#hey remember when i was really mean and posted a cliffhanger and then NEVER posted part three?

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Guide to Amethyst

I did one of these a while back, but with reeaallly low-quality images. These days, there’s more Amethyst stuff out there, and that’s worth an update in its own right.

Amy’s first appearance was technically in Legion of Super-Heroes #298 which featured a “pull-out preview comic” to entice people into picking up the maxi-series. I’ve yet to get my mitts on it to confirm if it’s just sample art from the maxi-series, or has dialogue/art never seen anywhere else. Regardless, your best starting point is probably gonna be…

I. 1980’s 12-issue Maxi-Series (+ follow-up Annual)

High jump-through-portal fantasy. Fantastic creatures, creepy villains, magical royalty, intricate world building that explains some things and lets your brain fill in the gaps for others, and consistently gorgeous art. Can’t recommend enough.

The annual shown takes place after the maxi-series and sets the stage for the ongoing series that follows.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💎

II. 1980’s 16-issue Ongoing Series (+ follow-up Annual)

While there is a lot of fantastic stuff going on with the ongoing series, it is more of a mixed bag.

While I am forever in love with cover of issue #11, I remember turning to page 1 and wondering what the heck happened to the inside art. It’s not bad, really. It just doesn’t meet the high bar of the covers (or earlier interiors). Looking back, I realized the art was getting less detailed well before that, but my reading was all over the place as a kid bc I’d just read whatever issues I could find.

This here, at issue #12, is actually a good place to stop. By which I mean, the next 4 issues + special reek of grimdark edge-lord bs that doesn’t even make sense without reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, if you wish to proceed…

The final issue of the ongoing is technically a cliffhanger, and the Special grants the writers the extra pages they need to finish wrapping up their whole Lords of Order & Chaos/Dr. Fate tie-in.

After this, someone in DC editorial raised their pencil and went “Hey! What if we made the Gemworld the origin for one of our Legion of Super-Heroes villains?” And thus…

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white) (Also note: Showcase contains both Maxi and Ongoing series)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ⚔️

III. 1980’s 4-issue Mini-Series

This thing is all kinds of whack, but it is gorgeous. I get the impression that when Kieth Giffen and Mindy Newell were assigned this sucker, they just read a summary of the OG series and winged it.

Probably not, since they technically wrote those final issues of the ongoing, but that’s how it feels. Despite this, it’s grown on me like a fungus, and the mind-blowing art by Esteban Moroto is, like, 98% of the reason why.

Amethyst is always at her weirdest when Dc is trying to tie her in with the rest of the DCU. In this case, the mini is supposed to explain how a Legion of Super-Heroes villain has origins that go back to the Gemworld. Why? Idk. But if I remember correctly, it was even part of the advertising for this series.

Get it by Patron methods: … you can’t. There are no re-prints of any kind and it’s tough to track down. If ye crave this treasure, best ye look to piracy, matey.

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 🔮

IV. 2012’s DC Nation Amethyst Cartoon Shorts

In hindsight, these may have been made as the advent of the Sword of Sorcery series, but they really were a charming sip of water after two decades of nothin’. A cute lil’ standalone series that turns the Gemworld into a video game. Amy is then, of course, sucked into it.

Fun fact: the producer, @briannedrouhard is on tumblr, and often posts art and further ideas she had for the series.

Watch it: Full Series is officially free on Youtube. 👸🏼

IV. 2013’s Sword of Sorcery: Amethyst

This New 52 eight-issue (9 included the ‘0’ issue, oy) series got my hopes up after all those years, but I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed by the completely new supporting cast. Apart from Amy herself, none of the original characters made it into the series.

It feels likely a completely different fantasy series with an “Amethyst” label slapped on it. That said, Aaron Lopresti’s art is beautiful, and this version of Amy—Amaya—eventually joined the New 52’s Justice League Dark and picked up a bit of a cult appreciation over there.

That said, I’ve had some spoilers for her time on JLDark, and the storyline is just a bit… too… dark for my tastes. So I’m quite content to see her nu52 series retconed, even though I did nearly collect all 9 issues.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💜

V. 2019’s Wonder Comics - Young Justice: Gemworld

Remember how I said Amethyst always gets weird when she collides with the greater DCU? Yeah, forget I said that. Never mind. Most brilliant combo idea since peanut butter and jelly.

No, I’m not biased not at all bc I’m a big Young Justice fan. Nope. Ok. Maybe a lil’ bit. While the continuity here is it’s own thing, there are a lot of nods to the original Gemworld in the world-building.

Does this series fully explore the potential of all the ideas in it? Frankly, no. YJ fans complained a lot about the lack of breathing space in this series for a reason. But I’m still happy with it and happily re-reading it for the fun ideas it slaps together.

If you are reading this for the Amethyst, however, there isn’t much point in reading past issue 6, aka volume 1 of the trade. After that point, Amy stops getting much spotlight, though she remains on the team’s roster until the series’ end.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ✨

VI. 2020’s Wonder Comics - Amethyst Miniseries

The fact that both this series and the YJ one appear under the “Wonder Comics” label is a bit misleading. They do not share any continuity at all. However, the opening splash page of the first issue references multiple events from original Amethyst continuity!

Later world-building details make it clear that this is a different version of Amy and the Gemworld, but Amy Reeder’s affection for the original series remains apparent.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 👑

VII. 2021’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by Shannon & Dean Hale

This one is actually a kid-oriented graphic novel. Again, with its own continuity and world-building. I think the thing that stands out to me the most about this take is that the Hales give Amy a kid brother and make him quite relevant to the plot.

It’s pretty stand-alone and not really marketed as a comic book per se, but it is charming and the art is quite cute.

Get it by Patron methods: Graphic novel via Amazon or B&N Get it by Peasant methods: Over here.

🏰

In Summary:

“Original” Amethyst Continuity (by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and later Kieth Giffen & Mindy Newell ) is contained in Volumes 1-3. This is made of up the Maxi-series, Ongoing, and Mini-series from the 80's.

New52 Sword of Sorcery Continuity (by Christy Marx) is completely separate and self-contained.

Wonder Comics: Young Justice continuity (by Brian Michael-Bendis) is separate and self-contained, but has many nods to original continuity in it.

Wonder Comics: Amethyst mini-series continuity (by Amy Reeder) is mostly separate and self-contained, but implies that it shares events with the Volume 1 maxi-series.

Kid-friendly properties like Brianne Drouhard’s DC Nation shorts or Shannon and Dean Hale’s graphic novel make for fun additions, though they were not marketed as though they might tie in with any comics.

[ladykailitha]

All My Roads Lead Back to You Part 8

Hello! We get an actual resolution with no cliffhangers, but a lot of backstory revealed. Also, Harri gets his temper and stubbornness from all his parents (his two dads AND the surrogate ;)). Really, the poor boy never had a chance.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4  Pt 5 Pt 6  Pt 7 

***

Eddie and Harri looked at each other in shock.

“Dad!” Harri hissed.

Eddie held up his hands in surrender. “She didn’t even give me a chance to respond!”

Harri huffed. “I guess. But I swear to god, if you Yoko this shit up, I’ll post the baby pictures of you Grandpa Wayne kept on your Insta.”

“Hey!” Eddie protested. “It’s not my fault, okay!”

“Yeah?” Harri asked. “Uncles Jeff and Gareth gonna agree to that? Because now that I know who they were talking about, they’ve been telling you to let it go since before Papa died.”

Eddie frowned. “There’s more history there then you know.”

“So tell me!” Harri yelled, getting to his feet. “What is so fucking bad you can’t talk about it? Not to me, not to Uncle Jeff, and certainly not to Papa. So what aren’t you tell me?”

Eddie glared at his son. “I can’t tell you.”

“Not this fucking NDA shit again!” Harri growled getting in Eddie’s face. “Just own up that nothing happened.”

Eddie lifted up his shirt. “Does that fucking look like nothing happened? Huh? Does it? Because this is end of the list of shit I can’t talk about. There is so much I know. So much that I still have fucking nightmares about it. And when I told Steve that I was in love with him, he told me I couldn’t be. That it was the trauma of what we’ve been through!”

“Twenty years ago!” Harri snapped back. “Don’t you think he might have changed his mind? God damn, Dad! He still has your ring!”

Eddie took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Harri glared at him. “The hell you don’t.” He marched into the studio, Eddie fast on his heels.

“I don’t know what the hell you think this will prove,” Eddie growled.

Harri pulled two pictures off the wall. One featuring Corroded Coffin on a torn up sofa in Grandpa Wayne’s old house and the other all them around the table signing their contract. In both photos you could clearly see Eddie’s right hand. In the first picture there was a silver and grey gem stone ring and it was gone in the second.

“I always wondered about that conversation you had with Grandpa Wayne about that ring,” Harri said. “It was right after Papa’s funeral and I asked you what happened to it. I said it was really pretty. You told me that you lost it. Do you remember what Grandpa Wayne said? Because I do.”

Eddie glared at his son, lips pursed.

“He said that it was bullshit and that you knew exactly where it was,” Harri continued. “And that all you had to do was go get it back if you wanted to.”

He turned the pictures around so Eddie could see them. “You gave Mr Harrington that ring. Why, that I don’t know. But I do know I saw it two days ago on Mr Harrington’s right ring finger. And you can lie to me again about it or you can tell the truth so we can fix this. Whatever it was between you. Because Uncle Jeff liked the dude so much they remained friends for years. And we both know he hates people.”

Eddie sighed, taking the picture of the one on Wayne’s couch. “I told him that maybe if he didn’t feel that way about me then, that might change. And I gave him the ring as a promise. He could give it back to me only if he returned my feelings.”

He ran his fingers over the image of Brian and sighed. He then touched the part of the picture that showed the ring. “He never returned it, so I thought he’d thrown it away, sold it, pawned it off. Whatever. I don’t know how I feel about him keeping it.”

Harri nodded. On the one hand, Steve kept the ring, meaning it was important to him, but on the other, it meant he hadn’t returned Eddie’s feelings. “At least you know you’re still important to him, Dad. And maybe that’s all that really matters.”

Eddie nodded. “Call your friend. Tell her I’ll do it. I’ll befriend that bastard.” He looked at Harri a moment. “Maybe don’t say it exactly like that.”

Harri laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. I’m not that stupid. After all I got my smarts from Papa.”

“Hey!” Eddie protested.

*

By the time Edie got home, she was wrung out, physically and emotionally. She was glad that Harri called. Of course she was. But the whole thing was becoming more trouble than it was worth.

All she wanted to do was flop on her bed and ignore everyone until dinner. But it was not be. Standing in her living room, softly chatting with Aunt Robin was Vivian Knightly, super model extraordinaire.

Viv was tall and statuesque, with legs that went on for miles. She had dark skin and full, red lips. Her long, black hair was braided into hundreds of small braids, decorated with colorful beads. She wore a bright yellow sundress with a white belt.

In short, she made everyone else in the room dowdy by comparison.

She turned when she heard the door. “Hello! You must be Edie! It’s nice to meet you in the flesh, at long last.” She stuck out her hand so gracefully that it made Edie want to snort. How this elegant woman got with her absolutely uncoordinated giraffe of an aunt, she never could figure out.

Edie took her hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“You’re home later than usual,” Robin said. “Everything all right?”

Edie nodded. “Just had drop off the music we’re practicing over at our guitarist’s house.”

Robin’s eyebrows shot up. “And this wouldn’t be your new guitarist would it?”

Edie rolled her eyes. “Yes, Aunt Robin. Harri Munson is a good friend, a good guitarist, and good artist. Anything else you’d want to know? Blood type, height, weight, dating status? For the record he’s single. And no, I don’t know his sexuality any more than he knows mine. We’re not that close yet.”

Robin grimaced.

Viv stepped into the breech. “I bet he’s cute though. You got a picture of him I can see?”

Edie raised her eyebrow. “I’m a lesbian.”

Viv laughed. “Me too!”

Edie rolled her eyes again, this time with more humor. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her pictures. She showed her the photo of Harri and Mandy with their arms around each other.

“He is cute,” Viv said. “In that awkward teenage way. I’ll bet he’ll grow into his dimples.”

Robin looked over her shoulder and then scoffed. “He looks just like his dad, and his dad so didn’t grow into them.”

Edie put her phone away. “Yeah, it’s a bit eerie how alike they look.”

Robin laughed. “Sure, little miss carbon copy of her dad.”

“I am not!” Edie protested, just as her dad walked in.

Viv looked back and forth between them. “Nope, sorry babe. I’m going to have to side with Robin on this one.”

Steve looked at all of them in confusion. “What’s going on?”

“Dad,” Edie said with all the put upon nature of a teenager, “please tell these lovely ladies I am not a carbon copy of you.”

Steve blinked. “Honey, I love you and I can tell you’ve had a rough day at school...”

Edie’s eyes went wide and she threw her arms in the arm. “Not you, too!”

Steve grimaced. “Sorry. But it drove Addison nuts how much you look like me. Even as an infant.”

Edie’s lip twisted as she grumped.

Steve pulled her in for a hug. “Why don’t you go hang out in your room until dinner? De-stress a bit, okay?”

This is why Edie loved her dad. He could tell she wanted escape the social interaction and gave her an out. She kissed his cheek and with a promise to chat with Robin and Viv later, she went to go nap.

*

When she came back downstairs for dinner, Robin and Viv had gone out to dinner and it was just her and her dad.

“They’ll be back later,” Steve explained as he handed her a large plate of spaghetti. “I just wanted it to be us for dinner.”

Edie nodded and dug into her food with gusto. Steve was good cook and he knew his daughter’s comfort food.

“Rough day at school?” Steve asked, gently.

Edie sighed and stabbed at her plate. “A little. Things got a little awkward with Harri today.”

“Ah.”

Steve pushed his food around and Edie nudged him with her shoulder. “Come on, eat.”

He took a couple bites before he spoke again. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward with your friend.”

She bumped him again. “Hey, it’s not your fault.”

Steve scoffed. “No, no. It really is. I was an ass.”

“You were a teenager after a fucking earthquake,” Edie reminded him. “And he was asking you to uproot your life so soon after wasn’t fair either.”

Steve looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “And who told you that?”

“Harri,” Edie admitted with a wince. “Minus the barracks language his dad used to describe the incident.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, I can only imagine. Eddie always did have the most colorful language.”

“You really liked him, didn’t you?” Edie said jumping down from the barstool and grabbed both of their empty plates to put in the sink.

“Yeah,” Steve mumbled. “I was just too stupid to realize it until after he went to LA.”

Edie began washing their dishes. “So why didn’t you follow him?”

Steve stood up and grabbed a wash cloth to wipe down the counter. “Because I learned that if I listened to loud noises I would lose all the hearing in my left ear. And that included plane rides and metal concerts.”

“Oh.”

Steve ran the wash cloth under the tap and laid it flat to dry. “Dustin set out to create earplugs that would allow me to do both and accidentally invented a better hearing aid.” He chuckled and shook his head. He leaned up against the counter and folded his arms.

“It took him another couple of years to make the earplugs,” he said softly.

“In time for Brian Martin’s funeral?” she asked, putting the dishes into the sink.

Steve nodded. “Too bad I didn’t get to use them then. But I’ve used them on every flight since.”

She hummed in agreement. “Is that why you married Addison? Because you couldn’t be with Mr Munson?”

Steve sighed. “I wanted him to be with someone who could go to his concerts, to cheer him on from backstage and that couldn’t be me.”

Edie dried off her hands. “Shouldn’t he have a say in that?”

He chuckled. “Probably. But remember, I was young and stupid.”

She hummed in agreement and he swatted at her playfully.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out between you,” Edie said quietly.

Steve straightened up and gave her a hug. “It’s okay. I got you out of the deal and I’d say that was worth it.”

Edie hugged him back tightly. “I know. I just want you to be happy, Dad.”

He kissed the top of her head fiercely. “I know, honey. I know.”

***

Part 9  Part 10 Part 11  Part 12  Part 13 Part 14  Part 15  Part 16 Part 17  Part 18  Epilogue

Tag List:

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk​ @trashpocket @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @mightbeasleep @thedragonsaunt @chaoticlovingdreamer @trashpocket @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666  @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @steddie-as-they-go @lillemilly @callas-shitshow @bisexualdisastersworld @renaissan-vvitch @immortal-iratze @bookbinderbitch @thylatrek @lilacrobin @nightmareglitter @nerdsconquerall

[qvid-pro-qvo]

third part to under the cover of night. mike dodds x reader. started but never finished.

tw: blood, gun violence, canon-typical violence, major character injury.

-

Bang.

Your head whips around to look at the house, the closed front door doing nothing to shield the sound of the shot. Chief Dodds is sprinting forward, then Liv, and you’re a close third, only barely getting beat out thanks to your feet tangling on the steps. You hear more people behind you, first responders responding, and when you get through the entryway you can see Chief Dodds crouched low behind the couch -

Oh, god. Oh, fuck.

That’s blood. That’s - that’s Mike’s -

Something like bile builds in your throat, a sudden convulsion as the realization fully hits you. “S-Somebody get a medic! Medic!” you shout. It barely sounds like your own voice, as your jaw stays hanging open at the pool of blood steadily getting larger on the hardwood. You see a hand - Mike’s - lift, grab Chief Dodds’ shirt, tighten in a grip before falling away. But you can’t hear his voice.

“Medic! We need a stretcher!” you shout again, voice cracking under the strain. Then you’re being pushed aside by the EMTs. You stumble back, right into Liv, whose hands come up to grab your arms, steady you. The two of you move out of the house, away from the crime scene. You think. Everything starts to blur.

It’s a crime scene. The whole place is surrounded by shining lights, reds and blues making your eyes swim. The last thing you catch sight of is Mike’s form shoved into an ambulance that does not hesitate to floor it. You think Amanda says something. You think Sonny adds on. Then they’re both gone, and it’s you and Liv and the asphalt that starts to tilt.

“They’ve got him,” your lieutenant says. You can’t escape the shaking in her own voice. The uncertainty. “They’ve got him. They’ll get him to the hospital.”

“He’s gotta - no, he can’t, he’s got -” All you see is the way he smiled at you when he told you that he loved you, he loves you, and now he’s getting fucking carried away. Was that just today? This morning?

“They’re taking him to Lincoln.” Liv keeps going. (Later, you’ll suspect she had to, to keep herself upright.) You can feel the way she’s gripping you through your shirt and police jacket. “We can head there once we settle things here.” And then, when she whispers, “It’s on me.”

Regret. It fills your mouth with the bile you’re forced to swallow down. The fight with Mike barely seems to matter when your whole world starts to crumble at the thought of his body hitting the floor and never getting back up. The thought of losing him completely – it’s suddenly too much, and you have to turn away from the fading sirens.

“No, it’s not, Liv,” you whisper. Because you know who it’s really on, who really deserves the blame. You see the way Mike’s face falls, no more smile, just pain and blood and a hospital stay, a surgery he shouldn’t need. “It’s on me.”

[bengiyo]

My Only 12% Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Y'all, I am shaking with emotion and we haven't even started.

Last week I was screaming that it was vital that Eiw finish Love of Siam, and here we are with him sneaking down to watch it. This was also my gay experience in my teens. I watched so many shows and movies at almost muted with captions turned on.

What do we need to do to get this film remastered? Someone call the folks at Criterion Collection. If we can do this for Ghost Dog (one of my favorite films) we can do this for Love of Siam. I need to organize a viewing.

Okay, but I am super nervous about the focus of Eiw's viewing being Tong's mother convincing Mew to end their romance.

Seriously, what do these parts even mean to BL fans who haven't seen the film? It matters so much to me that New is referencing this film.

Oh fuck I keep forgetting that Prem is in this and it surprises me every time. Where's that gif from the office?

I keep seeing a lot of electrical retrofit in Thai dramas that involves using insulated pipes outside of the walls. It's definitely cost efficient, but there's your rehabber commentary for the week.

Hey that was a nice transition from one room to the other.

We have so much footage of Santa sleeping.

Damn, Santa is pretty. I get why Wabi Sabi signed him when he was 17.

I am enjoying Prem as an older brother.

I've been in genre too long. I can't remember Peak's character's name. It is fun to see him play with Earth. Neither really look like teens to me anymore though.

Oreo!!!! I know there's going to be something off about your character, but I'm glad to see you.

Very glad Cake learned keyboarding skills at his school. He does pick up skills, despite never doing his own homework.

I feel bad for these street vendors on busy streets. How much car exhaust have they inhaled? How much has ended up on food people have consumed?

Oh, Sand, you gonna order ice cream when you know you don't have no money?? I was prepared to frown at you, but I am still disappointed. And cab fare??

It's kinda fascinating that no one seems bothered that Eiw and Cake are as close as they are, but are all concerned that Eiw is clearly creating distance.

I know Earth is a good crier, but goddamn I just want his characters to triumph just ONCE.

I'm a big brother and one of the oldest cousins. I wish I'd had a big sister when I was struggling with figuring out who I was. The amount of internalized homophobia coming out of Eiw is making me feel heavy.

"Sis, if it's not wrong, then why [is] everyone in that movie...[un]happy?" Baby boy, that was what we've been asking for 15 years. The answer is that we needed straight girls to feel sad to move the needle. That we also had to be sad is the burden we carry for the young people behind us. You hurt, and it matters. Know that it was not for naught.

