#him get a temporary place that ended up less temporary than intended

[chisatowo]

I was thinking more abt my deep sea metro salmonids and mayyyyy have accidentally made a new salmonid oc who is also friends/maybe girlfriends with Sash so uhhhhh oops

[officialdaydreamer00]

Marionette on a string

in which your significant other was dragged to a local theatre to see your performance on stage

pairing: (slight) idia shroud x actress!yuu/reader

contents: long drabble, lower case intended, the title should be used for my angstier ideas i swear lmao, a tiny pinch of fluff, reader is yuu and yuu is reader, gender neutral reader and narrated by you/yours, irene losing their mind over ride the cyclone (2016 cast specifically) and decided to add it in their fic, just idia and ortho reacting to the musical :D mainly idia

★ the daydreamer speaks — my third entry for my tumblr sister @cloudcountry's sweet shroud summer 2024!! disposing the worms bc they block my path to temporary shut down :D

do i tag? yes, i do. my main idia liker: @edith-is-a-cat, others: @identity-theft-101 @ferris-the-wheel @xen-blank @twistwonderlanddevotee @loser-jpg @lemonchuu @escha-evenstar @dove-da-birb

remember to comment or reblog if you enjoy my work!!

"Ortho, when will Yuu-shi show up on stage?"

"Should be in a few minutes, brother!"

idia briefly question his life decisions when ortho barged into his room, then proceeded to drag him out through the bustling streets of sage island. he could barely heard him mentioning something about you, what with acting and the local theatre.

well, he was about to find out.

as they both sat down in the darkened room, idia suddenly felt conscious about his fire hair glowing, a bit anxious with the judging eyes of others in the room, and pulled up his hoodie hood. he thanked the seven for the small amount of people in the room, which was less than he would expected there to be.

ortho whispered to him information he needed to know about the musical. about the summary, the characters, and the cast, to which he was pleasantly surprised to see you in the role of jane doe.

so an unidentifiable person, he noted, keeping an eye out to see your performance.

after a while, the narrator presented the final person, and you appeared in all your doll-lile glory, taking the spotlight. it was an unsettling introduction, he'd give you that.

the show went on, and idia's gaze never left you. your fellow actors and actresses did a great job with their own songs, which were quite a whiplash of emotions with how quickly the songs changed genres.

and then came your song.

and oh dear sevens, your voice.

"... Woah. "

"Yuu-san is amazing, aren't they, big brother?"

"Yeah... They really are..."

it was hauntingly beautiful, yet melancholic and painfully emotional, it sent chills down his spine. he couldn't imagine you could hit all those high notes, yet you did them so well. though, he only took his eyes off of you for a second, and you were already in the air, flying all over the place.

confusion was an understatement, but he brushed it off in favour of vibing to your, now that he thinks about it, kind of messed up song. he couldn't help but be enraptured by your stellar performance.

the show ended with a light and hopeful song, and a familiar melody as a callback to its opening. he was a bit disappointed that it was over, but he quite enjoyed it.

ortho noticed his brother's little smile. he smiled behind his mask, satified with the result.

mission "get idia outside" was a success!

[scoops-aboy86]

Sssex

For the August @steddiemicrofic prompt plug! (also on ao3)

wc: 437 | rated: m | cw: monster eddie, vampire eddie, chubby eddie munson, sex, sex-related monster physiology, the word ‘mucous,’ kind of breeding kink

Look. I’m not, like, big on breeding kink. At all. Despite ending up reading a lot of it, whatever. But I looooove caretaking, and add in a dash of monster instincts and that’s kind of what we’ve got here. The caretaking part just didn’t fit within the word count is all, so… it didn’t get written. 

Anyway, if Dustin can label Dart as some sort of weird amphibian, I can decide that the demobats/Vampire Eddie have some traits in common with certain snakes, convergent evolution style.

As a vampire, Eddie is content to drink from the wrists of his friends rather than steal from the hospital. He takes less than the Red Cross would at a time and keeps a complicated rota in his head of who he’s fed from when, how much, relative to body mass and age, etc., to make absolutely sure he doesn’t end up hurting anyone. 

The only person he never turns down is Steve, who always tastes the richest (Dustin has a theory about a demobat-related third blood type factor) and seems to recover the fastest. And if Steve wants him to feed from places other than his wrists, who is Eddie to argue?

Maybe they get a little carried away. Maybe Eddie is starting to get a bit of a blood belly. But Steve is fine! Keeps asking for it, sometimes almost begging even. And then, one minute Eddie is sinking his teeth into Steve’s femoral artery, and the next he’s sinking his dick into Steve’s ass to just as much enthusiastic encouragement. 

There are some other steps in between, but none that really surprise either of them by this point. 

But the thing is, Eddie isn’t exactly a vampire, any more than demobats are exactly bats. There’s a lot about his physiology that they don’t know yet. 

So when he slips out of Steve, intending to thumb whatever drips out after him right back where something deep inside tells him it belongs, and nothing does… he just thinks, Huh.

“Um, Eds, I think you… left something.”

He’s already probing gently. “Uh-huh. Feels temporary, though.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, Steve. Some replies leave a mucous plug in there… after, y’know?” Steve makes a noise that indicates he does not know, actually, and Eddie kisses his shoulder apologetically. “I think my fucked up biology is trying to make sure you get knocked up.”

They both pause for a moment, and then suddenly they’re laughing all the way down to their toes, Eddie still half sprawled over Steve’s back. 

“Think I’ll have… fuck what’s the word for double triplets?” Steve wheezes in between gusts of laughter. 

“Sextuplets,” Eddie supplies, and that sets them off even more because it’s got the word sex in it. Because they fucked for the first time and now Steve has a plug in his ass that’ll either dissipate naturally or be the cause of a truly awkward hospital visit, and this is just… what normal is like now. 

Then Eddie’s stomach rumbles, and Steve’s head automatically tips to bare his neck, and with a breathless kiss Eddie sinks in all over again.

Permanent tag list (ask to be added): @hotluncheddie @lawrencebshoggoth @sofadofax @whimsicalwadewinstonwilson @oatmilk-vampire

@wheneverfeasible @hamiltonswiftie @grtwdsmwhr @yesdangerpls

[streets-in-paradise]

The Trial of Achilles

Troy (2004) Reader insert fanfiction / Achilles x Mycenaean Princess! Reader - Part 25

Word Count 20 K (yes, i am insane and writing this was a titanical task, but that shows you how passionate for this story I am. )

Warnings: Troy (2004) in brand anachronicisms here and there.

Summary: The chaotic circunstances of his arrival to the island, as the motives for the secretive trip, demand from Achilles some accountability. Fooling Odysseus in his own land is a temporary feat of short span, so he must try to work things out with his old friend. While in the task of proving himself to him and appeal to the good sight of his wife, the warrior gets confronted with his recent past.

So much had changed since he allowed himself enough time to be with the one lady he end up falling for, but it all was too abrupt. As the manifestations of the effect she had on him get tested to captivate the royals, retold memories of his old ways and the natural concecuencies of the dangerous fame he had pridefully crafted reach her as cautionary tales from those with sensical reasons to sustain horrible opinions.

Notes: There may be some typos unchecked because of how long the final word count is. I feel this one turned out more dialogue heavy than usual, but I had to cover so many interactions in order to advance the plot.

Credits to @creativepromptsforwriting, for a prompt I used in the dialogue. This has taken so long to write that I don't remember which prompt list it belonged in, or where was it placed, but still wanted to give my thanks for it.

References: The full neck-covering bead idea was inspired in this one. I like to imagine Penelope has one similar, even if maybe a bit less fancy, cause it's very queen-like.

Tags: @yerevasunclair @mysticaldeanvoidhorse @spideyanakin @spideyanakin-interacts @awakenedevildays @alaysha-of-middle-earth @zoegarfield @helie-brain @legendarypiratecheesecake @felicialawrence

Mischief may have gone too far, but he was after all in the land of the trickster king.

Observing the reception of Paris to his subtle intervention after hearing from him the trojan interpretation of his welcoming act made it irresistable. Achilles could have choosen to be more responsible in his playing, but letting the rumour spread was way more fun. Comparisons with gods were a riskfull game, but he wasn't afraid of feeding a misconception. Incapable of explaining the corpses he left behind in a rush of anger, it turned out trojans were already attributing it to divine wrath.

It was flattering to hear the little brother of Hector implying he suspected of him as a mortal disguise, but if he was going to be mistaken for a god he preferred to mislead the theory in direction of the one he represented the best. Let them say that the Princess of Mycenae was wanted by the god of war and the trojan prince would be a dead man if he intended to have her. Far from the truth, yet metaphorically close to it. Not the god, but his best mortal servant.

Across his years of fighting he had plenty of memorable moments, but never terrified the enemy enough to be mistaken by it for a god taking human shape. Suspicious attitudes and rumours regarding his divine heritage were allways there, but the trojans took that incredibly far. One small proof of the destruction he was capable of causing awakened religious fear in them.

His superiority as a fighter over Hector was inquestionable, confirmation of the fact that helped to boost his infamous pride. It was a calming detail to ease his mind from the circunstantial betrayal of Odysseus trying to match the trojan prince with the princess he loved. He could then feel sure he didn't even need to meet Hector in order to prove he was the best, because the evidence of his work spoke for him.

The lady made him promise he wouldn't mess with him and he had to stick to his words for her. It was clear that over the course of their meeting she had adquired an appreciation for the heir prince of Troy. From what her telling suggested, Hector was not shy to adress her capacities and treated her as a leader of equal rank. They were becoming friends in the way of royals, yet for as innocent as that sounded he got a stronger sense of unease regarding that than while hearing Paris cassually admitting he had lusted after her. The expressed frustration of the youngest prince in the persistent failure on winning her over was like a bad joke to Achilles, but hearing her praise his brother was sometimes more serious to him than it should.

Through her mind games she reassured him despite he never asked her for it, masquerading her confession of wanting to be his wife no matter the cost that choosing him implied. Rejecting a bright future as the queen of a new nation that would unify the world was not the great loss for her that by logical reasoning should be. Whatever Hector had to offer was not enough to make her reconsider it despite talking wonders about him in her descriptions.

Unspoken understandment between them allowed him to leave her for the day feeling a sensation that almost resembled peace.

As soon as he lost sight of her, Achilles started planning their next encounter. Instead of making any prior arrangements on when and where they would see each other, he preferred to keep her guessing because finding the way on his own was an exciting challenge. Exactly like the old stories of lustfull gods developing incredible strategies to cheat the protections surrounding some unsuspecting beautifull maidens, but playing out as a romantic game. She would be waiting for him the entire time, allways excited for the clandestine surprise, while to everyone else he would be invisible like the golden rain of Zeus.

At risk of taunting the lines between an innocent trick and sacrilegy, he wanted them to believe and affirm she was woman fitting for a god. It was the kind of twist that her fame needed to grow on its own, away from the accidental overshadowing of Helen or the control of Agamemnon's expectatives. Fantastic tales would also elevate their union in epicity, for who would dare to deny Achilles to have a woman rumoured of being watched by Ares?

It seemed a perfect move to make, untill returning to the hideout remembered him that he wasn't acting in complete secrecy. There was a campfire already started and the King of Ithaca awaiting calmly like in the scene of a post battle afternoon.

Achilles felt as if they would be about to have dinner in a militar camp commenting on the last bad strategical choice of Agamemnon to prepare for the next battle. That wasn't the case, but Odysseus probably wanted to recreate that ambiance in order to secure a calm discussion.

Smiling at him as allways, he later invited him to approach with a nice salute.

" Welcome, my friend! The men are delayed getting food for us, but they should be back soon. "

Achilles smiled back, but followed him hesitantely with the certainity of fearing a trick.

" How did you find me? I didn't send any heralds to the city announcing my presence. "

The myrmidon knew that his friend would never miss a chance to show off about his cleverness, and so he did.

" I got the message you wrote with blood in the shore of Asteris, I honestly should have guessed sooner that you were going to come because I have something you want. The rest was easy to figure out: you don't know my country better than me and the peculiar way in which you choose to arrive makes clear you would want to hide. This place is the only good hideout I showed you, and if your intentions match my guesses, you don't have time for explorations of the island. "

Before giving him any chance to debunk the claim, he dropped four words forming a well known sentence that Achilles received like a verdict.

" We need to talk. "

The cheerfull arrogance of the hero faded away for an instant as he sat next to the king.

" Odysseus, it's not what you think … I love her. "

Disbelief was the most inmediate reception that his very serious confession got, Odysseus was barely able to hide his chuckling by glancing at the opposite side of the natural shelter to do it before facing him again.

" Like you loved the daughter of Lycomedes? If it wasn't for me stepping in at the ríght time, you would have ruined the life of that young princess … It's all a game to you, isn't it? Seeing how far you can go untill a king will put you in place for touching his daughter? You are lucky I didn't tell her about Scyros, that would have broken her heart."

The weak light of the fire enhaced the anger of the warrior.

" You can't compare them! Back then I was a lad with no idea of what I was doing. "

Odysseus gave him a skeptical glance.

" In that sense, Achilles, you haven't changed much. I never saw you with the same woman twice, so I'm baffled to hear you speak of love. What can you possibly know about that? I heard you mock men who dream with a wife, saying they are sentimentalists conforming with few that will allways find obstacles to reach true glory. Hector is one of those, he wants to be a married man. Wouldn't you rather leave him remove the obstacle for you? "

Being comfronted with his attitudes of the past through that weaponization of his saids showed him in a drastical way how much had changed in such short time. He no longer recognized himself in that.

In fact, the mention of the woman he loved as some problem for his personal ambition that he needed to get rid of upsetted him.

" I have never been more wrong in my entire life, does that satisfy you?"

Odysseus wasn't convinced, but he wanted to keep digging in his perceptions. If what he heard was correct, an old friendly discussion that started the very first time he recommended him to settle down was closing in his favour.

" What happened to your secret advantage against all greek heroes? The man with no nation fighting for himself, living for fighting and having no one else to live for. Wasn't that your plan to outlive us all in history? "

Achilles heard the victorious taunting with exasperation, since it made very frustrating to try explaining himself. Elbows resting on top of his spreaded tighs as his hands covered both halfs of his face untill reaching the strands of hair falling at the sides. One stayed on top of his forehead for a moment, then he released a quick grunt before replying.

" I can't be without her, long distances and uncertain times bring me suffering. I need to know she will be mine, that I will get to keep her by my side. Perhaps you are right and I don't know anything about love, but I can tell she is the onlyone I ever loved. "

Strong words that managed to impress the one currently judging, but weren't enough.

" Can you clearly separate love from a whim? Do you love her or have obsessed with her because she is the only woman in the country strictly forbbiden to you? This could be just the natural evolution of your private battles with Agamemnon. "

The myrmidon answered the question with a counter-offensive ask.

" I love her and I know for sure that she loves me. Why can't you spare two lonely fools that had once rejected love over ambition thinking they weren't meant to fall for anyone untill they found each other ? "

Heartfelt yet sensical argumentation, but it ignored a pivotal detail.

" Can't do it if their foolishness has the potentiality of unleashing a war. "

Odysseus forced him to pay him serious attention before proceeding.

" Achilles, you will never get her without spilling blood. Killing to obtain what you want is not of concern to you, but the consequences would impact harder than you expect. Even imagining you consider this a serious relationship, Agamemnon will never accept you as the husband of his only daughter. You know this, there is no legítimate way for you to formalize an union with her. If you didn't came to steal her today, you will do it tomorrow, and the angry father will release his armies across the country looking for you. Ithaca will be the first place they would check, after Phthia, because he knows I am a friend of you both."

Achilles stood up out of sudden.

" Look arround you!!! Do you think he will ever stop? At least I won't be fighting for him If i become the cause of the war. "

Witnessing a classical reaction of his friend, the king confirmed some things were never going to change.

" Your love for her will destroy the fragile unity that keeps Greece standing, while the prince I found her could be our political salvation. I am still your friend, Achilles, but I won't put my family at risk supporting your madness. "

The myrmidon began to pace like a caged lion.

" Then I want an an audience with Penelope! I bet she still remembers her father hates you. "

The furious mention of what Achilles considered an hipocricy got the first passional response out of Odysseus.

" Penelope chose me and her father understood she would have hated him if he wouldn't have let her following me. He hated me, but proceeded as a caring father listening to his daughter and letting her feelings decide. It's precisely what Agamemnon is incapable of doing! His hate for you will allways come first, even at the cost of her happiness. "

Once again Achilles was sick of hearing things he had been thinking about all along.

" Do you think I feel at ease knowing that my fate is in the hands of Agamemnon Atreide? I will talk to him, I have the intention of doing things right for her. At this point you have to see that i'm trying! Do you know how many times has she offered me her body? How easy it could have been for me to irresponsibly enjoy of her love? I didn't do it because I care for her, and I can't imagine what that monster would do if he finds out of us the wrong way. "

Controlling his impulses was the biggest hardship Achilles had in most aspects of his life. Odysseus usually identified the source of all his problems in his extremely fearless attitudes and incapacity to restrain himself, constants in his healthy advices for the hero. Precisely for that, and despite the young lady had already mentioned that aspect of their relationship, surprise gave the tale some credibility.

Like never before, the invincible warrior felt fear and thought of taking precautionary measures before recklessly following his instincts for the sake of blind courage.

" I've heard of your awakened prudence, and i'm glad to find out it's not an unreliable result of her narration. If I wouldn't be so preoccupied, I would say i'm proud. "

Achilles smirked, giving a few cocky steps towards him.

" You better be, it's a hard challenge. Helps to keep me motivated, but I discovered that self control is even harder when you have real feelings for the woman of your desires."

Odysseus took his hands to the back of his neck, innocently stretching for a moment while matching the pridefull energy.

" First time, eh? I do can tell you what's like."

Achilles chuckled silently, allowing his friend to pat him on the shoulder as he sat down again to hear the description of his experience.

" When I am at the guest of some greater King, like the Atreides, they offer me all what their hospitality can grant. If it's someone who doesn't know me well at least, in which case they get surprised because I don't accept to take pleasures from their girls. They shrug their shoulders thinking is just one more excentricity from the brillant madman, a quirck of Odysseus no normal man should try to understand. If they ask why, I give them a joke matching their sensibilities because I know they don't care for the truth. It's a mundane mistery … How the king of liars could have choosen to be faithful? "

He leaned closer, as if they would be sharing some well kept secret seiling another step in their friendship.

" It's not a moral obligation I assume, but the effect of truest love in my appetites. I would never cheat for meaningless gratification because I want no one else other than my wife. Penelope was made for me and no other woman can compare to her. Those girls exhibiting themselves on command of their masters don't do much to me, what they can offer could never match even the memory of my wedding night. "

The myrmidon remained surprisingly silent, encouraging Odysseus to get more daring.

