#he DID RAISE THE TWINS after saving their lives in another timeline just because

[zeroducks-2]

Doesn't Wally have three kids already? smh smh someone get himm a vasectomy for his birthday /hj more serious though omegaverse WallyBarry babies could make for delicious angst if Iris knows they aren't hers and breaks up with Barry over it but Wally doesn't take responsibility...because boy have three kids already. 👀

It would be indeed super angsty.

I can picture two scenarios - a more cutesy one in which Barry decides to just go away and get some friends' help in raising the pups, namely Hal which would be a very good surrogate parent and would be good to Barry in general.

A bit of a darker one, in which Hal is somewhere in outer space and Barry is just too depressed to be proactive, and so Eobard takes the chance to pop up and point out that running away with him was actually the best choice, but he's magnanimous, he will extend the same offer once again. And at this point it's not like Barry has any other choice, hasn't he?

[rithalie-sideblog]

Okay so

SPOILERS for INSIDE JOB and one more Disney show but I hope I am safe since it’s not exactly new.

The ending to Inside job CRUSHED ME.

You know, Reagan and Ron? The least likely couple to be created? That turned out to be the absolute best pairing I could have ever hoped for? THEM.

I SO wanted them to end up happily, even in Appleton. Hell, they deserve it. So I had a stupid idea.

Maybe there’s a timeline where they did end up together?

The one where they stayed in Appleton.

Because you know what I thought of when I looked at Appleton logo?

SPOILERS!

Yeah it’s very very far-fetched. But just IMAGINE.

Ron and Reagan end up together.

They move in. They argue. They make up. They live somehow happily. They have KIDS.

A boy, who just knows there’s something out there - something he just needs to prove or discover. That’s just out of his reach.

And a girl, whose only idea for life is to be happy - truly, remarkably happy. Against all odds, against the very universe scheming to make her and her family unhappy.

Maybe them?

Like I said, it’s far-fetched but I love the idea for Ron and Reagan escaping the shadow world, only for their kids to almost unleash eldritch horrors upon the earth.

Because if there’s something Reagan’s kids and Randall’s grandchildren would do is make a deal with cosmic horror spirit and turn on strange machines in the basement.

(yes I’m looking at you Mabel)

We know twins are not related to uncle Stan (Hell, he may as well be Owl Lady’s ex from the Owl house - guy has his own set of relationship problems)

And we never saw their parents!

So what if Dipper and Mabel’s parents are Ron and Reagan? Maybe they did wipe their minds and raised the kids without a care about the shadow government?

You can’t tell me that Ron would be a bad father - guy has the father streak a mile long! He is patient with Reagan, he is reasonable, absolutely scared shitless about people he cares about and just wants them all safe! He would instal that hopeful streak in Mabel and keep feeding it because she is just what they need to keep color in their life. He is also snarky and Dipper definitely learned that from someone.

And Reagan? Socially unsure Reagan who has the habit of hyper fixating and losing touch with reality and would definitely pass that on to her son? She would try to be so gentle with Dipper and not crush his hopes and ideas because she would feel bad if she even tried. She could remember her dad as a mad scientist and most of all absent father but he also always nurtured her scientific growth. So let her nurture that in her own kids - most notably her son. And let her daughter make all the friends she could have. Just keep praising her - gOoOood work honey…? (Confused glance at Ron, as their daughter runs around with handmade embellishment gun for her sweaters. Ron just gives Reagan a thumbs up)

Let them just be good parents.

Or even not-so-good-ones. After all, who sends their kids off to a relative on the other side of America for the whole summer without even background checking the guy?

Mayyyyybe parents who were just given their memories back and called to help in saving the world from another crisis?!

Or just terrible parents. Just because Ron and Reagan are great with one another, they still argue and they make mistakes. And they may try to do their best by their kids but also fuck up. They could and they probably would because which parent doesn’t fuck up sometimes?

Maybe they never got wiped and they tried to make their relationship work despite their jobs? And then BAM kids?

Or maybe Ron got wiped, and Reagan was pregnant already and her and Brett raised the kids until Ron came storming back into their lives (because I want them to be happy together - and he could beat the brainwash since he surely build some immunity by exposure over the years)

Man I just love the idea of Mabel and Dipper being Reagan’s kids. And just - living their best summer adventure life while their parents have to deal with one cosmic crisis after the other. And then Ron and Reagan realizing it’s their kids whom unleashed the cosmic horror upon the earth the moment they got some time for themselves!

Yeah, grandpa Rand would be proud.

And for anyone who says that Mabel and Dipper don’t look like Ron or Reagan - there are some possible options that explain the difference in noses (since it’s one of the things that set the kids apart from R&Rs).

Option 1: genetics - Mainly Ron’s parents having round noses.

Option 2: Ron and Reagan unable to have kids and using the donor or adopting (maybe a certain red-head with golden heart is the donor?)

Option 3: Brett being in the relationship with them both (my favorite)

Because look at them:

I run out of space for pictures but puppet master Brett and puppet maker Mabel? They would be besties, if not family.

And the idea of Ron cultivating the optimism in Mabel still stands - he may not be the one who she gets it from but he will surely do his best to make his little girl happy and to keep her happy (her and his son and his wife - he is such a family man)

So…

TL;DR: What if, in one of the timelines, Mabel and Dipper Pines turned out to be Reagan and Ron’s children? :D

[dante-winning-archive]

I feel like the only I'd be Even Remotely okay with Sparda coming back is like if some evil alchemist or something brought him back through necromancy, possibly as part of some Take Over the World (or Hell) scheme. Like, he died before Eva and the twins were attacked by Mundus' forces, and then after DMC5, some necromancer fucker built him a new demon body and shoved whatever was left of his soul (probably harvested from the Underworld) into it to try and use him as a meat puppet, but that uh. Did Not Go Well for them, and Sparda broke free.

Sparda doesn't just waltz back into his sons' lives, either: he knows he's got a lot of apologizing and making up to do, even if he didn't leave them on purpose. He'd be devastated to find out what happened to Eva and to his sons after his death, but also so happy that they're both alive. Apologizing wouldn't be enough to make up for everything that happened, and neither would letting them punch him in the face, but he'd try it anyway.

Having a grandson would be a pleasant surprise, at least until Sparda found out the poor boy had been raised in a cult that worshipped Sparda as a god, in which case Sparda was just like, "Ah. Another descendant that I'm obligated to let hit me. Alright, Nero, go ahead. Don't hold back. I'm so sorry."

As for how Sparda died originally:

I've got a personal theory that he died for the same reason we see V's body breaking down after Vergil uses the Yamato to split himself in 5- when Sparda separated the Human and Demon Realms, he also split his soul. It just took longer for his body to "degrade"/break down because he's all demon, whereas Vergil is half human. Sparda further splitting his soul into the Sparda, Rebellion, Yamato, and the Perfect Amulet, and then the amulet halves, also didn't help things.

As for why he didn't just re-absorb them and live for another idk, 2000 years:

My best guess is that it wouldn't of been enough to save him because his body was just too far gone by that point, like how you can only stretch something so many times before the elastic just wears out too much and the whole thing just snaps and falls apart. And, if we go with this theory, maybe he thought leaving his sons the swords/powers that he did was more important, since if he was going to die anyway, the least he could do would be to TRY and take care of his sons. I think he just wandered off to die, too, somewhere where any "vultures" that were drawn to his corpse (or whatever was left of him) wouldn't be anywhere near Eva and his sons. This means Eva and his sons might not of had any remains to bury/ashes to scatter, but he did TRY to keep them safe for as long as he could.

As for why a necromancer alchemist brought him back NOW, instead of earlier in the timeline:

-Doyalist explanation is because otherwise the plot would be different and I don't wanna think about that rn, but anyway.

-Arius and Agnus were able to create fully artificial demons*, and before them, the only other person (as far as we know) that could do that was Mundus himself. Which is horrifying, since it means that alchemy (or at least alchemy focused on creating and controlling demons and demonic energy) has officially reached the level where normal human beings can play God with the souls and lives of men and demons. Hence the whole Sparda/necromancy clusterfuck.

[*= Human shaped demons in Aruis' case, and ones that had a certain amount of free will and sentience, like Lucia and the Secretary demons, although Lucia was considered "defective", presumably because she had too much humanity/free will. Agnus had a specialty in constructs powered by demonic energy and piloted by a person or persons' soul(s), and turning humans into demons via his Ascension Ceremony.]

Anyway, mainly, I'm just fine with Sparda being dead, tho I would like more info on his. Some archive of his past or something, y'know? Some flashbacks from the twins, or Matier. More info on Eva would be nice too, tbh, given we know even less about her than Sparda.

Sorry I took so long to get to this!

This scenario kind of falls into "came back wrong", which I'd be okay with. Maybe the necromancer was successful, until they pit Sparda against his own sons. Somehow Sparda is fine and it's one hell of an awkward reunion.

I like your theory about how Sparda died, how he was essentially weakened from all the soul splitting. Wouldn't it be something if Vergil had inadvertently followed in his father's footsteps?

I'm not sure I vibe with Sparda just going off to die. It seems more fitting to me that it was an honest attempt to defeat Mundus' forces and he died in the attempt. It's more tragic to think he always meant to come back, always wanted to come back. And I like that sort of tragedy, I guess. When you try your best and you don't succeeeeeeeeeeed....

I'm gonna wrap this up here bc it's raining and losing power for a second is a definite possibility and I'd be real pissed if I had to write everything again lol

[mariecrystalstar]

Exactly, thank you!

Also..Ben and Grace went on that trip to help their marriage in s1. Things weren’t good to begin with; and it’s fine. The initial voiceover said they’ve been together for 15 years already and though it said they were still in love, they weren’t peachy. It’s okay, it’s life. They had two kids to raise, one of them very sick. It’s draining for any relationship. Doesn’t make anyone the bad guy.

Now, after Ben “died” Grace moved on. And good for her! I actually liked that plot and it pissed me off whenever people tried to make her a villain for it. No. She had every right. She mourned her husband and son but she didn’t “die” with them. And she had to live for both herself and Olive. Let that sink in. She had a living kid, who lost just as much at a very tender age, parenting her (in case we forgot, Olive made her lunch with what hadn’t gone green in their fridge) because she was too much of a mess to even live. She connected with Danny over shared experience and eventually fell for him. It was okay she let go and loved someone else.

Similarly, when in the darkness of returning from “the dead”, Ben leaned onto Saanvi. It came naturally. She understood both what he was going through and his need to solve the mystery and help people. They are cut from the same cloth, they connected. And though it was obvious to the viewers that there were underlying feelings there, they never acted on them while Grace was around. But, after the kids, they always put each other first. And with Grace dead, Ben eventually learnt to live again, although reluctantly. And he leaned on Saanvi again and it’s okay he let himself show how he felt. Even after agreeing they couldn’t be together..the guy almost had a heart attack thinking he was losing her on the airplane; you can’t tell me he doesn’t love her openly now.

Even in the New Timeline, though they were friendly, at some point Grace was on Saanvi’s case telling her Ben had to sit out of their quest and that he didn’t need her encouraging him. Grace, though knowing what life was for them, felt the need to freeze her husband’s support system out. Note she never told that to Mick, though she was usually the one dragging him into trouble.

You can’t tell me any woman wouldn’t feel insecure with another woman being her husband’s most trusted. Especially with one that was sharing his exact experience while being the one to save his son. That’s a lot.

Imagine now, in the Original Timeline, with only the passengers knowing what went on for over 5 years of their lives in the other timeline, what would happen. And it’s normal. I think being suspicious and jealous would be normal. Ben and Saanvi supposedly spent only a few hours together on a plane, not even sitting close to each other. And if Cal was to be asked, he’d say they never even interacted, that’s what the kid knows. If I was Grace (or Alex) I’d suspect my partner had his sidepartner meet in Jamaica and was now trying to insert them in our lives. Point being..good luck finding a plausible explanation for all the heart eyes, being in each other’s space, inside jokes and all.

On another note, and most likely an unpopular opinion, Eden was the most pointless storyline in Manifest. She did nothing to further their Destiny or change it. She existed just for drama; to degrade Ben’s mental state and keep the Angelina drama going. The plot seemed invested in making Ben seem hellbent on focusing only on ONE kid, ignoring the needs of the other two scrapping his character development as a parent since s1. Also, Grace was actually heartbroken and torn having to choose between Ben and Danny. You can’t tell me otherwise, if Eden was Danny’s, Grace would have left Ben faster than he’d say “828”. And maybe it would have been better for both. They could both be happy and it would be a lesson, a moral; that your life changing may seem daunting but it can also be good for you or something. Not to mention Grace would be alive and my poor twin babies wouldn’t have to be traumatized by her loss.

Thank you for joining my somewhat irrelevant TedxTalk.

yesterday i said in a previous post i didn’t necessarily dislike the finale and that’s still somehow true, but after having slept on all of this i want to add:

the finale only works if you don’t ask yourself any questions

let’s imagine ben wants to share the whole thing with grace - the poor woman wouldn’t believe a word. she (rightfully!) struggled to understand callings in season one, and only accepted what they were when she saw they were affecting cal as well. now cal has no memories. even if grace believes ben - is she going to understand him?

when watching season one i was sure the show was going to break ben and grace up. their conflict was SO REAL, so raw. grace couldn’t fully comprehend what ben had gone through, and he couldn’t accept she had moved on from him with danny during those 5 and a half years. i never fully believed them reconciling, although i had no particular problems with them doing so

now let’s pretend for a moment ben tells grace everything and she believes him. would he tell her as well he slept with saanvi? something tells me no, and starting over your marriage with a lie doesn’t look like a great beginning

also - it’s not like saanvi is going to disappear from ben’s life. she is going to cure cal, the stones are likely to see her every day. would grace (and alex, i guess) not pick up on the fact that ben and saanvi know each other, trust each other, have a very strong bond?

something tells me ben and grace’s marriage wouldn’t actually last. which doesn’t mean they don’t love each other, but they are just different people



i’m not even going to comment on saanvi and alex’s relationship, since the only thing we know about them is that alex bailed on saanvi because she didn’t want to leave her husband. once again, not a great start



(also, just for the lolz: imagine saanvi being pregnant in the reset after the hook up with ben a couple of days prior)

[attllhak]

Hey, uh, @lemonlurkrr I uh, I saw you asking about FD stuff a few days ago, and I remembered I wrote a thing based on the mythology my best friend and I came up with a while ago, so I dug through my google docs and found it again. I dunno if you’re still looking for stuff, but uh, here you go regardless, I guess

-----------

Termanius huffed, hands on her brother’s shoulders. The Fierce Deity was groaning, bent double and grasping his middle to stem the flow of dark and tarnished ichor originating there. His left hand was still wrapped around the grip of his sword, the massive double helix blade buried in the ground.

Majora stood a few feet away, cackling like a maniac. They found this whole thing hilarious, as only something born of Chaos could.

Termanius grit her teeth. No help would be coming, Hylia and Lolia both busy with their own Chaos entities, fighting their own demons. This was a battle she and her brother must face alone. And she was done sitting back.

Termanius was a Guardian Goddess, a protector of the Triforces. Termina was her domain. Time, Light, Protection, each Guardian Goddess was all three, though they each embodied one more than the others. Hylia was Light, magic poured and focused through her harp and sword, her smile and laughter bright. Lolia was Protection, her scepter and shield dangerous weapons when raised to defend others, and she was unwilling to ever back down when people needed her.

But Termanius was Time, and time was a passive force. It passed no matter what occurred, and it’s flow was impossible to stop. Termanius had no harp and sword, no scepter and shield. She had no artifact to wield against evil, because she wasn’t active like Hylia and Lolia, she just watched and oversaw. All she had was an ocarina, an instrument and not a weapon. Instead she had her brother, her precious twin, the terrifying War God, the Fierce Deity. He was meant to fight for her, his double helix blade wielded in battle in her name. Termanius was not a fighter, and so that was all the Fierce Deity was. They were meant to be a balance.

He was not supposed to die for her.

He was not supposed to die doing her job.

Termanius was the Guardian Goddess of Termina. She was meant to guard these people and their Triforce from evil. The Fierce Deity was only meant to support her.

She would just have to guard him too.

“Terma,” Fierce Deity reached out to grab her wrist as she stood, lifting his head to her, glowing eyes full of pain and worry. “Stop, what are you,” he cut off with a cough.

Termanius reached down and set her hand over his, ignoring the warm and wet feel of his ichor on her wrist from his grabbing her. “Relax, Oni,” the nickname rolled off her tongue with a pain she didn’t understand just then. Time was a fickle thing, and seeing through it a curse as much a blessing. She remembered giving it to him like she’d lived it again just seconds before. “I’m just going to be doing my job,”

“Hey, Fierce Deity!” Hylia waved the towering man over, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I just realized, Terma has a nickname since her name is so long, but your name is two words and you don’t have one. What gives?”

The Fierce Deity shrugged, confused. “Do I need one?” His voice rolled over the plains like a rumble of thunder, powerful and wild.

“Cut the dramatics, Fiercy,” Lolia waved, rolling her eyes and adjusting the bracers on her arms. “You don’t need the voice with just us,”

“Fiercy?” Termanius repeated.

“No,” was the only response from the Fierce Deity, though he had dropped the voice.

“I’m with Dea here, that sounds like something an 11 year old human would come up with,” Hylia smiled, even as her sister stuck her tongue out at her.

“Dea?” Termanius echoed.

“No,” Fierce Deity repeated himself.

Hylia threw up her arms as Lolia laughed at her.

“What about Oni?” Termanius offered, both her sisters giving her a weird look.

“Doesn’t that mean ‘demon’?” Lolia asked. “I thought I read that somewhere,”

“Oh, but he’s our demon!” Hylia cooed, leaning over to him. “A demon to fight the demons.”

“I can fight demons just fine on my own,” Lolia huffed.

Hylia waved her twin off. “Sure, you can. And I’m no pushover myself, but Terma’s not a fighter. She could use a demon to help her out,”

“True,” Lolia agreed.

“Well,” Termanius looked at Fierce Deity. “How about Oni?”

Fierce Deity hummed, then nodded. “Acceptable,”

The girls cheered, then Lolia and Termanius convinced him to sit down, shortly before Hylia started draping him in flower chains without letting him know. She got to ten before he noticed he was wearing flowers this time.

It seemed so long ago, that life belonging to another person now, though her domain over time made it seem like it was mere minutes ago, simultaneously. Now, her older sisters had both been slain by demons of Chaos themselves, Demise and Ruin stealing the twins from divinity and trapping them in mortal reincarnations. And now this Majora threatened to steal not just her brother in the same way, but threatened all she was meant to protect. Termanius would not lose anything else. Lolia may be the Goddess of Protection, but Termanius was meant to protect this world and its people. Hylia may be the Goddess of Light, but Termanius had magic too, and she planned to use it. 

She reached out her hand, pulling forth all the power in her possession, her might and desire and desperation and hope pooling together and spilling forth with a cry. She wouldn’t let this demon hurt her people, her brother, her home. She was the Guardian Goddess of Termina, and she would guard her plane.

Majora stopped laughing.

When the light dimmed, all that was left was a barely visible goddess and a floating mask, Majora’s twisted and grotesque visage in all it’s markings. Termanius couldn’t seal like her sisters, but she could do something they couldn’t. She could transform.

The mask that used to be Majora dropped, their screams still echoing in Termanius’ mind. She dropped to her knees a moment later herself, weak and tired. She wasn’t meant to do so much at once.

“Terma,” there was a cough and a soft thud, and Termanius twisted to see Fierce Deity collapsed behind her.

“Oni!” She crawled to her brother’s side, turning him over, struggling as her hands clipped through him. His injury had grown. “Easy, easy there brother. You’re gonna be okay,”

“No, I’m not,” the amount of words used had Termanius pulling back. He wasn’t usually so vocal. “Neither are you,”

“Don’t be so pessimistic, we’ll be fine,” Termanius tried to smile at him to reassure him.

“No,” his voice was firm, and he grabbed Termanius’ wrist, the fading appendage not affecting his grip. “No, it’ll be back. You can’t fight it when it does. I can’t heal from this. A reborn god alone can’t beat a demon. You know what needs to be done.”

Termanius would deny the tears started here. “No, we’ll be fine, you’ll see, we’ll, we’ll be fine, you just have to hold on,”

“Terma,”

She broke, sobbing into her brother’s chest, desperate for another way, but knowing there was none. “I’m sorry,”

A bloody hand in her hair. “I am too,”

She hid Majora’s mask, deep in the woods of her world, hidden and buried where none would find it if they were lucky. Her brother she took up to the moon with her, the plains within it where they and their sisters used to play a fitting last place for them to be, she felt. The Moon Children hovering around, waiting. They knew what would come, and what she would ask of them. They had agreed.

Termanius pulled her brother close, sobbing into his chest as she held him in her lap. He cried tears of his own, silent and sad and accepting, holding her in turn.

The siblings were engulfed then in light, a final act of protection from the both of them for their people.

When the light faded, all that was left was a white haired mask with blue and red markings sitting on the ground where the twins used to be.

...

Eons and eras later, after a violent split of the timelines in Hyrule, Majora’s mask was found and donned. With a heavy heart, Termanius looked out and knew there was no one in Termina now who could host her brother and defeat him.

She needn’t have worried, as when she heard her name cried out in desperation, looking down had her noticing a small deku scrub, no a Hylian, who was strong enough. A fairy called out for her aid, and that’s when she realized this small Hylian had her ocarina. A savior sent to her by her sister when she needed one most.

He made it to the moon, spoke with the Moon Children. He took her brother’s mask.

He put it on, and he and Fierce Deity defeated Majora, finally and forever.

This boy, this Hero chosen by Hylia, saved Termina. This eleven year old Hylian boy named Link who did with her brother’s power what the two gods could not.

He called Termanius’ brother ‘Fiercy’.

[verfound]

WIP Wednesday: 9/8/21

So about that Six Sentence Sunday...

(I like scheduling these to go up while I'm at work & can't check my phone to see the reactions. 😂)

Alix gasped as she jerked awake, that feeling of breaking through the surface after a wave had knocked you under nearly overwhelming her. She blinked as she looked around, trying to catch her breath and orient herself.

That asshole last night must’ve hit her harder than she thought. Such a weird dream…

“Oh, good. You’re up.”

She jumped at the voice, and her eyes blew wide when she saw Luka walking towards her in nothing but a towel. When he reached the bed, he cupped the back of her head and bent to give her a kiss. She was so shocked she didn’t bother pulling away.

“I was afraid I’d have to go before you woke up,” he said. He winked at her before moving towards the dresser. “Thought I’d have to get the bucket.”

“Bucket?” she parroted, numb. Her eyes widened as he shucked the towel and pulled on his boxers and jeans.

Damn, Couffaine…

“Don’t worry – you’re not a Couffaine,” he said, voice teasing. He looked over his shoulder, pausing as he started putting his bracelets on. “…yet. Ice bucket alarm clocks are reserved for family, according to Jules. She might make an exception for you, though.”

“What…what the fuck are you talking about?” she groaned, rubbing at her eyes. He turned back to her, pausing with a shirt in his hands. “Why the fuck are you in my room? Why the fuck were you naked? Jesus Christ, Couffaine.”

“…because I spent the night?” he asked, sounding bewildered. “Because I have to get to work and don’t have time to head back to my place to shower? You feeling ok, Alix?”

“Really not,” she grumbled, pausing as something else occurred to her. “…you kissed me. The fuck, Luka? The fuck?! Why the fuck are you kissing me?! Oh my God, Marinette’s going to freak– I don’t cheat on my friends with their husbands, Luka! What the fu-”

“That’s not funny,” Luka said, his voice suddenly deadly serious. She looked back at him to find he was glaring at her. His knuckles were white from how tightly he was holding the shirt. “That’s not…what the fuck, Alix?”

“Damn right it’s not funny, it’s –” she started, but he shoved his shirt on and waved a hand at her, signaling for her to stop. He walked over to the door, but he paused with his hand on the knob. His gaze was focused on one his bracelets – one made of knotted rope, interwoven cords of blue and pink. His hand tightened on the knob.

“I might be late tonight,” he said, voice flat. “Hopefully you’ll be less crazy then.”

He yanked the door open and walked out, slamming it behind him. A few minutes later, she heard the muffled sound of another door slamming. She dropped her head in her hands, groaning.

What. The. Fuck?

– V –

About half an hour later, Alix was shuffling through her living room with a bowl of Trix. Everything looked…weird. She’d always been a bit of a minimalist, but the room seemed even more so now. The pictures were weird, too. So many from when they were younger, but where were the recent ones? The one of Team Miraculous, taken the day Hawkmoth had fallen? The ones from their yearly memorial lunch? The one she had just framed from Marinette’s baby shower?

And why the hell were there so many of Luka with her?

An unexpected knock on her door almost had her dropping her bowl of cereal. She was surprised to open the door and find Juleka, her hair cut short enough to be brushing her chin, glaring at her from the hall.

“Lu called,” she said, tightening her grip on her purse. “Said you were asking about…said it was a Bad Day.”

“Yeah,” Alix scoffed, stepping aside to let her in. “If by Bad Day you mean I woke up to your brother naked in my room.”

“…ew,” Juleka said, scrunching her nose. “I know you’re boning my brother, but I don’t need to know the details, Al.”

“Not you, too!” Alix groaned, dropping her bowl on the counter. Juleka raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not…ugh…boning your brother. So far from interested, Juleka. That’s Marinette’s job, not – ok what?”