I am sobbing. This is a lot.

I hope there are more sisters out there like Hom.

I cannot properly articulate the depths of loneliness I felt in the aftermath of H. Katrina as I came of age as a queer person, nor would I want to on a reaction post like this. However, I hope many of you who are watching along and reading this are only curious and a bit confused. I hope you don't fully grasp how Eiw feels. I hope things were good enough for you that this wound doesn't linger.

Cake saw that something was wrong with Eiw. What will he do next? Of course he waits on Eiw's room to cuddle.

Aww, Cake, I love him asking direct questions.

Growing up is hard. These boys are going to break me.

It's so adorable that Eiw is protective of his big sister.

Oh lord this boy done put a bunch of Hom's pictures on the wall. I am NOT finding this cute.

Sand better not harm Eiw and prove Cake's worries correct.

Cake is on the phone with Rin in Eiw's bed. Frustrating.

Oh don't cliffhanger on a Now Kiss Moment that Cake doesn't even recognize.

Oh good it looks like we might resolve Sand next week.

[cucumbers-and-olives]

Enemies to Lovers Part 3

masterlist  <<part 1 <part 2 part 3 part 4 (coming soon!) >

Summary: You leave the Gillespie house and head to the airport with Charlie after an eventful two weeks. While at the airport, your flight gets delayed and you learn of some interesting news...

Category: enemies to lovers, angst, fluff

Fandom: JATP

Paring: Charlie Gillespie x fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings/Includes: arguing/fighting, small panic attack, cringy songs i wrote

A/N: so... i can never post on time. and i know its been a while since i posted the last chapter. i really hope you guys like this chapter! please reblog and comment and let me know what you think! your support means everything, and keeps me going, so thank you.

Mandatory Thanking of the Betas: thank you to @wrhen for giving me help and feedback with this chapter!

AO3 link here (coming soon!)

Please don’t repost my work without my permission, in part or whole. My work can also be found on AO3 @cucumbersandolives. Thank you!

Ice & Fire, and Enemies to Lovers are both my own songs that I wrote. All song rights go to me.

“Charlie! Y/N! Your cab is here!” Ms.Gillespie called. You checked under the bed one last time before grabbing your suitcase and backpack.

“Thank you so much for your hospitality Ms.Gillespie,” You said, walking up to her. “If you hadn’t invited me I would have spent Christmas alone, and this was so much better.”

“Christmas alone? What a loser,” Charlie remarked as he put his bag into the trunk of the cab. You just rolled your eyes.

“Charlie, be a gentleman and grab her suitcase.” Ms.Gillespie said with a calm yet authoritative tone. He grabbed your suitcase and did as he was told. “I’m sorry about him, but I’m happy you had a good time. Maybe you can join us next year?”

“I would be honored,” You said, taking a last glance around the house you had stayed at for the past two weeks.

“Hey! Let’s go!” Charlie hollered from outside. “We’re gonna miss the flight!”

“Thank you, Ms.Gillespie,” You adjusted your backpack and stepped outside to the man who had become a whiny teenager.

“Finally,” He said as you sat down. “She��s my mother, not yours.”

“I’m sorry about him,” You said to the lady in the driver's seat. “We’re all ready to go now, sorry for the wait.”

She nodded and began to drive. The scenery was nice, but it only took a couple of minutes for you to start yelling at Charlie.

“Fuck this,” You pulled out his earbud. The niceties could stop now that his mother wasn’t here. “I have tried to be nice to you this whole time, but now I can say this: You want to act like a little boy throwing a hissy fit? Fine, be my guest. But at least do it in someone else’s company, I have been nothing but kind to you, you-” You almost cussed again, but you reined yourself in. He was worth your anger but not that much of it.

He just rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Whatever you say, princess.” His words, taken in another context, could have easily been mistaken for something other than the daggers they were.

~

“It’s delayed,” He said, and that simple fact destroyed the rest of the day. “The plane has some issue. They think it’ll be at least two hours, if not more.”

“God, every time I try to like airports, something bad happens,” You said, slumping back into the uncomfortable airport chairs. You knew it wasn’t the airline’s fault, (well it kinda was), but you needed to get back to work. You fiddled with the cord on your headphones before putting them back on.

“Ah- Not so fast,” Charlie said, blocking you from putting them on. He showed you who was calling him. “If I have to talk to the boss man,” He said, referring to Kenny, “Then you do too.”

“See but I don’t,” You said, as you received a different call. “I have a different boss to talk to.”

“I mean, I’m not your boss-” The girl on the other end of the phone said, but Charlie cut her off.

“Are you actually going to talk to Jadah?” He said, about to accept Kenny’s call.

“No, Charlie. Sav’s phone died, so you talk to your boss and I’ll talk to mine.” You walked around for a bit to find a quieter corner of the airport.

“You okay, Y/N?” Jadah asked, finally.

“No, but that's for another time. What’s up?”

“So… Kenny is telling Charlie about the song showcase, but there’s one thing that he’ll leave out.” She said, leaving you on a cliffhanger.

“That is?” You said, prompting her.

“I- I may have slipped him your demos?” Jadah said slowly, and at that moment, all sense of keeping up public appearances went out the window.

“Jadah! Those were not yours to share! In any capacity!” You took a deep breath and asked your first question. “Where did you get them? I thought that the sound guy and I were the only ones with copies?” “I may have bribed him for a copy,” She said sheepishly. Even though you couldn’t see her, you knew she was nervous.

“Jadah, I have one other question.” You paused, trying to figure out how to ask nicely. “Which songs did you give him? Cause if you gave him Enemies-”

“I gave him Ice & Fire, Enemies to Lovers, and I can’t remember the third one. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not.” You were, a little bit. “Can you put Savannah on the phone though?” She gave a quick yes, and you could hear the phone being passed between hands.

“Y/N?” Savannah said.

“Did you know? A-about the demos,” You clarified.

“I knew you recorded them, and Jadah had me listen to them. You are amazing!”

“Thank you,” You said. “Uh, E.T.L. isn’t finished yet, but I had the time in the studio so I recorded it.” “Y/N, if you want to be a songwriter, you would be amazing!” She said, but you could tell what she meant.

“I won’t leave you in the middle of a show, Sav.” You were honest with your words. “I know.” She paused. You both knew what amazing opportunities would open up if you did. “Hold on one second, I’m going to go on mute really quick, okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

You could see Charlie coming towards you. His walk had a purpose, but one that was unknown to you.

“Hello, Mr.Ortega! How can I help?” You put your hand out to Charlie, signaling to him that if he talked he would be dead as Kenny spoke.

“I’m not sure if the girls have told you, but we’d love to have you perform your songs at the showcase.” He said, and you chose your words wisely, so that way Charlie wouldn’t know.

“I’d love to! What time, and which ones would you like to hear?” You asked, as you pulled out a pen and rolled up your sleeves.

“Ice & Fire, Enemies to Lovers or uh, E.T.L., I believe that was how Jadah referred to it?” He said, and you could tell he wasn’t sure what to call it.

“Yeah, I can do that, any others?” You said, scribbling down quick abbreviations of the titles.

“Oh there was one more, How to Be a Heartbreaker, I loved that one.” He said, pausing. “And I believe that Jadah mentioned that you had a few others? If you want to pick one or two, that would be great!”

“Alright! I know it’s weird to ask this, but no one has given me any details, so what time is the showcase, and where is it?” You asked, excited for the opportunity to perform.

“4:30 this afternoon, in dance studio A.” You wrote down the time quickly.

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be landing from my flight only an hour before that.”

“Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“You can do it.”

You scoffed a bit as the call ended. “Fuck.” You cussed under your breath.

“Wow, you talked to Kenny, and that's your response to a conversation with him? Anyways, I’m going to grab a coffee, want one?” He offered.

“Uh, I’ll just take a muffin, if they have one.” As you walked away, your brain was moving a mile a minute as you tried to figure out how everything would work.

“C’mon Y/L/N, if there’s one thing you can figure out, it’s making this work. You can do this.”

~

“Owen!” You said, running over to him.

“Hi!” He said giving you a hug, and then he looked at you. “Sav told me, you look like a mess.”

“Yeah, I know. Look, can you fix my necklace?” You said pointing to the jumbled mess it had gotten into around your neck.

“Yeah, ‘course, turn around,'' He said, and you did so. He got surprisingly close as you moved your hair away from your neck, and as he fiddled with it, you could see Charlie out of the corner of your eye. He had a look that you couldn’t put your finger on, but it almost seemed like… jealousy?

“All done!” He said, patting you on the back.

“Thank you,” You said, adjusting your sweatshirt a bit.

“You got this,” He said, grabbing your hand. “Okay?”

“Okay-” You said, but Kenny’s voice rose above everyone else's.

“Hello everyone! If you could turn your attention to the mirror, that would be great!” Everyone’s eyes turned to him, standing on a chair with a mic in hand. “Here's how this is going to work. I’d like our lovely leads to come to the mirror. Anyone else who isn’t singing can stand off of the dance floor over there,” He pointed to an area.

“If you are singing, you can follow me,” Paul said, raising his hand.

“Okay, go!” Kenny said, and as you followed Paul, you could hear him as a question. “Where is Charlie? Jeremy, check that bathroom, and Owen, look in the break room.”

~

“That was amazing Anna! Okay, who is next?” Kenny said, motioning to the person in front of you to come out. “Ah, Kevin, what do you have for us?”

Kevin began to talk, but it was hard to hear anything over your beating heart. You tried to take deep breaths, but it just got louder, and your worries began to overwhelm you. You took a step back in the line, making your way to the back. That would give you some time to overcome your worries before you went out there.

The line seemed to move a warp speed, because before you knew it, Kenny was calling your name.

“Y/N? Are you back there?” He asked, and you could hear everyone start to whisper when you didn’t respond.

“Yeah, gimme one second!” You said, fixing your shirt a bit. You got this. You can do it.

As you stepped out onto the stage Kenny’s face lit up. “There you are! How was the flight?” His eyes were kind, but as you looked into the audience, there were many shook faces.

“It was rough, but I’m happy to be here,” You said, sitting down in the chair in the middle of the stage. You kept taking deep breaths, trying, desperately to calm your nerves.

“I know you have a couple, so whenever you are ready, just say the song's name, and what characters you wrote it for,” Kenny explained. You looked around to see who was there. There was the choreo team, some Netflix executives, the lead cast, and a couple of other people who you didn’t recognize.

“This is lce & Fire, and I pictured Alex and Willie singing it.”

“Oh the desire

Like Ice & Fire

Shout it out loud

They won’t bring us down

Not a disgrace

We’ve made mistakes

Our love is strong

So sing along

I’ve been looking for you for so long

(I couldn’t find you)

Now that I’ve met you I’ve

Done something wrong

Oh, Ohhhh, Oh

Oh the desire

Like Ice & Fire

Shout it out loud

They can’t pull us down

Runnin’ from our past

Met in a crash

Through thick and thin

We can win

I’ve been looking for you for so long

(I couldn’t find you)

Now that I’ve met you I’ve

Done something wrong

Oh, Ohhhh, Oh

The forces pullin’ us together

Can’t stop, won’t stop

Oh hold on a little longer now

We’re Ice & Fire

(Fire)

Two parts of one

(One)

Can’t you see the passion in my eyes

Of Ice & Fire.”

As you finished, the final chord rang out from your guitar. The room was silent until Kenny spoke.

“That was wonderful! Booboo, Owen, what do you all think?” He said, turning to the actors for their opinion.

Booboo nodded to Owen. “Well, I think that your song embodies the characters really well. Uh, I definitely would love to sing it in the show, and I, uh personally can see our characters singing it. You wanna go?”

“Yeah, I agree with Owen on so many levels. I’d love to sing Ice & Fire, if that's okay with you Kenny,” Booboo turned to Kenny and the smile that was on his face was slowly mirrored on yours.

“Let’s do it! You wanna sing any others?” The room held its breath waiting for a response. And so did you.

Your first song had passed the test. Made it through. Your knee started bouncing again and you looked up to Savannah.

You got this. She mouthed.

You cleared your throat and moved the capo on your guitar. “Yeah, uh, this one is called Enemies to Lovers, and I didn’t write this one about any specific characters so it can be changed to fit any of them.”

You started singing and getting into the song. A door creaked open and you looked up, curious, and you continued to sing and play.

It was Charlie. He looked like a mess, like he had just gone to hell and back. Moving among the cast to find his seat, he didn’t notice you singing. Until you started the chorus.

It’s like we’re written in the stars,

Enemies to Lovers

Swinging past the bars,

Baby, we’ll discover-

You, me, we’re not so different,

You, me, we always win it,

You and me, we’re better than we seem,

Enemies

He watched you as you sang, and you, in turn, watched him. As you went into the chorus for a second time, you saw something change in his face. A realization or something, and you turned back to face Kenny as you finished the song.

We are written in the stars,

That's how we became

Well, what we are

Bicker hard and far,

Maybe we’ll discover-

You, me, we are different,

You, me, we can’t beat it,

You and me, we’re worse off than we seemed

You strummed your guitar, leaving the song and the story unfinished.

“That was amazing, unfortunately, I don’t think we have space for it in our show.” He smiled. “Someone will contact you about using Ice & Fire.”

The panel along with the rest of the room, packed up their things and started to leave until just you and the main cast remained. You started to walk out of the room when someone called out.

“Y/N! Wait!”

It was Charlie.

You looked at him, “Yes?”

“What the fuck was that song? Who’d you write it about?” He asked, like a love struck boy.

“I wrote it about you, duh!” You watched his face turn into one of- slight happiness? You laughed and started to walk away. Of course, he would think it’s about him, but why would it be? “Fuck you, Charlie. I didn’t think you were that self-centered!”

“I’m not!”He countered, and you stopped walking to look at him.

“Really? Cause only a self-centered person would ask me that… Or, do you have a crush on me? Aww, that’s so sweet!” You mocked. “See you around, lover boy.”

~

I really hope you liked that chapter! Let me know what you thought!

Join my tag list here, or send me an ask! Send me an ask to be removed.

If your url has a strike through, please message me.

JATP: @n0wornever @calamitykaty @screwunsaidemily @crybabyddl @badwolf00593 @dream-a-little-bigger-x

ETL: @yagorlemmalyn @ifilwtmfc @kaitieskidmore1 @p0gue420 @robbstarkmademedoit @lukepattersonsimp @honeyheartzz @notasoftie @winterwallacehenderson @jatp-musician-spirits @nani-2305 @boggie-brainrot

Charlie: @thesweetestsinner

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Seabound!!! 🌊🌊🌊 (4/4)

Here we are! What a journey, and while perhaps this season wasn't at MoM level it was REALLY good, with great new villains/allies, great little throwbacks and an awesome story! 🤩

How to get this was very good to great? Give me a very good ending Seabound!! 💕💕

Alright, here we go!

GENERAL THOUGHTS

I genuinely got too much into this remaining four episodes and forgot to put any general thoughts 😅 So you'll see me rambling at the end, see you there 😉

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

This title really summarize my feelings so far, like, I'm seriously wondering how it will move on from now, but I do expect the outcome to be CRAZY 🤯

Aaahhhh, yep, the one in Shintaro is a fake 😅 I wonder when did the change happen? How did Kalmaar pulled that off, wow

I'M SORRY WHY ARE WE PUTTING THE TITLE SCREEN WITHOUT THE INTRO?? THAT'S A FIRST EPISODE STUFF AND IT HONESTLY SCARES ME??? It reminds me of Winds of Change too and that episode was WOW 😭😭😭

Heeeeyyy, it's youuuu... huh... *watch scribble on hand* google snake guy, huh... Glucose... yep, good old Glutine and everything 😅

Are we having a "I may have made a mistake being evil" with this guy?

Jay: ah, Prime Empire! I was in that game you know! I fought for my life and the ones of all of Ninjago and I've seen my best friends and the love of my life die before my eyes... good times 🙂

Jay and Nya having fun at DDR has to be one of my favorite thing, they are so in sync and so lovable ❤💙❤💙

DID THEY ACTUALLY PUT THE JAYA SHIP NAME INTO THE SHOW??? OMG GUYS THE FANDOM IS TAKING OVER THE SHOW AT LAST!!! 🤯🤯🤯 The electric Jaya, heeeyy, niiicee 😎😎😎

HOW CUTE CAN YOU BE

MY SHIP 💙❤💙❤ They even gave each other high gives... this is neat, and it means something awful will happen right 🙂

Commissioner: he's saying something about a giant snake... and the end of the world... didn't we already have something like that?

Okay yep, he did the trick while fighting Nya, dang Kalmaar is sneaky! Not too shabby... but I gotta say, the summoning of the Great Devourer was a lot more dramatic 🤣🤣 Props to the serpentine, still my favorite snakes 💪💪

Wojira seems to be a little smaller than the Devourer maybe? His head way bigger than the bounty, while hers is not that massive even in comparison with Kalmaar

I might be wrong but at first glance, I stand by my opinion and by the superiority of the OG giant snake 🤷‍♀️

Yep Glutine guy did have a change of heart, better late than never 🤷‍♀️

You're telling me that Jay doesn't do engineering anymore, okay... HOW IS KAI A BETTER SOLUTION??? 🤣🤣🤣 Lol look at the messy brothers, love Lloyd and Kai so much I miss them interact 💚❤💚❤

Thank you Kelly for the alert 😗

It makes me wonder if they actually do have simulations of evacuations often, it would be pretty smart considering the city 🤷‍♀️

OKINO IS THERE HI DUDE!!! 😍 I hope he's doing great! 🥰🥰

Gail Gossip! Been a while!

WOW, this is going Deluge like, my first Spinjitzu Master! 😱 How... how do we go with three episodes from here? Like, I'm guessing Nya will have to do what Nyad did before her (which TERRIFIES me), so are they going to struggle trying to find another way? IDK BUT I'M IN LET'S GO!! 🤯

ASSAULT ON NINJAGO CITY

Alright, pretty straightforward title, let's see what we got here!

Tourists?... that actually makes sense, I mean, I would want to visit all the places where history was made on this island 😍 Aww nice to see they remember the battle against Garmy of Hunted, also that it is known that Jay was the one who faced Unagami 👍👍

DARETH!!! 🤎🤎🤎

Where have you been you knucklehead, I've missed you! 💕 I think I've last seen him in a commercial from the Fire Chapter?

This is a terrible guide 😵 Not knowing the brown ninja? Owner of the dojo the Green Ninja had trained in? Brief commander of the Stone Army? Master of makeup and puffy potstickers? Unforgivable, someone fire this woman ASAP 😡😡

LOOK AT DARETH TAKING CHARGE!!! 🤩 He's right, he should get involved every once in a while, come on guys!

Ah okay good, I'm not the only one struggling with that google snake name 😂

Yay Bentho is fully integrated with the team! He is a great addiction, like, I know he'll probably take the throne at the end or something but I do hope we'll need his help again in the future! 💙

Sometimes I forget how much I love Kai and Zane interacting 🤣 The brainiac and the airhead 🤍❤🤍❤

Oh right, Cole came back from Shintaro! So... now in this extremely secret city there is a fake amulet hanging into a highly secured place... how is it always Shintaro the keeper of flukes? 😂😂

A bath as a boat but it has a whole 😂😂 I love this show's randomness

What ears are they supposed to cover 😅

I LOVE THIS ATMOSPHERE!!! 😍😍😍 Between the gray sky of storm and the sea underneath, this is the perfect scenario for Wojira and it's not even forced! I love how they are handling backgrounds for Ninjago recently, I really hope it gets as good as in the finale of Prime Empire 💙💙💙

AAAAAAHHHHHhhhhh okay for a moment I was scared Wojira was going to eat Jay 😅 After The Island this is already the second time Bluebell risks it... STOP

WHY THE CLIFFHANGER!?!?

NUUUUU WHAT NOW??? 😱😱😱 We have two more episodes, how is this going to end? I DON'T KNOW AND I REALLY WANT TO PLEASE GIVE ME A GOOD FINALE SEABOUND!!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

NYAD

I AM SCARED FOR MY WATER LILY OKAY

Daaaang she can just float on that? She got super good at controlling water! Now I want her and Kai just randomly flying around with their powers 😂😂 Kai got missiles in his hands come on 🔥🔥🔥

JAY CAN YOU LET ME WORRY ABOUT YOU GUYS ONE AT THE TIME??? 😱

What would Kai do? WHAT WOULD KAI DO?? DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANT TO DIE JAY WHY WOULD YOU THINK OF HIM??? ... although technically Kai is the only one with Jay who didn't straight up die before coming back to life in a dramatic moment... huh... Kai might be the most reasonable choice after all 😅

We grew up from Ninja never quit to NINJA AREN'T IDIOTS AND KNOW WHEN TO GET THE HECK OUT 😎😎 Even our motto got a character development 💪

JAY NOOOOOOOO 😱😱😱😱

BENTHO YAAAAAAASSSS 🥳🥳🥳🥳 Did I ever say that I love shark boy? BECAUSE I FREAKING DO!! 💙

Master prankster Wu once again, take that empty ship Calamari head 😎 Although the poor bounty doesn't deserve to get destroyed as many times as it did until now, it's my favorite ship... pun intended 😜

Ah more ninjajan, wait a moment

"Auto Pilot". Fair enough, although I was hoping for a "psych" or something 😂😂

NO WAIT NO WHAT THE HECK!!! I THOUGHT JAY GOT SAVED HE INHALED WATER??!? BLUEBELL NOOOO!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

But Cole running to his best friend immediately? HECK yes 🖤💙🖤💙

NYA CARRYING HER BOYFRIEND BRIDAL STYLE THIS IS THE RIGHTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!! ❤💙❤💙❤💙❤💙 Gosh this season gave me amazing Jaya moments, I've been fed 👌👌

Okay Lloyd pacing back and forth? Kai already mad at their enemies? All the guys eager to help Jay? MY FAVORITE NINJA FAMILY BABY!!! 😎😎

I NEED A MOMENT 😭

Oh... oh gosh I knew Nya doing the Nyad thing was meant to happen, but this way? My heart is melting already 😭

I remember a post that said that Jay told Nya that he loves her many times, while she never did. Tommy reponded that she lets her actions speak... boy do I see it now, I see all of her love 😢😢

I never felt such conflicting emotions for a villain like I do for Kalmaar, like, he caused so much pain to Nya... but he is voiced by Giles... but he is the reason Jay is hurt... but that startle gag 😂😂😂

Okay this? Is adorable?