" Does any of this resonate with you, my friend? Has your insatiable desire been tammered and now you don't recognize yourself anymore? One woman didn't use to be good enough for you, not even one at the time."

The friendly teasing didn't made him proud neither offended him.

" Loyalty is easier than I thought, the problem is being without her. My fame preceeds me and she may be virginal, but she is not naive. Rumours about my bedroom adventures have reached her and I can tell she fears not being good enough for me. She speaks as if i'm sacrificing for her ignoring all the others, but I don't struggle with that. If Aphrodite herself would want to tempt me, she would have to take her shape. "

Odysseus had a hand on his chin, covering part of the mouth in meditative gesturing before composing himself to conclude.

" Something has clearly changed in you and there is no way I can deny that. The disaster of a man we all love and cherish would be making fun of the grounded man I have in front of me. "

The smile Achilles gave him did show pride that time.

" He is still a mess, only a lovesick one. For the first time ever, … at this age. I should be over it by now, this kind of feelings are for kids. "

Focusing on his own experience, Odysseus was quick to debunk.

" There is no age in which you become invulnerable to love. I'm trully glad it has finally found you, but I can't ignore you complicated things for everyone. "

In the progressively more friendly level the conversation was reaching, Achilles finally felt confortable to bring up the most controversial aspect without fearing he would loose control.

" Your trick failed, Hector doesn't want her. "

The glance of the ithacan king adquired a mischievous shine to the provocation.

" That's what she says, but you must know by now that the the gaze of men falling on her is the limit of her sharp perceptions. She used to believe you would never look at her that way. That's how she tried to tranquilize me back in Sparta, but I was perfectly aware she had caught your attention. Now you have fallen for her after just one visit to her palace … What makes you think the same won't happen to Hector? "

The flawless logic raised some concerns on Achilles, who untill then believed himself above petty feelings of jealousy.

" Spill now anything you think to know … "

Getting rid of any will to trick him, the king spoke with what was the true of his perceptions in the observed interactions between the young royalty.

" He may not be in love right now, but after a year of living with her in Troy? He would, I'm so sure I would bet gold on it. "

It wasn't exactly what he expected, but he tried not to reflect that. At least in the outside, Achilles kept calm encouraged by the fresh memory of her words.

" He will never get that far, not with my princess."

The determination in the saids encountered more teasing.

" Since when do you acknowledge the authority of Agamemnon? To claim her your princess, he has first to be your king."

" I won't submit to him, my feelings for her don't change my hatred. The only merit of that vile man is her, but he can't even see it. Ironic how the one who lightens my days came out from his darkness. "

Odysseus nodded affirmatively with a quick movement of his head, raising his eyebrows to match a surprised smile.

" She made you soft … "

Achilles experienced a silent amazement with himself realising the description didn't make him feel as insulted as it should.

After so many years of crafting a very specific reputation that was the opposite of softness, privately admitting vulnerability to his friend was somewhat freeing.

" She made me enjoy life a lot more. And I don't see anything wrong with that. "

The king believed him, but he still had many questions that needed to be answered. Achilles proved himself, but that only complicated the position of Odysseus. As friend of both parts in the pair, he celebrated the positive effect of the princess in the warrior. However, the danger he perceived from his perspective of king in their forbbiden love could not be desestimated. His concerns of protective friend watching over the inexperienced girl were eased, but not those he had as a watcher of the greeks.

It was the start of an understandment, but he would not take sides so easily.

In the palace, his wife was dealing with the remaining tensions the best she could. If his scheming worked in at least one of its goals, that was the undeniable fondness of the mischievous princess that Hector showed in her surprisive absense. Already horrified by the images of death he saw, the sudden dissapearance of the girl awakened his protectiveness. Odysseus begged him not to interfere, while Penelope had to comfort him with logical reminders of how no one would easily vanish from the small island and men who knew the territory better than him would easily find her.

To the surprise of everyone, she received her from the hand of Paris.

Far from an endangered victim, the young lady had the sparkling cheer of one returning from a refreshing walk in nature. When she approached to salute her, the falling locks near her face difficulted the physical aspect of the gesture. Penelope tucked some behind her ears in order to kiss both of her cheeks and noticed her getting abnormally tense, attitude that the queen read quickly.

The loose ends of every mistery conduced again to that girl.

Since Paris was behind them at a prudential distance and his glance would only reach the girl from the back, she was free to do what she had to. In a surprising move, Penelope exposed one of the shoulders of the girl and her eyes easily found the love marks she attempted to hide.

It felt like the image of a mother about to scold her daughter, something she was clearly unused to.

" Paris, darling.Can you search for your brother and tell him of her arrival while I solve this with her? "

The prince smiled and obbeyed, doing a gallant reverence for the queen before leaving them alone.

Penelope was terminant, showing her fast mind had already connected everything.

" This is a reckless mistake, unless your lover painted that on your skin for a reason. Paris is very perceptive for those things, it's a miracle this has a escaped him. "

The mycenaean observed her with admiration.

" You couldn't have possibly … ? Are you … ?"

" The men Hector was after were brutally murdered and there are signs of passion in the inner side of your neck … What kind of fool would i be to not realize what's going on? That poor man lost his mind thinking you could be in danger, we all did! This whole palace was turned upside down, but turns out you were on a romantic adventure with your secret lover. "

The young lady glanced innocently at her before defending herself.

" I had no idea! He lured me near the river and I couldn't refuse. I tried to make him reconsider and follow me here, but he wanted me alone and all for himself … "

Pride in her voice on the last sentence evoked a negative reaction.

" For your own sake, I hope he knew when to stop himself. If you get deflored here, Odysseus will get you married before the disgrace could be traced back to us. "

The warning scared her slightly coming from someone who knew him so well.

" We are not fools, neither animals. "

The queen showed hilarious skepticism, holding her chuckles to not allow her any corner of tension relief.

" Are you sure of that? He knew exactly what he was doing when he did this to you, which is very irresponsible. Now is up to me finding a convincing way to help you cover the evidence of his jealousy. "

Her relative returned the courtesy of her doubting ways.

" He missed me! And he is a man of intense emotions, that doesn't mean he is jealous. "

" Then why did he feel the need of marking you like this? Why did he took matters in his own hands solving the problem of Hector in his bloody way? Perhaps because he wants him out of here as fast as possible. "

The girl chuckled, amused.

" It was a mere coincidence. Those men angered him and paid the price, but he didn't know anything of Hector's motives with them. "

Penelope didn't want to hear any more excuses and simply expressed her verdict.

" I will call your very concerned handmaid so you can tranquilize her, then make a bath be prepared for you in order to fix the suspicious signs in your appearance. Later, you will present yourself to Hector and apologise for the worries you caused him. "

It sounded like an order, not advice.

" … I thought you supported me, but perhaps that was part of your husband's plan all along. "

Penelope noticed the brief shade of dissapointment in her face.

" I still intend to help you, but that doesn't mean I will let you forget your responsabiities. "

Standing in front of the queen made her feel small.

" I owe myself to you and Eny, but Hector has no business in this. He should be starting to prepare his speech for the council that will be mandatory after what happened, not worrying in finding me when I was never lost to begin with. "

Far from worrying for the protest, Penelope remained firm.

" You will do as I say because you still need my help. I enjoy playing the role of your confidant, yet unlike Helen, I can be strict when the situation demmands it. "

The ithacan queen was capable of being quite frightening, but that didn't stop the mycenaean princess from admiring her. Even when she would have to reluctantly obbey her commands, her presence was inspiring.

" … I wanted to keep his scent in me at least for one night. "

Penelope chuckled because she found the frustrating plead relatable.

" If you use your head and handle things carefully, you will someday have it for the rest of your life. "

The mycenaean groaned, but accepted it as the most convenient choice.

Cheer returned to her as soon as she saw her dear friend rushing through the halls. Ereny hugged her like a preocupied sister would and she felt inmensely sorry for the pain she caused her.

Before she could ever get to say it, the servant girl scolded her in an intimate way that would have ashamed any other lady if the would have had the chance to hear it.

" I can't believe you did this to me!! Do you know how hard it was returning here without you after you never came back to me? I told you to get back … Why couldn't you? We could all have been punished, and you could have died ... OR WORSE! I saw the curse coming to terms in your recklessness. See where your madness has taken me? I almost side with my king!!! "

Lena, who had arrived shortly after by walking at a normal pace behind her, showed silent support for the callout that Penelope intercepted.

" Eny, I am so sorry. " The princess apologised in the meantime, caressing the cheeks of her friend. " I take all the blame, you know I would never let any sort of punishment come to you. I would never forgive myself."

She looked at her in the eye and placed a tender kiss on top of her forehead.

" It was important, I wouldn't have left you otherwise. "

Ereny showed her a brief smile and that encouraged her to whisper her a coded phrase that was going to provide all the explanations she needed.

" … The lion came down from the hills. "

For as much as they would try, the presence of the ithacan servant difficulted any more sharing beyond the specifical code talking. The royal handmaid of the mycenaean seemed to forget her rightfull vent in the light of such shocking revelation. It was clear she wanted to know everything about it, but the tasks comanded by the queen didn't allow proper secrecy to share stories.

Precisely because she knew there was something to hide, Penelope wanted secrecy and only one of her maids was there to remain asisting the lady's bath. Lena offered herself for the task and refusing would have been suspicious, but was cleverly ordered by the princess to remain behind her back in order to avoid any accidental peeking of her neck marks.

The mycenaeans giggled to each other when, during one distraction of the ithacan as the lady tried the water, she showed those to her handmaid with a pridefull smirk.

Noticing some inside joke that excluded her was going on, Lena responded with sharp teasing.

" Did you found what you were looking for? "

Too centered on thoughts about Achilles, the princess almost forgot the context of her dissapearance.

" No, I never got to the thief. It doesn't matter, I realized I endangered myself for a meaningless thing. "

The ithacan provided a comeback nobody was ready for.

" That piece of clothing belonged to Achilles, so I understand why you had it in such high regard. It must have been dificult to steal. "

The eyes of the princess went wide with surprise, soon pointing daggers at Ereny for momentarily thinking that she could have shared her secrets with that new servant friend of hers.

Ereny defended herself with an imperceptible negative nod, and her lady started playing her spoiled princess character to deny the claims.

" That is an insane accusation! How you dare?? I think seeing me being soft with Eny has confunded you into believing you can disrespect me. "

Lena didn't back off due to any sudden fear and responded logically.

" I was in charge of his room the last time he visited, I recognize clothes I already washed. I knew it all along, back in the rivershore i tried to make you confess."

The mycenaean instinctively took locks of wet hair to the dangerous spot.

" I don't owe you any explanations, only the respect for this house that my love for your royal family inspires. "

Lena rested her shoulders carelessly against the wall, abandoning her servant-like posing.

" I' ve heard you tell his tales in the great halls, pretending you like to scare the trojans speaking of him because you are the weird daugther of the tyrant used to horrors. Excellent work deceving the men, but I see you are obsessed with him. I can picture your tighs squeezing under the table while your mouth describes his atrocities. I don't doubt you must have instructed one of your servants in Mycenae to get that small treasure for you from his room when he visited. "

She glanced mischievously at Ereny, who didn't have to fake in order to look clueless.

" Was it you, her most loyal one? Doing it again the next time would be too suspicious and she knows you can't replace it, that's why she was furious enough to try going for it herself. "

The handmaid found the guesses hilarious, but her princess felt more offended than she would have been if the cunning slave would have shown full awareness of the truth.

" Excuse me? What makes you think he wouldn't have given it to me? Why do you assume I had to steal it and I couldn't get it after laying with him?"

It made her laugh in disbelief, taking that alternative as a joke.

" You aren't the kind of woman he targets. No mean to offend, but you are too princess-like. The delicate palace flower would break in his hands. "

The lady was furious, even her friend feared she could loose her mind to the accidental provocation.

" I AM A PRINCESS!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO NOT EMBODY MY RANK?"

Realising she trully angered her, the slave attempted to explain herself.

" That's not what I mean, you are so up you are untouchable. No matter how beautifull you are, nobody in the country thinks of taking you to bed. You are the precious little virgin of Greece, while Helen is its whore."

Bringing up her aunt was crossing limits, and she warned her of it.

"Be carefull of who you insult, or I will make you regret it. Helen can't be blamed, men only imagine her as a temptress because everyone wants to have her. "

Lena took an instant to rephrase before replying.

" Since when has truth prevailed over the collective imagination of men? She is a whore in their fantasies and that shapes her fame. In their minds you exist to provide contrast as a pretty girl of virginal grace that can't, and shouldn't, be corrupted. If your father thinks he is Greece, then you are the country's daughter. They want you married and having flourishing offspring, but nobody wants to think of your defloration. That's why you have better luck with the trojans, and why they want the son of Troy at your side. "

Ereny mediated the discussion with some harmless logical commentary that could calm her lady.

" Achilles considers himself a rival of Agamemnon despite they fight on the same front. If there is someone here open to fantasize with her corruption, that should be him. "

It wasn't enough to convince the conflictive part.

" That bastard cares for only one thing and he wouldn't hope to find it in a pretty girl deprived of it."

The princess uncovered her shoulder and was about to turn back, only stopped by the eyes of Ereny pleading her not to do any more reckless movements.

" How quickly you declare yourself an expert in the matter! What makes you think you know what he wants?"

The answer was short, but crushing.

" I slept with him. "

Words falling on the mycenaean like a splash of cold water. Despite it was realistic to think someday she would stumble with one of his past lovers, she didn't consider it before, and certainly wasn't expecting it then.

It was a slap in the face.

" Should that impress me? "

She did a good work hidding her real feelings, diving a bit deeper into the bath water as she awaited for the answer.

" You won't take it, little princess … And even regardless of that, If I were you I would pick Hector over him anytime. Achilles may be like a god in the bedroom, but the cold treatment you get afterwards is not worthy. The trojan prince is a real man where he has to be, you can see it in his daily behavior."

Although initially insulting, she sounded well intentioned. A healthy warning from someone who believed herself in a position of better knowledge.

However, the man Lena described hardly resembled the one she knew. His expert performance of passionate moments was a fact they could agree in, but he was never ever cold to her.

" Maybe it's a privilege of my rank, but he has been quite sweet with me from the start … "

Lena didn't believe it, not even for an instant.

" You break my heart, so take this from someone who has been in the spot you crave to occupy. You would be a fool if you reject the chance for an engagement to Hector following your absurd infatuation with that vain piece of rubbish who thinks the world is at his feet. "

The mycenaean responded with some playfull splashing of water, comically exaggerating the disdain to make Ereny laugh.

" Can you be more specific on what makes him so terrible? That description is fitting for every single popular hero in Greece. "

If brutal honesty was what she needed in order to pay some real attention to the advice, the slave had no issues with going for it.

"Once it was done, he didn't let me touch him again. I thought with him it was going to be different, that he wouldn't treat me like it's usual among warlords and palace servants, but I felt like waste afterwards. Is that what you want for yourself, your highness? Is you fantasy to be with a self absorbed man that will turn his back at you when the pleasure runs out? "

Explicit references about intimate details were the last thing she wanted to hear. The maidservant of Penelope was complaining to her about her dissapointment with him, but that didn't make her feel better.

In the tale Achilles was a cold heartbreaker not much different from the men she liked to make fun of with her friends in Mycenae. Her faith in him was being questioned by someone who had valid reasons to do it.

The mixed feelings inspired her and she turned back to face her in order to observe the effect of her own advice for the servant girl.

" At least he gave you a taste of his passion, Hector has nothing for you. Do you think I didn't notice that, from all those excited maids trying to convince me about him, you were the loudest? Your fantasy isn't any less hopeless than mine. Hector is as less likely to take the palace slave of the foreign kingdom as Achilles is of courting the daughter of Greece. "

Being provoked surprised her a bit, but she took it as a good sign.

" I know my place, princess. Being too aware of yours may made you believe that you are special, that you would be the one making him act differently … But you won't, so who of us holds the greatest delusion? "

Silence reigned, since there wasn't much she could refute her with that wouldn't compromise her situation in the action. All the servant girl knew was that the mycenaean princess had an infatuation with the myrmidon warrior, but still remained far from thinking it could be a required one.

The last command Lena fullfilled before being released from her duty was presenting a golden bead, borrowed piece of jewelry that Penelope gave up to help her young relative cover the tracks of her lover from public sight.

Once the right clothing for it was picked and the lady got dressed, her maidservant invited her to sit and secured the jewelry arround her neck.

Noticing she needed some encouragement, she kissed her cheek from behind right before providing a spirit lifting reminder.

" Achilles may be a very physical man, but you are not to him an empty body to be filled. He loves you, and no one else knows how he is like in that situation. Feelings may not transform him in esence, but change the circunstancies of his choices. "

She placed on hand on top of her shoulder that the lady caressed while turning back slightly to show her a brief smile of thankfullness.

" I know, my dear, yet I can't stop the hurtfull thoughts. What if after fighting so hard to be together, he discovers I am not good enough for him? What If I can't satisfy him on my own? He has never been man of one woman … Even if he is making an effort for me, perhaps that will not last forever. "

Understandable doubt that she had to refute.

" Who cares about his wants of the past? That man is loosing his mind for you right now! He misses you so intensely that he has followed you here. "

Back in her original position, the princess toyed with the piece following the curious patterns of the gold with her fingertips.

" ... Lena said he refused to let her touch him later, but In my bed he so quickly falls for caressing that leaves nowhere. "

Ereny started to work on her hair, sounding like the voice of reason from her working placement behind her.

" She tried to disuade you based on her experience and you should be proud she felt safe with you in order to speak so honestly. Remember when you used to say you didn't want to be the jealous wife punishing the slave because the husband called her to his bed? "

The lady felt called out.

" SHE SAID I'M TOO DELICATE FOR HIM!! … That I will break in his hands and nobody has erotic expectations of any kind to place in me. "

Her servant was quick to explain the evident logical contradiction.

" That's just the reputation you crafted, and hers were the words of a stranger who knows nothing else. "

She remained silent for a brief instant, then confessed herself.

" … It hurted my pride coming from the lips of a woman that warmed his bed. I don't doubt she must have meant well, but she made me feel wrong… Inadequate, not fitting for the man of my aspirations."

Ereny twirled her finger in her locks, pressing softly.

" Achilles is a warrior, he may come back home with a war prize girl someday even if he wouldn't have in mind to sleep with her. What will you do then? Try to force him of selling her because you are too jealous? "

It was a good point to think about, if the princess wouldn't have spoiled it with her clever comeback.

" My father is his commander and he allways takes the girls for himself. "

The servant girl pulled her hair, grabbing with the right amount of harshness to show her dissaprobal and making her groan in protest.

" It was a joke! I know you are in the right, that girl is not my enemy … just as Achilles must be aware Hector isn't his. Although that is different, because Hector never touched me and he is not out there talking nonsense about him based on his fame."

She caressed the top of her head as an apologise.

" We are talking of Hector Priamide, any man with serious intentions on a lady shall beware. He charms daughters and their fathers without even realizing of his effect on those who know him."

The description got some chuckles from the princess.

" Penelope said she thinks he is jealous … "

" He has solid reasons! While you worry about his fleeting nights with palace servants, he has to hear of your meeting with a prince known for being an embodiment of the ideal husband. "

The clarification mattered very little to her.

" Achilles is the only one I want. "

" … But he must know he is not the kind of man wealthy families want for their daughters." Her servant friend interrupted, making a guess. " No matter how great his fame becomes, most think he is a brute. Your father speaks of him as if he was a stubborn beast. "

Reminders of that prevalent misconception brought her back to the times when she started encouraging him of rejecting the simplistic aspects of his legend.

" They know nothing of the man he is, Achilles uses that in favor of causing fright among them. "

She stopped for an instant, reconsidering something that had to be asked.

" Do you want to know what really happened to the enemies of Hector?"

It was the startpoint of her tale, what allowed her to share with her close friend most details of the encounter.

Once the question found its answer, Ereny insisted on their need to find a way of letting the prince know the truth, or at least an approximated version of it. Knowing of the mysticism that surrounded the facts and how tense the situation had made him, she considered he deserved to get some sensical response. However, both of them agreed in feeling that to tell him everything would putting too much trust in him. Even if he was an honorable man worthy of it, the secret was too intimate.

Through their bonding process, the princess got to start considering him a friend of some kind, but that didn't mean they were the kind of friends willing to tell each other everything.

Shared excitement temporally faded that concern, specially when she got to tell her close friend the most romantic details. It was easy to notice her loosing herself in the narration as the fresh memories would come back at her, particularly impressing the small audience with the anecdot of the tavern. Hearing that Achilles broke the rules of The Judgement playing by instigation of Paris was to Ereny like a confirmation of their common theories about him, reinforcing the belief of her lady.

His need of her was as strong as his thirst for glory, two mad dreams connected by his intense desire. Which one he intended to obtain first remained a mistery to her, but Achilles made her very aware with his answer that he had her in his highest regard. In the light of the honest advice against him from his past lover, the feeling of exceptionality that evoked became even more remarkable, but also a bit unconfortable. She began to wonder what would exactly mean to be his exception to the rule in the long history of his relationships, and if more girls like Lena shared with her the regretfullness.

Being the one he loved was an inmense privilege, the only of her advantages bringing her joy and one she worked hard for. Still, the invitation to think she could be the meaningfull among the meaningless implied he could have once wronged many of the women who came before her and that thought wasn't beautifull.

Facing duty hushed the will to meditate on details as she searched for the heir prince of Troy in order to calm him with her presence as Penelope requested. It didn't take much, since the trojans were gathered for dinner in an internal yard of the palace near the section of it they were staying in. Their own servants and the ones obbeying the royals of Ithaca were working together to settle the place.

A heated discussion was going on among the men, reason why they didn't realize of her untill she made herself be noticed.

" … I've heard you were looking for me. "

Her soft deviation hushed all the voices as the curious glances followed her, giving her the strange impression that something must have made them look at her as if they were examining her in a different light.

Paris smiled from afar, inmediately raising her suspects, but the brief visual contact with him broke as his brother approached her.

Hector seemed relieved, perhaps even happy to see her.

" … I searched for you as soon as I got the good news of your return, but the queen told us you didn't want to be seen in the state of your arrival after getting lost in the woods. What i find understandable, for a pridefull lady such as yourself. "

Instead of providing a further clarification to the excuse, she deviated the topic with an inconexed reference.

" Sorry about the wasted clue, Paris told me you got there too late. No one would have seen it coming, so I hope you aren't blaming yourself for the failure … Did you at least found any copper in their load? "

The apology was sincere, a prioritization of his problems in order to show she felt bad about causing him any troubles.

Hector smiled, expressing partial acceptance of the gesture.

" There was also amber, found in greater quantities, and luxury ítems of various kind. No signs of captivity in any of the corpses we found, so I can at least feel comfort in knowing no innocent prisoners of the criminals were slaughtered. "

With complete disregard for her situation, she intended to advance in order to find a spot among them and participate on the argument.

" Any leads to the responsible for this massacre? For what Paris told me, the situation remains a mistery, yet that doesn't mean we can't elaborate conjectures. "

Hector stopped her, grabbing both of her hands in an attempt to make her react.

" An army, for as small as it could be, leaves any sort of track. Whoever did this was alone and faded away with ease … When we were back we thought you dissapeared and I feared the worst."

She followed him, but tried to calm him by resting importance to his worry with jokes.

" Let me guess: you thought this asassin kidnapped me and Agamemnon would have made you responsible for it. That must have been frightening for you, it's certain that he would play the grieving father and fake the love for me he never had just to have the war he allways wanted. "

Although well intended, the tease didn't suit well with the prince.

His warm glance searched for hers and once she dedicated him her full attention he spoke with unmistakable seriousness.

" It was never about him, I feared for you … "

Defensive disbelief was her initial reaction and she tried to free herself because of it, but Hector had for her only reassurance of his caring affection.

" … My friend was lost in the woods while a deranged murderer remains on the loose. "

He released her hands only to bring his to the back of her shoulders in a brief hug that she accepted hesitantely knowing well that his men were watching behind them.

" The wellbeing of Troy is a more rational reason … "

He looked down and chuckled, partially agreeing with that yet not seeking to encourage that interpretation.

" … I care, that's who I am. Why do you allways need to unveil some greater motivation when someone shows concern for you? "

She shrank one shoulder, looking at the side as if the answer would come to her from the audience.

" Men claiming they want to protect me are usually protecting themselves, so I am naturally distrustfull. Even Odysseus, a man I love and respect like a father, has his own interest calculated ahead when it comes to me. I won't judge you for it, I believe it's your problem to think I would. "

Perhaps because the situation had limited his patience, Hector scolded her with no filtering in his phrasing choice.

" It's not my problem if every single man on your life has failed you: from now on and for the rest of this journey I will protect you untill you will get used to not endanger yourself. "

It made her back away, nervously observing the reactions.

" … Stop! Your men are staring, and for comments like that one people tend to think we should be … "

He cutted her off before she could finish the warning.

" Married? Do you think that worries me now? After the terrible day I had? And it keeps getting worse! My countrymen now believe we have been warned by an angered god. "

She advanced in slow placing towards them, stiffling a chuckle to avoid upsetting anyone.

" That can be debunked very easily! … Polydamas, what is your profesional opinion? "

The seer noticed her directing him a teasing smirk, indicating she was sure of trusting his verdict.

" I've heard the specific details on the horrrific scene, and the men who escolted you here seem to confirm the thoughts of Prince Paris regarding the strange events concerning you… It's hard not to suspect an omen of some kind. "

Vague reply that didn't satisfy her.

" And of what kind would this one be?"

Paris raised from his seat to confidently proclaim his conclussion.

" The god of war is seducing you, showing off his mighty strenght to prove he is superior to Hector because he must have heard the wrongfull gossips. He caused the accident that got you lost, probably hoping to introduce himself. I came in time to save your honor, so he appeared to us in the shape of the man in the tavern who, let me remind you, never told us his name. "

It was hard to believe the prince could have been so wrong and so right at the same time. Quite close to the truth, yet incredibly distant in his assumptions.

No god was coming down from Olympus tempted by her beauty, but she had the love of a mortal man who embodied all the atributes of the son of Zeus

" Ares? Paris, he was just joking! It was a game that you iniciated, so you should be aware of that."

Hector felt encouraged while hearing the first skeptical voice near him.

" Before I could possibly make him understand the implications of his words he had already spread the insanity everywhere."

Paris remained unbothered and ready to mock his disbelief.

" Laugh now, while you still can, because you may have to marry her pregnant and raise the child only so Agamemnon wouldn't unleash against us a demigod son of Ares raised to admire the brutality of Achilles."

The warning must have made sense to his brother in some extent, because the horror in his eyes spoke for him.

Lysander had abandoned his spot only so the mycenaean could sit in between the seer and the young prince while continuing the debate.

" For a man getting consistent rejections from me, I am very dissapointed by your lack of faith in my resistance. Did it never occured to you that before ruining your brother's life I could reject the god and suffer the curse for it? "

Paris tapped her shoulder with playfull friendlyness.

" I saw you melting with delight to the attention he was giving you, and I don't blame you. When he showed his face I stopped feeling the most handsome man in the room and that is not normal. "

Hector was amused of that clarification never presented to him before.

" Must we believe you saw a god in mortal disguise only because he made you stop staring at your own reflection? "

" He seemed very strong too, the type of man that could fight you and have chances of surviving." Paris cleverly clarified. " How many possiblities are to find a vulgar traveller in a tavern matching my virtues and yours without suspecting he hides a greater identity? "

The thought was clever, but the princess knew the truth and despite she wouldn't reveal it to them all, she wasn't going to allow the madness to escalate.

" Gods don't come down to fertilize princesses like in the old tales anymore. In fact, the House of Atreus hasn't seen a demigod since its foundation and for the sake of your upcoming meal, I will not remind you of how that ended. My misterious admiror is most likely to be a simple man, maybe a mercenary that uses Ithaca as a passing point in his travels. "

" … But you are the daughter of the most powerfull militar leader in Greece! " The young trojan insisted, too proud of his theory to give up. " Your father unleashes war everywhere he goes, feeding Ares like the most loyal worshipper. It would make perfect sense for him to visit the beautifull daughter of the king that keeps him so well served. "

" The god of war is also the protector of wronged women. If he cared to take a look on my family, he would have exterminated the bloodline generations ago. "

She caressed the hair of Paris as a soft calling for his attention as she concluded her point.

" It's very flattering that you think of me this way, darling, but I will have to dissapoint you. No amount of weird dreams or bird signs would convince me of such thing."

The leader of the trojans appreciated her intervention against the strange belief of his brother in the respecting terms she delivered it.

" We don't have any certainity of dealing with the same man, this shameless seductor could not be the murderer we are looking for. Finding him for interrogation could be a good first step, but it may lead nowhere because there is no clear connection. "

Standing right in front of them, he directed his following words to the girl.

" I sincerely hope it could be a coincidence. because If he is responsable for those horrors, I wouldn't want that beast near you ever again."

The sweet concern brought some superficial heat to her face, certainity embarrassement for being too aware of how wrong he was yet how unused she remained of having his protectiveness of friend.

" I can take care of myself, Hector. I am a grown girl. "

He didn't expect any less of her, but insisted.

" That doesn't mean you have to be alone for everything. "

The callout hurted her pride and she responded according.

" I don't want to get too used to have the helping hand of a friend that will leave soon feeling in peace with abandoning me. "

Hector took her hand, gesturally debunking her teasing.

" Who says I won't miss you?"

Paris was quite impressed and didn't miss the oportunity to mock them.

" I don't doubt this is the start of a beautifull friendship, but stop doing that if you don't want me telling bad jokes with Menelaus at your wedding. "

In the spirit of that playfull warning the contact was broken by mutual iniciative.

Under her deliberate request, more tales about the strange news of the day emerged from other members of Hector's crew. She listened with intense attention, having fun while looking invested in the mistery by faking amazement despite she had all the answers. At times, the prince dedicated her secretive gesturings of mutual understanding supporting her disbelief that made the advice of Ereny wander in her mind.

With no consideration for the pragmantical reasons, he reacted like a good friend. Keep lying to him while his men were descending into religious fear due to their inability to explain what happened wasn't easy seeing that Hector trully cared for her. The chaotic situation could be fun, but it was also very unfair for him.

The temptation of trusting in him was there, but fear of his reaction was too great to think of trying it. Like her, Hector had the goal marrying for love, but his context was the opposite of hers. Andromache wasn't for him a forbbiden choice, they were a well fitting couple to the eyes of his people and family. Greed and political ambitions were temporally difficulting things with the finding of another princess that was a better pick for those interests, but Troy wouldn't be too affected if the heir prince would reject that in favor of his romantical feelings.

Even the one act of selfishness Hector was going to allow himself wasn't, in fact, that much selfish. It was understandable to wonder if he would be as tolerant of a more threatening situation where chasing love could affect the political life of the kingdom. París, in the other hand, would support her without hesitation, but she doubted more of his capacity for secret keeping.

For the rest of the night she locked herself in her room to avoid any possibility of facing Odysseus untill the next morning. Preoccupations faded falling asleep to thoughts of her beloved, excited under the inability to predict when and how he would come back to her knowing they were separated by such short distances. The words exchanged with the maid of Penelope still haunted her at moments, but were not completely ruining her bliss.

Doing the riskiest bet of her life placing all her trust in him could turn out disastrously wrong, but he never gave her any reasons to think that. For as much awareness as she had of his fame being a heartbreaker, the man he was alongside her didn't resemble at all those rumours or the dark warnings.

Sunlight brought to her another challenge, given it was evident she wouldn't escape the king for long. Finding him by herself and showing courage to prove her determination was the best option for a start. Approaching the wrong claims of the trojans with irony, she left her room in a red dress with golden borders that matched perfectly with the nice necklace Penelope had given her. A dark robe finished the trick to perfectly hide the problematic area of her skin from public sight.

Unceasing barking and cheerfull screaming guided her in the right direction, eventually finding Odysseus in the middle of playing with his child and their beloved family dog. With them were the trojan princes, probably dragged into the situation for being passive bystanders.

It was the childish simulation of a combat, and Telemachus played in his father's side as if they had developed an ambusch for the brothers. Paris had already fallen in the grownd, his comedically nervous yelling was the echo she had heard before. Odysseus attempted to drag him, but Hector was capable of containing him while playfully fighting the child, scene that made her laugh on the spot.

Her chuckling caused a distraction that allowed the little prince a precise swing of his toy sword. Hector managed to stay in character, pretending a fatal wound that was leaving him in agony.

Proud of himself after sharing a glance with his father, the kid added.

" Worry not, I shall take Priam the corpses of his children. Let no one say the son of Odysseus wasn't taught of mercy! "

Being the onlyone who dared to acknowledge her presence, Odysseus received the myceanean with mockfull inclussion in the game.

" Look over there, my son. It's the maiden of Ares!"

Accepting the gesture anyways, she composed her own character.

" In fact, I am a servant of Hecate, and the goddess sends me to rise this brave heroes from the dead."

She reached Paris first, assuming he was the first one to go, and bent down next to him as if she attempted to check him.

" This will be a work of necromancy. They will wake up as the undead, revenants. Walking corpses obbeying my will, nothing that resembles their past self will remain there. I was commanded to create an army of the dead and I'm resurrecting these fine gentlemen to gross its lines."

The younger trojan stood up clumsily, holding hia chuckling the best he could.

Observing she was taking things into obscure territory, the father of the little boy had to interrupt.

" That's frightening! What's wrong with you? Apart from being raised by Agamemnon, of course. "

The accusation amused her.

" It's not the first time that happens, when I was a kid Nestor used to bring who was then his youngest child to play with me. Antilochus didn't use to appreciate my creativity."

" I wonder why, you are a delight. " Hector commented ironically while rising up. " That was not disturbing at all and I am not fearing for the fate of your future children asking you to play with them. "

The tease inspired her a way to indirectly annoy him and Odysseus at the same time.

" You don't have to, they won't be yours. If I am as lucky as your brother believes, my firstborn will be fearless from the crib exactly like the father. "

The provocation ended the fun for the King, but his curious kid was ready to ask her on the matter.

" Are the stories true? They are saying Ares is in love with you."

She dissapointed him with a vague explanation, lammenting the cuteness of his amazement with the rumour.

" Some people also say Helen was born from a swan egg result of the union of two deities, then her parents just adopted her. They only invented that because they like her, but they don't like my mother."

Paris attempted to rephrase her words in order to help the situation.

" It means she doesn't believe it to be true, for her it's just gossip I created. "

" It's an expiatory explanation for her misbehavior from yesterday. " Odysseus added, closing the topic. " I want the real one, but for that I have to make sure you won't be there to defend her. "

Telemachus understood what that meant in his childish way, guessing his father wanted to scold her, and gave him free space to proceed.

"You are in trouble, cousin."

He made a sound that worked as call for the dog and the animal followed him, getting waved with a cute hand movement by the mycenaean in their way.

Once the distant was enough to not be heard, she deviated the topic sharing her impressions on the kid with Paris.

"I don't know where he got that. ... Maybe it's because our family relation is too distant and confusing. Such a sweet boy, as the only prince he feels the outside pressure from other boys to grow up faster. Good to know he still has spaces to play. "

He showed a weird approval of her words.

"Boys used to mock me all the time, ... the men they have became still do. "

They shared a few chuckles untill Odysseus turned his attention once more at her, denying her of any deviations knowing well she was trying to soft him with a talk about his son before they could get to the controversial matter.

" Are you well rested, little one? My wife suggested me to let you get enough sleep after I came back home late last night. You were nowhere to be found, may I ask how that occured to you? "

She glanced at Hector right behind the king as if she begged for salvation, but the prince was equally interested in the answer.

"One of the clothes I was washing got stolen and I tried to chase the thief, but got lost wandering hopeless untill Paris found me. I'm baffled to hear you didn't return earlier thinking I could have found the way guided by some of your nice subdits. Did Hector convinced you that I could have been abducted by a madman? "

Troubless-looking through the whole exposition, she directly referenced that in order to test if Odysseus would reveal to have found Achilles.

"The search wasn't in vain, I ended up stumbling with an old friend and invited him dinner to talk about his problems. "

Bitting her lip to not show enthusiasm, she paced in direction to the opposite wall pretending to admire a fresco about sealife.

" I hope you were able to work things out with him."

Odysseus chuckled, amused by her confidence.

" Something has changed: I used to think he was stubborn and whimsical, expanding his wants beyond his posibilities just to play with limits. Now I know he is commited to a cause meant to fail from all rational standpoints."

It made her smirk, silent taste of victory.

Aren't you going to berate me for causing this mess? You told me to stay inside, but I gave a walk into the woods and got lost. "

Concern aside, he was impressed by her capacity to keep the conversation so precise yet coded to the banned audience that the sons of Priam represented.

"We are beyond that point, young lady. Warning you has proven to be pointless, so I will take action trusting you to a watcher. One whose vigilance you won't be able to cheat."

Some angry yelling would have been preferable, she was perfectly able to stand that and ignore it. Turning back inmediately, she found the king approaching the trojan leader and muffled a scream.

" Hector! I know by experience that she mocks the surveilance of mycenaean guards for fun, but I believe she won't be able to fool you. "

It surprised him as much as her, even despite he was getting used to the excentricities of Odysseus.

" I won't deny you are in the right, but what am I supposed to do? "

"Entertain her, but keep her at a prudential distance from Paris. He would collaborate in her schemes if he remains unwatched. If it suits you well, we can celebrate council by nightfall when you will be free from her."

Curiosity iniciated by the reprehensive hints made Paris be the first rising voice.

" Nightfall? Do you have any other greater problem requiring you today? "

The lady parted her lips in a soundless gesture that threatened the king with the chance of her spilling the truth.

" My friend will come for an audience and I would rather keep my obligations of domestic kingship separated from our common matters. "

The younger prince insisted.

" What can be so urgent to delay a call for council? "

Odysseus replied him to respond the excitement he guessed would be roaming the girl's insides knowing her warrior would be in the palace.

"He is a noble in decline that wants to claim right to a woman that doesn't belong to him, a beautifull maiden from Same of a greater noble family that would destroy him if they knew he enamored her. The request of audience is mostly to see my wife, he believes his luck will improve convincing her. If we don't give him an answer, he will proceed to do his will without my support. Since both families are from different corners of my kingdom, the conflict demands my arbitration. "

Incapable of perceiving any serious threats in that, Paris simply laughed untill the subtle sanction of his brother made him stop.

" That shouldn't be an issue, you are their king. Just bless the union and her parents will have to accept it."

The princess remained silent, but smirked in support and as a mock to Odysseus.

In the meantime, Hector tried to solve the misunderstanding caused by the blissfull ignorance of his younger brother.

" Paris, the political branching of mundane problems on the local life can have terrible concecuencies. Nobles can pick sides, and those can turn into militar fractions, each of them with the conviction that a fundamental right of theirs is being violated. "

His explanation was flawless, but overturned the greek girl's hopes of finding understandment in him and that got a bitter addition from her.

" ... And the next thing you know is my father comes to invade you taking advantage of the political unstability. Under the promise to bring order, peace and prosperity, his armies would loot your people."

Hector was confused by her cocky tone, product of a dissapointment he didn't know to have caused.

"Precisely the kind of comment I would avoid to not make you uncomfortable, but it's nice to get reminded of your critical awareness."

Odysseus had one last mock for her under the lines of his talk with the prince.

" Good to see you are having fun already, she is all yours."

Almost too angered to pretend, she tried to approach it giving back the same irony.

" Do you call this a punishment, Odysseus? That's very insulting for your foreign guest. "

The king approached her as the precise mix between an older friend and a father.

" I know you better than Agamemnon ever will, depriving you of involvement and information to act as the company of a nobleman is the worst I can do to you. "

He caressed her shoulder as if he intended to comfort her, ironical contrast with the core of his next premise.

" Young princes, mind to await for an instant as I put the child in place? "

He was playing with her, aware it would make her histerical.

" I AM A WOMAN! "

" Not legally untill marriage! " Odysseus mocked her while hugging her sideways, making her walk with him searching for a more private environment to discuss. " In the meantime, you are a responsability of the men in your family and I am the only one available here. "

The hall leading to the throne room wasn't too far from there and the slaves weren't occupying it on any cleaning, so it was good enough to at least whisper her a few words.

She released herself harshly as soon as no one was staring, ready to complain.

" You can't send me away with Hector while Achilles will be here defending our cause! In war and council you enjoy of fooling all sides, but this is different. "

He grabbed both of her hands, softly caressing the wrists indicating the gesture was secretive and not aggresive.

" I heard what he had to say, and the situation is worse than I thought: you were absolutely right. He has fallen for you, madly in love like I've never seen him."

Joy made her give a little jump with the upper side of her body, but he kept her still as insistence in the need for her to stay serious.

" Do you think I don't wish I could celebrate with you? Two dear friends of mine falling in love should be a motive for cheer, but I can't relax knowing the risks … The torches leading to your nuptial bed could as well set Greece on fire!! Achilles doesn't care, he is ready for everything with the hope of having you. "

She couldn't help to keep smiling and, for an instant, he almost considered telling more than what he should.

" Ever since I first meet him, I've allways been able to talk him out of serious trouble. For the first time in all our years of friendship, I doubt he would listen. The way he speaks of you had us both talking about love. "

Inspired in the sudden rush of hope his words gave her, she rushed to hug him.

" I knew you would be rooting for us!! "

Odysseus didn't deny the claim, but tried to remind her that his feelings remained in contradiction.

" What you have done of that man, your impact on him … It's beautifull, I am terrified. "

He kissed her forehead before concluding.

" I can imagine why Penelope must have made you wear her bead seeing that it covers most of your neck, but the image doesn't help to ease my will to protect you. Being honest, you look like a vision of the future showing the princess we didn't conceive yet. "

Traces of her anger were fading to such tender statement, so she pressed to make the hug stronger and later released herself complaining.

" Liar! You just want to make me cry. "

" It's true! Do you think I picked Hector for you only based on political convenience?" He sweetly insisted. " I knew the rumours about him, and turns out everything was right. That is the man every king would dream for his daughter."

She rolled her eyes, sick of hearing that description of the trojan prince, and the king defended his point.

" Don't get me wrong: Achilles is a great friend. I trusted that man with my life countless times and would keep doing it, but if a man like him would be courting a daughter of mine, I would probably loose my mind. "

It made her chuckle, what help her hide the brief dispair that a reminder of the warnings brought her.

" That is my curse, one of your slaves said I am the country's daughter. Most greeks must see their daughters when they look at me."

She looked down, but his glance followed hers untill it did the way back up.

" You are a wonderfull girl, and all I do isn't just for myself or the wellbeing of the country. I do it because the Achilles I know isn't worthy of you, and through this new side of him I discovered he will have to prove me that he can be the man I believe you deserve. "

The sweet exhortation invited her to twist the logic, as if the trial of Achilles could only take place under the secrecy provided by her working as a distraction for the trojan leader. In such terms she accepted, but that didn't calm her expectation for it. Being excluded was unfair, and the worse part of it was being left to wonder for the fate of the encounter.

Once the king settled the space for it and they were left alone reluctantly by a very amused Paris, Hector suggested her going to the beach for a long walk talking of anything she preferred. Given that a council was already scheduled, he even offered himself to share a short summary of her thoughts on her behalf through his speech with hopes of appeasing the anger he witnessed earlier.

A chance fort subtle inclussion in the political activity she was formally banned from didn't get her as excited as he expected. Although physically there with him, she barely paid any attention. It lead him to assume that she remained upset, because he couldn't think of any positive motives for bewilderment keeping her in dreaming state.

The single bother she took before following him was leaving behind the fancy jewelry innapropiate for the situation, while he had fully changed to casual garments. At least during the first instants walking out, Hector noticed her constantly fixing her robe in what he believed to be an attempt of covering her cleavage from any fails in the dress underneath. Particularly odd behavior, never before she had feared of his eyes and, unlike his younger brother, he never gave her any reasons for that.

Intending to ignore it to avoid awkwardness worked for a while, but her vague or simplistically affirmative responses to his attempt of discussing his speach invited him to step in.

"It seems that you are not with me today, or otherwise I wouldn't be talking alone."

He stopped walking out of sudden and her glance, priorly fixated in the sea, was once more back in him as she followed him.

" Forgive me, Hector … What were you saying? "

Exasperated by the situation, he released his frustration in a short groan while turning back.

" Are you still upset because I accepted this? Stop acting as if we were on a date you are determinated to ruin, it's most likely I would have seeked to stay close to you anyways because I am worried … If my brother is right and all facts are connected, there may be a man out of reason following your footsteps. "

The assumption, although partially right, was still very amusing for her.

" Is that how you choose to adress the god of war? So disrespectfull! "

Ignoring the tease, he presented his alternative interpretation.

" I am more inclined to believe we are dealing with a dangerously obsessive man that found his chance in your first long trip away from home. "

The very wrong description had a shade of accuracy, but she made fun of it anyways.

" Now that is talking nonsense! Do you mean a ' you will be mine or everyone else will suffer' obsession?… Please, Hector! If you find a single man in this country caring that much for me, tell me where. I may marry him. "

He turned back to face her only in order to tear down the cynic claim.

" You are a princess! Possibly the most unreachable one for most greeks. It's an unconfortable truth, but you must be aware that many men could be admiring you in silence. The more idealized your fame becomes, the easier is for a madman to pick you as an object of his obsession. "

Her jokes became more agressive, seeking to disgust him in order to close the topic.

" My own suitors wouldn't include me in their fantasies. They probably think of the mountains of gold, the countless cities to rule and all the gorgeous, perfectly trained concubines to satisfy their every need in their kingly bedroom."

The intensity of his eyes forcing her to keep staring back proved her strategy had failed.

" Nothing of that matters!! Disgusting men of nobility are the less of our concerns now. I suspect of a mercenary or professional assasin, something close to a warrior that lacks the virtue and discipline of a good soldier. This man probably frequents nobility circles in a downgraded position from where he lacks proper access to you. He came here knowing his prize would be less custodied, but not anymore … "

The act of theorization on itself, aside from the brillant result, was getting him too invested.

She was impressed, but still needed to do something about it.

" You expanded the idea I gave you! I like how your mind thinks, but I will have to dissapoint you. "

Adquiring some sudden secretive manners, she got too close to him in order to whisper her conclussion.

" Unfortunately, I only know of one man that merely resembles that description and he doesn't waste his time stalking princesses … If he wanted me, he wouldn't have stopped untill having me, and I wouldn't be a maiden anymore. Odysseus and Agamemnon would have no virgin bride to try selling you. "

Far from falling in her game, the prince followed her in his terms switching the logic of her words.

" That is dissapointing, i judged you a clever negociator. Regardless of who would be the man to be arranged for you, purity is your currency for the nuptial transaction and giving it away to that fool would be an irrational waste. "

She briefly raised her eyebrows and settled back the normal distance with a playfull smirk before replying.

" You speak too confidently for a dead man, because that's what you would be if he could hear you insult him. "

Skeptical of the advice, Hector could only share his mind with her.

" Obtaining glory for the sake of glory itself it's a vain, frankly stupid, motivation for a fighter. A so claimed invincible man that lives for the moment of his death? If Achilles doesn't want to be taken for a fool, he should stop acting like one. "

Nature provided her a decent seat on the rocks remaining at a considerable distance from the water and she headed there.

" You don't need to misjudge him in order to prove you don't underestimate me. Achilles allows nobles to think he is a fool, some mindless brute usefull only to do the bloody work that increases their wealth, but he is brilliant. The man knows his worth, no matter how hard Agammenon tries to devalue it in order to exploit him. If you talk to him, he would claim he doesn't care about politics. He was brought there just to fight, but he pressures the powerfull ones with the vital, deadly resource that he provides. Even if he doesn't dispute power in its traditional conception, he is an active political player. It's fascinating to observe, I believe you would benefict from conceiving your advantages in a similar sense."

A sudden realization, or perhaps just his will to tease her over the displays of admiration, guided him in the right direction.

"This silent admiror of yours we are theorizing about ... Would you wish it was him? I thought you were joking the first time we had this talk."

It occured to her that keeping control of the truth and revealing it on small pieces could be smarter than confessing herself to him.

" It doesn't matter, Achilles would never look at me that way. I am just the daughter of the king he hates, his approach is only a game to upset my father. While i'm lifelessly sitting on my throne of princess at the feast, I can only watch as his attention goes to the round of concubines performing their dances. "

Hector took her hand as if he intended to comfort her and she looked down to visually follow the gesture while he deepened it with speech.

" I am relieved, if that is the case. No matter how charming he may appear to you, that man is only famous in base of his rage and violence. His lack of control for anger and rumoured brutal nature could be a threat for your safety."

The observation surprised her not only. because its conclussion was unthinkable for her, but also due to how his argument was strictly directed towards her. From him she could have expected a callout centered on her duty of royal and the need of supressing a possible cause for internal war, or perhaps some dissapointment. If she feared to talk with him about it, that was never imagining his dissaproval could have personal reasons.

In his own contextually misinformed way, Hector tried to give her the advice of a caring friend. However, the wrong assumption made her flinch with disgust.

" I know how it looks, but he is not that kind of man. "

" How can you tell? Sometimes nobody knows untill it's too late. " He replicated, trying to accomodate beside her. " In one way or another, men that live for fighting take the fight home. It's a code of conduct I disencourage on my men: I want soldiers fighting for their country, not ruthless killers that can't survive without war because they need it to release violence that otherwise would be unleashed somewhere else. "

He looked up for an instant, as if he seeked relief or divine inspiration, then glanced at the waves crashing.

" I have heard too many of your horror stories … Do you want to hear one of mine? "

She agreeded wordlessly, simply by accepting to lean closer to him.

" Back when I was a lad, even younger than the young friend of yours you always tell me sbout, one of the many teachers instructing me for combat married this beautifull lady. From time to time we would receive them in the palace. They didn't have kids and Paris was still a child, so she used to stay playing with him while her husband would be training me. He was a formidable warrior, fearless and dedicated to his service. It was as if for him the battlefield was his natural place to be. He married a wife of his choice that had also chosen him and they seemed a normal marriage ... Untill one tragic night of winter in a particularly calm year, they shocked the entire city. "

He made a brief pause, respectfull silence that left implied what kind of tragic end the story had.

" After the funerals, father told Paris the tale of how Hera blinded Hercules with madness into killing his wife and children. It's the only explanation he found: a god that hated his success and happiness drove him mad. I didn't question it, but later in life as a commander of the army I found out there can be excellent warriors that abuse from the secrecy of domestic life to make of home their battlefield when there are no wars left to fight. Not all of them can be victims of divine induced madness."

His sensitive conclussion moved her as strongly as the story and she raised her head to look at him.

" I let you speak because I was intrigued, but your assumptions have gone too far ... Why are you telling me all of this? "

He grabbed her jaw, as softly as he would do to Paris when warning him about his choices.

" Because I would rather marry you, with all the loss that implies for me, than finding out in years to come that you shared the fate of that woman."

He caressed her cheek to soften the impact before concluding.

" In the descriptions I have heard, the infamous rage of Achilles is dangerously close to that image of sudden madness: fury that can't be stopped by any rational means. Before complaining of being invisible to him, wonder what would be of you if you make him angry."

She grabbed his hand to release herself.

" I appreciate your concern, but I need no savior. A lifetime alongside a ruthless man gave me a trained eye to see the difference between a soldier touched by war and a monster. I do not fear the fury of Achilles, it can be nothing worse than what the anger of Agamemnon has showed me. "

" … And don't you think you deserve better than distantly admiring a man that constantly fights with your father because he resembles him too well? "

She raised up harshly.

" Are you trying to provoke me, Hector? You have proven yourself a man I can call my friend, but you have no business in the wants of my heart."

Hector kept a calmer tone in a more practical speech.

" if your wish would come true things could turn out even worse, and this is the honest advice of a friend. I would speak on the same terms to my cousin, or sister, If I had one. "

She intended to walk to the sea, but his words made her stop in her tracks.

" I may appear a functional orphan, but I am not alone. Agamemnon and Menelaus are not my only family. I have others looking after me: Hesione, Helen, … Penelope and her husband. "

He looked down and smiled.

" Unwanted protection comes with the price of being my friend. "

She chuckled and turned back to give one step towards him.

" I know you won't believe this, but Achilles resembles you more than you could imagine. What I like the most about you can often be found in him. He may be your opposite in the sense of picking war over politics, glory over sacrifice, or never listening to kings, but he is loyal to his loved ones and very protective of them. "

Hector didn't seen impressed with the lovefull defense she made. The excuse of Odysseus, very plausible before the findings, was adquiring another meaning in his thoughts.

" I'm willing to pretend we never had this conversation, if you try the water with me. "

For as innocent as he made it sound, she was back in a state of calm looking alarm.

" I wasn't really planning to get in the sea today, just walk and get fresh air. My clothes are not appropiate. "

Hector stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders, barely leaning his hands on top of each while avoiding to effect any strong pressure because that wasn't his intention.

The robe, his fingertips were placed at each side of it.

" For how long would you try taking me for a fool? I know you are hidding something, you have been acting strange all day. An excellent liar like you wouldn't commit such mistakes if not struggling with the wish of being discovered."

Her eyes looked at each side, paying carefull attention to the movement of his hands.

" I told you about my secret infatuation … What else could I be hidding? "

He smirked before replying, amusing expression of his disbelief on the innocent claim.

" You have been unreasonably fearing my eyes since we stepped out of the palace, blame me for believeing this could give me a clue … "

He slowly uncovered her shoulders, revealing the dress underneath the robe, and inspected her carefully.

" … Odysseus has been teasing you all along, it's you crushing in one of his friends. The reason why I disregarded Achilles before was his absense in your tale, believing you would recognize him if you would have seen him. Not by chance you just confessed your feelings for him to me: for the very first time you feel guilty of your lies. "

Her hair fell back to one more delicate movement, with such bad luck that the side choosen by the prince to expose revealed her love marks inmediately. Hector had enough experience to recognize what the sight implied and she had no option but confessing.

" … I can explain, … I wanted to talk to you, but I wasn't sure if I could trust you with something so important. You know well that if my father finds out … Agamemnon would kill me, he won't care to hear reasons. "

Hector covered her again by himself. Once his eyes found hers she found will to go further.

" I love him, … And I know he loves me back. So passionately yet so tenderly. This? I believe it to be effect of his frustration in our intimate moments because he insists in keeping me preserved to avoid the punishment of my father when he can't be there to protect me. That's why you are here, Odysseus thinks he will fix it sending me away"

He released her completely.

" I want to be furious at him, but my anger is stained of understandment. He wanted me because I am the only one you could be trusted to if Achilles is chasing you. Not even him would dare to climb the trojan wall and steal my wife from my chambers. "

Before she would dare to object, he reinforced his leading of the moment.

" I need you to tell me everything that concerns both of us. No more secrets and no more half truths. Regardless of what the terrible reputation of that man makes me guess of him, you know I 'll never endanger your safety. "

Standing heat for the sake of discretion wasn't neded anymore, so she took off the robe.

" I will, but you have to stop talking nonsense based only on his fame. He is an unstoppable force of raw violence in the battlefield, and also a good man ... In his own terms, with a moral code that's the opposite of yours. You will see it if you get the chance, and you may. As it must be clear to you now, he has followed me here."

As her time for true confession approached, she had less oportunity to wonder for the situation in the palace. Facing the judgement of Hector had left her in a similar position to what she imagined Achilles to be enduring in the audience with the royals of Ithaca. Being friend of the couple wouldn't make it easier, precisely because they would be expressing their well intentioned concerns.

It was usual of him to show up in defense of his actions with no speech prepared. Either when insipiring his men before the fighting, or arguing in the council for expressed call of Agamemnon questioning his choices, Achilles would allways let words flow from the passion of his heart. He wasn't famous for the power of his words, but that overlooked quality of his was the delight of the myceanean princess. Far from self perceiving as a sweet talker, proud man of actions over words, she exposed him to a side of himself he didn't conciously cultivated.

Beating Odysseus in the field of words was an impossible emprise, but the basic understandment they had achieved kept alive the hope of convincing him. On a personal level, the loving husband who adored his wife valued the perpective he gained after falling in love. Appealing to that side by keep reminding him he was just another man in love was the best idea, something that would be easier in the presence of his wife.

The good sight of Penelope was an even higher priority for the warrior, since she wasn't a mere influence factor on her husband. As the eldest woman in the family of the girl he wanted to win, her opinion mattered with individual weight. If Helen was already counted among his allies, convincing her cousin would close the circle of undeground support on the level of familiar relationships. While the spartan queen had chances of influencing her husband in his favor, Penelope was the only woman of the family that Agamemnon trully respected.

When the gate leading to the throne room was opened for him, the sight he found was the opposite regarding his last encounter with Odysseus. His friend awaited the arrival keeping the kingly manners, yet smirking at his radiant wife sitting in the throne beside him. The handfull of soldiers that accompanied them the prior night, only subjects of the palace that were aware of his arrival, acted as escolt untill the king ordered them to retire.

Achilles smiled at the queen and she returned the gesture with sweet politeness, something between a ruler in a serious context and a hostess receiving a friend she haven't seen in a long time. When his eyes followed the way to her husband, his expression adquired a certain playfull cockyness.

No matter how he would try to replicate an audience enviroment, Odysseus would never represent the powerfull yet demeaning image Achilles had in mind when thinking of a king.

" I know that we tend to see each other only for war and this is what you do the rest of the time, but it doesn't fit you. "

Odysseus covered his mouth to hide a few chuckles and scratched his chin before replying.

" You requested an audience instead of a feast for your formal welcome to my country in this ocassion. Odd petition of these strange times! I've never imagined you would come to us sneaking like a thief in the night. I underestimated your passion, unforgivable mistake. I should have remembered that the ladies in the lineage of my Penelope can drag men into unbelievable places with their charm. "

The queen thanked the flattery with a soft glance, then interrumpted.

" His particular choice will surprise Greece, I have no doubt. Everyone has been looking at the wrong threat, now we have him here claiming ownership of the last unwed lady in the family ... Marking her like a possesive beast protecting its territory. What do you have to say of that, estimated friend of this home? Is the introduction to a foreign prince enough justification for such irresponsibility? The woman you pretend to obtain is a princess, and her body is under constant scrutiny. What's the point of preserving her for her safety, only to expose her to the doubts of gossipers talking down? "

Achilles accepted his guilt, even despite he was still a slightly proud of being discovered.

" I never meant harm to fall on her, but I must admit I wasn't carefull when I pampered her with my passion and that isn't entirely casual ... I do wish for those who praise the son of Priam with insistence to find something else to talk about instead of pressuring my princess to aim for the throne of Troy. They will know Hector didn't do that, he frustrates them because he wouldn't touch her."

Penelope measured her words with the right amount of care to warn him without angering him.

" His brother would, everyone knows he tried to seduce her during his first days here. Only once he gave up they gained authentical friendlyness. Has she told you that the prince is giving her shooting lessons? Paris behaves properly now, but it would be easy for people to assume that he kisses her neck from behind to reward every good try. "

" Prince? That man is a joke. " Achilles recalled in a mock. " He has no chances, frankly it's hilarious to envision so I didn't consider it. If rumours would point at him, Agamemnon would suddenly see I am not the worst option and the brilliant scheme of your husband would be over, because Hector wouldn't be available anymore. "

Odysseus did his contribution using his own argument against him.

" What would have been more clever and usefull to your cause than making Paris believe you are the mortal disguise of the god of war. One thing I learned about trojans is that their religious sensitivity is higher than ours: they are loosing their minds. "

" All of them, except for Hector. " Penelope corrected. " You may have alarmed him, but not deceived him. That is not enough to make him run to his ship and go home. "

She made a brief pause before getting into more intimate territory with her questioning.

" What is wrong with you? I know you enough to assume you are allways looking for a challenge. Why is it different now? "

Despite she aimed at his feelings, Achilles read it as questioning on his courage and directed towards her with arrogant pace.

" Hector has never harmed me, and I would never fear him simply because I fear no one. I don't waste time occupying my thoughts with childish jealousy, but I resent his presence because the popular perceptions of him damage my chances of fair judgement to get the right to my bride the way it's meant to be. Answer yourself with this question, queen. If she was your daughter, which one of us would you want for her? "

The smile in her face, product of circunstantial amazement, showed contrast with the answer he expected. Instead of listing his lacks, Penelope valued his intentions.

" Hearing you speak of her as your bride is a delight … Don't you remember how I used to warn you that this day would come? I once promised you make a peplos for your bride, and you responded me with some sarcastic joke about how you were never going to get married. Don't you think Odysseus had rational reasons to believe you could be taking advantage of that girl? We responded looking for a prince that would be safe marriage for her once you would flee. That doesn't mean we don't have faith in you. For as long as you denied the posibility to yourself, I always knew that someday the fine daughter of an achaean would tempt you with it."

Her encouragement was a relief for his heart.

" I didn't lie, never before I imagined we would be having this conversation, … but I fell in love with a princess and that changes everything. I know what I have to do if I want to be with her. Odysseus has his doubts, but I am not the lad he saved from the wrath of the King of Scyros. "

The speech pleased her, but it wasn't enough to satisfy her.

" Would you marry her because you want to or because you have to, Achilles? There may be no relevant distinctions for you, but I believe the implications can lead to completely different outcomes. "

" I want her in my life for as long as I have left of it to live. " The myrmidon replied terminantly, staring then the flow of words for his improvised, heartfelt defense." When I think of how I wasted two years since our meeting being already aware that I liked her … Maybe back then I suspected that she could be my temptation, that opening that door would make me vulnerable to wants I had for so long denied to myself. I returned home pretending nothing happened, but she didn't. For those years that sweet girl dreamed of me. … She was waiting for me, but I didn't show up, and instead of facing dissapointment she searched her way to me by herself even when she expected nothing. "

His voice adquired a sweeter undertone as he revisited for the judges his side of the story.

" I received her in my home for one day with its night and part of the next. That's all it took for her to remind me of how much I liked her once, and to make me like her even more. The chance came for me to find hospitality retributions, and as the unconfortable guest of her father I found the fate I used to reject more than death. Love of the real one, the kind of human feeling that turns a mortal woman into a goddess in your eyes. Now I dream of her, but lack of her blessed patience. "

Applying the same brutal honesty he had for everyone else on himself for the exceptional ocassion, his speech concluded directly for the queen.

" I was a coward, Penelope. In the time I spent running away from that sparkle between us your husband noticed ahead of everyone she could have been arranged to someone else. If he would have acted then, her wedding could have been our next opportunity to see each other again after Helen's. I won't risk that, her waiting is all what stopped me from losing the right time to discover her to my own foolishness. "

His intensity was not only a matter of introspective justification, but an impulsive release of repressed thoughts.

" She had strenght to remain silently infatuated with me while I was far away despite hearing the gossips about my lovers. Her only hope was seeing me again, believing I would never be for her. Now it's my turn and I can't wait, even if I know she is mine. I don't want any new princes arranging playdates with her, or gossips discussing of who should occupy my place. If someone else convinces her father before I would get the chance of doing the proposal, I will lose my mind. "

After such honest and extensive exposition of his case, the royals shared a complicit glance as if they would be guessing each other's thoughts. Penelope felt more inclined to use her judgement of woman and Odysseus, despite famous for his rationality, didn't have a heart of stone.

She abandoned her seat, standing right in front of the warrior.

" The fabulous descriptions we have heard from her fall short. "

In her brief pause she proceeded to kiss both of his cheeks, formal salute of welcoming friendliness.

" As a firm believer in marriages of love like the one I was blessed with, It is my personal will to support you. As the queen of this kingdom, I accept you need to provide us with some securities for our deal to be completed. "

Odysseus followed the interaction carefully untill she released him, aware that she wasn't trying to deautorize him. Her fair words where the bridge between the two extreme positions: letting Achilles walk free with the girl on the sake of love, or give her away to someone else before he could start a war against Agamemnon. After hearing the most intense speech his friend had ever given in his presence, conciliation of interests was the only wise option.

" Prove that you will not cause any more massacres in her name and I will seriously consider advocating for you to the father. If you want my full support, you must understand victory is not granted. I failed when endorsing Diomedes' proposal to Helen, and compared to yours, his goal seemed possible at the time. Used as you are to be invincible, you have to face the posibility of defeat ... "

He stood up, facing him close for his conclussion allowed by the distance that Penelope allowed to leave him space.

" ... No bloodbaths if Agamemnon's will works against you, Achilles. "

The myrmidon looked at the queen as if he aimed for a second opinion, but her reprobatory smirk let him know he was alone in that aspect. Even if he didn't believe much in it, the first try would have to follow the way of the king.

Surrender wasn't in his nature, so the forbbiden option wasn't completely banned.

" If she allows me to do it, or if he picks an old pig over me, I reserve my right of killing him for her honor. I am not Diomedes, no oaths will stop me. "

Odysseus let loose of his crossed arms.

" Seems fair to me, we shall reserve it as an extreme resource in case the vileness of the myceanean king may surprise us all. "

He gave him a path on the shoulder and they chuckled together like the old friends they were.

Penelope celebrated their agreement inciting their closeness with sweet encouragement.

" If the new perspective challenges you and you find yourself in need of advice, Odysseus is the best husband you can consult. The bright of his reason illuminates paths that remain dark for most men, and his eyes are the light of my life. "

Absolute adoration transformed the semblance of the king and Achilles resisted the urge of teasing him about it.

" I know I am not, by any means, the man a princess should want to marry. Never before I pictured myself as someone's husband, there is a lot to learn, … but I want to do it."

" A lifetime of training doesn't make her any more ready than you. " Odysseus comforted him. " We have talked about it. Being a wife used to be a natural part in her future she accepted with resignation, not a matter of love … I guess that, if our emprise succeeds, she would have to learn from the best wife to ever bless a husband with her love in the land of the achaeans."

With the formalities extinguished, Penelope approached her husband for a fleeting peck on the lips. Twirling later so she could face upfront with him embracing her from behind, she confessed herself to the guest.

" I am already taking care of it, girls get curious when love strikes. "

Achilles had a vague idea of what she meant that kept him gratefull and excited.

" What a bliss that you are, pendant of every detail. Although it surprises me you haven't allowed her to participate of our defense. "

Odysseus lightly confessed his own guilt.

" There is nothing she could add I didn't hear before, so I sent her on a playdate with Hector. They will be back for the pacted time for council I will celebrate with the trojans. If you act with discretion, she is yours for the night. "

The proposition pleased him and for so he showed himself willing to ignore what otherwise could have upsetted him.

" No palace maids or nurse slaves sent in your behalf to control me? "

His clarification didn't shock his friend, who calmly delivered a precise instruction.

"You know me enough to be aware that If you deflore her before marriage in my own home that will be the last time you would be welcomed in it for a long while. I don't care for how serious your intentions would be afterwards."

He didn't expect any less, but it was quite sweet to see his care for the girl was so genuine.

" Does Agamemnon know that you parent his daughter for him? "

Teasing was more in his style than admitting the process had made him feel like a suitor asking for permission of the father when talking to his own friend. Only the commentary of Penelope was helpfull to remember contexts, particularly in the progression of her seriousness fading. Their trial staged for him on that audience worked practically as a personal test. Surviving the critical judgement of Odysseus was hard, but nothing compared to the self centered, capricious mindset of Agamemnon already fixated on his hate for him.

Victory wouldn't be granted, but every small triumph deserved its celebration.

He couldn't wait to be with her and the waiiting felt too long knowing she would be back by sunset, but Penelope insisted on entertaining him with proper hospitality arrangements in the private comfort of her lounges. His deal with the royal marriage implied he had to remain in obscurity untill their matters with the trojans would be on a relative state of order the next day. Then, he would repeat a colorfull lie explaining the confussion he had caused without mentions of his romance with the princess.

Only one slave girl was trusted to his service on the ocassion. Old keeper of the secret, the loyal friend of the mycenaean lady attended him like if he already was her prince. Achilles took his chance of apologising to her for the concerning disruption and cheered her with news of Eudorus. Nothing of his conversation with the rulers of Ithaca was divulged, fearing she could accidentally spoil the surprise, but he made her an accomplice sharing her his plans for the night.

A pacted liberation of the zone for him would occur at a specific time safe to steal her for a while under the noses of the too distracted foreign guests. Once the door of the throne room working as agora of late hour council would be shut down in her face, she would be found there trying to catch details of the political arguments with intense curiosity.

Hidden once more as a stalking shadow when the moment to strike presented, Achilles observed the guesses coming to life. He easily spotted his girl walking like an intrusive presence among the trojan cortege. The form of her body was completely buried in a long, loose robe secured in the chest with a brooch, sight that made him smirk thinking of his passion driven mischief from the day before. He paid attention to the men she followed, noticing Paris walking beside her and shortly ahead of them the leader of the march participating of their conversation.

Distance from him was difficulting the communication and, given she was placed right behind him, at moments she would get closer to speak directly with him. Her rush looked like excitement, but his demeanour to reply was calm. His every gesture irradiated a sense of sophisticated confidence that was drastically different from what he had observed in Paris. Far from that hedonist ellegance, the royal bearing of a man born for kingship.

Achilles realized that his first sight of Hector matched the usual descriptions, except he seemed slightly taller and better looking in person.It was a temporary conclussion obtained from a very brief look before he vanished inside the room to be followed by all the men, when he catched him smiling at the lady as if he intended to reassure her for something.

An accord of some sort closed between them, he believed it to be probably of political nature.

The gates were custodied by two of the soldiers that saw him enter that room earlier in the day. Their presense was blocking her hearing of what was going on inside and they commited the crucial mistake of trying to expulse her from the spot. Watching her behavior escalate to their negatories was quite funny, specially because as he approached he got to hear her powerlessly talking down to men. Soldiers following the orders of those arguing inside, her closest outlet for protest.

When he emerged in arrogant pace, the argument had her so absorted that she didn't notice him heading right behind her as she kept critizicing the guards.

" … By the laws of our country I am banned from speaking, but nothing forbids me from listening … So I'll stay here untill you'll get sick of staring at my face in front of you. "

Achilles showed for the men a playfull smirk of complicity and their amused reactions confused her enough to realize something had changed.

" You will get tired first, pretty princess. "

She froze, turning back inmediately to find her beloved warrior smiling at her. In her eyes he appeared even more handsome than the last time she saw him, wearing a short black tunic that matched great with his long leather footwear.

" What are you doing here? "

Despite she knew of his arrival to the island, some of her surprise was genuine in the sense of not expecting to see him there at that precise moment.

" I came to see you, turns out I can't get enough of you. "

Achilles leaned a hand on her shoulder and sneaked the other to her waist, gently pushing to bring her closer.

" Leave her to me, brothers. I have it easier applacating her. "

With that trust sounding inside joke he dragged her away avoiding further questioning.

Nightfall kept most of the servants occupied on the kitchens preparing the meal that would follow the council. Depending of the halls choosen to navigate, desert spaces could be found while deciding which door would hide them that time.

He haven't had released her through the walk, but instead deepened the contact rounding her waist sideways with one arm. Everytime she tried to scape, he mockfully squeezed tighter.

" Odysseus didn't want to tell me about the audience, or where you left afterwards. " She finally spoke in clarification for her reaction" He said I would find out the result later … Now I see what he meant with that."

He proceeded to tell her the good news with some of his usual humor.

" He will support us only if I prove him i can behave … How was the playdate with Hector? Has he fallen for you already? "

The reminder made her chuckle a bit louder than usual.

" He found out about us, I had to tell him everything after he discovered the not so subtle gift you left me with yesterday. "

Better outcome than what he ever expected. It took him only one instant of peeking for any intruders in their moment before he pushed her against a wall so he could rip off the brooch and make her robe fall to the sides, observing his work with pride.

" Good, now he knows who you belong to. Is he afraid of facing me? "

He placed one delicate kiss in the affected skin, soft like a caress from his lips.

It made her giggle, covering herself later to resume the walk.

" Not at all. At best, he thinks you are a fool. At worst? That your violent tendencies and irrascible temper would become a dangerous problem for me if awakened during our arguments. "

The implications in that sentence shocked him, what kept him wondering out loud with certain frustration.

" Why everyone always expects the worst of me? "

She took his hand and assumed the lead, picking the next hallway that would take them to her room.

" It's a downside of your reputation, my love. For years you encouraged tales about your anger and brutality. When they describe you for him, most talk of you as a killer beast he shall beware of."

She gave him a peck down the cheek, reaching the side of his jawline, then concluded.

" Don't worry, he is aware of his mistake because I spent the afternoon telling him plenty of examples about how wonderfull you are … At least with me, I started to think I am an autentic privileged among the unlucky women that stumbled with you. "

The ironical tone in the strange phrase made him suspect something was wrong. His first guess was believing that his friend told her some unflattering stories he knew, maybe the one of his first failed adventure with the islander princess.

The tone of his voice adquired a sudden seriousness that was absent from the moment since the very begging.

" Whatever Odysseus told you, I can explain. "

She tried to be honest without compromising her informational source.

" He didn't have to, I had a close encounter with one of your girls. By far she doesn't recommend you. Aparently, you made her feel used after you were done with her. "

He tried to do a concious effort in remembering, but no idea of who was she talking about came to his mind.

" I've been in bed with many people, often drunk at some point of the action. "

The answer was quite frustrating for her.

" Is that your brilliant excuse? You dissapointed her so badly that as soon as she found out i have intentions on you she questioned my inteligence. "

They reached the right door just in time for his defense.

" My sentimental life was a sad mess before you came along, Odysseus made me realize of that when we talked. If I acted like a bastard, it's probably because I was avoidant of romance … I never gave myself the chance of properly meeting a woman I liked, untill you made it impossible for me to get away. And I am glad you persisted, because you opened my eyes to something new ."

[angelasscribbles]

All That She Wants Chapter 10: Old Wounds

Series: All That She Wants

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings for this chapter: Drake x Olivia (past)

Word Count: 1,341

Rating: M

Warnings for this chapter: none

My other stuff: Master List.

“Coming!” Drake bellowed as he crossed the room to open the door. He pulled it open to find Olivia standing on the other side. “Liv! What are you doing here?”

The side of her mouth turned slightly downward. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?”

“Sorry. I’m just surprised to see you. I didn’t know you were in town, much less here.” He stepped back and swung the door wide. “Come on in!”

Olivia sauntered in like she owned the place, her eyes scanning the room surreptitiously. Not much had changed since the last time she’d been in it. The room was tidy, practically bare. She’d always told him he was a minimalist, and he had always told her that he just preferred simplicity.

The changes that existed were minimal, but they were there. Like the woman’s hairbrush lying on the bedside table.

Riley’s.

She shoved her annoyance down as she perched on the edge of his bed. Watching his face carefully, she confided, “Liam summoned me here.”

Drake’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

“To offer to divorce Riley and marry me.” She laser focused on his face, watching for any sign that the information troubled him.

If it did, he gave no indication of it. “Why don’t you just put the man out of his misery and say yes? Then he’ll have what he wants and let Riley go. Maybe then she can move on.”

“Is that what you want?” She asked more sharply than she intended. “For Riley to move on?”

He ignored her question. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him no.”

“Why?”

“Why?” She gave him a look that indicated he was stupid. “Because I don’t want him like that!”

“That’s not true, and you know it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you and Liam have been entangled in some sort of situationship since puberty.”

“Not continuously.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t on again, off again, but it’s on far more than it’s off. Come on, Liv. Name a period of at least six months where you haven’t been sleeping with him!”

“Is that why you broke things off?” She sniffed haughtily. “You were jealous of my relationship with Liam?”

An ironic laugh escaped him. “First of all, no. I was never jealous of you and Liam. I’ve known forever that the two of you are like fucking moths to a flame when it comes to each other. No matter what you say, no matter how many times you tell him to go to hell, sooner or later, the two of you end up in each other’s orbit again.”

“That sounds like jealously.” She gloated.

“Nope.” He shook his head. “Just stating facts. I always knew that whatever you and I had, it was temporary. We were never an actual couple, Liv.”

“Only because neither of us do relationships.” She protested. “You kept clothes at my home. We went on vacation together. I’m pretty sure you stopped sleeping around.”

“All those things are true.” He replied carefully. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that it felt like something more than just sleeping together. Things were going well. We never argued, never had a falling out, then you just ended it without an explanation or conversation.”

He was dumbfounded by the note of hurt in her voice. Had Olivia Nevrakis had actual feelings for him? He stared at her in shock for several long seconds, until it started to get awkward. “Oh. I…I didn’t realize you would care. I mean, yes, we had fun together, and yes, I kept clothes at your house because it was convenient to do so since we were spending every other weekend there, but I never thought you wanted more than that.”

“I didn’t say I did.”

“Okay.” He considered his next words carefully. “I stopped sleeping around at some point because I was satisfied with what we had. Did you?”

“I—”

He waved her away. “It’s fine. I know you didn’t. We weren’t in love, Liv. We were in lust, we were in like, we were a lot of things, but in love wasn’t one of them.”

Maybe he hadn’t been, but she had. She wasn’t about to tell him that, though. Still. She had to know. “Fine. But if you got bored, or met someone else, why not just tell me that? It was rude to just cut and run the way you did.”

It was beginning to sink in that he had hurt her when he ended things. He knew her well enough not to say that out loud to her. Instead, he tried his best to fix it. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I have no excuse other than I really didn’t think I was more than a blip on your radar, so my reasons weren’t important.”

“Alright. I’ll accept that. But just out of curiosity, why did you end it?” Drake Walker was the only man that had ever dumped her. She was usually the one who did the dumping.

Her pride still stung.

Drake sighed as he ran a hand across his face. He didn’t want to throw Liam under the bus, but he didn’t want to compound the hurt he had caused by lying to her about it. “Liam asked me to back off.”

Shock, anger, and indignation shot through her. “That son of a bitch!” She was furious, and she was outraged, but underneath that, there was a tiny sliver of satisfaction. “What gave him the right to interfere in my life?”

“Probably the fact that you were still sleeping with him, knowing he was in love with you.”

“That…are you judging me?”

“I’m just saying that if he’s truly your friend and you don’t return his feelings, then you should probably stop sleeping with him.”

Olivia scoffed. “Who asked you?”

“No one. But why can’t you just admit you have feelings for him?”

“Because I don’t!”

“Then why do you two keep ending up together?”

“Please. The sex is good. What more could there be?”

“Do you keep in touch with Jin?”

“What? No. What does that have to do with anything?”

Drake shrugged. “You told me the sex with Jin was phenomenal.”

“So?”

“So, if everything is just about bumping uglies, why don’t you keep in touch with him?”

“I—”

“Or that Italian guy? What was his name? Fransisco?”

“Oh, for the love of God, Drake!” she exploded. “Liam’s the king! I can’t just cut ties with him like I can some fucking second rate spy for hire or a foreign diplomate!”

“Right. But it’s not just budget meetings and galas, is it? It’s trips to Paris, skiing in the Alps, yachting in the Caribbean, sneaking away during—”

“Because we’re friends!”

“Okay. Keep telling yourself that.”

“Oh my God, you’re infuriating!”

“Infuriating and right.”

Olivia rolled her eyes with a scoff.

Drake shook his head. “Well, this has been fun, but I need to get to the gym for PT with my squad. I’m already late. See you at dinner tonight?”

“No, I’m leaving for Lythikos before dinner.”

“Alright. Well, see you next time, then.”

He was almost to the door when she asked, “What was the second thing?”

He stopped and turned back to her. “What?”

“Earlier, when I asked if you were jealous of my relationship with Liam, you said first of all….what was the second thing?”

Drake smirked as he responded, “Second of all, you called it a relationship. You asked if I was jealous of your relationship with Liam. Your words, Liv. Relationship. And you just did it a second time. I trust you can show yourself out?”

She watched him leave as fury, confusion, and dismay collided inside her.

Were her feelings for Liam more complex than she wanted to admit? Was all her pining over Drake just wounded pride because he dumped her?

She leaped to her feet, slammed out the door, and power walked back to her room to pack.

Because fuck if she was ready to confront any of that.

[heloflor]

So ever since getting into FOP I’ve been kind of obsessed with the fact that Cosmo is one of the most powerful fairies out there, possibly the most powerful amongst the major cast. On top of that, I really like to headcanon that the Fairywinkle-Cosmas aren’t exactly the most liked fairies in Fairy World, for a few reasons (Cosmo being Cosmo, Timmy being both the best and worst godchild Fairy World has ever known) but most specifically due to the baby ban, made worse by Cosmo both being the reason for said ban and the only one allowed to bypass it.

Plus Peri was a bit of a celebrity as a baby, so something must have happened for the family to end up hated after the events of the og show, possibly related to the baby ban. Btw Cosmo and Wanda being disliked by Fairy World would be the main reason why they “moved” to the human world once Peri was all grown up.

But yeah long story short I ended up having some ideas for how the baby ban happened and how the situation evolved up to New Wish. So here is that info for those interested (3.1k words below):

Ok so first off, as I explain more in the next post, I see the Fairy Council as non-fairies who care more about their own self-preservation than anything else. A magical species allowed them to be their rulers and they will do anything to keep it that way. On top of that, the Fairy Council as a unit is weaker than about 10-11 specific fairies on their own (those being the strongest fairies). And despite none of those fairies wanting to take over Fairy World, the Council still can’t help but feel threatened by them since they could take the Council in a fight. And for further context, I see Cosmo as the third most powerful fairy out there, meaning he’s part of those who could easily defeat the Fairy Council in a fight.

Other piece to establish is Cosmo’s age. Now I know this isn’t canon but I really like the idea of him being 10 000 years old during the og show. It feels like a good number for a fairy that’s both been around for a while and is the youngest one.

On top of that, you could imagine that the last overpowered fairy before him was born over 50k years ago if not longer. Heck maybe after the wars from back when every fairy was the same size as Jorgen, some baby boom happened around the same time as fairies starting to evolve into smaller beings, which is when most op fairies were born.

All this to say by the time Cosmo was born it would have been a while since the last op fairy, so it’s possible the Fairy Council had believed no more new fairy could surpass them (like if an op fairy has a child with an average-strength fairy, the child is less likely to be op unless chance gets too involved; and if you continue down on many generations, you end up with less and less chances for an op fairy; btw Cosmo’s strength was mainly “luck”). So when Cosmo was born and was not only incredibly powerful but also destroyed Fairy World mere hours after his birth, the Fairy Council panicked.

They would cast a spell on all fairies to remove their ability to reproduce, originally intending for it to be temporary until they figure out what’s going on with that baby. And yes this would probably cause mass miscarriages but considering those guys had no issues killing two toddlers and blaming it on a ten years old instead of making an exception for them in “Timmy’s Secret Wish”, and again with the idea of them being all about self-preservation, I could see them be fine with risking this loss, again promising fairies that this is a temporary block and is for their own sake. And given that Cosmo destroyed the place day 1, fairies wouldn’t really protest much, at least those who weren’t pregnant wouldn’t.

Btw I considered them doing that spell with the help of the strongest fairies but it would then raise the question of why those fairies didn’t remove the spell themselves years later. Also since I don’t see the Council as being fairies you could imagine they had the power to do this spell on their own due to their magic being different.

Hell them having so much power over fairies could explain why they don’t want to lose their seats as their rulers, or even how they got in power in the first place if you want to go an even darker route for those guys. And while them being able to change fairies in such a way does raise the question of why can’t they block the magic of the fairies stronger than them, you could chalk it up to their magic not being able to influence another’s magic (yes I’m way overthinking this).

Also yes I’m fully aware that the Fairy Council is literally just 4 tall fairies wearing cloaks and making them another species kind of complicates things for no reason, but idk I really like the idea of them not being fairies.

Going back on topic, unfortunately while the block was supposed to be temporary, it became very obvious very quickly that Cosmo was amongst the strongest fairies, meaning there was still a chance for op fairies to be born which the Council wanted to avoid. On top of that, I could see Anti-Cosmo go on a bit of a rampage after his birth the same way Foop/Irep did, which would not paint Cosmo is the best light. And on top of that Cosmo’s terrible two would be an absolute disaster, forcing the first and second strongest fairies (both of which I like to think aren’t exactly fighters) to intervene and keep him in check.

Because of all that chaos in such a short amount of time, and possibly the news that Cosmo basically killed his dad meaning he has one less parent to look after him, the Fairy Council would decide to keep the block on reproduction, focusing on seeing just how strong Cosmo is before risking allowing more kids. Like every month/year or so they would make him undergo a few tests to see how his magic evolves, tests that will go on up until adulthood.

On that note, by the time Cosmo is almost an adult and it’s very evident how powerful he is, and with all the damage he caused growing up, on top of the Fairy Council not wanting to deal with another op fairy ever again, they decide to turn the block into a full-on baby ban.

Obviously in the middle of this fairies aren’t exactly happy to not be allowed to have kids, with Mama Cosma having to deal with the brunt of the hate. More on the family dynamics (and all the angst on how Cosmo feels) in a later post because it got very long.

Soon after the ban the Council would also cover their bases by telling Jorgen to include it in Da Rules, and I like to think Jorgen forgot to put it in because he was pretty bummed out about the news. Like at that point he never really thought about whether or not he wanted kids, so having the choice taken away completely he would wonder what could have been. So yeah he kept putting off writing it down and eventually forgot to do it entirely.

Also the Fairy Council would try and spread the idea that this decision was made to protect Fairy World from having new dangerous anti-fairies popping up left and right, using Anti-Cosmo’s quick rise to power as proof that, “while we love all of you fairies even the most powerful ones, your anti counterparts are dangerous. Not that we blame you for their existence! Don’t worry! Don’t think too much about this!” Especially since I like to think that if a fairy dies of “natural causes”, their anti-fairy remains alive, hence one spoilers element from New Wish’s “Battle of Big Wand” (worth noting that in “Timmy’s Secret Wish” the Council didn’t kill Poof, they made it so that he was never born, hence why Foop was unwished as well).

The fact fairies can live forever thus don’t need to reproduce would also be a strong argument for the Council. Basically like I said the Fairy Council wants to keep their power so they ended up doing some damage control to stay in the fairies’ good graces by using good old propaganda.

Cue 10k years later when Timmy learns about the rule, says “that’s stupid” and gives Cosmo and Wanda a kid. And the way I see it Timmy’s wish didn’t immediately make Cosmo pregnant, instead it removed whatever was preventing them from reproducing (the Fairy Council might be strong but the kids’ wishes are stronger, no I have no explanation for how it would be possible) but Cosmo and Wanda still needed to have sex. Maybe it also boosted their fertility idk, especially since I like the headcanon that Coswan are in fact trans and lied to Timmy about male fairies carrying the baby bc who’s to say how open-minded that 2002 child is? Granted he might be trans himself what with the whole “his parents were convinced they’d have a daughter” thing. But yeah if they’re taking the fairy equivalent of HRT they might need something to boost their fertility to have a kid.

It’s actually kinda funny to think about but “Fairly Oddbaby” opens up with Timmy playing around, meaning it’s likely after school, then he makes the wish and then it cuts to the next scene with him coming home from school and suddenly Cosmo’s pregnant. So there was a night between the wish and the pregnancy. Also iirc Wanda mentions the pregnancy being three months long, so it’s not a stretch to think the pregnancy would be visible 10-15 hours after sex.

All this to say Poof/Peri was born the natural way and there is no difference whatsoever between him and a regular fairy. All the wish did was remove the block preventing reproduction.

And yes, when the Fairy Council learned about the pregnancy they were not happy, especially with Cosmo of all fairies being the one having a child. They probably gave Jorgen the lecture of his life which tbh could explain him trying to take the baby away for training, you could imagine the Fairy Council being the ones telling him to do that so they can monitor the child as much as possible.

Though after the events of “Fairly Oddbaby” Jorgen probably convinced them to let the baby be with his parents, possibly using the fact Cosmo might get mad for them taking his baby away as an argument. On top of that Poof quickly becomes a celebrity and the Council is more than happy to let their citizens forget about their mistakes and focus on the cute baby instead. So yeah they let Coswan keep their kid.

That being said, they would likely give Poof/Peri the same tests they gave Cosmo, at least once the family left Timmy and moved back to Fairy World (if they started earlier tbh they could’ve done it “in secret” when Peri was at school, using the distance to make sure his parents didn’t know about it).

By the time Peri’s a teenager Wanda would get tired of this shit, especially since Peri is stronger than average but still far from being as powerful as Cosmo, on top of having a special wand made to repress his magic, so those tests feel pointless. Cosmo isn’t happy about that either but he’d rather his kid have his magic under control early so he can have a normal life compared to the disaster he was growing up. Oh and the council would use “we need to know Foop’s abilities especially with how openly hostile he is towards Fairy World” as an excuse to test Peri.

And about Peri’s wand, my headcanon is that a month or two before Timmy turned 18, Cosmo and Wanda realized Peri was still considered a wish and pleaded with the Council to make him a “permanent wish”.

Basically I headcanon that some wishes aren’t unwished after a child loses their fairy due to said unwishing breaking Da Rules. For example, in one episode Timmy wishes to have a brother and then can’t unwish him due to Tootie falling in love with him. But what would’ve happened had Timmy been fine with his brother staying? Would he disappear anyways when Timmy turns 18? Would he stay until Tootie stops loving him and suddenly disappear? Or would there be an exception allowing him to stay?

In my case, I’m going with the third option, with there being a place gathering all wishes allowed to stay, either due to Da Rules or due to said wish being done using a rule-free wish item. So Cosmo and Wanda wanted to have an exception made and have Timmy’s wish for Peri’s birth to be put in this place.

As for why them loving their son isn’t enough for the wish to be considered true love, you could imagine fairies’ emotions aren’t taken into account by wishes (tho there’s probably an episode out there contradicting it) and since Timmy’s going to forget his baby bro his love for him won’t work either.

But yeah when Cosmo and Wanda plead to the Fairy Council, they at first didn’t want to make an exception and possibly at least subconsciously wanted the kid gone so they don’t have to worry about his powers anymore. And as they’re being forced out of the courtroom Cosmo basically goes Avatar State on those guys until they change their mind and agree to keep the kid alive.

But with Cosmo showing this much strength, the Council starts questioning Peri’s abilities, leading them to give him a special wand that reduces his power. Technically Peri doesn’t need such a wand since, while again he’s stronger than average, so are thousands of other fairies, but the Council is basically punishing him for being Cosmo’s son. Also you could imagine the wand being “new” technology so might as well try it out.

(note that the Council questioning Peri’s power is why I could see them only start testing him after Coswan left Timmy, before that they would just be like “not our problem and he’s going to disappear in seven years anyways”)

As for why Cosmo doesn’t have a similar wand given how destructive he is:

1. A brand new wand that reduces magic would probably get some getting used to, so rather than risk having Fairy World destroyed a few more times might as well leave the guy with his current wand since he masters it properly.

2. With how ridiculously powerful Cosmo is, the magic limiter might not even work. Heck in “Battle of the Dimmsonian” we see Peri’s wand have a purple glow when he makes the giant cupcake appear, so I like to think Peri’s “Emotion Magic” can bypass his wand’s restrictions.

3. Anti-Cosmo is still on the loose and doesn’t have anything restricting his magic. And given I headcanon that each fairy and anti-fairy “duo” have the same amount of power, Fairy World can’t afford to limit Cosmo’s abilities. They need him to beat his counterpart or at least distract him long enough for other fairies to step in.

Btw this has nothing to do with the baby ban but I like to think Anti-Cosmo’s birth and the chaos that followed is the reason why Fairy World started to capture anti-fairies. They realized Anti-Cosmo was leading them and that his strength relied on numbers so they tried to reduce his power as much as they could. And the day they managed to capture him likely led to some partying on the fairies’ side.

(On that note imagine them having an “anti anti-Cosmo” shield around Fairy World, like every other anti-fairy can sneak into town anytime but not him, also anti-Cosmo could be one of the reasons why Jorgen isn’t the biggest fan of Cosmo)

4. After Cosmo destroyed their place to save his son, the Fairy Council doesn’t want to see his face ever again. And if they ever have to do a trial with him in the room, they’d probably put him in a butterfly net, you know as a safety precaution.

Going back on topic, so for 10k years the baby ban stayed in place, with Cosmo’s growing record of disasters not helping, but after Poof was born the fairy population started to get some hope. Sure Poof was powerful but to the kind of extent expected of a fairy baby. And that’s the main reason why he became a celebrity, for many this was proof that they could get their reproductive rights back.

Unfortunately that’s not how the Fairy Council saw it. They thought this wish was a mistake that would hopefully disappear as soon as Timmy turns 18. Which could also explain why they cared so little when getting rid of the two kids in “Timmy’s Secret Wish”, they thought it would happen at some point anyways. And when Cosmo attacked them to keep his kid, it further made the Council remember why they don’t want to take the risk of any new op fairy being born.

Also I completely forgot to mention it earlier but after Timmy wished for Poof, the Fairy Council had Jorgen put the “no wishing for babies” in Da Rules, meaning that there was no possible way for fairies to have babies anymore. Plus, the addition to Da Rules was made before Cosmo’s pregnancy became public (aka before the baby shower), likely right after Timmy made the wish since Jorgen was aware of it. That is to say if any fairy had the idea of having their godkid wish for them to have a child, it was already too late.

So after Poof existing for a few years and complete radio silence from the Council, people started to get angry until finally the Council spoke up that they had more urgent things to deal with, maybe even using Timmy as a scapegoat given the messes he creates at times, and/or that they need more info on Peri and his growth to make a proper decision.

And yeah it’s at this point that the fairies wishing for children started to turn against the Fairywinkle-Cosma, with some being especially pissed off at Cosmo for “causing” this ban in the first place (can’t say it was truly his fault since he was a literal baby back then). I could also see fairies becoming more vocal about their desire to overturn this ban, forming groups and protests and such. They were patient for 10k years thinking the Council might have a point, but now that they have physical proof babies are mostly harmless, they want theirs.

The Fairy Council would continue to refuse, choosing to ignore the protests as much as possible, though part of them would likely be afraid of losing too much support. And by the time New Wish rolls around, they would use Peri failing with his first godkid to the point of said godkid taking over Fairy World + Irep leading the takeover as more excuses to keep the ban in place.

That being said, with fairies refusing to back down on their protests, Peri clearly being like any other fairies and not causing any destruction, and maybe some higher ranked fairies starting to join the monthly protests (I’ve heard that apparently Jorgen’s character description for New Wish implies he and the Tooth Fairy started a family or something? Meaning in this headcanon he might want a kid and make it known to the Council), there would likely come a point where the Council has no choice but to give in, again due to their desire to stay in power. Or we could go the corrupted route and have them only allow specific fairies to have kids, mostly those that threaten them the most.

In any case, that’s all I’ve got for how the fairies baby ban would happen.

[indigo-anonymous]

I may be a little too deep in the brainrot but hear me out about this Hazbin Hotel AU idea-

It kinda spawned from a few other sinner!Adam AUs I've seen, but because I'm me I had to make it ✨trans✨. It started with my brain imagining Adam with gender euphoria bc of facial hair, and spiralled into, well, this...

--

Consider: Adam respawns as a sinner, and on top of all the other changes (goat ears and small goat horns, raven wings the colour of an oil spill, hooves instead of feet) he finds himself in a female body. The dysphoria is intense, even his voice sounds wrong to his own ears. He doesn't know where to go (all the people he knows would only want to kill him again), and ends up wandering, seeing the worst of hell as someone homeless. He dies more than once, but regenerating doesn't change his body. The worst of the dysphoria comes from other people, the way they talk to him and about him, the way they act towards him. He starts to talk less and less, hating the sound of his voice.

Eventually he stumbles upon Valentino. The deal he makes is one for protection, but knowing more than the average fresh sinner, he is very specific about details. Demons are not to be trusted, after all. He works for Valentino for protection and a place to stay, but maintains his soul and ability to back out of the contract.

He never introduces himself as Adam, no one knows him as such, and no matter what he says about being a man, Valentino never sees him as such. The overlord sees Adam and assumes he is a butch lesbian (given the masculine clothing choice (perpetual dysphoria hoodies and sweatpants) and short hair, haphazardly cut with any available knife whenever it got too long for comfort). Adam of course doesn't help that assumption by being adamant (pun intended) that he's only attracted to women.

Regardless, he works for Valentino, and it doesn't take long for him to run into Angel Dust. Adam is almost always quiet, even around Angel, but they eventually start warming up to each other. Angel immediately believes Adam when he says he's not a woman, and that relief is enough for Adam to start trusting Angel. It helps, of course, that Adam's power is related to names. He sees the true name of every sinner floating by their head, the handwriting symbolic of their personalities. Above Angel's head, in elegant, swoopy letters, is the name Anthony.

"You're Anthony, right?" "What- How did you know that?" "I- uhh... it says. Above your head." Angel is quiet for a moment, and then carefully asks, "Does it say anything above your head?"

Adam admits, truthfully, that there is no name above his own head. Still scared to admit his identity, he picks "Dee" as a temporary name (and definitely a reference to his title as Dickmaster).

And so Anthony and Dee become friends. Angel tells his friends at the hotel about his new coworker and friend, and they get progressively closer, bonding over queer experience and working under Val. With Anthony's help, Dee slowly starts to properly deconstruct his beliefs about... well, practically everything.

Anthony gets him his first binder to help with dysphoria (though he can only wear it when they're chilling with just the two of them, to be sure Val doesn't catch on) and they hang out together watching movies and talking. Adam is still quiet, but comes out of the shell he'd stuffed himself in over the past months, slowly but surely.

Angel can see that Dee isn't happy working for Val, doing it out of necessity far more so than enjoyment. So he suggests an alternative: the hotel. Escaping Val would mean Dee could actually attempt to transition, without having the dysphoria of being constantly misgendered by almost everyone around him. The hotel would keep him safe, even from Val, who would not be happy to have one of his new toys quit after gaining a following.

After some consideration, Adam accepts. He lets his hair grow out a little, hoping to not be recognised by anyone staying at the hotel. This, of course, wouldn't last. Though I'm not sure exactly how it would go down, Lucifer would be the one to first recognise him. Maybe once he's been on T for a short while, and his voice starts to drop. He slowly starts sounding and looking more like himself.

I'd love for this to end with Adamsapple because I love them sm, but I didn't think quite that far ahead, this really was just the brainrot of a few hours on the train with nothing but my thoughts and some music lmao.

Feel free to like, ask me more about this if you're interested? I don't rlly have a name for it, like, trans sinner Adam au?? idk

I apologise for my overuse of parentheses, and the probably somewhat incoherent rambling of... whatever this is. Just wanted to type out my thoughts :P

Indigo (going a little insane)

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

My master list

Title: Lets bring this idiot home

Word Count: 12173

Archive Warnings: Temporary character death

Rating: M

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/OC

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, The Party

Tags: Steddie, Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. . Temporary Major Character Death

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my awesome beta reader/cheerleader @slippy-slip I really could not have done this without you at all.

Art link and credit: Art is by the amazing @kokoshka67 as is the banner

Ao3 Link

AN: Working on this has been an absolute blast.

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and bats

Cold, that’s the first thing that Eddie felt when he woke up. Maybe felt wasn’t the right word, more experienced. He didn’t think he could actually feel anything. He was sure he should be feeling something. He should feel pain, he distinctly remembers being eaten alive by demobats making sure Henderson could get out of this hell pit and to help keep Steve, Robin and Nancy safe. 

He must be dead, that’s the only conclusion he could come to. Dead. Not even 20 yet and he was here, dead, in hell. People always did say he’d end up in hell.

“Jesus H Christ,” he said, sitting up and looking around. The place looked totally different now there was no lightning in the sky or thunder to be heard. The only thing that remained the same was the red sky and the ground under him. 

It was at this point he noticed that he was surrounded by bats, bats that he was sure had just been eating him, taking chunks out of his sides, arms and legs. But now they were just sitting there, looking at him. Watching him, rather unnerving really if you asked Eddie, almost as though they were waiting for him to do something, anything.

“Looks like everyone got out then,” he said out loud, for no reason other than to break the silence. He never did well with silence. 

“What the fuck,” he screamed as the bats all nodded back at him, as though they were actually replying to what he had said.

He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and moved off towards the trailer where the gate was. Reaching for the door with more force than he intended, he fell right through and landed back on the ground face first. 

“Christ,” Eddie exclaimed, sitting back up headfirst in the living room. 

So definitely dead, a ghost by the looks of it. First thing he had to work out was a way of interacting with the world around him, surely it was possible to do? It had to be, right?  

He took a second before standing up again to look around inside the trailer. It looked like the gate had closed. 

“Well fuck, guess I'm stuck here a ghost then,” Eddie sighed. 

Turning around he saw the bats had followed him. They were less scary when he looked at them now that they weren’t trying to eat him. 

“Well come on then, if you’re following me let's go and see what’s out there,” Eddie spoke to the bats. He was losing it already, talking to the damn bats.

Eddie started to float off in a random direction when the bats stopped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He started in another direction and they moved in front again. A third try had him stopped again. 

“Alright, alright you want me to go somewhere?” Eddie asked the bats flying in front of him, getting chirps in response. 

“Well I guess I’ve got nothing better to do, lead the way,” he gestured widely. 

The bats flew off slowly and looked back to make sure Eddie was following, giving what sounded like happy little chirps when he was. 

Eddie floated behind the bats all the way through Hawkins, through the woods and out the otherside where Riffer Rick’s could be seen.

Entering the house he was filled with emotions, all of the fear and the hopelessness that he felt the last time he was there all came back to him. Only hours beforehand he was in this place laying low because he was wanted for murder after watching the death of Chrissy Cunningham. 

The bats lead him further into the house and into Rick's bedroom, the last bed he lay on. On the bed lay his body, his mangled body with a torn shirt and missing flesh. 

“You really did a number on me huh?” Eddie laughed a humourless laugh. The bats gave off sad chirps in response. “Yeah I know, you had no choice, he made you. Thank you for making sure I rested comfortably though.” 

Eddie looked close at his body. He wondered if he could get his ghost back in there. Would there be a point if he did? His body has no heartbeat he was clinically dead, and even if he wasn't there didn't seem to be any way of keeping a human body alive down here long term.

As he was walking Eddie kept trying to touch different things, concentrating really hard on doing so. Wondering if the type of thing he was trying to touch made a difference or if him having any kind of connection to it helped. Everything so far had been a no. Everytime he touched something his hand went straight through it. His feet didn’t physically touch the floor and his whole body felt light. 

He wasn’t sure where to head for a while. Just wandering around Lovers Lake, seeing if there was anything that could help him at all. Nothing seemed out of place. With a heavy sigh Edidie headed into the town centre and ultimately towards Hawkins High. 

Walking across the football field Eddie headed towards the clearing that once held the picnic table he used as a meeting point for his drug deals. A place that he spent many hours sitting in, reading, drawing or listening to music. 

As he entered the clearing he noticed he wasn’t alone. Hovering by the picnic table was Chrissy. 

“Chrissy?” Eddie whispered, he hardly dared to believe he wasn’t alone in this hell. 

“Eddie?” She replied, moving towards him quickly. “Why are you here?!” 

“I died, apparently,” Eddie shrugged. “How long have you been here for?” 

“It’s hard to say, I’ve been kinda floating around the place, seeing what else and who else I can find,” she replied smiling

“Chris I need you to know I had nothing to do with your death, I tried to help. I am so sorry I left you. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t help you. Everyone misses you, they all love you so much. Jason led the whole town against me to avenge you. I promise if I could have done anything differently I would have,” Eddie cried. 

“Eddie, I know,” Chrissy whispered, placing her hand close to his face. “There was nothing you could have done, please know that.”

“But I ran away and left you there,” Eddie whispered.

“You watched me float to the ceiling and my bones snap, what could you have done?” Chrissy asked. 

“Nothing I guess,” he spoke softly in reply. “See, you did the right thing, you could have been next for all you know,” she smiled reassuringly at him. 

“Why are you here?” Eddie asked, gesturing around to the clearing. 

“This is the last place I remember thinking everything could still be ok. Like I had someone that was on my side and that I wasn’t completely losing my mind,” Chrissy replied simply. 

“Even though you saw something whilst you were here, you still felt safe?” Eddie questioned. 

“Yeah, you looked at me like you might actually believe me if I was to tell you what I’d been going through. You tried to make me laugh. Right until the end I felt safe with you Eddie,” she stated.

“I really really wish I could have saved you,” Eddie huffed, anger clear in his voice. 

They spent a while floating around the clearing and chatting, finding out more about each other. She told him about all the secrets of the basketball and cheerleading teams as they both giggled away. Eddie told her all about Hellfire and the campaign he had finished the evening he took her back to the trailer.  Chrissy told him about her family, her shitty mum and dad but also about her wonderful auntie and grandma who stood up to her mum whenever they could. Eddie told her about his own parents who skipped out on him for different reasons but also about Wayne who had taken him in and was better than a lot of dads he knew despite never wanting children of his own. 

The conversation changed to the upside down. Eddie asked Chrissy about what she could and couldn’t do down here and if she’d seen anyone else. 

“Yes actually I have, Barb Holland is around somewhere, the same with Fred and Patrick, I’ve seen them both as well. I’ve had a few good chats with Barb, she’s lovely, she was really helpful when I first ended up here. I can’t really interact with anything, my body seems to just go through it,” she replied. 

After saying their goodbyes and promising to see each other again very soon, Eddie decided to continue with his trip around Hawkins. Floating around the parts of the hospital he could, around the police station and around the arcade as well as everywhere else he could get into.

A while later, time had no concept anymore, neither light nor dark to tell night from day, no working clocks, probably for the best after Vecna, Eddie found himself back in Hawkins itself, followed by the bats who hadn’t seemed to want to leave him alone since he woke up. There was no one around at all, no cars even. Hell he wasn't really sure where he was heading, no real destination in mind. 

As Eddie floated through the centre of town he found the record store, as it looked in 1983, he walked through the door without opening it and started to look around. 

He saw posters advertising the newest Iron Maiden album at the time. The tour that Metallica were embarking on in the January of 1984. Suddenly it hit him. Surrounded by this ‘old’ music it showed him what he would be missing out on, what he would never have again. New music. He couldn't even touch things physically  so he didn't even have old music to listen to. He’d never play his sweetheart again. Never listen to the Master Of Puppets album again. The tickets for the Ozzy and Metallica show that Wayne had worked really hard to surprise Eddie with, wouldn't be used by him. Then there was the overwhelming emotional pain of missing Wayne. Did Wayne think he killed all those people? Wayne,  Eddie realised, would have come home from this shift, fully expecting to head to bed and then to go to sleep, to find the dead mutilated body of Chrissy Cunningham on the floor and Eddie gone. He couldn’t even remember what his last words to Wayne were.  

Eddie sat on the floor and screamed. Screamed for Chrissy, for Wayne, for Dustin, for Max. He beat his fists on the counter in front of him and was hit by the realisation that he was physically making contact with it, he was making noise against the front. It came as such a shock that he stopped screaming immediately, and then his hands fell right through again and back to his knee.

“Huh, that's an interesting development,” Eddie spoke. “Bet Henderson would be able to tell me what happened, I should probably go and find the little shit.” 

He headed in the direction of the Hendersons. Seeing Hawkins back in 1983 was really weird, not the weirdest thing to have ever happened to him but certainly up there. Eddie walked past shops that had long since closed down, or had moved locations. Places he had never been able to shop in he could now just walk into without the dirty looks.   

Eddie found the Henderson house, floated through the front door and saw straight away that this wasn’t the Henderson house. Someone else was very clearly living here at this point in time. Fuck.

As he floated away from the house, he had no idea where to go next. He wasn't sure how to contact the other side of the gate and he wouldn’t be able to touch anything if he could find it anyway. 

“Dustin saw me die didn’t he?” Eddie wondered out loud.

Once again the bats seemed to nod in response. That would always be weird. 

“So everyone else must think I’m dead?” He asked. 

Another nod.

“So they won't be coming back for me,” he whispered. 

He wasn’t quite sure how he knew this to be true but he was almost certain that if everyone was going to be anywhere, recovering from what they had gone through it was the Harrington Mansion. Luckily he knew they way, the parties back in the day had been very lucrative for his little side business. 

It took what felt like ages to float there. But finally, in front of him was the infamous Harrington Mansion, just as big as he remembered and with Steve's BMW sitting outside of it as well. Walking across the lawn and to the front door Eddie walked right through and into the entrance way. 

Eddie moved around the house slowly, trying to listen out for any sign of anyone on the other side of the vale. He tried shouting out for Henderson, for Steve, for Robin, for Nancy, for anyone. He tried moving things off the side but his hand just went through the items. It was then that he heard it, very faintly, but it was definitely there. Master of Puppets playing out to him from the other side. Now he was determined to make contact. 

“I’m alive!” He screamed, “Come back for me!” 

“Please,” he whispered. “Please find me” 

He finally remembered the one thing that he’d been told was always a sign of the Upside Down, lights. The kids, and older teens, had freaked out whenever any lights flickered. 

Eddie concentrated on the music he could faintly hear still and put his hand on the light switch, going through slightly but clearly making the lights in the hallway flicker. 

“What the fuck,” he heard.

It had been a very, very long 72 hours since they got out of the upside down and to the hospital. Various amounts of medical care were needed for everyone and aside from Max, Steve was kept the longest. His wounds had to be bandaged a couple of times before they would let him leave, the staff wanted him to stay for longer but suddenly being down staff members and up patient numbers meant they didn’t argue too much when Steve said he wanted to leave. Getting home was a blessing, Steve didn’t normally like the silence but a few minutes alone was needed. The dirty clothes in his bag needed to go straight into the washer so that's where he headed first. As he walked past the living room Steve caught the sight of the tape player they had all sat around before everything making mix tapes for everyone, just in case. He felt compelled to walk towards it, maybe to tidy it all up first. Sitting by the player he gathered everything together and made sure all the tapes were in the right cases. 

The last one, still sitting in the player, was Master of Puppets. Eddie had insisted on listening to it over and over again to make sure he knew it before going back into the Upside Down. 

Eddie, who was determined to graduate. Eddie who had been so full of life even at the end, wanting to be strong for Dustin. Eddie with his big brown doe eyes and his even bigger personality. Eddie, who even in the short few days Steve had really known him, had shown him a glimpse of a future. A future snuffed out with Eddie’s last breath. His first ‘round’ with the upside down and he ends up dead. Steve should never have forced Eddie and Dustin to be decoys, he should have sent them both home before they went to kill Vecna, they should have had another plan. Eddie should not have died in that horrid place. A victim like Chrissy, Patrick and Fred.