Juleka was looking at her like she’d just slapped her. Like it really was a Bad Day, whatever the hell that meant. She sighed and put her purse on the counter, her fingers digging into the fabric.

“I was expecting this, I guess,” she sighed, sitting on one of the stools and dropping her head in her hands. “I was just expecting the call to come from you because he’d decided to spend her birthday in a bar again.”

“…what?” Alix asked. Juleka looked up, glaring at her.

“I know you two have this…thing between you,” she said. “Time Twins or whatever the hell you want to call it. And most days I’m grateful for it. I don’t think anyone else could’ve put him back together after…and he was probably the only one who understood how fruitless all your burrowing was. You guys saved each other after…but hell, Alix. Maybe it’s time you both realize the saving’s done and you need to move on. What you have isn’t healthy. Not if you’re going to keep hurting each other like this.”

“Like what?” Alix asked, throwing her hands up. “I don’t even know what I did, what –”

“You told him he was married to Marinette!” Juleka snapped. “When you know damn well she’s been dead for four years and the only thing that keeps him going most days is holding it together for you!”

Alix stood there, shocked, as Juleka seemed to lose her fight. She looked down at her wrist, panting, and picked at a bracelet Alix hadn’t noticed before. It looked just like Luka’s, except it was red and black instead of pink and blue. She had noticed a similar one on her own dresser, but she hadn’t bothered putting it on.

“…he loves you, Alix,” she finally said, closing her eyes and taking a breath, “but he’s always gonna love her more. And every time you wake up on a Bad Day and mix up the timelines, it’s always gonna kill him a little bit more. He won’t leave you because he thinks I’m being stupid. But damn it, Alix. I need you to leave him before you kill him.”

She looked up, her eyes watery.

“I’ve already lost Rose. We’ve all already lost Marinette,” she said. “I can’t lose my brother, too.”

Alix opened her mouth to answer, but her head was swimming. She had no idea what to say. She…

“Juleka…” she started, swaying on her feet. The last thing she was aware of before she hit the ground was Juleka screaming her name.

[mageofseven]

Part 3! This is the last part, containing Beel and Belphie's sections below the cut. Please enjoy~

Part 1 | Part 2

~

Beelzebub:

Things were peaceful with the pregnancy for a while.

Even in the beginning, when MC was barely showing and faced very little issues, the sixth brother was waiting on her hand and foot

And he almost always had a smile on his face. He was just insanely happy about becoming a dad, about having a baby with MC.

He handled every thing more or less with stride.

When she started showing and the woman felt self-conscious about the fact that she was losing her figure, he'd hold her close and kiss her, telling how beautiful she was, that the belly she was growing made her no less so. In fact, it made her even more beautiful because to him, what her body was doing was a beautiful thing: growing and carrying his child, something that meant the world to him.

Yeah, he was a bit anxious about how things would go since Lucifer told them the pregnancy could become dangerous for her, but he was still truly happy for the two of them to become parents.

Unlike his siblings in the other timelines, Beel had no fears about how he'll be as a dad; he knew he had so much love to give their son or daughter and was ready to give it.

It wasn't until MC's fourth month when some concerns were raised.

MC's belly had grew at an unusual rate. Despite just entering her fourth month, her belly was roughly the size of what it should be in her sixth or even seventh month of pregnancy, according to Satan.

Beel didn't really know anything specific about pregnancy so he didn't see it as anything to worry about. I mean, he was the Avatar of Gluttony and this was his baby. MC developed quite the appetite because of this and was eating at least twice more than she used to. Surely that's all this was? And if so, the man couldn't see it as anything dangerous, at least.

Still, MC's anxiety grew over it, causing him talk over it more with the blonde to figure out if there was anything he could do for her.

And so the time came; the rune! Satan drew the rune over the human's belly to collect the data they needed.

After a minute or two of absorbing the data, the blonde raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" MC asked.

"It... well, I suppose for a start, Beel is correct that his sin is part of the reason for the growth spurt." Satan began. "But only partly."

Beel leaned towards his brother, listening closely.

"However, there are some more difficult elements at play here." The fourth brother continued. "The most pressing being... the number."

"I... what?" The woman stared at the demon in front of her.

"It seems you two are having twins. Two girls, in fact."

Beel immediately pulled MC in for a hug. The woman cried heavy tears, but they were paired with a smile. The big guy teared up as well.

"Twins. Beely, we're having two little girls." She said from inside his arms.

"I know." The man pulled back and gave her a sweet kiss before laying both hands on her belly. "Our little girls--"

"I hate to interrupt," The Avatar of Wrath said, but of course, did so anyway. "But... do either of you realize the danger this poses to any degree?"

Beel turned back to his brother, furrowing his brow.

Satan sighed.

"Beel... one baby was going to be rough on her body, but two?" He pointed out. "Honestly Beel, she'll likely be eating at least as much as you, if not more, and that still might not be enough for her body. It's manageable now, but once she enters the last trimester, it'll be very difficult to keep two gluttony demon children fed as well as the mother they're siphoning nutrition off of faster than she can get it."

Basically, MC was going to be eating an extreme amount of food and still literally be starving. That's how Beel understood it at least.

The man looked at his girlfriend and frowned in worry. He hated feeling hungry and didn't wish that on his Muffin, but knew she'll end up feeling even worse than that.

"Is there anything I can do for her now?" The redhead asked.

"Right now... all we can do is stock up and hope for the best." The blonde answered. "Lucifer should probably be informed so things can be planned out."

And so he did. He walked his girlfriend to their bedroom so she could lie down for a bit while he went to Lucifer's study to inform him. The older brother was instantly stressed out, but let out a sigh and told him that he'll handle it.

Lucifer did warn Beel though that he probably won't be able to eat as much as he's used to because of this. The Avatar of Gluttony only nodded. If he had to go hungry to keep MC fed and alive then so be it. It was worth it to him.

As the months went by, Satan's predictions were proven true. By half way through her seventh month, MC was bedridden. Her belly had grown so big that she literally could not get out of bed on her own.

The woman was never alone though. She constantly had either Beel or Belphie or both with her to bring her food or carry her to the bathroom or cuddle her so she didn't get lonely.

What was equally as worrisome as her gravid boulder of a belly was the rest of her. The woman had lost so much weight in her thighs, arms, and face that she looked like she's been starved for years.

Each touch of Beel's was extra gentle because his girlfriend looked so fragile like this. He was afraid to hurt her even more, especially because of their girls' kicks.

The twins had inherited their daddy's strength. Occasionally, one or both of them would kick their mama a bit too hard, causing a bruise to form on her belly.

This led to lots of belly time. Beel would kiss and rub his Muffin's belly while talking to his girls, telling them how loved they are, but how they need to be more gentle with their mama.

Despite how difficult the situation was, both Beel and MC kept positive, smiling through it. After all, this was all for their little girls so of course it was worth it.

Good End:

Oh this poor woman. It took ten months of pregnancy, being a full month over due, but her twins were finally ready to come out into the world and meet their parents.

It was a long twelve hours for the couple; after all, these were two very big, overdue demon babies of gluttony being pushed out by a mom they've seriously weakened for months now. Yet despite the odds, both Mama and babies made it out okay.

Beel kissed his girlfriend's head and watched as she fed their girls. Their girls. This was really happening. Beel was a daddy. His sweet Muffin was a mama and those sweet girls feeding from her chest were their daughters, sporting his hair, eye color, horns, even delicate versions of his wings, but still had all of their mother's facial features. They were identical, unlike him and Belphie, but the demon truly hoped the two could forge just as strong of a bond together as he had with his twin.

When the two were done drinking, Beel took the one from MC's left arm and brought her into his own. Just then, a knock came to the door and it clicked open to reveal Belphie, who Beel texted a few minutes ago; he wanted his twin to be the very first one to see his daughters.

The couple smiled at him.

"Belphie, come see them." MC invited him to come closer.

The seventh brother approached the bed and gave a small smile.

"So... whose who?"

MC looked up to Beel, letting her boyfriend introduce them. The man smiled.

"This is Arsenia." The redhead stared down at the little girl in his arms, kissing her head before looking to the one in MC's arms. "And right there is Anais."

The three talked for a bit and watched the babies before MC needed to sleep. Beel laid the twins in their cribs before giving his Muffin a quick kiss on her head.

"Sweet dreams, Muffin. Thank you for everything." He smiled.

Bad End:

Twelve hours. Twelve hours of labor that seemed like it was going no where. The first baby was barely even crowning after all this time and MC was losing what remained of her strength. The woman honestly didn't know how much more she could take.

Beel felt so helpless as he watched her struggle. He was so hyperfocused on his Muffin that he hadn't even thought of food once during these twelve hours and even a non gluttony demon would be getting hungry right then.

It took another hour, but MC eventually got the head out and then the shoulders. But that was it. That was as far as she made it. She had lost the last of her strength and just... faded away at that moment. Beel couldn't accept it at first and just kept calling her name and shaking her shoulder, begging her to wake up. But she didn't. The man let out a howl of pain before collapsing on his knees in sobs. He cried for a minute before remembering his girls.

Beel quickly shot up and freed the first baby, Arsenia, from her mother's body. Anais... Anais, he never got to save. They never knew it, but the cord had been wrapped around her neck for most of the labor and she left them before even MC did.

And just like that, the Avatar of Gluttony lost his Muffin and one of his daughters. As he held tightly to Arsenia though, he vowed that he would never, ever let any harm come to her.

Beel was a loving, but fiercely protective father. His daughter handled it in stride for the first twelve years of her life, but after that, grew to really resent him. He never let her truly live her life. By fifteen, she actually ran away to the Human realm in search of what was left of her mother's side of the family, leaving a note saying that she couldn't handle him suffocating her anymore. Arsenia had succeeded in finding her grandma and Lucifer convinced Beel to just let her be for a few days. Then he came to get her and the two had a heart to heart talk.

The man didn't know how he could grow to let go more; all he knew was his fear. This was his daughter. His worse nightmare was losing her just like he did with MC and Anais. But he knew if he didn't learn then he was just going to lose her in another way. The man just didn't know what to do anymore. Not without MC, who kept him grounded. Not without MC, who he sees everytime he looks at his daughter's face. And so he was stuck feeling desperate and lost and just wanting his daughter to understand him and be happy.

Belphegor:

After the two's three month fight, Belphie was dedicated to taking care of MC.

He was an ass to her when he found out of she was pregnant and he knew it, never even denied it, but it came from a place of fear and love for his human.

Seeing just how important this baby was to her though... it was enough for him to bury his fear deep inside of himself for her. He had to; she needed him and he was not going to abandon her again.

Her second trimester was... well, let's just say he stepped in to support her at just the right time.

MC was always so exhausted and went through her days in almost a daze.

She even passed out at the dinner table one evening, face falling straight onto her plate.

Normally, the Avatar of Sloth would find this funny, but the pregnancy had him on edge.

She woke up fairly easily though. Just a couple shakes of her shoulder and the woman was lifting her head, wondering why there was mashed potatoes in her hair.

That was enough for him though. Belphie picked his girlfriend up and carried her to his room. He cleaned the food out of her hair before laying her back on the bed.

"I'm sorry..." She mumbled.

"Don't apologize, Butthead." He said softly, pulling her to his chest.

He knew she couldn't help it. In general, pregnancy could be tiring, but when the baby daddy is the literal Avatar of Sloth? Yeah, that made things harder.

The human fell asleep, barely staying conscious long enough to hear his response.

Belphie leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Even after such an early bed time, MC didn't wake up in the morning. Or the afternoon. Belphie was tense as hell, but tried to be patient.

Around 3pm, after sleeping for about twenty hours straight, the man tried shaking his girlfriend awake. But she wouldn't.

Belphie started freaking out and shaking her harder. She still wouldn't wake up.

He had to triple check that she was alive. And she was; the woman still breathed slow, sleepy breaths and had a calm pulse like any sleeping person would.

But she wasn't waking up? Why?

At some point, the younger brother wasn't sure when, but Beel had gotten up and rushed to Lucifer.

The oldest brother put a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder, stopping him from shaking the human anymore.

Belphie instantly shook the oldest off and gave him a glare.

"Stop, she's not waking up!"

"Shaking her is not going to help the situation."

Belphie was frustrated with the Avatar of Pride, but knew he was right. But what else could he do?

Lucifer did most of the talking with Beel after that. The two went back and forth on different things as Belphie simply held his girlfriend close.

Eventually, the two left the room and came back with Satan, book in hand. Belphie growled as the blonde approached the bed.

Satan sighed.

"Enough with that. I believe I know a way to figure out the problem."

And with that, the fourth brother explained step by step everything he was going to do.

The boyfriend scowled, but let the blonde do what he needed to do.

Satan opened his book and laid it on the bed. He gave a glance at the page before pulling down the blanket and raising up the woman's shirt.

Belphie growled again, but stopped as Beel laid a hand on his arm. The man then took a deep breath and just sat up, watching the blonde's movements carefully as he guarded his girlfriend. Yeah, Satan was his brother, but more importantly, that was his girlfriend the blonde was messing with. Whatever he does, he better be gentle.

The three other men watched as the Avatar of Wrath drew a rune around MC's navel. The woman stirred, making some noises in her sleep, but didn't awake.

When the blonde finished the rune, it glowed a very bright purple. The fourth brother raised an eyebrow at this.

"It's... not supposed to do that." The blonde picked up his book, rereading the passage once more.

"What did you do?" Belphie immediately jumps to the worse scenarios.

Satan waved off his words and continued to read the passage.

"It's suppose to glow green since I am the rune's scripter... however, it shows itself in your color."

The Avatar of Sloth didn't say a word; he didn't understand what was going on. He looked down at his human, whose sleep had turned a bit restless since the other man drew the rune on her.

The fourth brother finally sat down the book and reached out to lay his hand on the rune

...and was immediately shocked.

Satan cursed and pulled his hand towards his chest.

"What happened?" Lucifer asked.

The fourth brother just shook his head and breathed for a minute in order to keep calm.

"It... I seemed to be locked out." The blonde answered in a controlled voice.

"What do you mean, you're locked--"

"It means I don't have control over the rune!" The Avatar of Wrath snapped at the oldest before taking a deep breath. "Belphie, you do it."

"Do what?"

"Just put your hand on the rune; it'll do the rest."

Belphie stared at his brother for a minute before slowly laying his hand on MC's belly, right above the rune.

Suddenly, his eyes glowed as his brain was flooded with information.

Okay, first off, he learned the rune was purple because of the baby. As soon as they sensed the rune intruding on their safe place, the baby locked Satan out... apparently to protect themselves and their mother. Belphie only has access because they seem to trust him.

It also seemed that the baby has inherited their dad's protective instincts. Belphie approves.

That's not the only thing they got from him though.

The reason MC has been out cold for past twenty hours is because they inherited their dad's miasma powers, the ability that he uses with his aura to weaken people and put them to sleep

The very same power he used the night he killed MC.

Belphie wanted to curse, to scream, to aim all his anger at the little being doing this to her

But then he discovered why.

The baby... they sensed their mama's great distress, something MC had been trying so hard to hide from him.

It all went back to the first revelation; the baby was protective of their mother. They weren't just protecting her from outside forces, but from herself too.

Lastly, he learned learned that there was no single baby; there was two

Twins. A boy and a girl.

Belphie pried away his hand so quickly that he almost fell off of the bed. If it wasn't for Beel being right behind him and catching him, he would have.

"What is it?" His twin asked.

Oh dear devil, where should he even start? The seventh brother didn't even know if he wanted to say anything; he just wanted time to let it all sit within him, but he had three pairs of eyes trained on him at the moment.

Belphie glanced down at MC's sleeping face and a fresh wave of guilt washed over him. She was essentially being drugged into sleep by his kids. Once again, this was his fault.

Sensing how overwhelmed his twin was, Beel turned to Lucifer and said some things that the younger twin didn't even try to hear before the oldest and the blonde left the room, leaving the twins alone.

Belphie sat with his knees to his chest and hid his face in his arms.

Beel came up and hugged his brother.

"It's my fault..." Belphie's voice cracked.

The younger twin told the redhead everything, who listened patiently to all of it.

Beel's arms tightened around his brother.

"You know she wouldn't blame you for it." Beel told him.

"Doesn't change the fact that it's my fault..."

The twins talked together for a little over an hour. After that, Belphie fell asleep next to MC and Beel left to update Lucifer.

The conclusion? Wait. All they could do for now is wait. Satan looked into some human-safe potions that would be strong enough to wake MC if she took too long, but otherwise, waiting is all they could do.

Two days later, MC woke up in severe need of water. Beel ran to go get some for her as Belphie held her close, relief washing over him.

A few bottles of water later, MC asked what happened.

Belphie didn't know what to say. Or rather... how to tell her.

But he did. He admitted everything with a heavy heart and actually apologized to her.

Wide eyed, his girlfriend pulled him in for a hug.

"Hey... none of that." She told him. "I'm fine, I-- it's okay."

The two laid there and cuddled for a while. Belphie laid with his head on her chest, feeling it rise and fall with each breath (and being incredibly grateful for each one) as his girlfriend stroked his hair.

"So...twins?" She asked softly. "How...how do you feel about that?"

Belphie let out a sigh. How could she lay there and worry about him despite the situation she was in?

It didn't help that the demon honestly had no clue to how to answer that. How did he feel about any of this now?

He hated all of this in the beginning and he resented this baby for even existing. Since his experience with the rune and getting the chance to understand the babies inside of her... he really didn't know.

They seemed... anxious and overall just wanted to protect their mother. That was no different from Belphie himself.

His twins just... devil, he could feel his heart softening for them as he thinks over everything.

He didn't resent them anymore, but how did he feel about them? About there being two of them?

Honestly, it sounded like a hassle. Even once this whole pregnancy is done with, MC and him will have twice the responsibility; he was exhausted just thinking about it.

Still, he accepted it all.

"Dummy, you shouldn't be worrying about what I think." Belphie shook his head. "...How do you feel about it?"

Silence.

"A bit... scared." She admitted. "I don't want you to get overwhelmed again and... and leave me."

Belphie sat up and stared down at her.

"I'm not leaving you. Ever." He said firmly. "I know I was a dick in the beginning, but I'm staying with you. Period."

MC looked away.

"Y-Yeah, but..."

Devil, he had to keep her stress levels down or their twins are gonna drug her again. The demon leaned in and kissed his girlfriend before laying his head back down on her chest.

"I love you, Butthead." He mumbled. "I'm not leaving you or our kids so stop worrying."

He could feel her body relax underneath him.

Months went by with very little issues. She went through somedays with a really froggy mind and that was concerning on it's own because she was extra clumsy like this, tripping over furniture and starting little fires in the kitchen.

Belphie and Beel were always hovering around her because of this, ready to catch her when she tripped. They also took over her cooking duty and took turns. MC felt bad and said she should be contributing more, but Belphie would always silence her with a kiss and tell her she's contributing enough by carrying his little gremlins.

This made her smile because she knew he was joking. If he was able to joke about them like that then there must be affection for them underneath it all. And she was right.

Her coma-like sleeps were rare but they did happen twice more in her pregnancy. Luckily between Belphie and Beel, they were able to keep her stress down enough to where it usually wasn't an issue.

Good End:

MC had woken him up in the middle of the night. Her contractions started while she was asleep and woke her up when they got too strong for her to sleep through. Belphie woke up to her crying and clinging to him.

From 3am to 9am, a long six hours, MC labored hard till she pushed both twins out. Their son had his dad's dark hair while their daughter had MC's hair. Both had Belphie's purple eyes though. Their daughter had their dad’s horns while their son had their dad’s tail.

MC held their son close to her chest as Belphie held his daughter. He stared down at the little girl, who lightly squirmed in his arms and let out soft cries.

"Belphie..."

He looked over to his girlfriend, just to notice that he himself had been crying as he watched his daughter. The demon looked away, blushing. After a moment, he spoke.

"I know we really didn't talk about this beforehand... but I want to name her Lilith."

His girlfriend gave him a smile.

"Of course."

The two discussed it for a few minutes and decided to name their son Judas.

Bad End:

Things fell apart early in MC's eighth month. The woman suddenly just collapsed where she stood, seconds after whispering Belphie's name and trying to reach out to him. The man caught her before she hit the floor. She had suddenly fallen into one of her comas. But why? He thought his girlfriend was okay, but apparently she had been bottling some feelings up. She would have had to have been or otherwise their children wouldn't be doing this to her.

It was three days later that Belphie woke up in the night to feel that the bed was wet. Very wet. MC's water broke! She was still in her coma though so how did this work?? Even with the contractions, could she birth the twins if he she wasn't awake to push?? Belphie quickly woke up Beel who in turn rushed to Lucifer. The oldest called a doctor, who had Belphie stay outside of the room.

The youngest brother paced back and forth in the hallway, cussing, and overall more awake then he has been all of his demon life.

In the end... MC didn't make it. But the twins did. The twins survived even when his girlfriend didn't and that fact destroyed him.

For the first two years of their life, Belphie had absolutely nothing to do with his kids; Beel raised them for him. It wasn't because of what you might think. Belphie didn't resent his kids or blame them for their mother's death like he thought he would. Belphie was drowning in self-hatred because it was his fault. He believed this with every fiber of his being. He couldn't even look at his children, especially Lilith, who he saw both MC and his sister within her whenever their eyes met.

Eventually, he got his shit together, at least somewhat. He always needed help though so Lilith and Judas were raise by both their father and their Uncle Beel. Belphie was pretty laid back as a father so between him and Beel, the kids had the freedom to do just about anything. However, they grew to be a bit bratty. Good hearted, but bratty. Any time anyone other than he or Beel tried to discipline them or said anything awful to his kids, Belphie was ready to murder a bitch and slowly at that; it was a lot easier to set this man off now as a parent. Luckily, Beel was always able to drag him away and calm him down.

Those around them were always put on edge by the Avatar of Sloth's presence because of this; even the other brothers weren't sure how to interact with him somedays. Still, his kids were safe and between himself and Beel, they never went without anything. They grew up loved and protected... just like MC wanted.

He sometimes got into these depressive moods when he thought of her and couldn't leave his bed. At first, Beel would try to occupy the kids elsewhere so he could have his space and the twins didn't have to see their daddy like that. One day though, when they were five, they snuck away and into the attic room that he hid in. Wordless, the two just climbed into bed with him and he held them close to his chest.

As much as he missed MC... he loved his kids and moments like that reminded him just how important they are to him. There was once a time where he told himself that if he had to choose between MC and their kids, he wouldn't hesitate to choose her; he simply couldn't imagine how he could care about anyone as strongly as he does her. Now that they're here though, he doesn't have to imagine it; it's his reality and though he missed MC with every fiber of his being, he wouldn't trade his children for anything in the three realms.

~

Part 1 | Part 2

[savethelastdan]

Yashahime Is Over Party: Contribution #2

“All right, all right!” 

The crowd of villagers quieted (some with a wince) as the high-pitched shout rang around the village entrance. Ten-year-old Moroha gave them one last warning glare for good measure. 

With, as her Great-Grandpa on the other side of the Well would say, “more gusto than should be necessary”, she then leapt upon the nearest height-offering surface - one of the tourists’ suitcases, emblazoned a dozen times on every side with “FRAGILE” - and began her welcome speech. 

“Shut your mouths and hold onto your butts, folks, because this is a real treat! The coolest village ever to exist in any timeline, on a sunny day! Since my big brother is at kitsune academy today, you all have the honor of yours truly acting as escort around this prime piece of feudal real estate!” 

Dramatic pause for emphasis. (Yes, she’d taken some liberties with the script that Shippo had left, and she didn’t quite know what ‘prime piece of real estate’ actually meant, but her cousin Towa agreed that it sounded fancy and fancy always worked with humans.) 

A soft-faced young woman glanced around the crowd self-consciously before raising a hand. “You mean, this is the village where priestess Kikyo - “

“Ahem!” Moroha held up the wooden sign hanging from her neck, tapping the carved-in letters spelling ‘Village Tour Guide #2” with one nail. “Are you wearin’ the sign?”

“Oh. Uh, sorry.” The woman blushed. 

After a moment, Moroha cleared her throat. “Okay, yeah, it is. But there’s a bunch of other super-cool people here, too! If you wanna meet them - follow me!” With that, she jumped from the suitcase to land solidly in the dirt. A few tourists reared back from the cloud of disturbed dust, putting them at the back of the moving crowd. 

“First up, the sister of the blah-dee-blah-famed-priestess-blah-dee-blah Kikyo - Lady Kaedeeeeee!” She swung both arms in a dramatic half-circle towards the healer woman’s hut; the crowd ooh-ed and ah-ed appropriately. “On days like these, she’s either healing a sick patient, birthin’ a new baby, or taking a long nap! Since she’s awfully old, the napping’s more frequent.” Hooking an arm around a teenage tourist’s shoulder, she hissed in a spooky tone, “Some say she’ll live forever, getting older and older until she’s like a living zombie-” 

“I heard that.” With a cross expression, Kaede leaned out of the window.“Don’t think I won’t curse you for those bad manners.”

Moroha waved the group on with a nervous chuckle. 

“And this is the home of the most famous demon slayer known to womankind - Sango!” Cupping both hands around her mouth like a bullhorn, Moroha drew out the last syllable of the woman’s name to emphasize her coolness. Several of the humans perked up with excitement; it wasn’t hard to imagine that they had themselves benefited from some of the woman’s work. 

“Her husband Miroku lives here too. He used to be a monk, but now he’s a family guy! My papa says -” She straightened, putting on a deep, gruff tone - “it’s a damn miracle -” Dropping the tone, she grinned cheerily at the group - “nobody will tell me why!” 

