY BLUE ?! WEREN'T THEY GREEN ?! THAT BASTARD !! I need to look later what this means for me...

"Loki...Nice to meet you.", I said.

I will have my fun anyways.

"Don't you dare to talk to me, pathetic mortal !", Loki said with venom in his voice to me.

"Wow... You really became an asshole...", I said.

"How dare you !"

"I dare what I want you idiotic, pathetic, foolish Dumbass !"

Loki shuts his mouth, in anger and clenched his fists. I came very close to his glass and whispered....

"Because, you once told me...if you act like an ass towards me, I can call you whatever I want. Mischief - boy."

His eyes furowed.

"She is on Asgard, you don't look like her."

"And still, I know all the nicknames she gave you. Mischief - boy, Loks, Lo, Trickster, Prankster and Frosty. Correct ?"

He stared at me in his eyes pure anger.

"You are not her."

I chuckled.

"We will see, Loki....Laufeyson."

His eyes widened and I turned around and went for the door. I stopped at it, before opening.

"I will find a way...to heal you. I know he did this. You should have listened to me, where you still had a choice... Now you will need to fear, to run your whole life away from him. I hope you are proud of your mistake.", I said.

"Come Luna. Say Goodbye to Mister Frosty and Mischief, and we go.", I told my cat.

She walked to the glass as close as she could. She put her forepaws on it and looked at him, he looked back down at her.

"Meow !"

And with that she was again on all her fours and came to me. He looked at me and the cat a little confused.

"Oh ! Your Magic probably doesn't work... She said...'Until next time, Frosty.'", I told him.

He nodded.

"If you like...I bring next time some books with me and you can at least read something. Deal ?", I asked him.

"Deal.", he responded.

I smiled, opened the door, walked out with Luna, closed the door and locked it again. I went down to the office again and saw just Fury.

"Director Fury, Sir ?", I asked.

He turned to face me .

"Yes ?"

"Where is Tony ?"

"He is in the lab with Dr. Bruce Banner.", he answered.

"Thank you.", I said smiling at him.

I turned on my heel and went to the lab. Tony told me exactly where it was.

Part 18

Masterlist with all Chapters of this Story click here !  

[orokinarchives]

Roky & Boon Dialogue

(Roky concept art, DevStream 117)

The two major factions of the Ventkids are the Vent Pobbers, led by Roky, and the Kubrodons, led by Boon, although these groups seem to be based more on shared interests than contentious competition, seeing as Roky and Boon are amiable adoptive siblings. In their main clubhouse in the vents, Roky and Boon can be seen bantering, while other Ventkids lounge around, practise their K-drive skills in the air currents, or play their own music with improvised instruments – a genre they call "skeg".

Syndicate information

Roky is the main representative of the Ventkids in their dealings with the Tenno. The Ventkids are described thusly:

Hangin' with their logical fam in the ducts of Fortuna, the Ventkids get by stealing parts from the Corpus and running K-drive races out on the Vallis. At night, the ventways bang to the sound of skeg – to the chagrin of the locals.

The Ventkids offer components to build K-drives: the board, reactor, nose, and jets. They also offer K-drive mods, as well as craftable Operator apparel based on the clothes worn by the Ventkids. The Syndicate ranks, from least to most favoured, are:

Neutral: [no description]

Glinty: No dings, never taken a hit, wouldn't know ya ta look at ya. Have you ever ridden a K-drive?

Whozit: Nice enough; wouldn't last five minutes in a vent.

Proper Felon: Solid sorta mucker and you ride a K-drive like it's stolen. 'Cause it is.

Primo: Stand-up cove and vouched for, this one. Chek-chek?

Logical: Had no say in your biological fam, but this crew's your logical fam. Ventkids are logical; got no time for muckers who ain't.

Unlike the faction Syndicates, Standing with the Ventkids is earned by performing tricks on the K-drive, or completing the races on the Orb Vallis.

In Fortuna

The Ventkids are located in the vents of Fortuna, accessible through a grate on the second floor of Fortuna, above Legs' shop. This grate does not open prior to the completion of the Vox Solaris quest. The grate in question displays a graffito, while an unnamed Ventkid sits above it, occasionally calling out to the Tenno.

"Need a ride, glinty? K-drives by the load! Just through that vent there! Hahaha."

"Check the vents, glinty! Just here. A paying customer's always welcome."

Entering vents

Upon entering the vents, Roky and Boon can be heard speaking. Sometimes, Roky will address the Tenno; other times, the Tenno will interrupt a conversation between Roky and Boon.

Roky: "Psst! Glinty! Need a plank? Parts? Talkin' primo K-drive bits. Get you ridin', kick it terminal out on the Vallis. Cheap, too."

Roky: "Ventkids got no folks so ventkids look after themselves. We can sort you with a dog board, no worries."

