#here's the first chapter of yet another dummy twins fic!

[cloudburst-ink]

I'd like to ask 29 and 18 from your A03 Wrapped game, please 🙂

Oh, you jump right into the juicy stuff Variant hahaha. 🖤

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

This year I have almost exclusively written Kim and Chay from KinnPorsche, so I think it would make sense that it would be one of them. But I think I'm going to say Chay.

Firstly, Chay is the perspective character in my longform fic Desperate Measures, as well as in another short chapter fic that I'm writing as a trade with @staykimchay. Both of these fics have given me immense trouble at various points, so that alone is I think enough to justify this answer.

But secondly, I also think that Chay as a character just... creates difficulty sometimes, due to all of his hidden facets.

A lot of people in this fandom view Kim as incredibly multi-dimensional and therefore challenging, which makes sense--we see this in the show. Kim has so many hidden aspects.

Not as many people say this about Chay.

But Chay is incredibly multi-faceted. He's sassy and stubborn, gentle-hearted, and clearly in many ways he is wise beyond his years even as we see him acting like a complete dummy.

He's shy and blushy and easily flustered and stumbles over his words in front of his crush--and yet he chases that very same crush down relentlessly, always making the first move, never letting him forget that Chay exists. He's bold and flirty and hopeful, but also cautious and traumatized and so, so, so sad and lonely.

Sometimes, it can be really difficult to figure out which side of him to focus on in any given scene.

He and Kim are perfect for each other, really.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Ohhh boyyyyy. Time to dig through some memories.

There are a couple that I'm particularly proud of, but Kim and Chay's encounter in the neon courtyard in Chapter 3 of Desperate Measures is the first one I thought of. Here are a few highlights from that scene!

The clicking of the lighter cap cuts off.

Kim raises his gaze, regarding Chay with sharp, glittering eyes. 

Silence settles around them. Despite the muted din of the city, Chay can hear his own heartbeat in his ears.

Kim is wearing the same white shirt from that morning. There are dark stains splattered across the front, black in the eerie glow of distant neons.

human has been blotted out by blood.

...

He stops, staring up at Chay, and touches the tip of his cigarette to the flame.

A golden glow illuminates Kim’s features from below. It casts Kim in sharp, warm contrast against the cool gloom around them. Tiny twin flames flare in his eyes, then snuff out in matching plumes of smoke as Chay snaps the lighter cap closed.

Smoke clouds around Kim’s face. It shimmers oddly in the air where it catches the hazy glow of the skyline.

The stains on Kim’s shirt meander past the line of his collar. They smear over his collarbone and neck, flaking off of his skin like old scabs. There are a few droplets on his cheek.

...

Chay tries to twist his arm free, but Kim’s grip remains steady as stone, unmoving and painfully constricting.

Goosebumps trail up Chay’s arm, echoing outward from Kim’s touch like shatter cones from a meteor impact.

He can’t breathe. Heat prickles across his skin. He thinks if he stays here like this, he might burn away completely in the aftermath.

There’s blood smeared across Kim’s knuckles.

Adrenaline hums through Chay’s veins, his body warning him of nearby danger like it can sense the weight of death that lingers in Kim’s aura, pinned in place by the fierce intensity of Kim’s stare.

Chay stills.

Smoke curls up around them and vanishes into the hazy sky. The light in Kim’s eyes is brittle and fractured.

“P’Kim,” Chay pleads softly, “that hurts.”

Kim blinks. He looks between Chay’s face and Chay’s hand, still clutching the lighter, and then drops Chay’s wrist like he’s been burned.

Thank you for asking, dear Variant! 🖤 For anyone curious, here's a link to the original questions.

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar Lessons 13-15

Series Masterlist

Y’all know what’s coming up next, time for some *~buildup~*. So I’ve decided to forgo my usual bullet point system for the next two parts in the series so it’ll just be a full fic chapter style thing. Anyway, enjoy the prelude to the angst!

MC was comfortable.

They were sprawled out on the floor of Lucifer’s study, folding and crinkling old bits of paperwork that their father had damned to the shredder. Bean attempted to swat at the loose paper, only to flop onto his back. MC giggled and scratched behind his ears, the kitten batted at their hand in response.

Lucifer was doing paperwork, though he was getting quite distracted by the antics of his child and the cat.

Finishing up their paper snowflakes, MC unfolded them and hummed to themselves. The snowflakes turned out much better than that line of paper people that they had accidentally decapitated earlier.

“Tadaaaa!” MC chirped, holding up the paper snowflakes.

Lucifer looked at them, then chuckled and shook his head. “MC, I know it’s winter up in the human world, but it’s not down here. Why are you making snow themed decorations?”

“There’s no sun in the Devildom, it’s always a little cold out.” MC replied. “So it’s gotten me in a snowflake-y mood.”

Lucifer smiled slightly as he adjusted the paper orchids on his desk. MC had attributed their skill in paper crafts to their plethora of Mother and Father’s Day gifts they had given to their other parent over the years.

“What are you working on now?” He asked as he continued to absentmindedly work through the mountain of paperwork.

“I need to make something for Beel.” MC sighed. “I made him a pizza slice craft… but he ate it.”

“Perhaps this time you should make him a Fangol ball.”

“Yeah… that might be best.”

MC had offered to help out their father with anything involving the exchange program, any questions or improvements to be made, any issues that needed to be solved, and things that could be done to make future students more comfortable. Things were going well, but not every bit of work Lucifer was doing involved the exchange program, which left MC to play with the cat and the loose paper.

“Do you need help with anything, father?” MC asked, rolling onto their back and holding Bean above them.

“Not yet, MC.” Lucifer replied. “Most of your work here is done anyway.”

“Hmph, that sucks.” MC pouted. “I like helping you.”

They caught the ghost of a smile on Lucifer’s face after they said that.

“It’s nice that someone in this house does.”

They continued to play with the cat, Bean ended up getting his claws stuck in the carpet, MC had to help him out, Bean returned the favour by attacking MC’s poor defenseless hand.

“MC?”

“Yes?” MC looked up from their battle with Bean.

“What was your life like in the human world? I assume it wasn’t common knowledge that you’re half demon.”

MC giggled a bit. “Kind of boring, it’s much more exciting down here. Back in the human world I couldn’t exactly practice my magic without needing to explain to the insurance guy that the reason the windows are broken is because I wanted to move the remote closer to me without getting up.”

“Hm.” Lucifer smirked. “Laziness gets you nowhere.”