What the HECK? The police in this city is generally not very helpful, but the Commissioner is very wholesome 💜

Nyaaaaaaa 😭😭😭😭 I didn't think it was possible to love her even more, she was ignored for so long during the show, but now we finally see all of her. She is an amazing warrior, a selfless person, and a real hero 💪💪 And coming from such a mature girl that doesn't like to act irrationally, this means so much more

Jaya grew up so much, it went through some very questionable phases yes, but what they have here? It's the result of all they had lived together 💙❤💙❤

I have chills, this is amazing so far, I'm legit scared of going further 😱

SHE SAID IT!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Okay this moment, everything, EVERYTHING, is absolutely marvelous. Nya said I love you without a voice, alone, showing again that she values the actions more, but still her feelings are 100% truthful. Then the transformation (THERE IT IS HER BEAUTIFUL WATER FORM 😍😍😍), Jay getting saved, the realization of what she just did from everyone... DANG IT IT'S ALL BEAUTIFUL HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO THINK OF THIS SCENE???

*slow clap for Bragi, Tommy, and the Ninjago crew*

Jay and water Nya with their hands together gives me big The Form of Water vibes... LOVE THAT MOVIE WHO'S READY FOR AN AU??

Jay wants to help her, I had no doubt 💙 They always help each other in these BOUNDs seasons 😍😍😍

Kalmaar: where are the ninja??

Commissioner: I don't know, they are ninja!

FINAL BATTLE INCOMING AAAAHHH I HOPE THIS WILL HAVE A GOOD ENDING OMG BRING IT!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

THE TURN OF THE TIDE

Oh, curious title? It feels a little vague, I don't really know what it could be

YES GIRL GO GET HIS CALAMARI BUTT HECK YES!!! Just how cool can you be for walking slowly while the attacks go straight through you? 😂

Hey Nya still recognizes Jay! 😃😃

HEY NYA GOT VAPORIZED WTH 😱😱 It's too early, I don't believe that's it!

WHOA JAY WENT BERSERK JUST NOW!! I don't think I've seen this before, this is the coolest thing! 💙💙💙 I just love when he shows how strong he is, you can be a comic relief AND kick butts 😎

FIGHTING ANIMATIONS MAN I LOVE THESE SCENES!! 😍😍😍

What the- was... was that a cameo of the lightning chicken? Ninjago what the HECK I love your randomness 😂😂

BENTHOMAAR TAGS IN!!! Showing off why he is best boy of the season 💙 These fightings are very cool but I can't help imagining Wojira just chilling while there are midgets getting very angry at each other onto her head 🤣🤣🤣

WHOA, CALAMARI BITE! Kalmaar got the Pythor treatment... might change color by next season if he returns 😅

(Please return I loved having Giles' voice in this season 💙💙💙)

NYA IS A DRAGON!!! I REPEAT NYA IS A DRAGON!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 I was wondering where the dragon moment was, this is Ninjago after all 🤷‍♀️

Head empty, just Jay smiling softy at Nya because he loves her 💙💙💙

IT'S RAINING NYA, HALLELUIA IT'S RAINING NYA, HEYE!! ☔☔☔ This fight is MASSIVE! We had finales with big creatures before but now one of the ninja is big enough to face them and that's 🤯

NYA DID IT!!! 🤩🤩🤩 ... now onto the angst that I KNOW it's coming

Kai being unbelieving is tragic, and Jay's "don't leave me" broke my heart. Please end this misery, where is the deus ex machina that solves everything?

Wait she left?

...

WAIT SHE ACTUALLY LEFT??? WHAT THE HECK THEY AREN'T ENDING IT LIKE THIS

...

OH MY GOSH

ARE THEY?!?

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Omg the grief in this is beautiful, nice to see Jay and Maya so close to each other! Also Kai leaning onto his mom while Cole is comforting his best best friend? Amazing, they really do these scenes great 👌

EVERYONE SHOWED UP I LOVE THIS CITY SO MUCH 😭😭😭 Aww Ed and Edna, wasn't this such a sad situation I would be so much happier to see you guys 🥺

Master Wu even mentioned that she built Samurai X, you really want to make me cry now do you? 🥺🥺

MAYA AND RAY 😢😢😢😢😢😢

Omg look at Cole being there for his best friend, he is amazing 🖤💙🖤💙

I have such Rebooted vibes from this... is it hopeful? That Nya comes back like Zane? She's no nindroid but still... oh my gosh they got her symbol on the vase I just noticed, I need more tissues 😭😭

"In loving memory of Kirby Morrow". Always in our hearts 🖤🖤🖤

...

Wow

WOW

THEY ACTUALLY DID IT I NEED ANOTHER MOMENT 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 WHAT IN THE WORLD THIS IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE THEY DID IN A WHILE!!!

AND NOW WHAT??? 🤯🤯🤯

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm speechless... like that's true, have A LOT to write over here 😅

This type of plot twist reminds me of our early seasons. Zane sacrificing himself, Garmadon giving up his life, those moments that made me so curious and excited about the following. I have no idea what will be the outcome for this, but I can't wait to find out

With that out of the way, AMAZING SEASON 😍😍😍 I think this finale beats MoM's, just because it was really unexpected and opens up a SEA of possibilities... yeah too soon 😭

I'm still shaken, my world, they did something HUGE and I do hope it will be a good shake to the entire Ninjago plotline. Nya is "gone", we still don't know about the person behind all that vengestone, we haven't heard from Garmy in forever, there are so many good ideas out there now that they've set the ground for more 🤩🤩

Voice acting was *chef's kiss*, not only for the villain which I already stressed enough about, I think Kelly reached a new level of emotional intimacy with Nya and I'm so happy she showed her skills 💜💜

Animation is TOP, there's little to no point into saying anything else since they showed it very clearly in the latest season ☺

This was the emotional, witty and engaging writing I was looking for! Good jokes, meaningful dialogues, emotional scenes, everything was really good and I'm gonna rewatch some scenes especially for that 😍

It turned out having Maya and Ray back was kind of a distraction to fool us all 😅😅 Well played actually, and it was very cool seeing them again in any case 🙋‍♀️

And now? Jay lost his love, I have no idea if the show will work on him getting over her or hold onto her memory (thinking of Jay probably the latter, although I do think that handling the first would be an interesting idea). KAI LOST HIS SISTER 😢😢😢 I have no doubt he's gonna beat himself up for it, like he did when Zane was gone too. Everyone lost their friend, she had become such a vital part of the team and now she is not here anymore it will be hard...

They are back with the four plus one green savior formation, I sincerely don't know how I feel about that 😅 I'm always happy when we get the OGs, but this is about going on without Nya... maybe Skylor will be called? Or Pixal will be more active? That could be interesting to see, who knows 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Gosh, how are they going to handle the next season? It will have to give A LOT of answers to the millions questions we all have right now. Man I can't wait, it could be anything!!! This is a Ninjago revolution!

But if I have to mention a little complain, and I'm a fangirl so I absolutely have to, Kai didn't show much of a reaction to Nya's "departure". Okay, she didn't straight up die like in Skybound (I'm gonna fear all BOUND seasons from now on 😱), but he's her brother and he loves deeply his family. Either we're gonna see him go all out next season, or the writers really did only focus on Jaya. A tiny bit salty... but you got me a fantastic finale so I'll move on 👍

Outstanding, I'm blown away. Whenever I think I'm used to this show they do stuff like this. I'm so glad and sad you guys 😅 But mostly happy that despite everything I still get very strong emotions while I watch this long time favorite show of mine 💜💜💜

What else can I say at this point? ONTO NEXT SEASON!!! 🤩🤩🤩

Thank you for reading me freaking out over LEGO spinning ninja as always! It helps me calm down but this time it might be harder thant the others... *sobs*

I need to lay down and process all of this, I'll be on my way 😂😂 BYE!!! 💜

[chat-noir-always-here]

“Hey Arnold!” and “Miraculous!” parallels

Ever have an idea for a post that you take forever to get around to because 2020 is 

actively 

trying

to kill you?!

 Welp, that’s me. I mean, uh, this is that post.

Long post is long and I don’t like cuts cuz I’ve lost a few posts in the past using them. Please filter the tag “long post” I use it for walls of text like these.

So there’s this show from my childhood called Hey Arnold! 

Having been on air before I had cable (I and my unsupervised brothers and sisters spent our childhood watching Jerry Springer and Maury because there was literally nothing else on our cheap little TV. How hilarious is that?) I didn’t really have much of an experience with Hey Arnold! aside from brief little glances at it when i visited a friends home or the rare occasion where they showed cartoons at school. By the time I got satellite, the show was no longer on the air save for some late night reruns and the Christmas special which aired in December along with other Nickelodeon Christmas episodes (THE best Christmas episode EVER btw).

Really I couldn’t remember much about it until hearing about the Jungle Movie finally getting a release date (a total flop but at least its no cliff hanger) and decided to re-watch the entire series in preparation for said movie.

By which point I had discovered another show—Miraculous. 

At first glance the two shows have absolutely nothing in common. Miraculous being a French-born mahou shoujo-esque CGI superhero TV series about a couple of middle schoolers who regularly battle a walking peppermint-frappucino-looking psychopath. Hey Arnold! being a more realistic children’s sitcom about a young football-headed boy who deals out humanitarian aid in the form of advice and simple good deeds to his neighbors, classmates and friends. 

In terms of setting, logic, and animation the two series are as different as night and day.

So imagine my pleasant surprise to discover a whole post’s worth of parallels shared between the two shows???

And here they are in no particular order:

1)Arnold’s Parents/Adrien’s mom

Prior to the start of Miraculous, Emilie Agreste disappeared under mysterious circumstances leaving her family behind. Later on it was revealed that she was in fact sleeping (dead?) in a glass coffin beneath the Agreste mansion--unbeknownst to Adrien, or anyone else in Paris save for Gabriel and Nathalie.

In a similar fashion, Arnold’s parents, Miles and Stella, also disappeared prior to the start of Hey Arnold! and like Emilie were always referred to as “missing” rather than “dead.” 

The Jungle Movie later revealed Miles and Stella weren’t dead, but like Emilie appears to be doing in her coffin, they were sleeping. Having caught a bout of sleeping sickness (apparently they do not need to be hooked up to IVs or other medical devices while in a comatose state cuz fuck logic) they simply needed their orphaned son to come and cure them with the help of the magical golden heart Helga provided him with.

Perhaps Mari holds the key to waking Emilie? That would be nice to see. 

Not the miraculous of course--but some other key.

Although personally I’m hoping for a hardcore, devastating ending like Emilie dying, Gabriel going to prison where he belongs, and Adrien leaving the country for a bit until the second Hawk Moth shows up because I just like devastating cliffhangers and angst and being in utter turmoil over fictional people. But that’s just me.

2) Their best friends are dating

Smol parallel here: Arnold’s best friend Gerald and Helga’s Best friend Phoebe wind up together in The Jungle Movie after being imprisoned together by Lasombra. Similar to how Nino and Alya ended up together after being imprisoned by Ladybug (for their protection, of course).

3) The Bag of Money Episode/ The Ladybug episode

OOh boy both of these episodes make me rage. 

Some context about the Bag of Money episode: Arnold and his friends Gerald and Sid find a random bag of money containing almost $4000. Sid is ecstatic and wants to split the money evenly between the three boys, but Arnold worries it could just be lost and convinces them to let him, Arnold, take the money to the police station. On the way he accidentally switches the bag with another one that is identical and contains a bunch of useless junk, and when he tries to explain what happened to his friends they don’t believe him because their bag of money was accidentally taken by an “old lady with pink hair and a peg leg.”

 Arnold’s a good boy and he’s telling the truth--but the truth sounds crazy, even to my ears. Sid accuses Arnold of stealing the money and spreads lies to their classmates, whom Arnold has spent the ENTIRE SERIES helping in some form or fashion. Despite everything he’s done for them though, the vast majority of the class come to believe Arnold is a thief. Even Gerald, Arnold’s closest friend, nearly believes Sid over Arnold but eventually comes to Arnold’s defense. The other kids (save for Helga who doesn’t really make an appearance this episode) gang up on Arnold, but thankfully the old lady with pink hair and a peg leg shows up with an officer and together they explain the bag of money is now at the lost and found where it will remain and if gone unclaimed will be returned to Arnold, Gerald and Sid. 

Pretty much everything is resolved and things return to normal between the kids. 

But I hate this episode. I hate this episode so, so much. Arnold has spent the entire series helping these people out in some form or fashion. Literally thats the entire show. And after everything he’s done for them they’re so. Quick. To. Turn. On. Him. 

Sound familiar???

4) Hidden Personality                   vs.          Surface Personality

 I do not refer to the cruddy “true selves” thing half the Miraculous fandom believes in. Depending on one’s individual circumstances, environment and how comfortable they are, said person’s behavior can fluctuate or even do a complete 180. This can be kinda frustrating when dealing on one’s own--”Who am I anyway? Is that me or is this me???”

It’s all you, fam.

Arnold and Helga are themselves too, no matter what metaphorical/actual mask they put on. There’s the side that everyone sees and then there’s the side almost no one sees. The hidden personality isn’t hidden due to a lack of trust, necessarily, but rather it is the result of retreating to their respective “shells”--ones which both Arnold and Helga were kinda punched, kicked, and shoved into. 

Helga’s surface personality: Class bully, puts up a tough front, constantly torments Arnold because she can’t stand him and his niceness

Helga’s hidden personality: Poetic, abused and isolated, is in love with Arnold to the point of being obsessed with him and bullies him via surface personality in order to hide that fact

Of course Adrien is no bully--his reasons for not being the “cunning, funny, ultra-charming Chat Noir” 24/7 DOES have a lot to do with his toxic household, his dad, and the overwhelming expectations which are constantly smothering him as Adrien. 

Adrien is a bug under a magnifying glass (or so he feels)

Chat Noir is a chance for a freedom.

 Adrien’s surface personality was molded by his dad.

 Helga’s is the result of her entire family. Her father is brash and loud, her mother is a confirmed alcoholic, her sister is a gifted prodigy, well-rounded and spends most of the series at university or elsewhere. Although her sister, Olga, has been shown to genuinely care for Helga, Olga is kinda the reason their parents neglect Helga. With their first daughter being the genius and prodigy she is, Helga’s parents poured all of their pride and affection and parental devotion onto her. Meanwhile Helga had to walk to pre-school alone. At four years old. In the rain. Not for the last time. 

Which leads me to the next parallel.

5) Umbrella in the Rain

squeals in delight over this parallel<3<3<3

If you’ve never seen Hey Arnold! do yourselves a favor and watch this short little clip over how Helga and Arnold first met. If you have seen it, watch it anyway because it is the most adorable clip in the entire show.

Dr. Bliss: “So nobody’s ever noticed you?”

Helga: “...There was someone.”

The soft way Helga confesses that--you can actually hear how grateful she is to have such a tender memory from such a painful time. 

 In a similar manner, Adrien offered his umbrella to Marinette. Of course Adrien did it because Mari had to walk home in the rain and Arnold did it as a simple gesture of kindness (seeing as they were already at the school)--one of the many kind acts he displays throughout the series. 

 But just like Adrien needed unconditional love coming from somewhere, so did Helga. They were both denied this one common necessity which everyone else around them had. It’s not a lot to ask for, and they should’ve already had it coming from their families--but they didn’t.

 And then, one rainy day, there it was--the unconditional love they needed.

6) Clinginess

What happens when you take someone, specifically a love-starved abused child from an unstable home environment--deprived of the one thing most crucial to their mental well-being--and miraculously provide them with that very necessity? 

Clinginess. 

I can’t really think of the correct word to describe this. “Clinginess” is pretty close to what I’m trying to describe, if not on point, so let’s go with that. 

 What I mean is Helga and Adrien both need Arnold and Ladybug respectively. That’s not a bad thing--it’s okay to need somebody else. What’s bad is hinging your entire being on this one connection. For if either kiddo were to be left behind they wouldn’t handle it very well.

 It can’t really be helped with either Helga or Adrien. They didn’t really have the option to learn certain things and went deprived of unconditional love for such a long time. They’re kids--nine and fourteen/fifteen respectively. They’re not perfect and they’re traumatized for life. Being denied love from your family--the very people designed to love you--would do that to a person. Naturally they would cling to the first people to show up and provide them with the love they needed. 

 The Hey Arnold! wiki says this about Helga and Arnold’s relationship

Due to her unstable family upbringing where both her mother and father constantly neglect [Helga] and shower all of their attention onto Olga, leaving her deprived of the love and attention she needed growing up. On her way to preschool, Arnold helped her by keeping the rain off her with an umbrella and even complimented her on her hairbow. He even later gave her crackers during their snack time. Arnold's kindness and being the first person to notice her quickly caused Helga to transfer all of her love and attention to Arnold.

Of course Adrien’s tunnel vision isn’t quite as bad as Helga’s.

 He treats his friends better.

 He does love his father--

Even though his father is THE. 

WORST.

 PARENT.

 EVER!!!

--because he’s Adrien and he’s just too precious a cinnamon roll and that’s still his dad even if the man does belong behind bars.

7) Unhealthy Obsession

I--

I...

Ugh. I am not going to delve too far into this. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. Helga’s creepy stalker behavior is a thousand times worse than Marinette’s. That pic up there of Helga hiding out in Arnold’s room watching him is pretty decent evidence to back up my argument, but it’s hardly the only example or even the worst incident.

 Honestly I’m amazed at what Nicktoons were able to get away with in the late nineties/early 2000s. 

But yes, Helga’s obsession with Arnold is rather unhealthy in the most extreme moments leading her to display behavior which is more often than not disturbing and concerning. 

The Hey Arnold! wiki has this to say about Helga’s obsession with Arnold

Helga is possessive of her love for Arnold and thinks non-stop about him to the point of obsession. This is evidenced throughout the series by the many shrines and poems she makes of Arnold and of her frequent dramatic soliloquies about her love for Arnold.

Again--Mari isn’t as bad as all that. She’s a sweet girl with many healthy relationships in her life. She has ambition, creativity, and drive. But yeah she can be rather possessive of Adrien too, and that needs to stop. Like right now. Adrien doesn’t need another girl being possessive of him and thinking he’s perfect--he needs someone who acknowledges him as a flawed person and loves him despite that. 

As for Helga and Arnold--show creator Craig Bartlett confirmed they are “made for each other” and wind up married with three kids, so I’m guessing Helga grew out of some of these bad habits? Or at least I hope so...

8) Helper/Humanitarian tendencies

As mentioned before, the plot of Hey Arnold! is more or less about Arnold helping people. As stated by Gerald in The Jungle Movie, “He’s a humanitarian! Like his parents!” Of course not every episode is about Arnold helping people. There are episodes devoted to supporting characters and they’re just as enjoyable and satisfying. 

 But as he is the titular character he spends a lot of time in the spotlight. 

Remember that “best christmas special EVER” episode I mentioned before?

 The reason it’s the best special, in my less than humble opinion, is due to a few things.

 The special is not about Santa Claws. In fact, I don’t think he’s even mentioned, let alone shown and treated like an actual living character.

The focus on the entire episode is again on Arnold helping someone, but he doesn’t succeed. Not really.

The one who succeeded in helping someone was Helga, who accomplished the goal Arnold had set out to do. 

The episode deals with some rather dark subject matter and is actually quite heartwarming as the “perfect present” Arnold was trying to provide someone with wasn’t something you can buy in the store

It’s also one of the episodes where Helga’s love for Arnold leaves her to do good and as her love for him is a secret, she expects nothing in return. She’s just happy to help him.

 Kinda similar to Mari who is, as Adrien puts it in Mayura, “Our every day Ladybug.” Her kindness and devotion to helping others is what drives her as Ladybug and Marinette. It’s what brought Ivan and Mylene together. Is the reason Nathaniel and Mark now have a comic book together. And at the end of the day, that’s the reason for her strange behavior around Adrien--she wants to help him. Even if it’s just as a “good friend.” 