Roky: "Checknah, glinty! All K-drive bits we got legit! Now, you want expert parts and service, or you suckin' wind?"

Boon: "Fancy. Whatcha doin'? Got biz?" Roky: (whisper) "Pump the brakes, bro. This one's a buyer. (normal voice) Need a ride, friend? The Kubrodons and Vent Pobbers are at your service!"

Boon: "Checknah, sis, glinty thinks his kickin' terminal. Nosegrab, bombed the landin', washed out hard and hit skin for a stretch. Came up livid! Hahaha!" Roky: "Hahahahaha! (whisper) Klokkit. We got a buyer. (normal voice) Howzit."

Roky: "Glinty mucker wants in. I tells him: 'Our family's logical, see? Your lot's biological. Mumsie. Dadsie. Luck a' the draw. All coddled and swaddled.' Mucker wouldn't last ten seconds in a vent." Boon: "Bah-bah." Roky: "Bah-bah beh-beh."

Roky: "Legs? All that rhymin'? You want that hangin' logical? How we get somethin' his size into a ventspace? With a mallet?" Boon: "He's gettin' by hard, same as us. Ain't no self-pity in there, neither. Just grit. Scope it clean and you'll klokkit."

Roky: "Vent Pobbers got new digs. Old filtration chamber they don't use no more. Movin' our racks and gear end of cycle." Boon: "Skeggin' it up?" Roky: "Yeah. It's square in the D-7 vent-tangle. Bang and bounce is dog. Keep the whole section up, we will."

Boon: "Problem is, see, people are too rich. Not enough to go 'round. That's why we're down this hole." Roky: "Know how you stop someone gettin' too rich?" Boon: "Drop 'em down a hole."

Roky: "Skill, bro. Every time." Boon: "You could bigflip off an Orb Mother, come down flair and smilin', but it's aaaaall idiot shivers for the crowd you dress bad, sis." Roky: "Win hard, and folks be dressin' bad by breakfast."

Roky: "Hit the rail, movin' terminal, klokkit? Grinded for a lifetime offa that taxi loader. Vapour trail! Couldn't touch Roky." Boon: "Skill don't mean nah lookin' like you dressed by mumsie. Get your crew decked, look the part. Ain't nobody respectin' a pack a fish-lookin' null units. Hahahahaha!"

Boon: "Word is Nef's gonna sweep the ducts, net up all the Ventkids. Sortin' merk-merks for the job. They's a special unit." Roky: "You're a special unit." Boon: "Gonna net us all up, make us work deep deep down, we ain't wily. Nef don't like no Ventkids and he don't like no skeg neither."

Greeting the Tenno

(if the Tenno is new to Fortuna) Roky: "We Ventkids. No Mumsie-Dadsie for us. No biological kin, just our logical kin. This here's me logical-bro, Boon. He runs the Kubrodons, scores the parts. I run the Vent Pobbers, we make the boards. You buyin'? Need a plank? Once a cycle I got somethin' dog. Best prices too, glinty. Mates' rates, chek?"

Roky: "Howzit, glinty. You lookin' or what?"

Roky: "Howzit, glinty. Got a need?"

Roky: "Howzit. Boards and bits, let you grind terminal. Check me wares."

Roky: "Look, we need dosh, you need a plank. You ride, we get fed, chekchek?"

(if the Tenno has just reached rank Logical) Roky: "Boon. Boon! Get over here! It's our Outworlder buddy. How ya doin', Outworlder-buddy?"

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, erm… you klok Boon's keen on that Legs mucker? He says we should make Legs logical. Part of our fam. I tell him he won't fit in the vents. He says Legs could just take his head off and we could lug him 'round. [pause] Jealous? Nah! Boon's me logical! That'd be weird. I jus'… he's me most logical fam. I got no other."

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, you know some old cove Smokefinger? Me and the crew bang skeg in the vents of a down-cycle, and he leaves us these, wedged in the grilles come up-cycle. Says it's 'sheet music'. What's a 'sonata'? Woss'e sayin'? Our clangin' ain't dog enough for his old receptors? Woss a 'Mandachord' anyway?"

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "My kids don't go near that hunter-trapper Business cove. Not since Bobo. The Business moves in, starts talkin' cute and furry animals, Bobo thinks Biz is an easy mark. By the time Bobo's pulled his Kitgun, Biz is handin' it back to him without the clip. Dunno what that old cove told Bobo, but Bobo ain't touched a gun since. We got no idea who that Biz mucker really is, an' we don't wanna know."

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Zuud's a bit lateral, in'she? We get calls some down-cycles, wantin' parts. It's Zuud, 'cept it ain't always her voice. Some other lady. Imagine if that was yer Mumsie. That was your biological, an' you just had to live with that. Pfeh. That's why me and Boon and the kids hang logical. Choose the kind of crazy we live with."