As if on cue, the door to the house opened to reveal a group of tall, bickering young adults. The loudest were two women with matching features, the only visible difference to a stranger being that one’s slayer outfit was trimmed in pink and the other’s in green. Behind them trotted a younger boy, also wearing a slayer outfit in red.  

“I’m taking the kusarigama, you’re taking the wakizashi!” The green-outfitted slayer said, ignoring her sister’s attempts to talk over her. “Otherwise you and Mom will have two long-range weapons, and that makes no sense!” 

“Plus that’s Uncle Kohaku’s specialty!” Their brother piped up; he dodged the twin elbows that swung back at him as easily as if they’d warned him. “She wants to impress him with it so he’ll take her on his trip to the mountains with Rin this summer!” 

Through the left-open door, came the sweet smell of treats baking - one of the many hobbies Miroku had taken up with his time, now that he wasn’t going to up and die (Moroha knew she wasn’t technically supposed to know about that. Or probably phrase it like that… But if her godfather Koga said it that way, why was it any different for her?)

The group of slayers stopped short upon seeing the crowd; with awkward bows, they quickly skirted their way around the gaping tourists. 

““That’s Sango’s kids; every one of ‘em demon slayer prodigies.” Slinging her arm around the same teen from earlier, Moroha shook her head with a dramatic sigh. “Makes me almost want another sibling. Except then I’d have to share my room, nooooo thank you!”

“Excuse me.” A mustached man in the middle of the group raised one arm curiously. “I heard one of those women mention Rin - is that the human who died twice and was resurrected by the sword Tenseiga?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That’s Rin.” Moroha tapped her own head thoughtfully and muttered under her breath, “Was it really only twice…”

“Does she still live here?” The man’s mustache drooped in a frown. “Or did she go to live with that dog demon?”

“Dog demon? Ohhh, you mean Uncle Sesshomaru!” A smile stretched across her face. “I almost forgot about him! Nah, after she got married she decided to stay in town -” 

“Married?!” The group erupted in murmurs of horror. One kerchiefed mother clapped her hands over the ears of her daughter; the mustached man turned green.

Moroha’s face fell. “Well, yeah. She wanted to keep taking healer lessons from Kaede, and even though he travels a lot, she wanted to stay by Kohaku’s side when he comes home. Be a team, and all that.” 

“Ohhhh, so she’s Kohaku’s wife!” The human mother’s shoulders slumped with a sigh. “How lovely and age-appropriate.” 

Moroha wasn’t sure what that meant, but if it made the negative energy go away then she was all for it! “Rin’s super cool, anyway. She knows how to heal demons, not just humans, and she tells really good ghost stories, and she’s actually really good at arm-wrestling -” 

Suddenly she ducked her head to whisper, “She’s probably my favorite cousin, if I’m bein’ honest with ya.”

 “Do you have other cousins?” A man who appeared to look a thousand years old squinted in her direction. Perhaps in confusion, but it was hard to tell with all the wrinkles. “I doubt a full-blooded dog demon like that Sesshomaru fella would leave his legacy in the hands of a human girl.” 

“My mom would say that’s prejudiced,” Moroha said helpfully, causing the old man to blanche. “But Rin’s got two little sisters, who you can see riiiiiiight now!” 

With a dramatic twist, she whirled around to point in the opposite direction with both hands, adding a low growl that was meant to mimic the roar of an excited crowd. 

The moment was slightly underwhelmed by the confused looks of the tourists as they took a moment to figure out where exactly to look. That’s okay; she’d work on it. 

Down the road, her twin cousins leaned against the wall of a house (Moroha’s house, which she was saving for last because you always save the best for last). Towa was smiling and pointing out something up in the sky, while Setsuna wore a very predictable scowl. From this far away, the red streaks in their hair were little more than smudges. 

The extremely old man with an attitude problem made a weird hacking noise, most likely in surprise. 

“Did he adopt them like your other cousin?” asked a teenage girl. 

“Kinda!” Both hands landed on her hips; Moroha then modeled her expression on her Uncle - stoic, dismissive, oh-so-cool. “On a cool spring night, Uncle Sesshomaru walked into the darkest, deepest forest on the planet, waved his sword over a really old and creepy tree, and when he cut it open - there they were. Two lil’ hanyou babies.” 

Dramatic pause. 

“Just kiddin’.” Laughing loud enough to bring back the wincing from the group, Moroha slapped her knee. “They’re full demons. I can still take either of ‘em in a fight, though. Oh!” She pointed up in the air with a wide, excited smile. “There’s their mom right now!” 

Murmurs of confusion filled the air as the tourists moved their heads this way, that way; only when a chilling breeze morphed into flesh and bone, right before their eyes, did the group exclaim in collective understanding. 

Moroha waved. “Hi, Auntie Kagura!” 

“Yo.” Clearly taken aback by the crowd, the wind demon gave a tiny salute. The side of her neck bore a half-moon symbol tattooed on the skin; Moroha thought it was neat, even if her dad thought it was a dumb, archaic wedding ritual. “Do your parents know you’re doing this?” 

“Uh, duh!” She held up the sign with a cheeky grin. 

“Fair enough.” Upon spying her daughters across the way, Kagura’s expression softened a bit. “Well, I’ll see you later.” 

“No, wait! We’re actually heading the same way.” Gesturing to the not-moving crowd, Moroha repeated, “The same way. Meaning the best part of the tour - come on, folks, work with me here -” 

Kagura snorted, walking quickly as though to avoid the gawking humans and their nosy questions about how she had been resurrected or could still live now that Naraku was dead or got Sesshomaru to admit he had feelings much less have kids with her. A curt “none of your business” was all they’d get, no matter how much Moroha tugged on her sleeve and whined about “giving people their money’s worth.”

Luckily, once they reached Moroha’s house, it was easy to escape. After all, a much more awe-inspiring attraction awaited the group of lucky, lucky tourists. 

“And now! The Greatest Love Story Of Our Time!” With a winning grin, Moroha landed a kick on the door, sending it slamming open. 

“Oh.” Kagome blinked at the group from where she sat on a futon in the middle of the house, surrounded by magical artifacts. A scroll marked with ink rolled from her lap all the way to one side of the room. Behind her, halfway through helping her put her hair in a bun, Inuyasha froze “Uh, hello?”

“My parents! Dumdedumdummmmm!” The warmth of her pride felt like it was going to burst in her chest. It was the absolute best to come home to people who loved her! Whether it was tickle fights before bed, or her dad taking her and Shippo out on demon-tracking trips, or her mom humming a lullaby if she felt sick on the full moon night, Moroha was certain her family was the best of anybody’s anywhere. “One fell through time, and one fell -- fell, uh, for her -- sorry, I’ll work on it.” 

Inuyasha huffed in the way that meant he was going to complain later. Kagome just chuckled and waved. 

For once, the humans reacted exactly the way Moroha wanted them to - smiling, clapping, appreciating the wonder of her super-beautiful-and-also-hella-powerful mom and grumpy-but-still-amazingly-brave papa. She launched into the story she knew by heart, of how they had come to be together and saved the whole world while they were at it. Some parts were probably missing or misrepresented, from the laughter in her mom’s eyes, but she had enough of it right that half the tourist group was in near tears by the time she was done. 

“And now, they have one more accomplishment to add to the long list - parenting the greatest warrior this world has ever seen. Moro-uh, Beniyasha!” Swirling the ends of her fire-rat robe, she twirled. “The Crimson Slayer!”

“Slayer of my patience, maybe,” Inuyasha snapped, though he was unable to hide his smile as he marched over to grab her by the collar. “Come ‘ere, kid. You’ve got chores to do!” 

Tossing her over his shoulder, he waved dismissively at the group of humans. “Sorry folks, the show ends here. Yeesh...” 

Moroha cupped both hands around her mouth, screeching to be heard over her parent’s laughter before the door shut.

“Make sure to leave your comment cards in the box at the entrance!”

[imaginationintowords]

Folklore [song series]

cardigan

Modern Day AU! Bucky Barnes x OC!Reader; Steve Rogers x OC!Reader

Plot: Inspired by Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore. The story follows the timeline of Bucky and Elizabeth’s life throughout the years.

Word Count: 11672

Warnings: swearing, sexual innuendos, underage drinking

[a/n: sorry it took me awhile to get this part out. But to make up for it this one is a long one! Sorry if it’s a little confusing, I know there’s a lot to it, so I hope it’s easy to follow. Also if you would like to be tagged, just let me know]

Previous Part

Series Masterlist

Age: 19 Year: 2013 Location(s): Stanford, CA & Brooklyn, NY Elizabeth was spending her Friday afternoon packing up the last bit of her things that would be shipped back to Brooklyn tomorrow. She planned it so that if they were shipped tomorrow, they would arrive back home two days after she got there. Enough time for her to unpack the stuff she was taking with her on her flight in a couple of days. Elizabeth had successfully completed her first year of college at the University of Stanford. It was the best year of her life. "Hey Liz!" Her roommate, Wanda greeted her. Last summer, Elizabeth received an email from the school telling her who her dorm mate would be, along with the girl's email address. Wanda Maximoff was originally from Sokovia, but she and her family moved to Boston when she was 8 years-old. Both girls instantly clicked. That summer they were constantly in communication with each other. They both went over their excitement and fears of moving across the country. Wanda, like Elizabeth, had never been away from her family for so long, especially her twin brother. They both eased each other's minds, knowing they weren't alone in this journey. Up until her senior year Elizabeth had every intention of not being alone going into college, but in the end that wasn't the case. Steve ended up going to Berkley, and Bucky ended up at NYU. When they finally both moved into their dorm, it was like they had been life long friends. Wanda was pre-med while Elizabeth was pre-law, so they both knew that one another would take priority in their education over partying. Didn't mean they didn't go out to the occasional party, they both just knew the sacrifices their families were making for them to be at an out of state university. "Hey Wand, what's up?" Elizabeth smiled, while continuing to pack. "Are you going to the party at Loki's house?" Loki Odinson was a junior. He was a legacy student, both his parents were Stanford University alumni. They had a house that was only 15 minutes away from campus, Loki and his friends lived there during the semester, before they all fled back to Los Angeles for the summer.

Even though he was rich beyond means, he wasn't a jerk. He was friendly to everyone around him. Everyone wanted to be his friend, and he wouldn't say no to that. When Elizabeth first met him she thought he was flirting with her, and she kind of welcomed the idea of dating someone like him. But she later found out that Loki wasn't into her, or any other females for that matter. He had a long term boyfriend who was going to USC, they took turns visiting each other every weekend. Normally the weekends Loki wasn't having a party were the ones his boyfriend was visiting. Loki was also a law student, so he helped Elizabeth whenever she needed it. He hosted a weekly meeting in the library for freshman students who were law students, it was a way to help them navigate their first year and the stressors that came with it. He was like their big brother. Elizabeth owes a lot to him this year, because she wasn't sure how she would've made it alive without him. "Yeah, I was planning on it," Elizabeth said taping up the final box for the night, "Last party of the school year. Did you want to go together?" "Yes, please," Wanda said, throwing herself onto her bed. Wanda's side of the room was semi-packed up. Her family was flying in the day Elizabeth was flying out. They were renting a RV and taking a road trip across country. Wanda leaned on her elbow facing Elizabeth, and looking around the room, "Wow, you're almost done packing!" "Yup," she said, getting off of the floor and pressing the palms of her hands to her back to let out the cracks from sitting on the floor for a long period of time, "Movers are picking up my things tomorrow to ship back home. The last things I need to pack our the rest of my clothes I have left, but those are all going in my suitcase to take on the flight with me." "Can't wait til the fall where we don't have to be stuck in these dorms," Wanda stretched out on her tiny bed. Wanda and Elizabeth were planning on getting an apartment next semester at one of the student housing apartment complexes next to the campus. As much as they enjoyed the dorms, having their own privacy would be so much better. Without the constant interruptions from other people on their floor, or from having to share a bathroom with the whole floor. It will be nice to have their own space. They both took on little jobs on campus during the school year, and had planned to also work the entire summer to save up some money. Their parents had agreed to help with the rent, as long as both Wanda and Elizabeth kept up a 3.7 GPA and had jobs to pay for the necessities they would be needing. It was a great deal that they couldn't pass on. "What are you going to wear tonight?" Elizabeth asked Wanda, as she stood in front of her small closet, which now was only half filled. "My lucky red dress," Wanda smiled, "Rumor has it Loki's older brother Thor will be there tonight." Thor was Loki's older brother. He was a senior at Berkley, which was only about an hour drive away. Thor was an Environmental studies major, who was also the captain of the Cal Bears Field Hockey team. He was the complete opposite of Loki when it came to their looks, and taste in genders. He was a bit taller than Loki, had a ton more muscles, long blonde hair, and the times Elizabeth and Wanda had seen him, he had a full grown beard. He looked very intimidating at first glance, but he was actually just a giant bear. Like Loki, he just wanted to be everyone's friend, and just wanted to make sure everyone around him was having a good time. They were clearly both raised by the same parents. Elizabeth laughed out loud, "Wanda, please tell me you're not planning on trying to hook up with him tonight." "Duh, hence my lucky red dress," Wanda got out of bed and grabbed the red dress hanging from her closet, "This dress is magic, okay. It hasn't failed me yet." Wanda's red dress became her "lucky red dress" after she aced her first exam, and hooked up with a cute sophomore she had been eyeing, all on the same day. Whenever she needed luck on her side, she wore the dress. During finals she wore it the entire week, washing it in between each day, they wouldn't be getting their results back for a few more days, but Wanda knew she had done well. Elizabeth didn't bother to try and belittle the lucky dress, because even she might have worn it a few times and had gotten good results. "Plus, seeing as Thor is graduating next week it might be the last time I see him, so go big or go home," Wanda smiled proudly.

_______________________

A few hours later Wanda and Elizabeth found themselves walking up to Loki's house. At night the house might've reminded those in passing of a fraternity house, but in the daylight it was completely not. The yard was always perfectly manicured. The exterior reminded Elizabeth of a house in the Hamptons, while the interior was something straight out of a interior design magazine. It was definitely not a house made for college aged boys.

Wanda was dressed in her lucky red dress, with a pair of black booties, and a leather jacket. Her hair was in loose curls falling down her back. She kept her makeup light, aside from the dark red lip she had on.

Elizabeth was a bit more casual with some ripped at the knee black jeans, a loose grey t-shirt, and a suede burgundy moto jacket. She had straightened her curls that night, but since the weather was getting warmer she put it up in a messy ponytail. Her makeup was a very bare minimum, just some mascara and a nudish pink lipstick that practically matched her lips. She didn't come tonight for a hookup, she just came to spend time with these new friends she made before she headed back home for the summer.

As soon as they walked into the crowded house, they immediately headed to the bar area to grab something to drink.

"Do you see Thor?" Wanda asked Elizabeth as they received their drinks from the bar tender, who Loki paid for the night a lot to overlook the underage drinking.

"No," Elizabeth said speaking a little louder because of the music, "If he were here, I'm sure we would spot him right away. Man is built like a god."

"Damn right he is," Wanda smirked taking a sip from her drink.

Elizabeth let out a laugh at her friend's comment, before going back to scanning the room.

"Let's go out back," she shouted, grabbing Wanda's hand.

They weaved through the loud crowded makeshift dance floor that was the living room.

Once outside they could hear the cheering sounds of a game of beer pong going on.

"Hey girls!" They turned their heads to find Loki walking up to them.

"Hey Loki, no Scott this weekend?" Elizabeth asked, noticing he was sans his boyfriend.

"No, he had to study for finals, he's coming up next week for Thor's graduation though," he says, hugging both girls.

"Speaking of which, where is that brother of your's?" Wanda tried to nonchalantly ask.

"I see you're wearing your lucky red dress," Loki remarks ignoring her question, he had a smirk on his face, knowing exactly what Wanda was up to.

"Oh, am I, I didn't even realize it," she played along, sending him a wink.

"He'll be he-" Loki was immediately cut off by a loud booming voice making it's way through the house and towards the back, "Mention and he shall appear."

The girls peered over their shoulder to see Thor walking in with a group of guys following him. Some of them Elizabeth recognized as his friends from Berkeley.

"Brother," Thor shouts, rushing his way towards Loki, throwing his arms around his younger brother in a bone crushing hug. You'd think they haven't seen each other in months, but they actually saw each other a couple a times a week for dinner.

Elizabeth found it cute the way they were really close. She never had any siblings, she always wanted some but her parents had only wanted one kid. She knew if she had a sibling she would want the same relationship Thor and Loki had.

"Ladies," Thor greets Wanda and Elizabeth, as he finally releases his brother.

"Hi," Elizabeth waved.

"Wanda, nice dress," Thor said throwing his arm over the small red head.

"Oh this old thing," she smiled, as he lead her towards the beer pong table.

"That damn dress," Loki laughed.

"It's lucky for a reason," Elizabeth laughed shaking her head.

"Elizabeth?" Elizabeth turned around thinking she heard her name called but she shrugged it off thinking it was just Wanda from up ahead.

"Elizabeth? Betty?" At the mention of her old nickname she froze, and instantly turned back around to come into eye contact with none other Steve Rogers.

"Steve!?" She exclaimed, completely taken back by seeing him here in the flesh.

He looked a bit different. He definitely had bulked up since the last time she saw him at their high school graduation.

"Oh my gosh, it is you," he shakes his head in disbelief before hugging her.

"Woah, you're huge," she remarked wrapping her hands around him.

"Berkley has a nice student gym," he remarks as they pull apart from each other, still taking each other in.

It felt like they were both looking at strangers. Yes, they still basically looked the same, but there was something different about both of them. Something more mature. Here are two young adults who had spent their childhood and teenage years together, looking at each other in complete amazement.

They hadn't spend much of senior year together. After giving Bucky his letter, Elizabeth had went over to Steve's to apologize in person. He welcomed her with open arms, but there was still something a bit off. What happened between their little group had changed them forever. Their friendship would never be the same again. And maybe that was for the better, Elizabeth had thought at the time.

Now as they stand in front of each other taking it all in, they hadn't realized how much they had missed each other. Missed home.

Loki clears his throat behind them, signaling he was still there.

"Oh, Loki," Elizabeth glanced behind, "this is Steve, we grew up together. Steve this is Loki."

"Hey," Steve reached his hand over for Loki to take, "Thor has told many stories about you."

"God, of course he has," Loki took his hand and rolled his eyes, "I'm sure they were all at my expense."

Elizabeth caught Loki subtly checking Steve out, causing a small blush to form on her cheeks. Guess she wasn't the only one taken by his new stature.

"They weren't all bad," Steve laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll leave you two to catch up, I have a red dress to see in action," he says before walking away.

"Red dress?" Steve asked confused.

"It's nothing," she shook her head, realizing the amount of inside jokes she's made that no longer include him.

"So how have you been?" She asks him, as she leads him to a secluded part of the backyard where the music wasn't so loud.

"Good," he smiles one of his famous bright smiles, "Just been busy. You know freshman year not as easy as I had thought it would be."

"You're telling me," she laughs, "I'm glad I encountered Loki because he's been a massive help."

"Are you guys..." he starts to imply.

"Oh no," she quickly interrupts, "Let's just say Loki would be way more into you than me."

"Ah I get the picture," he lets out a loud laugh.

They didn't realize how much time had gone by, before Loki comes running up to them.

"IT WORKED!" He yelled, slightly slurring his words, "That damn red dress is fucking magic."

"Of course it is," Elizabeth smiled, watching Loki shake his head and make his way back to the party.

"What is this red dress?"

"My roommate Wanda, she has this red dress, and it's sorta became a lucky red dress throughout the year. It's magical," she says, but then something comes over herself, causing her to correct herself.

"It's nothing. It's just silliness. I'm sure it's not really magic," she shakes her head, and the idea of still believing in magic.

"Hey, don't do that," he places his hand softly on top of hers that was laid in between them on the bench they were sat at, "If you say it's magic, I believe it. There's nothing wrong with having a little magic in your life. Lord knows I believe, reason I won't use any other pencil when taking my final."

"Ahh Steve Rogers has a lucky pencil?" She playfully mocks.

"Steve Rogers has more than one lucky pencil," he laughs, "I have one for my written finals, and one I use for my drawings."

"Ah your drawings," she beamed, "They were always my favorite. I was so happy for you when I heard you decided to pursue something that allows you to still put your powers into use."

"My powers?" He asked, with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, your drawings were always so powerful," She beamed at him, "You knew how to bring whatever you were drawing to life. Your Brooklyn bridge drawing is still hands down one of my favorites."

"And between us," she lowers her voice, causing both of them to move their heads closer to each other, "It's my lucky totem."

"What? You still have it?" He quietly asked in disbelief.

The drawing was years old. He had drawn it one day during homeroom when they were 14, he didn't like how it came out but Elizabeth wouldn't let him toss it. She ended up taking it from him, to make sure he didn't throw it away. She had told him that one day he's going to want to look back on it and see how far he's come, even though she was positive he couldn't possibly get any better than he already was.

"I always keep it folded up in my pocket when I take a test," she confesses, "Have been since that day four years ago. It's my lucky drawing."

Steve stared at Elizabeth in awe. He didn't know what to say, he had just assumed she had lost it. But hearing that it was her lucky charm made his heartbeat quicken. For the first time in his life he wasn't seeing little innocent Betty, he was seeing Elizabeth. A beautiful, confident, mature young woman. She really blossomed here in college. He had never seen her so happy, so at peace. She was absolutely glowing.

He could feel his hands getting clammy, and his throat getting dry. He caught himself glance down at her lips and then back at her eyes. He tried to swallow the lump down his throat.

"Liz!" He heard someone yell in the background, causing both of them to snap out of their gaze.

They looked over to find Loki, once again. Slightly more drunk than last time.

"She's fucking my brother!" He exclaims in horror, "In my fucking room!"

Elizabeth laughs quietly and shakes her head.

"I better go make sure Loki doesn't drink himself from the horror of it all," she tells Steve, as they both get up.

"Wouldn't want that happening," he says, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"No, I'm going to need him next year," she smiles before walking away.

Elizabeth stopped and turned around, "Hey Steve, when are you flying back home?"

"Sunday morning at 8am, you?"

"Same. Where you flying from?"

"San Francisco International," he tells her.

"Well look at that, we're on the same flight home. Guess I'll see you Sunday morning," she smiled waving good bye.

"See you Sunday," he waved back, a big grin on his face.

After she was gone, Steve was left alone to his thoughts. His mind was racing with so many different thoughts. Was he really thinking about kissing Elizabeth? Bucky's Elizabeth. I mean she technically wasn't Bucky's Elizabeth anymore, but still as Bucky's best friend he shouldn't be having those thoughts of kissing his ex-girlfriend and first love. Hell Bucky was still in love with Elizabeth.

After Bucky had received that letter from Elizabeth, it kind of gave him hope for the future. He had told Steve that he wasn't going to give up on them getting back together. Steve was finding himself hoping that maybe Bucky had moved on from that idea. Maybe being at college has matured him the way it did for him and Elizabeth.

He glanced back at the house to catch Elizabeth pulling a shot away from a drunk Loki, as she tried to make sure he wouldn't cause any harm to himself.

Bucky was an idiot for screwing that up, he found himself thinking.

___________________

Elizabeth spent Saturday finishing up any last minute packing, before the movers arrived to pick up what was being shipped back. She also spent the afternoon hearing all about Wanda's wild night with Thor. Apparently Thor had such a great time he even invited her to his graduation, and she gladly accepted. Elizabeth smiled as her friend continued to talk about Thor, she noticed the way Wanda's eyes lit up. Her friend was falling in love and she didn't even notice.

She and Wanda had a final dinner that night. They had planned on meeting up later in the summer, to discuss apartment details, and see where each other grew up from.

Elizabeth was finding herself wishing for Sundays approach. Not because she was ready to go home, but she wanted to talk more with Steve. When Wanda asked what happened between them Saturday night, Elizabeth told her the truth. Nothing happened. It was simply just two old friends catching up. Wanda didn't believe her, but dropped the subject.

Steve really had grown up since last year. And not just his physical attributes. Elizabeth found herself loving hearing Steve talk all about what was going on with school. And especially when he talked about architecture. He even pointed out things that he would do to make Loki's house a lot nicer. She had never seen Steve so animated before. It really had her thinking if she even truly knew Steve.

They had spent most of their whole lives together, but when she thought back on it, it was never really just them two. It was always her, Bucky, and Steve. And when Bucky wasn't around it was in student council with other classmates around. She and Steve probably hadn't spent time together since they were children. Last night was the first time where they actually had a long conversation, with just them two. A real conversation about their dreams, and not the silly kind you have when you're seven, but the kind where you're actually making them come true.

It also had her thinking back to the moment when she revealed about keeping Steve's drawing of the Brooklyn bridge. It was such an intimate moment when she thinks back to it. While in the moment she was so drawn to him, like a magnet pulling them towards each other. Elizabeth would be lying if she said she didn't find Steve attractive, because anyone with eyes could see that. And she definitely would be lying if she said she hadn't wanted to kiss him.

Because Elizabeth Sanchez really wanted to kiss Steve Rogers last night.

What a mess that would've made. Kissing her ex-boyfriend's best friend. Her former best friend.

But then again, she and Bucky weren't together. They hadn't even talked since she left, and that conversation was a brief one. Bucky had stopped by to say bye and to let Elizabeth know he really appreciated the letter he sent her earlier in the year, and Elizabeth just explained she didn't want any negative feelings following her to college. She wished him well, and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left.

Wanda walked into their room cutting Elizabeth's thoughts short.

"Ready?" Wanda asked, "Loki is waiting for us downstairs."

"Yup, let's go," Elizabeth said, she grabbed her carry on bag, one suitcase, while Wanda helped with the other one.

"Here we are," Loki says pulling in front of the drop off area at the airport.

"Thanks for the ride and everything this year," Elizabeth leaned over to give Loki a hug over the center console.

"Anytime kid, just make sure you come back to me," he winked, before getting out of the car to grab Elizabeth's bags from the trunk.

Elizabeth and Wanda hugged each other tightly once out of the car.

"It's not an official goodbye, we'll see each other sooner than we think," Elizabeth said into Wanda's hair.

"I know, I just got so used to having you around, what if I do something stupid?"

"I mean lets be real, you would do something stupid whether I'm there or not," she laughed.

"That's true," Wanda laughed along, pulling away from Elizabeth, "see you in a few weeks."

Elizabeth grabbed her things from Loki, and gave the group one final hug, "Love you guys," she said before walking away.

She turned around and gave them one final wave as they drove off.

Elizabeth checked in her bags and headed for her terminal.

Walking up to where her gate was she noticed a familiar blonde head waiting patiently.

"Hey stranger," she walked up to him.

"Hey," he smiled brightly, causing butterflies to flutter in Elizabeth's stomach.

She tried her hardest to ignore the feeling.

"I got you a coffee, it's still hot, I just got here not too long ago," Steve rambled, handing her a Starbucks cup.

"Ah you're a lifesaver, thank you," she smiled sitting down next to Steve, and taking a sip of her coffee.

Just how I like it, she thought.

"Ready to go back home?" He asked her.

"Yes, as much as I loved being here, I miss my bed," she laughed.

"Right," he agreed, "I can't wait to just crash for a few hours."

"I'm sure your mom is getting it all set up for you as we speak."

"Oh, yeah. She just texted me saying she's washing it as we speak," he laughed.

"How is your mom doing?"

"Good. She and dad actually just spent a month traveling around Europe," he tells her, "they finally had an 'empty nest' to do what they've always wanted to do."

"That sounds nice," Elizabeth smiles at the thought, "I hope to have that one day."

"Have you talked to Bucky lately?" Steve asked, taking not only Elizabeth by surprise but himself as well. He had no idea why he even asked that.

"Uh, no, not since I left last summer," she awkwardly said, scratching the back of her neck.

"Have you?" She asked.

Elizabeth didn't know why she asked Steve that question back. Part of her was curious, the other part was saving him from the embarrassment.

"Uh, yeah. Last night," he copied Elizabeth and rubbed the back of his head, "I was reminding him what time my plane landed. He's picking my up from the airport."

"He's been back home for a week now. Perks of going to school in New York."

"Yeah, I bet. No stress about if you're stuff will get lost on it's journey back," she joked, trying to break the awkward tension.

"So Thor told me he invited Wanda to his graduation," Steve changes the subject.

"Yeah! Her parents are flying in the next day, so she's probably going to go," she tell him, "How did you and Thor become friends?"

Elizabeth had been curious how that friendship started since Thor and Steve are not exactly on the same wavelength.

"Met him at the student gym," Steve laughs, "He saw me struggling and offered to help train me."

"As that's cute," she poked his bicep.

"Oh yeah, totally not embarrassing at all," he laughed along, "I was like a newborn deer learning how to walk."

"Well it paid off," she playfully nudged him, causing him to hide the blush forming on his cheeks.

Steve and Elizabeth continued to chat for the next hour, until it was time to board the plane. On the plane they wen their separate ways, they weren't so lucky to be seated close to one another.

Once they landed it was nearly five o'clock at night. They walked off the plane separately as well, once again like strangers.

Elizabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't rushing off in hopes of not running into Bucky. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid him, she just dind't want to see him right here, right now.

She quickly made her way to baggage claim, where she was greeted by a familiar pair of eyes.

"Dad," she smiled throwing her arms around his neck.

"Elizabeth," he hugged his child tightly, "Welcome home sweetie,"

"Happy to be back," she smiled, pulling away. She caught his eye looking at something or someone behind her.

"Woah, is that Steve Rogers?" He asked.

She turned around to see Steve walking towards them, with is own carry on bags in hand.

"Steve," her father greeted him with his hand stood out.

"Mr. Sanchez, hi," Steve smiled shaking the older gentleman's hand.

"College treated you well," her father remarked.

"Dad," Elizabeth hissed, feeling her cheeks heat up at his comment.

"What? It's just an observation. I"m sure I'm not the only one who noticed," he gestured over to where two young girls are ogling Steve and giggling behind their hands.

"Thanks Mr. Sanchez," Steve blushed.

"Do you need a ride home?" Her dad offered.

"No, sir. Thank-you though," Steve politely declines, "Bucky is picking me up."

"Well don't be a stranger," her father waves goodbye as he heads to the conveyor belt to grab Elizabeth's bags.

"Bye," Elizabeth awkwardly waves.

"Wait," Steve stops her, "Maybe we can meet up some time this summer before we all head back to school."

"We as in you and me. Or as in you, me, and James?" She curiously asks.

"Of course, you, me and Bucky," he lies, "if that's alright with you. Not sure how things are still with you both."

"Things are you know, weird, but sure why not," she shrugged, "text me when and where."

They said their final goodbyes before parting ways.

Of course I meant with Bucky, right? He thought.

"Steven Grant Rogers?" He heard someone yell.

"Buck," he smiled, happy to see his best friend.

"Damn man, you got huge since I last saw you over the holidays," Bucky commented embracing Steve in a hug.

"It's not really much," he tried to brush it off.

"Dude you look like you ate the old you," he laughed.

"You just missed Liz," Steve said as he and Bucky walked to his car.

"Liz?" Bucky asked confused.

"Elizabeth. Sorry everyone calls her Liz at school," Steve says as he stops outside of Bucky's parked car.

"You guys hung out over there?" Bucky asks opening the trunk of his car.

"Just once," he says placing his suitcases in the trunk, "Remember that guy Thor I was telling you about?"

"Yeah, your personnel trainer," Bucky recalls walking over to the driver side, as Steve got in the passenger side.

Something in the passenger door pocket catches his eye.

"Well turns out Elizabeth is friends with his brother," Steve cautiously tells Bucky, "Ran into her at his party on Friday and we also were not he same flight back."

"Is she dating the guy?" Bucky begrudgingly asks, as he pulls away from he airport.

"Thor's brother? No," Steve says, unsure if he should even be telling Bucky about Elizabeth's new life, "I don't think she's dating anyone, she went to the party with her roommate."

"Cool," Bucky says pretending as if he isn't happy to hear that.

After a few moments of silence Steve decided to bring up what he saw, "So when did you start wearing red thongs?" He asked, gently pulling out the under by the tips of his fingers.

"Uh, you know college, all about experimenting," Bucky lied.

"Are you still planning on getting back with Elizabeth?" Steve ignored Bucky's answer.

"Steve, I don't need another lecture from you," Bucky rolled his eyes.

"I'm just asking, you're clearly not lonely."

"I'm single, so is Elizabeth," Bucky says, "If she were doing what I was it'd be perfectly fine."

"Buck, all I was doing was asking a question because if you are planning on getting back together with Elizabeth, you'll need to get rid of any incriminating evidence."

"Yes, okay. I plan on at least trying to see if Elizabeth would be willing to give it another try," he confesses.

"How is she?" Bucky asks.

"Happy," Steve answers truthfully, "I don't think I've ever seen her happier. College really did her well."

Bucky glanced over at Steve, noticing the way his best friend said the last part. He chose to ignore it.

The remainder of the car ride was spent on them catching up.

_____________________

Elizabeth spent the first couple of days unpacking her things and getting back into the rhythm of being home. She had to admit to herself that she truly did miss being home, her parents were even more thrilled. An empty home was not something they liked. They were even talking about getting a pet.

As she was putting away her freshly washed clothes, her phone vibrated. She had assumed it was Wanda freaking out over what to wear to Thor's graduation tomorrow night. She was surprised to see Steve's name across her screen.

It was a text:

Hey, if you're not busy tonight my parents are having a small BBQ. It's a last minute thing, so if you're free you're more than welcome to join. It starts at 6 :) She took a second to think it through. She knew if she went, there was no doubt that Bucky would be there. She had managed not to run into him so far, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. They did still live across the street from each other. So she texted back:

Hey Steve. I'm totally free. I'll be there :D

_____________________

Elizabeth took her time getting ready. As the time got closer, the more nervous she got.

Before she left she decided to call Wanda.

"I'm so nervous," she tells her friend.

"Take a shot," Wanda answered quickly.

"Dude, I"m home. My parents are definitely not going to let me 'take a shot'. Did you forget we are legally not supposed to," Elizabeth rolled her eyes looking around for her purse.

"Well are you wearing something hot, to show that idiot what he's missing."

"The last thing I want is to look 'hot'," Elizabeth stressed, "If anything I want to look as un hot as possible. I don't want him or anyone else here looking at me like that."

"Except for Steve," Wanda smirked over the phone.

"Yeah, except for Ste-" Elizabeth stopped, she was taken by surprise at what Wanda said and her own response, "No. Wait. What?"

"Oh come on Liz. I may have been slightly preoccupied by Thor that night, but Steve was definitely giving you the eyes," Wanda says, "And you were as well."

"The eyes?"

"Yeah, heart eyes," Wanda says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "The same way I look at Thor. Or the way Scott and Loki look at each other."

"Wanda, Steve and I weren't looking at each other with heart eyes," Elizabeth denied, "He's one of my longest, closest friends. Plus he's practically Bucky's brother."

"So you thought about it?" Wanda teased.

"I called you to ease my nerves, not make them worse," Elizabeth groaned.

"Sorry," Wanda sincerely apologized, realizing she was being no help to her best friend, "Liz, everything is going to be fine tonight. If anything, all you need to do is be polite to James. Hell, you don't even need to talk to him.

"He's going to want to talk."

"Then keep it cordial, platonic," Wanda reassured her, "You don't have to tell him anything you don't want to. Your life is yours. Not his."

"In the words of Cristina Yang, 'You're the sun. Not him,'" Wanda said quoting one of their favorite shows.

"I'm the sun," Elizabeth repeated, feeling the weight slipping of her shoulders, "Thanks, Wan. I'll call you afterwards."

"Unless you and Steve are getting it on, then you can call me tomorrow."

"Bye," Elizabeth hung up the phone.

____________________

Elizabeth decided to walk the three blocks to the Rogers' household. It was a nice night, and she missed being able to walk everywhere. Something she definitely took for granted once she moved to the west coast.

When she got in front to the Rogers' house, she took one final inhale and exhale, gripping the platter of brownies her mom made as a gift. She the proceeded to walk to the side door, leading to the backyard where everyone was.

She didn't know why she was feeling so nervous. The Rogers weren't strangers. She practically grew up in this house. She knew not just Steve's parents, but his whole family, and they knew her. This would be just like visiting her own family, yet it wasn't. She didn't even really talk to Steve for almost a year.

As soon as she entered the backyard, she couldn't help but feel slightly out of place. She thought she could quickly turn back, no one had even noticed her arrival.

"Oh my gosh," she heard a woman's voice from across the yard, "Is that Elizabeth Sanchez?"

Elizabeth looked over to see Steve's mom, Sarah, rushing over with open arms. She was always so motherly. Elizabeth, welcomed her hug, hugging her back with one hand while the other one still clutched the container of brownies.

"Look at you," Sarah Rogers exclaimed, pulling away but keeping a grasp on Elizabeth's arms, taking her in, "College made such a fine young lady out of you."

Elizabeth couldn't help but to blush, she didn't think she looked that much different. If anything she had gained a few more pounds, and her hair was a bit of a mess, due to the New York humidity.

"Joseph, it's Elizabeth," she called out to her husband who was at the grill with one of Steve's uncles.

"My oh my, well isn't it little Elizabeth Sanchez, all grown up," he proudly smiled, hugging her.

Steve's parents were always so kind to her, like her parents they only had one child. She got the feeling that they saw her as another child, seeing as they were constantly feeding her throughout her youth.

"Your parents didn't come with you?" Joseph asked.

"No, they couldn't make it. They were driving up north to pick up my Grandma. But my mom did send these as an apology," Elizabeth held out the brownies.

"The famous Sanchez brownies," Sarah grabs the container, "Come on in sweetie, make yourself at home."

"Steve, Elizabeth is here," his mother calls into the yard.

Elizabeth looks in the direction his mother yelled into, and spotted Steve, who had a big smile on his face. He wasn't alone, he was with a few people they had went to high school with, and of course in the group was Bucky.

Elizabeth made her way to them all.

"You made it," Steve's smile got bigger, as he went to hug her.

"I told you I would," she said into his shoulder.

"Yeah, well," he pointedly said.

Steve didn't think Elizabeth would really come. He figured since she knew Bucky would be there, she would decide last minute to not go. He was very happy that she decided to not let that stop her. He couldn't help but watch her and she went around the group greeting the familiar faces. Then he felt someone staring at him, and turned to see Bucky watching him watch her.

Steve felt embarrassed when he caught the eyes of Bucky's looking right at him. He quickly played it off.

"Say hi," Steve mouthed to him.

Bucky hesitated for a second glancing back between Steve and Elizabeth. He felt sick. He's been waiting for this moment for awhile, and now all he wanted to do was to run away.

She looked different, the same but different. Steve was right, she seemed genuinely happy. College had brought this new aura to her, she was glowing. Bucky instantly felt guilty for all the pain he's caused her.

He felt a soft nudge to his right side, Steve pointed his head towards the girl that was standing in front of him.

"Uh hi," Bucky nervously said.

"Hi Bucky," she politely smiled.

She called him Bucky. She hadn't called him that since before senior year happened. Steve had mentioned that she had only called him James. He immediately relaxed.

"How have you been?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Good, I've been good," he stumbled over his words, "Yourself?"

"I've been really good," she smiled. This wasn't as bad as Elizabeth thought it's old be.

Before Bucky could respond, they heard a scream. They both turned to see an older Rebecca Barnes running towards them.

Rebecca was now 15 years-old. She came along way from being Bucky's little sister. Elizabeth had always seen Rebecca as the little sister she always wanted. When she and Bucky were dating she would often include Rebecca on their outings. She never wanted Rebecca to feel left out simply because she was the youngest.

After she and Bucky broke up, Elizabeth stopped seeing Rebecca as well. It was just too hard for her. Plus, it took her months to forgive Bucky.

"Rebecca," she laughed, as the young girl threw her arms around the older one.

"You look so good," Rebecca said, pulling away with a giant smile on her face. She no longer had braces, Elizabeth noted.

"Aw thanks, I see those braces finally came off."

"Yeah, just two weeks ago," she smiled even brighter.

Bucky couldn't help but watch the two girls catch up with smiles on their faces.

After they had broken up senior year Rebecca kept asking Bucky went to school in Brooklyn, Rebecca went to a science based school in Queens. She never heard the rumors, but Rebecca was smart and intuitive. When Natasha started coming around more, she put two and two together. She never told Bucky she knew the truth, she figured he was trying to protect her.

"How's California?" Rebecca asked, causing Bucky to tune back into their conversation.

"Amazing," Elizabeth smiled, "Stanford is everything I thought it would be and more. The people there are great as well."

"Any lucky person?"

Leave it to Rebecca to be nosey, Bucky thought.

"Nah," Elizabeth shook her head, "School has been my top priority. Being a pre-law major is a lot of work."

Elizabeth and Rebecca spent some time catching up before Rebecca left to go meet up with some friends in Queens.

"Do you want a drink?" Bucky asks her, holding up an unopened can of soda.

"Thank-you," she grabbed it. She took a look around to see that their group had left and were now mingling with other guests.

It was just her and Bucky in the corner of the yard.

"So," he said shifting on his feet.

"So," she opened the can of soda, causing a loud carbonation sound breaking the awkward silence.

"This is awkward," he nervously laughed.

"Just a little," she agreed.

"Listen-"

"It's all water under the bridge Bucky," Elizabeth interrupted him, "We aren't those people anymore. We're adults now. In college. I meant it when I wrote you that I wanted to move on from all of that. No hard feelings. Think we can do that without mentioning the past?"

"Yeah, I think we're could," he smiled.

"Good," she smiled back, and this time it wasn't a forced one.

"You really do look good," he complimented her, carefully watching her reaction.

"Thank-you," she blushed, looking down at her feet, "So do you. I see you've been following Steve's footsteps about going to the gym."

"Yeah," he blushed, scratching the back of his neck, "It's nothing compared to Steve's. The punk looks like he ate the old Steve. That Thor guy must be one hell of a trainer."

"Oh Thor, he's practically built like a God," Elizabeth giggles, "If you think Steve is big, Thor is a fucking planet."

Bucky laughed along with her.

"So how's school going?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Good actually," Bucky smiled, "I'm going to be taking some summer courses to get a jump start for next year."

"Perks of being so close to campus," she smiled, "Did you have good roommate?"

"Yeah, his name is Sam, he's also in the same Music Technology program as me," Bucky explained, "He's going to be visiting during summer, so hopefully you get a chance to meet him."

Everything was going smoothly throughout the night. Elizabeth found herself having a really great time. She even started to find herself missing Bucky while catching up with him.

She shook off the feeling. It had to be a natural way to feel, she and Bucky had known each other their whole lives, and this was their first time actually talking in over a year.

When the party was starting to dwindle down, Elizabeth felt it was the right time to go home.

"I'm going to get going," she said to Steve, going to hug him goodbye.

"Thanks for coming," he smiled into the hug, "Did you drive here?"

"No, I walked," she informs him, "One thing about the west coast, most things aren't in walking distance."

"Right, I suggested walking somewhere once to my roommate, and he looked at me like I was crazy," Steve laughed.

"Will you be alright walking on your own?" He asked.

"I've done it many times before," she said.

"Hey man, I'm gonna take off," Bucky walks over interrupting their conversation.

"Perfect, Liz was just leaving as well, maybe you can give her a ride," Steve suggested.

"Oh, I actually walked here," Bucky tells him.

"Even better, so did she," Steve smiled proudly.

"You okay with that?" Bucky turns to Elizabeth. He wanted to make sure he wasn't overstepping any invisible boundaries.

"Yeah, I mean we both are heading to practically the same location," she shrugs her shoulders.

Both of them finished saying their goodbyes and began their walk back home. This was the first time they've been alone in way over a year. No party or people to come join in on the conversations. Just Elizabeth and Bucky.

Elizabeth glanced up at the sky, as they walked. Brooklyn was abnormally quiet that night. I was so peaceful, she couldn't help but take it all in.

"I've missed Brooklyn," she says just above a whisper as to not disturb the peacefulness of the night.

"It's missed you," Bucky confesses looking right at her.

Elizabeth was taken back by his response, she glanced to her left to see Bucky staring right at her. She stopped walking. She couldn't pinpoint what she was feeling in that moment.

Bucky panicked, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he apologized.

Elizabeth remained quiet. Trying to process it all. Whatever move she mad will have some sort of lasting affect on both of them.

"If you want to walk ahead I understand," he says, "I'll wait here for five minutes before I begin walking again."

Elizabeth stared into those sad blue eyes. The eyes that always found their way back to her. Maybe this time everything would be different, she thought.

"Elizabeth," Bucky quietly calls, carefully placing his hand on her's. She snapped out of her thoughts, and instantly laced her fingers through his.

"It's all good," she smiled giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "Let's continue walking."

Bucky couldn't fight the smile growing on his face, as they continued to walk hand in hand.

Once they had reached Elizabeth's house, they stopped outside of the the gated yard.

"So," Bucky said as they stood outside the gate, still holding hands.

"So," Elizabeth smiled, subtly biting her lower lip, "Do you want to come inside for a bit? My parents won't be back until tomorrow morning."

Elizabeth had no idea what came over her to invite Bucky inside. She knew it wasn't a harmless invitation. They both knew what would happen once that front door closed.

"God, I'm going to regret this later," Bucky mumbled, causing Elizabeth to be confused.

"As much as I would love to go inside," he carefully began, "and trust me Elizabeth, there's nothing I would love more. I just have to say no."

"Oh," she said feeling utterly rejected. She wasn't expecting that response.

"Please don't take it as a rejection," he quickly said, grabbing her other hand, "I really want to give us another try. And in order for that to work, I think it's best if we don't rush into it. Because we both know once that door closes, taking our time will go right out the window. And I don't want to screw this up, again.

"I love you, Elizabeth. I never stopped. So please, please know I want to prove to you how much I love you by taking our time. Getting to re-know these new versions of ourselves."

Elizabeth was shocked. Not in a bad way. Bucky has really grown up this past year. Everything he was saying made sense. Yet she still couldn't help but feel sort of disappointed.

"Okay," she smiled, "You're right let's take this slow. Start fresh."

"Thank-you for understanding," he smiled, proud of himself for having some willpower, "Can I take you out tomorrow night?"

"Yes, I would like that."

"Does seven work for you?"

"Seven is good," she nodded her head.

"Perfect, I'll see you at seven," he kissed her cheek before dropping her hands and walking across the street to his own house.

Elizabeth went inside and headed to her own bedroom. She flopped down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She pulled out red phone and immediately called Wanda, placing the phone on speaker and putting it next to her head on her pillow.

"You're not getting laid," Wanda greeted.

"Hey, I tried," Wanda defended.

"Wait, really?" Wanda sounded surprised, "You tried having sex with Steve?"

"Not with Steve," she hesitated for a second.

"Please don't tell me," Wanda groaned already knowing who she was talking about.

Elizabeth remained silent.

"Did you try to have sex with James?" Wanda asked needing verbal confirmation.

"Yes," Elizabeth admitted, "Everything went great at Steve's. Bucky and I spent most the night catching up and just talking. It made me realize how much I missed him. Also wan't bad that he somehow got better in the last year. We then walked home together, and when we got to my house, I invited him inside."

"Look at you taking initiative!" Wanda cheered.

"Yeah, well I didn't have the lucky red dress to take it all the way."

"What happened?"

"He turned me down," Elizabeth confessed.

"What?" Wanda yelled, "He turned you down!"

"He actually had a good reasoning for turning me down."

"Which was?"

"He wants to take this slow," Elizabeth tells her, "He said he wants us to get reacquainted with each other. Get to know who we are now, as oppose to who we were. He doesn't want to ruin it."

"I mean it does make sense."

"He also might've said he still loves me," Elizabeth quietly said the last part.

"He still loves you?" Wanda gasped.

"Yeah."

"How do you feel about that?" Wanda curiously asks.

"Honestly," Elizabeth pauses, trying to get her thoughts under control, "It made me happy to hear."

"Do you still love him?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth said unsure, "Based on the way I felt tonight? Yes I still do."

"Based on before tonight?" Elizabeth questioned.

"I always kept Bucky in the farthest corner of my mind. You know," she says, "He had hurt me so bad that after I forgives him, I just kind of wanted to move on from it all.

"I didn't want to take that kind of energy with me to Stanford. But once I was back, here in Brooklyn, all these feelings kept creeping back. And I don't know if it's cause I'm back home, and it's this familiar type of love. Bucky was always my comfort. He played such a big part of my life. The good, and the bad. How does one forget all that?"

"Is it a bad thing to say that I knew he'd come back to me?" Elizabeth expresses.

There was a pause on the other side of the phone.

"No," Wanda finally spoke, "What you two had isn't something that can be easily erased. But..."

"But?"

"I know you've said you've forgive him for cheating on you," Wanda says, "and I do believe that you have. But do yo think you can actually put that behind you once everything starts back up again. Will you be able to look at him as your partner and not second guess whatever he tells you.

"And I don't meat to be harsh here, but I also think it's important to be realistic about it all. Because when summer ends you'll be back here, at Stanford. While Bucky stays there."

Elizabeth takes a moment to think through everything Wanda has said. She knows what she's saying isn't without reasons. Elizabeth had told Wanda everything that had happened, so of course she was only looking out for Elizabeth.

But the Bucky Elizabeth saw tonight was definitely not the Bucky she had left last fall. And it might be naive of her to think, but she knew him. She knew he wasn't a bad person. Even good people make mistakes. She knew she should have to do this for herself, no matter how many people thought it was a bad idea.

"I don't want him to haunt all of my 'what ifs'," she spoke, "This is something that I have to give another shot. Even after everything he's put me through, I do still love him Wanda. I can't just give up this chance at love."

"Like I said before, this is your life," Wanda says, "You gotta do what's best for you and only you know what that is. And you know I will always be here for you. You're stuck with me for life."

Elizabeth had never felt more relieved, she knew she didn't need Wanda's blessing, but to have it was nice.

___________________

Over the next month, Elizabeth and Bucky had been on many dates. This whole getting to know each other again was going really well. They had also both agreed not to be exclusive. It didn't make sense to rush into putting a label on it.

After the first two weeks they both started to get busy. Bucky was taking three fast track classes during the summer, so he was busty during the week, going from school then back home.

Elizabeth had gotten a summer job at a dental office. She was hired to help with scheduling appointments, and filing paperwork. The job paid more than any usual summer job an almost 19 year-old with hardly no experience could get. She had previously tutored for the doctor who owned it kids. So when she heard Elizabeth was looking for a job, she offered it to her on the spot.

She couldn't complain, yes some days were longer than others, but the money was good and she had the weekends off, which now were the only times she and Bucky were able to see each other.

It was another long day of work, and Elizabeth had spent the day dealing with unruly patients. All she wanted to do was take a bath, have pizza, and crash. But she then remembered she and Bucky had a date planned for that evening. She glanced at the clock on the wall. He would be here in an hour.

As much as she wanted to go out, she really didn't have the energy to. Plush, she didn't really want to see anyone.

She pressed the call icon next to Bucky's name on her phone.

"Hey Liz," he greeted. Bucky and everyone else back home had gotten into the habit of calling her by her new 'grown-up' nickname.

"Please don't be upset," she says.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Is it alright if we reschedule tonight's date," she says, "I just got home from work and I had a long day of dealing with rude people."

"Yeah of course," he tells her, he could hear just how exhausted she was, "Do you want me to bring over some food? We could could always have a night in."

"Thanks Buck, but I really just want to be along for the night," she tells him as she made her way into her room, "Is that okay?"

"Of course," he assured her, "I completely understand. I think Steve has the night off anyways, so think I'll head to his place for the night. Do you want to grab some lunch tomorrow during your lunch break?"

"That sounds perfect," she smiled, "Thanks again Buck."

"No worries. Have a good night."

"You too, tell Steve I said hi," she hung up the phone.

As she went to go put her bag down on her desk, her phone began to ring.

"Hey Wanda," she tiredly greeted her friend.

"Hey, everything okay?" Wanda asked, immediately sensing Elizabeth's mood.

"Just a long day, what's up?" She yawned.

"Just calling to ask you something."

"What's that?"

"You can say no first of all," Wanda clarified, "So I just got off of the phone with Thor and i was telling him about how I will be visiting you next week or the 4th of July, and well he kind of asked if he can come to New York as well."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, not expecting to hear that, "Are you asking for my permission, if your boyfriend can come?"

"Not my boyfriend, yet" Wanda sighs, "But yes. I guess he was also talking to Steve about visiting. He won't need to stay at your place either."

"Wanda, you don't have to ask me," Elizabeth assures her, "If Thor wants to come visit, he's more than welcomed to. I don't mind at all. Plus it'll be nice to see him."

"Oh, thank god," Wanda sighed in relief, "I just didn't want you to think that I don't want to spend time with you, because I do. I just don't want to be one of those girls that sneakily brings her boyfriend on a girl's trip. But don't worry, Thor is going to be doing his own thing with Steve. I am all your's for the weekend.

"Wanda it's okay. I know you aren't one of those girls. If you do become one of them, I'll make sure to save you."

"You're the best Liz," Wanda smiled, "Wait don't you have a date with Bucky tonight?"

"Not anymore, I cancelled," she says, "Too tired, Just want food and sleep."

"Ahh well, I'll let you go, enjoy your food and sleep, and I'll see you next week."

Elizabeth hung up the phone and decided to take advantage of the quiet house and take a bath before her parents got home from work.

As she entered her room, wearing a robe and her hair up in a towel, her phone began to ring.

"So much for a quiet time," she sighed, picking up the phone.

"Hey Steve what's up?"

"Sorry to bother you, I know you've had along day at work, but Bucky just bailed on me, something to do with Rebecca," he tells her, "And I'm outside of his house with a large pizza, and I don't want it to go to waste."

The other line went dead, Steve looked down at his phone to see that Elizabeth had hung up the phone. He hesitated for a second, thinking he should've just went home. As he was about to start his car up again, he heard his name being called. He looked across the street to find Elizabeth standing in her front door, in nothing but a robe.

"It better be a pepperoni pizza," she called out.

He laughed, and got out of his car with the large pizza in hand, "Only the best kind."

She moved out of the way to let him into the house, and lead him into the living room.

"Okay I'm going to head upstairs and put some clothes on," she says, "Make yourself at home, you know where everything is at."

"Sorry again about the drop in," Steve apologized once Elizabeth came back down with a fresh pair of clothes and hair brushed through.

"No worries, sorry Bucky bailed," she said sitting down next to Steve on the couch, "But his loss, is my pizza gain."

They spent the next hour devouring the pizza and watching a movie.

"So I hear Thor is visiting next week," she says, as she places her empty plate inside the empty pizza box, before making herself comfortable on the couch.

"Yeah, actually I wanted to talk to you about that," Steve says adjusting himself to face Elizabeth to his right, "Thor's parents have a house in the Hampton's, and they said we could use it for the 4th of July weekend. Not sure if you and Wanda already had plans, but you guys are more than welcome to join us."

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm sure Wanda wouldn't mind either," she smiled, "Plus I have never been to the Hamptons."

"Then it's settled, weekend at the Hamptons," Steve smiled, "I believe Loki and Scott will be joining us as well. Bucky is also inviting his roommate Sam, and I was planning on inviting some of the kids we went to school with."

"Sounds like a party."

____________________

Elizabeth and Wanda drove up to East Hampton together. The boys drove up the night before to get everything set up.

"So how are things between you and Bucky?" Wanda asked lowering down the volume.

"Things have been okay," Elizabeth sighed, as she kept her eyes ahead as she drove.

"Just okay?" Wanda asked, "A month ago you couldn't stop talking about him. What changed?"

"We haven't had much time together the last week or so," Elizabeth says, "and he's been cancelling a lot on me this past week."

"Did you say he was taking summer courses?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth nodded.

"Then he's probably just busy," Wanda reassures her, "Now, look at it this way. You'll have four days to catch up. Plus, you'll have the lucky red dress."

"We're taking it slow, remember?"

"It's been a month and a half. Have you guys even kissed?" Wanda playfully joked.

"He wants to take it slow," Elizabeth quietly repeated.

"Wait!" Wanda yelled startling Elizabeth.

"Geez Wan, I'm driving!"

"You guys haven't even kissed yet!"

"He wants to take it slow!" Elizabeth yelled back.

"There's slow and then there's being a fucking nun. Is he a nun?"

"I don't know what you want me to say. It's not for lack of trying," Elizabeth stressed, "I've tried. Believe me, I've tried."

Wanda remained quiet, causing Elizabeth to get an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

"Why are you so quiet? You're never this quiet. Ever."

"I'm just thinking," Wanda says.

"Well please do share your thoughts."

"You guys haven't even kissed, does that not worry you?"

"Yes," Elizabeth confessed, "Of course it does."

"Do you think," Wanda pauses, "Now don't freak out when I ask this because we don't want to die, and we also don't know what's going on. But do you think he's seeing someone else?"

"I haven't even thought of that," Elizabeth says.

Wanda glances over and notices the far off look in Elizabeth's eyes.

"You know what, that wasn't a logical explanation," Wanda says trying to bring back her spiraling friend, "I'm sure Bucky is just busy."

"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed, but not really believing any of it.

____________________________

The girls arrived to the house an hour later, it was barely going to be noon. The rest of their car ride was no longer filled with talks of relationships, but just spent listening to music, and discussing plans for their new apartment. When they pulled up, they were in awe of the beautiful house. There was already two cars in the driveway, one belonging to Steve, and the other must've been Loki's rental. "How much money do those Odinsons have?" Wanda stated looking up at the house. The house was a white modern looking two-story farmhouse. The two car drive way, looked like a mini version of the house. It looked homey. "You're here!" They heard a booming voice yell, as they exited the car. They looked up to the front door to see Thor fast walking his way over to them. He quickly made his way to Wanda and took both girls by surprise by picking her up and kissing her. At least someone's getting kissed, Elizabeth thought smiling at how happy her best friend looked. "Hello to you too," Wanda smiled, once they pulled apart. "I've missed you," he grinned, placing her down gently, "Hi Elizabeth." "Hi Thor, nice to see you," she greeted him, as she opened the trunk of her car to get the bags out. "Here let me get those," he said, grabbing both suitcases from the trunk, "The boys are out back in the pool." Thor showed both girls to their room first before walking them out to the back to greet the rest of the boys. "Lizzy! Wanda!" Loki shouted, running over to both girls and throwing his arms around them both. "Finally some estrogen to balance out all of this testosterone," he whispered in their ears, causing both girls to giggle. Once they pulled apart they were greeted by Loki's boyfriend Scott Lang. "Hi Scott," both girls greeted, hugging him as well. Elizabeth looked past the patio area to the backyard, where the pool was placed in the middle of nothing but grass. A typical Hamptons backyard. She saw Steve, Bucky, and who she assumed to be Bucky's roommate Sam, emerging from the pool. "Hey, you guys made it," Steve smiled. "All in one piece." "Barely," Wanda whispered to Loki. "This is Wanda, my roommate from Stanford," she introduced, "Not sure if you met back then. Wanda this is Steve, and Bucky, and Sam, right?" "Correct," Sam answered extending his arm out to shake their hands, "Sam Wilson, the person who's had to put up with Bucky for almost a year." Elizabeth laughed, "So sorry you've had to deal with that." "Ha ha funny," Bucky rolled his eyes, shaking Wanda's hand. He looked over at Elizabeth about to go in for a hug, but stopping once he realized he was wet from the pool. He gave her a smile, and she returned it. "Oh, I forgot. Happy birthday Steve," Elizabeth announced, "I would hug you but your wet." "Thanks, Liz," he smiled. Elizabeth glanced over at Wanda who was raising her eyebrows teasingly. Elizabeth shook her head. "So what time is everyone arriving?" She asks. "We told everyone two," Loki said, "the catering staff should be hear soon. "Catering?" Wanda asked. "Our parents insisted, seeing as last time Thor tried to have a barbecue he almost burned down the house," Loki explains to them. "He's pretty and smart, he doesn't have to cook," Wanda defended him, "Also helps that he has a big di-" "Okay," Elizabeth clapped her hands interrupting Wanda from finishing that sentence, "We're going to go get ready." "We'll join you," Loki said, with Scott behind him following the girls upstairs to their shared room. "So that's Bucky?" Loki asked, throwing himself onto one of the beds while Scott closed the door behind them. "Yup." "He's hot," Scott stated. "Don't start fawning over him," Wanda raises her hand, "He hasn't even kissed her yet." "What?" Loki and Scott gasped. "Are you going to be telling everyone that?" Elizabeth asked, heading into the en-suite bathroom. "You brought the red dress right?" Scott asked Wanda, already knowing all about her lucky red dress. "Yes, nobody worry," Wanda says pulling out the red dress, "Our dear sweet Lizzy will be getting at least some action tonight. Even if it's the bare minimum."

__________________________

The party was going great, everyone had invited a mixture of friends. Some were from Elizabeth's high school, some of them had grown up with Thor and Loki. It was a good mix of people. And everyone was having a great time.

In the car ride Elizabeth had been nervous after her conversation with Wanda about Bucky, but all those worries went away once she had made her way back down after getting ready.

Bucky hadn't left her side, since then, and he was being more openly affectionate than before. There was still no kiss, but Elizabeth didn't have a doubt in her mind the night wouldn't be ending without one, maybe even a little more.

Thank you lucky red dress.

It was around eight pm when Thor suggested they start doing the fireworks, everyone in the neighborhood had started to as well. So everyone made their way into the front yard, some in chairs, some on the grass, and some just standing around.

Elizabeth was sitting on the lawn, looking up at the lit up sky. She looked to her right to see Steve admiring all the colors, she softly smiled at him and the way he looked so content and happy.

She looked to her left to find the spot Bucky was just at a minute ago empty. She took a quick look around and couldn't see him, she shrugged it off just assuming he was somewhere nearby or in the house. She knew he had difficulties with large crowds and sometimes he just needed to step away.

After twenty minutes, Bucky still wasn't back.

"Hey Steve, I'll be back, I'm going to go check on Bucky," she tells him before heading back into the house.

The house was quiet, since everyone was outside watching the fireworks. She checked the back and all of downstairs but couldn't find Bucky, even the catering crew were outside watching the fireworks.

Elizabeth headed upstairs, thinking Bucky probably went to find peace in his room. Bucky and Sam were sharing a room for the weekend, it was the first one to the right once you reached the top of the stairs.

As soon as Elizabeth reached the final step, the bedroom door opened up. She smiled thinking Bucky was going to walk out, but the smile dropped when she was greeted by not Bucky but Natasha Romanoff walking out.

Natasha hadn't noticed Elizabeth yet, she was smiling at the person walking out right behind her.

Bucky had a huge grin on his face, his hair was a mess and so was Natasha's. His smiled instantly dropped and his eyes widen once he noticed Elizabeth frozen at the top of the stairs.

So much for a lucky dress...

[bittybattybunny]

:) please elaborate I have a crave for angst today

Okay okay so I get to dive into some un-discussed tlc lore today so buckle up!!!

So. the initial question as a refresher is about if TLC Regis could be as bad as Chimera Regis and I gave my shit eating

:)

which is short hand for “yes but not how you think”

the reason is:

TLC Regis Canonically was very close to being that bad. Ru got off lucky because unlike Chimera Regis---

Ru was known to public figures and he has a good public face. So if Regis tried something it would have reflected on him poorly and he didn’t want that.

You notice in drunk chapter Ru mentions his dad was a bit of a hardass on him and he didn’t have the best relationship and often makes comment son “if your father saw you now” in reference to how lax and disheveled he acts.

Ru had to work HARD on his prince perfect act. Dignitaries and foreign ministers etc LOVED him for it and this is what saved him. Regis couldn’t denounce him as crown prince because he showed no fault other than the fact he had no magic. Ru is smart, he gets along with folks easily if he wants (well he can pretend to), he has a killer poker face (or he did. he has more issues with it in current timeline), and people just flocked to him.

Now here’s a question: Why is it Ru wasn’t married or engaged to anyone at the age of 26 when you consider how old this kingdom he lived in was.

The answer?

Regis didn’t want him to form a bond with anyone and didn’t want his tainted “magicless” blood being passed down.

Regis wanted Ru to lack an heir and was looking for a way to fault his son. When Vanessa showed this was going to be how Regis got rid of his “perfect prince” but Morgan and Vanessa got to Ru before hand.

In the spin off in which Regis killed his leviathan son, he did it himself and told Ru he’s waited for the day he got to rid himself of such a failure of a son.

Now back to canon tlc Regis. If he had his way he was going to use Vanessa’s inhuman nature to make people turn against his son and would have had both killed for treason to Solgario. Deeming them ‘spies’ for the demon king (irony being he had the demon king’s literal husband working for him. he had no idea Ren and Kai were married)

Regis did not any of his 3 sons to rule in his stead. He hated Ru’s lack of magic, Marcus was emotional to a fault and he was sickly, And Morgan reminded him too much of himself and he hated that. his plan was to marry the twins off then take his grandchild to raise as a “Proper” heir since if Marcus or Morgan had kids they had much much higher odds of being magical and could subdue ‘monsters’.

However. All 3 of his sons were lost at once and he lost it. Alena couldn’t have another child and she passed away soon after her sons and so Regis fell into a frantic panic as he plans crashed.

he hated his sons. but he needed them. but with them gone he was on a thread that snapped.

And this lead to the severity of the hunts and his own death.

So yes. TLC Regis may not be cutting into his sons. but he was using them all the same for his own gain.

thanks for coming to my bun talk.

[thenexusofsouls]

Muse: Marie Sebastian

[Bio and other information below the cut!]

Type of Character & Fandom/Source Material: Canon character from the 2013 American remake of the Korean movie Oldboy

FC: Elizabeth Olsen as Marie

Race: Human

Age: 23-24ish usually, after the events of Oldboy, unless we wanna go back in her timeline

Occupation: Nursing student, licensed nurse practitioner (LPN), registered nurse (RN), and/or volunteer nurse, depending on her age. She studied to be a LPN and then went on to get her Associates’ Degree and become an RN. From there she was employed at a local clinic near her home and also volunteered at a mobile clinic, both of which specialized in homeless and domestic violence shelter care.

Family: Adoptive father (deceased); adoptive mother (deceased); biological father (alive but permanently imprisoned and she never knew he was her father); ex-boyfriend, Tom Melby

Potentially Triggering Material in Threads: Incest, torture (These are things involving her father that she was never made aware of in canon… I guess these themes could potentially come to light depending on if any canon muses ever interact with her, but honestly it’s really not likely at all, I just wanted to warn people); drug abuse and attempted sexual assault (These themes are a bit more likely to come up since these things actually pertain to her, if she should happen to want to discuss them with your muse); homelessness; cancer; and medical supplies and techniques.

Negative Personality Traits: Being a former drug addict, Marie can have an addictive personality with regard to smoking, wanting to use drugs again during times of stress, and eating junk food, and she is also incredibly hard on herself in just about every way and takes every bad thing that happens or downturn of her patients’ health as a personal failing on her part. She’s also really, really stubborn, heh.

Positive Personality Traits: She is hard-working, determined, selfless, kind, once she sees someone in need she really can’t turn away from them, and she has a compulsion to help “the little guy” and “lost causes.“

Background: (This is all as far as she knows, since there was a lot going on behind the scenes that was never revealed to her. So this is what happened from her point of view only. If it becomes necessary to get further into the controversial plot of the movie, or if you want to ask about it, feel free to hmu in messages.)

Marie was adopted at age three by loving parents, and she never known any other parents. Her father died when she was ten of pancreatic cancer, but he had been sick for a long time. Marie’s mother was not able to deal with this very well, and so Marie at a very young age had to do a lot for her dad. Her mother became an alcoholic, and Marie came out of it wanting to take care of people and ease their pain like she did for her dad.

She’s very smart and was a good student, but her mother’s alcoholism took a toll on her. By the time she was eighteen, she moved out and was addicted to heroin. For a couple years, she was a functional addict, even starting nursing school while still maintaining her habit. While in school she met a resident named Tom Melby, who eventually became her boyfriend. He did a lot for her, including getting her to rehab and helping her stay clean, but his patronizing tone with her and constant insinuations that she would go back to using really got on Marie’s nerves and she broke up with him. They are still friends, and work together at the mobile clinic she volunteers at. He is still in love with her, but she is definitely done with him romantically and sexually. He’s forever friend-zoned, heh.

During the events of Oldboy, Marie helped an older man named Joseph Doucett clear his name and locate his kidnapped daughter, whom he had not seen in 20 years due to being imprisoned by someone with a vendetta against him. Marie helped him figure out who the man was who imprisoned him and why, and Joe was supposed to go meet this man and recover his daughter. During their investigation, Marie and Joe fell in love and even slept together.

But then… he never came back after supposedly meeting with this man they had researched. All she got was a disturbing phone call in which she heard a man she didn’t know and Joe begging for something on the other end, but no one answered her and the call ended. Besides that, Joe sent her a little gift, a cute trinket from one of those carts in Chinatown that sell little squeaking Buddha statues, heh… and a letter. In short, it said that he had done something unforgivable and needed to be punished for it, and that he was out of her life forever. He thanked her for making him happy for one brief time in his life, and hoped that she would find someone to be with who would treat her well and be a good man, not one like him. Marie was heartbroken and confused, but she still has the Buddha on the dash of her van…

Because of the dangerous people Joe had fought against and an attempted kidnapping and assault on Marie that took place in her own house, she decides to move away, packing everything she owned into her van and starting over in another city.

Potential Starter Ideas:

She could be moving to your muse’s town or city.

Your muse could need medical help that she can provide as a nurse.

There is always a casual meeting in a bar, on the street, or while out for a walk scenario, heh.

If you want to get dark, Marie could need help hiding from some of the people associated with Joe, or could already be hurt by them and in need of medical help herself.

Marvel Verse: In the MCU, Marie was still adopted by the same parents, but is not Joe Doucett’s biological daughter. So this detaches her from his story, but keeps her background, personality, drug addiction, history with Tom, and occupation as a nurse intact. She is a third Maximoff sibling, four minutes older than Pietro and sixteen minutes older than Wanda. She’s identical to Wanda, but Pietro is fraternal.

Like Wanda, Marie is a natural born witch, and her magic manifests in similar ways to Wanda’s, except that hers is golden orange. Her powers involve supernatural healing of others (healing outright with no negative effects to her, much like how Wanda healed Vision but instead of just sealing wounds, Marie can actually heal them fully); healing by “acceptance” (taking wounds or illnesses onto herself to save someone else, which is much quicker but more dangerous for her); offensive magic via “transference” (the wounds and illnesses she takes from her patients she can turn back around and give to others as a way of attacking them or just defending herself, including the pain and all associated symptoms); soothing of negative or overwhelming emotions; memory recovery from injury or illness.

Marie was raised a devout Christian, and when she was little and first began displaying her magic, her mother told her they were “witch’s gifts from Satan” and that she should never ever use them. Marie took this very seriously, but still didn’t understand how healing could be bad, so she sometimes still heals when no one is looking, especially when lives are at stake. For the most part, though, she hides her powers, thinking they are wrong and that there’s something evil about her.

Most often, I imagine that Marie would be found by Pietro, Wanda, Vision, or someone else looking for her after discovering files that mention the twins were actually triplets. Marya and Django (or whichever set of parents we use for the twins), simply could not afford three children and had to make the painful decision to give up one of them, when Marie was three. She was adopted by an American couple after spending time in an orphanage in Transia.

Fun facts: Marie likes to garden in her spare time, she loves animals, and she’s very good at crossword puzzles!

[lukeleiahan]

I suddenly remembered that Anakin canonically did not know of Padme's pregnancy until she was what? In the eighth month or something? (The timeline of ROTS is, as many a Star Wars movie timeline, incredibly confusing and frustrating). But the point is, now I have a mighty need for an AU where for some reason the whole save Palpatine mission in the beginning of ROTS was given to other Jedi and Anakin and Obi-Wan don't return to Coruscant until Padme has already had the twins. I mean, think about it!

no Anakin murdering Dooku (not sure what happens to Dooku in this AU, actually, he might have been killed in the fighting by the unspecified other Jedi who had to rescure Palps, or he might still be running around)

it's actually I think Bail Organa who finally organizes for Anakin and Obi-Wan to come home to Coruscant because Bail knows about the secret marriage and he knows about the twins and he is the best friend ever and he can organize things like this without it raising too many questions

(this, among other things, like his ongoing help during the pregnancy and the long friendship he and Padme share, earns him godfather status for Leia)

so, Anakin comes home, and is greeted by Padme similar to canon, only the thing she is about to tell him is not that she's pregnant, it's that he's a father

so, with Bail deliberately distracting Obi-Wan and the other Jedi, she ushers him to their home where Dorme is babysitting and is like.... surprise! Look at out babies!

Anakin has to sit down. Hard. And he is not getting up any time soon. Babies? His babies with Padme?!? This does not compute.

Padme, who has had a whole pregnancy and the, like, two weeks it's been since the birth to get used to this, is giggling, which is not very helpful (Dorme has discreetly left the room and is like, cancelling all Padme's appointments for the day, because she's the best)

eventually, she hands him the on of the babies, and sits down next to him with the other, and for a second that stops him from gaping, and then he looks at them and feels them in the Force and is back to gaping, because oh dear, they are perfect, and they are theirs, and it's very sweet and loving and a very nice family moment

the first day is just spend looking at the twins in wonder

(and Anakin insisting that Padme rest, it's only been two weeks since the birth, he wasn't there to help, pregnancy is dangerous, Force he's worried. She laughs but let's him fuss)

then however they have to start actively thinking about the future

because they love the twins but this was not planned and what are they going to do?

Padme has not announced the birth of the twins yet

Anakin tells her he's going to leave the order. He has something other than the order to live for, now, something more important, and he desperately wants to be a good father

Padme insists that she can't retire, though, because the Republic is on the brink of falling and she needs to stop it

also they're both not sure it is the best idea for Anakin to stop being a general in the war with the way things are going

but Anakin also genuily doesn't want to be away from the twins any second longer than he has to and Padme really likes the idea of him being home more often

eventually they decide to announce the birth of the twins as only Padme's kids, making them Luke and Leia Naberrie Amidala, and to hold of until the end of the war to announce the marriage and Anakin's paternity, but to try and make sure Anakin stays on Coruscant as much as possible

(meanwhile, it's been like two days, and Bail is really wondering how much longer he is capable of holding up the distraction, he's down to small talk here, this is bad)

the dreams about Padme dying in child birth are unsettling, but also obviously untrue, because it happened and Padme is clearly fine, so Anakin has a much easier time ignoring them. Much less grounds for manipulations by Palps due to that and due to Anakin not murdering Dooku

Bail babysits a lot, he's the best at it. The handmaidens, too. Mon is not quite as good as them but she tells them lots about rebublic law until they fall asleep. Obi-Wan gets brought in, too, and doesn't even try to pretend he doesn't know they're Anakin's babies. He glares in Anakin's general direction the whole time. He knows nothing about babies! What if he breaks them? There was a reason behind the code!

The fact that Anakin is the twins father eventually becomes like, this completely open secret in both the order and the senate, but most people are too polite to bring it up, and anyway, there's a war going on, people have bigger problems

(aside from the tabloids. The tabloids have a field day with this)

due to the twins paternity being more or less common knowledge, the Jedi council gets their heads out of their asses long enough to realize that sending Anakin to spy on Palps might be a bad idea

also someone with sense in the council decides that maybe Anakin staying on Coruscant is not that bad an idea (I feel like it was Depa Billaba. She seems sensible. She glares at her old master Mace until he relents and helps her, and that’s how Depa Billaba saves the universe, her padawan Caleb Dume will later insist)

at the same time, Obi-Wan is twitching every time he thinks about it, but he makes a point to stay near Anakin, because, okay, Anakin is an adult and a general and should be old enough to be trusted not to do anything stupid without adult supervision, but he also though Anakin and Padme were old enough not to do things like get secretly married and start a family in the middle of a war, and here they are, so obviously he's going to have to stay here to make sure Anakin doesn't do anything even more stupid

Anakin is happy because all his family is here! Only Ahsoka is missing!

Ahsoka actually comes to Coruscant, too, when she hears about the Amidala twins. She is a bit shocked at first, but makes up for it with lots of snarky commentary and babysitting. She's the absolute best auntie/older sister. Anakin is absolutely delighted

all that extra time with Padme and Bail and their strong political opinions and arguments for democracy, plus the fact that once Palps starts creeping around the twins Anakin actually realizes how creepy it is, combines to an Anakin who does not fall

Palps keeps putting of pulling the trigger on Order 66 because he was hoping for Anakin to be his apprentice by then, damn it, this pregnancy was supposed to be his final piece of seduction, but instead it's bringing Anakin farther and farther away from him?

Problem for him is that now there are Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka on Coruscant, not distracted by the war that much, deliberately staying on Coruscant but also not that busy when they're not looking after the twins

they look through old files and stumble across the chips

you would not believe their righteous fury

with the help of Padme and Bail and Mon and their allied senators as well as Shaak Ti they quietly deprogram the clones and disable all the chips

then Padme and Bail and Mon use their evidence to dethrone Palps

(it's Padme who calls for the vote of no confidence. It was her who got him the chancellorship through this years before, so it's fitting for her to be the one who takes it away from him now with the very same means)

(Bail is elected chancellor. His first move is to initiate peace talks, and to prepare laws that will prevent future chancellors from amassing power like Palps did)

(Mon more or less accidentally becomes the main spokesperson for clone rights. They all are passionate about the clones being given full rights, but … this woman would lead a terrorist group in another universe. She has a talent for talking to soldiers, even though she does not know why)

peace comes more quickly than anyone anticipated, especially once Dooku flips on Palps and gives a full statement to the senate

Anakin leaves the order before the twins first birthday, and is very happy to be a stay at home dad to the twins and a trophy husband to his awesome senator wife

everyone gets lots of therapy and a happy ending

[chibifoxwrites]

Since someone showed interest

During my rewrite for Cyber Heroine, it was originally going to be 100% based on the manga for Megaman NT Warrior with some occasional details from the anime and games thrown in. Some of the stuff stayed for the current, other stuff did not. Here were some ideas I had drafted:

The main cast were high school age, not elementary school.

Netto and her friends had drifted away come middle school but would get back together as friends during high school.

Netto was a loner and would spend her free time coding food, clothes, and toys for Net Navi’s, which is how she got income on the side. She is an unofficial intern at Sci-Labs since they double check her work.

The link was already in place thanks to X. Netto and Rockman have a betting pool as to when Yuuichiro was going to tell Netto that she used to have a twin.

70% of the twins using the mental link is just to share bud puns, jokes, and memes.

 Many of Netto’s classmates thought that her parents were divorced since Yuuichiro was never seen at home for more than a day or so.

It was known amongst Netto’s friends and peers that Rockman was modeled after Saito.

Netto and Rockman operated under the aliases of Aile and Vent, a famous hacker duo who operated like the Leverage team. Most of their crimes were giving back data stolen by major corporations to their rightful developers.

Multiple civilian Net Battlers actually fought against WWW if they were registered as B-rank or above, but only if they were near the attack site.

Many of the WWW attacks were actually targeting Netto, with those specifically being arranged by the Professor. Wily did not want anyone killed but hurt was fine.

To keep her cover, Netto had a wardrobe for her regular outfits and one for her Aile outfits.

Enzan and “Aile” had a Batman/Catwoman kind of relationship, where Enzan’s nickname was Mr. Official.

Rockman already had Style Change but had to undergo a trial for Saito Style.

Enzan was not their heir to a major corporation but the heir to a very old family involved in law enforcement, hence his involvement in police work at such a young age.

Enzan was jealous that another teenager, one that had better scores than him, was brought onto the force.

Netto and Enzan’s relationship was like that of Sakura and Syaoran.

When Rockman was first deleted, Blues would come over and watch Studio Ghibli and Disney films with Netto to just be there for her.

Mamoru was still the same age as when he first appeared in canon and raised by his aunt Tamako. He lived with her in the countryside when he wasn’t in the hospital. Netto would bring him books and games to keep him occupied. When Netto wasn’t around, he played with Serenade.

Serenade was VERY protective of Mamoru and would do anything to help Netto since she could make their NetOp laugh even when he was having a bad day.

Much of Rockman and Forte’s drama/rivalry was due to Netto. Forte wanted Netto to forsake humanity and be his friend/partner like when she was a kid, but Netto wanted to stay with Rockman and wouldn't turn against humanity.

Despite rejecting his offer, Forte would still come to Netto’s defense if she and Rockman were attacked.

Arcadia existed as a civilization of programs before it was attacked by a splinter cell in Sci-Labs led by Regal. Neo Arcadia was built by the remnants of the first attack.

The Four Guardians (Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan, Phantom) were condensed into small files and turned into the Element Programs, which Netto and Rockman stole back.

While operating as Aile in real life, Netto would use the Guardians.

Blues was made from data stolen from Arcadia and was created to be a prototype independent Net Navi that was the perfect soldier aka a Forte that only followed orders.

Laika and Netto were penpals as Laika stayed with the Hikari family when he was younger due to Sharro’s economy and his mother’s declining health. Yuuichiro and Laika’s mother were colleagues, so Laika stayed in Electopia until the economy got better and a permanent home could be found for him.

When the Cyber World and Real Worlds temporarily merged, Alia and Haruka had a girl’s day out.

Saito Style going out of control was due to repressed anger form both Netto and Rockman.

Netto has access to pop culture that didn't come about as planned because of the universe reboot so every once in a while, she makes a reference that nobody understands.

The cover for the illegal Net Battles was movie night, using movie from before the timeline reboot, hence Code 80s Dance Party.

When Double Soul activated, Netto got to keep chips of it like in the anime and people volunteered to try it with Rockman.

Dark Rockman was one of the multiple attempts of Yuuichiro trying to bring back Saito but deemed it a failure when it would not activate. He became a Darkloid due to the anger of being thrown away and abandoned.

Dark Rockman tried to force Netto to go Perfect Synchro with him. When she refused, he tried to kill Netto himself instead of having Shademan do it.

Netto was revealed as Aile during the Netopia Arc but was never formally arrested due to X being involved plus many people lobbying for her release.

Netto also had an identity crisis as to if she was really Hikari Netto or Aile Light due to past life memories.

The Netopia Arc had some real repercussions since the military technically abducted a citizen of another country under false pretenses, which is how X got properly introduced in person.

X, Zero, and Axl were merely mentioned until the Netopia Arc, where they actually showed up. Up until then, the only action they took was smiting opponents they knew ordinary Net Navis could not defeat.

Data Ghosts of the original Classic Robot Masters appeared to stop Nebula Grey.

There were only 3 Cyber Elves and they were larger than most Net Navis.

Cyber Elves had their own language and Netto would slip into it at times of high stress.

Forte was caught because he came to movie night and many were put under arrest for not reporting Forte’s whereabouts, including Blues, Searchman, and Tomohawkman.

X fist fought Duo to save the planet when it was found out that Slur rigged the entire trial.

Rockman got both of Gregar and Falzar’s data, not just Gregar.

Cache found a way to absorb the world like in the anime, not the Cybeasts like in the manga.

Trill was a prototype Net Navi for a Sci-Labs program that would allow Net Navis to have children of their own. He was created during the one year that Rockman was missing.

In the workshopped Ryuusei no Rockman spin-off of the series, Trill grew up to be the King of the Net Navis that fled Earth with the help of Duo when they became completely obsolete outside of basic functions and even helped Subaru return to Earth because it was what his older brother Rockman would want.

Subaru and Misora were main characters who came to the past to help stop Cache and were able to travel back in time thanks to Trill.

By the time Ryuusei no Rockman comes about, there is entire semester dedicated to the ‘Cyber Wars’ aka Netto and friends fighting crime. Subaru is an expert, has all the documentaries, and even fought Gonta for a replica of her headband.

Each college has at least one history degree path that covers history from before the universe reboot and is dedicated to finding the data and traces of it. Sharro has the leading university in the world concerning this subject and a statue of General Laika is in the lobby of the main building.

Cities, buildings, and other landmarks are named after Netto and her friends.

[toothpastecanyon]

Noie’s Mother, Chapter 1

"I need you to save my daughter."

It's not always Leon who makes that deal. In alternate timelines not far from our own, where things are only a little bit different, someone else is shaking that hand.

An alternate take on Noie's Brother where Leon, not Pinni, dies when Noie is a baby.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

“I need you to save my daughter.”

One phrase, echoed through a thousand alternate timelines. One demon - or angel, god, creature unfathomable in this universe - seeing in this the promise of a life once had, long gone, dearly missed. One handshake, and the child named Noie (named Belle, named Ryan, named-) lived to see many more sunrises. In a universe of infinite possibilities, there are so few without this child growing old.

And who is on the other side of this handshake? Not always Leon.

After all, he’s not always the one who survives.

“T̸ha͠t ͡w͏ill̶ ̵ co̴s͢t ͟ y̷ou.”

“Then talk, demon.” Before the circle stood Pinni Argenta. Her leg was in a cast, her neck in a brace, but her voice did not tremble as she stared down the voided Dreambender. “I am a professional demonologist. Give me a price, and I will negotiate.”

The demon curled his lip at that - a professional, always harder to swindle. “V͖͉e̗̜͖̭r̷̹͚͇̹̜y ̼̼̞ͅw̭̰̪̖ͅe̠̠̩̺̜͎̘l̥͚l̴,” he snarled. “b͇̞̫̯̟̟̫u̳͓͇̲͕̣͍t ̘͉̜̬̻t̺̪h̞͔̥̞͇e ͚͙̺̱̰̣p̹rḭ̳͇c̠̞͉̮͍͚e͖ ̬m͚̹̲a͖͈̟̤͕̥y͇̖̜̪ ̫̮̜̺̻ͅbe̯ ̪͉̯hi̯͍̯̱̘̫̯g̙̥̫̬̙̟h̯e̘͕͚͔̬r ̟̣͍͍̜ͅt̺͍̪h̯͉͔a͕̱̟̘͇n̩͍̺ ̭̮͖̜y̺̩̠o̙͈̟̪̪̻u͍͉̹͉͓̺͎ ar̹̼̯̬̞̹͚e͖̙̠̜̳ w̬̰i̳̣̪̺̘̦̼l̥͔̹͙l͔͙i̠̻͚̯n̞g̻̜ͅ t͍̩̜o̠͓̺ ͙̭̟p̝̺̩̝̬a̫̺̘̼̳͓͎y̱̫̥̫̙͚.̯”

“Then get on with it. I can summon another demon-”

“N͇͚͉̲̝̩͇O̠̮̣̘̼͍ͅ!̮ My͇ d͈͙̫͖e̖͓̖͙̻̻̮al̗͚̤̘!̯̳̰͇͔̼̮”

“Then tell me what your deal is, Dreambender.” She snuck a glance behind the hospital curtain, and then back at him. “Tell me now.”

Alcor gave a growl, but the sound faded out as it seemed to pick up on something. An unpleasant smile split it leaned in closer.

“I̘͓s̱ ̖̞̹̲th̦̼ͅa̙̠̜̮ͅt͓ d͙̙̪͇͕͚e̝͉̫̥̝s̩̥̪̰͍͈p͚͉ͅe̞̲̺rat̻̤̩̺̪̖̻i̪̦o͓̞̺̝̜͔͖n̠̱̖̩̟ ̟̬I̬̱ s̖̤̣̣m̪̳͉̲̯e̮̤̬ll͍͍?”

“Only annoyance. I don’t want to get caught by the human nurses around here. You don’t want me getting caught either - you won’t get a deal out of it.”

At that, the demon laughed. It was a rough, distorted sound, and it stepped out of the circle to pace around Pinni. “Oh, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? You can lie to me, little mortal, but I can smell it on you.” It took in a deep, deep breath. “Ah… sweet d͜es͟per̵àtio͘n.͘ You may be a demonologist, but you don’t know how to barter for a loved one’s life. You’re o̕ut̶ of͠ ̸your d҉ep̧th.”

Pinni said nothing to that. She stared straight ahead, her expression made of stone for all it moved.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” It leered in close to let her smell the blood on its breath. “What was the deal again? Your s̀͟͠o͘͜u͏̧l͘ for the life of your child?”

“No. My soul is not negotiable.”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised what you’ll offer to me.” Alcor noticed the sealskin draped around her shoulders - reached for it, and grinned as she finally flinched away. “Selkie skin. A ḑe̢l͟i̸cacy̷. Yes… I’d save one of you for this. Where is the child?”

The demon looked at her soul, and followed her thoughts up to a ward upstairs, where… oh.

“You must think I’m a real amateur if you’re going to try and talk past me like this.” Pinni watched him go very still. “I will not under any circumstances offer you my soul, so you can forget about that and ask for something reasonable. I know you save lives for less.”

Alcor didn’t say a word. He didn’t move at all. She frowned.

“Alcor. Alcor.” A pause. “Fine, I’ll call some other demon. Go, you are released.”

“Mizar…” he said in an undertone. His head snapped up to the ceiling. “She’s in trouble! Dying!”

“Mizar?”

“I have to make a deal… you!” Alcor dropped the void from his form and stuck out a hand. “Make a deal with me!”

Pinni’s eyebrow quirked up; otherwise she hid her surprise well. “Not until we define the terms. Did you call my daughter Mizar?”

“Then make a deal already! What do you want!”

“For you to heal my daughter without hurting or otherwise altering her in any way, and without harming anyone else in order to draw the needed energy. And this healing cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked by you or by anybody.” She stared him down. “And after this healing is done, you are to leave her and me alone, and you are never to contact us again. What are your terms, demon?”

“M-my terms? I… I don’t want to leave her alone!”

“Come again?”

He backed away. “No, I… Wait, I need time to think! I need to-”

“Wait? I can’t wait, she’s-!” Pinni took a breath. “She is in critical condition. I have many things to offer you back at my office, but you have to decide now.”

“Now?”

“Or I’ll call another demon.”

“No! Okay, I-I’ll decide now, I-” he snapped his fingers. “I wanna do the Belle thing!”

“Define that for me.”

“I want to grow up with her!”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You know, I can be… I can be her sister again!”

“So you’ve done this before.” Pinni leaned forwards. “That means you can be more specific about what you’re asking of me.”

“I- well, I… it’s complicated.”

He began to explain, and there were timelines where Noie’s mother rejected this outright. Where she demanded another deal, a more normal deal, and begrudgingly he complied. But here, now, Noie’s mother was Pinni Argenta, and she listened for a while without comment, without shooting it down, without giving a single indication of the plan she was hatching in her mind.

“So uh, yeah,” Alcor was saying. “I just, I erase all my memories and I grow up with her, and it’s like nothing even happened! You don’t have to do anything… except raise me, that is something, but… look.” He sighed. “I… I think I need this. I’m sorry, I know I came off a little, uh, intense. I didn’t - I would never have done that, i-if I knew you were trying to save a child.”

“Uh huh.”

“Just… give me a chance? Please? I really missed this, I really need her back. I need… That’s my only ask. I need her.”

Pinni stared down the demon before her. “That’s your condition for accepting the deal.” She stated, and watched him nod. “Okay. I have several conditions.”

“What are they?”

“My first condition is that you will not be a demon for the duration of this deal. You will not display any demonic memories or powers, no matter what happens.” She stabbed a finger at him. “If you want to make a mortal suit and pretend to be a mortal, you’re going to commit to that, and I reserve the right to revoke the deal in any circumstance where you aren’t complying.”

Alcor gave a nervous smile. “Uh, okay, I can do that. No demon powers, got it.”

“No. Don’t reinterpret my words. I didn’t just say ‘no demon powers’ - I want you to agree to the whole thing.”

“I agree! I agree to the whole thing.”

“Good.” She straightened her coat. “My second condition is that you will alter nobody’s memories. I will not be forgetting that you are a demon, do you understand?”

“Oh… okay. Lionel wanted to forget, though.”

She didn’t respond to that. “And one final condition. I need a house, somewhere outside any major human settlement area, next to a body of water. A lake.”

“What? How is that part of the-”

“Because you’re asking a lot of me, you know that! You’re asking me to raise twins, all on my own, in a shitty little human apartment! Leon and I were saving up for a down payment, but…” She clenched her teeth. “That’s not happening now. So if you’re going to make my life more difficult, you’re going to compensate me. Is that clear?”

Alcor made a face. “That’s… a lot, but… okay. That makes sense. Deal.”

“I want to be the sole owner, and you can’t take it back under any circumstances. I don’t care what it looks like, but it needs to be habitable for the three of us- I mean…” She blinked. “No, right, the three of us. Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“I only want to reiterate that none of this - not the healing, not the house, not anything - can be taken back if this ends up falling through on your end. You will leave the house without hurting either of us in any way.”

“Okay.” Alcor made a bit of a face. “I’ve made human suits before, this is okay. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, it shouldn’t be.” Pinni said, and then cleared her throat. “I am ready to shake on it, demon.”

At the sound of those words, the awkward, human expression vanished from the face of Alcor the Dreambender. The demon nodded, once, and extended a hand wreathed in blue flames. The light from it lent a cold, ghostly aura to the whole room; where it fell on Pinni, it drew deep shadows in her face, turned her eyes into pinpricks peering out from ashen sunken sockets. It was strange, how a little light showed both of them as monsterous.

Pinni didn’t hesitate for a second. She stuck her hand out, grasped Alcor’s firmly, and shook with practiced ease even as the flames licked up to her wrist. It was Alcor who let go first; he cleared his throat, and stepped back.

“So,” he started. “It’s done, then.”

“Nothing is done until you heal her.”

“Right… right! I’ll go do that now.” He hopped up and started levitating. “Then I’ll, uh, have to make preparations. I’ll see you next… after you get out of the hospital?” An awkward laugh. “As a… not like this.”

“That sounds like a good time to begin. Goodbye, Alcor.”

“Bye, uh… what’s your name?”

Pinni just stared at him.

“Uhh, oh, okay. Well, bye!”

He gave a wave, and then blipped out of existence, leaving Pinni alone.

Alone.

She started rubbing out the chalk with her good foot. A good demonologist never leaves an active circle lying around, especially in a hospital - stars, doing that was way dangerous for her liking. One wrong move, especially with an unbindable demon like the Dreambender, and…

Well. It was a good thing it didn’t go wrong. It went pretty amazingly, actually - he was surprisingly cooperative - but Pinni wasn’t feeling any rush of victory now.

“Ma’am?” A nurse’s voice. “Oh, what are you doing out of bed? Let’s get you-“

“Don’t touch me!” She limped away from him, holding one crutch up like a spear. “Get away from me, human!”

“You need to go back to bed. You shouldn’t be walking on that leg yet.”

“I’m going. You, stay there. Stay there!” She hobbled back over to her bed, glaring daggers into him. “There. I’m in bed. Now go, leave me.”

“Thank you. Were you trying to get something? You can always ask the nurse on duty if you-“

“I don’t need your help! Leave me alone!”

The nurse backed out of the room then, and she watched him leave with beady eyes, eyes that seemed to shine brighter and brighter until the shine broke off and ran down her face before she wiped it off with the base of her palm. She sniffed and gave her other eye another furious wipe, but then she felt her breath hitch and sob and and then she buried her face in her hands and cried and cried and cried all night for her family.

Because in this timeline, Pinni survives. She survives Noie, and she survives the car crash that cut her husband down right beside her, and she’s going to survive the strange deal she struck with a creature of darkness.

She does survive. She survives, alone.

______________________________________________________________

Pinni remembered very well her very first demonology course. Her teacher - he was a towering centaur called Professor Sader - walked in with his prosthetic arm in one hand, stood at the front of the class, and slammed it down on a student’s desk.

“Listen up! This is not going to be a fun class. You are not going to like me. Do you know why?”

She could still see him staring out into a sea of silent faces.

“Because one in seven demonologists die before their fifth year on the job. Do you understand me? If I passed all of you, there would be a lot of fucking dead people in this classroom, so I won’t. Now pay attention.”

She thought about his words a lot during her stay in the hospital. She thought about it when that human nurse came back with a big smile on his face and good news about her daughter.

“Let me tell you the most important lesson a demonologist is ever going to learn. It’s not enough to survive a deal. It’s not enough to get what you wanted out of it. Ten times out of ten, you only think you’ve got what you wanted - you’ve gotten tricked. Even the best demonologist gets tricked, you can’t escape it.”

Some days into recovery, Pinni was allowed to see her daughter. They brought Naomi in, placed her carefully into her arms, and the warmth of her little body, the softness of her sealskin, the life in her eyes… it almost felt like everything was okay in the world, for this moment.

Almost, but then she remembered what it had cost.

What she was going to have to do.

“So you see, it’s not enough to go over your terms - it’s important, your life depends on it, but there’s a mindset you gotta get into in this business, and it’s that playing fair will get you nowhere with a demon. Nowhere.”

The day she was released from the hospital, she walked out with two baby carriers. The nurses, the doctors, none of them who had seen through her recovery questioned it for a second. Nor did they question the new car idling at the front, with keys and the deed to a house sitting on the dashboard.

“You might think, if they don’t cause you much trouble on one deal, maybe you should be polite about it, be generous with your end, make them want to cut fair deals in the future with you. That’s how it works in our world, sure. But that’s not how it works in their world.”

Pinni’s hands shook a bit as she started the car. It came to life with a roar, and in the back, one baby started to cry.

“If you’re making deals with a demon, you gotta act like a demon. Remember: these aren’t beings with emotion. Some of them’re easier to anthropomorphise than others, but even the most politest, suit-and-tie wearing, well-spoken demon, it’s got nothing going on on the inside. Nothing. It’s got no feelings to hurt, understand?”

She drove slowly. Carefully. The road she took went on for hours, bringing them out of the city, out of the desert, up, up, up until canyons and cacti gave way to pine trees. The sun was setting fast as she pulled off the highway, into a small collection of rickety stores quite a ways off from any town.

“All a demon wants is chaos. All they’re ever trying to do is screw you over, so you gotta constantly be thinking, how can I screw them over? It’s mean, people say. It’s also the only way to keep yourself safe.”

She was thinking of those words as she walked into the store with her stoller. A human up front gave her a wave.

“Hey, welcome to Ricky’s magic shop! Aww, those are some cute-”

“I need powdered silver, angelic symbols, and scented candles.”

The man blinked. “Whoa, uh, that’s a shopping list. What do you need all that for?”

Pinni only reached into her bag and pulled out her Demonology license, which she placed on the counter.

“Oh. Okay… I was about to ask for that, but you’re - you’re way ahead of me, heh.” He stepped back. “I gotta fetch some of that outta of the safe. Hang on.”

Naomi and the demon started fussing while she waited. She took them on a gentle ride around the store, looking at all the shelves. There was some unicorn hair for sale - she snorted a bit at ‘responsibly sourced’ - and… what was this, yggsdrasil in with all the other herbs? This stuff could ruin a summoning, it needed to be stored separately!

She was not-so-subtly dropping the yggdrasil on the floor when the man came back.

“Okay, I got the- hey! What are you doing!”

Pinni left the carrier and started back towards the desk. “How pure is the silver?”

“Are you gonna pick that up? You can’t just-”

“Ninety five. Do you have anything purer?”

“Uh… no, we usually don’t, you know, sell a lot of this-”

“Then I’ll take half a pound.” She pulled out her wallet. “And the angelic symbols, do they come with a warded case?”

“A case? No, those are extra.”

Pinni glanced back towards the baby carrier. Even all the way at the other end of the store, one of them was starting to cry. She made a face.

“Fine, I’ll take one of those. Put them in now.”

“Uh, okay, your highness.” The man tried for a laugh as he put everything in a thick, dark case. “You from out of town?”

“How much does it come to?”

“No, seriously, are you? Just asking if you’re gonna be a regular here, so I can move.”

He laughed again as he closed the case. There was an edge to it, something that rang alarm bells in her head and set her heart beating fast. One hand came up, and grasped at her coat.

“You don’t need to know that.”

“No? I mean you come in here, you talk over me, you start throwing my merchandise on the ground like you own the-”

“Just let me pay.”

“Ohhh, now we don’t wanna argue.” That angry laugh again. He shoved the case at her and walked over to the till. “Fine, lady. Pay up, and get the hell out of my store, okay? Okay?”

“Okay.”

“There we are. Comes out to four hundred and twenty five with the case… a little ‘I’m sorry’ is free, though. Doesn’t cost nothing.”

Pinni took a deep breath, and picked out her card with shaking fingers. Both Naomi and the demon were starting to cry, and the sound of them and the look the human was shooting her and the hum of the air conditioning, it was all drilling into her brain and it was all she could do to remember how to swipe.

“Alright, there’s your stuff. You’re welcome.”

She just grabbed the case, grabbed the stroller, and made for the door as quickly as she could. Both of them were screaming at this point; she took a moment, standing still outside her car, to breathe.

In, and out.

…

Only then did she look to the stroller.

“Hey, hey, hey,” she said, gently unclasping Naomi from her seat. “We’re nearly there. It’s nearly over, okay? You’re doing so well. So well.”

Naomi kept crying as she was strapped in; her little face had gone red, and tears were streaming down her face. Pinni looked at this, and then gently reached out, and grasped the little patch of sealskin sitting on her lap.