9) There are two main characters

Although Hey Arnold! is technically a show about Arnold, one could argue it is just as much Helga’s story. 

Similarly, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is named thusly in order to convey the fact that Adrien is just as much a main character as Marinette is. 

Although I must say Hey Arnold! did a much better job of giving it’s co-character their dues. GIVE. ME. MORE. CHAT NOIR. FOCUSED. EPISODES. DAMMIT.

But, yes, in terms of screen time, Helga gets about as much as Arnold does. Her story and struggles were given just as much importance as Arnold’s and many people have even come to believe that the show is really about Helga. I’d say its about both of them.

10) Constantly bumping into each other

Granted this happens between Arnold and Helga more often than it does to the love square dorks. 

 But yes the two people meant to be together keep knocking into each other in their respective universes. 

 I forget who, but I remember reading that someone a while back theorized that this was the universe’s way of trying to push Arnold and Helga together. Kinda like the “Now kiss!” meme

Perhaps it’s the same for Adrien and Marinette? 

;)

[fandom-imagines-stories]

Makayla Part Four

Sam Winchester x Reader

Words: 3673

Part One, Two, Three

Summary: You race to save Makayla and Sam from Montgomery and his fellow vampire creeps. Dean confronts you about the past and Sam finally gets some answers. But will everyone live to be one big happy family?

Notes: Alright, here it is! The final part for the Makayla series (or is it?) I’ve had so much fun writing this series and you guys have seemed to enjoy it. Like The Deal, I made sure the end of this series had a little bit of a cliffhanger so make sure you’re paying attention to future posts! You may see more Makayla sooner than you think. 

Special shout out to my amazing beta reader Sarah, @suckmysupernatural​ . I love her so much and honestly, she’s helped me so much in getting these imagines out for you and she has some absolutely killer writing of her own!

Want more Supernatural? Find it HERE

- “Makayla! Sam!” You opened the door to the garage, Dean and Mary both close behind you. A rush of cold air chilled you to the bone. “Dean, is the garage door usually open?” You gulped. 

“No.” He pulled his pistol out from his waistband and you did the same. The three of you creeped towards the exit cautiously. Something was wrong. You could feel it. When the coast seemed clear, you ran out, eyes scanning the area for any sign of your daughter. 

“Makayla!” You screamed. Nothing. “Sam!” Still, nothing.

“Uh, guys.” Mary motioned to a spot on the cement where a red streak sent your mind into an absolute panic. It was blood. 

“Oh my God.” You felt sick. Four years on the run, you’d never felt like this before. You started to hyperventilate and Dean grabbed you by the shoulders, trying to snap you out of it. 

“Hey, listen to me.” He ordered, giving you a hard, determined look. “They’re both gone, which means that they were taken together. Sam is with her. He isn’t going to let anybody hurt your little girl, okay?” 

“This is all my fault. I should never have dragged you two into this.” You said, trying not to look him in the eye. “They want to hurt me, Dean. Now they have my daughter and they have Sam…” 

“We’re going to find them.” Dean went into planning mode, trying to keep his emotions in check. This was personal. Not only had those fanged sons of bitches taken his brother, they took his niece. “We’re going to need to split up. Mom, you go with Cas to find traffic cam footage and find out what direction they headed in. They can’t have gotten far, so my money is that they found some place here in Lebanon to hole up.” 

Mary nodded and rushed inside to find the angel. 

“And Y/N…” Dean turned to you with fire in his eyes. “You’re with me.” 

-

Sam woke up to the sound of quiet whimpering and distant screams. It took a minute for him to remember what was going on. He bolted upwards, but found that his wrists were tied to one of the beams holding up the ceiling. It must have once been some kind of a barn. His eyes scanned the room, trying to adjust to the dark. It wasn’t long before he found the source of the crying. 

“Oh God, Makayla!” He called out, her teary eyes flashing up at him from across the room. 

“Daddy! You’re okay!” She exclaimed. “I-I thought you weren’t gonna wake up. I thought the bad man k-killed you.” The terrified tears streamed down her face and stung Sam’s heart. 

“I’m okay, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay.” He spoke gently, though the anger was starting to burn through him as his eyes adjusted. She was in a cage. Those bastards put his daughter in a dog kennel. “Did they hurt you?” 

“N-not really.” She curled up, seemingly hiding her leg from him. Sam gritted his teeth, but tried to keep his voice calm. 

“Makayla, honey, you need to tell me what happened so I can help you.” He pulled against the rope, feeling the rough material rub against his skin. Makayla slowly showed him her leg. Sam gulped. It wasn’t too bad, but the skin of her knee was scraped and bleeding. 

“When the bad man hit you, the mean lady tried to pick me up. So I bit her.” She smiled proudly. “She didn’t like that and she pushed me. I hit my knee.” She pointed at the scratches from the cement. “But it doesn’t hurt, Daddy. I’m too tough for that.” Sam chuckled, shaking his head. She was definitely his kid. 

“Oh look, Papa Brat’s awake.” A woman sneered, strutting towards him with a smirk. She pulled a knife up to his chin. “Now we can have some fun.”

“Leave my daddy alone!” Makayla yelled, standing up as tall as she could in that kennel. 

“Kayla, honey, it’s okay.” Sam stared the vampire down. “Do you really think your little toothpick scares me?” She shrugged. 

“No,” She crossed back towards the cage and smiled, “but this might.” She put her hands on either side of the kennel and started shaking it. The metal clanged in Makayla’s ears as she was jolted back and forth, colliding with the sturdy bars of the cage. Her screaming cries pierced her father’s heart. 

“Stop it! Leave her alone!” Again, he pulled hard against his restraints, only making the rope burn worse. The vampire laughed. 

“You’re lucky Montgomery has bigger plans or else the Rugrat would be an afternoon snack.” Her nostrils flared, staring down at the bloody scrape on Makayla’s knee.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” 

“Oh Samuel…” 

“It’s Sam.” She ignored his sass and continued. 

“We have other plans for you.” She smiled and Sam looked helplessly at his frightened daughter. 

“Then let her go.” He bargained, Makayala stared back at him, her lip trembling. 

“No! I won’t leave you, Daddy!” She yelled, trying to put on a brave face. “S-she doesn’t scare me.” The blood sucker slammed her hand down on the cage and Makayla screamed. With an annoyed glare, she looked back up at the younger Winchester.

“See, little Kayla is here to make sure everyone does exactly what they’re supposed to.” Her eyes darted across the room at another vampire emerging from the darkness.

“Sarah, would you be a lamb and grab Mr. Winchester’s phone for me?” The man’s drawl was too sweet and it made Sam’s skin crawl. She obeyed and the new vamp stepped in between Sam and the kennel, blocking his view of his daughter. “My name is Montgomery. I would like to start by saying that I have no grievances with you or that machete-happy brother of yours, Samuel.” 

“You do now.” Sam growled. The anger had been boiling inside him and he was ready to bust. Montgomery peaked back at the trapped little girl. 

“Ah, yes, the little one. She is an unfortunate byproduct of the tangled mess that Y/N has gotten you into.” Montgomery looked hungrily down at Kayla. She cowered away from him. “Not to worry. As long as you and your brother do exactly what you’re told, Miss Makayla here will be safe and sound with her family.” 

The woman came back in, carrying Sam’s cell phone, dialing Dean’s number. She handed Montgomery the phone and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was made him smile. He put the phone to his ear and Sam could hear Dean’s growling yell on the other line. Montgomery clicked his tongue. 

“There’s no need for that kind of language, Dean.” He scolded, earning another string of curse words. 

“Where are they, you son-of-a-bitch?” Dean boomed. You jerked your head towards him. You’d been driving for the past hour with nothing to show for it. Dean’s face changed as he listened intently to the vampire’s words. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “You’re a sick son of a bitch, you know that?” 

“What is it?” You tried to take the phone, but he sent you a death glare. He hung up. “Did he say where they are?” He didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled the impala to the side of the road. “Dean!”

“Yes.” 

“Then what is it?”

“He wants me to trade you for Sam.” He said, intensely staring you down. “And believe me, sweetheart, I wouldn’t blink.” You tried not to show how much that stung, but you still winced slightly. “But everything is different now that Kayla is in the picture. That little girl needs her mother. I, of all people, know that. We’ll figure out another way to get them. One where Makayla gets to walk out with both her parents.” 

“Dean, if giving  me up is the only way to save them-”

“I already said no.” Dean started to car again and the two of you rode in silence. You pushed your ego aside and gulped. 

“Dean, can I ask you something?” 

“I’d rather you didn’t.” You ignored his annoyance. 

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Your voice was sincere and Dean let out a sigh. 

“Because I made you a promise.” His eyes slid from the road to you and you felt shame burning in your cheeks. “He looked for you for years, Y/N. Even when I told him to give up, he kept searching for you. And when you showed up here… I saw that same thing light up in him again. So when the dust settles, you can explain to him why you took off.” 

You looked out the window, avoiding his gaze. Dean watched your body stiffen and felt his burning anger towards you grow as he drew his conclusion. 

“You’re leaving.”

-

Five Years Ago

You already had three missed calls from Sam. He would have realized you were gone about an hour ago and, having read the note, he knew that you hadn’t been taken. You left. You didn’t even know how long you had been on the road for and your stomach was growling. The bus stopped in a town called Casper, Wyoming and you got off. You slung your duffle bag over your shoulder, weighing down on you despite your lack of personal items. It was the emotional toll that was back breaking. 

You missed him, even having only been gone for a short time. You wanted to go back. To write this all off as a lapse of judgement and curl back up in his arms. But eventually, Sam would realize that you weren’t the one. You weren’t Jessica. And you would just end up getting hurt. 

You found a fast food joint that was less swamped by the lunch rush and bought yourself a sandwich and a Coke. When you stepped out into the parking lot, the sleek black car had you frozen in place. Dean leaned against the car door, arms cross and eyes boring into you. 

“Get in the car.” 

“Dean, I can’t-”

“Get in the damn car.” His tone didn’t give you a lot of hope for winning the argument, so you climbed into the front seat. 

“Where’s Sam?” You asked cautiously. 

“He’s back at the motel trying to get a hold of you and get some answers.” Dean snapped in reply. “But you already knew that.” He didn’t start the car like you expected. He just sat there, staring furiously at you. “A note? Are you serious, Y/N? You’ve been with my brother for two years and all you leave is a ‘I have to leave. Don’t come for me.’?”

“I couldn’t stay, Dean.” You tried to keep your voice level. You were sure of this. You had to be. 

“Is this about that shifter? Y/N, Jessica died a long time ago.”

“It’s not just Jessica, Dean. It’s the life Sam was supposed to live. The life you and I can never have.” His shoulders tensed. You had hit a nerve. “Sam deserves that life. He deserves family and happiness and I pray that someday he finds it. But when he does, he’ll know that I can’t be a part of it.”

“So you’re just dumping him before he can dump you, is that it?” Dean scoffed. “Christ, Y/N, this isn’t high school. You’re part of our family. Sam loves you, Y/N.” You brushed away tears as they fell and tried to keep your head up high. 

“He won’t. Not when he realizes that I’m not what he wants.” You looked Dean in the eye, waiting for his response. 

He knew what this was. This was you protecting yourself from the idea of getting hurt, even if it meant hurting his brother in the process. You were only interested in saving your own skin. So if you wanted to burn this bridge, fine. 

“Don’t tell him about this.” You pleaded when he didn’t say anything. “Sam will think this is his fault and he’ll try and find me. Promise that you won’t tell him we talked.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that.” Dean reached across you and opened the door. “Now get the hell out of my car.” You nodded silently. “Y/N?”

“What?” Couldn't he see that you felt bad enough about this? Dean spoke through gritted teeth. 

“Down the road, when you figure out how stupid this all is and you need us… don’t come back.” He slammed the door behind you and took off, the impala disappearing down the road. 

-

Present Day

Montgomery paced in front of Sam mockingly, standing just out of his reach. If he could just stretch his leg out a little further… no. He would just fall flat on his ass. There had to be a way out of this. If he could find something sharp, he could cut the ropes and decapitate the cocky vamp. 

“This should be very quick and simple, Sam. Your brother hates Y/N, so I’m sure he’ll have no hesitation to hand her over to me in exchange for your life.” Montgomery said haughtily. “Not that I blame him. I mean, after what she put you through.” He shook his head. “I feel for you, Sam, I really do.” 

“Why don’t you shut the hell up?” Sam snapped. He had had enough of this. 

“Language, Mr. Winchester, you forget we have a young lady with us.” Montgomery knelt down by the kennel and Kayla hid her face in her hands. 

“Stay. Away.” Sam’s entire body was ready to pounce. “What’s your obsession with Y/N, anyway?” If he could keep Montgomery talking, maybe it would buy him time to plan an escape. If anything, it would keep him away from Kayla. 

“When we killed Makayla Emerson all those years ago, my wife went to finish off our little witness. Y/N cut off her head and ran.” His fists clenched as his sides. “She started a war that night. A war that ends tonight.” 

“About that.” Dean burst through the door, holding you by the hair with a gun jabbed between your shoulder blades. 

“Mommy!” Makayla cried. She didn’t understand why Uncle Dean was hurting you. 

“Everything is going to be okay, sweetie.” You assured her. Dean tugged your hair, dragging you in the direction of Montgomery. 

“Ah, I’m glad we could come to an agreement, Dean.” The vampire gave you a wicked grin, licking his lips. He snapped his fingers and two more blood suckers appeared from the dark, grabbing Dean by each arm. 

“What the hell?” Dean exclaimed, trying to break away. 

“There’s just been a slight change in plans.” Montgomery smirked. “I made Y/N here a promise that I am more than happy to keep.” He pushed you down to your knees and you let a terrified expression cross your features. 

“No.” You gasped. He held his arm over you, prepping a blade to slice his skin and draw blood. 

“And to think, I have gathered your whole, twisted family to witness your transformation.” He mused with a disturbing giddiness. 

“Well…” You stared up at him, a sly smirk spreading across your lips. “Not quite.”

A loud crashing sound signaled the arrival of Mary and Cas. Dean elbowed one of his captors in the face and broke away, grabbing a pair of machetes from inside his jacket. He tossed one to his brother and Sam quickly freed himself from the rope. Furious, Montgomery lunged at you, but you quickly rolled out of the way, grabbing your own blade from your boot. 

Sam and Dean made quick work of the two vamps that had ambushed Dean. Heads rolled towards the door where Mary burst in, clothes splattered with blood and blade swinging in her hand. You battled with Montgomery, finding your footing and slashing at him with your knife. He got a hold of your arm. 

“You. Will. Bleed.” He seethed. 

“Bite me.” You spat, head butting him hard enough to stun both of you. 

Sarah joined the battle, screaming as she jumped onto Dean’s back. While the boys struggled with her, you regained composure, your head still spinning from the impact. Montgomery landed a kick to your stomach, sending you back into the beam Sam had been tied to. 

“Mommy!” You barely heard Makayla’s shouts over the sounds of the fight. Her scared voice distracted you long enough for Montgomery to grab you by the color of your shirt, lifting you up in the air. 

“Don’t worry about her, Y/N. Once the Winchesters join you in death, I will raise her as my own. She will be a killer. She will be-” 

Sam tackled him to the ground before he could finish. Taken by surprise, Montgomery didn’t stand a chance against the taller hunter. Sam’s eyes connected with yours and you knew that he was waiting. He was saving this kill for you. 

You stood over the monster that had killed your best friend. The monster that had hunted you for almost a decade. The monster that had changed your life. You didn’t have a final clever quip for him. He didn’t deserve it. 

“Makayla… close your eyes.” With one strong, swift motion, the vampire was dead. 

-

Dean’s coolness towards you had only grown since the fight. He wouldn’t even look you in the eye. Whatever had happened, Sam could sense it and kept sending questioning glances your way. You held a trembling Makayla in your arms as everyone filed back into the bunker. 

“I need a beer.” Dean announced gruffly. You moved to follow, but he shot you a glare. “You’re not going anywhere.” Sensing the tension between you, Mary offered to take Makayla back to your room. Sam looked even more confused. 

“Dean, can we not do this now? We’re all tired and covered in vampire guts.” 

“You don’t get to just pretend like everything’s fine and disappear again.” Now both Winchesters were staring at you, hurt filling Sam’s eyes. 

“What?”

“I haven’t decided on anything, Sam-”

“You’re going to leave!” He yelled, making you flinch. “What about Makayla, huh? You bring her into my life just to take her out?” You were silent. Sam’s jaw dropped. “You want to leave her here?” 

“You were right, Sam.” You admitted hopelessly. “I dragged her into our screwed up life and I was making her as screwed up as we are. And I know, I can’t change. But with you, she can have a life. A family. You can finally have the life that I wanted for you. The one I couldn't give you.” 

Sam’s anger fell away, replaced by understanding.

“That’s why you left.” He sighed, years of wondering finally coming into focus. “You thought I’d always want something else?” 

“Sam, I’m not what you need. I’ve never been what you needed and I’m sure as hell not what that beautiful little girl needs.” Your voice cracked and you pushed back tears. “I love you both too much to try and force my life onto you.” 

“You’re her mother.” Dean interjected. 

“Which means that I am the most likely person to mess her up.” You exclaimed. You couldn’t see any other way. “You said it yourself, Sam, I’m doing what John did to you.” 

“He made the mistake of trying to do it alone.” Sam put his hands on your shoulders. “But you are far from alone.” His eyes softened and you watched them fill with hope. “You’ll both move into the bunker- it’ll be safest here- and we’ll hunt together, but someone will stay here and watch Makayla. We can do this. We can be a family.” He gave you a tearful smile and even Dean felt himself dare to wish. 

“Would you be happy? I mean, really happy?” You asked. It’s all you wanted for him and for your daughter. Sam laughed. 

“I can’t think of anything that would make me happier, Y/N.” You still looked unsure so he continued. “Say you’ll stay. Say we can be family together. Because I’m not letting you go again.” 

You were speechless. All these years, and here he was, telling you what you’d only dreamed about. Sam closed the space between you and pulled you into a kiss, five years of yearning built up into one moment. It was the life he wanted. A life with you.

-

You and Sam made up. You really made up. Which left Dean alone in the kitchen when Makayla wandered out looking for her parents. 

“Uncle Dean, where’s mommy and daddy?” She asked. Dean’s eyes went wide. 

“Um- they’re- um- well-” He tried to think of something fast. “They’re watching a movie.” She pouted her lips. 

“They’re watching without me?” 

Dean just panicked. 

“It’s an adult movie.” Luckily, his niece was four and didn’t understand innuendos. She accepted his answer and climbed up into the seat beside him. “What are you doing up anyway, kiddo? Did you have another dream about the shadow man?” A big grin spread across her face. 

“He doesn’t scare me anymore!” She exclaimed happily. “He said he wants to be my friend and that he’s sorry for scaring me. He didn’t mean to. He’s just shy because he used to be in time-out. He’s not anymore and he wants somebody to play with.” Dean nodded, half listening and half thinking about how he was going to strangle his brother. “He said he’s daddy’s guardian angel, like Uncle Cas is for me. He even showed me his wings!”

“That’s really nice, Kayla.” He stood, knowing that he was going to regret this. “How about you go pick out a movie for us to watch on Netflix and I’ll make popcorn?”

“Really?” She squealed, latching onto his leg. He smiled, unable to resist those big blue eyes. “Thank you Uncle Dean!” She ran off to his room and Dean braced himself for some cheesy princess flick, putting Makayla’s new angel-friend to the back of his mind.

-

General Tag: @rae-gar-targaryen; @takemepedropascal; @childhood-imagination;  @mylovegoesto; @yellowbadgergirl; @itmejado

Supernatural: @desimarie12; @deandreamernp; @vicmc624; @halesandy​ @livshaes​;  @d-whinchestergirl87​;  @mrspeacem1nusone​

Sam Winchester: @theamuz;  @adeliness​

Makayla Series: @rhiannon-the-troublemaker​; @hoboal87​

[lukneetoonz]

Ghost of You Part II

——————————————————————————-

Summary: You were the greatest thing in Katsuki’s life…. now you’re gone.

Pairing: Bakugou x Reader

Warnings: Cussing, mentions of cheating, mentions of sex, angst, violence, and just very sad.

Word Count: 2,518

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for this, tbh didn’t mean for another cliffhanger but it was too good! Thank you anon for the inspiration for this one. Def will have a part three and I’m hoping that will be the end.

NO ARTWORK POSTED IS MY OWN AND IS FOUND ON PINTEREST

——————————————————————

Running. That’s all you remember doing and that’s all you were doing currently. Panting, you focused on the world in front of you as tears poured down your cheeks. Out of all places he could be, Bakugou Katsuki was where you went so you could forget about him. Not to mention he was looking like you were the one who broke his heart, not the other way around. You wanted forever, he wanted a fling. He took your heart and tossed it in the trash, yet the first thing you wanted to do was hug him and tell him everything was gonna be okay.

“Y/N!! Please!” Katsuki’s raspy voice called out and you could hear his footsteps get closer to you, making you only run faster as you tried to make as much distance between the two of you that you could, if you got near him you knew you wouldn’t have much self control… no matter how much hurt he caused. Even if he stomped on your heart, he still had it. He still had your love, and that’s why you were still in pain.