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "I scope you, Outworlder-buddy! Lookin' dog as always. What can the Vent Pobbers fit you with?"

(if the Tenno is rank Logical) Roky: "Hey, just in time. We were about to hit the Vallis, grind some off Nef's face. Ten points for the eyebrows. Need anything?"

Assembling K-drive

Roky: "Can't help ya, glinty. I need somethin' to work with."

Roky: "Gotta need some bits and pieces, glinty. We live in the vents, not a Relay."

Roky: "Want me to bolt two canisters to a piece of siding, charge you fifty so you can make broom-broom noises? Need parts, glinty. Parts."

Selecting a K-drive part

Roky: "Hmm. Intriguing."

Roky: "Ah, yeah. Okay. Sure."

Roky: "Couldn't have picked better meself."

Constructing K-drive

Roky: "Boon! Klokkit. This be terminal style, chek? Yeah? [pause] No?! Ah, go stick your head in one. This board'll make you a star, glinty. No mistake."

Roky: "Someday, glinty, the System's gonna know my name – and you'll be able to say: 'I bought one a' the first Rides by Roky.'"

Roky: "Dog. In'she dog? Come on! A little appreciation, glinty."

Daily special

Roky: "Boon's crew taxed the parts quiet-like, an' we Vent Pobbers bashed it together last cycle. Terminal ride. I'll gutterball the price n'all. Deal?"

Roky: "Boon's crew got air over a zap-fence to score this lot. Corpus maintenance crew's gonna be comin' up short next cycle, but hey – we Vent Pobbers pass the savings onto you."

Roky: "Parts freshly nicked by the Kubrodons – Boon's crew. Bashed this plank together meself, I did. One-of-a-kind, guaranteed."

Roky: "Fell off the back of a loader. Wanna bargain, today's it."

Naming K-drive

Roky: "Now get out there and give 'em hell. Tell 'em the Ventkids sent ya."

Roky: "Aw, pretty. Okay, all done."

Roky: "Nice. I don't get the reference, but that sounds real poetic."

Bidding farewell

Roky: "Boon's crew, the Kubrodons, gotta hand off a buncha live gear before they get burned. Planks, drives, could be anythin'. Scope me in a few, check-check?"

Roky: "Bah-bah, be-be."

Roky: "Bye bye, glinty."

Starting a K-drive race

Out on the Orb Vallis, there are 22 K-drive racing areas, although only 5 will be active on any given day. At these locations, the Tenno can find Boon, sitting on his hoverboard. Approaching him will cause a scoreboard to appear, showing the highest-scoring Tenno for that race. Interacting with Boon will cause the race markers to appear as pink rings on the terrain. The Tenno must pass through all the rings before the time runs out, although the timer does not start until they pass through the first ring. Passing through additional rings will add time to the clock. Dismounting the board or being thrown off it does not forfeit the race as long as the Tenno can get back on the board and pass through the next ring before time runs out, despite Boon's implication otherwise.

Some of the races are down slopes and across terrain; some go through Corpus bases, and some twist through the caverns. The 22 races are: Deathgrip, Sky-Eye, Roky's Roll, Pobber's Drop, Breakdown or Bust, Puffin' Pastures, The Hard Way, Mumsie Dadsie, Fortuna's Folley, Bomb the Spaceport, Meat and Greet, Frost Merchant, Lord of the Board, Dog Line, Kubrodon Twist, Catalyst, River Run, Skeggin' Out, Taxman's Curve, Shaving Nef, Anyo's Ointment, and Grinding the Void.

Boon: "Works like this: hit the marker, the timer starts. Vapour trail, chek? Ya bomb, and ya done. Ready?"

Boon: "Rules are simple: timer starts once you hit the first marker. Now, let's see what ya packin'."

Boon: "Arright, klokkit! I say go, ya floor it. Time kicks off once you hit the first marker. Ready?"

Hitting the first marker

Boon: "First marker gone. Bah-bah!"

Boon: "Boom!"

Boon: "Nice form. Let's see you keep it."

Failing a race

Boon: "Oof. Idiot shivers all 'round. Ya bombed that one, glinty."

Boon: "Put in the hours, glinty. You'll get there. Hahahaha!"

Boon: "Ha ha! Klokked it. Fish-lookin' null-unit."

Finishing a race

Boon: "Nothin' fancy, but got it done. Ya plank okay for a glinty mucker."

Boon: "Ya, don't get smug. You did fine, but chek no flair. You scored that one, but I'm still king."

Boon: "You's a lucky mucker an' no mistake. Skin a' ya teeth, glinty!"