Just at the touch, Naomi gave a full-body shiver. She stared up with wide eyes as Pinni drew it close, close to her face, and breathed out. Warm air rustled easily through the fur - her coat was so, so dry, it hadn’t even been tried on yet, hadn’t ever been swum in. It didn’t really smell like much at all either, but for a faint, lemony-soapy smell that was nothing like the ocean… more like the hospital.

Pinni wrinkled her nose a bit at that, but Naomi seemed to have calmed down. Pinni carried it in her mouth as she strapped the demon in the other seat and put the stroller away, and then she set it down in her lap when she got in the driver’s seat.

Key in ignition. Another deep breath, in, and out. Turn. Cringe as it roared to life again - as soon as this trip was done she was going to burn this fucking thing.

It was dark when she finally turned down an old dirt road. The pine trees formed a tunnel as it led her down into the belly of the forest, branches reaching out like arms in her headlights. The bumpy road stirred Naomi and the demon again; they started crying, and she clenched the steering wheel until her knuckles went white.

Not long now. Not long now.

In an eternity, or a moment, the trees gave way to some wooded cabin bordering a lake. She could see the water glinting in the headlights, see the still, peaceful darkness beneath its lazy waves. More excitingly, she couldn’t see the other shore. It stretched out into the night, and for a moment, it almost looked like she had come across the shore of a great ocean.

It almost looked like home… but there was one thing left Pinni had to do.

She turned off the car. The screaming from the back seemed even more piercing without the background rumble; quickly, she grabbed her black case, opened the door, and went around to Naomi’s side. She let Naomi hold her skin while she was unbuckled; once it was all undone, she cradled her daughter close, and walked her to their new home.

Pinni walked her to the lake.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Pinni said, and squatted down by the shore. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

She hugged Naomi close for another moment… and then she held her out to the lake. Naomi was silent for a moment, confused; her foot touched the water, and she started crying harder.

“Okay. Okay. Is it cold?” She touched the water. “It won’t be too cold. Here, let me show you.”

She sat down, then, and repositioned Naomi so she was holding her with one arm. With the other, she took Naomi’s skin, stroked it with her thumb, and then, gently, dipped it into the lake. Naomi seemed to freeze as it soaked up the water; she gripped Pinni’s coat with her little hands, and Pinni smiled.

“It’s not so bad, see?” She kept moving it around in the water. “Your coat protects you, when you wear it. It keeps you safe. Keeps you warm.”

Gently, she drew Naomi’s skin out of the water. It was several times heavier, and dripping with water all over her lap… and Naomi reached out. Grasped it.

“It’s a part of you, Naomi. Your coat, and the water. They’re a part of you.” She smiled. “Do you want to put them on?”

She started to wrap Naomi up in the coat. Where it touched her skin, it seemed to stick, seemed to mould itself to her form without wrinkles or creases. She giggled and splashed around as Pinni lowered her into the water, looking up at her mother with a shine in her eyes and a fanged mouth gaping in a wide, innocent grin.

Pinni smiled back too, for a moment. Only for a moment.

“I have to do something.” She heard, behind her, the sounds of the one still crying. A sigh. “I’ll be back. I promise. I love you.”

Then she took a deep breath, in, and out, and placed her into the water. A second later she unbuckled the case, drew out the jar of powdered silver and sprinkled a line on the shore. She’d bought three angelic statues for their repelling energy; two she placed at either end of the line, and the third she held close as she approached the car.

The demon inside sounded like it was screaming. Pinni stood there for a second, fiddling with her coat, thinking of how best to proceed… until she came to a decision. She circled the car and dumped silver in a rough oval until she got to the back door; there she opened it, chucked the angel statue inside, and then slammed it shut and bolted a good distance away. The screaming had gotten louder, rawer - almost like bellowing - but for a few moments, nothing really changed.

Hmm. Maybe she should set up the scented ca-

BOOM!

The explosion nearly knocked Pinni off her feet. Shards of car went everywhere - some of them nicked her skin - and an even more deafening roar made her clap her hands over her ears. From the wreckage, a golden-bricked void crawled out, locked eyes with her, and snarled.

“S̴̢̰͍͈͈͎͙̣̬̀A̸̡͙̭͔B̭͍̫O̼͍͔̘͓̣̗͡T̹̙͇̱̕A̵̵͇̱̟̲̺̣G͡͏͏̫̪̙E̦̯!” Alcor growled out, and a second later he was looming over her. “W̪͙̯E̘̯ ̫̗̺̞̯͇H͔̪͚̯A̗̝D͈ ̲̤̹A̪͎̰̖͔̹͇̜ ̻̤̫͖̤̣ͅD̗͚̭̖̠̝͔̭E̪̥͎̝͈̥͙̖A̖̻L͍̭̮,͉̠̼̹ ̰͓̙M̭̲O̙̩̝̙͍R͔͉̝̩͉̮T͈͕̙͉̪͉̤̝A̳̼̮̳̟L̬̱̖̟̥!͔͍̯̤ H̶̴̗̻̬͉͜Ó̗̮̮̤̰̻͓̞̠̝̺̳͙͍͉́W̷̧̢̦̰̯̣̜̲̬̳̲̟̬̲̕ ̦̟̯͎͈̻̯̺̗̫̞̟͈̣̭͓̥͟͡͠ͅD͏͖̣̥̩̰̺̰A̢͖̗̲̥͎͙͉̮̻̙̺̬͍͈̠̼̮̳͖̕͜͜͝R͔̤̖̭̖̘̪̼͘͘É̡̨̪̦͖̹͙̺̱̺̳͙̤̠̳͔͉ ̶̹͓̬͔̺̺̘̺͖͓͖Y͏̡̙̳͉͚O̡̥̪͖̠̰̣͓̰͢Ų̯͈̣̰̣͈̀́̕ ͏̰̹̻̻͡ͅC̛̛͙̻̩R̦͇̤̰̰̙̦̭̟̼͙̕͡ͅO̷̷͔̟͎͉̯͜͢S̨̢͉̬̬̰͉̤̰̬̙̯S̤̜͉͕̹͙̫̹̣͔̭̬̖͜͟ͅ ̶͔̯͈̞̞̣͇͉̱̺̤͓̙͜M̸̶̡̗̥̥̘̘̦̭͔̕͠E̷̶͎̙͖̼͚̠̖̦̖͚̫̼̬͢͜͟ͅ!̞̳̘̭͎̫̙͓̜͇̭͍̰̥͍̱͇͈͉̀͡

Pinni stood firm, even as the demon stared her down with murder in his eyes. “Yes,” she said, calmly. “We did have a deal. And according to it, you have to leave, now.”

“L̷̰̼͕̫̝͟͠É̶̡͉͎̣̬̫̙̭̞̭̬͙̼͙̫̩̻͈͠Ą̴̶̳̮̼̣̥͚̦̖͚̪͕͙͖͎͔͢V̷͍̣̮̹̲̫̹́ͅE̵̡̮̮͙̬̰̝̥̦͢͜?̡̫̠͉̲̱̳͎͎̟̥̣͚̣͉̦̹̀̀ͅ ̛͝͏̟̪̖̪̜͉͙̖͙̺̯͉̫̝̙̀͞ͅǸ̛̫͕͚͚̦͙̰̘̲͖̝̼̖̰͈̠͘͡O̴̢͟҉̸̫̤̫̬̱͕̪͔̩̣̞ͅ!͖̬̱̤͙͠”

“But you are bound to. And you are bound to do it without causing violence.” She watched the burning in his eyes shift to a hint of something else - a hint of uncertainty. “That’s what you agreed to. That if you showed any demonic traits-”

“B͎̜͇̞̙̝̠̭u̼̝͔̮̠ṭ̗͈̺ ̻͈͈̺̠̪̞y̳̘̖̯̰o͕̠͖͔͓u̘ ̮̙͓̩̰̰ͅf͎̩͕͇̟̗͇o̠̟̞̣̻̥̣r̗̟̳̬̞͈̬̥͍c̙̝̦̜e̮̥̞̗̭̤̲d͈̠̟ ̬̰̟͙m͉̥̻̦̻̹̘e̬͎͍͍͕ ̘̟̻o̲͖͔u͔̞t̬͔̮ ͈̭̗̘̬͈̪̩o̟͖f̟͙ ͈̺m͇͖̫y͔͕̱ ̣̙̘̘̹b͔̝͈̩̙͖͕o̫̘͓͙̱̱͙d͙̫y̤͔̬̤̠!̻̥̬̰ ͈̖̺Y̶̛̘̭̭̺͎͖̹͢o̶̧̮̹̙̖̯͔̼͉u̢̡̠͉̥͍͙̺͚̗͠ ̖̫͎̮͜͢s̸̘͉̠̘̮̦̮̞͝͡a̟̱̼b̵͏̙̻̤̟o̶̱͙̣̜t̵̷͓̯̮͕̘̳͢ą̤̠̭͎̗̣͍͖͜g҉̰̦̱͖̣͝e̗̣̘̬͙͈̟̞d҉̨̺͎̣͖ ̢̙̺͎̗͙͉̗m̪̦͕͘ͅe̘̠͕̙͈͎!̢̛̩̪̬̮͖̱̩͜”

“But you did not disqualify sabotage when you agreed to this deal, did you? I asked you if you had any other conditions, and you said no. You agreed to something unconditional.”

Alcor spluttered. “B-͞b͞ut, w̢ai̸t-”

“There’s nothing to wait on. You need to leave, and never come back.”

“No! No, wait, please!” The void vanished from his form, and he clasped his hands together. “I know this deal was weird, but I swear, all I want to do is grow up with her! Please just give me another chance!”

Pinni just stared at him.

“I can - we can make another deal! Do you want a better house? O-or I can fix your car, I’m so sorry I broke it!” He reached out. “Just let me-”

“Don’t touch me.” She bared her teeth. “I don’t want anything from you - Naomi and I have everything we’ll ever need right here. We don’t need anybody, and we certainly don’t need a demon in our lives. So leave.”

“But… but…”

“You are bound to the deal.”

Alcor trailed off into silence; the only sound to be heard was the rustle of trees. The stink of oil from the still-smouldering car burned Pinni’s nostrils, but she kept staring at him, waiting for him to leave. Never turn your back on a demon, she knew.

Finally, Alcor seemed to get it. In an instant his expression twisted into ugly fury, and he snarled at her before vanishing into black smoke. Only then could Pinni breathe.

It was over.

It was over.

She stared at the twisted hunk of car before her, breathed in and out, and turned her back on it. Turned towards the lake, and its beckoning moonlit waves. She walked to its shores, and then beyond them, into the water, soaking her human clothes. It was freezing, but for a moment she stayed there, treading water with hands and feet, eyes closed.

To be in the water again, it was… wonderful. Her sealskin kept her back warm, and, after a moment, she let that warmth spread out and cover her entire body. She opened her eyes, and with a flick of her back flippers she swam over to where Naomi had been.

She nosed around that area, but there was no sign of her. She called out, and the most plaintive little noise answered her.

She was further down, on the lakebed. Gently, Pinni grasped the scruff of her neck and carried her up into the shallows. There she sat, huddled against Pinni’s side, staring out at the world with wide, wide eyes… and Pinni smiled.

Smiled, even as she looked at the old wreck of her car.

Because they had a home now, the two of them. They had a home without conditions, a home no human nor demon could take from them… and it was wonderful.

Naomi felt so warm, huddled up to her.

It was all they’d ever need.

[officialinuyasha]

Yashahime Trailer Analysis - Full Breakdown + Theories

Video -

https://youtu.be/ebFV15yPO6U

The Yashahime - Princess Half-Demon Official Trailer came out August 7th Japan Time like Kaoru Wada had teased for us on the Otakon Livestream. Here we will read off of what was posted on the VIZ Media Official Website "The anime’s been announced, but now you can sink your canines into some more juicy tidbits about the show. The anime stars Towa and Setsuna, the twin daughters of Sesshomaru who get separated in a forest fire. Towa ends up in modern times and is raised by Sota Higurashi, Kagome’s little brother. Ten years later, they are reunited, but Setsuna is a demon slayer with no memories of her sister. Joined by Moroha, Inuyasha and Kagome’s daughter, they set off on an adventure to regain their missing past." https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/yashahime-princess-half-demon-arrives-in-october You guys will be able to watch Yashahime on VIZ Media's Website and AnimeLab.com when it's released.

First Impressions - @officialkagome​ : “I can tell the Rumiko has a lot of influence in the writing because key points and moments are conveyed just as they were in the Final Act. I believe it's going to be condensed like in the Final Act, but maybe only at first. Focusing on the girls but still including that bonus chapter. I definitely appreciate the animation, it's very aesthetically pleasing.”

Yes, the animation is being directed by the same person who did The Final Act, Sachiya. They also were the same person that did the Adult SessRin artwork that sold it on a calender. Which I actually own. I'm glad for them to return and do the animation. As it makes sense in the continuity. The animation in fact looks even improved further than what we had since the Final Act! Definitely one of my favorite animation directors next to Kumiko.

As I mentioned in my previous video, I talked about the extra chapter "Since Then" that took place after The Final Act. It was made because of the Tsunami that happened in Japan many years ago. A long time ago, I also wrote a post saying if we continued to show our support for the official streams on VIZ Media's website and still showed interest in the series that they would make this into an episode. Back in 2018 Anime Boston it was hinted about the staff wanting to have Rumiko allowed them to make more anime if we continued to show interest. When we got ahold of the scans for the AniMage and AniMedia magazine scans we could confirm that they have been talking about a sequel since the ending of The Final Act.

In the InuYasha Special Chapter 559 "Since Then" Kagome was living in the feudal era with InuYasha for six months. We have a half year time skip. Life in the Feudal Era so far had been peaceful. InuYasha and Miroku were tracking minor youkai that was released from a seal by a landslide, and discover that the demon actually was originally sealed away by Kikyou shortly before she met InuYasha. So we can say over atleast 53 years ago. The youkai is called Ne no Kubi or Root Head in the official VIZ Media subtitles for the trailer - and it was seeking the Shikon no Tama, not realizing it is already destroyed due to being sealed away for so long. Ne no Kubi attacks Kagome, because she clearly looks like Kikyou, but she wounds its head with a sacred arrow and InuYasha kills it with Tessaiga. During it Sesshoumaru appears to protect the village because Rin is there. We can see shots during the trailer that all take place here from this chapter.

For all those Westerners out their that use the term "canon", yes Yashahime is in Fact "canon" to the original timeline continuity. Rumiko Takahashi has been confirmed to have written the foundation story for Yashahime, and has been working closely over the scripts with Sumisawa. It is officially licensed and in no where near being a fanfiction. Remember, canon was a term that was invented by Westeners because of Christianity. Regardless, this sequel is happening. I have so much to talk about this new trailer that it feels like even after I'm done with this video, more ideas are still going to keep popping up in my head.

Towa is seen fighting another school student. She's known for her martial arts. She kicks this guy in the head. She says "You know, you should take my advice and let me go." Talking about her possible abduction. "Things won't be so hot when my friends get here." I think she's talking to the man in the Feudal Era from the first trailer. That's when Moroha and Setsuna break into save Towa. Then it's talking about Root Head from Chapter 559. However says "Root Head was a demon slain by InuYasha and his friends." I don't know if she's talking after it was slain. But Root Head was in fact originally sealed by Kikyou before she met InuYasha. A possible change or retcon from the Manga considering Rumiko's involvement in this. Sesshoumaru is then saying the same lines that he says from the manga "Root head... A worthless piece of vermin. Except..." If we reference the manga he's actually supposed to say Except, and then "It's too persistent."

Root Head gained the powers of the Tree of Ages (Goshinboku). This is the same Goshiboku that InuYasha was sealed on, seeing the arrow mark. If we slow down this footage you can tell that Roothead is growing in the roots of the Goshinboku. It created a passage from the Feudal Era to present day. Sucked through that passage, Towa was torn from her twin sister, Setsuna, and thrown into the present day.

But I think that is talking about AFTER Root head was slain again from it reawakening after the landslide. My guess is that IF everything does continue on the manga like normal from Chapter 559. But during the time it was reawakened it had already made a portal through a tree tunnel like it describes as in Towa's translated description that a fire happens, and everyone scatters. Even during the livestream from Otakon Kaoru Wada mentioned the fire. Towa goes to escape from the fire and finds that specific portal that sends her to the modern era. Unless they want to push the time skip further than 6 months allowing them time to have the kids. Towa is in Reiwa period, that means it's either 2019 or further making it overall a 20 year time skip since chapter 559. I expect that they have kids in a six year time skip that would make sense since they are all 14. The Tree tunnel is described in Towa's description, that means that we pretty much have a second Well. Considering the well was already made from the same type of wood as the Goshinboku was as it was talked about in the first movie. Now imagine if we had three different eras or even that certain events had changed because of this.

Here we see an Adult Souta and 4 year old Towa when he found her in the Modern Era. They're talking in front of the Sacred Tree. Towa's robe pattern is clearly based on Sesshoumaru's belt.

It looks like Souta wanted to pat Towa on the head, but Towa was scared - Then we see Towa brushing her teeth and Souta's daughter. Who looks strikingly similiar to Hitomi. I hope he married her.

Ten years have passed since the Higurashi family took Towa in. It shows Towa talking to Souta's Daughter in front of the tree. In the next shot, she's wiping the blade from her sword. In the narration Towa says "Don't worry! I can handle this." It shows Towa looking up from the original Trailer, where she's abducted. Wearing that patterned robe and the hint of the Lily flowers in the background. She says "Your big sister's pretty strong!" I think she's talking to Souta's daughter as if referencing herself. She picks up her History book and winks. Now it shows Setsuna and Moroha fighting by a waterfall. This is definitely reminding me of some InuYasha VS Sesshoumaru scenes from the past. "My name is Setsuna. I have nothing more to tell you..." "And the reason you die here." Setsuna's eye glows similar to InuYasha's when they found out he had the black pearl inside his right eye that lead to the Inu no Taishou's grave. Everyone has been trying to figure out if there is a special thing showing in her eye. I'm not so sure but I gave it a try as well. I looked at a few pictures of the gravesite and this one seemed to be the best one.

Though I am skeptical of this. Hosenki's son explained it would take roughly 100 years for him to master the process of making one. When InuYasha had returned to his father's grave for the second time, the pearl was somehow able to give him visions of his troubled past as a way to warn him that he wasn't supposed to be there a second time. Now if we think about it, remember how Setsuna has problems with her memories? Maybe in this moment it is a black pearl, and it's showing her flashbacks helping her remember or perhaps she was given an imperfect black pearl that is causing her memory loss.

Moroha is seen sitting down picking her ear. "With this rouge, I become Beniyasha, Destroyer of Lands!" Moroha has her bow, a good nod to her mother Kagome. "Tremble before the bloodthirstydawn!" Now the rouge doesn't always have to mean lipstick, it depends on the context on which it's taken. The rouge could also mean red, the red clothing that she's wearing. If she is going to be wearing lipstick, it would be cool if they somehow were able to magically bring back the lipstick that was once Izayoi's that was given to Kikyou. I know it was destroyed, but you never know. I like the idea of her having InuYasha and Kagome's locket too from the second movie. In the past I always had the idea of their child having that locket. Maybe she's heard about InuYasha as a story or legend, and is calling him "Beniyasha". So she's pretending to be him in a way, along with the bow on her head representing ears like him.

It shows Towa in the modern era, fighting some guys. She's wearing something on trapped onto her back. Could it be her sword, or something else? My wife mentioned that in Japan, open carry of swords is legal.  So I went to double check.

Yes, this is definitely got to be her sword and that she is wearing a sword bag. It has yellow tassels.

I also noticed that there is a symbol at the bottom of her sword bag. It looks like it could be a pinwheel or the Kagome symbol. There are two different versions of the Kagome symbol. 6 pointed and 8 pointed.

"A new wind blows into the Feudal Era." We can see the Dragon symbol on Moroha's sword even more closely. The Dragon is wrapped around an arrow. During the Otakon Live stream Kaoru Wada stated that all three of the girls are the half-demon princesses. Meaning that Moroha would still be called a half-demon regardless of having less demon blood percentage especially during that era. "The Half Demon Princesses are here!"  Moroha is fighting a Mistress Centipede. Is this the same Mistress Centipede from the beginning of InuYasha, that corpse was already in the well? If we remember, Sango has fought Centipede demons before but they weren't a Mistress Centipede. She would be killed for the third time. The Mistress Centipede shown in the trailer has three eyes, while the original one has two.

It shows Hisui, Sango and Miroku's son in his demon slayer armor while riding Kirara. Throwing Hiraikotsu! One thing that stood out to me was the prayer beads around his left arm.

I don't think he has Wind Tunnel but it seems to be a reference to his father Miroku. Considering Miroku has given Kagome prayer beads to wear before. Maybe even Hisui has spiritual powers as well. It also appears that he has Sango's sword as well!

Kohaku, all grown up and he's exactly how I imagined him. It seems like he has a scar on his nose. Maybe it's from wearing his demon slayer mask or from getting cut in a battle. He has the weapon he gets from Toutousai in the last episode of the Final Act. Moroha and Setsuna are battling. Could this be the same waterfall that Kikyou bathed at?

Moroha and Setsuna running off, Towa watching them. A guy knocked out in the background, Spider Lily pattern on the backwall, and a knocked out guy next to where the wall was bashed in. Just like how it was in the first trailer we were shown on the Otakon Live Stream.

Finally, Moroha is using her bow and yes she indeed has priestess spiritual powers like Kagome does! It looks like she's still fighting Mistress Centipede as you can see in the background. The attack is called "Heavenly Arrow Barrage". Similar name to InuYasha's Adamant Barrage.

It shows Setsuna using her Naginata. The Naginata is the weapon that can control wind as stated in her profile when her colors were announced! Much like InuYasha's Bakuryuha, or Kouga's Cyclone. It also reminds me of Sesshoumaru when he was fighting InuYasha inside the Black Pearl at the Inu No Taishou's Grave.

Feudal Fairytale - Yashahime Princess Half-Demon Towa takes out her sword and charges while saying "Setsuna! I'll save you!" Yashahime - Coming this October. October 3rd 2020

When we look at the image that came with the announcement. A few things caught my eye, Kagome and Rin are not seen in the picture. Sesshoumaru and InuYasha are both by the Sacred Tree. Speculating that maybe they're trapped in another dimension, or between times since Root Head was able to take the Goshinboku's power. I wonder if something like this happens, could this give Kagome the ability to not age? I'm still for my theory that she shouldn't age because she wasn't born yet, the same way her items were unaffected by Kaguya in the second movie when she froze time. People think InuYasha is holding something, no that is his forelocks and the shading on the tree. No, there is no secret image in Towa's blue sword attack. But hey we get a better look at Hisui's prayer beads on his arm.

There is a new character, everyone speculates to be Shippou and unsure of the character's gender. Looking at the HD picture.

The character has green eyes, dark red hair and purple eyeshadow. It sort of reminds me of Shippou or Ayame's possible child with Kouga. I would have said it was Takechiyo in a human form since Raccoons and Foxes are known to shape shift. But Takechiyo has blue eyes. It's not Jinenji, has blue eyes - Though I think it could be a new character. Could be boy or girl. Determining their gender is something I'm on the fence about atleast by the physical sight of it. Their body seems flat and rugged with torn sleeves, but wearing makeup. There's alot of males who wear makeup in InuYasha. Their attire also seems to be the kind that is most commonly worn by males. But Towa also is another character that dresses male. This character clearly has a weapon. More than likely a sword. Something that's interesting about this picture is that Towa's sword is shaped like Tessaiga in the picture when she's doing her special attack. It zig zags upward like a staircase into the sky - as if representing time passed. You notice it when you realize the other characters are actually not standing on something.

Seems like we are all looking forward to October 3rd for the airing of Yashahime.  If you want to see more posts about Official InuYasha News, Artworks, Merchandise, my own personal views and analysis on the series - Be sure to subscribe.

[merakiaes]

Happily Ever After - Finn Shelby

Pairing: Finn Shelby x reader

Requested: Yes. 

Prompts: None. 

Warnings/notes: This turned out really long and it’s really bad xD This is part two of “Without A Trace”, which has been heavily requested. I know the whole Changretta vendetta didn’t last four years and that there’s a lot of plot holes in this, but I had to create my own timeline and cut it to an end because it got too long, so it’s not as detailed as I would have wanted it to be. Might come back and add some things in the future but for now, this is it. I hope you like it xx

Wordcount: 6169

Summary: Four years after running away from Small Heath, leaving your families behind in order to continue being together, you and Finn have built a life and started a family of your own in America. After not having heard from Isaiah for a while, he finally gets in touch and lets you know the war with Changretta is over, that your dad and Tommy have made amends and it’s safe to return home. 

Part One - Without A Trace

America was really different from Birmingham, of that much you were sure the second you stepped foot out of the ship that had taken you there.

The whole idea of running away had stressed you out indescribably much already in the moment Finn had first uttered it, and upon arriving at your destination, the anxiety in your chest only intensified.

You had started your new life off with a panic attack in an alley, just crying and shaking and saying that you wanted to go back home, that you never should have left in the first place. But after a long fifteen minutes, Finn had finally managed to calm you down, assured you that he would take care of you, and that you wouldn't die by being on your own like it felt in that moment.

The first two night in America you had spent at a cheap inn, until you managed to get yourself a small apartment with the money you had brought from home – after paying a bank a visit to exchange the currency.