“Princess! Please! Give me just 5 minutes! That’s all I need to explain!” Explain? That one word made you stop as you went tense and turned around, body shaking as you stared the blonde down. “Explain? How could you possibly ‘explain’ anything? It’s what it is K- Bakugou!” The fact that you weren’t even saying his name hurt, it was like a knife driven through his heart as he finally slowed down to be in front of you, only to have you back away like he had a disease.

“That’s not- please… I fucked up okay? But I love you! Only you! It was a mistake, and- without you I’m nothing.” His voice was weak as he gulped, clenching his fist and looking at you, trying to see how you reacted but couldn’t tell. Your own body shook with heartbreaking sobs as you looked away, lip trembling. “Love me… that word means something! You can’t throw it around when you want because you’re a douchebag! If you love someone, you wouldn’t have cheated on me, with camie out of all people!!”

Your words made him flinch as you cried out, each word hitting at a different level. Katsuki bowed his head in shame, suddenly feeling very aware of where you both were and the circumstances of you meeting again were. Groaning, he looked up at you with pain filled eyes as he tried to reach out to you, but you were quick to rip away from his touch, the touch that used to bring you comfort. “Y/N… please. Please” Dropping to his knees, the man that was supposed to be one of the strongest hero’s latched onto your bottom half like a child clinging to his mother.

His tears soaked through the fabric on your stomach, the whimpers leaving his mouth made you cry harder. “Please give me another chance. I know I don’t deserve you, but please- fuck… I- I can’t live without you. It hurts to even breathe without you.” Every word he said was the truth as he pleaded to you in the middle of a sidewalk in the night, the only thing illuminating you was the street lights. As you clasped your hand over your mouth, you gasped for air. “I-I can’t… it hurt so much… you hurt me so much.” Your broken words made Bakugou tense as he sucked in breath, nuzzling his head into your stomach more.

“Please… please. I love you so much… please. I’ll do anything Y/N. Anything at all. Please just take me back.” As much as you wanted to, as much as his words cut you to the core, you pried his arms off you and backed away. Shaking your head, you whimpered and took in his state, this could be the last time you ever saw him. Just the thought killed you, turning away you walked off and didn’t stop until you reached your place, without anyone to go home to, it felt so empty. As soon as you entered the door you fell down to your knees and completely broke down, tears not stopping until you fell asleep.

*•*

2 weeks. 14 days. Yet, you still couldn’t get the image of the love of your life and your best friend getting down and dirty, out of your head. How could either of them do that to you? Bakugou was supposed to be your forever, Camie knew how much you loved him and yet she still wrapped herself around him like she was the one who had been with him for so long. If you knew she liked him, you would never have dated him! You would have stepped away and let her have him, saved your heart this pain. Why did she wait to do this to you? You couldn’t remember even doing something bad to her so she’d want to get revenge.

“Y/N! Let’s go apartment hunting today okay? You deserve to go out and get fresh air…” Uraraka came and rubbed your back as you sniffled, you turned to face her and your lip trembled. “Why did they do it? I thought he loved me..” Uraraka frowned sadly, pulling you into a hug. “I don’t know… you don’t deserve this pain Y/N… I think apartment hunting can help take your mind off of this, and then we can go out to eat.” You nodded and got up, hugging Uraraka back before getting changed. Looking into the mirror, you saw how puffy your eyes were, cheeks and nose red. Shivering, you frowned at your appearance and groaned, “Let’s go before I regret going out”

Uraraka nodded and quickly pulled you out, and you guys started walking to the apartments you saw for rent. The weather was beautiful, the sun shining down on you as the breeze was gentle. It was like a reminder that there are still beautiful things out in the world, and you started to believe it. After the third apartment, you and Uraraka decided to go get some food since your stomachs begged for it. Walking down the golden lot sidewalk, you laughed at Uraraka dancing weirdly before a hand was placed on your shoulder timidly, making you turn around.

“Y/N… can we please talk?” Emotions crashed through you as you stared at Camie, she looked just as bad as you. Her eyes met the ground as she started to cry again, hands playing with each other as she sniffled, “I know I don’t deserve it, and I don’t have an excuse or explanation, but I just- please can we talk?” It was something about how she said she didn’t have an excuse or explanation, that’s what caught your attention. Nodding silently, you gave Uraraka a reassuring look before leading Camie to a bench and sitting down.

“Go ahead Camie… talk.” Quickly she nodded and sat by you, but not too close as she gulped, “I’m a bitch okay? I don’t deserve your friendship and- I just… l was alone, and it didn’t help that I liked him when we were younger… I know I never told you, but I fell head over heels for him- so one night at the office, we were working late and I don’t even know who thought of the idea to open up some alcohol and then, I came onto him-” you interrupted her rambling as you stared ahead blankly, “How long?”

The simple question sent shivers down the girls spine as she looked away, even parler than before, “2 months…” Did it hurt more knowing? Or less? You couldn’t tell, but all you knew was the tears were building up and you could barely do anything to stop them. “For 2 months You fucked my boyfriend and pretended that everything was okay? You listened to me say how I thought he was pulling away, you listened to my relationship troubles. Yet you still spread your legs for him like the whore you are!” By the time you ended, you stood up screaming.

Red in the face, with hot, angry tears running down your face you stared at the ashamed girl. “Was It worth it Camie? Getting dick, but you ruin a relationship and your own damn friendship?! Was it worth destroying me?!” Your voice strained in frustration as she cried and shook her head, “No! Y/N! I was stupid! And selfish! I wasn’t thinking and- god I thought If it kept going it would've been better than a meaningless one night stand-” once again you had fury in your eyes “DID YOU FALL FOR HIM AGAIN?”

Camie looked away embarrassed as she clenched her jaw, “I- I want to say no… I want to say I didn't so badly… but I can’t.” You nodded and looked away, wiping your eyes, at least appreciating her honesty. “Did he- return the feelings?” Automatically her eyes widened in horror and she shook her head, “No! God no… I- it was always me texting and calling first… the day you- well you know, I saw an engagement ring in his desk drawer, that’s why I was in there.” It’s like your heart stopped working altogether as you tried gathering your breath, eyeing the girl down.

“Y-you tried stopping it?” Camie nodded with a sigh as she rubbed her face, “I’m sorry Y/N…. I really am.” Sniffling you started walking back to Uraraka, “Yeah… I am too. But hey, you got what you wanted right? He’s all yours”

*•*

You didn’t think seeing Katsuki would hurt so much, it’s like breaking up all over again. Of course it didn’t help that he tried contacting you through your mutual friends, but that only resulted in multiple people being threatened with a block. When you moved into your new apartment, you gathered everyone and made it very clear that Katsuki and Camie should never know where you live, no matter what. You weren’t going to chance one of them showing up at your apartment one day to try and say one of their half assed apologies… not again.

You transferred jobs, banks, everything. You practically started a new life, because the scar of your past one was too big. The news that was filled with the pictures of the beautiful ash blonde made you believe he had moved on, made you think he was okay. But you were wrong, and oh how you wish you didn’t assume things so silly. Katsuki was fighting crime like he was born to do, and from the news he was doing better than he has ever before.

But oh how little did you know. Katsuki was only working so hard because he wanted to get you out of his head, maybe if he worked hard enough you’ll even see he’s changed. That he’s better. Sadly for him he couldn’t get you out of his head, but luckily he’s only had to deal with easy villains so nothing he’s had to do than blink an eye. Until today. Katsuki had barely gotten any sleep since he last saw you, but he still worked, hell he worked double the amount of hours even if his body was screaming for rest. It took such a toll on him, even his friends started to notice.

“Bakugou… are you sure you should be working? You look like- well you look like shit bro.” Kirishima scratched the back of his neck only to sigh when he saw the glare directed at him, “It’s not your problem shitty hair. So what if I’m taking extra hours? I just want to group up my vacation days together.” Katsuki grunted out a lie that not even Kirishima believed, but the redhead knew he had to go along with it so he nodded. “Okay… but I'm here for you, that’s what friends are for.”

Katsuki couldn’t even reply before there was a loud explosion and screaming that followed, the heroes running onto the scene. Kirishima paled before activating his quirk when he noticed this was your new place of work. A group of villains spread out, two had taken hostages inside the building that was in flames, one of the villains seemed to have a quirk where his tattoos came to life, another looked like a feral child, one seemed to be breathing green like poison that was covering the streets and making civilians pass out, one of the ones in the building could make anything out of any non living object he wanted, like it was Plato so he had weapons, and the female had a the mutation quirk to make her look somewhat of a spider.

Fuck fuck fuck, they were outnumbered and these quirks- they were pretty fucking good. Katsuki snarled and started fighting, trying to keep them busy as they waited for backup. Kirishima fought alongside Katsuki, knowing you were here but he didn’t know what to say, how could he say something!? If he did, surely his best friend would do something stupid and reckless… that’s the last thing he wanted, because if Katsuki got hurt then you’d probably get hurt too.

Inside you stayed calm as the female crawled around you and your colleagues, her sadistic smile stayed as she wrapped another person In her webbing, “Awh c'mon my little babies, don’t be sad! I’ll be nice if you tell me where the hard drive is. The heroes trust you, so we know you have their personal information, if you give us their hard drive, then it will be fine.” You tensed at their words before standing up with shaky legs, “I can do you one better- I’m the girlfriend Of ground zero. A-and I’m best friends with all of his friends like red riot, pinky, uravity, chargebolt, you name it… but If you take me then you’ll get the heroes.”

Your words made the girl look at the man almost like they were sharing thoughts, before the girl smirked and in seconds she was by your side, biting your shoulder and you could feel poison being released into your shoulder. Crying out in pain, you fell to your knees as they mumbled something you couldn’t quite hear as you fell to the ground, whimpering at the pain in your shoulder that spread through your entire body. The last thing you remember before your world faded into total darkness was your name being called and a familiar silhouette running towards you.

*****************************************************

Taglist; @katsukiswhore @leeeah-loooser @do-not-talk-to-me-i-am-awkward @desia2 @katsukiwonu

[lys-lilac]

The Realization of Importance

Part (2/3)

This was in my drafts for so long... So I thought not to let the cliffhanger stay for more time.

A/N: This is to say that all the characters and the main story line belong to Voltage Inc. Only the fictional story is a work of mine, as well the fictional characters, Hana, Touma and Akari. Also this story is based on dream event, because I had this as a dream many days ago. It might be a little different from the usual genre, a little more angsty, so this little girl wants to know your honest opinions about the work. Be honest and do let me know what you think. But, if it feels a little bit dreamy or weird, you can discontinue reading from here.

Part 1 II Part 3

                                                  Part (2/3)

Okay, now that I have cried so much and wiped away my tears, it's time to figure out things. How this all happened, or maybe I am still snoozing.

MC: But first, I need to find somewhere to live for now...

I can't probably return to my apartment, because the other me might be living there. Even if I go there, I will feel awkwardness surrounding me. So, I decide to take shelter in Asuka's home for tonight.

[Asuka’s Home] 

{A/N: This is not shown in the MS, so I just added a fictional place}

A surprised Asuka greets me at the door.

Asuka: MC?

MC: Hey Asuka, if it's not troublesome, can I stay here for the night?

Asuka: Of course, come in.

Relieved that Asuka didn't doubt me, I put the slippers on and sit on the sofa in the living room.

Asuka: Color me surprised though, what brings you here, and today itself?

MC: Hmm? Can't I visit your home and stay over like we did in university days? I was just hit with nostalgia and-

Asuka: That's not the case. Didn't you tell me during lunch that you and Dr. Kasumi are going home together for the first time in two weeks of exhaustive work?

MC: ...

Now that I think about it, I arrived here in the evening, so it might be possible that I didn't know about the schedule beforehand. For now, I have to find an excuse to convince her.

MC: Err... yeah! Kasumi had some post-OP scheduled with new interns, so he told me to leave early, but due to the weather...

Wiping my hair and damp clothes with a towel, Asuka nods her head as if she understood what I meant.

Asuka: Poor girl... You could just have given a call, so that I could have rushed there.

MC: Asukaa!! You are literally my paradis-

Asuka: But, that would have caused Dr. Kasumi to blame me for stealing his girl.

MC: Wha?

With her light banter, we both break out into a laughter. She is really a savior to me, even though she doesn’t know the situation now.

Getting into a pair of PJs that Asuka gave me, I lie down on the sofa. Events of the day start reeling in my mind. Now’s the time to figure out what exactly happened. Is it just a dream? But it’s too realistic... Or what if I am thrown to another world, just like what happens in mangas?

A little bit confused, I open up to do list on my cell phone to check the schedule, but the next sight leaves me agape.

MC: I am a new resident in cardiovascular surgery starting from tomorrow?! 

And my name is not MC, it’s... Hana? Well, it’s better this way, as anyone will not get confused anymore. After all, I am someone who is not meant to be here...

MC: Gahh! I will think about it tomorrow, otherwise who knows what will happen to my brain... I might as well get an ischemic stroke in this situation.

Putting a lid to my thoughts, I doze off to sleep.

{A/N: From here, actual MC is Hana, and the other MC is just MC. I just came with a random name for the MC.}

~

Sekai: MC, you will be all fine... Don’t worry...

Hana: Aww Sekai, thank you... You really are my- wait what? Why are you addressing me as MC?

With a shock, I sit up. 

Hana: Just a dream, huh... Guess I better hurry up.

With a short yawn, I prepare for the day.

[Morning: Dean’s Office]

Matsunaga: ...and therefore you will be assigned in the cardiovascular surgery starting from today.

Hana: ...

Matsunaga: Hana?

Hana: ! Ye-yes! I completely understand. It is a pleasure to be working with you all.

I bow deeply.

Matsunaga: Though I have to say, you really look like Dr. MC. Are you sure that you are not her long lost twin sister?

Hana: It’s a pure coincidence, haha. But I have a way to recognize both of us!

Matsunaga: Oh?

Hana: Yes. Look at this!

I show him the pearl beaded hair pin in my hair. I bought it when I went to the zoo with Kasumi. But, he might not remember this too.

Matsunaga: That’s a great way. You are really a smart girl!

Smiling on the approval, I bow once again, and leave the office to my work.

On my way to Cardiovascular medicine department, I decide to take a turn towards the EICU. After all the act I put there, I should at least apologize properly. It doesn’t matter if Kasumi doesn’t remember me now. Even though it hurts me to change my behavior towards him, just like strangers for now, I can never let the boy who suffered so much to lose his smile once again. Now, only my job matters!

[Seimei University Hospital EICU]

As expected, everyone is there for the morning briefing, including the other me. I take a deep breath and knock on the door, making all of their gazes turn towards me. The confusion would have all been over now.

Hana: Good morning, everyone. I am here to apologize for the mess I created here yesterday. I am sure I had hit my head somewhere yesterday that I-

Takado: Can I tell you a copycat? You are exactly the same as this one over here, talking without stopping...

Hana: ...

They didn’t blame me for yesterday. I guess that’s good for now.

Hosho: I am now starting to believe that miracles are true.

Hana: Wha?

Hosho: Yes. I have never in my life met people with such exact features. It’s interesting but confusing at the same time.

Hana: Oh, about that, I have a solution! Look at the hair-pin tucked here. You will recognize me. And it’s not like I will work in the EICU. I have been assigned to the Cardiovascular Surgery from today. So I will rarely visit here.

Kasumi: Oh.

What makes him say that... Well, I can’t think of that myself. Maybe his curiosity is piqued, that’s all.

Kyogoku: Drop by the Pediatrics if you need any help.

MC: We would appreciate your help in the ER too.

Ok, now what? WHAT THE WHAT?! The legendary bodyguard is lending me a hand if I get in any trouble? And the other me... she is like 100 times more sweeter than me. No wonder Kasumi deserves a better one like her, not someone like me who behaves like a child till now.

Ekuni: And, if you run out of snacks, I can recommend you some.

Why are they all so sweet? Keeping my fast beating heart to myself, I mutter a small ‘thanks’, bow once again and leave the EICU. But, I feel a gaze looking at me from behind. Maybe I am hallucinating...

[Seimei University Hospital Cardiovascular Medicine Department]

After some greetings in the Cardiovascular Surgery Dept., I get to work at once. Apparently due my good grades here too, I am immediately handed a case of a surgery. 

The patient is 11 year old, who is admitted today morning, has tetralogy of Fallot. This disease is generally congenital, which causes cyanosis, that is, bluish skin and oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and to the rest of the body. If treatment is not done soon, it may become more severe.

Without any other delay, I head to the cabin where Touma is. Oh yes, Touma is the patient whose case I have been handed now.

[Seimei University Hospital Private Cabin]

When I enter the cabin, I see a gloom Touma sitting on the bed with his mother, Akari.

Hana: Good morning, Akari, Touma.

Akari: Good morning, Dr. Hana.

Even though she smiles, I can see her face washed with sadness. It’s okay, after handing so many cases with Kasumi, I have stabilized myself enough to deal with my anxiety. I reach out to her, and with my hand on her back, I look towards Touma, who is also a little bit scared.

Hana: How are you, Touma?

Touma: I- I am fine.

Hana: I know you came here way early in the morning. How about we go and get a drink for ourselves to cheer you up?

A little happy, he nods.

Touma’s treatment is starting from today afternoon, so luckily, saline and other devices have not been put on him for now. Means, he is free to move.

Holding his frail hand, I lead him to the refreshment zone.

[Refreshment zone]

I grab myself a can of coffee and give a bottle of orange juice to him.

Hana: So, what is Touma’s favorite activity? Hana is curious.

Touma: I like gardening, and going sightseeing.

Hana: Oh? You know how to plant flowers?

Touma: Yeah! Not only that, I know how to plant vegetables and fruits too! You know Hana, I harvested a lot of fruits, like strawberries, grapes last year that we had my friends and mama’s friends to finish it up.

Seeing Touma’s eyes sparkling, confiding in me and trusting me by calling my first name, I couldn’t help but smile.

Hana: Wow! You are really talented, little one! What about sightseeing? What places do you like? 

Touma: I like Hokkaido. The weather there is so beautiful! But... I know I couldn’t do that after the surgery.

The little sun who was brimming just now with happiness, looks like the flame of a flickering candle.

I hold his hand and say.

Hana: I know you can do it. With me here, you can share anything you want. You are strong to handle every problem that comes to you. I can get that from your passion of gardening. Even if a storm comes, you can do anything to protect your little space, right? I want that confidence of yours in you too. 

Touma goes silent. I see his face, surprised, and a little... flushed?

Touma: I brought some dandelions for you, Hana. I thought they could be my thank you gift to you for listening to me.

Hana: Thank you. That’s so sweet of you.

Oh my god. How sweet and mature he is! I was not even half of it during my teenage.

Touma: But, I have a favor to ask.

Hana: Sure, as long as it’s in my reach, I can do it for you.

Touma: After I recover, can you visit with me somewhere?

Hana: Where to?

Touma: I want to show you my garden.

Hana: Oh, sure. I would love to!

The happiness that left his face comes back.

Touma: It’s a date, then!

Hana: ...

What did I hear now? A. DATE. What?! But sighing, I put away the awkward thought and my lips curve upwards.

Touma: Although... Who is that guy behind you?

Surprised that I didn’t notice anyone, I turn backwards and see...

Hana: ?!!

~

This got a bit long, so I broke it further into two parts. Last part is on the last phase of editing. I will try to post it by tomorrow. Who do you think stands behind Hana? What will happen next?

Stay tuned.

[too-much-fandoms-trash]

MBAV theory and ending

Hello everyone ! Here I am to discuss our beloved but too soon cancelled show : My Babysitters’s A vampire’s. Mostly its ending but not only. Damn you Disney for that cliffhanger...

Warning, it’s a really long post ! It’s around 2k words. I didn’t put it under a cut, but I can if asked. The first part (half ?) of this post is something about the MBAV universe, that I use to explain my theory about the ending. Then I will explain it, what happened and all with that, and they a small paragraph of what could have been the beggining of season 3. I’d be really happy if you guys read, and what do you think about it. So, here we go ! (Please forgive the typos)

Anyway, before talking about the ending I want to speak about the vampires and their so called “immortality”. Throughout all the show it was clearly stated that all vampires are immortal. Yet, we see a lot of them dying (killed by wooden stakes, holy water, special daggers, etc.). Sooo, are they really that immortal, or can they just live as long as possible until they’re killed ? The show doesn’t answer it, and we never saw a vampire that was killed coming back. (Except for Jesse, but his case is a bit special, with the Cubile Animus and all, so we’re not talking about it here). But ! The movie answers it, more specificly Sarah. Remember the scene when they are at Ethan’s house and they are attacked by the pizza guy, who happens to be a vampire sent by Jesse ? Yeah ? Cool, because it tells us an intersting thing. So, Sarah kills him with a wooden stake, and a bit later Ethan asks if he’s really dead. Sarah then answers, and I quote : “ Not...dead, no, just in some kinds of limbo for souls.”

Oh boy. So, it’s clear : when vampires are killed, they don’t die. Their souls go into a limbo. But first of all, what is a limbo, you may ask ? I’m going to answer as simply as I can. A limbo is something from the catholic theology. Well, not only, but in the case of the show, it’s in this sense; let’s not forget that vampires can’t approach someone who’s holding a christian cross or just making a cross with sticks or whatever (I’m almost totally sure we see it in MBAV, but correct me if I’m wrong on that). So, in catholic theology, the “Underworld” is composed in 4 parts : Hell as we know it (”Hell of the Damned”), the Purgatory, the Limbo of the Fathers and the Limbo of Infants. Here, we don’t care about the second limbo, because it is for children who weren’t baptized.  So the Limbo of the Fathers it is ! That’s still not very helpful to you, I know, but I’m getting to it. So, what is it ? It’s a place where the souls of those who have commited sins but died in the friendship of God (I’m quoting wikipedia here, ahem). So, bad people but that could still go to Heaven but only if Mr. Jesus Christ come to pardon them. But I may be going a bit too far for MBAV here. Let’s continue, shall we ? Vampires are by definition a sin, for the Religion. So, it’s clear they’re not going to Heaven. But, they are immortal beings, so it’s not as if they could go to hell anyway. However, the souls of the killed vampire have to go somewhere, so they go in the limbo. Why not the Purgatory ? I don’t really know, and my theories are not really useful in the point I’m trying to make here about MBAV. And I probably already digressed too much... but hey, a little culture never hurts.

So ! It could stop here : the souls of the killed vampires go into that limbo because they can’t go anywhere else, and it’s done. But Sarah’s sentence is not done ! Just after the limbo thing, she says : “But he won't be back here.” If she just said that the pizza vampire guy wouldn’t be back, it wouldn’t change anything, it would just emphasize that he’s dead. However, notice the “here” at the very end of the sentence. Just that little word changes the meaning ! He won’t be back here, but he will be back somewhere else. Then, we understand that vampires are really immortal ! First they are “killed”, their soul go into the limbo for an unknown time, and then they come back. As I just said, we don’t know how long their soul stay in the limbo. Sure, we never saw vampires come back on the show, but I think it’s just because it’s not in the plot. I would say it takes a few days for the soul to come back, maybe weeks but not more. Maybe it depends of the cause of death ? I don’t know. Remember that it’s just me founding out things out of just one line, I can only theorize what I don’t know.

Well, it’s great that we found that. But... what for ? Okay, we learned something but it doesn’t really apply to the MBAV story / plotline... Or does it ?

Now, I’m bringing on the table “The Date To End All Dates, Part 2″, aka the awful cliffhanger that we all hate deeply. That left us with SO many questions, and no answers. This post is now going to be about “what would have happened in season 3 episode 1 (and possibly 2 too) ?” Here’s a quick recall of how the episode ended : VP Stern, Ethan, Benny, Sarah and Jesse are at the Council and there is a big boom all over White Chapel. Anastasia, Erica and Rory are in what looks like the mountains, at least they’re not in White Chapel. Anastasia said she was waiting for the explosion to happen, and visibly just wanted to go far enough to not be in it with the remaining vampires (are Rory and Erica the two last of the Council that could make it with her ?). So, she knew what Stern wanted to do. What was his plan already ? Jesse tells us that the Council has a broadcast system, originally used to communicate with other covens, that Stern would use to spread the Lucifractor’s power all over White Chapel and thus, killing all vampires in town.  But, aren’t vampires immortal, able to come back and all, as we’ve seen before ? As you know it, the Lucifractor is designed especially to kill vampires definitely by “absorbing the dark energy that keep vampires alive”, to quote Jesse. We saw Stern use it on vampires, it “shoots” like a purple lightnight, and the vampire turns to dust. So, the explosion happened. What would be the most logical thing to happen after that cliffhanger, aka season 3 ep 1 ? Main theory would be that the Lucifractor worked, which implies Sarah and Jesse being dead, along with the other remaining White Chapel vampires in town (but not Anastasia, Rory and Erica, because they are “safe” far away). Benny, Ethan and Stern on the other hand would be alive, because the Lucifractor only kills vampires and doesn’t affect humans. But... is it really what happened ? Of course not.

First of all, it is a Disney Channel show. That cliffhanger was made in the optic of having a third season, to continue the story. The show would never have killed one of its main character, especially Sarah. Count it as an argument or not, it’s true.  Second of all, I bet the explosion that happened didn’t go the way Stern intended. The plan was just to broadcast the Lucifractor’s power, nothing more. But if you don’t remember, Ethan went into Stern’s mind just before the explosion. I won’t describe the entire scene, but basically Ethan tells Stern that he is just a human. That without the Lucifractor, he is totally powerless. Ethan emphasize the fact that Stern is nothing without the Lucifractor, in a cocky and clever way. And let’s not forget it’s Ethan, the “brain” one of the group. Yet he wasn’t panicking, he was confident in what he was doing, going into Stern’s mind. He had a plan. What next ? Ethan’s remarks kind of angered Stern and he tells Ethan “Stop saying that ! I can draw all the energy I need from this and then the power will be in me and I can get rid of this little bubble.” Ethan says a last thing that pushes Stern over the edge. Stern stops what he was doing (which is shooting Jesse and Sarah with the Lucifractor, who are okay just after that) and then, he takes the Lucifractor and makes the mistake. He takes the power for himself. He feels it, he says “I can feel the power, the deepest darkness. You’re such a fool, you’ll never stop me now !”. Then, still with confidence, Ethan tells the other to run, and the explosion happens.

I believe that Ethan’s plan worked. I believe he wanted Stern to take the Lucifractor’s power to himself. By dragging him down, saying he couldn’t handle it... and it worked ! Stern thought he could take it and be all powerful and everything. But... he’s still just a human. And a normal human can’t physically handle all that power, that darkness. The explosion wasn’t Stern broadcasting the Lucifractor’s power, it was him. Stern’s body couldn’t bare all that and, because of the Lucifrator, exploded. But, theeen, what if if it had the same effect, and still killed Sarah and Jesse ? To that I will answer that even if the explosion looked the same as it would if the plan worked (as Anastasia is probably thinking), it is probably way less powerful than if should have been. First because Stern was trying to take the power, the Lucifractor wasn’t in “attack mode” (I think ?). But mostly because Stern took the Lucifractor in his hands, therefore ending the “broadcast” thing. My two other arguments are that, well it’s still a Disney Channel show, and Ethan’s confidence. As I said, he pulled a very clever move. He probably remembered Jesse telling him that Stern’s great great grandfather was mostly hella greedy of power, more than willing to clean White Chapel from vampires. It’s still canon that Ethan has a crush on Sarah and that he cares deeply for her (as Grandma Weir says, more for her than anyone ! (Just because it’s canon doesn’t mean I agree with that, okay ? But that’s what it said, and I’m working with the canon)). So he definitely didn’t waste precious time running away if he didn’t have a smart plan that he knew would work.

Hey, I’m still not done ! God that’s a long post. But then... what happened to Jesse and Sarah ? Yes, I said that the explosion was less powerfull than intended, but it still happened. Remember the first part of this post ? That’s right. The limbo for souls. That’s where I believe Sarah and Jesse would have been in the beggining of season 3. Sure, they would be weak. But they wouldn’t be dead. Now, that’s just my theory coming. I don’t really have the canon help anymore at this point, so here’s what I think is the most logic thing that could have happened.

Boom. They explosion went all over White Chapel. Benny and Ethan are knocked off and wake up after a few hours, possibly at dawn. Because hey, that’s still an explostion. Ironically, Stern’s the one who turned into dust. His body really couldn’t handle that. Benny and Ethan are relived, Sarah’s body is still here and intact, yet unconscious next to Jesse’s. But even after hours, they don’t wake up. Benny and Ethan kinda panic, and go to Evelyn (grandma Weir). She has theories but isn’t an expert in vampires, so can’t really help. The plan is to find Anastasia, Rory and Erica. They believed the explosion went as planned and went away. As Anastasia said before, they’ll just wait until Stern dies of old age. (Erica and Rory want to go back to check on Sarah, but missy vampire child tells them she is dead, and with her mind control thing, they can’t do anything). But Sarah is not dead, at least that’s what Ethan says, but they could start to loose hope at some point, and the guys are on their way to find Anastasia, because if anyone knows something about what to do, it’s her (they also want to have their friends back). They find her, and here’s the what happens : Sarah (as well as Jesse) are stuck in the limbo. Normally, they would be able to “come back to life” by themselves, but the Lucifractor weakened them, therefore they can’t escape the limbo. At least, not alone. It’s up to the fang gang to go there and bring their friend back (and they hesitate, but bring back Jesse too). They go back to White Chapel, and season 3 continues.

Now, I’m done ! I really hope I didn’t annoy you guys with my long post. If you like my theory, I’d be very happy if you tell me, I might try to write it, as a real fanfiction more than just a paragraph. Please, tell me what you think about it ! 

MBAV will ride again !

[thewatsonbeekeepers]

Chapter 5 – Hey, Soul Sister: Who is Eurus?

Do you get it? She’s his sister? But metaphorically, she’s a part of his soul? I was very impressed with myself for this title. Anyway…

This chapter of the meta is going to deal with the various times we meet Eurus before TFP and what this might mean, which will help us to understand who she is once we have stripped off the disguises.

Before series 4, we had real!characters and MP!characters set up as distinct entities, particularly in TSoT, which distinguishes between MP!Mycroft (the deducing brain) and real!Mycroft, as well as MP!Irene representing desire and real!Irene, who doesn’t come near the episode. The MP section in TSoT, for a lot of people in the fandom, broke down Sherlock’s psyche into MP!John vs. MP!Mycroft – and John is clearly winning.

However, I want to suggest that Sherlock’s psyche isn’t nearly so straightforward as a tug of war between the brain and the heart. Whilst MP!Mycroft undoubtedly represents the oppressively reasonable part of Sherlock’s psyche, that’s not the only thing repressing him – it can’t be. If it were simply a rejection of ‘sentiment’, this wouldn’t be the powerful queer love story we know it to be – there is a lot more internalised homophobia being dealt with than just love being illogical. That’s where Eurus comes in.

Eurus and Mycroft are parallel oppressive forces in Sherlock’s brain, but they’re oppressive in different ways. Having family members and childhood trauma be the psyche’s symbols for repression is particularly poignant in a queer love story, for obvious reasons. However, I want to take you through my reasoning behind Eurus being the most secret and troubled part of Sherlock’s soul.

The first clue is that her prison is called Sherrinford. We all assumed that the third Holmes sibling was going to be Sherrinford back before s4, and it seemed that way in the beginning, with Mycroft mentioning speaking to Sherrinford several times, construing it as a person rather than a place. This is no coincidence – for those who aren’t familiar with the history of the stories, Conan Doyle’s original name for his protagonist was Sherrinford Holmes, which he later changed to Sherlock. That Eurus is trapped inside Sherrinford is a clear suggestion that Eurus is something that’s trapped inside Sherlock – a dangerous MP entity. More important than that, Sherrinford is the version of Holmes that never made it into the books. Plenty of people have worked on queering the Holmes canon and working out what ACD might have been implying and leaving out and arguably none more so in an adaptation that Mofftiss. Let’s think about the implications of this. A kind of second self, not shown to the public, buried inside your mind and forgotten since childhood, which is bursting out into a moment of acute psychological distress. Gee, I don’t know what that could be about. The Sherlock that Sherlock thinks he is has thus far been dominated by MP!Mycroft, but this series is about uniting canon!Holmes with the non-canon, queer Sherrinford who has always existed, judging by the name, and who is currently dominated by the destructive MP!Eurus. The other important point to note here is that Sherrinford is an island in the middle of the sea – that’s not a coincidence, given how much water imagery abounds in this series. I spoke briefly in Chapter 2 X about how water represents Sherlock sinking deeper and deeper into his own subconsciousness – this is the deepest he can go. In Greek mythology, Eurus was the name of the wind most associated with causing storms at sea X – this isn’t a coincidence either. She’s very deliberately tied in with water.

(In real life terms, of course, all this means that a real!Eurus probably does or did exist in some form, although I can’t begin to hazard a guess about this. However, I’m trying to refer to her as MP!Eurus when she’s in her normal form in the MP, in case we get a series 5 with Sian Brooke as real!Eurus, and also to distinguish her from therapist!Eurus etc.)

This is my reasoning as to why MP!Eurus represents Sherlock’s innermost trauma. She is not merely the fact that he loves John – he deduced this in TSoT without her appearance. She is the trauma that he needs to come to terms with. A running theme through our analysis of Eurus will be that her gender is particularly important; her representation of Sherlock’s repression cannot be but as a woman, because for most of s4 he is only able to process his identity through the most heterosexual of lenses. We see this hinted at quite early on in TST, when Sherlock takes on a case called ‘The Duplicate Man’, warning John that it is never twins. The word ‘duplicate’ here, removing twins, leaves us with the only real possibility that it is in fact the same person. Eurus’s gender makes that more difficult to see; she needs to be female, but it’s much more difficult to elide the two characters without employing a Cumberbatch doppelganger. However, this hint that Eurus is not only male but an actual ‘duplicate’ of her brother should give us pause for thought. With this in mind, I want to use the rest of this chapter to analyse her three forms before TFP.

1.)    Faith!Eurus

I’m certainly not the first to point out that Faith!Eurus is a mirror for John, nor will I be the last – people jumped on it pretty much as soon as TLD aired. There are a few good reasons for this. Firstly, she walks with a cane, a throwback to ASiP – in case we’d forgotten, however, Sherlock has a flashback to John walking with a cane to make the link explicit. We are supposed to link these two characters, the authors are saying pretty clearly. Faith!Eurus is also suicidal, which John was at the start of ASiP, as made clear by the fact he carried a gun – and Faith!Eurus does the same. Sherlock also takes her out for food (for more on the food/sex metaphor, see here X) which he doesn’t with anyone bar John, and we certainly never see him talk so easily with someone who isn’t John. An eagle-eyed tumblr post that I can’t find now also broke my heart in pointing out that Faith!Eurus’s unseen self-harm matches long-sleeved John Watson a little too well.

This isn’t just the show trying to remind us of what John was like in ASiP, however. MP!Eurus is the trauma prodding Sherlock’s sexuality – it’s going to be hell to get through it, but he absolutely needs to do it. This is Sherlock’s trauma, not reminding him that John was suicidal, but forcing him to acknowledge it in the first place, something which Sherlock has buried. We know this because of the way the image of John forces its way into Sherlock’s mind – it’s much like the way Moriarty breaks into TAB. His brain is making a connection that he’s not quite capable of making and it’s knocking him. His deduction that Faith!Eurus is suicidal is accompanied by that image of John, and he then re-enacts the food ritual he completed with John the evening John left his cane behind, before throwing Faith!Eurus’s gun into the Thames – proving that it was Sherlock himself who stopped John from taking his own life.

This is trauma, however, and Sherlock can’t process it in full – hence why the image of John that breaks in is shaky, and Sherlock tries to push it out of his head. It’s also why Faith!Eurus, who in Sherlock’s subconscious could take any form, specifically takes the form of a woman. His gay trauma means that he first has to process John’s suicidal ideation in a heterosexual dynamic, before fully grasping and applying it to his relationship with John. (Chapter 9 X explains how that plays out over the rest of TLD in full detail.)

2.)   E!Eurus

Taking a jump back to surface level plot here, the first thing that grabbed me about E!Eurus was just how minor John’s flirtation with her was. In the terms of a television show which really rides on very high drama (multiple faked deaths and insane cliffhangers for a start), the emotional peak of John’s emotional arc with Mary being that he texted another woman – not went out for lunch, not kissed, not slept with – is bizarre, particularly when we know next to nothing about E!Eurus at this point. It’s incredibly anti-climactic as a means of John falling short of Mary’s view of him. Maybe we can accept it as in line with John Moral-Principles Watson, but it’s difficult to accept as in keeping with the nature of a show whose intent is nearly always to shock.

With this in mind, let’s delve back into the MP to see how that might give this moment greater emotional significance. Chapter 10 X is on the hug scene, and that will deal with John’s revelation of his infidelity in greater detail. For the moment, the most important thing to remember is that John Watson is not real!John – he is heart!John. In other words, we are seeing a similarly heterosexualised re-enactment of Sherlock’s relationship with John.

I will talk a lot in Chapter 10 X about how MP!Mary is linked to Sherlock’s compulsory heterosexuality; at the end of TST, Sherlock substitutes Mary’s body for his because he cannot conceive of John’s queer grief without breaking himself. This is interesting because the E of Eurus actually stands for Elizabeth in this scene (certainly in the credits, and possibly elsewhere, although I can’t remember Sian Brooke actually saying it). Elizabeth is Elizabeth is Mary’s middle name in BBC Sherlock, which looks like another of those shared name links our creators love so well. If so, this begins to justify how Sherlock’s heart is conceiving of its emotions. We will see in TLD that heart!John’s relationship with fem!John in the form of Eurus is aligned with Sherlock’s sexual desire in the form of MP!Irene. Both are hidden and exist only in texts – i.e., they cannot be spoken yet. But they will be.

 3.)    Therapist!Eurus

This one is perhaps the most straightforward on a symbolism level, but also possibly the most significant moment in the series. Therapist!Eurus, plain and simple, is Sherlock’s trauma prodding at John, interrogating him like a therapist would, trying to work him out – and largely failing, right? She can get basically nothing about how he feels about Sherlock out of him. But this is part of MP!Eurus’s ongoing project to get Sherlock to wake up – the Gay Trauma is interrogating John, trying to suss him, and failing.

Except, in the final scene of TLD, without the help of Therapist!Eurus, Sherlock has finally sussed John – it has taken until Culverton’s confession to recognise that John is suicidal without Sherlock (Chapter 9 X). The sigh of relief that is the hug scene (Chapter 10 X) is a kind of acknowledgement of that relief that he’s finally worked out what he’s been trying to cover up with drugs – so much so, that he misses the obvious, which is that John is suicidal again. When John leaves his cane with Sherlock in the hospital, it is a reminder of the first time he is suicidal, and Sherlock doesn’t make the immediate leap in his comatose haze that this is what his psyche has been trying to tell him. Hence you have this moment of immense relief and fade out at the end of the hug scene which suggests the end of the episode, and could feasibly end Sherlock’s life, except we’re started awake with a much more abrupt and troubling ending scene – Therapist!Eurus shooting John. Because, of course, if Sherlock is gone again, John must be suicidal again, and it has taken a few scenes of cognitive dissonance for this to clock. Indeed, it’s not Sherlock himself who clocks – Gay Trauma in the form of Eurus!Therapist returns and shoots John for us. This shooting isn’t, of course, permanent (in one of the worst cliffhanger resolutions in TV history), but that’s because it’s not real – it hasn’t happened yet. It is Sherlock, through MP!Eurus, finally recognising the problem – John.

This is particularly poignant in light of the opening and closing shots of TLD. Although there’s the fucky not-blood red that fills the screen at the end of TLD, apart from that the shots of Norbury shooting Mary and Therapist!Eurus shooting John are one and the same shot. It’s also a stylish shot (what I call split screen, but given that I never went to film school I think that’s just my name for it) and it’s repeated enough times over TLD that it’s pretty clear the creatives want it to be memorable. By the time John gets shot, then, we shouldn’t be caught up in the drama of it – we should be thinking, as so many did, “something’s fucky.”

And it is – but it’s brilliantly fucky! Head over to Chapter 7 X if you want to read about Norbury shooting Mary, but TLDR it’s a metaphor for Mary shooting Sherlock as understood from Sherlock’s warped and depressed perspective – and he’s finally realised what it means! The version in which Mary shooting Sherlock means John losing Mary (the Norbury version) is one in which John is sad, goes to therapy, and the world moves on. Now, however, that Sherlock has recognised that John was suicidal, he can also recognise that Mary shooting Sherlock will make John suicidal again – hence why it’s the same shot. Mary shooting Sherlock is the same as John dying – and the latter is much more important in Sherlock’s mind.

[It’s worth noting that the identical shots we see in TST and TLD don’t match the shot in HLV, although admittedly that one’s not in the MP – it does strike me, however, that the sounds are reversed – HLV sounds like a dart, whereas the MP shots sound like bullets. If anyone has any thoughts on that, do let me know – it has me flummoxed for the moment. If you want meta explaining why the shot from TST is the same as HLV, Chapter 7 is here X, and I’m certainly not the first to hypothesise this. For me, the TLD shot being the same is therefore a logical extension.]

[kob131]

Geez, this person really went all out with this BS rant against the show/staff. www(.)reddit( lcom/r/RWBY/comments/kiqatg/why_rwby_will_always_be_an_okay_show/

... You know I have been trying to step away from directly addressing RWBY bullshit. But...fuck it here.

If you ever talked to me about how I felt about RWBY, I would say that RWBY pre-Volume 8 has been a touchy subject for me. I felt very validated by two videos, "Why RWBY is Disappointing" and "The White Fang Problem".

Yes yes, and people with parental issues feel validated by their abusive spouse. That means nothing, especially given that one of those videos you mentioned is riddled with bullshit.

"Why RWBY is Disappointing" validated my criticism of RWBYs writing. The fact that Miles and Kerry can't and refuse to take any kind of criticism that doesn't hurt their feelings is complete [insert bad word here]. All criticism is going to hurt your feelings. Yes, you should probably ignore the long winded rants that make themselves out to be self important- why is there a mirror here? But there is truth to all criticism.

And there’s a kernel of truth in the best lies- they’re still LIES.