Roky is mentioned in the Vox Solaris quest, and Boon has some dialogue during the Profit-Taker Orb Mother heist. The Ventkids are mentioned in the dialogue of Eudico, The Business, Rude Zuud, and Smokefinger, and Legs' lore fragments.

[Navigation: Hub → Dialogue → Roky & Boon]

[la-appel-du-vide]

01•27•21 - Day EIGHT

Because of the dumb Corona requirements, today was the day that we had to go get Covid tested again, in order to have the paperwork necessary to get back to the USA. So we had to kind of rely on Deimante to figure that out, and work around her schedule. I was a little nervous to leave something that big of a deal in someone else’s hands, but I knew she had just been through this helping her family fly out a couple of weeks back, so I felt like it would be ok.

Deimante and Gedis are in some kind of fiancé course, so they had class that day and said we could go to the beach or whatever we wanted to do in the morning while we waited. We ended up at Kite Beach, in the nice area, this time, instead of wandering around aimlessly looking for a view of the Burj Al Arab hahah. We had breakfast – iced chocolate and very yummy waffles actually – and then went to lay out in the sand. What a perfect moment… sun beating down, waves crashing in the distance, perfect sand for your fingers and toes to play with… LOVE. We got little popsicles, but I picked mango simply because it was the only flavor with strawberry pieces in it, and I thought it would make a cute photo. Then I hated it, hahah. Beach picked raspberry, and hers was good.

All too soon, we had to catch a taxi back to the apartment so that we could go get the Covid test. Their class was still not done, but we had to go, and Gedis had to go to work anyway, so Deima turned the class on from her phone, and off we went to Sharjah. She suggested we take the test there because it’s faster and less crowded. It went really smoothly, and only cost $40. And they only had to test one nostril, thankfully! I’ve been covid-tested too many times lately.

It only took about 15 minutes, and then we were done! Deima then took us to Jet Ski Sharjah, because it’s much cheaper to do it there than at a tourist trap in Dubai. They charged us $16 for 30 minutes, and that’s because Deimante is a boss negotiator. My new 2021 goal is to be more like her. They told us they would only take cash, so she said she’d run to an ATM while we jet-skied. She’s a little traumatized from going with Gedis, and had no interest in doing it again hahah. It was super fun, as always, and cool to have a city skyline view while we went. At one point, we tried to pass the GoPro from me to Beach, and we bumped into each other. That was a problem, because then mine got scuffed up, and they said we owed them 1,000 Dirhams for the damage, which is $272. We waited for Deimante to get back, and I explained the situation. She went over there yelling at the guy, “Show me the damage. What are you talking about. These are my guests from USA and I bring them to you, and you do this?” She’s BOLD. And truthfully, it was our fault, and we shouldn’t have let them bump. But I let her handle it. She called Gedis, who sent one of his employees down to handle it and bring cash to pay. And he was able to talk them down to 500 Dirhams, so only $136! Not bad at all – way to go team.

We went to hang out at Gedis’ office in Sharjah while we waited for rush hour traffic back to Dubai to die down. While we were there, Beach had to pee so badly that she got desperate… and I’ll let her explain what happened hahaha.

BEACH: My time to shine I guess(;

Well, as it has been told, I really had to pee, nothing unusual. After asking Deimante if there was a bathroom nearby, she led me around the side of Gedis’ office to the “bathroom,” which she said was used only in emergencies. I can see why. There was no toilet, just a hole in the tile with the opening of a pipe in the bottom of the hole. Initially, I had decided the “bathroom” was too gross to use and that I could hold it. As time went on though, I realized we would not be leaving Sharjah any time soon, and I was getting desperate. I then told the group that I was just going to have to go and that I couldn’t hold it any longer. Gedis had at least given me a paper towel roll as there was no toilet paper in the bathroom and there was no spot for it. The floor and walls were so covered in dirt and disgusting that I didn’t dare put the paper towel roll on the ground so I held it under my arm and squatted, trying very carefully to touch nothing. Let’s just say hand sanitizer was applied liberally after that experience.

OK, back to me hahahah. Oh man.

When we finally did leave the office, we all went to dinner at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. I had vegan spring rolls that were actually so good, and then a beef pho, which they are definitely pronouncing “pho” even though at home I’ve been told to pronounced it “fuh.” Interesting…

It was actually such a good dinner! We really enjoyed getting our time to sit and talk with them. We were laughing about some of our old Lithuania memories and telling Gedis about them, we were sharing travel stories, talking about work… it was just a really nice outing. They are so awesome. They were freezing on the walk home hahah, which is so funny, because anyone at home would kill for that slightly cool weather. I was just trying to take it all in again, and just loved how sparkly the city is. Every building, every tree… sparkles. It’s a city meant for me. They’re so lucky to live in such a beautiful place, and to be so close to so many amazing sights.

A good last night ): & (: