#he would be even more powerful when he died istg

[ifonlyicouldbeastar]

nico is the most powerful demigod to exist ever

[prismaticpichu]

(Inspired by an ask recently sent to the lovely @altocat!!)

I kinda have an… interesting perspective on the “Jenova controlling Sephiroth during Nibelheim” debate x3

While I do think the whole thing is objectively nebulous (as in we’re intentionally supposed to be left without a clear-cut answer), I do believe that Sephiroth was indeed himself at Nibelheim. I do believe he was the one who chose to kill the townspeople, set Nibelheim ablaze, and did believe think—amid self-induced, sleepless delirium—that Jenova was his mother.

HOWEVER!! I also believe that, although Sephiroth was the one driving the car at Nibelheim, that his emotions were coming from his own brain and anger, Jenova had the capability to 100% control him under completely different circumstances. Something important to remember is that Sephiroth was completely alone for 7 days in a row, slowly degrading in his own right as he read book after book after book after book… Books that ripped apart his world, stabbed him in the back, told him in brutal, endless detail that the fundamental threads of his world were a lie. A lie. And this was all after Genesis—his friend, his rival, his enemy—cut the wound right open in the first place, after Angeal had died, after Zack had seemingly forgot about him… and after Sephiroth forgot about him, too. He had no one left. He had nothing in his world to live for. He had no friends. He had no one who cared. He had no dreams. He had no aspirations, no hope, no comfort…

He had nothing.

Nothing, of course, but a false painting of his Mother.

BUTBUTBUT… what if these weren’t the circumstances that Sephiroth was in? What if he wasn’t alone? What if, instead of leaving him alone, Zack was there? What if he refused to leave? What if they talked, vented? What if it wasn’t even Zack who did it—what if it was, I dunno, Tifa?? Or Cloud?! Or just Sephiroth himself pulling himself together a little?

What if… what if he was okay?

ISTG THIS ISN’T JUST SOME FIX-IT POST LOL, I HAVE A POINT xDDD And that point is, should Sephiroth have recovered even the slightest bit from the Reactor visit rather than immediately falling into an irreversible rabbit hole of despair, I DO think Jenova would’ve pushed back harder. I DO think we would have seen more of a struggle on Sephiroth’s end; I DO think, overall, that Jenova woulda been more in the picture had she needed to be, had Sephiroth not been left to his own devices with no one to stop him from utterly destroying himself from the inside out. I think we definitely woulda seen more things in a similar vein to how he clutched his head/struggled against some kinda invisible pull in the Reactor (when, remember, he still had something by his side…) x,3

Obv, LOL, this is more headcanon territory than anything, and I’m not gonna sit here and pretend there’s a game where Sephiroth is saved in the library xD Nibelheim is Nibelheim, and things played out the way they did x3 But I do ultimately think Jenova has more power than we give her credit for, and definitely could have fully brainwashed Sephiroth had she needed to. She just didn’t… didn’t LOL, bc the guy was broken enough at the time as it was.

[coffeesleep-ooc]

Essay on heartbreak points

Just thinking of LBH pining over SQQ along the novel before he finally gets the man

Pre-abyss LBH wants SQQ, but the thing i see in him is not just wanting him, carnally sexually or otherwise, he wants SQQ’s attention and approval bc he admires him, its as simple as that. Og goods already had his admiration just bc he was a great cultivator, he was elegant and beautiful and worked hard af, it was like…if a polished stone like jade was used to hurt rather than be the soft, warm and flawless concept of beauty - that chinese media usually uses -. But then the cold showed a soft inner core! Yes! Our dear transmigrator took over and confused the hell out of t he poor LBH that still struggled to excuse SJ’s behavior. Then though, SY took care of him with love and with smiles, using mdoern sensibilities to measure things like care and affection…and I think that some of those discrepancies between a hellish setting and a soft oblivious SY must have been quite jarring to LBH. He sees someone that believes in inherent good and is passionate and silly, knowledgeable and kind, and can’t help but want to be close! He admires him so much!!

Still pre-abyss, not only LBH admires the heck out of SY, he is also his shizun, and i don’t forget about his teacher kink but im talking about the dynamics of it instead of anything sexual. LBH knows and firmly believes that his position is way below that of SQQ’s, he is protected and cared for, but he longs to protect and care for as well right? Because he has seen that SQQ is powerful but not above everything, because he is knowledgeable but not all-seeing, because he may be taken advantage of by someone crafty that doesn’t deserve his kindness. LBH pretends to fall and be weak and helpless when it’s convenient for him, but he knows he has to take every advantage he can bc he needs to be strong enough to protect SQQ, because the world has shown him that there are many dangers and that someone not of a peak lord’s status isn’t worth to marry (idk how much about this airplane would have put into his work, but lets remember that ancient chinese marriages were a very foemal and important thing that involved status and wealth, not just love). Let’s remember our bun has also been a street rat and probably saw many things at one point or another! We can only speculate and write fics about that last point, but the street is not a good place to be, especially in a PIDW setting. Also, bc he wasn’t strong enough, quick enough, bc his family had no power or money his mother died, it’s as hurtful and as plain as that for him, even if he knows (does he though?) that it’s not his fault.

Onwards to the abyss! It’s shit. That’s what it is. Shizun who he admires, respects and loves above everything, who told him that nobody was intolerable for the heavens went against every fucking shit he said and coldly forced LBH into the abyss. What the actual fuck SQQ (affectionate), you gave him so many issues fr. I can only imagine how confused the poor LBH must have felt when his Shizun yet again changed tune like this in a way he can’t fully explain this time, even more so, he could try, but it wouldn’t change the fact that LBH is currently in the worst place ever because the person he loves with his whole heart threw him there (and possibly wanted him to stay down there? to become one of its creatures? To die? He has no idea???). LBH has strived to be good, to be worthy in his teacher’s eyes since he entered the sect and he has just gotten proof that he isn’t and will never be even though he had the hope of getting there despite everything. It’s just filled with heartbreak and i think that the system only deducted SQQ’s current total points bc he literally had to die to be deducted any more and LBH can’t have him dead and the system knows that extremely well! It also gave SQQ a scenario push remember? And that was only for LBH’s benefit istg, SQQ had no idea.

and talking about death! Funny thing isn’t it? It’s ridiculous that SQQ dies so many times (srsly bro, wtf - again affectionate) but I believe that the first was the most traumatic for LBH. SQQ doesn’t sneer at him like a disgusting mucus but instead is afraid of him! LBH worked hard to just see SQQ again, to reunite the courage to talk to him and ask him if he regretted what he did, to show him he was a good person and that he had power now, that he could impress him and protect him (he has lost a lot of his own self-esteem base and i do believe that’s part of where heartbreak points come from) the person whom he values the opinion of the most -the only one even- thinks him a beast and an unredeemable demon…and when he tries to peove himself not that, the only thing SQQ does is run away from him, to decide to be silent and refuse even LBH’s (biased) kindness. He wouldn’t even take LBH’s robe! Imagine that you love someone and that someone hates your guts and refuses to even acknowledge that they hurt you, oh, and all this while an evil sword is fighting to take advantage of your negative feelings. Post-abyss is also shit, just a bit better bc LBH has the illusion of control, he thinks he can still control the situation and is slowly losing hope of shizun understanding him. But the illusion shatters when SQQ self-detonates to save him. The one he supposedly hates. LBH is probably just eternally confused in sv now that i think about it lmao *pats consolingly*

post death 1 (actually 2 for SY): LBH thought he knew shizun, then he realized he couldn’t explain everything shizun did. Then he tried to ask, not even for a full explanation, just to know if shizun really did hate him (bc LBH truly doesn’t care at that point what SQQ does or what SQQ’s reasons and actions were as long as he still loves him, smhw he is so…) and got instead a blow up in his face, coupled with other ppl’s accounts of SQQ mourning him like he was actually truly dead, missing him and finally he sees SQQ sacrificing himself for him. This surely must be enough fpr LBH right? Well…not really, SQQ could have been sacrificing himself to protect the ppl around him - LQG is there and we all know that LBH is mildly sus of him at this point, it will get worse later when LQG is the one coming by every fucking day to retrieve SQQ’s corpse so mhm…its possible LBH thought they had something (not necessarily romantic) at some point, or that LQG and the other ppl were important enough to sacrifice his life for. Not only that, but shizun was not rejoicing when he came back, he never said anything. He killed himself in everyone’s pov -but SQH’s-without explanation, in the most tragic and confusing way of all, saying he would repay LBH…lets also remember that repaying someone can mean completely cutting ties and leaving with a clean slate. And the only actual thing he did was show LBH he didn’t have actual control over the situation and that it was possible to be completely powerful and still lose the ones you love and care about. Idk (or don’t remember haha…) the moment LBH started building the bamboo house in the demonic realm, but it says a lot about what he wants and what he dreams about, the most probable things he is feeling at this point is desperation and melancholy, nostalgia. He longs for the days where he was secure in the knowledge of Shizun’s affection for him, no matter what kind of affection it was, but at the same time is bittersweet because he knows that shizun will never love him foe who he is and that drives him mad with heartbreak that is just building up over time. He will also feel incredibly guilty over SQQ repaying him with his life, because all he ever wanted was basic communication but Shen ‘i am so emotionally repressed i can’t even tell what I’m actually feeling’ Qingqiu obviously thought he was being hunted for revenge. So rip LBH, he wanted an explanation or just a simple ‘i regret it’ but what he gets is confusion, a corpse he has to reanimate asap, and incredible guilt + more damage to his self esteem

Then SQQ comes back and doesn’t even try to search fpr him? And everything becomes a huge mess quite quickly. But. Luo Binghe watches his shizun go back to his martial family and interact with them in a way that he doesn’t interact with LBH anymore. LBH gets his face rubbed with the fact that what he strongly wishes for (going back) is impossible because he made the mistake of being born. Which, would demoralize the strongest of us honestly. And uta been so long since i read sv that I don’t remember much, but im sure that LBH can’t even think that SQQ does care for him, the trauma and insecurity, the abandonment issues have grown so big that they are like a bull in a china shop, ready to shatter everything in short range. Its only when SQQ gives his life (LBH does not know this but he is aware that SQQ would not have used papapa to save the world with just everyone) and gives him something he kept for so long - and that LBH himself thinks is precious despite being worthless - that he understands a bit that shozun may not hate him so much. I’m surprised that heartbreak points weren’t so used or that we didn’t get reminded of them through the story, because it would have given us an inkling of how LBH was feeling, but also spoilers and SQQ’s obliviousness, i imagine that at the end of sv they would have been lower than what they were (in truth) at the IAC but not completely gone

finally, i think that heartbreak points could be used to gauge how traumatized poor LBH was at eaxh point in time, but also to measure the state of his self esteem and the level of hope he had according to the way SQQ acted along the novel. I think that the points were all gone at some point (i eont remember anymore -cries- ) but i fullly believe that post canon Binghe still has heartbreak points and a whole lot of issuws that start to slowly disappear as thwir relationahip progresses. The only thing is that LBH still ties his own worth to SQQ’s opinion of him, and he will have heartbreak points again if he misunderstands SQQ st any point (unlikely but still).

Anyways…

THIS POOR BABY BREAKS MY HEART! He was terrible but he was also very human and truly, he deserves good.

Sorry about the rambling essay! :D

[braemjeorn]

spoiler alert first, but is nobody going to talk about shin cha-il's career track?

right then, i will. because what are his lucks that he can move companies consistently, with only like a month's gap in between? in this economy?

if you look closely, his position on the 2011 section is daeri, assistant manager, like moon who shares seojin and hansoo's desk. if you're a fresh graduate employee, you need 4 years to get that position. so if cha-il started working in 2006, it's pretty on track. how though!??

what are the odds that a certain company has an empty assistant manager or deputy manager spot for him to fill? what are his strategies? does he bounce around korea from gyeonggi to busan and daegu then seoul like that? or is seoul packed enough for such high chances of re-employment? did he just creep higher through the company sizes? till he reached something as conglomerate as JU? is man just so driven for that one purpose, God just lets things work out for him?

i heard that it's so hard to quit in japan but not sure what's the culture in korea - a resignation letter to the highest power and that's it? i heard an american youtuber said that when she quit she still has to stay 3 months before physically leaving the position... so honestly sir, how? wouldn't you need at least a 30-day notice before you leave?

and does he just take sabbaticals for a month after he thinks he's swept the place clean? and people just come and ask him to join their company? shin's magnet istg

i mean at some point i'm sure he might have been mentioned in the news for toppling someone powerful - even if just once in the whole news, it would have been enough marketing for his "freelancer" career - and the headcannon is sewoong heard about him and just goes here's my card, i need you for my company, do what you must?

was sewoong smugly thinking he would not get caught and all that day… huh.

also was thinking about his oersonality a lot, and that this man's perseverance is because he never got over his father's loss. i would say trauma but I don't want to use that word lightly and i'm not sure, but here's my argument:

like i don't think mental health might be attended much back in the early 2000s as it is today so him loosing his dad might have killed so much of himself - man's not just broken. add the humongous the self-blame to that and you get an intentional 180 degree change in a man.

so he grows more insistent and more ruthless about finding out the truth and in the process just just grows colder, and colder and colder in his insistence to capture the one embezzling money.

i do wonder if he was as warm as hansoo, with his father at least (did he saw himself in the boy?) because that little scene with yoon mikyung when they're younger showed that he's not a man of many emotions. very pragmatic and practical, but perhaps - no, surely - he had dreams and hopes as well? a littlr more optimistic about the world? based on this little statement of romanticism here, and that all just died with his dad.

back on his practical pragmatisim - he doesn't smile much with mikyung (well there could be other factors like him just tolerating her crush but still) makes me think he doesn't (like never) get social cues that well, overcome by his brilliance. the bombastic side eyes we get was hilarious though. shin ha kyun you genius.

or maybe his humour is just crippled after some 30 years of chosen distrust that he just...

he tried tho. don't we love him.

(also seojin and hansoo both have eye smiles i noticed cuTIESS)

[spotaus]

HEY!

It is me!

I had a thought concerning New Age AU :D

I spend some time thinking about waht you said.

That the castle Nightmare (and dream and their family) lived in. The royal castle.

Is the tree of emotions.

So. So hear me out.

I wonder that. if the castle is the tree. does that mean it may be a bit sentient.

You said that nightmare can easily change it because he is conencted to it (the apple ritual) but i wonder if the castle itself is kinda sentient.

And VERY mad about how its powers got used.

Maybe the story of the twins. OG story. is connected to the prophecy. But it was a warning.

It was a warning to remain united. To trust your family and to listen to them when they ask for help. To believe them when they notice things about people youdon't notice.

To warn away from going out on your own. warnign away from searching for power that you shouldnt take. (the apples were never suposed to be eaten after all.)

And of those twins the one who ate the apple actually succeed in killing their twin. that the grieve of that moment intensified the emotions based power source into overdrive which caused the one who ate the apple to even gain godlike abilities.

the whole prophecy was a warning.

The royal family that settled in this place. found the story. found the tree (having recovered after the twin who ate the apple died) and instead of seeing a warnign. saw a to do list.

The lessons they took:

power makes you undefeatable

the power makes you stay in control

the best way to gain this power? eat an apple and kill someone important to you.

attachment is a weakness waiting to be used to grow more powerful.

sadly after they grabbed and misused one apple? they got paranoid. if they can use the tree to gain power others can too! so they cut the tree down. and to make sure it could never grow back. build the castle on top of it.

Meaning there is only ONE apple. the one consumed by the one true ruler. and the ruler neeeds to willingly summon their apple/soul to give to eat to the new ruler. to pass on the forbidden knowedge and power through lessons and traditions.

over time the trees influence took over the castle. but because the ruler ate the apple and has a direct connection they can still control the castle.

the tree/castle watches as nightmare broke the cycle. as nightmare refused to hurt ccino (adn so his brother) nightmare, even through fear chose love and trust.

the castle willingly helps and protects nightmare.

and when nightmare lost the apple's power? officially breaking that godforsaken cycle? the castle is just more protective. thorn now protect the castle and the trees around it hide it.

this is of course. lost knowledge. the royal family made sure to destroy the knowledge in fear of someone standing against them.

but nightmare managed to break it still.

and maybe... just maybe... now somewhere deep in the castle. deep underground as a forgotten meadow deep underground. in a beautiful little cave. a new tree starts to grow to truly help heal the land.

haha sorry this got long again lmao.

but yeah! If you have the tree/castle kinda sentient you can have that the very land was trying to sabotage the old rulers but couldn't do a lot because of the one apple's power and so having to listen.

it would be the source of all that powerful magic.

Ough. It SO is slightly sentient.

Ancha once again you have obliterated me w/ ur storytelling istg-

Okay. I love that this info has been lost completely to time. Like. The only one that's aware is the tree/castle itself.

I think the interpretation I like here is that, the stump is somewhere within the grounds, maybe even in the treasury or armory, but the *roots* make up the building kinda cypress tree style, so as they cut down the tree, the once vibrant life in the old roots turned to stone and was left almost completely powerless. (I am, unfortunately, a sucker for the idea that there was a time that *someone* treated the tree with respect 😔) (Also hense the new young tree sprout growing out of the ground deep in a hidden cavern, because the roots relocated the power to a safer location.)

The castle, desperately grasping for that power back, so no one might mis-use it ever again. And then seeing Nightmare resist its twisted urges (like u said) in the name of love and care? It rips that power away the moment it loses its hold on Nightmare, and takes the seeds of magic away from harm's reach. But... Nightmare isn't upset by the loss. He doesn't go digging to get the power back. He... doesn't dig for *any* power.

Less blood is shed in vain on its land, more plants and ecosystems are allowed to thrive.

And gods, just the idea that the castle grows up plants and trees to better defend itself abd the people inside? This reaction is spontanious and Night assumes it connects to the state of the magic leaving him, but it doesn't harm anyone so ehhh. But the tree is trying to encourage and protect those who helped it without knowing...

And dude the whole story of the og story and both twins dying and then a family misconstrued that entire story into one of power and consumption and betrayal??? Waughhh it's beautiful....

I'm losing my mind here at the storybook level magical healing and forgiveness and learning lessons, I love it so so dearly <3

[generouskittentidalwave]

Go Astro Boy Go is pretty deeply detailed, now hear me out-

Now I'm gonna talk about Go Astro Boy Go for a minute and hyper analyse it because Istg there is so much hints and details the show is giving us that is going incredibly unnoticed by the public and I WON'T HOLD IT IN ANY LONGER

Now it can't be an Astro Boy story with out his major character trait of being a robot replacement of a dead kid, but in the more kid shows of Astro I find that the way they keep it in is by not denying it, but rather not bringing it up while giving subtle hints to the older audience that it did in fact happen. And Go Astro Boy Go DOES IN FACT do this but I NEVER see it talked about so here we go.

For example, Dr Oshay (called Dr. Elephun in the show) has a piece of tech for Astrokitty that allows him to shut of certain systems that he has. Such as sense of smell and other attributes. Yet, for some reason, he doesn't have one for Astro, despite him very much needing it at times like when his heat vision went off the rails and Dr Elephun had no idea how to either fix or stop it, meaning he doesn't know all that much about Astro or was the one who truly created him, because if he did he would've been able to stop the problems immediately.

Now going into the big stuff, the Dr Tenma centered episode (who is called Dr. Fusion in the show). First thing we are given is a picture of Elephun and Fusion in their younger years, it seems like Fusion was irritated that his anti-matter project flopped compared to Elephun's winning project, and in the background we also see a little teaser of Astro and Astro Kitty, most likely still a work in progress seeing as how much older Dr Elephun currently is in the series when the two are officially active and out in about.

Now, when it comes to Dr. Fusion his outfit and design is a direct Easter egg to the 2003 Astro Boy anime. This is very important as in that iteration Dr. Tenma created Astro to replace Tobio, and ended up abandoning Tobio leaving him to be found by Dr Oshay later on and brought back with his past memories of him being Tobio buried inside him. Not fully gone, but incredibly buried.