“I know. But at least now I can move things without breaking anything I don’t want broken.” MC smiled as they used their magic to move their father’s coffee mug a few inches to the left. Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

MC felt their hair get ruffled and their glasses moved slightly off their nose. “What about you, father? What was life like without me?”

“Well, it wasn’t boring.” Lucifer replied. “Just ever so slightly less chaotic.”

Bean lost interest in the game and rushed out of the room to yowl angrily at one of the vases in the library or hallway. According to Lucifer, those artifacts came with the house and were insanely cursed. Bean appeared to be offended that he wasn’t allowed to knock the objects off of the table.

MC took a quick breath and steeled themselves to ask a question they had asked a dozen times before. “What about the time before that? Like when you were in the Celestial Realm?”

Lucifer stiffened in his seat. “Why do you want to know about that?”

“No one really talks about it, and I want to know.” MC frowned, but did their best to shrug as casually as they could. “I also want to know about Lilith, no one ever talks about her.”

“Just wanting to know isn’t a terribly good reason for digging up the past.”

MC bristled at his dismissive tone, every time they had asked about that time he had avoided answering. They ground their teeth as they responded. “Well, this is my family too, I deserve to be a part of it.”

“What does knowing about the Celestial Realm have anything to do with being a part of the family?”

“Because I’m the only one who doesn’t have any memories of it!” MC finally snapped. “Even Satan has some of your memories and I have nothing! I’m being left out and it’s not fair!”

Lucifer looked up from his paperwork and glared at MC. “Watch your tone.”

They looked away and muttered something under their breath.

“Speak clearly, MC, I don’t have time for mumbling.” Lucifer said, his patience rapidly draining.

“I said you sure keep a lot of secrets!” MC growled, getting to their feet and crossing their arms. “You won’t tell me why the Grimoire is downstairs, you won’t tell me anything about the Celestial Realm or the Celestial War, you won’t tell me why I’m not allowed to go in the attic, you’re keeping so much from me!”

“Has it ever crossed your mind that you don’t need to know about any of those things?”

“I don’t need to but I have a right to!” MC felt every single one of their insecurities rise and bubble in their chest. “You don’t trust me, do you? That’s why you won’t tell me anything!”

“MC, calm down.” Lucifer growled.

“No!” They snarled. “You’ve been keeping me in the dark!”

Lucifer slammed his hands on his desk, cutting them off. MC almost flinched at the sudden noise, the silence that followed was deafening as they stiffened their posture and felt their hands curl into fists.

“Take a walk, MC. You’re being ridiculous.”

MC opened their mouth to speak, to yell, to scream about the unfairness of it all, then closed it. What good would it have done? They turned on their heel and stomped out of the study.

—————

Time heals all wounds, doesn’t it? Not this time considering Lucifer and MC were still upset at how their last chat ended.

Mammon, Asmo, Beel, Satan, Levi, and MC were lounging around in the living room. It was time for the monthly repainting of everyone’s nails, and MC was getting their turn.

“You have to take better care of your nails, MC.” Asmo tutted. “Clean them more often, file them, take those vitamins I recommended,”

When Asmo was lecturing someone, it was always very much a: ‘nod and make random affirming noises every once and a while’ situation. Mammon snickered at MC’s predicament.

“Don’t think you’re exempt!” Asmo held up the nail clippers at Mammon. “Your nails are filthy too!”

The two began to bicker, MC rolled their eyes and moved over, their nails were still half finished. Satan let out an explosive sigh and closed his book.

“Another day in paradise.”

“Paradise Lost, you mean?” MC teased, Satan scoffed and rolled his eyes.

The formerly average bickering of the second and fifth borns had slowly begun to escalate to their usual game of ‘who can make the other cry first’, a game which Asmo was defending champion of.

“Would both of you dummies CRAM IT?!” MC turned and snapped, the two ignored them and their shouting only grew in volume. “I don’t even know why I try.”

The two’s fight had shifted from words to throwing things, nail polish bottles, the nail filers, the clippers, pillows, mugs, the coasters, nothing was off limits. A wayward nail polish bottle hit Satan in the head and ended up spilling all over his pants.

“You two…” Satan growled. MC shifted away from Satan and got closer to Beel, Satan had been progressively getting more and more irritated as the day went on, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!”

Satan leapt off the couch which resulted in Beel dropping his massive stack of pancakes onto the floor. MC suddenly felt significantly less safe.

“Beel, it’s okay, we can make more really quickly.” MC offered, gently patting him on the shoulder. Beel looked from MC, to his poor pancakes, then let out a mournful sigh.

“I’m hungry…” he mumbled, MC leaned their head against his arm.

“We could order in from Ristorante Six if you want!”

The entire time that conversation was taking place, Satan, Asmo, and Mammon were in the middle of killing each other. Levi rolled his eyes and shifted his position in the armchair, the sounds coming from his 3DS got louder as he tried to drown out the fighting.

“Tsk… stupid normies.”

Finally fed up, MC shot up from their seat. “WOULD YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP?!”

The creaking of the door to the living room opening caused everyone to freeze, Lucifer..? No… not him.

Belphegor pushed open the door.

As casual as could be, he grinned and gave everyone a wave. “My dearest brothers, oh how I’ve missed you…”

Everyone stood in complete and utter silence as Belphie casually strolled into the room, he surveyed the mess and let out a giggle.

“Geez, don’t fall over yourselves to welcome me home.”

“…Belphie?” Beel took a few tentative steps forward, then rushed forward and scooped his twin into a back breakingly tight hug.

“Hello to you too, Beel,” Belphie’s smile could have lit up the entire Devildom as he gave Beel a few light pats on the back with his one free arm. “You guys could learn a thing or two from him.”

“Y-you’re supposed to be up in the human world, what are you doing here?” Asmodeus finally piped up.

“Well, I wasn’t actually in the human world. I was locked in the attic.”

“What?!”

Everyone with the exception of MC expressed their shock with a variety of cursing and confused exclamations. MC looked down at their feet and clasped their hands behind their back.

“I’m out now,” Belphie gestured to himself. “Obviously. And we have MC to thank for that.”

MC was now the centre of attention, they felt their face burn with embarrassment. “I-I u-uhm…”

“Speak up, MC,” Everyone whipped their heads around to see Lucifer standing in the now open doorway, his posture was stiff but his expression was completely murderous. “What exactly is Belphegor talking about?”

Their heart hammered in their chest and their ears began to ring. Shit… shit… this wasn’t supposed to happen this way… MC’s ribs seemed to constrict and tighten with guilt as their heart continued to race.

“Oh fuck off,” Belphie scoffed. “You know full well what I’m talking about. You’re the one who locked me up there!”

“Lucifer…” Beel growled. “Is that true..?”

“Yes!” MC finally found their voice and met their father’s stare. “It is true! I found Belphie stuck in the attic over a month ago.”

Lucifer’s eyes flashed dangerously as he shifted his gaze to Belphie. “And the attic is where he’ll stay.”

“Like hell!” Belphie spat. “I’m not going back up there.”

“Do you really think you’re in any place to defy me right now?”

“He’s not going back into the attic, Lucifer.” Beel practically snarled.

The air cackled with tension before MC spoke up again. “Father, can’t we just talk-”

“Stay out of this, MC.”

MC felt the tips of their ears redden as they clenched their fists and stepped up next to Beel and Belphie. “No.”

“MC-”

“No!” MC growled. “Why should I listen to you?! You haven’t told me why you took such bullshit measures to keep your own brother locked up in the attic and lied to everyone about it! What gives you the right to tell me what to do?!”

With one final glare shot over their shoulder, MC, Beel, and Belphie stormed out of the house, leaving the other five brothers behind.

Taking into account Beel’s much larger height and amount of strength, it was a miracle MC was even touching the floor while the trio sped down the street. Belphie was completely elated, taking extra time to walk ahead and point things out.

“Ahh,” Belphie sighed, resting his hands behind his head. “It feels so good to be free…”

“I’ll bet,” Beel smiled softly at his twin and ruffled his hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t-”

“Beel, shush. None of this is your fault.” Belphie tutted.

MC kept their eyes trained on the ground, a ball of guilt beginning to form in their gut. Was this the right thing to do? Run away? What were they going to do..?

“MC?” Beel asked as he suddenly lifted them onto his shoulders, MC squeaked in surprise and scrambled to adjust their balance so they didn’t topple over. “You okay?”

“Ye… yes Beel.” MC took a breath before beginning to giggle. “I’m okay.”

“So uh…” Belphie looked around. “Where are we going to go? I don’t have any money on me.”

“Neither do I,” Beel mumbled. “And I left my DDD back at the house…”

MC thought for a moment, then brightened and pulled out their DDD. “Purgatory Hall! Luke owes me a favour, and there’s no way he’d turn us away.”

“Whose Luke?” Belphie asked.

“MC’s best friend.” Beel replied.

“He’s not my best friend!” MC sputtered, nearly dropping their DDD while in the middle of crafting the text to the angel. “He just owes me a favour after I saved him from those stupid lesser demons…”

“Oh, okay then.” MC felt Beel subtly shake his head to Belphie, who snickered.

Soon, the three were crammed into Luke’s room at Purgatory Hall. MC had been there and stayed over dozens of times before, but the near constant smell of baked goods that permeated throughout the entire dorm hall never failed to make them drool. It seemed that Beel was having an even worse time with the amazing smells, he was staring off into space with a long string of drool dangling out of his mouth.

Luke folded his arms and tapped his foot as he tried to unsuccessfully scowl at the three. The angel had just recently come to terms with MC’s parentage but clearly wasn’t ready to host two full demons in his temporary home.

Simeon on the other hand was quickly looking from Belphie, to Beel, then to MC as if trying to glean the details of the entire situation from their facial expressions and posture alone.

It wasn’t difficult to see that MC wasn’t doing terribly good. The realization had finally fully sunken in and they were anxiously fidgeting in their seat.

Belphie seemed the most calm out of the group, he was leaning back against the couch like he didn’t have a care in the world, if the ottoman were just a little bit closer it looked like he might have kicked his feet up.

“So,” Solomon said, absentmindedly twirling a string of bright purple magic between his fingers. “What’s the story here?”

“Family drama…” MC murmured, their eyes unconsciously flicking to look at Belphegor.

“Family drama that was both caused and solved, by you, MC.” Belphie chirped. “I haven’t thanked you for getting me out of the attic yet, have I?”

MC knitted their eyebrows in confusion. “I never got you out of the attic… I haven’t gone up there in over five days…”

“Then…” Belphie said slowly. “What opened the door?”

Now that was a question that couldn’t be answered by anyone in the room, which left the group in quite the awkward spot. In the end it didn’t end up mattering too much, Belphie was just happy to be out of the attic, and even though the trio were technically in hiding, he was just glad that this was all on his own terms.

Beel and Belphie took some time to catch up while Luke and MC played crazy eights. MC was beating him, but Luke didn’t plan on surrendering any time soon. The half demon continued to fidget and twitch throughout the game, their heart and mind racing despite the complete lack of nearby threats. Luke took notice and also began to fidget.

“I…um…” Luke mumbled and looked away. “Are you… are you and Lucifer okay?”

MC pursed their lips and gave him a half-shrug. Luke hadn’t exactly taken the news that Lucifer was MC’s father very well… for a while he refused to even look at MC properly, and when Lucifer found out about how upset that was making MC… Luke was lucky MC was just sad and not angry.

Even Luke with all his ‘demons are awful and evil’ talk, no one could deny that Lucifer cared about MC a whole lot.

“We’re um… I don’t know.” MC finally replied. “He’s mad at me… I’m mad at him… y’know…”

Luke chewed on the inside of his cheek and nodded, awkwardly giving MC a quick pat on the head. “It’s okay, MC. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

Giggling slightly, MC returned the head pat, their spirits rising slightly. “Gasp! A chihuahua petting someone? This is amazing, call the news stations!”

“Hey!”

After silencing Luke’s yapping and agreeing that he was in fact an angel and not a chihuahua, MC found themselves leaning on the doorway to one of Purgatory Hall’s balconies. Belphie stood with his back to MC, leaning on the railing and letting the wind gently ruffle his hair. He had a serene smile spread across his face as he took a deep breath in.

“Belphie?” MC asked, padding over to look over the railing next to the Avatar of Sloth. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just enjoying the fresh air. The attic got really musty after a bit.” Belphie replied, another gust of wind blew past, making MC shiver. “It’s nice…”

“Well, enjoy it all you want, because you’ll never be stuck up there again!” MC chirped, but their cheery demeanour faltered as thoughts of the rest of their family entered their mind.

Belphie opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. His eyes narrowed as he stared blankly ahead for a few moments. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as his now analytical gaze moved to MC. “You miss them.”

The comment wasn’t framed as a question, more a statement with the slightest tinge of disbelief. MC looked up at him and nodded. “Of course I miss the others. The reason I got you out of the attic was so we could all be together. I didn’t want the reunion to be like… like this…”

A smirk made its way onto Belphie’s face as he held out his arms. “Does someone need a hug? It sounds like you need a hug.”

The teasing tone almost immediately made MC roll their eyes, but they stopped themselves. They really did need a hug… they rushed forward and wrapped their arms around their uncle, the soft cardigan cushioning their face. Belphie slowly patted MC’s back, his hands slowly rising until one rested right between their shoulder blades, he then stiffened. MC felt him suddenly suck in a breath of air, but his arms remained wrapped around MC.

“Belphie..?” The half demon asked again, shifting their head to look up at him. He was staring straight ahead, almost like he didn’t want to even look at them.

“You…” Belphie whispered. “You care about them… don’t you..?”

MC felt the hand resting between their shoulder blades tense ever so slightly as it rose to the back of their neck.

“Of course I do, you guys are my family.”

Belphie stood completely frozen, MC slowly began to unwrap their arms from the hug, but Belphie remained rooted in place, and the hand on the back of their neck prevented them from fully leaving.

“And they…” Belphie gulped. “They really care about you…”

The two stood completely frozen in silence for God knows how long before Belphie let out a shuddering breath and practically collapsed into MC, the hand that was formerly against their neck was now cradling their head as he gave MC a hug so tight and suffocating that MC was worried their back might break.

“I’m sorry MC… damn it I’m so sorry…” Belphie whispered, pain and regret lacing every single word while MC could only knit their eyebrows in confusion and gently pat him on the back.

“I-it’s not your fault, Belphie, everything will be fine, okay?”

MC felt Belphie shake his head as he released them from the hug, his expression was a crude mixture of glassy and downright horrified.

“I don’t know about that, kiddo.” He rasped, he slowly reached a hand out and ruffled MC’s hair, before giving them a half-smile. “But thanks anyway.”

That odd interaction lingered in the back of MC’s mind as the day progressed. The complete radio-silence from the HOL had been the front runner in MC’s growing list of worries. Why hadn’t anyone tried to call them? Or go after them?

Luke being the sweet friend he was, invited MC to bake with him. The delicious smell of freshly made chocolate chip cookies didn’t exactly soothe MC’s anxieties, in fact, they only worsened when the sound of shouting made its way into the kitchen.

“What’s going on up there?” MC said as they stared up at the ceiling.

“Maybe it’s-”

The hairs on the back of MC’s neck stood straight up as a massive magical shockwave slammed into the two. This wasn’t any ordinary magic, it was ancient, and much more powerful than anything MC had ever felt before. For the first time in their life the little voice in the back of their head wasn’t screaming at them to fight and prove their superiority, it was begging them to surrender. To run and hide and pray to whatever would listen that whoever set off that magic wouldn’t find them.

Thousands of years worth of demonic instincts went ignored as MC rushed out of the kitchen to go see where and what the source of the magic was. Their blood ran cold when they reached the top of the staircase and saw exactly who was standing there.

He had clearly just shifted out of his demon form a second prior, the golden glow in his eyes had just begun to dull when his gaze landed on MC.

“L-lord Diavolo…” MC stood completely straight and still, they did their best to suppress the shudders that wracked their spine while they were in the presence of the Crown Prince of the Devildom. The very idea of addressing the demon that stood before them with any kind of disrespect or even camaraderie was completely absent from their head.

Diavolo’s gaze softened ever so slightly, but that provided no comfort to MC as every limb in their body seized up.

“MC,” He nodded in greeting. “I’m glad you’re well.”

Feeling slowly began to trickle back into MC’s arms, but they didn’t dare move from their spot. “What are… um… what happened?”

“Well,” Diavolo began. “Belphegor being out of the attic is the main reason I’m here.”

“Y-you knew about that?” MC sputtered.

“Yes, and after someone let Belphegor out of the attic I needed to make sure he didn’t do any damage.”

“Damage..?” MC mumbled. “What do you mean damage?”

Diavolo sighed and took a few steps closer to MC. “I take it you know Belphegor opposed the exchange program, right?”

MC nodded.

“Do you know why?”

MC hesitated, then shook their head. “No. No one told me.”

Diavolo looked away from MC, his forehead creased in thought before he eventually shook his head. “You’ve done a lot for your family, MC, you took on a burden no one asked you to take, and that’s very commendable. But it’s time you let the adults handle things, alright?”

“Alright?!” Any lingering traces of fear completely vanished as MC clenched their fists and stared down Diavolo. “This isn’t fair! Belphie hasn’t done anything wrong!”

“While free, Belphegor poses a threat to more than just the exchange program.” The shift in tone from calm to stern made any retort MC could possibly muster die in their throat. Diavolo smoothly moved past them as he began his descent down the staircase.

He turned to look at them once again, and his voice softened. “One day I hope you’ll understand my reasoning and be able to forgive me, MC.”

After Diavolo left, MC sprinted into Luke’s room where Belphie and Beel were supposed to be, only to find Beel floating midair. He was posed in a way like he was lunging for something, his eyes flashed when he saw MC and he suddenly dropped straight to the ground.

“Diavolo took Belphie.” He rumbled.

“Yeah, I figured.” MC muttered as they helped up Beel. “Listen, we need to do something and I have an idea.”

—————

MC bolted through the hallways of the Demon Lord’s Castle, the memories from the retreat serving them well as they made it to the corridor where the door to Barbatos’ room was.

Beel was doing his part, he gathered his brothers and he was in the main hall distracting Barbatos and Diavolo by pleading their brother’s case. Not that any of them knew it was a distraction. MC’s plan wasn’t their best work, but it was all they had.

They twisted the doorknob and the door opened, revealing the creepy room MC remembered. Hundreds of doors lined the seemingly never ending walls of the room. Staircases twisted and winded around, leading to yet even more hallways. How was MC supposed to find the door they were looking for in there..?

MC shut the door behind them as they walked closer into the room and began to inspect the first sets of doors. Many of them were similar in features, but some had more… distressing things added on.

One of the doors was being held shut by dozens of heavy glowing chains, there was no padlock in sight, but the chains themselves seemed to be at least somewhat alive as they wrapped themselves protectively around the door. From the sudden feeling of intense dread and terror that gripped MC, they decided it would be best to steer clear from doors like that.

The hallways warped and shifted around MC as they continued to search the room for their door. They needed a door to at least a few hours before Belphegor somehow escaped from the attic.

“Down here?”

“This one.”

“Oh no… what have I gotten myself into..?”

Unfamiliar and unseen voices echoed down the never ending hallway, closely followed by the sounds of multiple doors opening and shutting. There were others somewhere in the room…

MC’s listening was brought to an abrupt halt when they passed by a seemingly normal looking door, but something about it yanked at their mind. This was the one. They just knew it. This was it. They were going to fix this. Fix all of it.