The first week you didn’t do much to actually try to settle down. You ran around and had fun, mostly as a way to push back the thought of your families that you were admittedly already missing dearly.

You went to circuses and carnivals, wandered through the streets hand in hand, but as you didn’t want to waste your money, you had to sneak into most of the places you went.

Everything you had wanted was to see the world with him. Find new places and experience new amazing things. And now you got to do just that.

But it was only fun and games for so long, as you soon realized you would have to settle down for real and find work so that you could continue living like you did.

As Finn hadn’t gone to school since he was six, he didn’t have many qualifications that you needed to work in the big city of New York.

You however, managed to land yourself a job as a dressmaker’s assistant, earning enough money to keep you going while Finn spent his days learning how to read, write and count.

Eventually, he took up studies in economics and landed himself a desk job, and you went on to take over the dressmaker’s business when she passed away a year later.

At this point, you had gotten married. As he had stolen your heart, you only thought it fair that you stole his last name.

You had conceived your first children not long after you took over the business, two girls that you named Victoria and Nelly – twins.

The first few months, when they still needed to be nursed, you brought them with you to work every day.

Luckily, they were very content and sleepy, and never caused too much trouble or disturbed the customers. In fact, as it was mostly women who came into the shop in need of your services, they loved watching over the babies.

Once they got old enough to be fed from the bottle, Finn and yourself started taking turns taking care of them.

Some days, you would take them with you to work, and others, he would stay home with them. And every time he was on baby-duty, you would come home to find him sitting in the sofa with them resting soundly on his chest, sniffing their hair like he had from the first day.

He said they smelled good, and they did. There was really no smell like the one of a baby's head.

A year and a half later, your clothing brand had gotten much bigger, and you now had a big enough income to move to a bigger house, a bit further away from the city life.

You had another baby girl, making her your third, who you named Ines.

Unlike Victoria and Nelly, she was a mess. She cried all the time, wouldn’t sleep during the days nor the nights, and had you pulling at your hair with frustration and exhaustion every day.

But Finn was just so amazing about the entire thing.

Out of the two of you, you were without a doubt the most hardworking one, and he noticed your exhaustion and took care of the girls and the house when you simply didn’t have the energy to.

As you were both up and at it early in the morning to go to work every day, you either took turns or worked together to get the girls ready to go to your neighbor, who took care of them on the days you were both working, but when you got home, you were usually ready to fall asleep the second you set foot inside the doorway, so Finn was the one to put them to bed after you had made dinner together.

Now being able to read, he would read to them every night, all three of them squeezed in between you on Victoria or Nelly’s bed.

You would never admit it, but out of all of you, you were usually the first one to fall asleep, and unbeknownst to you, Finn and the girls would giggle quietly at your light snoring.

Once they were asleep, too, Finn would carefully carry them to their own beds, and then quietly wake you up and lead you to your bedroom where he would help you out of your clothes and then wrap his arms around you as you fell back asleep.

He would have left you to sleep in the girls’ room, but as their beds were really small, you most likely would have fallen out of it in your sleep throughout the night and by doing that woken the others up, and that wasn’t something any of you wanted to happen.

Ines was far too hard to put to bed once she was awake.

Putting them to sleep wasn’t the only thing he did, though. He taught himself to cut and braid their hair, and took you all out on late night strolls on the rare occasion on weekends, where you would gaze at the stars and just sit together on a hill somewhere and make flower crowns and watch the ants on the ground.

Whenever there was a thunderstorm, he would play and build blanket forts with them to distract them from the loud claps of thunder and keep them from crying.

More days than you would have wanted, he was way too nice, letting them have biscuits and tarts for snacks rather than the fruits you urged them to eat.

He just couldn’t say no to them, and you couldn’t get through to them either once he had given them a ‘yes’, because when they were at their best, and their worst, they were truly their daddy’s girls at heart – sweet and considerate, but God, so stubborn.

But you wouldn’t change any of them for the world.

Life had given you a wonderful family, a happy home and love for each other. But most importantly, it brought you together. You were so grateful to have Finn in your life.

He had been there holding your hand on your first date, holding your hands during the birth of your babies, and now he continued to hold your hand through the beautiful thing you called life. You couldn’t imagine anyone else being there to hold your hand.

You adored him with all of your heart and that feeling would never go away. Your children were proof of your love. Your family was the greatest treasure you had. He was your best friend, the father of your children and your hidden strength and you never would have been able to pull through without him.

Your new life was amazing, but ever since you had left Birmingham, you had been plagued by nightmares of your family dying in your absence.

It was always the same dream, all of them lying lifeless on the front step of the house you had lived in in Small Heath, always ending with your mom telling you that you could have saved them if only you hadn’t left.

Finn was there to hold you every time this occurred. He would never fall asleep before you, but rather forced himself to stay awake until he was sure you were soundly sleeping in his arms, and always got up to take care of you whenever you would wake up during the nights, no matter how late it was and no matter how tired he was.

If you couldn’t or didn’t want to fall back asleep, he would lay awake and talk to you until it was time to get up in the morning.

He never tried to promise that he would fix all your problems, but he always promised you that you would never have to face them alone, and you didn’t.

You were a team, and the greatest team anyone had ever seen. Whatever one of you lacked, the other balanced out. Whenever you had a minor setback, you made a major comeback. If you had a bad day, he always promised you a better night. If you needed support, he acted as your backbone.

You were never alone and you couldn’t have been more grateful that he was the one you ended up with against all odds.

You were truly happy, but you still couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain in your chest when you saw him with your daughters.

He was their greatest hero and protector, that much was clear as day in their eyes whenever they looked at him.

He was the greatest father. He scolded them whenever they would break the rules, but he would still always be there to pick them up when they fell.

Any fool could have a child. That didn’t make him a father. It was the courage to raise a child that makes you a father. And even then, any man could be a father, but it took someone special to be a dad.

And the dad he was to them, was exactly who your dad had been to you.

Despite you and Finn never fighting, you would sometimes find yourself stuck in life and when everything went wrong and you were having a bad day, you wished you could have just called your dad so that he could tell you that everything would be okay.

But with the way things were, you couldn’t, and it hurt, no matter how much Finn tried to assure you that the feud your families had would be gone someday.

Because you never believed it.

You knew your dad. He wasn’t one to betray his allies, not for anything or anyone, probably not even for you.

So all you could do was look through the photo albums you had both brought, introducing your daughters to their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins through paper and ink.

You told them about your mom, dad, siblings, uncles and your father’s men who might as well have been family by blood, and Finn told them about his brothers, sister and Aunt Polly.

You weren’t very hopeful that it would ever happen, but if the day actually came that you would be going back, both of you wanted them to be familiar with their families, to make the first meeting as easy as only possible for them.

Unfortunately, you didn’t have a picture of Isaiah, who had made all of this possible. But he called to check up on you once every other week, having to put some time between the calls to not act suspicious and always having to call from a phone box so that Tommy wouldn’t be able to track the phone register.

Because Isaiah had told you that he tracked everything, knowing that someone must have known where you were, but just that he didn’t know who.

Very unlike him, however, he hadn’t called for almost three weeks now, and you were constantly worrying that something might have happened to your family.

You were about ready to give up and go back, when Isaiah finally called you, starting off by apologizing for worrying you.

And it was without a doubt the most shocking call you had ever gotten.

Finn had been the one to pick up the phone, and you had been forced to sit by, chewing on your nails while your daughters ran around your legs playing tag.

You could barely even hear them though, too busy trying to control your anxious breathing and beating heart as you took in the look of utter shock on Finn’s face.

Isaiah had told him that Changretta had invited the Shelbys over for dinner in the purpose of making peace between them as the vendetta and war between their families and business had gone on far too long, but that it had turned out just to be a trick to get them all into the same room without any way to protect themselves, and that he had then brought out the big guns.

That wasn’t what had shocked you the most, however.

What had shocked you the most was the fact that your father hadn’t known anything about his friend’s plan, obviously not seeing as he never would have thought he would be stupid enough to attempt a massacre with women and children in the room, and ended up throwing himself in front of Tommy to save him from a bullet, officially switching sides in the war and declaring himself an enemy of the man he had trusted with his life only moments before.

Everyone had gotten out of there alive. Some shot and some stabbed, but alive. All but Changretta.

When realizing that your father’s men had brought guns of their own and that they had no chance of winning in a gunfight, the Italians had fled and Tommy had then proceeded to put a bullet in between Changretta’s eyes, ending the war for good.

After taking a bullet for Tommy, Isaiah had told Finn, they had grown close and joined together, and only then had Isaiah let them know that he had known where you had been the entire time, to which they had asked him, to ask you, to come home.

You couldn’t believe it. Truly. Your first reaction was to shake your head furiously and refuse, saying that you knew your father and you would not take the risk of going back, terrified that your dad would put a bullet between Finn’s eyes for taking you away from your home.

But Isaiah had sworn on his life that it was truly over, that you could really come home, and you had made arrangements already for the next week, which was where you were now.

Finn had made the grave mistake of letting the girls have biscuits for breakfast on this stressful morning, which was the sole cause of Victoria currently running circles around you in the mudroom as the driver who would be taking you to the train station was loading your luggage into the car.

You had ran into more obstacles than you had originally thought this morning, with Nelly wetting the bed and Ines then throwing a tantrum because you had accidentally packed her comfort blanket into one of the many bags, which had sent you on a rushed mission to dig through every single one of them until you finally found it in the last one.

The train would be leaving in only thirty minutes, and it was stressing you to the point where you couldn’t even button up your own coat.

Finn walked into the mudroom from the kitchen, already dressed in his suit and long black coat with his now slightly longer hair slicked backward, looking as handsome as ever.

He had to stop in his tracks in order to not collide with Victoria as she ran past him with her arms stretched out behind her, and he was chewing on a sandwich, not having gotten the time to have breakfast yet as he had been running around the entire morning making sure everything was in order and that your daughters had everything they would be needing for their travels.

Once Victoria had ran into the kitchen, giving him the clear, he instantly spotted you over by the door, glaring down at your coat while you tugged at the material, your fingers trembling with the stress.

“Let me help you.” He said, swallowing the last of his sandwich and coming over to you, his nimble fingers wasting no time in getting to work on your buttons.

You gazed at him, your entire body getting warm at the concentrated frown on his face, but your attention was soon adverted as Victoria came into the room again, now running around and neighing like a horse.

You let out an exhausted sigh, letting Finn handle it as you moved to put on your gloves.

“Grab your coat, Victoria.” He instructed her as he finished buttoning your coat, but he barely even got a reaction from the three and a half-year-old girl.

She simply ran past him, rushing out a: “No, thank you”, before running the other direction again.

Finn raised an eyebrow, catching her by the shoulders as she ran past him, successfully stopping her in her tracks. “No, thank you?” He inquired. “It’s raining out. You’re wearing a coat whether you want it or not.”

“But I’ll get too warm on the train.” She whined, crossing her arms over her chest and stomping her shoe into the floor.

Finn only chuckled, ruffling her hair. “You can take it off on the train, but if you don’t get into your coat now the train might leave without us.”

As he said this, Victoria’s eyes grew wide and she wasted no time in running over to the coat hanger where she pulled off her navy blue coat, quickly pulling it on and moving on to her hat.

“Where’s Nell and Ines?” You asked Finn, looking through your handbag to make sure you had everything you needed while Finn kneeled down to help Victoria with her buttons like he had done only a moment before with you.

He looked up at you briefly, giving you a soft smile. “They’re already outside.”

“In the rain?” You questioned, immediately frowning.

He finished buttoning Victoria’s coat and let her run off, standing back up to his full height and watching as she ripped open the front door and ran outside, Nelly and Ines now being revealed outside, bent down by a puddle of water.

“Let them play.” Finn told you simply, walking over to you and taking your chin between his fingers. “Water is exciting when you’re little.”

But you could only sigh, hugging your arms around yourself and watching as Victoria ran outside and jumped straight into a puddle, the sight of the water splashing up on her legs making you flinch. “They’ll catch a cold.”

“They’ll be fine.” He shook his head, leaning in closer to your face. “You worry too much.”

He pressed his lips against your lips softly, and you instantly melted into the kiss, your hands moving up to cradle his jaw.

You hummed, answering against his lips in a muffled voice. “Says the man who almost had a heart attack when his daughter fell and scraped her knee.”

He raised his eyebrows, breaking apart from your lips. “That’s not the same thing. There was blood involved.”

You could only snort. “Yeah, barely.” You shook your head, leaning in and giving him another short kiss before walking around him and heading for the front door, Finn not far behind.

While he stayed behind and locked up the door, you walked down the steps of the front of your house and approached your daughters by the puddle, watching as they poked a pinecone around with a stick each, sending it floating back and forth.

Finn came up behind you, wrapping an arm around your waist and watching with you.

Nelly leaned her face closer to the puddle, narrowing her eyes at the pinecone slightly. “If it floats, does that mean it’s a witch?” She asked, to which you had to refrain from facepalming.

Beside you, Finn chuckled, shaking his head. “This isn’t Salem, so no. Now say goodbye to the pinecone and get in the car.”

They said nothing, only dropping their sticks into the puddle and standing back up, running towards the car while giggling and Nelly and Victoria holding Ines’s hands to keep her from falling over like she had so many times before.

Watching them climb into the car with the help of the driver who had been waiting by the door, you crossed your arms over your chest, watching them. 1

“I hate to say this-” You started, shaking your head and watching as Nelly stuck her tongue out at Ines, to which the youngest out of the three reached out to grab it. “But our daughter is a terrible human being.”

Finn laughed quietly, leaning his head down to kiss your neck. “She just has a vivid imagination.”

You rolled your eyes, but the corner of your lips still tugged upwards at the feeling. “You shouldn’t have read them that book about the Salem witches.” You told him, and he instantly brought his face away from your neck, looking at you with an insulted expression.

“I thought it was a children’s book.” He defended, to which you only raised a playful eyebrow.

“One would think you would realize that it’s not when they start vividly describing the smell of burnt flesh.”

“What is it with you and nitpicking?” He asked, earning himself another eye-roll.

“That’s not nitpicking, Finn.”

But nonetheless, you stood on your tippy-toes to kiss his lips before walking over to the car, Finn following behind and helping you up before getting in himself, the driver closing the door behind him and wasting no time in getting into the driver’s seat and starting to drive to the train station.

You reached your destination in a little under twenty minutes, with a few minutes to spare before the train would be taking off. Finn paid the driver for the ride and for him to get your bags situated, and you got onto the train and found your seats.

Nelly and Finn sat on one side of the table, and Ines wasted no time in getting into his lap, while Victoria sat next to you on the other side, leaning into your side and sucking on her thumb, looking out the window tiredly as she waited for the train to start moving, appearing to have come down from her sugar-high.

Ines was already sleeping in Finn’s arms, her blanket hugged tightly against her chest, and Nelly was playing with the rings on Finn’s fingers, his arm thrown around her shoulders in a protective manner.

“Do the wheels on the cars get dizzy from spinning so much?” She asked absentmindedly, and you instantly smiled, quietly sitting back and watching the scene unfold in front of you.

“I don’t know.” Finn answered, looking down at her. “I’ve never thought about it.”

She hummed, twisting his wedding band around his finger. “Maybe you should.”

“Maybe.” He snickered, turning to look at you once he was sure she wouldn’t say anything else.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, and you only put on a fake smile, letting out a nervous laugh.

“My dad is going to kill us. I’m so excited.” You said, and he gave you a comforting smile, reaching his other hand over the table to take yours in his.

He rubbed his thumb over your knuckles soothingly. “Isaiah said he changed.” He tried assuring you, and you smiled gently at him, appreciating his attempt.

“I know.” You agreed quietly. “But after almost four years of being on our own, it just seems so surreal that everything is just… suddenly fine.”

He nodded his head in understanding but didn’t get the time to say anything else as Victoria spoke up from underneath your arm.

“Are we going to meet uncle Arthur now?” She asked, and you nodded.

“Yes, darling.” You confirmed. “And uncle John and uncle Tommy.”

Nelly stopped playing with Finn’s rings, looking up at him. “I want to meet uncle Arthur first.” She said. “You like him the most.”

“I like them all equally as much.” He said, using his thumb to brush away a crumb from her cheek, without a doubt from the cookies he had given them despite your protests.

“No, you like him the most.” She disagreed, grabbing a hold of his hand again.

You chuckled. “Don’t let the others let you hear that, darling.” You said, raising your eyebrows slightly at her when she turned to look at you. “It’s not nice to have favourites.”

A playful grin grew on her face, and she nodded her head, dragging her fingers over her lips to symbolize a zipper, locking it and then throwing away the invisible key.

She looked up at Finn then, questioning. “Can I sleep?”

He smiled, brushing his hand over her hair. “Of course.” He answered, and she smiled, immediately letting her head hit the side of his chest, bringing her legs up on the seat and getting comfortable.

“I love you, daddy.” She said.

“I love you too.” He answered, and although your heart swelled at her words, you raised a teasing eyebrow.

“What about momma?” You inquired. “Doesn’t momma get any love?”

She giggled but didn’t open her eyes as she answered. “I love you more than the stars in the sky, mommy.”

A prideful smirk made its way to your lips, your eyes flickering to meet Finn’s who was already staring at you, knowing very well what was coming.

“You hear that?” You asked, mocking him. “More than the stars in the sky.”

He chuckled, shaking his head with a smirk to match your own. “Don’t start a competition you won’t win.”

Just then, the train lurched to a start, cutting your conversation to an end.

No more words were spoken the entire train ride, the girls all falling asleep quickly and you as well, only waking up when Finn called your name to let you know you had reached the docks from which you would be taking the ship back to Birmingham.

It was a long way back, even longer so than you remembered, but after a total of six days, you were standing on British soil again, ready to go home.

Although you weren’t really ready. Not completely. The car ride to your house was so slow, torturous and thick with anxiety you could barely breathe.

Beside you, Finn and the girls were all joking and playing around, not seeming to be affected in the slightest as they played tug of war with Ines’s blanket, up until the point where the seam burst and Finn had to take it away to prevent it from being completely ripped in half.

The ride from the cut to your house was about ten minutes long, and despite the fact that you had been thinking quietly to yourself the entire time there, your thoughts were nowhere near collected by the time the car came to a stop and you barely even got any time to react before the door had been opened from the outside and Finn had abandoned your daughters to step out.

Through the door, you could make out Isaiah approaching and watched as he and Finn hugged in greeting. And then he noticed you, watching them with a smile resting on your lips.

As they parted, Finn turned back to the car and held out his hand, looking you in the eyes and nodding his head as a way to say that everything was going to be okay.

With a deep breath, you reached out and put your trembling hand in his, instantly feeling comforted by his warmth.

The first thing you noticed when stepping out of the car was the cold air pulling at your hair, and the second was the gleeful sound coming from the house, your mother coming running in your direction while holding her skirts up.

You barely got the time to let go of Finn’s hand and take a step forward before her body had collided into yours, her arms wrapping around you with such strength you could barely breathe.

But as the familiar scent of her hair invaded your senses, you couldn’t bother to care, tears instantly prickling your eyes as she cried into your ear.

“Oh, my sweet baby. My sweet, sweet baby.” She sobbed into your neck, and you had to squeeze your eyes shut as the tears started falling down your face, too.

“Hi, mom.” You whispered back, thankfully managing to keep your calm with Finn’s warm hand rubbing your back soothingly.

Your mom broke away from you and wasted no time in taking your face into her hands, beginning to pepper you with kisses.

Behind you, Finn had taken Ines into his arms, bringing her out of the car, and Isaiah was helping Victoria and Nelly out by their hands, laughing at them as they jumped down the steps.

Your mom instantly spotted them over your shoulder and a hand came up to cover her mouth in shock.

“Oh, they’re so big! They look just like you!” If she hadn’t already been crying before, she certainly was now.

Finn came up beside you with Ines sitting on his hip, hugging her blanket close to her chest, her thumb in her mouth and watching your mom with wide, curious eyes.

Nelly and Victoria left Isaiah and came to stand by your sides, and you put a hand on each of their heads.

“This is Nelly, Victoria and Ines.” You introduced, and Finn carefully bent down to put Ines feet on the ground, urging her forward.

“Say hello to your grandmother.” He spoke softly, and they did as told, speaking in unison.

“Hello.”

Victoria hid shyly behind your leg, but Nelly wasn’t shy at all, pointing at your mom’s neck. “I like your necklace.”

At that, she let out a hearty sob and bent down opening her arms. “Oh, come here and give me a hug!”

They wasted no time, all of them running into her embrace and you could only thank God that you had spent so many times showing them pictures, telling them stories and familiarizing them to their relatives, or else Ines would have for sure been crying by now, not being very fond of strangers.

Finn wrapped an arm around your waist, and it was only then you realized that everyone else, your entire families, had now gathered on the doorstep of your house and were watching you from afar.

The first two people you noticed were your dad and Tommy, standing at the very front, side by side and looking as if they had been best friends their entire lives.

The sight of them made you tense up with panic, and Finn noticed immediately, leaning his head down to press a comforting kiss to your temple.

“I won’t leave your side. Everything will be fine.” He assured you, and you nodded, giving a shaky breath and taking his hand in yours.

He lifted Ines back up into his arms, without ever letting go of your hand, while Victoria grabbed your hand and Nelly grabbed your mom’s, Isaiah walking behind and all of you heading in the direction of the house where everyone was waiting for you.

Polly was the first one forward, having a very similar reaction as your mother at seeing her youngest nephew, rushing forward and wasting no time in bringing him into a hug.

“Hello, aunt Pol.” He greeted with a smile, having to bend down in order to be able to put his chin on her shoulder.

Polly didn’t say anything, only moving on to your and surprisingly pulling you into an embrace as well, before starting to fuzz over Ines.

And just like that, everyone had stepped forward to greet each other, and Nelly wasted no time, having no shame in her body whatsoever and calling out over the happy chatter from her grandmother’s side.

“Where’s uncle Arthur?!”

“Oh my God…” You mumbled under your breath, having to bring your hand up to cover your face as you laughed, everyone else with you.

So caught up in the emotional moment and probably already a bit drunk, Arthur emerged from the crowd of family and friends and threw his arms out.

“Here I am!” He exclaimed, and Nelly instantly started giggling, ripping her hand out of your mom’s and running into his arms, letting him pick her up.

You greeted your brothers, your uncles, Finn’s family and friends, everyone gushing over how beautiful your children were and how much they looked like you and Finn.

Polly and your mom were crying side by side, one louder than the other, over the fact that they had missed so much, reality really catching up with them now that you were standing in front of them more grown-up than ever.

Soon enough, there was only one person you hadn’t yet said a word to, and you eyes instantly found him standing right by the stairs where he had been standing the entire time, his eyes watching you nervously.

“Dad.” A sad smile instantly made its way onto your lips, and you wasted no time in running for him, letting him take you into your arms, the anxieties you had had before arriving now as good as gone.

He hugged you close, burying his face into your neck.  “I’m sorry, darling.” He spoke into your neck. “I’m sorry for driving you away.”

You only shook your head, not being able to stop smiling. “It wasn’t your fault.” You assured him, and he took a deep breath, getting ready to speak again.

But before he could get another word out, another voice cut in from behind you.

“No, it was mine.”

You instantly recognized the voice of Tommy, breaking apart from your dad and turning around to face him with wide eyes.

“I owe you both an apology for my way of acting all those years ago, but you more so than anyone, (Y/N).” He admitted calmly. “I was wrong about you and your family and I understand it will take time for everything to get back to normal, but will you forgive me?”

You looked at him for a moment, shocked. You knew an apology had be bound to come sooner or later, but you hadn’t expected it to come this soon and this easy, because Tommy was everything but easy.

But you quickly shook yourself back to reality, a smile rising to your lips. “Of course.” You said. “The past is in the past. I’m just happy you’re all alive and well.”

He smiled back, a wide and genuine smile, and much to yours and probably everyone’s surprise, you met each other in an embrace.

“Thank you for taking care of him.” Tommy mumbled into your hair, but you could only shake your head slightly.

“He’s the one who took care of us.”

You smiled and he squeezed you tight before the two of you broke apart to the sound of howling laughter and your daughter yelling out at the top of her lungs.

“Mommy, mommy, look at me!” Nelly yelled, pulling at your attention. “I’m taller than you now!”

Your head turned in the direction of her voice, and you found her sitting on Arthur’s shoulders, Arthur jumping around like an absolute mad man.

“Oh, God.” You and Polly swore in unison, watching the scene unfold before you with worry settling in your stomachs.

Finn was laughing along with his and your brothers, bouncing Ines on his hip, but he still shook his head, watching his brother and daughter with a careful eye.

"Please don’t drop her.” He begged, and Arthur instantly whipped around to face him, Nelly letting out another gleeful laugh at the quick movements and holding on to her uncle’s head for dear life.

“Have you no faith in me, brother?” Arthur yelled back, but Finn didn’t get the time to answer, because the second after those words had left his lips, he stumbled on the stairs and went falling to the ground.

You yelled out in fright, but John luckily caught Nelly before Arthur hit the gravel, and everyone erupted into laughter while you had to grab at your chest in order to calm your beating heart, taking a moment to calm down before rushing forward to tell your daughters playtime was over until they got inside.

Everyone was laughing and some still crying, everyone was hugging, some reuniting and others meeting for the first time.

But there was no guilt in your body upon seeing your family again like you would have thought because you realized quickly that they understood why you had run away in the first place, that Isaiah hadn’t been lying when he said everything was fine and that it had been safe to return and finally get your happily ever after.

Tagged: @joebob15274​