I have a strong feeling Astro and Astro Kitty were a project the two worked on in the background, most likely Dr Elephun created Astro Kitty as a companion for Astro after Dr. Fusion built Astro, especially when in past iterations Elephun is especially known for giving Astro robotic companions to keep him company. Most likely something happened, Fusion abandoned Astro, and Elephun brought him back along with Astro Kitty.

This would explain how despite thdetail younger, Astro and Astro Kitty are around in the pic. Most likely Astro was officially powered up, as Tobio, and was raised by Fusion as Tobio for a good while until the fall out happened and Fusion abandoned Astro for a good while until he was picked up and restarted by Elephun, with no memories of his past lives before. That would explain what happened during the time jump and why all three kids have zero idea of anything that happened. Astro was reborn (for a third time 💀) Astro Kitty had no idea Astro existed beforehand, and Suzu most likely wasn't even around until much later.

The way they implement this is genuinely very clever, because they most likely could've gone all the way if the situation wasn't complicated. They have no fear saying things can be killed and that things die and can be hurt to the point they die, but explaining how a kid died via hit by truck and was brought back as a robot by a grieving mad scientist is A LOT more morally complicated and gray, so they had to make due the best they can and I thought it was pretty well done and I thought it deserved to be brought into light more.

And as extra info, something I especially noticed in Dr. Fusion's debut episode is that when he meets Astro he avoids interacting with him, only really interacting fully with Suzu or Astro Kitty. Yet, his gaze is almost always on Astro, and when Astro talks to him he falters at random times but brushes it off and moves on. I just find these small subtle details to be pretty neat!

[bbgliker-teehee]

thoughts on ep 8 (huge spoilers):

-the only thing i had a good laugh at was katie killjoy's "congratulations for charlie and her crew for not being fucking useless for once", and nifty killing adam.

- was alastor's use of the word "fuck" supposed to be intimidating?? it just... ruins his character imo. pilot al would never.

- i despise charlie in that ep ngl. you're the princess of hell, and yet you're completely useless? i swear if she actually stepped up, we could've finally had a female character achieve something, but no. charlie is a baby, and lucifer had to come save her. she had no growth at all. maybe finally tossing the "kind" act to save the people she loves, but no. even pentious dying didn't do anything to her in terms of useful enragement or power. vanny (god, i refuse to call her vaggie) had a whole arc on ep 7 about fighting for the people she loves and how the thought of losing that should empower her, and it did. but with charlie, she just stayed the same. fuck, even angel had more development even if it also doesn't make sense (he is still chained to val and not free, nothing has changed) you can definitely tell viv plays favorites. also, dazzle died and she just?? doesn't acknowledge it???? and "dad pls stop adam has had enough 🥺". he. literally. slaughterd. thousands. of. sinners. for. eternity. what. is. your. issue. you're all about "my people shouldn't be slaughtered" and then defend the guy who is directly responsible.

-its so madly disappointing that in H*B the other sins get over-complicated and large designs when enraged and charlie is just. tail & horns. i like lucifers a tiny bit more but even the literal ruler of hell has a weak "beast" form. also how can they have a whole hellborn species directly referencing baphomet (the candle demons) and then lucifer literally has the horns & the flame too???

- ofc lilith is bad. bet she made a deal to stay in paradise and away from adam.

- "hey one of your patrons died. lets build a new hotel"

- more V's in season 2? oh god. please do one tying right and kill val off. or put him in suffering for all eternity. best thing: angel takes over, kills him, and becomes an overlord replacing val. istg since angel is still stuck i wouldn't be surprised if they did something like episode 4 again.

- i desperately wanted to like something about this show, but its impossible...

sorry for the insane long rant...

The finale was just a big old nothing Burger to me honestly...

Hell, just to be nice I was gonna name something interesting that I actually liked and I couldn't name anything lol

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Kim Dokja Propaganda

he canonically dies seven times <3 he's tried and avoided dying even more than that. multiple characters in text have asked him to stop dying.

He literally plans his own death out and then gets surprised when it happens and people react to him dying he's so stupid I love him

he does it 12 times i'm not joking

i lost count but he's died and come back at least 4 times. mf won't stay dead (affectionate) but he's also so damn smug everytime like he didn't just give all his friends lasting trauma for the 3rd time that week

He is like, the perfect person for this tournament. He dies, and dies, and dies like every 5 seconds. And the majority of them are emotional. I think. Like, we know he's not actually dead but his friends don't (in most of them).

So here's some of my hightlights (Contains spoilers):

-His first death was by being incinerated by a dragon's breath (not really interesting, but it's his first death).

-There was an scenario(missions? kinda?) where they had to kill the strongest in the dome and nobody knew who it was so there were two really strong guys having a duel and while everyone else was busy watching it he killed himself behind a building and just waited for everyone to notice (he was the strongest in there).

    +People called him ugly at his funeral

-Idk if it counts as a death but he sacrificed himself and got expelled from the system and I don't remember if his body was destroyed but I think yes. So this would normally mean you will die for real so everyone thought he was dead but he kept his soul alive by talking to himself and eating garbage and went to a doctor and leaded a coup d'etat and gave birth(? kinda?) all while pretending to be someone else.

-He was asleep while using a skill to watch his friends have a serious discussion about his kinks and dies.

this man. keeps. dying. everytime he dies it traumatises his kids and friends and then he does it again! eventually they just straight up locked him up in gay baby jail in an attempt to get him to stop dying. it didnt work. hes a disaster and i love him

That man CANNOT stop dying istg (via sacrificing his life) i don't even know how many times he's died,,, (it's the suicidal tendencies and the feeling he doesn't deserve a happy ending lbr)

(warning for spoilers in the next paragraph)

he has 1)died by throwing himself at a giant dragon 2)died by throwing himself in front of his blorbo/reason for living (who has threatened to kill him multiple times) at the hand of the woman who later on become his daughter    (he came back from those 2 in a few minutes with a power that allowed him to resurrect if he saves 100 people) (he then lost this power and gained another that allowed him 7 resurrections but with a longer delay)

3)died by asking his internet bully/best friend to kill him to save the city  4)there was a prophecy he was going to be killed by the person he loves most. his mum killed him knowing about his resurrection power and hoping it would complete the prophecy. it did not. (fun fact he was passed out when that happened and his previously mentioned best friend was defending him, and she allowed the shot to hit his heart to avoid it hitting his crotch #priorities)  5)sacrificed himself by turning into the villain and making all his friends kill him to stop his blorbo from doing the same. fun fact he was the one to deliver the final blow and it did satisfy the prophecy. also for reasons his resurrection power didn't work here (he still found a way to come back though! but it was much more difficult and complicated

also, it's irrelevant to all this but he literally gets adopted by hades and persephone at some point and becomes the heir to the underworld

anyway this is very long and does not include all his deaths i don't think but you get the idea! orv is very good i promise don't get fooled by my shitty description lmao

This ridiculous man has an addiction to dying istg. He makes a point of obtaining every ability he can that allows him to return from death and chooses to throw himself in harms way constantly. His companions has to sedate him just to get him to take a break because he just will not stop dying on them. Hes a hamster of a man. Hes also just so pathetically average and abnormal at the same time and its great. Throughout the whole story, people try to convince him to stop sacrificing himself for them, but he just keeps doing it because he doesnt really know how else to show how much he cares because he is incredibly emotionally stunted (its the trauma!). Orv is legitimately such a good webnovel, it changed my brain chemistry permanently. Its a really great read because it contains a little bit of everything, so you get to enjoy a bunch of different genres. Its also pretty fast paced but not rushed, so the plot is always moving forward but not feeling forced. There arent really any plotholes either, because it accomplishes what it set out to do as a story. Only issue some people have getting into it is that the first chunk of chapters are kinda slow, but it really starts to pick up after the disasters and keeps getting better from there. Also that it has 551 chapters, but these chapters are all necessary, trust me. The ending is so good. Just try to avoid spoilers some if you do check it out; they dont necessarily ruin the experience but some major plot moments are revealed. Also, I really reccommend reading the actual webnovel instead of the manhwa(which is the webtoon) because the manhwa edits a lot of things out and is much plainer than the actual story. Anyway, sorry that this turned into me telling you to read the novel instead of campaigning for kdj. But! Its what he would have wanted, seeing as he once read a webnovel as the sole reader of it for over 10 years.

Okay so. This man has died over 10 times (I'm not counting the exact number I'm sorry). He got burned to death fighting a super dangerous dragon, he died IN FRONT OF HIS FOUND FAMILY. then he pushed another member of his found family away from a fatal attack and took it on himself, causing him to get a huge hole right through his stomach and said member of his found family to go beserk over his death cause he didn't know he'd come back to life. He then asked a different member of his found family to KILL HIM. because he needed to die for everyone else to survive or whatever so he convinced her to kill him even though she didn't want to. And then HE GOT KILLED BY HIS FOUND FAMILY AGAIN. because once again he had to 'die' for everyone to survive but specifically he had to be killed by his found family, so he got stabbed through the heart by one of his found family members and then crumbled to dust in said family member's arms. He 'died' and disappeared for 3+ YEARS , and came back just as his ff were finally moving on from him. (Also he came back in a giant squid form that couldn't communicate with the FF at all and almost got killed my the ff AGAIN...) there's... A lot. More but it's been a while since I've read the novel so I don't remember every single death unfortunately but yeah 👍

He died like 12 times and traumatized all his companions with that

Over the course of 100 chapters, this man managed to die and get revived FIVE GODDAMN TIMES. And he keeps doing it. Nobody's doing it like him fr fr

i’m still read orv but as far as i’ve heard that’s his whole thing other than being gay for the protagonist of his favourite web comic who is real now

hoooo boy. i think he dies around 8 times in total? and somehow each time is worse than the last..... the first 3-4 times he has a skill that lets him regenerate, so its mostly fine (there is some good angst about his companions worrying he died for real, though, and at least one funeral scene).

then theres a prophecy about how he will be killed by "the person he loves most" and, without spoiling it too much, hes killed by the person he loves most. sword through the heart and touching last words and everything. its fucking DEVASTATING. he survives with a bunch of cheat code bullshit and then next time they see him is weeks or months later in the fucking demon realm with a body thats falling apart.

then a while later he almost dies AGAIN but when they go to save him he gets kidnapped and sent to another world and they dont see him for FOUR YEARS. hes obviously presumed dead while hes off in another worldline trying to get back

uh. there might be more than that. this novel is VERY long. anyway it gets to a point where any problem thats too big gets solved by him sacrificing himself while his companions scream and cry and beg him not to. and then he shows up later like "see! i survived :)" and they get so upset because why does he keep DOING this??? and he doesnt see the issue because he did it to save them! its a happy ending as long as no one dies (but not me though. its fine if i die as long as no one else does)

anyway, all this to say. basically his defining trait is that he dies and comes back. hes infamous for it and his companions start to hate it about him. one of them literally tries to pay a HEAVY price to ensure that he cant die anymore. hes GOTTA be on this bracket

Self-sacrifice is the only way he knows how to express love because it's the only form of love he was shown as a child. He keeps dying for his companions even while knowing that he is traumatizing them and thinking that they will hate him for it eventually (just like he hated his mom) because he thinks he deserves to be hated. The entire novel is about saving him. My god.

This man has died (and revived) about thirteen different times (I think? Very easy to lose count), and that’s only including successful attempts, he tries to sacrifice himself many more times. His companions are literally begging him to stop killing himself to save the world. They come very close to just tying him up so he can’t go running off again.

In terms of his general character he is just a guy who hyperfixates on a bad webnovel for 13 years straight, I’m talking about 3000+ chapters that he was the sole reader of because no one else made it past ch100. Then when the webnovel gets its final update the events of the novel start happening in the real world, as the only person who has read to the end he has vital information to save the world. He pisses off the protagonist within a minute of meeting and then proceeds to have a high-key homoerotic relationship with him, with both of them becoming so intertwined that neither would exist without the other and creating a timeloop that sets the entire plot into motion (I can’t go into more details without spoilers). If you’d like more details then I highly recommend the YouTube video “badly explaining all of omniscient reader in 6 minutes” by ferd because it’s hilarious and leaves out just enough context that you don’t even feel like you’re getting spoiled because it’s so batshit

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

If my mom and I had a podcast... *Lower Your Volume*

What started this? I was mentioning how in my fic, The Consort Tournament, Dumbledore dies acknowledging his many mistakes, but still manages to be a dick as he goes by refusing to use the name Voldemort prefers. And I was saying how that feels in-character even in my story's AU.

Mom agreed. And then this happened. I missed about 3 minutes of her rant because it didn't occur to me to record. And then it cut off when something popped up on my tablet's screen and stopped the recording, but she'd kept going for another minute.

It was funny af though!

Transcript:

Mom: -Piece of fucking shit! Because let me tell you something, anybody tried pulling that shit with my kid, I ain't having it, you ain't having it, we ain't having it!

Me: *laughing*

Mom: And I don't understand what the adults in that fucking story are thinking! This son of a bitch-! Absolutely power corrupts absolutely! And he was corrupted from Day 1!

Me: *laughing*

Mom: Don't be telling me he wasn't boning fucking Grindelwald, that he was like little Mr. Light & Sunshine then either! Oh, absolutely not! Oh, the hell the fuck no! No, he was not.

Me: *snickering*

Mom: He was a manipulative piece of shit! Absolutely. And I think he orchestrated the circumstances so that he could get into a fight with him, and then beat him, so everybody could *pats her own shoulder* him on the fucking back. Then everybody kissing his ass, giving him- Hey, have this! Rule over us! Hey! Do this, rule ov- fucking manipulative, lying sack of shit.

Me: *cackling*

Mom: I WOULD TAKE MY CHANCES WITH VOLDEMORT ANY EFFIN DAY! You know why? Cuz what you see is what you get? He's a Slytherin to the core. He's the Heir if Slytherin! He's a fucking Dark Lord and proud of it! He don't like no muggles, he don't like muggleborns! He is-He's not even a Pureblood, but he likes to think in his head that he is. But at least- at least you know here's an asshole and this is what you're gonna be dealing with. But NO! Dumbledore's like, 'Oh, I'm just so bright and sunshine and love and all that!' FUCK! While you're rotten to the core, planning the death of a child! That's not even yours!

Me: *snorting*

Mom: What a fucking piece of shit! ISTG, I have so much hate in my soul for that piece of shit! Seriously!

Me: *wheezing*

Mom: There's so many times I wo- I would have just inserted myself into that storyline and say, 'Hey, Harry, come here, pal! We need to have us a discussion. Because there's something wrong about this Headmaster who isn't your ANYTHING taking a little too much interest in you, and that's creepy. That's fucking creepy! Because in the real world, if there's an adult taking that much interest in a child and pulling 'em in the office all the time and doing all the I- we'd all be thinking the same thing, wouldn't we? Yes, we would! Fucking creepy!

Me: *still wheezing*

Mom: I would sneak Harry out of there and like, and I would've like, gone across the ocean, and we would've gone to fucking- I don't know, Ilvermorny or something! I would not let him stay in that area! And what the hell? Jus-

Me: *coughing*

Mom: Where the hell does Dumbledore pull it out of his ass - PULL-IT-OUT-OF-HIS-ASS - that Harry absolutely HAS to die, so that Voldemort could die? Did you even try and alternative? No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You absolutely did not.

Me: *choking*

Mom: You just planned the poor kid's death. His life isn't miserable enough, let's make it even worse! Fucking piece of shit! I- I- I don't know if you can tell but I hate him.

Me: *cackling*

Mom: I hate him more than I hate Umbridge and I hate Umbridge. I hate him. I ha- I hate them both more than I hate Voldemort. I actually like Voldemort because I prefer people who are straight up and he's straight up asshole! And he knows it!

Me: And a bitch!

Mom: He let's you know it!

Me: He's a drama queen. He's a bitch! And he's proud of it!

Mom: Everybody knows it.

Me: Takes a whole fucking chapter to brag about how great he is!

Mom: *claps her hands* He- He loves to monologue. He's loves to talk about how incredibly intelligent he is, how incredibly powerful he is... But you know where he's coming from.

Me: *snorts*

Mom: He ain't gonna come outta yo- nowhere and say, 'Oh well, listen, I planned your death btw.' No. Nope. Uh-uh. Nope. No. Nah. Voldemort, you know what to plan for. Dumbledore, that lying, two-piece sack of fucking saggy ass shit!

Me: *wheezing again*

Mom: Tell me I'm wrong!

Me: *giggling* No, the funniest thing is- I'm always writing posts about how much I hate him, but damn man, you've been going for 4 minutes! And that's only when I started recording. You were already going before that! *cackling*

Mom: I jus- I can't stand him. Every-story! And even- Even if I read a story where he's supposedly a good guy, which to me is really stretching it because I don't view him as a good guy, I view him as a fucking lying menace!

Me: *cackles*

Mom: Anybody! Anybody who plans a child's death! 'Oh, and let's- let's then withhold- let's withhold important information involving said child!' *coughs*

Me: Yeah, I'm salty about the Sirius thing, cuz if he ju- if he'd just been like a little up front about it, Sirius wouldn't have had to die, I'm just saying!

Mom: That was planned!

Me: I'm so mad!

Mom: *unintelligible words* You what- He would have had- If he would have lived with Sirius, he would have grown a backbone. He would have become more self-sufficient. He would have known what his expectations are as uh- you know, as an Heir of- Potter. He would have known what he should-have-known, if he had grown up in the wizarding world.

Me: And he wouldn't have such a weird relationship with the memory of his parents.

Mom: And also, the sad fact is, because he wouldn't have grown up in an abusive- ev- I- neglecting people and starving them and knocking into- into fuckin- that's- that's abusive!

Me: Uh! Yes! And hitting him with a frying pan!

Mom: He wouldn't have grown up abused! And therefore, he wouldn't have clung to the first person to show him some consideration.

Me: God, man.

Mom: And that's not really consideration when you take in the fact that that dumb fucking ugly ass son of a bitch PLANNED HIS DEATH! How can you look somebody in the eye, look a child in the eye, knowing that you planned their death?!

Me: Or in HBP when he was like, 'I knew it was gonna be rough for you.' Bitch, WHAT?! *CACKLES*

Mom: Bitch! Bitch, bend over, I'll show you what's rough. That ain't fucking right. That ain't fucking right!

Me: *MINOR WRETCHING FROM LAUGHIGN SO HARD*

Mom: You're getting me all fired up!

Me: I DIDN- I DIDN-! *laughing* It wa- I was talking about fanfic and it ended up on thi- *giggling*

Mom: Yeah! Just the very mention of tha- I hate him. I just- I abho- I abhor him. I would rather be locked in a room with your father!

Me: OH MY GOD!

Mom: -Than have to deal with Dumbledore. I fucking hate people like that!

Me: Deadass! *sniffles*

Mom: Dumbledore ain't not Gryffindor btw, he's a Slytherin.

Me: Yeah, and not the good kind either!

Mom: No, not the good kind. Not the good kind. Like I said, I will take my chances with Voldemort any day.

Me: Yeah. I'd take Slughorn over Dumbledore no matter how weird Slughorn is.

Mom: I can't stand Slughorn but that's because he's creepy.

Me: Yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mom: And he's not like, a malicious- He's just literally, just- his mind is just like, where- what-who- who has the connection that can help me? It's not like, 'Hey, Harry, I planned your death already!'