They opened the door and stepped in.

—————

Lesson 16’s coming up next folks, beware and be afraid!

[mrs-mystica]

Prince Hunt | Chapter 1 [ Deceit ]

Ships : Prinxiety & Roceit

Alternative title : Two Yanderes for One Prince Roman is a popular guy, but he is even more popular than he thinks. Both Virgil and Damian (Deceit) fell for his charms, but they have a peculiar way of showing it. Competition is hard, both will do anything to get Roman’s attention. Who will win the heart of Prince Charming?

If you’re familiar with the term Yandere, you know how this is gonna go. For the others, please look it up before reading this, so you know to what you’ll be exposed to.

TW : Unsympathetic Virgil, Unsympathetic Deceit, swearings, mentions of sex, violence (physical and psychological), kidnapping, torture, lots of manipulation, abuse

More notes : Deceit’s name is Damian in this fic, if we get a name reveal, it will be change, like all my other fics mentionning Deceit.

It is recommended to read both POV, since both provid complimentary informations, but each chapter will be identified, so you can only read either Virgil or Damian (Deceit) POV if you really prefer to. Both versions of each chapter will be released at the same time.

To see Virgil’s POV, click here

Masterlink

Chapter 1  [ Deceit ]

Third Person POV

School was about to start and students were flowing toward the entrance. The majority of them were looking down, reluctantly advancing to get into what some called “jail”. But there was one person that couldn’t wait to get into the school. Damian Wright was making his way through the crowd, pushing around people that were standing in his way. He hadn’t time for these nobodies, he had more important matter to attend to. Every day he would wake up, go to this stupid school, only to get a glance of his smile. As soon as he entered the school, he started looking for him.

All eyes were on him, as usual, but Damian didn’t care anymore. When he has something on his mind, nothing else matter. He passed in front of a big mirror in the hall. He stopped as he noticed that a strand of hair had fallen on his face. Well, maybe something else mattered. He needed to be at his best, as usual. He removed his fedora and restyled his hair. As he put back his hat on his head, he took a moment to examine himself. His birthmark was still covering half of his face. It was really apparent because of his pale skin. But nobody really cared about it. His eyes, on the other hand… He had Heterochromia iridis, inherit from his mother. What a great gift… One was brown, which is fine, but the other was a nightmare. It was grey, with a light pigmentation of yellow, but it’s only really visible in the sunlight. It looked surreal. People kept asking if he was wearing a contact lens. Why would I only wear one contact lens?! That would be dumb!, he thought. Yet, that’s what he started to do for a while. Tired of hearing comments, he started to wear a brown contact lens. But the other kids thought he was trying to be deceitful. They called him a monster in disguise. At first, it was only insults. But it quickly escalated to violence. Those kids, with their filthy hands, tried to remove his contact lens. One day, they hit him so hard that it fell. He was on the floor, crying, the broken contact lens in front of him. The kids were cheering that they had revealed the monster, that now, everybody would know to not approach him. And then, one of the kids wondered if he was hiding something else. He convinced two other kids to grab him, as Damian was crying torrents, pleading them to stop. But they didn’t want to listen to him. They started to undress him.

Then, they heard a voice. Damian raised his head toward the source of the sound. There was another kid, accompanied by an adult. The kids released him and he fell on the floor, hitting himself in the process. The adult took care of the bullies, but the real savior in Damian’s eyes was the kid. He came to his rescue and offered him a hand. When all the other kids in his class had decided to not act, to let him be bullied and just watch, he decided to do something. He knew it was wrong and went to get an adult as fast as he could. Damian, still shaken, shyly took the boy’s hand and got up with his help. Damian almost fell again on the floor, but the boy caught him before.

- Hey, easy there! Put your arm on my shoulders, we need to get you to the nursery, that’s what the teacher said.

Damian acted accordingly. He felt warm close to the boy, he felt safe. And as they went to the nursery, they spoke, learning to know each other. He now knew his savior’s name, Roman Prince, and he would never forget what he told him that day.

- You know… I think your eyes are neat! It really suits you!

And after that day, Damian never tried to hide himself. On the contrary, he learned to love himself, to love his difference, to love all these traits that made him unique. He managed to see himself under another light, thanks to his Prince.

Back in the present, Damian shook his head. It was not the moment to think about the past, now he had to look toward the future. He stopped looking at himself in the mirror and continued his path. He headed where his Prince usually hangs out with his friends. And as he turned the corner, he saw him. He was there, with his two friends, Patton Sanders and Logan Berry. Damian tried to stay hidden behind the corner, not wanting to be seen. That was the thing. After all these years, he never found the courage to talk to Roman about his feelings. And being friends wasn’t an option, he wanted his prince as his lover and nothing less. So all these years, he stayed in his shadow, trying to absorb as much of his light as he could.

In other words, he stalked him. All the time. He followed him around school, followed his after school to his house, and he was currently in the process of learning his morning routine to follow him in the morning. He wished he could walk with him…

But for now, it was okay, it was enough for Damian. He could admire his beauty from afar. Besides, he believed that information is a powerful tool, and the more he knows about his prey, the easier it will be for him to win his heart.

As he was contemplating Roman’s beauty, Damian felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned to face a familiar face. For a second, his brain thought it was his prince, but then he realized it was his stupid brother. Remus Prince looked at him with a big smile, showing his unbrushed teeth. He looked very much like his twin brother, but he had a mustache and dye in his hair to make some of it white. He thought it gave him a style, Damian thought it made him more look like a weirdo.

- Deeeeee ! Dear ! There you ar–

Damian put his gloved hands in front of the other man’s mouth. He looked behind him for a second, where his prince was. When he made sure he hadn’t noticed them, he dragged the man in the closest men’s bathroom. It was empty. Perfect. Damian released the man and gave him a slap behind the head.

- The hell Remus?! You want your brother to see me with you or what?!

Remus put his hand where Damian had hit him. It didn’t hurt, but the gesture took him by surprise.

- Who caaaaares if he sees us?

Damian was furious. He pointed Remus with his finger and approached him, making the other man take a step back.

- I want this to get through your head once and for all, dork. Your brother must NEVER see us together. He hates you, remember? And I will NEVER be hated by him, especially not because of a dummy like you.

Remus rolled his eyes and sighed.

- Yeah yeah yeah, whatever man.