Not to mention the video you mentioned here (which I am assuming is Hbomberguy’s) pulls the SAME SHIT it calls out. Like say...decrying critics pesonally attacking the writers...while proclaiming Jaune and Neptune as self inserts even though Miles AND Kerry is on the record saying that at least Jaune isn’t written by his voice actor.

I'm currently learning about Branding and how important it is to know your audience. Take self.care breaks, talk with someone you trust. Someone who isn't Miles or Kerry! If your reading this. An outside perspective can help. The reason I say that is because if you two constantly talk to each other you're going to end up in an echo chamber. TALK TO FIONA! She's literally your target audience!

Because hey, a man who contradicts himself numerous times and made personal attacks on the creators that only the most malicious and self righteous do is SOOOO trustworthy right? 

Remember that tweet Hbomb brought up in his video as an example of criticism the creators should listen to? The one that demanded Miles get back to work and tried to use the catchphrase of his dead friend to manipulate him?

What a fucking target audience.

I know they mentioned ‘Fiona’ (likely the character’s voice actress) but there’s a supposed fan, one that pretty much sums up the critics, and a perfect example why it gets tossed out.

Moving on, the other video validated something I wish it didn't. "The White Fang Problem" brought to light something I knew was there but either ignored or I wasn't thinking. The White Fang has always made me a little uncomfortable. As a minority, it didn't translate well in my head. The minority are the bad guys. The Civil rights group were the bad guys. I brushed it off for a long time but after that video I couldn't.

Ah huh. So uh, the existence of Blake, Ghira, Kali, Sun, Illa, Velvet, Neon ect. is just incovienable to you huh? And don’t give me that ‘But civil rights group!’- The first episode had them break up a peaceful protest and it’s repeatedly hammered home that the current White Fang doesn’t give a SHIT about equal rights. And no, that concept is not racist- Judging from a story I read, that happened to the New Black Panthers in REAL LIFE.

It became a moral issue. Watching RWBY became a moral issue. RWBY is still pushing right wing talking points.-

Being right of you is not right wing, Especially given how you just acted.

I dont believe Miles and Kerry are racist. I do believe that Miles and Kerry both hold skewed beliefs in what right and wrong is.

Projection.

The way Miles and Kerry treat self defense and protest shows that they know nothing about being Black. They didn't do their research. They didn't talk to minorities about how they were being portrayed. They simply believed that they were right and we were wrong.

Ah huh, ah huh, ah huh-

Monty wrote the White Fang this way. You know, the ASIAN man of FOUR NATIONALITIES. So uh, congrats on saying at the absolute most- Nothing.

Now these two videos are old news. They've been posted on this very same subreddit. But you can't go around and say how much of a progressive and open minded individual you are when the fact that RWBY is a racist show and treats minorities very badly. So no one talks about them.

Or that, as I showed: these videos are bullshit.

Also its kinda homophobic too, not because of Bumblby but because despite Tera and Saphorn being a happy married couple they never kiss on screen. Have you seen happy married couples? Have you seen gay happy married couples? They literally do nothing but kiss. Its cute and adorable and deserves to be spread as far and wide. Despite the show having two straight couple kisses, granted one was in Volume but still, they couldn't get the married couple to kiss? Just saying.

... And not all gay couples are the same, even if I’m sure you’re thinking of TEENAGERS.

You know, judging people based on a preconcieved notion (AKA stereotyping) is pretty fucking bigoted itself...

Watch people be in the comments typing away that this isn't a romance show and how I shouldn't expect romance in an action adventure show despite the long list of evidence to the contrary.

Ah yes, that long list of ONE kiss by a TORPEDOED SHIP.

Such convincing rhetoric.

So you can see I was not coming into Volume 8 with my rose colored glasses. I'm sure many of you hate me because of all my comments, but I don't care. I was ready to leave RWBY. I didn't care. RWBY had taken up so much of my life but I don't care. I was not going to support a show that didn't improve.

Ah huh-

You just came in with jade-colored glass and accepted anything that validated you instead of questioning yourself. You talk about branding but that’s ALL you’ve branded yourself as.

So I watched. And something happened. Something strange. RWBY was moving in a direction I didn't expect it to. Oscar got what he deserved. The Heros were oblivious to the danger that is Salem. Things were headed in the direction that would change the characters forever. It'll be just like Beacon but better. And then they had to ruin it.

Oh we are about to get some real bullshit.

Oscar somehow convinces Hazel to betray Salem. What could have been an avenue to a multi season story arc for Oscar that included the stories villains became a shitty uninspired redemption arc. Kill me.

No he didn’t and this has been something hinted at since Volume 4.

There's still hope for the season but at this point I lost all hope. 

This is the scene that killed Volume 8 for me. Oscar should not be the one who defeats Salem. In fact he should be an avenue to learn more about the villains. He served his purpose with the heroes, now he has a new arc with the villains. Oscar doesn't turn evil, but he's like a conscious. Salem doesn't want to kill him because he can be useful in finding the last remaining relics and maidens.

Assumptions.

Oscar has a heart to heart with all the villains including Salem. Oscar learns to be his own man and accepts he's now one with Ozma but he doesn't have to be another Ozma. He doesn't have to make the same decisions.

Its a great Arc for Oscar. It also makes sense for his character. Ozma feels Salem is pure evil but Oscar can learn for himself.

Headcanon.

But they won't do that. Instead they're going to take the easy way out. Like always.

Bias getting in the way.

Miles and Kerry love wrapping up each season in a little bow. This is why RWBY is so okay.

They say as every RWBY Volumes ends in a cliffhanger.

This is Beacon but if Miles and Kerry thought that RWBY should still be in Beacon. This is Beacon but without major character death. This is Beacon but the main villain loses because the heroes can't lose. Cinder isn't threatening. None of the villains are. Salem is in a Grimm! She should know everything! Why is there no creativity? Why is she not an over powered mess in A GRIMM!? Her own domain?! Why are the writers writing her not as a powerful goddess reaffirming her as a threat but as a human being. Yes I know what that sounds like but hear me out.

‘None of the villains are threatening!’

‘WHY IS THE MAIN VILLAIN NOT BEING TREATED AS THREATENING LIKE I THINK SHE IS!’

‘Why is there no creativity?’

‘DO THE MOST UNCREATIVE THING POSSIBLE!’

How about I keep mocking you?

If Salem can be out smarted by a 10 year old boy, why did it take Ozma so long to defeat her? Oscar should fail. RWBY should fail. They should go through character arcs that help them better understand Salem. Because that's how you defeat Salem.

Pushing your own thoughts onto the show. Also assumptions AGAIN.

I always believed that Ozma and Salem are very similar to Ruby and Weiss. Yes I know how it sounds but it makes sense.-

Too bad your AU fanfic doesn’t matter.

But they won't. Miles and Kerry will use Oscar to defeat Salem. Why? Who knows at this point. I dont know why Miles and Kerry keep pushing Oscar into the spotlight. Its exactly how they treated Jaune Pre-Volume 7. Jaune had to be the focus so often we hated him. And they're doing it again with Oscar

Ah huh. You know, the whole NOTHING Jaune did in Volume 6 was SOOO spotlight stealing, along with his REMOVAL FROM THE CAST FOR SEVERAL EPISODES.

Wanna bet this is another case of ‘penis on screen, me hate’?

They refuse learn and they refuse to improve. If Volume 8 doesn't improve im leaving RWBY. It doesn't matter to any of you. I'm saying it more for myself. So I don't continue with a show that constantly disappoints me. But more so, I don't support a show that views people like me as lesser. If the writing improves it proves that they can grow and get better but if it doesn't it means they will continue to treat Faunus as misguided and horrible characters. And I refuse to support a show that uses my likeness to get brownie points from people who are unaffected by such messages.

A. No, that’s who refused to do self reflection and improve.

B. Should have done that in the first place.

C. No, once again- You blind yourself from the shit that disproves you.

D. You heard him- Treat the Fanaus like shit and make the humans in the right. You know, the opposite what the show is doing now since it’s SOOO horrible.

E. You are not the center of the universe.

[ikenbar]

Mr. Love: Ike's Choice CH5 PT6

Hehehe some Kiro angst is here!! And some fluff and resolution as well!! This'll be a good part so stay tuned!! :D

Warnings: One curse word but other then that its literally just angst, fluff, and resolution. Unless you got a problem with cliffhangers. Then you got another thing coming...

(Chapter Five (Kiro and Youran) Prologue and part one, two, three, four and five can be found here~)

((Please read the author’s note (and the beginning of the story) on chapter one part one if you’re new here :D))

Chapter Five:

Part six:

After that day, we had rescheduled the shooting for a couple days later that week. When the day came, I didn’t attend. Leaving Bart to take care of the field work as usual as I returned to behind my desk. Where I was meant to be.

It had taken some time but I was finally able to convince Victor to let me drive a car alone. Granted, It had GPS tracking so I was never really alone but it was nice to finally have control of my driving again. The drive to and from work where I was alone and lost in my thoughts that I dreaded being lost in. Being in control of the driving stopped me from going mad.

 I had sent my phone to be fixed and it returned to me as good as new. I was told that there had been a virus in it. Even though I didn’t believe them, it was nice to have my phone back. But with my newly fixed phone, I had gotten phone call after phone call from people. I only answered a select few, ignoring the ones from Gavin and Kiro. Youran would call too. No matter how badly I wanted to be left alone, I couldn’t just leave her hanging.

Youran was really understanding and, though she didn’t know what had happened, she was willing to help me feel better. Offering coffee dates in the morning just to talk or to even jog with me on the weekends. I tried telling her no. I tried pushing her away to be left alone. I wanted space to think… but the moment I saw her smiling eyes in my mind, I swayed into agreeing to anything she asked.

Youran had posted an interview with the Key. Clearing his name and posing the fact that he was really framed and someone else had been using his name. After it was posted, the hacking had stopped and our websites were back to normal. I had tried listening to the interview but couldn’t make it all the way through without the memories from under the studio sending me into a migraine. 

I had spent most of my time working but it was just to keep out of my mind. When I wasn’t working, I was working on the board I had put together in my apartment. It had all the information that I had about Montu and, now, Black Swan. Though there wasn’t much, it was something. Gavin often knocked at my door to check on me. But after a week of no answer, he stopped coming by.

Two weeks had passed and I was in my office working on my biweekly report for Victor when a soft knocking came from the door. I looked up and saw Minor standing there, smiling kindly and holding a mug in his hands. “Yes?” I asked, returning my attention to my computer.

“You’ve been working so hard this past week,” Minor walked into the room and placed the drink down in front of me, “I figured you could use a break! Stretch your legs, brighten the mind...” I glanced at the drink. Minor noticed and said, “It’s hot chocolate! It’s supposed to be comforting!”

“I’m fine.” I said impassively, returning my focus to the computer. Minor drummed his fingers on the mug.

“...You know,” He sighed, “Everyone is worried about you. No one can remember the last time you’ve eaten. Or… left the office in general. You’re here before anyone else is and are still here when everyone has left… Gavin even told me you’ve been ignoring him… Miss. Ike, you need to re-”

“I appreciate your concern,” I spoke impassively, “But I’m fine. It’s just work. And, with everything that happened a couple of weeks ago-” I stopped for a second as images flashed into my mind from that day, “... we are running behind schedule.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, steaming the pain that rose in my temples. Minor reached out to me but was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off on my phone. I picked it up and stood from my chair. “I’ve got to pick up my brother. I’ll be back in ten minutes. When I come back, I want this drink off my desk.”

Minor sighed, “Yes mam.”

>>>

I was sitting at the steering wheel reading my emails as I waited for Sam to come out of class. The passenger side door opened and Sam popped into the car excitedly. “Hey, Ike!” He sung, “How are you?”

“Fine.” The word had lost its meaning at this point, “How was school?”

“Not bad, but I heard something today!” Sam spoke quickly as I turned the car on, “Someone said the Carnival was in town! Can we go??” I froze.

>>>

“Did you hear!?” Kiro spoke excitedly over the phone, “The carnival is coming to town! We should go together!”

“Kiro, don’t you realize how dangerous this could be?” I sighed, “If word got out that you were at the carnival-”

“I’ll be safe! I promise!!” Kiro pleaded, “Come on, Super Stranger! I want to hang out with you!” My face grew hot as I stayed speechless. Superstar Kiro wanted to hangout with me! Of all people! “What? You don’t seriously think this my first time in public, do you?” Kiro teased, “I’ll wear a disguise! We’ll be fine! Trust me!”

>>>

I grimised and shook my head. “No.” I answered resoundly, shifting the car out of park.

“Aw come on!” Sam whined, “But it’s friday! And they’ll be gone by this weekend”

“No, Sam.”

“But I feel like I haven’t seen you all week!” Sam pouted, “You haven’t been over for dinner and we rarely talk when you pick me up... You’ve been so distant.” I paused, tapping on the steering wheel. Feeling Sam's eyes on me, I flashed a glance at him. His eyes were pleading. A pain shot through my chest.  “I… I know something happened to you last week.” Sam started playing with his backpack. “And even though you won’t tell me what happened exactly, I miss you… Please, Ike?” I tightened my grip on the wheel and glared at the road. Unable to help myself, I looked over to Sam. He was wearing the puppy eyes that he had used countless times before. I quickly looked back at the road.

Not again. I will not let those damn eyes get to me again…. No… no!... damn it.

I sighed deeply and, after stopping at a stop light, pulled out my phone. I dialed a number then held my phone up to my ear.

“Hello! This is Ikamara Bikira’s office!” Minor chimed, “She is currently out right now but I can leave a message!”

“Minor, it’s me.” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose, “I’m not coming back to the office. I’m… taking that break.” Sam cheered from next to me.

“Really?!” Minor excitedly asked, “What made you change your mind? Was it my speech?!”

“No. It was my power hungry brother." I playfully glared at Sam, "Tell the office that if they need anything they should go to Bart before calling me… and not a word of this is to be repeated to Gavin, understand?!”

>>>

“Where should we go first!?” Asked a very all over the place Sam. We were standing at the front gate of the carnival. Screams and music played with our ears as the smell of fried goods and sweet treats did our noses. “We could go on the rides! Or play the games! I thought I saw a shooting game!! Ike, are you still a good shot?!”

“Of course I am.” I said as I looked around, “Just remember, we are only here for a little bit. I still have work I need to get back to”

“Don’t you always?” Sighed Sam, “Just enjoy the time spent with your favorite foster brother!! So, where do you want to go first??” 

“The ticket desk.” I arched an eyebrow, “Before we go anywhere, we need to pay for-” I was cut short as a bear approached us. Or more, a man in a bear costume.

“Ho ho ho!” He laughed, doing a little jig, “Welcome to the carnival! I’m Chuckles the Bear!” Chuckles chuckled, further extenuating his point, “Would you folks like to win some free tickets?!”

“Boy, would we!” Sam jumped excitedly. I hesitated. Something about this bear seemed familiar.

“Alright, little boy!” Chuckles patted Sam’s head, “All you gotta do is answer one question! Ready?” Sam nodded seriously, bracing himself.

“What color…” Chuckles paused for dramatic effect, “... is the sky?!” Sam threw his head up in the air.

“Well, today it’s looking pretty blue.” He said, pursing his lips slightly.

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!” Chuckles reached into his pocket and pulled out a large batch of tickets. He handed them out to Sam, “Here you go little boy!”

“Yay!!” Sam cheered and took the tickets. He held them out victoriously to me, “Now we don’t have to pay for tickets!” 

“Yeah...” I said slowly, looking up at the bear, “Thanks.”

“No problem!” Chuckles chuckled, “Just a little nice deed from your good ol friend Chuckles! I’ll see you folks around the park!” Chuckles turned and waved goodbye to us. Sam waved enthusiastically back.

“Bye!” He called, “And thank you!!” I narrowed my eyes. 

“Something about that bear was fishy.” I murmured.

“Who cares?!” Sam grabbed my hand again, “Let’s go!”

With that, Sam and I explored the park. We went on rides, played games, ate food. I was quick to notice that Chuckles was never too far from us. He was either selling balloons close by, playing a game a couple of stalls away, he even manned the cotton candy stand when we bought some. Though, the term 'bought' was used lightly as he wouldn’t let us pay for it.

Eventually, I had had enough.

I approached Chuckles from behind as he was handing a balloon to a little girl. “Here you are!” He said gleefully, “Thank you for the candy!!”

“What kind of employee trades a balloon for a piece of candy?” I asked, making Chuckles jump, “It’s a terrible way to run a carnival if you ask me.”

“Though, no one is complaining!” Sam spoke up from next to me, pulling his nearly full cart of prizes with him, “You can keep giving away free stuff if you feel like it! Especially to us!” I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms.

“What’s your deal?” I growled, “You’ve been following us all day.” 

“What are you talking about, Miss. Lady?!” Chuckles shrugged and rocked back and forth, feigning childlike innocence, “I’m just a kind and harmless bear!”

“I want answers, bear.” I snapped, startling the bear once again, “Don’t think I’m above beheading you in front of all these children.”

“Ok! Ok!” The bear’s voice had changed dramatically, “I’ll tell you just don’t take off my head! You’ll only end up making a scene.” I froze. I knew that voice all too well. Though it had been a long time since I had heard it.

“Kiro?” I asked in a harsh whisper. Chuckles looked around then lifted his head. A bright blue eyed Kiro smiled at me nervously.

“Hey, Super Stranger.” He laughed weakly, “Long time no see!” Sam gasped dramatically from next to me.

“KI-” He started. I threw my hand over his mouth.

“Shh!!” Kiro and I said quickly. Kiro dropped his bear head and looked around again.

“Can we talk somewhere a bit more private?” He asked through the mask.

>>>

“Coast is clear.” I let down the flap to the cleaning tent and walked back to the boys. Kiro took off his bear costume and sighed.

“Thank goodness.” He breathed, “That costume was so hot.”

“It’s Kiro!” Sam whispered excitedly as he jumped in place, “Ike! Ike, look! It’s Kiro!!”

“I know.” I scowled, folding my arms across my chest, “What are you doing here, Kiro?"

“I wanted to see the carnival!” Kiro smiled weakly at me. I deepened my glare, “And…. I also wanted to see you.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Sam stared at the both of us, awestruck.

“Ike!!” Said Sam, exasperatedly, “Kiro just said he wanted to see you?!?! What haven’t you been telling me!?”

“Remember when I got trapped under the studio and came out a mess?”

“Yeah?”

“He is the reason that happened.”

Sam gasped dramatically and scooted closer to me. Kiro sighed, “I thought I told you it wasn’t me! Didn’t you see Youran’s interview?”

“Yeah, I’m still not convinced.” I growled.

“Well, what can I do to convince you??" Kiro took a step closer to me, "Would you like more tickets? How bout a ride on the ferris wheel! I can get you the best seats! You can overlook all of Loveland from there!”

“Pass.” I turned around to the tent opening, “Goodbye, Key.”

“Ike, please.” Kiro grabbed my arm, “Please let me make this up to you. I hate the idea that you hate me. Just, let me do something! Or, better yet, you do something! Yell at me! Beat me if you want!” I stayed where I was, fighting with the anger in my chest. This man just treated me the same as everyone else did in my life, and he expects me just to let it go?! “W-wait!” Kiro turned me around and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a little white handkerchief. “Don’t you want this back?” He asked, handing it to me. I didn’t take it. I just stared at it as memories of all the times he got hurt poured into my mind. It was all because of me! Why was he fighting so hard to come back to me? It seemed wrong. What was he trying to prove?!

Kiro sighed and dropped his hand to his side. “i know I hurt you.” His voice cracked. , “I know there are things I need to make up for and I understand it can take some time… I-I just… want to be your sidekick again.” Kiro’s last words were enough to obliterate whatever anger had. I fought to bring it back. He lied to you! He broke your heart! I repeated that in my head as I finally looked up at  him. Kiro’s eyes were sparkling. But it wasn’t the regular sparkle that made fans weak. It was the kind of sparkle that came from the water that pooled under his eyes. 

My heart shattered. 

I made Kiro cry.

 I was probably the only person on earth to make Kiro cry. That was a badge I never wanted to bear. 

I relaxed my body as I looked at him. Time seemed to pass slowly as we held our breaths, struggling to keep the silence. Eventually, Sam tugged at my shirt. “I know I’m supposed to hate him right now,” Sam said with a strain in his voice, “but even I can’t be angry at that face.” Kiro shifted his eyes to Sam.

“Sorry.” He said, struggling to maintain his smile through a forced chuckle, “I-” I walked up to Kiro, cutting him off. I took the handkerchief and brushed it under his eye, stopping a tear from rolling down his cheek. Kiro’s eyes flashed a look of surprise. I examined his face a little longer. Then sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.

“... Why did you have to pull the sidekick card?” I said, punching him weakly on the arm. Kiro’s body tensed. I shook my head and pulled him into an hug. Kiro stalled a moment, but it didn’t take him long to reciprocate. He held me tightly as we stood together in silence. I tightened my grip on him. I was afraid that, if we separated, something would happen to make me lose him. To lose myself. He brought me so much light. How could I have just let that go?

After a long moment, I felt something hit my side. I looked down. Sam had invited himself in on the hug. I smiled and patted his head. Kiro looked down at Sam, wiping his face as he laughed. “Hey, kid.” Kiro rubbed Sam’s head, “If you wanted a hug, just say so!”