Me: The funniest thing is that Slughorn and Dumbledore are both collectors. It's just that, you know, Dumbledore's collection is- *cuts off*

[uglyduckling339]

KY'S LIFE IS STRANGE DOUBLE EXPOSURE NONSENSE LIVEBLOG: Chapter 2

(spoilers ahead obvi) (this does NOT make sense without having played the episode or at least watched it) (it may also not make sense with the context. so.)

tutorial episode 1

Okay so lowkey i finished this chapter like a week and a half ago but forgot to make a luh review so😭😭 oopsies

I know it's probably just to easily cut between scenes but Max keeps lowkey dissociating after sum freaky shit happens. First chapter after her and Safi almost died, and then now after she universe-hops (?) #trauma_response

god i fucking HATE this buzzing. i miss rewind, that wasn't loud and annoying

"did the forecast call for massive nose bleeds?" GIGGLING umm blah blah blah the storm was because of max's powers and her powers are shown through nosebleeds joke goes here

wtf are these sketchy ass teachers planning bro. just call off and go visit ur kid?? why is this a big deal💀

"oofa doofa" LMFAOO MAX IS BACK W HER WEIRD ASS SLANG

uhm i think my game glitched or sum bc Safi and Safi's mom just left the turtles but I can hear them gossiping about drug usage? huh

whole-heartedly, this game is FAR too expensive for all these glitches

Maxine "Mary Poppins" Caulfield is back with her stupid ass bag logic

love her she just shoved a whole step ladder in there like it was nun

Vinh... honey shes like. very dead :(

UGHH life tip guys help the guy with the bathroom key BEFORE you talk to Amanda.

jesus my drafts are so hard to comprehend.. wtf does half this shit mean bro😭

Diamond's beef with Vinh is so interesting. It's lowkey like a more intense Rachel v. Victoria from LiS: BTS

OH MY GOD

CAT

i can't take the cat yet :( its in the bushes at the school hissing at me

Vinh needs Max so bad lowkey

I should've interrupted Lucas last chapter bc I don't see the issue with him? he seems like he's incredibly pretentious but not even like HALF as bad as most of Arcadia Bay and he's kinda nice when he's not yapping

i'm so serious what the hell was i saying in these drafts bro.

Max watering Gwen's plant like it's Lisa :( RIP

I was SO prepared for Gwen to walk in ngl

Max :( no :( i like lucas :( I wanna hear abt the book expo :(

i'm so cooked bro i love literally every character in this game so much. none of them killed her theres no way

omfg glitch again ! Lucas's briefcase is open WHILE MAX IS ACTIVELY TALKING ABT IT BEING LOCKED SHUT. GIRL REACH IN I CAN SEE THE FILES.

"dare i channel my... inner chloe" OH MY GOD

I LIKE VINH SO MUCH. I HIGHKEY MIGHT ROMANCE THEM TOGETHER.

No clue what "TRAIN TRACKS????? REFERENCE WHILE FLIRTING WITH A MAN?? MAXINE??" means but i like the vibes so i'm adding it here

WHAT DOES THIS DRAFT MEAN LMFAO

i should just post some of these so yall can see the weird ahh shit i got in my drafts lmfao

bye i forgot which universe i was in and drank w/ Vinh instead of pursuing the objective

OH SHIT. don't forget which universe ur in😭 the dialogue almost messed me up fr

also there is SO MUCH repeating dialogue.

max has the milennial curse of forgetting that she can use google istg

Reggie !!! my fav !!!

Authority Figure Max is so fine oml i need her

also !! chloe and victoria's trauma posting is actually so important to me and idc how much yall hate it

one of these drafts just says the sentence "like the fanfic!!"... what was i yappin abt bro

REPEATING DIALOGUE SHUT UPPPP

GWEN I WAS EXPLORING. i was coming to you AFTER !!

I can make this SO EMO if yall let me (max smoking a joint)

wait okay so i'm slow but is Gwen trans?

GOD I HATE THIS FUCKING CHOICE. IT FEELS LIKE THAT FUCKING "Go To The Cops or Find Evidence" CHOICE FROM LIS 1

The true essense of LiS is saying "fuck it, it's just a video game" and screwing every character over bc of it

highkey I still hate Loretta but she's kinda nice in this part.

WAIT PAUSE LORETTA HOW THE F U C K DID YOU GET UP HERE GIRL

GIRL I UNIVERSE-HOPPED. WTF DID U DO

and if i say loretta murdered her what would yall do. (/joke, /theory)

oh okay mr. detective ! thats racism !

so i spent 5 drafts yapping about needing to avoid the tree so it doesn't make a sound just to realize that in Dead World! the tree isn't decorated 😭

giggling and another 4 drafts complaining bc my game crashed (luckily it saved first)

OKAY SO I FUCKING HATE THIS ACTUALLY

Listen I was bad at the David Madsen swim scene in LiS ep 3, and that had rewind. I'm cooked

PAUSE was rhat a glitch or did she just get caught and rewind time?????

max's overusing her powers again.. girl did we not learn from the NIGHTMARE in LiS

that feeling when you alter the universes and combine them together (absolutely nothing bad will happen from this for sure)

i have a whole paragraph yapping about my love for Vinh in my drafts lmfao

ALSO theorecially could you romance Vinh in one world and Amanda in another....

CAT

CAT

CAT

AH BRING THE BABY IN THE HOUSE MAX

GRAB IT

OH MY GOD CUSTOMIZATION AHHH

BLACK KITTY !!! JUST LIKE MY IRL CAT !!!

IRIS 🖤🖤🖤

AHH THIS WAS SO WORTH THE $85.00

CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT

anyways i wonder why Living World! Max hasn't been home in days

AHHHHH KITTY :) FEED THE BABY MAXINE.

also how is that guitar here. isn't it like incredibly destroyed from the storm

"Grief flings open all the doors we thought we'd shut forever" okayyyy lucas i see u

OH ?? MULTI-UNIVERSE MURDER??

great job max. glad we stayed calm😭😭

i've been repeating this line for over a week now ngl

"it-it's photoshop !😰😰 a deepfake🧐 idunno!!! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️"

i miss the ads at the end of the episodes soo badly its not even funny

And that was it! alot more glitching in episode 2, but overall it was still hella fun (and the CAT. OH MY GOD !!)

I won't be able to play the new chapters until Wednesday at LEAST bc i'm hella busy but I wanted to get this out for my adoring fans (2 mutuals who like the posts i make)

[mediocre-noodle]

mom was watching HP: order of the phoenix while i was unloading the dishwasher so i got ✨ dallas ideas ✨

bc magic is more tolerated there, dallas doesnt have to age his body up. this means he can go around with years passing by and still look yk. 17-18 (the age he died :P) even though hes AT LEAST several hundred-thousand years.

when hes bored of traveling the magical world, he goes to hogwarts and roams the halls like the ghosts would. hes a well-known attraction and often looks out for the kids and helps w homework. you may also see him in classes.

^ he avoided the years that voldemort was in school so the bitch wouldn’t know what he’d look like.

^^ this is allowed bc when he first entered the HP universe, he asked dumbledore if it was fine (and gave a bit of info taht he was nonhuman). he did go to school for those 7 years though for the full ✨ experience ✨

so to add onto the ‘coming back when bored,’ he came back the year harry was entering his first year. lots of people were like omg its harry potter and then like OMG ITS THE RED CROW (or something.. idk yet. if the students know about him through a legend passed down from their parents and other people, most likely only a small group know his name.)

why is this important?? dallas is fucking protective and wouldnt let anything bad happen to harry istg. probably sees him as a younger sibling and relates to him a lot (saving to save the world trope i forgot the name). he’d pop up outta no where and be like ‘YOU WANNA ATTACK HARRY? MY BROTHER??? BITCH YOU THOUGHT!’ and then the enemies would be pissing themselves. (and harry would be like how tf did you know i was here??’)

wait omg harry sees a bit of his mom in dallas bc he has red hair and green eyes (will shapeshift to green eyes a lot to appear human.. wait what if dallas shifted to heterochromia green-yellow thatd be badass. wait^2 thats the sprite logo WHAHAHHD—) SOBBIGN I CANNOT.

skip is to dallas as dallas is to harry if you catch my drift (big brother figure) (RIP skip)

kinda wondering if dallas would interfere w the dursleys before hogwarts or after because uou have: 1.) before. dallas raises harry and harry is so more snarky and sassy. harry doesnt get abused or bullied or neglected ffs. he gets a caring brother figure and a found family (the syzygy (if you dont remember: aji, memphis, seraphina, and more to come)). less trauma probably. 2.) before. harry lives w the dursleys still but dallas randomly pops up in his life at certain points. theyre friends :] so when harry goes to hogwarts and sees dallas hes like :0 and then when he finds out dallas is like. immortal?? and not human (rumored to be—dallas never confirms it) hes like ‘???????? IM FRIENDS WITH AN IMMORTAL NONHUMAN SUPER-POWERFUL BEING???’ and then has to pretend to be chill about it and like he hasn’t met dally before. 3.) after. dallas befriends harry after he shows up in school bc he doesnt want pthers realizing soemthing is up. he feels bad about leaving harry to the dursleys though. he will often pop up during the summers and say hi :D 4.) after. dallas is like bro fucking finally harry is here!! lets go!! and has to pretend not to know what the dursleys are doing when harry opens up to them one night. dallas then basically sues the dursleys and gains uhh whats the word.. CUSTODY!! of harry. (why was i thinking child ownership ;-;). back to idea 1 where harry basically has a new brother figure and found family. he gets put in therapy, effective immediately. dallas will go too if that helps (god save yhat therapist. better get an NDA.) happy ending!

mkay thats all i have rn hope you enjoyed the meal teehee

oh and dallas is a ravenclaw

YESSSSSSS i havent cared about harry potter im years but i am EATING THIS UP!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY NO CRUMBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

theres a rlly cool dynamic there i think cause like. harry is definitely a kind of ‘i dont need any help ill be fine’ and dallas is similar to that i feel? but in a way where he would know better and go ‘aintnoway youre pulling THAT one’ and forcefully help solve the situation

[mikewheelerisaboyliker]

EXTENDEDPARTYY

@poppinpaladin

@WilltheWise7

@madmax

@maxpleasetextmeback

@brainybard

@eggoeggoeleggomax

tuesday, june 25th

7:02 AM

@poppinpaladin changed their username to @imtheheart

@madmax: LMAOOOO???

@madmax: @eggoeggoeleggomax PLZZZ U HAVE TO SEE THIS

@eggoeggoeleggomax: I did not think his username could get worse.

@madmax: so proud of u rn el <33

@brainybard: Michael, please explain your username change.

@imtheheart: fuck off dustin don’t call me michael

@maxpleasetextmeback: Yeahhh only Will can call him that

@imtheheart: stfu. why the fuck are we making fun of MY username when that’s lucas’s??????

@brainybard: That’s his username at least once a week. What’d he do this time Max?

@madmax: bro ate the last dorito :/

@maxpleasetextmeback: MAX IM SORRY I LOVE YOU IT WAS AN ACCIDENT PLEASE.

@imtheheart: again, how is this less embarrassing than my thing?

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Mike, you are not the heart, you are the ass.

@madmax: LMAOOOOO EL

@brainybard: ^^ El’s onto something…

@imtheheart: fuck you guys. where’s will? @WilltheWise7 ???????? has he answered anyone today ???????

@brainybard: No

@maxpleasetextmeback: It’s literally 7 in the morning

@madmax: $20 says mike is calling him rn

@WilltheWise7: i hate u mike. everyone else owes max 20 dollars.

@imtheheart: i’m sorryy plz go back to sleep i just wanted to make sure you were okay :(

@madmax: immediately nauseous.

@WilltheWise7: it’s fine i’m up now :) & i like your username ;)

@maxpleasetextmeback: Holy shit. Make it Stop

@imtheheart: JSKCKCKALPEORCHNSANMDFKL

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Mike? Are you okay?

@WilltheWise7: he does that sometimes when he’s excited..

@imtheheart: no i don’t hahaha lol i just spilled something on my phone and i was trying to wipe it off.

@eggoeggoeleggomax: You lie?

@madmax: just like papa. el get his ass.

@brainybard: We skated past the username change wayyy too quickly… Why did you change it Mike? And Will, why would you say you like it????

@eggoeggoleggomax: I know why Will said

@WilltheWise7: el’s just joking lol. but her phone died & she told me to tell y’all she can’t text back anymore :(

@madmax: will istg if u powered her phone off & told her it was dead-

@WilltheWise7: yeah… so mike why don’t you explain that username :p

@imtheheart: can i?

@madmax: oh my god. i didn’t even know he knew how to ask for permission. holy shit.

@imtheheart: shut the fuck up max

@madmax: die

@WilltheWise7: idc mike you can tell them if you want to :)

@imtheheart changed their username to @willsaidimtheheart

@willsaidimtheheart: i tried to add a smiley face but it wouldn’t let me. what the fuck

@brainybard: Interesting…

@maxpleasetextmeback: Be so honest Mike was that the original plan for the username change but you didn’t want to do it before Will woke up and gave you permission LMAOO

@willsaidimtheheart: …

@WilltheWise7: you guys are being so mean to mike today :(

@madmax: literally how every single interaction i’ve ever had with him since we’ve met has gone

@willsaidimtheheart: willlll, can you please answer the phone one more time pleaseee

@brainybard: This is really embarrassing buddy

@willsaidimtheheart: dustin i will literally murder your new cat shut the everloving fuck up

@WilltheWise7 changed their user to @urtheheart

@madmax: NAHHHH

@maxpleasetextmeback: Will… no….

@brainybard: That phone call must’ve been literally 2 minutes how did he convince you that fast??

@madmax: you probably don’t wanna know…

@urtheheart: he said he’d do my math homework for the rest of the school year :)

@maxpleasetextmeback: He literally does that anyways

@urtheheart: but now he can’t complain >:)

@madmax: bro literally smiles while doing your homework…

@madmax: down horrendous

@willsaidimtheheart: okay you guys are making it weird

@madmax: we’re making it weird, wheeler??? what the fuck inspired u to change ur username to some cringy ass shit at 7 in the morning

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Jonathan helped me with my phone. Friends do not lie, Will.

@urtheheart: brothers do :/

@eggoeggoeleggomax: I know what inspired Mike, Max.

@brainybard: Oh, this is gonna be good.

@madmax: please share w the class el

@eggoeggoeleggomax: The class? Did we have school today?

@madmax: no sorry just tell us on here

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Okay. I learned a new word today.

@maxpleasetextmeback: Wtf Max you’ve literally never said sorry to me before…

@madmax: shut up lucas

@maxpleasetextmeback: Okay, sorry <3

@brainybard: Eleven, PLEASE what is the new word???

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Gay. It is when a boy wants to kiss another boy and be his boyfriend. I think Mike is gay and wants to be Will’s boyfriend. This is why he would not say he loved me (when Max says I am perfect) and why he kisses weird. This is also why I dumped his ass.

@madmax: … omfg el LMAOOOOO

@willsaidimtheheart: woaaaahhhh el chill hahahahhaa what are you even talking about?? i’m literally so straight. literally everyone thinks will would objectively be a good boyfriend and objectively be really good to kiss, that’s just cuz will is cool. don’t make it weird omg :/

brainybard: I can say for a certain 100% fact I have never thought about Will being a boyfriend or a good kisser….

@maxpleasetextmeback: Really? I definitely have

@willsaidimtheheart: what the fuck lucas take that back right now. seriously. what the actual fuck??? i hate you so much don’t ever talk to me again. don’t even come NEAR will or istg i will beat you up. fuck u lucas

@madmax: definitely the “so straight” response

@urtheheart: mike that’s very flattering but you definitely can’t beat lucas up :/

@madmax: LMAOOOOOOOOO

@maxpleasetextmeback: So you’re saying I’d be a better boyfriend than Mike? :D

@urtheheart: ur username isn’t promising but neither was mike’s last relationship

@madmax: good one will :p

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Because he is gay.

@willsaidimtheheart: HOLY SHIT oh my god everybody shut up. new topic!!!!!

@willsaidimtheheart: will, how are you today? :) also if you feel like it no pressure… could you specify that you like me more than lucas? (especially if we were pretending to be boyfriends).

@madmax: exact same topic u r really dumb asf

@urtheheart: hmmm

@willsaidimtheheart: lol it’s finee if you don’t want to (i’m going to lose sleep over this)

@maxpleasetextmeback: You’re just pathetic Mike

@urtheheart: mike would probably be a better boyfriend to me, hypothetically

@willsaidimtheheart: JAKFLCKZLAODMVKFKKP

@willsaidimtheheart: JEKGOCOSOSOX!!!!!!!!

@willsaidimtheheart: hypothetically, will, i would do absolutely anything u asked of me and love you more than i love myself and kiss you allllll the time like never stop kissing you but hypothetically lol

@brainybard: I’m seriously getting embarrassed for you Mike

@maxpleasetakemeback: God, my ears. Also, Will is obviously just saying that so Max doesn’t get her feelings hurt.

@willsaidimtheheart: oh.

@willsaidimtheheart: is that true…

@madmax: i would not care

@urtheheart: she wouldn’t care

@urtheheart: lmaoo same minds

@madmax: maybe me and will should just date

@maxpleasetextmeback: NO

@willsaidimtheheart: i’ll kill myself

@urtheheart: hmm maybe we should max

@maxpleasetextmeback: SAY SIKE RN SAY SIKE RN SAY SIKE RN

@willsaidimtheheart: taking a bath with my toaster don’t hmu

@urtheheart: obviously it’s a joke mikey :) put the toaster away <3

@willsaidimtheheart: LWLTOVOSKAJDJFJKFL

@willsaidimtheheart: is it okay if i make a bagel first

@brainybard: Bro???

@urtheheart: r u being fr

@willsaidimtheheart: i don’t wanna not put the toaster away if u asked me to but now i want a bagel. can i

@urtheheart: yes idiot just don’t burn yourself

@willsaidimtheheart: i’ll try harder than usual :)

@maxpleasetextmeback: Yawnnn separate chat to flirt.

@brainybard: Bro. Your username… no room to talk Lucas

@eggoeggoeleggomax: Mike is gay I think.

@willsaidimtheheart: OKAYYYY GOTTA GO THATS ENOUGH CHATTING FOR TODAY.

@willsaidimtheheart signed out

@urtheheart changed their username to @WilltheWise7

@madmax: LMAOOOOOOO

@brainybard: That’s our boy.

@WilltheWise7: lol but mike wanted me to clarify that “he didn’t sign out bc he’s gay, but bc he’s busy and not gay” ?????? :(

@eggoeggoeleggomax: He is gay.

@madmax: ^

@brainybard: ^

@maxpleasetextmeback: ^

@WilltheWise7: ^

[lunarifie]

Rewatching Ninjago

(With no context other than the episode)

Sons of Garmadon episode 5-6

FIGHT SCENE FIGHT SCENE

Mr E: (Cracks his neck)

Zane: Are you the quiet one??? ARE YOU THE QUIET ONE

Omg I forgot Zane used a bow and arrow for a while.

I love his fighting style, and weapons.

I like how we only see Zane fight seriously when its with other nindroids and powerful villains.

Because, you know, hes made out of titanium.

This scenes so cool. No joke, just Zane and this guy fist fighting it out as Zane screams for answers.

It just feels so real

Zane (sparking and injured): You dont have to do this….

Mr E: (kicks him off the cliff)

WHAT

NO.

the way Zane was so quiet, so pleading and understanding

I hate this

I remember seeing a post that says the animators were allowed to put more injuries on Zane since hes a robot and there wouldnt be as much gore.

Which is so true, because theres a huge gash on Zanes face and the only thing thats showing is wires.

Like imagine that sort of injury on the other ninja. Blood would be flowing.

DID ZANE JUST DIE!?!!?!?

HE LIKE, POWERED DOWN, HIS EYES WENT DULL.

I hated that so much he looked like he really died.

Stop. What is Mr. E putting in Zanes chest. Istg if thats a tracker im going to shit myself.

STOOOP. 😭😭😭 THE CAMERA PANNING OUT FROM ZANES BODY TO SHOW IT ALL CUT UP AND SCUFFED.

Even the intro music changed…

God, all of them finding Zane like that. They sound so scared.

THEY HAVE A GURNEY FOR SITUATIONS LIKE THIS?!?!?!? HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED????

The transition from the bright spotlight to the doctor/mechanic lights was so good

Jesus christ Zanes in actual bad shape. Like actually. This is what would happen if one of the other ninja got hurt this bad. Zanes in a coma and its up to him to get better and wake up.

This is scary I dont like this 😭

It makes you think. That whole fight and falling off a cliff probably hurt a LOT

Wait so theyre LEAVING ninjago city? As in abandoning everything? I mean, thats the right move, but thats just crazy to me. Its been so long since theyve been outside of ninjago.

Baby Wu: WAAAAAAA

Jay: Maybe hes thirsty! Give him some milk!

Cole (handing Wu to Kai): I tried that! He doesnt like milk!

Jay: WHAT ELSE DO BABIES DRINK?!?!?

Kai (handing baby Wu to Jay): Dont ask me! Ask him!

Cole: HES A BABY. HE HASNT LEARNED HOW TO TALK YET.

Jay (handing Wu to Cole): Oh! maybe he needs a diaper change!!!

Cole (holding Wu as if he has a disease): ohmygosh, DO WE EVEN HAVE DIAPERS?!?!?

Lloyd: We’re NINJA, WE DONT NEED DIAPERS.

Jay: What if we used one of our hoods!

Kai: NOT MY HOOD!!!

HFDJFFJJDNNGNDGNLMAOOO

i love them all sm

Theyre all idiots

THEYRE TRYING TO DRAW STRAWS 😭😭😭

I love how Harumi is the one calming baby Wu down with a lullaby. Now we know she probably did this so if she ever needed to steal Wu he’d be comfortable going with her.

The fact that Harumi and Lloyd are comforting each other on their parents makes me so sad

She obviously asked him just so she could know more about Garmadon.

UHHH DID HARUMI JUST GO FOR A KISS??????

Lloyd: Uh! I um, better go see, uh. I have to go. That way.

AWWWW HES SO AWKWARD 😭 LOOK AT HIS LITTLE AWKWARD WALK.

Ok I get that Lloyd fell first, (which I like to pretend never happened) but if Harumis whole thing is becoming Garmadons daughter. Why is she making moves ON HIS SON. like thats so weird 😭

I get it tho, shes probably trying to gain his trust, and if they were involved, that realization would probably hurt a lot more.

Cole (watching over baby wu): awwww

Baby Wu: Wa… wa… WAAAAAA

Cole: no no no please dont cry!!! I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE. haha! Look at me! Hey! Lala! See, im not crying!

Baby Wu: WAAAA

Cole: Ughhhh FINE. but this is between you and me. 😒

Cole: shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer. Dont get dimmer dimmer

AWWWWW cole is so cute with kids

My favs for this season are definitely him and Lloyd.

THE BLANKY.

Pls tell me it has Wus name on it and thats why Cole gasped

Jay: Woaah… look at that storm!

Nya (navigating the ship): You know, there was an ancient tribe in ninjago that worshipped a storm spirit called Wohira.

Yayayayay Nya and Jay time :)

I love them sm and small moments with them are so cute

Look at Jay listen to his girlfriend infodump 🥺

Nya: They believed Wohira protected them.

Jay: Wohira? Haha thats silly.

(Storm crackles and shakes the ship)

Jay: AAA NOT SO SILLY ANYMORE

Just googled what who wohira is and apparently its woJira.

“Wojira (also known as the Sleeper in the Deep, the Great Serpent, or the Mighty Serpent of the Wave and the Storm) was a storm spirit in the form of a giant sea serpent. Before time had a name, she used the Amulets of Wojira to rule the seas of Ninjago.”

Huh, I hope Wojira comes up in the show she seems so cool

Ok so the ninja are all gathered up, and they learned that a trap was set from an audio recording Zane took. Ofc that trap is the thing Mr. E placed in Zanes body. But they think they can track the quiet one with the recording.

Its so funny to think that rn Harumi is probably shitting herself. She looks so scared 😭

Pixal: We need to go under the storm, its interfering with my signal and i cant trace the recording

Harumi: UM! wont we be spotted if we go under the storm 😀 we’ll be seen by the sons of garmadon!

Lloyd: Harumis right.

GODDAMMIT

Jay: So where do we go?

Cole (barges in holding a map): HERE! it was with the baby the whole time!

Ohhhh so the blankey was a maaaap

Kai: I dont get it? Why was the baby wrapped in a map?

Cole: I dont know, maybe they didnt have any diapers either.

Harumi (sick of their bullshit): THIS, part here looks like it can be the central part of ninjago 😀

Which in harumi translation is: hurry the FUCK up and stop MESSING AROUND so we can find the MASK.

Jay(trying to stab his meatball): Haha! Come here you little sucker!

Jay: (stabs kai)

Everyone:

Cole: (covers baby Wus eyes)

Jay: I… am so sorry….

Kai: Dont. Just dont.

Uhhhhh zane?

Holy shit holy shit holy shit

What THE FUCK is that

IS THAT THE TRAP SET BY MR E?!?!?!?!?

I THOUGHT IT WAS A FUCKING TRACKER NOT A MECHANIC SPIDER WTFFFF

It looks so creepy i hate it

It reminds me of coralines other-mothers hand.

The way it walks against the floor ughhh

i hate it so much

Nya: What are you feeding him?

Cole(feeding baby wu): tea!

Nya: WHAT?!? you cant feed a baby tea!?!?

Cole: He wont drink anything else!

Ooooo the lights went out….

Awww the way they abandoned everything to see if Zane was okay 🥺

Lmaoo Harumi going back for the map

God this is actually so scary, the background music was perfectly picked for this scene.

Pixal sounds so scared and frantic :(

Wait so they lost control of the WHOLE ship?!?!?

Cole: Samurai X is on their way? They must be here to help!

Wait so Pixal transferred herself to samurai x already?

Pixal: Im afraid that is unlikely…

Wait what

Pixal: Because my system is overrun…

Kai: Youre making no sense Pix.

Pixal: Now… would be a good time to make a minor confession.

Pixal: I am Samurai x…

Ohhh so shes overrun. so someones controlling her body!?!?!?

Everyone:

Cole: Are you serious???

Nya: How is that possible?!?!

Jay: Totally called it!

Cole: You did NOT

Jay: Did too!

(explodes the fucking air thruster)

Istg if they destroy the destinys bounty AGAIN-

Awwww Cole cares sm about the baby 🥺

Jay redirecting literal solid lightning is crazy to me

AND KAI MAKING A FIREBALL TO LIGHT THE SKY?!?!?

Lloyd: Harumi! Take this! (Hands her a sword)

Harumi: But I don’t know how to fight 🥺

Omfg

I hate that Nya is the one stuck looking for that disgusting ass metal spider

UGHHH I HATE THE SQUEAKING AND SQUERLCHING NOISES IT MAKES

NOT THE SPIDER CLIMBING ON ZANE

STOP DID IT JUST JUMP AT HER?!?!?

okay but who is controlling Samurai x specifically. Is it Mr E?

Im gonna be forever confused by the small things Harumi does, like saving Lloyd when he could have easily died and no one would suspect anything.

Aaaa so she was ‘kidnapped’ by Samurai x.

STOP NOT LLOYD JUMPING AFTER HER IN THE STORM.

LLOYD PLS

Jay: He did not just?!?

Kai: He just did!!!

Hfjdntdjnsn

Lloyd: Pixal stop this!

Samurai x: There is no pixal, only the quiet one.

Okay thats actually so smart though. With Harumi right there too.

Lloyd: (stabs the suit)

Samurai x: (ejects from the suit landing on the ship.)

Lloyd: I did not think this through…

NCJDNGJDJT

Harumi: We’re gonna…

Lloyd: Were not gonna die! You hear me?!?!

Harumi: The map! Maybe we can use it as a parachute!

Lloyd: WHAT IS THIS?!?!? A CARTOON?!?!?

LMAOOONFISNGJDNDNS

Lloyd (puts harumi in the samurai x suit): the suit should break your fall!

Harumi: What about you?!?!?

Lloyd: sorry only room for one…

Harumi: NO I NEED YOU!!!

This scene would have been so dramatic and touching if Harumi wasnt who she was 😭

Also the ‘I NEED YOU’ makes me wonder if Lloyds a part of her plan. Like she actually needs him for everything to work.

Lloyd: And I need that map.

HE ACTUALLY USED IT AS A PARACHUTE

Harumi was probably so pissed at that moment as she crashed in the suit and Lloyd swung down.

Nya (getting strangled by a spider): AAAAAAA

(A spear stabs the spider with perfect aim)

Zane: what in the name of ninjago is happening around here???

ZANE❤️

We missed you 🥺

Pixals back!!!!

Samurai x: (throws sword at the last air thruster)

Pixal: (Back online.)

Pixal as samurai x: (watches as her body throws the sword into the air thruster just a little too late)

God that must suck for her. To imagine your seconds late to having saved them all.

Everyone: (holding onto the ship as it goes down)

Jay: She got the last thruster!

Kai: Any ideas!?

Zane: Not one!

Kai: Yeah me neither…

Jay: PRAY TO WOJIRA!

Nya: That is NOT helpful!

HFJDJFNF I love them all

Zane: Maybe we can create enough drag with the sails!

Kai: WHAT SAILS!!?!?

(Their sails completely destroyed)

Zane: 😶

Wait wait wait okay Jay might be onto something

Jay: The rain! It could slow our fall!

YES NYA YES USE YOUR AWESOME FUCKING POWERS!!!

JUST LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME, SHE WAS TAUGHT TO CHANGE THE WATER FLOW TO RUN UP

I LOVE THIS SHOW SM

this is actually so cool

Like the way the rain is going under and hitting the bottom of the ship.

Nyas such a girlboss

WAIT BABY WU

Good job Cole, like honestly. If he hadn’t gone straight for the baby. Wu would probably be dead, A baby would not have survived that impact.

Awwww Jay helping Nya up.

The forest they landed in is actually gorgeous

Pixal: Zane?

AAAAAAA

THEIR REUNION

Pixal: I needed to keep my identity a secret, to protect the ones I care about…

Zane: You dont need to lie to me, you didnt like being stuck in my head :)

Pixal: that too. ☺️

AWWWWWWW he knows her so well 🥹

Kai: Wheres Lloyd and Harumi?

Oh god theyre alone.

AND NOW THEYRE RUNNING FROM A DINOSAUR????

Omfg and to think its that stupid ‘extinct’ one that was in the episode that had Lloyd magically age up

Pixal and Zane are genuinely so cute

awwwww Cole with baby Wu :)

Cole: What do you think the babies name is?You think he’s a Cole jr?

Ik ppl say that the show writers kinda just threw Jays inventing quirk away which makes me rlly sad but its nice to see that they sometimes show him fixing stuff, like the crashed bounty.

The dinosaur: RAAAAAAH

Cole: …what do you think that was…?

Kai: Probably just some cute little critter?

Jay: Or a big critter… A great big vicious critter with lots of teeth and claws and pinchers—

Cole: You cant tell all of that from how it sounds 🙄

WAIT THE THRUSTERS WORKING?!?!?

nvm lol

Jfjebfjdnf wish I could screenshot on netflix, Jays covered in soot and id love to draw him

AWWW ZANES GIGGLES SO CUTE

Jay: IVE HAD IT. FIRST WE CRASH LAND IN WHO KNOWS WHERE AND NOW ARE SURROUNDED BY WHO KNOWS WHAT

Cole: Look on the bright side! Cole jrs okay! so you can change his diaper.

Jay: ha. Ha. Ha, hilarious.

GOD NYAS SO COOL

She looks awesome in her samurai x mech

Pixal: My suit! I mean— your suit.

Nya: Its okay Pixal, its yours now :)

AWWW I LOVE THEM

lloyds actually super smart to put a note on the mech

Aaand the sons of garmadon are coming

Keep forgetting the place theyre in is Primevals eye.

Harumi: I didnt imagine myself here.. But, Ive always dreamed of being with you 🥺

That was cringy as shit thats when you know shes overdoing it 💀

oooo now theyre on their way to Stranglers Path

Lloyd: Naaah, the name doesnt mean anything. Just some bored map maker— (Gets fucking snatched)

HOLY SHIT IS THE TREE GONNA EAT HIM?!?!?!!?

Omfg I hate that Harumis sword throw was actually so cool

Also why does she keep saving him when its most convenient to just let him die?

Like, she had the map, she had the sword, she couldve continued on.

Im assuming the “i need you” scream she did when they were falling to their deaths has smth to do with her plan.

Lloyds voice actor is actually really good

Lloyd: How did you learn to throw a sword like that?!?!

Harumi trying to cover her ass: I- I dont know! I just saw you in trouble and I… I guess it was luck

Lloyd: LUCK?!?!? That wasnt just LUCK! That was—

Harumi: (kisses him on the cheek)

SHE ACTUALLY KISSES HIM

I THOUGHT THERE WERE ONLY ROMANTIC IMPLICATIONS NOT AN ACTUAL KISS

im gonna kms

Zane and Pixal working together inside the bounty is so cute

Maybe I shouldnt kms

Zane: Is it working?

Pixal: No.

Zane: How about now?

Pixal: NO.

Zane:…

Zane: I detect frustration from you, yet that emotion is not needed for this task? Is something wrong?

Pixal: No…

Pixal:…

Pixal: Yes.

I love how Zane acts all calculating and ‘different’ than an ‘average’ human, which ppl would usually chart it up to him being a robot.

But then we have Pixal, a whole nother example and she acts just like everyone else 😭

I love how thats just how Zane is

AWWW I FORGOT PIXAL HAS HALF OF ZANES HEART/LIFE SOURCE

Pixal: Was i more useful in the computer…?

Pixal: I like having a body, but if I was more useful in the computer…

Zane: The choice was always yours pixal. And I for one, like seeing you like this.

AWWWWWWWWW

i love robot love

The way they just went back to working 🥺

The levitation oni mask is genuinely awesome. And the way it looks like it has no drawbacks. Amazing.

I dislike the ninja talking about Lloyd having the hots for the princess VERY much

Cole: Pliers.

Kai: Pliers?

Jay: I dont have the pliers! (Someone hands it to him) oh, why thank you!

Baby Wu: (walking with two legs)

Jay:

Jay: hehe, COLE. I thought you put the baby down for a nap.

Cole: you mean little Cole jr? Yeah i did, but he was a little restless.

Jay: Uh huh yeah. Then why is little Cole jr standing in front of me and PASSING ME THE PLIERS.

LMAOOOO

the way they all ran

Cole: Im no expert… but do babies do that?

Kai: No. No they do not. And they also dont know what pliers are.

I keep forgetting that Kai like, RAISED Nya, so he definitely knows all this stuff.

Baby wu: (grabs a hot cup of tea and blows it)

Kai: And they DEFINITELY dont do that.

HFNDKFNDJDNFNR

Jay: Okay! Now ive seen it all! Now i REALLY quit!!!

Baby wu: aaaa. Ninja neva quit.

Everyone:

HFNDNGNDJNFT I KNEW IT WAS THIS EPISODE THE MINUTE HE GOT TWO LEGS

Harumi: AAAA (screaming at the sons of garmadon insignia)

Shes such a good actor i hate her 😭

Ohhh i forgot Lloyd and Harumi find a boat and like ride it or smth

Harumis giggle is so cute ☹️

I think Harumis trying to recruit Lloyd, which is why shes saving him and manipulating him. If she plans on keeping him long-term thats the only reason I can think of.

Harumi: Garmadon wasnt the greatest villain…

Lloyd: Oh, no? You probably grew up thinking it was Morro, or the devourer. Wait, don’t tell me. Pythor!

Harumis probably thinking ‘this bitch’

Harumi: no. Its the one you never even knew was there in the first place. The one who gets away.

Lloyd: The quiet one…

Okay this scenes actually really creepy when you know

I love how skeptical Nya is until Wu says his catchphrases

Nya: But how did he get so… Young?

Jay: Haha! Who knows! Hes a living fortune cookie. Everything he does is a puzzle MEANT TO TORTURE US.

Jays got his facts straight

Ohhh okay so it was the reversal blade that made Wu young, got it.

I love how the animation makes this feel like a new show but they always tie things back together.

Jay: But when is he going back to good old Wu?

Jay to the baby: No offense, you look good for your age.

hes so funny

Ughhh the sons of garmadon

Why am I pretending I dont like them I actually genuinely like their characters 😭

HELL YEAH! THE BOUNTYS FIXED

Cole: Let us take care of this wu, you looked after us, let us look after you.

I mean honestly, Wu didnt do much ‘taking care’ of you guys

I love when the ninja bicker in fight scenes

Okay but Lloyd is genuinely smart, the way he noticed there were no rocks and had Harumi stop the boat.

I hate that Harumis so cute, i hate that she has a nice singing voice, i hate that shes such a girlboss gaslighter

And i hate that theres a giant fucking dinosaur fish in the river 💀

ITS A FUCKING CRAB WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

Theyre gonna be pulled to a waterfall by the current

Knew it.

Nya: Look! The signal to search for the quiet one is working! But thats weird, it says it originated from the bounty…

Kai: but thats impossible…

Zane: The only ones on the ship were us, Pixal, and…

Everyone:

Nya: Harumis the quiet one.

THATS HOW THATS REVEALED,!?!?!?

OKAY BUT THATS ACTUALLY SO GOOD. THEY DEMOLISHED THE ‘VILLAIN REVEALS THEMSELVES’ TROPE AND ALLOWS THE HEROES TO USE THEIR INTELLIGENCE. STILL LEAVING STUFF AT STAKE WITH ANOTHER CHARACTER STILL UNAWARE

Zane: We must warn Lloyd!

Ultra Violet: I wouldnt do that if I were you…

OMFG.

Love the ninja protecting their friends. Cole was holding baby wu and Jay jumped in to save them 🥺

I love crowd fight scenes. Just the heroes having to fight off groups of henchmen

Aaaand they lost.

And Lloyds with Harumi.

This is so great.

They made it to the temple with the mask 😐

OKAY NOOOOW THEY SHOW HARUMIS EVIL MISCHIEVOUS FACE

[al1x00]

⚠️CHAP. 10 SPOILERS⚠️

THE WAY I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW THIS OMFG I'M NOT READY FOR OPIN TO END😭😭

EXCUSE ME "TW SUICIDAL THOUGHTS"?!?! WHO TF IS TRYING TO BLOW THEIR BRAINS OUT MY GOODNESS.

Love how I'm totally chill on the blood and gore part like yeah that's usual Katy™ stuff, you get used to it after reading TF🥰🥰

DAMNN HOBIE'S ON FIRE HE'S GOT NO MERCY ANYMORE. Also I love how you described the factory and the way Hick's office/balcony is placed very high up because he own the place and all that jazz because it just makes him the picture perfect image of the asshole he is LMAO

YAYY WE GOT KARL TOO THE WHOLE GANG IS HEREEE

WHOA WAIT A BAG OF TNT?? That's not gonna go well, is it..? Even if they do manage to bomb the factory, TNT is a very effective and quick explosive so if they aren't fast enough to get away someone might get hurt yknow

Hicks and his shit aim strike once again and fail😌 that man cannot land a single bullet on anyone, not even a couple of horses.

WTF HOW DID HE NOT DIE? ISTG IF HOBIE DOESN'T GET TO KILL HIM

Honestly if R was to look at Hobie and see him kill men so effortlessly while balancing only on one side of his horse they're gonna get married on the spot, like RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Hobie lost his last whip and said "Fuck it, let's make an instrument of torture out of the new one" And I bet that shit hurt like hell.

"Everyone thinks he should be dead by now" ONE OF THE REALEST THINGS YOU WROTE YEAHH TERMINATE THAT ASSHOLE

YESS HE GOT THE DEATH HE DESERVED NO MERCY FOR HICKS

I always make sure there aren't any symbolism or anything in the paragraphs before I continue reading the chapters so I googled what do alligators symbolize and there many different versions of it. One said they symbolize inner strenght and power so I gues that could work with the power Hobie held in that moment right before he decided not to spare Hicks and let him suffer but it also says they symbolize finding solace in the present which I don't think Hicks got while he was getting eaten alive and ripped apart💀

WAIT IT'S BEEN A MONTH SINCE THE WHOLE THING HAPPENED? A WHOLE MONTH PASSED FROM THE DAY HICKS AND CROSS FOUND THEIR FARM?

OKAY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAS HAPPENED. HICKS TRIED TO KILL R BY THROWING HER DOWN THE WELL? IT'S WORSE THAN ANYTHING THEY'VE DONE TO HER BEFORE WTF HE DESERVED THAT HORRIBLE DEATH.

"A graveyard full of Cross’ ancestors lies just a few ways away from the gazebo." He's gonna join them soon if he doesn't stop with that attitude🥰🥰

R thinking about Hobie everytime someone does something that he would do just hurts so much because R doesn't even know if he's alive or not at this point. She has no way of escaping or getting any source of information about him or Riri and the others and it's so fucking sad. It's hurting me so much I just need to see them happy and healthy once more😭😭

R IS BEING A GIRLBOSS I LOVE ITT

“Look at me just like how you look at him.” Okay just one more thing to add to the list of reasons of why I hate Cross so much🥰🥰 Out of all the things he's done and said this is probably one of the most disgusting EVER.

KATYY WDYM BOTH HIT THEIR TARGET?!?!?! IS R DEAD? NONONONO I CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER SAD ENDING AFTER TF THIS BETTER BE A FUCKING JOKE

DAMN R GOT SOME AIM THAT BULLET LEFT A BIG ASS HOLE THROUGHT HIS STOMACH

...Katy I swear to god if R dies I'm gonna sue you. DON'T GIVE HOBIE ANY MORE TRAUMA HE ALREADY HAS PLENTLY AND EVEN MORE TO SPARE.

“A life lived without you isn't a life well lived, remember?” Bye don't talk to me for five business days.

KATY YOU HAD ME FOR A SECOND I THOUGHT THEY BOTH DIED IN THE FIRE OH MY GOODNESS I WAS ABOUT TO THROW A FIT I WAS ALREADY SOBBING MY EYES OUT BUT THEN I WENT ON AND I WAS LIKE "WAIT A DAMN MINUTE-"

THEY GOTH DUCKIESS AND BUCKY AND CHERRY HAVE LITTLE KIDS NOW I'M SOBBING OMFG

AND COWS TOO

AND CLOVER HAS HER PUPPIES TOO OH MY GOD IT'S SO CUTEEE

God really must have favourites because how the fuck did R survive that bullet right under her ribcage? Like sure there was a possibility but holy shit R got lucky. NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING OFC

HELLO?? BILLIE AND MONA CANON IN OPIN?? AAAA I'M LOSING MY SHIT I'M SO HAPPY THAT THEY'RE ALRIGHT AND CONTENT IN THEIR HOUSE AGAIN.

God this has been so bittersweet. Words cannot describe the utter whirlwind of emotions that I had throughtout this chapter and story overall. It has made me cry, laugh, cheer for the characters and have loads of sympathy for them, so much that sometimes I felt it to the very soul. I can safely say that this fic goes onto the podium with BDAS because the sheer amount of effort you put into this has not gone unnoticed, you've outdone yourself again like you always continue to do and I'm SO SO proud of you for writing something as beautiful as OPIN. I am not ready to say goodbye to our favourite outlaw and cowboy😭😭 (I will not say goodbye to him yet, he'll have me in a chokehold until the end of time)Honestly I could go on and yap about this for hours and hours (and I probably will because OPIN deserves it) but like- the intricacy of the storyline, the well done backstories and the way you gave each character a different moral and point of view is just 🤌* chefs kiss * YKWIM?? I will never, EVER, shut up about how R and Hobie were like complete strangers all over again when they found eachother after all those years, how they feared of the consequences of loving somebody, but in the end the only thing that mattered the most was to get back into eachother's arms and stay with the other until the end, no matter if the flames got to them or not; the fact that they were gonna die together in that fire and they were totally fine with that just because they had eachother will always cling with me. They way they both learned to love the other despite all their flaws and the how the horrible things that happened shaped them, but their love was stronger than anything else, stronger than a man and his whole bullet factory that went against two people who just truly loved eachother in the purest and most genuine way ever. They fought with claws and teeth, because they had both everything and nothing to lose, just to see the other one last time before everything caught up.

Alright I won't write more on this but I will return with another yapping session soon so expect a huge message in your inbox LMAO but thanks again for everything Katy!! LY LY LY❤️❤️❤️

Dead Man's Hand

Pairing: Cowboy! Hobie Brown x fem! Reader

Word count: 11.5k

Tags: Use of Y/N, sparsely, no specific physical description of the reader (except for clothing), Cowboy AU, wild west AU, CW food mention, CW vomit mention, CW blood and gore, CW guns, TW violence, TW abuse, TW suicidal thoughts, TW death.

A/N: if there are any warnings that I've missed please tell me so I could add it in.

This chapter tackles dark themes, read at your own discretion.

Our Place in the Middle of Nowhere Masterlist

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CHAPTER 10 >>>

The pungent, acrid and hot air of metal and gunpowder brings Hobie back in time as he slams open the steel doors to the factory with a harsh kick. Machinery whirs, and twists, sharp steel dancing to the beat of the flames as it turns molten iron into instruments of death.

Hobie roams his fury-filled eyes around the factory, green flames flicker in those eyes, finding grime coated faces of strangers staring back at him and his posse. One glances their dark eyes towards the upper level of the factory where a balcony is placed. Where Hicks would look down with contempt, and would scream at the overworked employees to hurry production. Hobie knows it all too well, the factory mirrors the one back home. In the middle of the balcony sits an office with frosted windows that bear Hicks’ name. But the man is nowhere to be found within the crowd.

“If you're not Hicks, get the fuck out.” He doesn't need to yell the command, for everyone turns to run outside towards the back exit where half of Miguel's gang lies in wait; and Hicks' lackeys lay dead on the soft muddy ground.

One running and hiding away amidst the crowd catches his eye with the same face as one of the men who buried him all those years ago. “‘cept you.” With one swift raise of his six shooter, smoke billowing out, a hole now sits on the man's torso where his heart should be. “Hicks, better get down ‘ere or my people will blow this place to the ground.” Hobie steps over the bloody body, crimson coating the sole of his boots. “Rainin’ bullets don't mix well with a room full of explosives.”

There's no movement nor a whisper in the entire factory save for the fading sounds of the machines slowly shutting off. He catches a glimpse of a shadow behind a closed frosty door in the upper level of the factory. It was quick and sudden, if not for Riri's gentle nudge towards the movement, he'd think he was seeing you again for a brief cruel moment.

“Ri, Karl, come with me.” Hobie emerges behind the blackened air from the large machines. Three sets of boots thumping silently as they bound upstairs.

He reaches the door, back on the solid wall and away from the glass. Riri stays on his right, shotgun cocked and ready while Karl checks his bag of TNT on Hobie's left. As he moves to open the door, a bullet pierces the glass, shattering it into sharp tiny pieces. A shard nicks Hobie's cheek, but he ignores the throbbing pain as blood trickles out.

“You're still alive, you little shit?!” Hicks yells, shooting blindly at the door.

The trio stays still and waits for the opening. A click echoes in the quiet, and clouds of gunpowder float through the air. Hobie and the others take their opportunity. Karl lights a stick of dynamite, chucking it inside the room and then ducking down to cover his ears. Hobie doesn't waste time, leaving the safety of the cover, he twists to face the door, shooting at the flying TNT— effectively blowing it near Hicks while Hobie holds onto his hat so that it doesn't get blown away.

The explosion causes Hobie to stagger backwards, if not for Riri pulling him back to the side, he would've fallen off the railings. Sulfur fills the air as they cough, puffs of grey smoke clouds the entire office space.

His ears ring, a sharp high pitched sound that he's awfully familiar with. He gives Riri a thankful nod, which she replies with a smug smile and a raise of her eyebrow. Hobie takes the lead, flicking his eyes towards Karl, who gives him a thumbs up, and with his hair all messed up from the explosion. Satisfied that his group is alright, he enters the fray. Smoke giving way to him and his raised gun. Shards of glass crunch at his feet, singed papers lay burned on the floorboards as embers flicker out in the air.

As the smoke clears out and the hot air of the south enters through the broken windows— Hobie finds no one inside the room.

“Fuck!” As he yells into the emptiness, a horse neighs outside, hooves running frantically away while bullets fly and ricochet. He immediately looks down, finding Hicks half burnt and riding away. “Like a fuckin’ roach.” Without thinking ahead, Hobie vaults from the window, softening his fall with a roll. Landing, knees aching but intact, he whistles for Bucky.

“Hobie, what the fuck?!” Riri and Karl simultaneously scream out, but Hobie's already running while Bucky follows right behind him.

Once Buckeye trots next to him, Hobie grabs hold of the saddle's horn to swiftly lift himself up on the saddle with a quick pull. No one's going to stop him, Miguel already considers Hicks dead just from the look of determination behind those green eyes.

Hobie leaves everyone in the dust. Bucky neighs wildly, huffing and puffing as he tries to catch up. “Hicks!” Said man turns on his saddle a few ways ahead, arm raising to aim and to shoot his gun. Bullets whizz past, hot air passing by as Hicks misses every single bullet.

Hicks’ scalding flesh makes him keel over in pain as his blood drenches his horse. “Shit!” He kicks roughly, his horse whines before speeding off.

Bucky gains speed, catching up to Hicks whilst he reloads. But of course, his hired guns finally catch wind. A handful of them appear from the side, trudging from the muddy swamp with alligators lurking underneath, and riding towards the bumpy road where the main chase is happening.

The rival posse hollars and hoots, sneering smiles and guns aimed at Hobie. Riri and the others are still catching up to him, so he's left alone to defend himself and Bucky. With fury fuelling him, he has everything to lose so he'll shoot through all of them like a hot knife through butter.

While the mercenaries leave the line of trees, Hobie enters the thicket, swerving to the side, using the large and sturdy trees for cover. The ground may be soft and muddy, but Hobie and his loyal horse have been in dozens of situations like this. The swamp might've slowed them down but it doesn't stop them as splintered wood flicks and flies while his enemies continue to shoot at his swift horse.

A bullet comes too close to his head, piercing a hole in the brim of his hat. He clicks his tongue, annoyed at the damage. Patting Bucky, he takes his foot off one of the stirrups to bring it to the safer side where no bullets could come at him. With two legs on one side, hand holding on to the saddle horn and reins, Hobie rides sideways, hiding his body while peeking over and shooting with calculated aim as Bucky runs back towards the path. One by one, the mercenaries fall off their horses with his bullets pierced through their bodies. The road is coated with their blood, leaving trails of rubies for his posse to follow.

Miguel trots closer, shooting at what remains of Hicks' men. The gang hoots at the sight, adrenaline rushing through their veins, and blood heating up from the violence.

While Riri and Karl have their eyes on Hobie, who now sits upright on Bucky, they kick on their horses and off they go, riding side by side with Him. Hicks panics from the sheer volume of horses running after him, with his last bullets, he aims at Bucky's leg.

Hobie beats him to the punch, quickly thrashing his whip made out of jagged metal wires, tearing the skin off of Hicks' arm apart when Hobie pulls hard at it. Hicks screams in sheer agony, tumbling and falling off his horse into the moist ground, soil entering his burns and mouth. When the dust settles, he looks up to only see the end of Hobie's gun.

It's silent in the marsh as the sun shines on his gun; frogs hum in the distance, gators trill when they smell meat while Hicks' labored breathing quickens. Hobie has his gun digging into Hicks’ skull, skin red and angry from his burns. Half of his face has melted into a mess of meat and bones, left eye barely opening from his melted eyelid. A pungent smell permeates from his oozing wounds, clothes torn and burned to ash, and ankle twisted at an angle. Hicks’ hands are buried halfway into the ground as he sinks down to the muddy plains.

Everyone thinks he should be dead by now, even Hicks himself, but death won't grant him the sweet release just yet— not until Hobie takes what he is owed.

“My, don't you look pretty, Hicks.” Hobie doesn't smile nor smirk at the sight of the man who buried him alive five years ago. A man who now kneels before him, disfigured beyond recognition, feeding the soil under him with his own suffering.

“F-fuck y-y-you.” Hicks' lips tremble from the unimaginable pain. “I w-will not b-beg.” He manages to curl half of his melted lips into one final sneer. “Not l-like how you did.”

“I don't want you to beg, Hicks.” Hobie digs the metal harshly, skin ripping and tearing like paper from under the gun. “I need to know where she is. You're dyin' anyway, your last words might as well be somethin' useful.”

Hobie's cold words makes the man scoff that quickly turns into a painful cough. “No. Didn't your old man tell you that revenge is a f-fool's game?”

“This isn't revenge, this is retribution.” Hobie tilts his head, looking behind Hicks where a pack of gators trill and show themselves under the green swamp. “If you tell me, I won't let the gators eat you alive.”

“Wha–?” Hicks' slowly turns his trembling head, skin painfully tugging with every movement. One of the gators snaps its maw, warning with its sharp teeth. The entire gang hears this grown man whimper from fear.

“They look mighty hungry, Hicks. Better hurry up.”

“You'd t-take me away from them?”

“No, I'd put you out of your misery before they get to you. Something you didn't give me back then.”

Hobie can practically see the rusty cogs in Hicks' head turning. “...alright, just don't let them eat m-me.” His burns flares up as he doubles in pain.

Hobie makes the man raise his head with the barrel pushing his chin up. “Sure.”

“She's at the big white house near Blackwater, just west of the r-road. You can't miss it.”

“You lyin’” Hobie doubts the information when he gave it to him too fast. Jaw tightening at the thought of you being so close yet so far from his reach.

“No, I'm not.” Hicks hears the unmistakable sound of the reptile crawling closer. “It's the truth.”

Riri flicks her eyes towards Hobie, leaning close, whispering lowly at his ear. “I know the place.” Hobie doesn't miss the hard look in her eyes. “He's not local, that place is well hidden, he wouldn't know that only the locals know about it.” She glares at the sniveling man, “It's ways away from the road he's talking about. Fucking far from it. Easily missed if you're not familiar with the place.”

Hicks figures out what she's whispering when Hobie's anger flares, hand tightening around his gun. “I'm telling the truth, Hobie. It's there and she's waiting for you! I promise! She's the one lying!” He points a crooked finger at Riri.

“Thought you wouldn't beg.” His fate is sealed with the gators. “Technically you did lie.” Hobie drops his arm, gun aimed away from Hicks. “Off you go with the gators, boss.”

“No, no, Hobie! Please, I'm sorry!” Hicks tries to grab at Hobie's leg, but Hobie kicks him down on the ground and on his back. He tilts his head back, meeting face to face with a ten foot alligator that seems to smile at him.

His screams echo around the marsh while Hobie and the others get on their horses. He watches the gator death roll the flailing Hicks on the muddied ground until the wailing stops completely.

Hobie leads the pack away while he leaves behind the sound of tearing skin and bones cracking under sharp teeth. And all he could think about is you, and how he could've had a good life with you.

—

Draped in chiffon and stab silk, iridescent blues and purples dance along the fabric as light hits it. Expensive fabric that hides all the aching blemishes on your flesh by the same men who claim that they are doing it for your sake, that it's the only way you would obey.

Your hands are tied behind your back with Cross' hand wrapped around your wrists in a sickening grip; preventing you from moving. You shine under the southern sun, all gold and frills but none of the happiness behind your sullen and dull eyes.

For a fleeting moment in those months you were with Hobie, you had peace. You'd stay there forever if you could, if only the world had granted it to you, instead of the pain that it brought down upon you.

You could've had a good life together.

It's been a whole month since the last time you saw Hobie alive. A whole month without hearing his voice, without his loving touch; and a whole month with the same family who has hurt you in every possible way they could. The image of Hobie buried under the rubble of your shared home spirals you over the edge once again. You've cried, wept and sobbed some more, but nothing has helped. You feel like you've died right next to him. You wish you had.

Meanwhile you have a wound that was never meant to be healed inside you. A wound that was momentarily healed, until you were brought back to the reality of your dreaded life.

You instinctively run your finger around the gold band around your finger, finding the unfamiliar diamond instead of the simple gold band that turns your face even more sour at the scalding heat that turns your heavy dress into an oven. You had the foresight to hide Hobie's ring the second you had a chance. It now lays underneath your floorboards waiting for you.

There's a heavy feeling in your chest, grief running along your heart, plunging your very being into darkness. It was like that day five years ago, you have no knowledge of him alive, no way of knowing if Hicks ended him. It's an awful case of déjà vu.

Both men stand beside you, as if they're meant to guard you. The estate stands behind you, its large shadow looming over you. All Its white marble and columns stand tall, doors that don't creak, windows pristine and gleaming— but you'd rather have the pile of ashes you once called home.

This place lacks a heartbeat.

You flick your tired eyes over to the well beside the estate, your body shivers from how cold it was inside, when you sank into it like stone the first time Hicks threw you inside. It's a miracle you didn't break your neck, in that moment, you wished it had.

A carriage arrives from a distance, horses galloping along the road towards the estate. Wispy cypress trees sit around the path, parting way for the dirt road leading to the house. Its soft leaves dance in the wind, leaves fluttering by as you watch the carriage get closer and closer.

“Remember to smile, we can't lose their money.” Hicks grabs the back of your dress, yanking your neck down for emphasis. “Don't be a bitch like last time or you'll get the well tonight. And I heard it'll be cold tonight.”

“I'll be in my best behavior, uncle.” Your glare towards the rich couple exiting the carriage says otherwise.

Hicks only gives you a stern look before letting you go. Cross loosens his grip for a moment and you immediately take your hands in front of you so he couldn't hold you again. You haven't spoken a word to the man you call husband since you arrived at the estate. Your defiance got your bedroom door locked from the outside for now but was taken apart for the first week of your stay. Showing you bare to the entire world, revealing to the world that you're his.

The woman clad in gold and gemstones huffs, flinging away a fly from her painted face. “God, I hate this humidity.”

“This better be good this time, Hicks.” Her husband takes his tophat off, wrinkling his nose at the scent of heat and damp marsh.

“You won't regret traveling for this, Mr. Burnell.” Hicks sucks up to the man. “My, don't you look lovely, Mrs. Burnell.”

She giggles, hiding the blush dusting her cheeks with a fan. “Oh don't be such a gentleman, Hicks.”

“Stop sucking up to my wife, Hicks.” Even though his smile tells you that it's a joke, his tone says that he's completely irked by your uncle. Perhaps this has happened before.

You roll your eyes subtly, Cross’ jaw tightens as he shakes hands with both guests. “It's a pleasure to have you both today.” He says flatly.

“An honour.” Your tone is tight, lips turned into a strained smile.

“I remember you,” the male Burnell smiles faintly at you. “And you too,” he points at Cross. “I was at your wedding, what a wonderful ceremony.” You clench your fists tightly around your lace gloves, almost tearing the fabric.

“Oh I also remember!” His wife claps, “your gown was lovely, and the deviled eggs were to die for!”

You laugh, a sound more akin to a scoff. “I should've had some back then.”

Mr. Burnell reaches for both of your hands, holding you gently as you make a face at him that doesn't quite reach the man's full understanding. “I'm sorry about your aunt, we sent flowers to the funeral. I hope it was to your liking.”

“I wouldn't know, I wasn't there.” You swallow thickly.

“Oh poor dear,” The woman touches your cheek, and you flinch away. She coos as if you're a child. “You couldn't even bear saying goodbye.”

“Sure,” you slide your hands away from the man's hold, and then you take her hand away from your skin. “That's why.”

Hicks inhales deeply, “why don't we go to the gazebo? Tea is being served there.” He takes their attention away from you.