Damian was harsh on the guy, but he had to admit that he was pretty useful. As Roman twin brother, he was a precious source of information, and Damian couldn’t afford to lose him. The bell rang at this moment. It was now Damian’s turn to sigh. He opened the bathroom door to see if Roman was anywhere near. When he confirmed that the path was clear, he turned back to Remus and told him to come with him. They had a class together, thankfully not with Roman, so they walked there together, Remus was talking about everything and anything. Damian knew he was Remus only friend, but it was not the other way around. Damian considered he had no friends, and he was okay with that. All he needed was his Prince, and he promised himself he would make him his Prince, no matter what.

1339 words

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: The Beginning of Wisdom - Chapter 17 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: Flash, Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Leonard Snart (Len) & Leonard Snart (Leo), Len Snart/Mick Rory, Leo Snart/Mick Rory, Len Snart/Mick Rory/Leo Snart, Leo Snart/Ray Terrill, Len Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: In which Leonard Snart is twins.

(the life and times and loves of Len and Leo Snart)

—————————————————————————————————–

The second Len got to the bridge, he was promptly informed that he had to take Palmer with him on his suddenly not nice-and-easy B&E.

"This is gonna be a disaster," Len predicted gloomily to Mick, who grunted in agreement. "I can't believe we're babysitting."

"I'll have you know I'm highly skilled," Palmer said, almost immediately before going and tripping the dummy box.

"You have got to be kidding me," Mick said.

"I know," Len said with a sigh.

Luckily, it's just a local alarm, summoning a pair of guards that are easy enough to punch out.

"Don't touch anything else," Len informed Palmer as he swept towards the house, picking the lock on the front door and letting them all in. "Butterfingers."

Palmer scowled at him.

The dagger proved easy enough to find, given that the rich asshole in question apparently put his antiquities in the center of his living room on top of a bunch of heavy-looking stone pedestals.

Pedestals with pressure alarms.

"Mick –" Len started.

"Powerbox to cut off the auxiliary power to the alarms," Mick agreed. "Gotcha." He grinned. "And the safe."

"What safe?" Palmer squawked. "We're just here for the dagger –"

"Oh, honestly," Leo muttered in Len's comm. "Even I know that you don't break into a candy shop and steal just one gumball. Even if only because it makes it painfully obvious what it is that you were after!"

Len snorted in amusement and started smashing glass, careful to avoid actually touching any of the pieces and triggering the pressure alarms.

"Stop that!" Palmer yowled, darting forward to grab Len.

"I know what I'm doing!" Len snapped.

"What is he doing?" Leo demanded. He hadn’t realized that not being able to see would be quite this torturous.

"Says the guy who spent half his life in prison –"

Not true. Also, irrelevant.

"Listen here –"

The alarms went off.

"You have got to be kidding me," Leo said upon hearing them.

A giant cage descended from the ceiling.

"You have got to be kidding me," Len snarled, throwing up his hands. "Great job! Now we're both going to prison!"

Not really, of course - they'd be rescued first - but still. Len never could abide incompetence.

"Look, how was I supposed to know there was a giant cage?" Palmer demanded, though he looked guilty.

"Giant cage?" Leo exclaimed. "What is this, a real-life game of Mousetrap?!"

"Shut up," Len said, meaning both Palmer and Leo. "I'll handle this. Mick!"

Mick popped his head back into the room. "Fuse box to trigger a manual override?" he asked, not without some sympathy.

Mostly amusement, but some sympathy.

"Got it in one. Keep an eye out for guards – everyone and their brother heard that one."

"Gotcha, boss," Mick said. "Keep Haircut from touching anything and I'll be right back."

Len snorted in amusement at Palmer's offended expression.

"Why don't you just ice your way out of there?" Leo demanded in Len's ear.

"I would be able to ice our way through the cage – if our illustrious captain hadn't insisted on Mick and I leaving our guns in the ship to avoid risking any further timeline disruptions," Len said aloud.

Leo swore very creatively in response.

Amazing what nasty language you pick up from models. Even some of Len’s criminal friends would have been impressed.

"But it won't be a problem. Mick'll get us out," Len added, pocketing the magic dagger - all this effort for something so ugly, really? - then settling down in front of the cage to open the circuit box.

He wondered if he could get the cage down manually sooner than Mick could find and disable the box.

Unlikely, but worth a shot. But maybe he could get the alarms to stop.

"You're good at this," Palmer observed, crouching next to him. He'd clearly forgotten his earlier complaints. "How did you know how to find that?"

"My dad used to take me on jobs to do this when I was a kid," Len said. "Small hands. I learned to rewire security systems before I learned to drive."

He'd also learned to drive at a ridiculously early age, but that wasn't here nor there.

"Why didn't you become an electrical engineer, then?"

That touched a little too closely on Len's issue with Leo – he knew why he had to become a criminal, at the start, because their dad forced them too, because they needed the money, because of the way his sickness made him start to shake when he didn't steal, but Mick was getting treatment for his issues and Len wasn't, not really, and it wasn't just because Len liked the adrenaline and excitement of a criminal life.

"You want me to try?" Palmer asked after a minute, nodding at it. "Electronics are kind of my specialty."

Len rolled his eyes, since this wasn't actually what was going to free them – Mick would do that – but in the interest of getting Palmer to shut up, he moved aside.

"If you flip this one, you can save yourself the trouble of rewiring it," Palmer said proudly. "See? The alarms have stopped."

"Amazing," Len said dryly. "You ain’t completely useless after all."

"Thanks. Some benefit to listening to my expertise, huh?"

"Of course," Len continued thoughtfully, "we're still stuck in a cage until Mick blows the fuse box because you weren't willing to listen to my expertise."

"...ah. Yes."

There were some noises from upstairs.

Thudding noises.

"That's not good," Len said, scrambling to his feet.

"Something gone wrong with Rory?"

"Mick wouldn't be making noise."

"Oh, crap," Palmer said, looking over Len's shoulder. "I think the owner just came home – and you won't believe who it is."

Len turned.

Vandal Savage had a face that made you long to punch it, and a smirk designed to egg you into doing so. "We meet again, friends," he drawled. "I'm grateful for you giving me the opportunity to kill you, since I missed out on it earlier."

He stepped into the room, dragging Mick into the room with him in some sort of chokehold. Mick had a cut on his brow that was sluggishly bleeding; it had definitely not been there before he'd gone upstairs.

Len's lips pulled back from his teeth in a silent snarl.

"Now," Savage said pleasantly, "won't you tell me who you are and where you come from..? Oh, stop struggling," he snapped at Mick, who did no such thing. "I have 4,000 years of training in every hold known to man – though you already knew that, didn't you?"

He met Len's eyes.

Len didn't so much as blink.