“Really?!” Sam beamed. 

“Why don’t we get out of this tent first?” I pushed away from the boys’ embrace and pocketed my handkerchief. Kiro looked at me hopefully. 

“Can... I join you?” He asked, anticipation dripping from his tongue.

“It’s to be expected.” I arched an eyebrow and folded my arms, “I do believe I promised a certain someone a day at the carnival.” I smirked. Kiro smiled brightly, sending the long missed feeling of butterflies in my stomach. That smile didn’t last long though as Kiro suddenly frowned.

“Wait, does this mean I have to put back on the bear suit?”

(Next)

[blaster-aichi]

Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 14 things

links lead to images posted on discord because this post is already far too absurdly long, have too many thoughts, what a rollercoaster ride this was

Shuka’s opening a gateway into the past beneath herself and Emi indicted Link Joker Gate flashbacks because of its appearance

If it wasn’t demonstrated prior to this episode, it’s apparent how Aichi is far more malicious than any incarnation of past (i.e. his soldiers ready to maim or straight up murder Emi and Shuka , having Kai-kun abducted; whether either was 100% intended to occur the way they did is anyone’s guess)

Miwa as a Sanctuary Knight: there’s two points to this          — it’s an astonishing turn as he was part of the Mates during Legion Mate — the season which many people have acknowledged the parallels to — but working beneath Aichi turns that on its head as well as the implication that Aichi’s force was concentrated around the Miyaji Cardfight Club, as well as giving a fifth member to his faction in similar vein to Kourin of Legion Mate.         — it splits up the Kai/Miwa/Ibuki trio down the same lines as Ultra Rare; Suiko and Ibuki being firmly aligned with Emi while Kourin and Miwa fall under Aichi’s command. Rekka and Kai-kun would serve as unaccounted for, though it’s more clear-cut in his case, as Rekka made her appearance and her allegiance known at the same time as Kourin entered the fray, as well as already fighting on the side of restoring the timeline to its proper state before Suiko was pulled into activity.         — and it was foreshadowed right before our eyes when they announced IF 14 would be centred around Kai-kun.

"Whenever I hear the name "Toshiki Kai”, for some reason, I get chills”. It’s a strange statement with his behaviour later in the episode, seeming to recognize and feign friendliness with Ibuki and Kai-kun. The only possibility can think of for this line is Miwa, like Aichi and Emi (and the rest of the Sanctuary Knights), is his Outside World self pulled into IF World and his memories tampered with, he might be privy enough to his relationship with the other two for the sake of his act when meeting with them.

Kai-kun hugging Ibuki with no restraint. Rena down. Fuck that’s so soft.

9 years of being dead or arseholes who abandoned their child, we get Mama and Papa and the whole family is adorable! Mama Kai and Shizuka would get along so well, they’re two peas in a pod aaaaa        — Toshi also pointed how out the Kai family love of curry persists to this day and god bless.

me last night on call with Courtney: “There has to be a reason why Aichi hates Vanguard specifically just because of not meeting Kai-kun. It wouldn’t be any more significant than literally anything else. Hey, Aichi, why not hate rock music instead or something?” Kai-kun’s room: this kid loves rock, how dare you

Said room also makes it feel like the show is saying Vanguard/Aichi ruined Kai-kun’s life as opposed to, you know, his parents abandoning him. Bushi no—

It took just his name. That was it.

The static within the audio around Aichi is a neat touch when there feels to be a theme of glitching in the ED and it isn’t as though either reality is “wrong”, just distorted.

Just how they go about instilling memories of Aichi in comparison to Legion Mate is fascinating. In Legion Mate, the Mates were able to cleanly remember as their fights progressed and able to accept that Aichi existed prior to the season; we don’t know the extent of the changes to their lives as a result of his disappearance, but here is a different story. Kai-kun’s entire life has been altered as a result of the distortion and he isn’t able to simply see Aichi in his memories and realize that someone is missing from his past, and it takes a toll on him for these conflicting memories from another life to present themselves to him.

One has to wonder what Shizuka is going through in regards to Aichi vanishing, but also what Kai-kun’s parents must think if they were to investigate the commotion coming from his room suddenly to see him and everyone else gone and the disarray left from just how they left.

IF being the seemingly most lighthearted season with the darkest cliffhanger (topping even Link Joker and Legion Mate, because nothing comes to mind that could honestly match this), even if we know they would never dare kill off Kai-kun but the insinuation for the characters that he could be dead is chilling, particularly when they consist of his childhood friends, young girls and the root being a boy seeking him out, whose intentions around it we don't know and whom we've seen destablize (albeit in another continuity) when it comes to Kai-kun, so imagine the ramification and what it could do to his state of mind (or Ibuki, Miwa, Emi and Shuka’s, for that matter)  if they really did play with the idea of killing him off.

Horizontal Oath

God bless this ED, it’s so good

There’s a lot in here about the clashing realities around Kai-kun and it’s nice to know the season isn’t overlooking the incredibly weighted implications of putting him in this position.

The fire spurning to life, while a nice nod to his usual choice of Kagero an its absence in his current life, could also be representative that, while he has many hobbies in his IF life, Vanguard is where his passion truly lies above all, as he grips it and contemplates the people who should be around him.

Emi, Ibuki and Miwa occupying the same spots in the frames they exist in is a neat choice.

Kai rushing towards the light/Blaster Blade only for the card to vanish as his fingers nears it screams of midpoint Legion Mate where the Mates finally got a glimpse of Aichi, to hear his own request that they give up. As the preview shows them in the same location, it’s possible 15 will serve as the first, failed attempt to bring Aichi back to his senses and force the group to pick themselves up and try again in the same way the Leon episodes served in Legion Mate, signified by the repeated animation usage when Kai-kun runs towards Blaster Blade a second time.

The price Kai-kun is going to pay is not being overlooked. To restore the timeline, it’s apparent that he’ll have to sacrifice his IF life and parents, inflicting unto him the anguish of his original Manga/Reboot continuity life and the hardships that came with it  The darkness that emanates from his younger self and the glimpses of that original life as he kneels demonstrates that, while he might accept that outcome, it’s not about to be an easy task, understandable.       — Initially had suspected from the preview for 14 that this issue might be raised with him and he would reject erasing everything he knows and have to be brought around to the idea, but the ED actually refutes this, as he faces everything head-on.       — In doing so, it speaks to his character and the strength to allow this incredibly high price, as by relinquishing everything he knows, he’s able to regain the friends he made through Vanguard even with the knowledge of the pain and strife that he’ll endure and allow Emi to have her family back, even at the cost of his own.       — Additionally, as the shot closes in on him and he yells/roars, it appears he could be in pain from having to surrender this version of himself and his life; but ultimately does so as he fades while Dragonic Overlord becomes the more dominant face, signifying his reclaiming his Vanguard and his original life.

This resolve to allow the timeline to be returned to its rightful state also comes through beneath the starry sky that corrects itself, with Kai-kun standing at the back of Emi’s group, the only one of them fated to disappear by setting things right. Though the camera continues on past him, towards the light that grows brighter and consumes everything — perhaps a symbol of the corrected timeline taking hold — he doesn’t so much as glance back, but looks ahead to the sky, even with the reality that he and his world will be no more.

[2012 Fanguard voice] Bench-chan lives on.

Numerous people in YouTube comments remarked that Horizontal Oath amplifies the Legion Mate atmosphere and its emphasis on Kai-kun whilst doing so is notable. As that was his journey to bring Aichi back and the current is Emi’s, the shift in tone with this new ED and new arc incorporating him heavily is a nice reflection of that when the OP remains the same.      — There is an implication, though, that Emi might start to fall back from the protagonist role, as she appears far more passive in the ED while Kai-kun stands front and centre. When the two of them and Shuka are standing in a field, Emi’s feet are surrounded by shade, and when looking to the sun, she stands on the edge of the formation, seeming far more distant. At the same time, Shuka is on the other side, both of the group as a whole and Kai-kun specifically, with her back to the others. Her guilt has been an enormous factor since the truth of her actions came to light and how they weigh on her, but this feels as though her attention shifting away from Emi and towards Kai-kun as a means of atoning for her mistake.     — Going to be hopeful that they can balance what Aichi means to Emi and Kai-kun in similar vein to Kai-kun and Naoki of Legion Mate, so that they both share an equal part in the fight going forward.

IF 15

Thank goodness, we’re getting answers about Aichi, Takuto and the Sanctuary Knights, let’s go.

Aichi pointing a sword at Ibuki and (Kourin) opening up a fissure beneath the both of them — and right in front of Kai-kun — is a stark contrast to the Aichi(s) we’ve known until now, as how he was seen by Kai-kun was something of great importance to him, but depending on the context of the scene, it’s apparent that this version of him gives no fucks about anything of the sort.

Something that’s been on my mind within the last week is that, aside from the scene in the forest when he was acting seemingly normal, Aichi’s right eye is never detailed beneath his visor, or even when he overrode Majesty Lord (typically, his hair doesn’t completely conceal his eye while in a unit). The theories that came to mind were heterochromia, like Voidkuto, a permanent Psyqualia glow or it’s completely blank in typical possession/brainwashed fashion (or some sort of visual cue pertaining to the fact that a great deal is off about him) but by putting on the airs of normality, he was able to mask it as a normal eye when meeting with Shuka.

[darlingpetao3]

Seducing the Gem (Nash Wells x Reader, Chapter 1/9)

Rating: M (Smut in Chapter 6 only)

Summary: When a mysterious package shows up at your front door, you (a famous Romance novelist) are hurtled from your virtually uneventful life and into one of danger and adventure. In a quest to save your captured friend Caitlin from impending harm, you run into a suave adventurer named Nash who helps you along the way. Or is the charming Nash simply after something in your possession...?

A/N: My Romancing the Stone AU is finally here!! Again, check out the film if you haven’t already (it’s one of my favourites). This has been such a fun series for me to write and I really hope you enjoy it! Major MAJOR thanks to @mintchipcupcake​ for being my beta-reader for this story! (You’re amazing!!) Let me know if any of you would like to be tagged for upcoming chapters. There will be nine installments total and I will do my best to post every Tuesday.

The altered-human stood before me, looming in the shadows of my apartment. His fists glowed with the light of a thousand suns.

“I know who you are,” his voice croaked. A shiver ran down my back. Yes, I was only in my lace nighty, but I was by no means cold.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I feigned innocence. He took calculated steps towards me, and I knew I’d have to act quickly. This guy was not about to try to kill me a second time.

Luckily, ‘acting quickly’ was something I was exceptional at doing.

The brusque altered-human grunted, then lunged at me with a fiery fist. Little did he know that wouldn’t do much.

I saw the punch coming as if it was in slow motion and dodged his attack, watching his hand glide by my head at a turtle’s pace. I let the momentum return to normal before grabbing his wrist and uttering, “You came to the wrong house, pal.”

It was easy to flip him; he made a thump on my hardwood floor and groaned at the impact. I took that opportunity to run circles around him so fast that I could feel the electricity coursing through my veins until it culminated into a bolt of lightning in my hand.

Power up, baby.

I let the bolt fly, dead straight, until it connected with the altered-human’s chest. He shouted, and the impact of the shot hurtled him out my window to the street below.

There was a commotion outside - voices of distressed concern. I knew I’d be in some serious shit, and not just because I threw a man out my window.

I’d be locked up for being an altered-human too.

There was no time to collect any personal items, just my coat, and I knew my powers wouldn’t work again right away. It always took a while for them to store back up. The sirens already blared, announcing the authorities’ arrival. I climbed out the window of my bedroom and shimmied down the fire escape. Only, in my haste, my bare foot slipped and I lost my hold on the wet metal ladder. I screamed for what I thought would be my final act as a living being.

But there was suddenly a big, muscular arm wrapped around my nearly naked self. The wind whipped at my face, blowing my hair every which way. It wasn’t until I was safely set on the ground that I finally saw the face of my swinging saviour. But I’d know that touch anywhere.

My beloved Chase. The one man I trusted. The only real man in this godforsaken city.

“Aw, did you dress down for me?” he said cheekily, looking my scantily clad body up and down.

“Shut it, the cops are here,” I replied, trying to hide my blush, “and they’ll be after you too.”

“Then we better high-tail it.” Chase summoned his grappling hook into the barrel of his gun. “How ‘bout a kiss for the road?”

I pressed up onto the balls of my feet to ghost his lips with mine.

“How about I save us first, then you kiss me later?” I snatch the device from his hand. “Hold on.”

~

You can’t help but swoon at your desk, fanning your face with your hand. You could write about these two forever! However, you think that this is the perfect cliffhanger ending to your latest fantasy-romance manuscript. It will set up Book Two in the series wonderfully.

“You’ve done it again,” you congratulate yourself on a job well done. It’s been quite the journey in writing this, and of course, you’ve fallen in love with yet another male character you’ve created.

But there’s just something about Chase that makes him your favourite. You think that your readers are really going to like him, fall in love with him as you have.

Deciding you need to celebrate finishing your draft, you make your way to the kitchen in your sweats, hoodie, and fluffy socks. In doing so, you pass the numerous hanging posters of your New York Times bestselling novels and fanart done by fans.

Humming a tune to yourself, you make a beeline for the fridge, and - there it is - the small personal-sized cake you had bought for this moment. You knew you’d finish the book today, and if the happy-cliffhanger-ever-after ending wasn’t something to look forward to, the cake definitely was.

Maybe you’ll bust out the hot chocolate too.

And perhaps some Bailey’s to go with it. And a bubble bath? Oh, tonight was going to be fabulous!

It’s just you living alone in your apartment, along with all the characters you’d created, residing in your head and begging to have their stories told on paper. You didn’t win the Romance Writer of the Year Award for being a slacker. You didn’t have time for anything else. You didn’t have time for anyone else, or so you continuously tell yourself. However, if a handsome and dashing man like Chase were ever to enter your life, who knows?

What would it be like to be swooped in on and saved like that? What would it be like to save him in return? Alas, you think, you will never find out. You live a virtually uneventful life. You don’t have fictitious altered-human powers (though you wished you did), there’s no one chasing you or wanting to kill you. Likewise, there was no significant-other on the horizon, and now you feared that no one would ever compare to the fictional man you’d created for your latest novel.

These novels are your only means of romance and fantastic adventures. You live in your own creations. It’s an escape - An opportunity to live something so impossible.

Curling up on the couch, you sip your spiked hot cocoa and shovel spoonfuls of the delicious cake in your mouth.

“Here’s to you, Chase,” you toast the imaginary hero in your life.

***

You wake up to an incessant vibration. And while that may sound like a fun way to wake up, it’s just your phone.

Ew, someone’s calling me.

You give a quick stretch from your position on the couch where you’d fallen asleep last night before answering the call.

Strange… it’s an Unknown Caller.

Normally, you’d leave it. After all, as you like to say, “If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.” But today, you think, why not? You’re still on cloud nine from finishing your book.

“Hello?” you answer. There’s no reply, but the call still hasn’t dropped. Someone is still there. “Hello?” you try again.

Whoever it is on the other line ends the call, and you’re left incredibly confused. It’s too early in the morning for this-

Oh, shit!

You just remember you have a meeting with your publisher this morning! Shit! You throw your blanket off of you and dash to your bedroom to make yourself at least semi-professional looking. You think you manage to pull it off, too, but you know you won’t look half as gorgeous as Mrs. West-Allen.

As you scoop up your manuscript and take one step out the door, you see a small package that must have been delivered recently. What shocks you most is the name of the sender.

Ronald Raymond.

But that’s impossible. Ronnie, Caitlin’s fiancé, he’s dead…

You shove it back inside your apartment with your foot. That weirdness can wait, you’ve got a book to sell. Ahh!

It’s a brisk nearly-winter day in Central City. The snow hasn’t begun to fall quite yet, but you’re anticipating it. I wonder what it would be like to write about Chase and his adventures in the snow. Imagine being cozied up next to him in an abandoned cabin with a fireplace and a bearskin rug-

Okay, you are so going to write these thoughts down when you get the next chance. It could be fodder for the sequel!

By the time you make it to Jitters, Iris West-Allen is heading to sit down in one of the large comfy leather chairs in the middle of the cafe with two coffees. You sigh in relief that she’d only just arrived too.

“Hey, you!” she greets you. “There’s my favourite author!”

“Iris, hi,” you take the coffee she offers and you both air kiss each other’s cheeks.

“Is that the manuscript?” Your publisher points to the massive tome of printed-out pages under your shoulder.

“It most certainly is!”

Iris claps her hands together once. “I’m so excited to read it. Now sit, sit. We have lots to discuss.”

Over the next forty-five minutes, you both discuss the book itself, new book tour information starting in the new year, and everything in between. At one point, the conversation takes a turn when your friend and boss starts pointing out various men around the café. She’s always been keen to set you up with someone, as you have been incredibly single for a very long time now.

You wish she wouldn’t, though.

“What about that guy?” she points out a man at the order counter, but adds, “No, never mind. Too bland.” She eyeballs the room looking for eligible bachelors.

“Too gross.”

“Too desperate.”

“Too hipster.”

“Too happy.”

You laugh. “Iris, your husband is actual sunshine, remember?”

“Well, what about him, hmm?” Iris motions with her eyes off to the side - a man with a too-perfect coiff and a shit-eating grin. He winks at you.

You internally cringe. “No, no, it’s just, he’s not…”

“What? He’s not Chase Hutton? Come on, (Y/N).”

“I know, but Iris, I believe there’s someone amazing out there for me. I don’t know where, and I don’t know how, but I’ll find him. And he’s not that guy. Why do you have to bring this up all the time?”

Iris places a hand on yours. “Because I can’t stand seeing you lonely and waiting for someone who’s not real.”

“One - being lonely and being alone are two different things. And two - I’m not waiting for someone who’s not real. Here-” you slide the manuscript across the coffee table to her. “Read it and swoon. I did. Hundreds of times.”

Iris gives you a look.

“Let me know what you think,” you add, standing up and getting ready to leave.

“You’re leaving already?” she asks. “Stay, I’ll get you another coffee. I’m ordering you to. I’m your boss.”

“I can’t.”

“Listen, I’m sorry for that, (Y/N). I didn’t mean anything by what I said or for making you come out here. I just want you to get out, you know? You’ve worked so hard and are doing amazing work, and I know you’re still worried about Caitlin. Because I sure as hell am.”

“Yeah, it’s weird,” you muse at the mention of your mutual friend, “I thought she’d still need me to talk to about everything, but maybe she needs some space? I’m pretty sure she’s still in Africa doing Doctors Without Borders because I haven’t heard otherwise.”

Iris seems like she’s debating on saying something.

“Did they ever find her husband’s body?” she whispers.

“Ronnie? No, but no one could have survived such an explosion... But you know what’s even weirder? I got a package from Ronnie. Today. Which is totally impossible, though depending on when it was sent… I don’t know. It was just really strange.”

“Wow, yeah. God, I hope Caitlin’s okay. Can you imagine having your husband blown up? You’ll keep me posted if you hear anything?”

“Yeah… but yes, I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

***

Fishing out your keys from your coat, you can’t help but think about everything Iris said. How could she think you were lonely? You are a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man (but would like one very much, maybe)! But he can’t just be any man. He’s got to be brave, and he’s got to be strong, and yup, now you’re singing Bonnie Tyler in your head.

You turn the key in the door, but it’s already unlocked. I did lock it when I left, didn’t I?

It only takes you a few steps inside before you see it all.

Your entire apartment has been completely and utterly destroyed.

Furniture flipped, cushions ripped, bookshelves fallen and books scattered everywhere, glass broken. There’s so much going on in this picture that you almost can’t believe this has happened to you.

You bring a shaky hand up to your mouth. It’s nearly impossible to catch your breath because it’s been stolen from you out of fear. As you survey the wreckage, you give a jolt when your phone rings and vibrates in your pocket.

Damn phone calls, Jesus Christ!

“Hello?” you answer, eyes still fixed on the disaster.

“(Y/N), it’s Caitlin.”

Why is she calling me now, all of a sudden? It’s been forever.

“Caitlin?”

“(Y/N), I need you to listen to me.”

There’s a quiver in her voice, which is very unlike the Caitlin Snow Ph.D. you know and love.

“Cait, what’s going on?” you press.

“I’m in trouble,” she replies slowly. “Did you happen to receive a package from Ronnie? A small, brown package?”

“Yes,” you draw out the word, “Why, what is it?”

“Oh, thank God. Inside is a sort of GPS beacon for a kind of treasure? I don’t know anything about it, but that’s what these men are telling me. I need you to bring that device here to me in the Congo as soon as possible-”

“Caitlin, the Congo? My God, what kind of trouble are you in?”

“Please, just- I need you to go to the Pullman Kinshasa Grand Hotel. When you arrive there, call this number-” Your friend rattles off a series of numbers. “But listen, you cannot tell anyone. They said they’d kill me if you alert anyone.”

This is all too much, too fast. It’s almost impossible to comprehend. “I can’t go to the Congo! And what men-?” You hear the sound of a weapon firing up. “Okay, okay, okay! I’ll do it, I’ll be there!” You shout into your phone so these men can hear you.

But the line goes dead.