“We came all this way and you don't even have lunch for us?” Mr. Burnell raises a thick brow, his wife agrees with a nod.

“We did.” Cross finally speaks through gritted teeth. “It got cold.” The couple flares their nostrils in annoyance.

“This place was hard to find.”

“You had us waiting for two hours. Hardly an excuse, Mr. Burnell.” Cross doesn't back down from the older man's stare.

“W-what my associate was trying to say was that— we didn't want to serve you all cold beef! No one likes cold beef, correct?” Hicks tries to save the day, but they don't respond. “There's deviled eggs in the gazebo.” That seemed to work as they followed Hicks towards the blue gazebo behind the house.

Cross yanks you back to his side before you could get far. Your chest tightens, threatening to stop your breathing as he whispers towards one of the estate workers to prepare a batch of deviled eggs immediately. The second they leave, you glare at Cross, refusing to touch him even though his fingers dig into your arm.

“Don’t run, Y/N.” He says for the umpteenth time. You would run, and you had a few times while you're with him. But you were only met with your cheeks burning into the shape of his palm, and his hired guns dragging you back inside the mansion with their lassos tied around your ankles.

“I can't even breathe in this dress, moreso run in it.” You try to take your arm back but he stops you with his nails dragging along your sleeves.

“Be good, be fucking obedient. Don't be impossible like you always were.” His green eyes remind you so much of Hobie that it taints his image in your mind. You refuse to let it fog his image.

“I am not a dog, Cross.” You fight back, why shouldn't you? You have nothing to lose now.

He comes close to your face, jade eyes reflecting the fear in your expression, breath wafting over your face. “Then don't act like one.” His eyes pass over your face, finding fear laced in between the creases of your expression. His tone softens, one that sends shivers down your spine. “Why don't you call me by my real name? Cross is our last name, Y/N. Can you call me—”

“No.” You yank yourself away even if it means that his fingers drag along your arm in a manner that makes your skin run cold.

The next thing you know you're sitting next to Mrs. Burnell, who swallows down deviled eggs like its water. The entire table is set all prettily, blue laces sitting under white porcelain, utensils draped in silver, and chairs soft whilst the gazebo with lilacs growing on the roof acts as your shade. A graveyard full of Cross’ ancestors lies just a few ways away from the gazebo. Withering gravestones left unattended, and overgrown grass drowning each of the carved names. It leaves a heavy presence in the back of your mind.

The fork in your hand shakes, silver shining in the sunlight bearing down behind you just as when a pair of red cardinals fly next to the gazebo. The murmurs of the marsh echoes around the estate, gators trilling a few ways away, birds chirping and cawing right next to croaking bullfrogs. You're surrounded by green with a dash of greed as Hicks continues to suck up to the rich prospective partners.

A hand cups your own, and for a flicker, you thought it was Hobie's calloused hand gently holding onto you until his nails jab into your palm. Cross gives you a hard look, gesturing for you to eat instead of staring blankly at the cakes in front of you. With a mocking smile, you take a glass of cold orange juice on your right, condensation drenching your ungloved hand. You don't break eye contact as you gulp down the entire glass, making the Burnells look at you with pinched brows. For the final touch, you exhale loudly as if you were thirsty beyond belief.

Hicks chuckles nervously, eyes darting from you to the rich couple. Cross is fuming silently, letting your hand go limp on the table. An employee comes to your side, refilling your glass as everyone at the table stays in awkward silence. You can't help but puff out your chest with pride. Hobie would've loved to see that. Their faces would be worth it for the wrath you're about to face.

Mr. Burnell clears his throat, “as I was saying, we can't give twenty thousand for only ten percent shares. It's daylight robbery, Hicks.”

“Oh come on, Quentin, you've known me for a long time!” Hicks plays the ‘old friend’ card, a trick you've seen one too many times. “You know I can be trusted, and that ten percent will go higher once we've had our foothold here in America.”

“I do know you, that's why you can't be trusted. Even her aunt knew better when she gave the company to her.” Burnell pauses, bespectacled eyes staring at you briefly. Your lips curl up into a smirk. You probably don't have to work too hard in sabotaging this one. “Besides, that was back when you were the leading manufacturer in the UK. There was a guarantee, now you're here in a country that is practically shitting bullets by the buckets.” He leans back in his seat, “face it, you old dog, there's no profit here for you.”

“He's right,” His wife enters the conversation, dabbing her mouth daintily with a handkerchief. “Why did you even move here in the first place? I heard the company was doing badly back home but not that bad, right?”

Hicks coughs, drinking from his glass, stalling from answering. Cross has had enough, he leans on the table, elbows right next to his untouched plate, white suit unblemished.

“Because I'm here.” He takes your hand, making a show of it for the Burnells. He's using the ‘I love my wife’ card. Surprisingly, it's only the second time he has used it on the rich and stupid. “And my wife deserves to be with her husband, yes?” The couple looks at each other, then returns their attention to you as you try incredibly hard not to vomit all over the table. “I've…ignored her for far too long while I'm always here tending to my own business.” He clasps the back of your hand with his free hand. “We were deeply saddened by her aunt's passing, but I saw a silver lining. Taking the tragedy and turning it into something better by bringing her and her family business here to my home so we could finally start having our own family here without the dark cloud looming over us.” He was right about one thing, your aunt was a dark cloud looming over everyone. Cross leaned close, pecking your hand chastely. “Right, love?”

You close your eyes to prevent yourself from heaving out what little you've eaten. “Right.” Tone small and disgusted, you have the sudden urge to stab his eyes out with a fork. For a second, your mind gives you that exact image. Seeing his blood spurt out from his sockets and spraying on the deviled eggs.

For some reason, even with the disgusted look on your face, the Burnells' hard exterior softens. The missus clutches the pearls on her chest as if she just heard the most romantic story, and the male Burnell nods along with a fond smile. “You two remind me of my first marriage.” His wife chuckles, you frown, eyebrows knitted together as Cross plays along to his concocted story.

They continue their negotiation with more enthusiasm. Hicks pats Cross gladly on the shoulder, already drafting up a contract on a piece of parchment. Thankfully, Cross has let you go. Free to wipe your hand on your dress. You replay the last minute in your mind, like you're stuck in the moment he touched you with his dry lips upon the same hand you used to cradle Hobie's face with.

The conversation fades into the background, a thought passes you by, one that you're too grief stricken to see until now. Why is Cross even helping Hicks? He has the money to fund whatever the factory needs, he doesn't even need to be in the conversation. He has nothing to gain from this. He already has you, so why does he seem so desperate to get this partnership?

Then it hits you, he's as bankrupt as Hicks. Hicks, who drove the company to the ground with his moronic decisions the second your great aunt was in the ground. And Cross, there was never a day in your short marriage with him that he wasn't out gambling his family fortune away, or going to exotic places you've only read in books. When he doesn't have his hands on you, he's at the nearest pub or the derby races, betting everything in his pockets. You always just thought he had that much money to lose. But you were wrong. And the only reason you're here is because of the money your parents have set aside for you, money that is tied up with the company or what is left of it— the company that you own and have the last say in. Until your name isn't written in that contract that Hicks shoves in your face every morning, they have nothing.

“You have nothing.” You blurt out, you don't regret it immediately.

“Excuse me?” Mr. Burnell says, offended.

“Not you, I know you have money.” You place your elbows on the table, chin propped up on your scarred palm. “I was talking about my dear uncle and beloved husband.” Your words drip with venom and sarcasm.

“What are you saying?” Mrs. Burnell asks, concerned, either for your well being with the two men or for the money she almost lost.

“Shut it, Y/N.” Hicks says through gritted teeth, eyes warning you.

“Don't tell a woman to shut up, Hicks.” Surprisingly, Mr. Burnell defends you. “Speak, girl.” And there goes your respect.

“They don't have anything.” Cross tries to yank your hand back but you quickly tug yourself away. “Hicks is lying, the company is losing money, not gaining it. Production has been down since they moved here, probably because Hicks doesn't know how to run a company.”

You continue your tirade without missing a beat. “He was a manager before marrying my aunt, but he was a shit manager. If not for Peter—” you inhale and clear your mind. “All I'm saying is, he's asking for a scapegoat for the debt collectors, not a business partner.” You flick your eyes mockingly towards the seething Hicks. Meanwhile, Cross sits quietly, you're afraid but you have to continue. “I retract my previous words.” Hicks inhales with relief. “It's not probably, it's definitely.” He stutters, trying to save face but you continue. “He's overworking the workers and because of that there's more mistakes. More mistakes means more bullets that come out a little crooked. That's good, if your targets swerve to the left.”

“She's lying!” Hicks laughs shakily, fists slamming down on the table. “You know how women are? She's hysterical because of her aunt's passing.”

You scoff. “You said it yourself, Mr. Burnell, you don't trust Hicks.” All eyes are on you. Your words fill you with pride, Hobie would be proud. “As for Cross, I wouldn't even trust him with my coin pouch.”

The Burnells seemingly believe you, heads turned slowly towards Cross and Hicks, eyes boring holes in their foreheads. “Looks like we wasted our time. You're right, honey, we should've gone for the Winchester instead of this clown show.”

“You believe me?” You ask, bewildered. “That quick?”

“We passed by the factory on our way here, that's why we were late.” Burnell answers back. Already taking his belongings to leave. “We saw the horrid conditions. We were naive to believe that it was like that because you're still getting used to the transition.” He helps his wife up as Hicks follows behind the couple. Cross stays behind silently while you stay with the Burnells in hopes that they'd take you with them. “Thank you, girl.”

“You're welcome, c-can I—” The couple gets in their carriage, eyes blinking at you. “Can I come with you?” You sound like a child, voice trembling in hope that they'll say yes. “Please.”

Hicks chuckles incredulously right next to them, but his eyes grow dark at your request, a warning. Cross appears behind you, green eyes hidden by the shadow of his hat, lips clamped into a fine line.

“What for, girl?” Mr. Burnell asks, “We don't need any more bootlicking. We're not giving you the money for the factory.”

You flex your fists on your sides, eyes darting in between Hicks and Cross. Heart thumping, you have to try. “I don't— it's not that. I don't need the money. I—”

“So you do have the money for the company then? Why bother asking us?” The older man cuts you off, scoffing while his wife rolls her eyes. “Kids these days, so greedy.” He gets in the carriage, following his wife.

“Wait! Please!” It's too late as they run off in the distance. In your desperation, you start to run after them. But before you could go far, Cross stops you with his arms embracing you from behind. “No! Please come back! They're hurting me here—!” Your flailing stops when Hicks steps in front of you with his gun raised.

“Do you have any idea what you've done?” He clicks the hammer down, finger right on the trigger. “You've doomed us.”

With tears in your eyes, Cross holds you against him tighter. Chest aching, breath stolen from you. “No, just you!” Yet, you continue to fight. You might've lost hope a long time ago if not for Hobie. Hope that you'll get out like last time, hope that Hobie will be there waiting for you. But there's a part of you that just wants to let go. Looking over your shoulder, you're met with familiar green eyes that used to fill you with calm. “And you.”

“I should shoot you right here.”

“Do it then. But you can't because without my signature you're fucking broke!” With a cackle, Hicks yanks the back of your head, taking you from Cross' arms, dragging you towards the well. Body scraping against soil, you try to scratch at his hands but it doesn't deter him as his anger fuels him.

“Fucking bitch, you keep ruining shit!” He yanks you to your feet, and then pressing your front to the mouth of the well while pushing you down harshly, making you look down at the depths.

You yelp, sharp rocks digging into your stomach, eyes forced to look down at the deep dark well. It's cold down there, you wonder if this is what it felt like for Hobie back at the farm. Staying quiet, your hands grip the sides to keep your balance, a bead of sweat falling down and leaving ripples as it hits the stagnant water.

“What, no begging or screaming and crying this time?” Hicks latches on your hair tightly, scalp burning from his hold.

“I've gotten used to the dark. You won't hear me begging ever again.” Your voice echoes down to the bottom. “You can't hurt me anymore, not in the way that matters.” Releasing your hold on the sides, you lean closer to the edge. Expecting the cold embrace and the familiar weightlessness, it doesn't come.

There's a scoff above before you're let go. “I have to correct your fuck up.” He seethes, giving your leg a swift kick as you lay your head on the stone. “Deal with her.”

“I'm not one of your employees, Hicks.” Cross challenges him.

“She's your fucking wife. You discipline her while I go to the factory. As for you,” he flicks the shell of your ear. “Your name better be on that contract when I get back.” You hear their continued bickering whilst you even out your breathing. Just like what Hobie would tell you.

After a rustle of clothing and dress shoes thumping on the ground, you fall on your knees, still clutching the well. Face hidden from Cross, he sighs, hand reaching towards you. Feeling the sickening familiarity of his hand wrapped around your arm, you instinctively flinch away.

“Why couldn't you just obey, just this once?”

You heave, furrows knitted in anger. Looking over your arm, your glare sends goosebumps up his arms. “I'm not one of your hounds.”

“Then why do you kneel like one?” The sun behind him engulfs his entire form, turning him into a breathing shadow.

“Go fuck yourself, Cross.” You shakily stand up while avoiding his gaze. Walking towards the house, you clench your fists until you feel your blunt nails leave pin pricks of crimson

“I'm trying here, Y/N. You're making it impossible.” He yanks you back, neck craned to the side to look at you. “I'm holding back but you're not making this easy.”

“You sound like this is all my fault.” You still avoid his eyes, forgoing to look at the tree behind him. “I'm not the one who gambled all your money away. And I didn't force you to marry me.” His fingers pull you closer.

“Look at me.”

“Fuck you—” you try to escape but he's stronger.

“Look at me just like how you look at him.” He forcefully turns your head with his hand burrowing into your chin.

With apprehension, you chuckle, a cracked dry laughter. Your eyes slowly move to the green eyes in front of you. “I'll never look at you like that. Nothing you do will make me look at you with the same love I give to him.”

Cross swallows thickly, jaw tightening. “Why him?”

“It felt right. We share the same heart.” It's the first truth you've said in a month, and for once you smile genuinely. “I'll always love him, remember that.”

He inhales, and you wait for the impact.

“Sir?” The housekeeper asks from the side, hands wringing in front of her. “Is everything alright?” Her brown hair shimmers in the sun like copper, lips turned into a fine line.

She reminds you of the former housekeeper that tried to help you by taking your letter addressed to Hobie. Cross found out about it, you haven't seen her since then.

“We're alright, Belinda.” Cross lets you go, leaving a mark on your arm. “Fetch me my hunting rifle.”

You leave with haste, hands shaking as you hitch your skirt up. You can feel his sickly green eyes on you, like a shadow that envelops you whole.

You've crossed the line, and you fear that this is the end for you.

—

Pacing around your room, you walk around and hold your breath. It's like waiting for the gallows, waiting for the bullet to hit you. Hobie's ring is back on your finger instead of what Cross gave you on your wedding day, which is the exact same one you left on the bedside table when you escaped. You twist it around your finger as the room shifts and twirls in your vision.

The room is finely decorated with daffodils painted on the walls, gold fixtures on the ceiling with painted deers trotting overhead on fields of green on the ceiling. The room looks like it used to be a child's room. A pale blue bed sits in the middle of the room, draped in a satin canopy. It's a stark contrast to the room back at the farm, all wood and none of the gilded walls. But you'd choose that a hundred times over if given the chance. Especially if Hobie's there waiting for you.

You feel like you're slowly disappearing into the walls.

Your eyes have been glued to the door as you chew your nails. You'd lock the doors from the inside if the locks weren't instead bolted from the outside. Tears brim at your eyes, but you refuse to let it go as you sniff. You miss your home, you miss the smell of dew in the morning. You miss Clover and how she cuddles on your side. You miss Cherry and Bucky and your afternoon rides with them. You miss him, you miss Hobie and how he holds you gently, how he talks to you about things. It's him talking so you'd listen and speak with him until the sun decides to sleep. You miss his voice telling you that everything will be alright.

You wonder if everything will still be alright when you hear heavy footsteps outside your door.

Cross doesn't knock, and you wait at the foot of your bed, standing straight, eyes forward and daunting despite your fear. If he shoots you through the door now, would Hobie be there to greet you on the other side as darkness engulfs you one last time?

This house will be a tomb. Your tomb.

The door doesn't creek as Cross opens it. “Hunt with me, just like old times.” He has a rifle strapped to his back, suit traded in for his haunting gear, still clad in white leather. Your eyes flick over to the two guns on his belt. If only you could take it from him. Or at least one.

“Giving me a gun? Do you think that's wise?” You cross your arms over your chest, clearing your throat so he doesn't notice the shaking of your voice.

“Why? You'd shoot me in the back?” He asks chidingly.

“In a heartbeat.” You say without even a hint of a joke. “What's even out there, Cross? What are we hunting down?”

“A deer.”

“I don't think there are any deer out here.” A dangerous silence hangs in the air, choking you as he stares deeply at you. You inhale, swallowing down your fear as best as you can. “If you give me a knife instead, I will stab your eye out. Killing other things won't keep us from killing each other.”

He clicks his tongue, hand on the gun like he's mocking you. “Take the dog instead.” Taking the leash off his belt he holds it out for you. “A dog for a hound. At least this one is loyal.”

“Which end of the leash is the hound?”

“What do you want, Y/N, hm?” Tossing the leash harshly, he stalks closer, and you flinch back. A doe caught in the coyote's eye. “I broke your heart, I get it. Do you want me to apologize to you?”

“My heart? That's the only thing you haven't broken yet.” He stops a few feet away from you, yet still too close to you. “You broke my body until I could barely recognize myself anymore. My arms bear the shape of your nails, my scalp remembers the sharp tugs of your hands.” You exhale as a tear falls down your cheek. “Hobie broke my heart, but he pieced it together, piece by tiny piece.” You point at him repeatedly. “You, you broke everything else.”

“If this is about your aunt—”

“Fuck you! This isn't about her.” If this is really your end, you don't want to leave without saying the words you've been meaning to say out loud. You tremble for a second before grinning with tears in your eyes. "I'm glad she's gone. Her hold on me is gone.” You chuckle breathlessly, sighing loudly. “There I said it. It's like a boulder has been lifted off my shoulders.”

“Y/N,” there it is, the patronizing tone he uses on you. He's about to guilt you into something you haven't had a hand in, or chastise you like a child.

“Stop being so fucking delusional, take the blinders off for one fucking minute.” The fire in you latches on you. “This is about you and how you hurt me the second you brought me home after the wedding. You knew that I never wanted to marry anyone else, and that my aunt and Hicks hurt me back home. And instead of helping me, taking me away from them, you joined them.”

“I got you out of there. I married you.”

You laugh without an ounce of humour, clapping wildly. “Well thank you very much, Cross!”

“I tried for a little while, Y/N. But I'm your husband, and you continued to disobey so I had to go to them, ask them for advice.” He walks closer, you stop him with a hand in front of you, as if it will shield you from him. You've tried that once, it didn't work.

“Nothing you do will make me forgive you. I hope you drown in your guilt if you even have an ounce of it. I hope you lay awake at night thinking of how much you hurt me. I'd rather die than forgive you.” Cross steps forward with an unreadable expression, and the back of your knees hits the bed as you try to get away. You eye the gun, you fear that you won't keep your promise to Hobie.

The world already ended for you when Hicks killed him.

Cross tries again. You think it'll be the last time he will the second he walks closer to you, so close that you can see yourself in his eyes. “Sign the papers, Y/N, and everything will be over.”

“You know the second I sign it, Hicks will kill me.” Your eyes wander towards his unlatched gun.

“I won't let that happen.”

You laugh in his face, “Sure, but you'll let him hurt me. Might as well sign my death warrant instead.” Standing back up, you inch towards him bravely despite your instincts telling you to shield yourself. You have to get that gun. “I–I tried to love you at first, and remained optimistic in this marriage.” His eyes are on your face, irises darting over your lips while you sneak your hand towards his gun belt slowly. “Even indulging my idiotic childish whims of what a marriage could be like. But I couldn't, not when you hurt me just like they did. Only because I didn't love you like how you thought I would.” Your hand finds the cold metal, fingers wrapping around the handle. “For a second there I thought you'd be my saviour, when in fact it was the opposite. You joined them instead. You were just as bad as them.”

You stand toe to toe with him. You hear a glass breaking downstairs, and then the smell of something familiar. Snatching the gun quickly, you aim it at his stomach, steel meeting flesh. You feel the same sensation against your chest.

“I love you.” Cross utters, finger right on the trigger.

“I've seen love, this isn't it.” With your cold words, you shoot.

Both guns go off.

Both hitting their targets.

—

The sun is just beginning to set, orange peeking from the horizon, hues of pink and orange blanketing the three men. Each inhale from the cigarette perched in each of their lips has grey smoke filtering through their lungs. They should be guarding the front door like they were hired to do, instead they chainsmoke their way out into an early grave while hiding behind the estate, facing the vast green marsh that hides their debauchery from the rest of the world.

“You hear any cryin’ last night?” The one with an auburn beard asks, his rifle leaning against the wall right next to him instead of in his hand like it was supposed to be in.

A dark haired man answers, belching out smoke while crouched on the ground, eyes narrowed at the whispering willows. “Yeah, i think the stable boy wasn't lying, there's a fuckin' ghost here.”

“You two think it's a fucking ghoul or some shit?” The third one replies with a scoff, blonde hair peeking out from his hat as he takes a swig of moonshine.

“Yeah,” The first two responds, spine tingling when a cold breeze passes through them.

“It's the boss’ wife, not a ghost, you morons.” As the yellowed haired man responds, a bright flicker of light appears in between the willow trees. “What the fuck?” The two men next to him follows his terrified gaze, cigarettes falling off their lips.

The light moves, as if it dances in the wind. It flickers, brightening up into an orange glow before turning yellow once again. The three outlaws move from the wall, eyes glued on the mesmerizing ball of light.

“Fuck, it's a swamp ghost—” the one with the red beard gasps, choking on his own blood, frantically trying to stop his neck from gushing out ichor with a knife stuck to his throat.

The other two only had a split second to react before a sharp knife slashes at their exposed necks. They mirror each other, shirts stained with red, palms coated in warmth and crimson while they frantically try to stop the bleeding. They croak and creak out, eyes managing to fall upon hazel eyes, and one with his face covered in soot. They both hold a glinting knife, blood still trickling down from the steel.

Miguel leaves from his hiding place in the thicket, eyes flicking briefly towards their twitching forms before returning his gaze at the ball of light. He nods to Riri and Karl, who stand above the corpses. And then he gestures with his gloved hand, giving the warm light a small nod.

The light comes closer, footsteps echoing as boots sink in moist soil— appearing behind the darkness of the trees and into the fading light of the sun. Hobie's face is revealed behind the light with a lit cigarette in between his lips, shadows dancing around the fury behind his green eyes hidden by the brim of his hat. He inhales before flicking the cigarette away, falling into a puddle. More appear behind him, trees and bushes parting before the dozen men and women following in his steps.

“Karl, light the oleander for me will you?” Hobie tosses the bag of pink flowers in Karl's waiting hands. And then he takes his knife back from the auburn haired corpse, wiping it on the grass before sheathing it back on his belt.

“D’you think that'll work? What if she gets caught in it?” Riri whispers, gesturing for the gang to crouch down and hide beside the wall where the trio were last seen smoking.

Hobie drags one of the bodies, hiding it behind the bushes while the rest of the gang help with the other two. He follows Riri, blood rushing in his ears, adrenaline pumping through his veins at how close you are from him. It's only a matter of time before you're back safe and sound.

“She knows the smell, she'll cover her nose.” His voice doesn't waver, but his insides are turning and twisting inside him. He can't fail. “As for everyone, cover your damn noses, and protect your eyes as much as you can.”

“This won't kill us right?” Karl weighs the bag in his hands.

Miguel checks his bullets beside him, giving Hobie and Riri a once over if their weapons are lacking. “At most it'll make us sick and itch. Right, Hobie?”

“Just don't inhale it directly.” Hobie yanks his bandana up to his nose, fitting it snugly. He notices his hands shaking, closing his fists tightly, he cannot fail. A month of tracking you down can't end with him failing to save you, he can't lose you. “You know what to do, Karl. Ri go with him.”

“Hobie,” she clasps the back of his fist. “Be careful, alright? If you get hurt, call Roberto, he'll treat you.” Inhaling sharply, she pats his cheek. “Get her back but don't die on us, alright?”

Hobie couldn't look directly at Riri, “She goes first, Ri.”

“I know, that's why we brought Roberto with us, remember? He's the doctor, he knows what to do and…what to expect, if need be.”

Hobie nods, staring at his family. “Thank you for backing me up, I owe you. All of you.”

“Don't die and we're even, Hobie.” Miguel pats Hobie's bicep before heading to his designated position.

“What he said,” Karl smiles brightly, fist connecting to Hobie's clenched one gently. “Also if I don't return from this, Robbie's gonna fucking kill you, man.”

Hobie cracks a smile. “Yeah, I know. Try to stay alive for the both of us then.” Karl makes his way towards the front while Riri staggers behind, still holding onto Hobie's hand. “Just like Valentine, right?” Riri smiles, hiding her trepidation behind her bandana. He fixes the cloth over her face carefully, tugging it over her nose and ears. “Keep that snug.” She could only nod, eyes brimming with tears. “Don't die on us too, Ri.” With a quick embrace, she leaves, following behind Karl who was waiting for her.

Hobie takes a second to breathe. He has done things like this a hundred times before, but never with you on the line. He can't leave without you like last time. He won't cower behind wooden walls like last time, he's not gonna stand here and tremble and rot and bleed. He's going to get you back. He knows he will.

There's a gunshot echoing inside the estate just as when a glass window breaks, signaling the beginning of the end.

—

The house falls and chaos reigns. They tried to stick to their plan of using stealth, but of course someone saw them and alerted everyone in their presence. Karl got the oleander thrown inside the halls, puffs of pinkish fumes swell out from the bag. Hobie sees the result of it as black smoke turns the estate into the pits of hell. Hobie's eyes waters but he continues to strike anyone who wasn't on his side. He throws his spiked whip towards someone who tried to shoot at Karl, the barbed whip rakes and breaks skin as he tugs and pulls until the man falls down next to his shredded flesh.

Screams echo around the estate, his posse lets go of the innocent unarmed employees while the others aren't so lucky the second they aim back.

They try to fight their way inside, finally thinning the outlaws outside as flames trickle from the burning bag towards the velvet curtains. Embers climb up until they hit the ceiling, fire licking at the once white walls, leaving burn marks in its wake.

A few of the hired guns surrender after recognising Miguel's gang, some were fools who tried to shoot them down but his allies were in greater numbers. More experienced, more bloodthirsty than the hired guns.

All the winning cards are in his hand, all he needs to do is play them right.

“Miguel!” Hobie yells while he and three others try to push through the main doors that refuse to budge open.

Miguel, who was currently brawling with a man taller than him, grunts when a fists harshly connects at his jaw. Hobie curses under his breath, without wasting a second, he aims and shoots. Gunpowder fills his lungs once more as the burly man falls on top of Miguel in a thud.

Hobie stalks towards Miguel, he shoots someone who was aiming at him on his left, his bullet doesn't miss even without him looking at the target. He grabs the body by its vest, yanking it off Miguel.

“Get up,” he reaches for the breathless gang leader, hazel eyes smiling at his old friend.

“I had that, Hobie!” Despite his broken nose, Miguel is back on his feet the moment he takes Hobie's helping hand. “Retirement, huh?”

Hobie shakes his head with a ghost of a smile on his lips. “Fuckin' retirement.” Reloading his gun, he goes back to the locked doors with Miguel now in tow. “On three!” His shoulders meet with the oak, “one!” Miguel nods next to him, bracing himself on the door. “Two!” A few more join in, ready to push the moment he says, “three!”

The doors burst open, splintering wood scattering, smoke coming out into the fray. Hobie meets with Sheriff Lee's eyes before a bullet hits him directly on his shoulder.

“Fuck!” He falls on his knees, clutching his wound as blood seeps through his fingers.

“Should've left when you had the chance, Mr. Brown!” Lee taunts, reloading his hunting rifle, giving Miguel enough time to drag Hobie back outside and placed behind the wall. “Come back here, murderer!”

A few shots ring out, both parties exchanging bullets. Your face appears in front of him before it’s replaced by the doctor's face. He needs to get you out quickly before the oleander takes hold. Hands tie a bandana around his wound, Hobie stands up the second that the cloth is tightened.

“Keep that on!” Roberto yells above the booming gunfire. “I’ll fix you properly right after this!”

Hobie nods, blinking the haze away. Miguel shakes him awake while avoiding his injury. “Lee's down! We'll handle the rest down here, we heard that she's upstairs.”

“Okay,” Hobie inhales and exhales, I'm almost there, love.

When the bullets stop flying inside the now bullet ridden manor, he steps foot inside. Glass crunches at his feet, eyes darting and alert from any surprises. He sees bodies littered on the marble floors, both from his side and Lee's. The sheriff lays under a pile of broken vase, eyes wide open, fingers still enclosed around his gun. The smoke thickens, and he hears blasts reverberating around the house.

Miguel's posse storms the place, pocketing whatever shines inside the house. A few more bullets are shot from deep inside the walls, but it's clear who's the winner. Hobie just wants you back.

Just as when he's about to climb the winding stairs with his throbbing shoulder, he sees a man stagger out from a room. “Is that—?” The bloodied man in the hunting gear trips and falls off the railing, plunging down right next to where Hobie's standing.

Cross lays on his own puddle of rubies, a gaping hole in his stomach instead of his insides. “H-help me,” Begging, he looks at Hobie with his bloodshot eyes, reaching towards Hobie's leg with his broken hand. “She's upstairs. Y-you can have her.”

“Is that him?” Miguel asks, and Riri appears from the side. Eyes watching the wounded man. Hobie nods, eyes never leaving Cross.

Hobie aims at Cross' head, seething. “She is not a thing to be had.” His aim stays true, but he shakes his head, lowering his gun down. “Nah, I'll let her bullet kill you.”

Miguel smirks, while Riri and him have a silent communication. “Don't worry, Hobie, we got rich boy.” He takes out his lasso from his waist, crossing the distance towards the dying Cross.

Riri gestures for Hobie to continue up the stairs. “Go! We'll be waiting.”

With a grateful nod, Hobie runs up the stairs towards his fire and his light. His heavy footsteps echo, breathing staggered as he thinks of you. What if he finds you in the same condition as Cross? What would he do if he sees you bleeding out? So he runs despite his own injuries, to see you again, to hold you again.

He follows the blood trail once he gets close enough, instead of your smiling face greeting him back, he stares at your body covered in crimson. Soft blue bed sheets stained with dark rubies. Arms spread on the bed as you lay on the soft mattress with your eyes unblinking towards the ceiling.

Hobie calls for you, air sucked from his lungs with every step he takes. He reaches for you, tears turning you into a watercolor painting in his vision. Red and blues blending into a watery picture.

You feel like you're in the bottom of a well, staring up at your aunt's sneering face. Your breathing is labored while the bullet is stuck in your chest, right below your ribcage. There's no pain, no feeling in your fingers as you see Hobie's face appear from above. Head perfectly lined up with the deer antlers painted on the ceiling.

“Found the deer, Cross.” You murmur, eyes hazy, lips barely opening.

“Stay awake, love.” Hobie's hand trembles as he rips his bandana off to stave off the bleeding by plugging the wound. You cry from the sudden pain, hands flying towards his wrists. “‘m sorry, ‘m sorry.” His tears flow down your cheek. “This'll be over, I need to carry you.”

“Hobie?” Your eyes focus on his face, meeting with his viridescent eyes. “Are you real?” Nails dig into his flesh, you sob, fingers shaking whilst you reach for his face. The pads of your fingers brush along his jaw, stubble returning you back to reality. “I'm so s-sorry, I should've told you.”

“None of that.” He holds onto the back of your hand, letting your palm rest on his cheek, lips brushing along your wrist. The matching rings reflect the growing fire ebbing towards the room.

“It h-hurts, Hobie.”

Sniffing, burning wood enters his lungs, sobs threatening to pull him down to you. “I know, I know.” He wipes the tears and the sweat off your forehead. “But we need to move, love, there's a fire and I need to carry you down.”

You gaze at his green eyes, sorrow and grief twisting and turning behind them. They remind you of home, of Clover, of Cherry and Bucky. And you remember your promise to him, an impossible promise that you will try to keep. But if it means that it's his end too, you have to break it. For his sake.

You grip his shoulders, Hobie notices how weak your hold on him is. “Okay, okay, carry m-me down.” There's a taste of copper in your mouth, lips coated in the bitter taste.

He nods, wiping his tears with his sleeves before sliding his hand behind your back, finding your warm blood sticking to the bedsheets. “I got you.” Whispering against your crown, he lifts you up mere inches away from the bed before you scream in agony. “‘m sorry!” He cries into your hair, your grip weakening even more.

“W-we can try again.” You slide your palm to his nape, “try again, Hobie.”

Hobie flicks his eyes towards you, the light behind your eyes is starting to dim. “Help!” He yells in desperation at the door, in hopes that someone comes bounding up the stairs. “Riri! Miguel! Anyone!”

Your heart breaks, “Hobie, Hobs.” Patting his chest, it's getting harder to breathe. “L-leave. Leave me here.” Hobie's already shaking his head. You smile softly at him, the best you could do despite your body dying. “You have to, you can't die here.”

“And you do?” He cups your face, “we still have forever to go, remember?”

He doesn't want you to come back as a dream anymore, or a shadow embracing him from behind; or a pain in his chest when he hears your name in his mind. He doesn't want your ghostly kiss to taste like ashes on his lips.

He doesn't want you to go.

“I'm sorry, I can't keep my promise. B-but you still can.” You weakly push down at his nape to feel his forehead against yours one last time. Your eyes are starting to close. “Live for me, would you?”

“No, please.” His palm slides right above your heart, feeling your heartbeat slow down. One last time, he yells for help. His throat burns as the ceiling above is engulfed in flames. No one comes to help. “I have to break my promise too, love.”

“Don't, please.”

“A life lived without you isn't a life well lived, remember?”

You accept death in his warm embrace. “I'll see you in a bit then.”

Flames engulf the room in its fiery destruction. Paint melting off the walls, wood and glass cracking under the pressure. And yet, he still holds on to you, lips pressed on your cold lips in a fleeting goodbye.

“Hobie!”

—

In the middle of nowhere sits the remnants of a farm with clovers growing all around it. Vines snaking along what remains of the farm house, and in those vines, pink hydrangeas grow and thrive amidst the cinders. And behind those darkened wood sits two graves with clovers growing on top of the soil. Two names are etched on simple limestone graves, they bear the same last name and same date of death.

Many travelers pass through the place without ever knowing the story behind the two graves. Seasons come and go, flowers bloom and wither. But only a few ever knew what used to stand on the emerald farm. What used to grow, what colour the house was, and who used to live in it. Stories were whispered and told but only a few truly knew the story behind it, few who came and visited and placed flowers on each of the graves.

And in those few, only three of them know that the once abundant farm where two graves were dug right under an oak tree, are empty.

The stories and the graves were enough to fool anyone left that wants to hurt either one of you to turn back and lament.

The true story lies behind the northern border, where pine trees grow up to the skies. Where snow and ice envelops the whole place. Where the two names etched on the gravestones in the empty farm now live.

“Stop bullyin’ your brother.” The dappled foal yelps, trotting away from his much bigger older brother. The dark horse with white splotches turns his bright blue eyes towards Hobie, huffing and puffing like an annoyed teenager. “Don't huff at me,” great, now he's the one talking to horses. “Go tell your dad not to have any more kids. Not my problem, junior.” The young horse rears, running towards the barn where Buckeye and Cherry sleeps.

Hobie leans on the fence, watching the sunrise on his expansive land. Horses and foals run around freely, feeling the cold gust of wind in their manes. A few sheep roam the grounds, while a pair of cows chew their way towards the fences. Snow-capped mountains rise up high in the background, white snow dusted along the rocks like sugar. While the trees dotted along the mountainside makes for the perfect scenic view. He pulls at his jacket closer to himself, fur tickling his nose as he breathes out puffs of smoke from the cold temperature. Winter’s coming, he can feel it in his joints as another breeze rolls in. He smiles in contentment when the air carries the sound of ducks quacking from their coop, and the smell of morning dew passing by. No more does the smell of fiery gunpowder graze his senses, and no sounds of bullets firing ringing in his ears.

He keeps his hat snug on his head, Clover runs by with her litter of puppies tugging along. And he feels you before you arrive by his side. A smile tugs on his lips, hand already reaching for your waist.

“What are you thinking about, cowboy?” You flutter your eyelashes, chin placed in his shoulder.

“That I have it good, too good.”

You give him a tender smile, leaning to kiss his jaw. “None of that. This isn't too good for you, you deserve all of this.”

“Too early to wallow, huh?” Hobie wraps his arm around your waist to pull you closer, and then he twists around to face you fully, back leaning on the fence, admiring you in the bitter blue of dawn.

You find penchants on his sternum, nose nuzzling his scar. “So fucking early.” He laughs, music to your ears.

“Hard to get used to, huh?”

“Kind of, it's a good feeling though, waking up.”

“You feel okay, right?” His palm pats your chest gently where a scar lies. “No breathlessness? Nothin'?”

You sniff at the cool wind, “nothing, I'm fine, Hobie.” You cup his cheek, jaw rounded at the edges, scruff tickling you, he looks as if time hasn't passed. “Nothing to worry about.” He leans towards your touch, fingers bracelet around your wrist gently, lips meeting your skin. “You okay?”

“Never better, love.” His green eyes twinkle, free arm pulling you impossibly closer. “Especially today.”

You tilt your head playfully. “What's today exactly?”

“Cheeky,” he pokes your side. “You know what day it is.”

You feign realization. “Ah! I remember now, Riri and the gang are coming over.”

“Yes, and?” He grins, biting his lower lip, jade eyes crinkling at the corners. Seeing the matching rings on your finger and his own makes him smile wider.

You suck in your teeth, acting like you're thinking. “It's Bucky's birthday?” Hobie rolls his eyes with a chuckle, and you finally relent. “I know what day it is.” You lean away, taking out a letter addressed to Hobie from your pocket. It's filled with affectionate words, loving thoughts and everything in between. It's a love letter just for him. “Happy anniversary, Hobs.”

Hobie's chest fills with a sense of belonging, heart full with his love for you. He keeps the letter in his coat pocket, right above his heart. “Happy anniversary, lovie.” He pulls you back, you giggle as your palm hits his chest, fingers snaking up to his nape to guide him towards your waiting lips.

“Forgot something, cowboy?” You say against his lips, and he nudges your nose with his own.

You feel something grazing against your chin, and when you flick your eyes down, you see a letter written in his hand, addressed to you. You tamp down your excitement, snatching the envelope, giving it a peck and tucking it inside your jean pocket.

“Never, read it together like always?” He pecks your warm lips once, then twice before indulging himself in your warmth.

“Yes,” you utter, breathlessly. “But inside, your tea, and the girls are waiting.”

Hobie chortles, kissing you again before reluctantly pulling away. “They're awake?”

“They smelt breakfast.” You inhale, letting his sandalwood and mint scent waft over you with ease. “If you hurry, there might still be some left for you.” You begin to walk away, hand grasping his palm.

“Alright, just one more then we'll go.” He pulls you back to his chest gently as you giggle atop his lips. He kisses you like he did all those years ago.

In the middle of nowhere, his story begins. And in the middle of nowhere, his story ends with you.