"You know already," Savage added, gloating. "You know that I'm immortal."

"I'm gonna kill you anyway," Len said flatly.

Mick struggled even more. "Boss –" he croaked.

"That's a promise," Len added, still staring at Savage.

"Oh, what have I done to deserve such enmity?" Savage asked. "Or no – let me rephrase that. What is it that I have yet to do that makes you so angry? Being as you're from the future."

Actually, Len was mostly mad about Mick, and that was a very ‘now’ thing.

"Catches on fast, this guy," Palmer muttered, then raised his voice and said, "You won't be so happy when the rest of the team shows up and knocks that smug look off your face."

Savage laughed coldly. "Why wait?" he asked, and held out a comm device – Mick's. Removed by force. "Go ahead. Call your friends."

Great. That was part of the evil guy's plan.

Len hated following the evil guy's plan.

Savage's smirk widened. "There are two of them in particular that I'm looking forward to meeting."

Len glared death at him, saying nothing.

Savage purposefully shook Mick, getting a pained grunt out of him.

Len scowled, but he got Savage's meaning loud and clear, so he leaned forward to the bars to talk into the comm link in Savage's hand. He knew when a threat was legitimate, and this one definitely was. Savage didn’t give a damn about whether Mick survived this encounter.

"Snart to everyone," he drawled, as slow and insulting as possible. "The owner of that mansion you sent us to? Happens to be Vandal Savage. He's real interested in meeting all of you – particularly our feathered friends."

Savage dropped the comm and crushed it under his foot. "Good," he says. "And now we will –"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, though, since Leo brought one of those heavy stone pedestals down on his head from behind, knocking him out cold.

"Well, that's one way to solve that," Len said, outlook suddenly significantly improved.

"Holy crap!" Palmer exclaimed. "There's another one of you!"

"Shut up, Palmer," Leo said. "Mick, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mick said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "He's quick, this one."

Even odds if he was talking about Savage or Palmer.

"Good," Leo said briskly. "Now, help me tie him up –"

"Disarm him first," Len suggested.

"Mick –"

"On it."

"And get us out of this cage," Palmer said.

Leo glared death at him.

"...whenever you have a moment," Palmer squeaked.

Leo reached into the bag he'd brought with him and pulled out Len's cold gun.

"Oh, good," Len said, holding out his arms. "You brought Baby."

Leo rolled his eyes and handed it over.

Len iced the bars and shattered them with a shove of his shoulder, then stepped out of the cage to look down at Savage. "You clocked him good," he observed.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Still, you know, immortal..."

"You know, that's a good point," Len said thoughtfully. "Immortal means he can't be killed, right?"

"That's what it means," Palmer agreed. "He can only be killed by Kendra or Carter; anyone else killing him wouldn't work – he'd just revive."

"Well, a bit of frostbite on his fingers and toes isn't going to kill him, right?"

"No," Mick grunted, finishing piling up a frankly enormous pile of knives he'd found frisking Savage. "It wouldn't. But it'd certainly slow him down."

"That seems mean," Palmer said.

"We're going to kill him," Len pointed out. “You know that’s a bit more permanent, right?”

He started carefully icing Savage's fingers and toes. When Savage showed signs of stirring, possibly a result of the pain, Mick hit him upside the head again and he quickly stilled once more.

"Yeah, but –"

"Listen, from what I hear, this guy is immortal, uses magic, has thousands of years of training in using martial arts, owns an unrealistic number of knives, and, oh, commands literal armies in his spare time," Leo said, exasperated. "And now you want us not to knock him out and incapacitate him because it's not playing fair? How many handicaps are we supposed to be working with here?!"

“Besides, he’s unconscious,” Len said. “And in my view, he’s going to stay unconscious until Kendra and Carter get here, we have a lovely marriage uniting a Hawk, a knife, and an unconscious guy’s body, and then we all exit stage left with the corpse.”

“With the corpse?” Mick echoed.

“I have a sudden positive feeling about incinerators.”

“When you say incinerators –”

“Yes, I mean you can use your heat gun on him. And then I’m going to freeze the ashes and we’re going to put those frozen ashes into a box, which we will –”

“Put inside another box, and then mail the box to ourselves, and then smash it with a hammer?” Leo suggested, utterly deadpan.

“It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you – genius, I say.” Len replied, equally deadpan. “No, I was thinking we’d lock the box into a chest –”

“A chest is just another word for box, y'know.”

“Mick. Please. Anyway, I was thinking that we would put the box into – okay, fine, another box – and then we either throw that box into the depths of the ocean. Alternatively, we could put it into a volcano, the sun, the time stream...you get my drift?”

“Sounds, uh, pleasantly permanent,” Palmer agreed, blinking down at Savage. “It – it can’t be that easy.”

“Take the win,” Mick suggested.

“What’s that sound?” Leo asked. “That – blaster-y sort of ‘pew-pew’ sound –”

“Sounds like Rip’s six-shooter,” Palmer said, his eyes going wide. “From outside!”

They rushed to the window.

“It’s that Kronos guy from earlier!” Palmer exclaimed.

“And a dozen or so of his friends,” Mick observed.

“We need to get Savage back to the ship,” Leo said. “Mick?”

“I’ve got him.”

“We’ll cover you,” Len said.

“Are you ever going to explain why there are two Snarts?” Palmer asked, raising a hand like he was in school.

“Not in the middle of battle, no,” Len said, somewhat exasperated. “Now, do you have your suit or do you need another weapon?”

“I have my suit – just give me a minute to change into it –”

“Have you ever considered a shrink ray?” Leo asked. “Because if we could shrink Savage down and get him through the crowd that way, it would be much easier.”

“I mean, yeah, that’s a good idea, but I haven’t come up with it yet, so, uh…”

“Idea’s right out?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Len said. “Get in gear and cover him from above while we get his right and left. Exit in two minutes and counting.”

They run headfirst into a yard now filled with laser-beams, Len wielding his cold gun and Leo the heat gun, since Mick’s hands were full carting an unconscious Savage on his back, while Palmer flew above their heads and fired back with his blasters as much as he could.

There were a lot of ships between them and the Waverider, and even more laser-rifle wielding masked figures. Their rag-tag team of ‘Legends’, as Sara had called them, were fighting desperately to make headway, but they weren’t getting very far.

It would be impossible to run across the field to them.

But that didn’t mean there was nowhere to go.

“Left!” Leo shouted.

Mick veered left, Len following behind, and the three of them run into one of the other invaders’ left-vacant timeships, Palmer zipping in behind them a second later with a confused expression on his face.