A/N: Thank you so much for sticking around this long! Our beloved cowboy is finally happy and at peace 🥺 If you loved reading OPIN please consider reblogging ❤️

[unfriedough]

‘Fight me, loser’ Zuko x female!reader

Masterlist <3

An: ANOTHER HC POST? 😎

When he was a bad boy™ (AKA enemies):

Okay so this is less sparing more GET OUT OF MY WAY LOSER

He’d definitely be mean

Less teasing more like - actual bullying

King of masking his emotions am-i-right?

I am right

ANNNYYWAYS

But like compared to SMASHING Katara into the wall - he was gentle ig.

Only kinda sorta missing a flame every once in a while.

Or maybe avoiding you completely.

He didn't know why though

(He’s an idiot)

And was too shy to ask iroh

So he was just more careful when fighting you

Aww baby

10/10 would blush if you were to tease him

Would die if you pinned him under you hehe

No like fr

Don't kill him

As I said, would bully you, but never about like how you look.

Like he’d call you water tribe scum

Romantic right?

When he joins the gang™:

When sparring he’s 100% holding back

I’m talking 30% of his power goes into the damn fight

Although teasing him usually gets him going

That sounded wrong

Teasing like calling him names i guess

Pretty boy

Fire cracker

Cutie

Etc

Or like certain gestures

Smirking

Biting your lip (don’t do the f boy face istg)

Winking

Etc

Definitely turns him into a blushing mess

Would mess up the move but definitely use more power throughout the fight yk?

Dies when he gets pinned under you (still)

When he becomes your boyfriend™:

How would you even convince this man to fight you?

Exactly - you can’t.

“Fight me, loser” - Yn probably

Get ready

Will show mercy at the beginning

And will tease back

But if your giving it your all

He will too

And yikes, that gets messy.

Toph had to like restrain you before you unleashed the water tribes ocean on this poor boy

Scared for his life but also happy you’re so good

He’s literally rooting for you while getting the floor wiped with his bird’s nest hair style.

If he overpowers you

Like pinning you or something

Literally smirk at him and he’ll weaken his grasp

I’m telling you this guy gets flustered so easily.

Just a quick 😏 and he’s just like 😳

So yeah, go for it

Fight Zuko

But maybe go easy on him

An: I’d fight Zuko. I would not win. 💪😙

[moonarchvs]

The play of the Universe

Pairing- tom!peter x avenger!reader (one-sided), brief andrew!peter x avenger!reader

Summary- You have been with Peter through everything he's ever faced and you stand strong, fighting by his side during this war as well, but circumstances change when your feelings develop into something more but he has already given his heart to your best friend.

Warnings- ANGST, so much angst istg, unrequited love, canon-level violence, suicide mention, no way home spoilers and that's it(?), lmk if I missed something.

Word count- 4k

"You want me to take you to yours?"

"No, my dad will kill you."

"M, I think he is the least of our worries right now."

With the yellow rays of power emitting from your hands and your eyes glowing with the same color, you flew right behind Peter as he swung across the city with MJ latched onto his chest.

You and him had just been declared enemies of the state and even that wasn't the worst part, it was his identity being revealed to everyone.

Everyone knew Spiderman was Peter.

You, on the other hand, had always worked without a mask. Your story was tragic to say the least. You were one of the test subjects of Struckker's experiments with the mind stone. After the deaths of all your predecessors, Struckker understood that this gem was definitely not something one person could take. So, you and Wanda, who you had met at the HYDRA base itself, were the only volunteers who survived.

Your powers were pretty much identical in nature but your strength was less of illusions and mind control but more of telekinesis and sensing the danger beforehand, making your skills somewhat more useful for battle.

Your mother suffered from a terminal illness and had passed away when you were two and your dad had died of grief leaving you alone. 

You were pretty much a loner all your life till you became a part of the Avengers. Other than them, Wanda and Pietro were the first two people who you saw as your real family.

Well, calling Pietro family felt weird. He had been your first and what you thought, last love. He was the only person you were attached to to such an extent that you were ready to sacrifice everything for him.

But then you saw him take his very last breath in front of you and you couldn't do anything to save him. His last words always echoed in your head whenever you felt like giving up.

"I love you, you are the strongest person I've known. Just. Keep. Going."

So you did, you kept going but it hurt, it hurt so much that you had wanted to kill yourself at some point. At least that would give some type of relief. But then you had Tony. Tony was your second chance at life who gave you motivation and inspiration to keep going, which made him the obvious choice of support when the Avengers disagreed upon the accords.

That's when you met Peter. Tony had sent you to recruit him because you and him had a lot in common so he believed Peter would be able to connect with you more and will join eagerly.

You and Peter had instantly clicked. It was just like the friendship you always wanted, you always needed. In every endeavour, every hardship of his or your life from then, he had been there for you and you had been there for him.

When Steve became a known fugitive and Tony looked more depressed than he already was, he insisted on you coming back to life, so you started to go on patrols every evening, to fight crime.

Cause that's what heroes do.

Thor told you that.

During these patrols your encounters with Peter became more and more frequent and your bond stronger.

You remembered that night when Peter had drowsily knocked at your apartment door, which Tony had bought you, all bruised and battered, muttering, "Didn't know where else to go." And collapsing right into your arms.

You had stayed up all night cleaning and tending to his wounds, too afraid to lose him too.

The next day he had told you about the Vulture and how he went on to fight with him all alone which made you go super angry at him but he calmed you down.

He always did.

Then that purple piece of shit had decided to wipe out half the universe and you watched him vanish into nothingness right in front of your eyes.

And you couldn’t do anything, again.

The whole situation felt like a recap, like the universe was throwing the same situation right at your face once again. The only difference was you went along with him this time.

And once you were brought back into existence, not even a few hours later you saw your mentor, your second chance, your inspiration, die.

It was just overwhelming, all of this sadness at once. You were never the one for self-pity but then again you didn't plan on losing so much in life.

Peter sensed your grief, literally and figuratively. He was going through the same shit after all. He told you to take admission in his school and Mr. Roger Harrington was more than happy to allow the Medallion Witch to join mid-term.

During this time, slowly but surely, you started to realize your feelings for him and how you had remained oblivious to them for so long but you were too afraid to act on them, you were too scared and not just of rejection but losing him all together.

You lost everyone you loved, always.

You couldn’t afford to let the same thing happen to him.

And only you knew how you acted to be happy and well when Peter wanted to get MJ’s attention so desperately during the whole trip to Europe.

Part of you was genuinely happy, because even though you could not be with him, seeing him happy made your heart content. And MJ was your best friend too, so her happiness was a bonus in the situation.

Well, maybe that is love after all. Being happy in their happiness even though it's quite impossible to experience that emotion on your own.

But the kiss they had shared pushed a pang so deep into your heart that it was not quite possible to take it out now. But the smiles you faked, you believed you should be given Oscars for them.

And all of that fighting, grieving and sacrificing boiled to this, this. You almost found the situation funny, the handcuff around your wrist, the interrogation, everything.

And now you sat in Peter's disheveled living room, with Matt Murdock, the investigator of Peter and your case, as he explained how there was no solid legal evidence against you two so you were cleared of all charges.

"But you're still guilty in the people's court, so be careful with that." He warned.

You nodded but Peter kicked your shin, reminding he couldn't really see and you stuttered a reply, "Right, yes sir, thank you so much."

"No prob-"

He was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. May let out a small scream as your hand raised with an orb of Magic ready to stop the incoming attack and Peter's hand outstretched to do the same, but to both of your surprise, Matt was holding a brick which was meant for you two 

Peter looked at him bewildered, "How did you do that?"

"I'm a really good lawyer."

"On three?" 

You, Peter, MJ and Ned glanced at each other nervously as you four went on to open your MIT applications.

The cafe in which MJ worked was filled with the sound of ripping paper and nervous shallow breaths of the four of you.

After a few moments of silence you all looked up at each other and waited for each other's reactions. Peter was the first one to break the silence.

"No." He said miserably. MJ followed his lead, "No." slamming her application form on the table. Then the couple looked at you and Ned hopefully.

You two looked at each other and immediately knew what the answer was,

"Due to your involvement in the latest controversy, we are unable to consider your application at the moment." You recited the words on the paper, and angrily slapped them on the counter.

"Bullshit."

Another few moments of silence passed by between the four of you, your eyes drifted to Peter and you saw him looking at MJ with guilt swimming in his eyes making your heart wrench,

"You know what," You started, "Who even needs college? I'm just gonna-" You ripped the form into pieces and threw it into the bin with a stroke of your hand. "There goes MIT and everybody who thinks we're liars or murderers."

You saw Peter throwing you a small smile and mouthing you a thank you, you waved him off as MJ did the same with her paper, "We're in this together." She said as she and Peter made eye-contact and never looked away.

There it was again, that stupid pang being pushed deeper into your heart and you just couldn’t manage to pull it out.

You lightly cleared your throat and looked to your right, avoiding their sight and meeting Ned's concerned gaze instead.

"What?" You questioned.

He simply smiled sadly and shook his head making your brow scrunch in confusion.

Then MJ left to do her work and Ned collected his scraps of the torn admission form and went back home. You wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulder and rubbed his arm in a comforting manner.

"Well at least you can swing around anywhere and everywhere." You reasoned as he let out a quiet laugh.

"I fucked up." He said looking up at you with tears in his eyes.

"No you did not, we fucked up." You said and he groaned.

"That does not make me feel better." He laughed.

"Well at least you laughed." That's all that matters.

"Yeah, I don't know what I would do without you." He smiled up at you and you returned the gesture pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Well I'd leave you two. Call me if something goes wrong. I don't have anything to do anyway." You said, waving MJ a goodbye as you left the shop.

You made your way to your apartment and collapsed on the bed when you reached there. Immediately your eyes became droopy and everything went dark.

You winced, awoken from your sleep as you glanced at the ringing phone beside you, you sleepily clicked the green button, accepting the call and pressed the phone to your ear.

"Hey Y/n/n, meet me at Sanctum urgently, I need your help."

Your head immediately shot up at his urgent tone and you tried to ask him what was going on but the call had already ended.

You opened your window with a swipe of your hand and flew to the Sanctum and saw some things which shook you terribly.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you convinced Mr. Strange to do a spell for you which would make everyone forget who you were but it went wrong and unleashed the multiverse which brought villains who fought other spidermen and you stole the box which had the incomplete spell because said villains have a scope for change and you're not ready to send them for them to just die." You summed up the long story Peter had just narrated to you and he violently nodded his head.

"And now you want me to take this to my apartment and keep it safe?" You confirmed.

"Yes exactly."

"Why me?" You asked him.

"Are you kidding me?" He said dumbfounded, "You're the best shot I have right now and I'm sorry for dragging you into my mess-"

"Our mess, Peter."

"Right, Our mess. But I need you to do this, you're strong enough to hold anyone back and I know I can trust you with this." He pleaded and how could you say no to a request like that.

"Ok I'll do it, I'll protect it."

"Oh my God, I love you, thank you so much." He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek and handed you the box as he started to leave, leaving you speechless with your fingertips on your cheek and lips slightly parted on the words.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

With your hands glowing with power and crossed in front of you, you saw a portal open in front of you out of nowhere revealing two figures which you later identified to be MJ and Ned.

"Y/n, oh my god, you're ok!" MJ said, rushing into your apartment and giving you a big hug.

"Yeah, I'm good, why what happened?" You asked, looking between your two friends.

"We did not hear from you for a long time, we thought you were with Peter!" Ned said frantically, waving his arms around releasing sparkly tingles across the room.

"How're you doing that?" You question, looking at him skeptically.

"I'm magic!" He exclaimed happily.

"You mean you can open portals to anywhere?"

"I think?"

"Try to get to Peter then. This is our best shot." You stated, and his and MJ's eyes went wide.

"Why didn't we think of that?" MJ mumbled.

"I'm sure you tried your best" You teased and she shoved you playfully as Ned rotated his hands "I want to get to Peter."

He said and the portal opened, you saw a tall shape emerge from afar but there was something different, something about this Peter was very different.

Your eyes glowed yellow and you got into a fighting stance, "Guys that's not our Peter, fair warning."

"How'd you know?"

"He's different, I can pick up the auras of the people I know, who I spend a lot of time with, his is, it's familiar but it's not our Peter." You left out the detail that this Peter's aura was way stronger and more magnetic towards you than your Peter's was.

"MJ, Ned behind me. Now." You said as he approached the portal and your eyes glowed as you intensified the pressure on your hands.

And just as he walked in, you watched him as he threw off his mask and looked right at you, his mouth hanging agape and his eyes welling with tears. For a lot of time, you three just stared at him looking at you in disbelief and you felt extremely awkward, uncomfortable and flustered under his gaze.

"What's with this guy?" You whispered to your two friends through gritted teeth, keeping your guard up and trying to be as discreet as possible but just as you started to speak, his mouth closed with a snap and he wiped his eyes hastily.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" You questioned the boy in front of you, trying to keep your voice from wavering.

"Yes, No! I mean you don't know me but you knew me, you know I knew you but you don't know me- Forget it, No, no you don't know me at all." He babbled and you nodded hesitantly. 

"Are you Peter Parker?" You then questioned.

"Yup."

"Prove it." MJ piped up from behind you.

"Well, I don't really carry around an ID, you know, defeats the whole purpose of keeping my identity a secret." He reasoned.

"Climb on a wall then." You instructed.

"Are you serious? I'm not doing that."

"Do I look like I'm kidding, go on, climb the wall." You told him and noticed a small smile adorning his features as he softly shook his head unbeknownst to you that your antics reminded him of a certain (h/c) girl he once knew.

He looked at you and casually strolled onto the wall and then crawled around the ceiling. He then raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner at you. You slightly grunted in approval, slowly losing your stance and standing straight, not losing the skepticism in your gaze.

"You can come down."

He came back down and looked at you three with a goofy smile. 

"Ok, so we need to get our Peter." MJ said and the rest of the people nodded in approval.

"Ned, do the yellow magic thingy c'mon." You urged him as he once again rotated his hands and recited "I want to get to Peter." one more time.

All four of you looked ahead waiting for a portal to form in front of you, when you heard a foreign voice from behind you.

"Hello."

You jumped and so did the others as you all turned around to find another unfamiliar face in front of you. 

"Lemme guess, you're Peter Parker too?"

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yes of course, I've handled Connors once before, I can handle him again." 

The three Peters were now united and were working as a team in Happy's apartment's makeshift lab they had constructed.

Your Peter was broken by Aunt May's loss and somewhere, so were you. You had known the woman pretty long and the sole news of her death had brought tears to your eyes.

When you, MJ, Ned and the other spidermen went to find him, the broken guilt in his eyes and his blank face had made you sob harder.

But you did not hug him, you let MJ do it and Peter didn't ask for you either, well that's the difference between a friend and a girlfriend.

Then his two counterparts had convinced him to keep going, you couldn’t help but be reminded of Pietro's death during all of this. He had told you the same things and reminiscing those memories didn't really help your already aching heart.

So, while making the cures of the bad guys you decided to take a step away from your Peter and joined the other one you met first. You didn't know much about the subject so you just did what he told you to do.

"So, did you have a best friend too?"

You heard Ned question the eldest Peter, "Yes, but he died in my arms after trying to kill me, it was quite emotional." He replied casually as Ned's eyes widened and you and the middle Peter let out identical laughs at your best friend's expression.

Once he said that your work was done, you didn't budge, your eyes focused on the couple before you, whose hands were on top of each other as they leant forward and linked their foreheads.

You hadn't realized another pair of eyes noticing the whole scene as it played out. When a tap on your shoulder made you snap out of your trance, you turned beet red, hoping that, this Peter had not seen you staring.

"Hi." You said awkwardly

"Hi."

"So...you have anyone back there? In your world?" You questioned, trying to avert attention from yourself.

He took a moment to respond, as if carefully selecting words to pick and tell you about.  After a long pause between you two, he sighed deeply and said, "I used to, uh have someone, she was, she was my, you know my MJ."

"Used to? Did she…?" You trailed off, and he nodded, his eyes welling up again.

You could feel his pain, you had experienced it yourself at a younger age and you remembered how hard it was to get over it.

You pulled him into a hug and he gladly accepted it, sobbing into your shoulder, once he pulled away, he wiped his nose and got back to work. 

"You look like her, you know, act like her too." He told you.

You smiled and rubbed his back, "Well, if it's any comfort, I, I know what you're feeling."

"You lost someone too?" He questioned in a small voice.

"Yeah, but that was pretty long ago. I've learnt to let go of him, his last words were telling me to keep going so, I did." You told him and he nodded, a look of determination passing on his face.

"Anyway, How'd you know these two lovebirds?" He tried to change the topic.

"Oh, well MJ is my best friend, kind of like a sister to me and Peter is my, well he is my um he is uh," You faltered, your gaze returning to him and the back to the other Peter.

"You can tell me anything, I'm gonna be going in a few hours anyway." He winked at you and you let out a little laugh.

"Well, to him, I'm his best friend but I cannot help but want more." You admitted in a small voice but just as this Peter said something another voice came from behind you.

"Act on it then, kid. You might not have as much time as you think you do."

You looked back to see the eldest Peter and he gave you a knowing look, then returned to completing his work.

"You can do the spell now, make everyone forget me."

Peter and Doctor Strange stood on top of the Statue of Liberty, he had successfully cured all the villains and was now in another problem as the multiverse was starting to go haywire.

"Kid, if I perform this spell now, no one is going to remember who you are, it would be as if you never existed. All your loved ones will forget you." Strange warned him, but Peter had made up his mind.

He nodded and Strange sighed, "You can go say your last goodbyes."

Peter's eyes had already started to water and he nodded and went on to do the same.

"So, long kid."

You were with Ned and MJ, a hand pressed on your stomach as you tried to stop the bleeding, you were light headed and felt extremely dizzy.

You looked up and saw Peter arrive, he didn't look that hurt physically, you had seen him in a worse state but his eyes narrated a different tale. They were glossy and had only one emotion prominent in them.

Pain.

He limped over to you three, "You all are going to forget me." He said abruptly and you got up from the ground and winced as your wound hurt more.

"What do you- what do you mean?" You asked in a broken voice, Ned was already crying and MJ looked speechless.

"The multiverse it's going haywire, and if everyone forgets who I am, it's all gonna be ok. I promise I'll find you, I'll come back." He cupped MJ's face and she nodded, her eyes starting to well up as well as their lips met in a bruising kiss.

Tears streamed down your cheeks and Ned wrapped an arm around your shoulder. 

Once the couple had separated, Peter went on towards Ned and they did their handshake one last time and gave each other a big hug.

Finally, he came to you and only now he noticed the huge wound on your stomach, "Oh my God, Y/n you need to see a docto-"

You cut him off, placing your hand on his mouth and shaking your head as you collapsed into his arms and sobbed, you could feel his tears wetting your clothes too but you did not care.

Once you two pulled away, you pressed a long kiss on his forehead and looked him in the eyes, Peter 2's advice resonating in your head, "If I'm forgetting who you are, I just wanted you to know that, that I, I really…." You gulped and took breath before continuing, 

"I'm gonna miss you so much." You finally said and he once again broke into sobs and threw his arms around you and you squeezed your eyes shut, regretting everything.

With one final 'I love you' to MJ and goodbye to you and Ned he was swinging away as a bright light blinded you, making your eyes shut.

Peter placed the white rose on May's grave, his eyes becoming watery once again as he stood and just watched the grave. He sniffed and wiped his nose as he felt a presence behind him, he looked back and saw Happy. 

"How'd you know her?" He asked and Peter's heart broke as couldn’t even tell him he was her nephew.

"Through Spiderman, you?" He said.

"Me too." He replied.

They talked for a while and then he took his leave, leaving Peter alone to be with her once again when he heard a voice, your voice from behind him and what you said made his eyes widen with shock,

"How're you holding up Pete?"