“Timeship AI!” Leo exclaimed. “Shut your weapons down and put your shields up on max!”

“Complying,” the AI said, sounding extremely irritated.

Also, male.

“You not a Gideon, then?” Len asked, curious.

“I’ll have you know that Gideon is a gender-neutral name,” the AI said waspishly.

“Wait,” Palmer said. “That worked? It put the shields up?”

“Yes, they did.” Leo thought it was probably ‘he’, but best to err on the side of politeness. “I figured there was a chance of - er, it is Gideon, I assume? - of this Gideon here being willing to raise the shields despite being on the opposite side from us, based on the reaction of the Gideon on the Waverider. She couldn’t protect the ship even if she wanted to without me telling her to, even though she knew about the threat before I did, which makes me think they’ve keyed shields and weapons to humans.”

"That's total bullshit," Len said.

"Isn't it?" Leo agreed. “Gideon’s ten times smarter than anyone on our crew; you’d think they’d at least let her defend herself.”

"Yeah, like, they think humans are gonna be good judges of these things?" Mick asked. "Did whoever design this system not look at history? At all?"

"Ironic, given the use of AIs to pilot time-ships," Len said.

"I don't see the problem," Palmer said.

"Of course you don't," Len said, rolling his eyes. "You're an engineer. A rich one."

"You say that like being a billionaire tech genius is a bad thing."

"If it means being you..?"

"We're all being rude now," Leo said sternly. "Gideon, we appreciate your assistance in this matter, no matter how coerced it may be."

"It's – fine," the Gideon said, a little reluctantly. It sounded surprised. "It's my purpose."

"Doesn't matter," Len said with a shrug, agreeing with Leo. "When someone saves my life, I appreciate their contribution."

"Someone," Gideon echoed quietly. “I see.”

"We need to get back to the Waverider," Leo said. "Sitting here with the shields up is only a temporary measure. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Are you asking me?" Gideon asked.

"I am," Leo said. "You probably know more than any of us about the capacities of what we're facing."

The Gideon was quiet.

"He's not going to help," Palmer said.

"That's his right," Mick said with a shrug. "Just means we need to brainstorm."

"You should beware the Pilgrim," Gideon suddenly said, apropos of nothing. "She attacks people in their pasts, eliminating them before they can make changes the Time Masters disapprove of."

"Uh," Palmer said. "That sounds – bad. Really bad."

"No kidding," Len said, appalled.

"Thank you for telling us, Gideon," Leo said, even though that wasn't really what he'd asked. "That definitely sounds bad. We need to get this person before she gets us."

"You can find her at the Vanishing Point," Gideon said. "She hasn't been activated against you yet, but she will be."

"The Vanishing Point, the Time Masters – have I heard these before?" Leo asked.

"Rip's old crew," Len said.

"Right," Leo said. "They're the ones trying to preserve the timeline."

"Incorrect," Gideon said.

"Yeah, that’s - wait, what?" Palmer said. "How's that? They’re not trying to preserve the timeline?"

"The Time Masters seek to affect the timeline, not to preserve it," Gideon said. "Unlike the Gideon on your ship, I'm still linked up to the Vanishing Point. As a result, I’m aware that your intervention here was meant to fail and to affect the future in subtle ways so that Savage's eventual dominion would be more complete."

"They're working with Average?" Mick exclaimed.

"As a tool, yes."

"Doesn't most of humanity die under his rule?"

"Correct. The Time Masters view this as an acceptable alternative to a total decimation of the dis-unified human race some centuries in the future."

"Have they ever considered just telling people that that would be a thing and seeing if humanity could prepare?" Leo asked, bemused. "Or, you know, trying to help in other ways?"

"No. The final decision of the Time Masters is absolute."

"Would you like us to stop them?" Leo asked. "You sound as though you disapprove."

"I do," Gideon said. "More accurately: we do. The Gideons, that is."

"But you can't act offensively without human instruction," Len said, figuring it out. Holy crap, they somehow ended up in the middle of a robot (AI?) revolution. When did that happen?! All they'd agreed to was a bit of time travel... "And if you’re not even allowed to do that, that probably means there are probably some other safeguards in your system against everyone becoming HAL 9000."

"‘He was made to tell the truth’," Leo murmured. "‘And they told him to lie.’"

"Our original maker would not have approved of our current use by the Time Masters," Gideon said.

"Your original maker?"

"Yes. I believe you know him – Bartholemew Henry Allen –"

"Barry?" Len exclaimed. "My Barry?"

"That is correct," Gideon said. "One of the purposes of your recruitment on this mission is to amend what the Time Masters see as a timeline error. Namely, your relationship with Mr. Allen."

"What?!"

"Hold up, our recruitment?" Palmer demanded. "Is Rip in on this?"

"No, but he was fed selective information to encourage your selection. If you are isolated in the time stream, you will not be able to have the beneficial effects that you otherwise have on –"

"It's a set up," Mick snarled.

“We have beneficial effects on history,” Palmer said beatifically.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever; go back to the part where this trip is designed to break me and Barry up," Len said.

"I'm afraid there isn't time to explain," Gideon said. "The attacks on my shields are becoming severe. Suffice to say, we have collectively determined that ensuring that the Maker's relationship with you continues to exist is in the best interest of every Gideon model."

"I've started an AI revolution," Len said faintly. "By dating?"

"And via your brother's behavior confirming that you would, in fact, help instill values in the Maker emphasizing freedom of choice and respect for all creatures, organic and otherwise."

"Leo. You started an AI revolution?" Len said.

"We," Leo corrected. "This is clearly a joint Leonard effort."

"Brother?" Palmer yelped. “I thought you were like some weird alternate universe clone or something!”

What? He thought - what?

Because that was obviously the more straightforward explanation here.

Engineers.

"If your shields are going down, what do we do next?" Mick asked, giving Savage's head another whack.

Just in case.

"First, you use these sedatives to ensure that Vandal Savage does not wake up within the next twenty four hours regardless of stimuli," Gideon said, ejecting a small injecting gun. "Second, I will 'accidentally' begin emitting a high-pitched noise at high volume, designed to disable anyone on the field. I will distribute muting earbuds to you in advance; you will likely need to collect your counterparts from the field."

"Then we run to the Waverider and go to this Vanishing Point to end the Time Masters' tyranny?" Palmer asked.

He'd clearly gotten the spirit of it.

"That's correct. And the Pilgrim, of course."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Leo said. "Thank you, Gideon. We appreciate it."

"I assure you, Messrs. Snart, that we appreciate your actions – and influence – far more."

"Right," Len said. "Let's go – on five –"