Turning the volume up on the player as loud as it could go he pressed play and let the music engulf him. He stood up and went about what he set out to do, putting his clothes in the washer. Everything was in, bar the vest. Steve stood holding the vest, just standing there looking at it. Leaving it on top of the washer Steve turned around to go about getting clean himself and then going to sleep when he saw it. The lights were flickering. He could hear that the song was coming to an end and the lights were flickering. 

“What the fuck,” he said outloud. 

This couldn’t be, the Upside own was finished. Vecna was dead and the gates all closed. Then he noticed it, the pattern, the lights were making 3 quick flickers 3 longer flashes and 3 quick flickers again. S.O.S. Could Eddie really be alive? 

The relief washed over him. If Eddie was communicating with him then he must be alive in some way. He needed to work out what to do, he couldn’t yet get everyone else involved, they were enjoying being at home with their families. No, he’d do this himself until he had to get everyone else involved with whatever rescue mission was needed. With the idea of a shower and sleep behind him now Steve grabbed a notebook and a pen and sat down at the kitchen table to write down everything he knew about the Upside Down, gates and anything else supernatural. 

It wasn’t until he heard the front door open that he looked up and noticed it was now dark outside. 

“Robbie?” Steve said into the darkness, closing the book and pushing it away from him.

“Yeah it’s me dingus, you ok? Sitting in the dark all by yourself,” Robin asked, concern obvious in her voice. 

“Yeah, I’m ok, I was just sitting here and didn’t even realise it had gone dark. What are you doing here anyway? Why aren't you with your parents?” He questioned, trying to change the subject.

“Wanted to make sure you’re ok, your parents aren’t here and I didnt want you to be on your own,” she replied, coming over and giving him a hug, “What's this?” Robin questioned poking at the notebook.

“It’s nothing,” Steve whispered, he needed her to leave this alone for now. 

“Steve, I’m not going to push, just know I'm here for you,” Robin said. 

“Thank you,” He replied. “Anyway don’t you have a date tonight?” 

“I called J and rescheduled, explained about the earthquake and everything and how I needed to help clean up and just needed to be with the family tonight,” Robin shrugged. “Want to watch a movie and judge everyone before we fall asleep on the couch and get really uncomfortable?” 

“I couldn’t think of a better way of spending the evening, shall we make some food first?” He suggested.

20 minutes later they were both sat down with Top Gun on and huge bowls of pasta.

“Kelly McGillis is so hot,” Robin sighed. 

“Not as hot as Tom Cruise,” Steve replied.

They couldn’t hear him or see him and he couldn’t see them or hear them any more but Eddie was in the room with them humming along to Master of Puppets hoping that someone had got his message earlier and that they were coming to save him.

The pair spent the rest of the evening watching films and judging everyone in them. However Steve couldn't shrug off the feeling he should tell Robin, at least she would probably know what to do. He was so grateful for her turning up to make sure he was ok though, he didn't have the heart to ruin it. He'd show her everything in the morning. 

Later that night they crawled into bed together and as per their custom Robin was the big spoon. She was tiny but they both felt better sleeping this way. They fell into a restless slumber, too exhausted to be kept awake by the horrors that they had seen but not settled enough for it to be restful. 

The next morning they woke up and made breakfast. Over an unusually quiet breakfast for the pair, Steve thought about what was written in his notebook. Having slept he felt better about letting Robin know what he had seen. Once toast had been eaten and coffee drank, Steve pushed the notebook towards Robin and stood up to do the dishes. "Steve, why does this page have Eddie's alive with a question mark at the top. And why is this followed by everything we know about the upside down and supernatural things in general?" Robin whispered. "The lights flickered," he answered simply. "Just like the S.O.S that Eddie told us about." 

"He was dead though babes, we all checked for any sign of a pulse, all over this body. There wasn't one," Robin countered. 

"Look, I know that, ok. I know the gate is closed and I know we all checked for a pulse and it wasn't there, but the lights flickered and it was S.O.S," he replied, pinching his nose to stop himself crying. 

"Okay, do we need to get everyone else involved?" Robin asked, believing him.

"Maybe later. Can we just have a think if there's anything I've forgotten before we let them know? They're all still just kids and they're with their families right now," he suggested.

"Of course we can," Robin smiled, cuddling into him from behind.

"I really hope he's alive Bobbie," Steve sniffled.

"Oh dingus, me too," she sighed.

"Steve, I know you don't want to get them involved just yet but if Eddie is down there on his own we need to help him. We both know we can't do this on our own, it wouldn't help anyone and we'd just get ourselves into danger. Would you want to tell them what happened when we both come back half dead?" Robin said after their second morning together.

"Yeah, I know. I'll radio them soon and get everyone here and see what they say," He sighed. "I just want them to be kids for once."

“Me too dingus, me too, but we need their help,” the girl responded, pulling him into a hug.

They both got showered and dressed for the day and then Steve radioed Dustin.

"Henderson, you there dude?" Steve spoke into the walkie.

"Steve? Everything okay?" came the static reply of Dustin seconds later.

"Gather everyone at yours in 30 minutes. I'm picking you all up and bringing you here," Steve said, trying not to sound as stressed as he felt. Was he really dragging them all back into this bullshit?

"Sure okay, guys check in if you heard that," Dustin responded.

Different variations of 'heard' could be overheard from the walkie as each party member said they would be there.

"Right, sit down, I need to tell you something," Steve started a little while later when all of the party were all sitting in the Harrington living room.

"Are you dying?" Dustin asked straight away.

"Did you get Robin pregnant?" Mike asked.

"Are you moving away?" Lucas questioned him.

"No, no, none of that. Especially the Robin being pregnant thing, she’s like my sister dude," Steve replied, already exasperated. 

"Well you've never had an issue fucking sisters," Mike retorted.

"Just yours Wheeler, just yours," Steve said straight faced.

"Just listen, please," Steve sighed. "A couple of nights ago when I got home from the hospital I was playing Master of Puppets at full volume and the lights flickered, like S.O.S, like Eddie showed us. I didn't hear anything but I know what I saw. I'm not clever enough to work this shit out on my own. I'm not asking anyone to come back down there if it's needed, I will do that alone. I just need help working out what's going on and how to go about fixing it."

"Oh yeah, like we're going to let you go back down there on your own," Dustin huffed, rolling his eyes. "So, which lights? Was it just the S.O.S or was it other flickering too? You said you didn't hear anything else but are you sure? Any kind of static from the radio? From the tape player? We need to see if we can contact the other side. Going to be a bit difficult if we don't know if Eddie is here or not. Like in the house still," Dustin rambled, question after question being thrown at Steve.

"Just the lights in the hallway that I saw, nothing else at all even vaguely weird. Robin did you hear anything or see anything last night or the night before?" Steve asked, turning to Robin for the last question.

"Nope," She responded, shaking her head.

Dustin's immediate reaction was to jump up and run to the light in question, clearly in the hopes to find some way of using them to communicate with Eddie.

"Okay so how do we talk to him?" Mike asked as he followed Dustin into the hallway.

"Can we even talk to him? Like if he's dead and a ghost or something will we be able to talk to him?" Dustin wondered out loud.

“Well he communicated with us so we should be able to talk back to him in some way. Like we did with the lite-brite the other day, we’ll figure this out ok. We need to. Eddie needs us again,” Steve pointed out.

“We could use the walkie talkie or a radio as a spiritbox type thing?” Robin suggested. “Kinda sweep the frequencies and see if we get anything at all from the upside down at all, it's kind of a different world like talking to a ghost would be.” 

The party spent the rest of the day going through different channels on their walkies and walking around the house trying to get something, anything. They had gone through all the channels and walked around the whole of the Harrington house getting nothing back. 

“I don’t think we’re going to get anything,” Will sighed. 

“What’s different now than when you saw the lights Steve?” Mike asked.

“Music!” Robin shouted, jumping up. “Sorry, Steve said when he saw the lights he had Master of Puppets on full blast.” 

“Yes! That’s it! Steve, where’s the tape and the tape player?” Dustin asked. 

Steve found them both and soon the opening notes were blasting from the speakers and around the house. 

They restarted their checks with the walkies, concentrating in the hallway, less than 3 minutes later and a walkie picked something up. 

" 'derson," came a crackly voice through the walkie that Lucas was holding in the hallway. 

“Holy shit Eddie! It’s Lucas, man is that really you?” the younger boy asked excitedly. 

“Older Sinclair! Man, it's good to hear your voice. Yeah it’s me,” came the staticky reply. 

“Lucas, what channel are you on?” Dustin demanded to know. 

“Eddie! Eddie, it’s me, It’s Dustin,” Dustin said into the walkie once he had tuned it right.  

“Henderson, I’m so fucking sorry,” Eddie replied quietly. 

“Dude, we’re going to fix this okay, we’re going to bring you home,” the curly haired boy said. 

“Operation Let’s Bring This Idiot Home has officially begun,” Robin laughed into her walkie. 

“Now I know I’m saved with the brain of everything helping the kids, is the brawn behind your brains helping too or is King Steve too busy?” 

“I’m here you jackass, stay close to whatever you’re using to speak to us. We could use your weird knowledge of things.” 

“Always happy to be a fountain of weird knowledge. I’ll stay where I am. Over and out for now,” Eddie replied before the music ended and the static of the radio started up again.

Eddie didn’t think anything would be able to wipe the smile off his face. Having human contact again after days of no one but bats to talk too and it being the people he went down fighting alongside felt amazing. Knowing that they wanted to help him potentially get back to the right side up gave him a feeling that he never thought he would feel again, hope. 

He wanted to go and wander around and explore more of the Upside Down, he wanted to know how far it spanned. Was it just Hawkins that was affected or was further afield having the same issues. He also wanted to be nosey in peoples houses, as much as his ghostly body would allow anyway. However he needed to stay close to the radio he had been able to communicate to them through. Unable to actually take it with him. 

He waited around for what felt like ages. He hoped someone would check in with some update or idle chit chat, but no, silence. The more the silence drew on and on the more the bad thoughts crept back in. Eddie had had time since ‘waking up’ to accept that this was his new normal but since the talk with the party he allowed himself to think about going home, about hugging Dustin again, seeing Wayne again, about 6 kids, a winnebago and a road trip.

Had they already forgotten about him? He couldn’t be sure how much time had passed with no way of gauging time of day. He also didn’t know if time worked the same down here as it did up there. Trying to convince himself that a large amount of time hadn’t actually passed was difficult but he had to try.

“Hey, guy’s, is anyone there?” He asked, touching the radio, which seemed to be the only way he could get it to work. 

Silence. 

No reply came at all, not even static. 

He sat and waited, speaking into the radio another few times, trying different things to see if that would help. He had no luck.

Eddie felt helpless again. 

The little bit of hope he had ripped away from him as quickly as it had come.

How was he going to recover from this now? He’s already come to terms with being stuck down here forever now but he’d, albeit for a brief moment, had hoped that that would change. 

“Eddie, you there man?” Steve asked later that evening, something told him he needed to check in with the other man. He couldn’t imagine how lonely it must be to be left alone down there. 

Nothing came back. 

“Munson, you there? It’s Steve,” Steve said again. “Harrington, Steve Harrington, just like in case you know another Steve.” Maybe he had been hanging out with Robin too long.

Still nothing. 

Has the connection they made been lost? Has something happened? Had Eddie just wandered away and couldn’t hear him? All kinds of thoughts ran through his head.

Steve was trying the radio over and over walking around the house. 

“Hey dingus, everything ok?” Robin asked, waking into the house and seeing him pacing. 

“I can’t get Eddie back again Robin, he’s gone,” Steve replied frantically, trying the radio one more time. 

“Okay, we can sort it,” she replied calmly. 

“What if he’s gone this time Bobs?” he whispered. 

“He isn't okay, we know this. It took us ages to get in contact last time. We can keep trying okay. You did forget the music though. I can’t say for certain that helps the link but it’s not a coincidence that the 2 times contact has been made that music was involved,” she reassured him, pulling him into a hug.

“You’re right, let’s get it playing and see if that works again,” he replied, breathing out the breath he felt like he’d been holding for ages. 

They got the tape playing and Steve tried again. 

“Hey Munson, you there man?” He asked again, hoping he sounded a lot calmer than he felt. 

“Steve Harrington as I, well, float in another worldly place,” Eddie replied, drawing out Steve’s name. “How can I help big boy?” 

“Just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing,” Steve replied, trying his best to hide his blush from Robin, the smirk on her face suggested he hadn’t been successful. “Guessed it must be pretty lonely down there, and it’s just me and Robin here right now” 

“I’ve made friends with the bats!” Eddie exclaimed, glee clear in his voice.

“The bats?!” Robin shouted after taking the walkie from Steve. 

“Yes, they’re not too bad when they’re not killing me,” he laughed, he could just imagine the look on both their faces. “Oh you’ll never guess who else is down here! I haven’t spent all that much time with her but we did spend some time together, Chrissy.” 

Steve looked at Robin straight away, he could sense the impending freakout before it happened.

“That’s great! Maybe we can errmm, talk to her sometime, I guess, like maybe. She probably doesn’t want to talk to me, or us I mean, she didn’t even know us really,” Robin rambled. 

“I get it Robin, she’s a very beautiful girl,” Eddie replied casually. Robin’s shoulders relaxed at being accepted without having to say the words. “I was always slightly more inclined towards the basketball team rather than the cheerleaders but I have been known to look their way.” 

Days passed and the group did research into all things to do with ghosts and discussed their collective knowledge of the Upside Down. Robin had made a couple of long tapes with Eddie's favourite songs once they realised that any music that Eddie connected with emotionally worked to bridge the gap between worlds. They left a tape running any time someone was awake and in the house. 

Everyone had gone home on the fifth day of brainstorming when Eddie’s voice came across the walkie that they had made sure could always be used by him. 

“Steve, you there?” he asked. 

“Yeah I’m here. Miss me already?”

“You weren't meant to figure it out,” Eddie laughed. 

“Secrets safe with me,” Steve responded with a laugh. “All jokes aside, everything ok? Need something?”

“Yeah, a huge favour actually. Can you help me keep everyone away from Riffer Rick's bedroom if you guys have to come down here. My, erm, physical body is in there. It’s not pretty and I don’t want anyone seeing that unless it can be changed.”

“Yeah, of course. If someone needs to go there it’ll be me,” Steve said, nodding as though he could be seen.

Almost two weeks later the party realised they had as much information as they could gather and the next step, they all decided, was heading down into the Upside Down. 

“I know you don’t want to but I think we’re going to need El involved in this. I’m not sure how we can open the gate without her,” Dustin declared. 

Everyone else agreed reluctantly and Mike gave her a call to fill her in on everything so far.

“I have sensed something a little different down there. I couldn’t quite work out what it was though, it didn’t feel evil. Just sad mostly, sparks of happiness but mostly sad,” El explained when she joined the group.

“Can you open the gate again so that we can go and see him?” Mike asked her. 

“Possibly yes, I can feel the one in the pool a little still so maybe I can open that one up again,” El replied.

“A gate in the pool?” Nancy whispered “Where it came and took Barb. I never thought about that.” 

“So El, you can open the gate up and we can head in, save Eddie and bring him home,” Dustin said cheerily. 

“Let’s take it one step at a time shall we?” Steve replied. 

Heading out into the back garden and over to the empty pool the group looked around to see if anything looked any different. 

“I can feel it the strongest here,” El said as she stood near the diving board. “I can open this gate up. I can’t feel anything dangerous and Eddie said that he hasn’t seen anything bad right?”

“Said he’d made friends with the bats,” Robin scoffed. 

El got ready and sat on the diving board. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, held her hands out and concentrated. The air suddenly felt heavier. A rip in the very fabric of the universe started to open and continued to spread. Once the gate was open fully El placed her hands by her side and opened her eyes again. 

“It’s open and I can’t feel anything bad in there,” El said as she took a tissue from Will who had rushed over to her. 

The silence was deafening. Any noise that there seemed to be before the gate was opened had disappeared. 

“Right, let’s get going then,” Dustin said, stepping forward. 

“Just me, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan are heading in ok. We can’t risk any of you but we’re all adults and have made this decision,” Steve said, one hand on his hip and the other pointing at each of the party in turn.

“Right, let's just go in and bring this idiot back,” Robin sighed, picking up her axe. 

They had spoken at length with Eddie about what creatures could be found down there. He’d said they were harmless but they couldn’t be sure what would happen when people who weren’t connected to the Upside Down entered. 

Steve went in first, trusty nailbat swinging by his side. Jonathan and Nancy followed him, Nancy with her shawnoff pointed dead ahead and Jonathan with a pistol in hand. Robin followed the group with her axe held ready to strike should it be needed. 

“Watch for the vines guys, don’t forget about the hive mind. We don’t know what connection they have now. Also we’re not sure what kind of connection they have to Eddie either so don’t hurt any of them because we don’t want to hurt him as well,” Robin rambled. 

“I hate this place, it’s no less creepy now than it was when we were last here fighting for our lives,” Nancy commented. 

“You weren’t joking when you said this place was stuck in ‘83. The Phillips still have that awful tree that always used to overhang the sidewalk,” Jonathan said looking around. 

“She was such a bitch too, always on at me and Tommy over something or other. Plus her cooking was lousy and they were always cheating on each other. Broke up 3 other marriages between them,” Steve replied off handedly. 

Walking around the Upside Down when something wasn’t trying to kill them was a whole new experience for each of them. This time the place was silent, all bar their footsteps and chatter. The sky was no longer red with lightning above them, no bats or other demo creatures were trying to kill them, just silence. They knew that Eddie had been spending a lot of his time at the Harrington residence as that was the only place they could communicate with him. So that’s where they headed too. 

“This is all suspiciously quiet down here. This has not been my experience of this place so far. Is this ok or are we walking into a trap? Oh shit. Did we ever take a second to check if this was actually Eddie? We all saw him dead, Steve you tried chest compressions and Nancy you checked for a pulse. What if we didn’t actually kill Venca and he’s bringing us down here hoping we come back down without much of a plan so he can kill us and get free?” Robin questioned. 

“Robs, it’s Eddie ok. Trust me,” Steve replied. 

The group continued to walk towards the Harrington residence without issue and finally they were there. 

“Munson, you here man?” Steve asked as he walked into the house. It felt so weird for him to be seeing the house as it was in ‘83, before everything started.

He could almost see a younger version of himself sitting on the couch watching something on TV. Or sitting with the book club he joined talking about their neighbours. 

“Yeah in your super posh living room,” Eddie said, interrupting Steve’s thoughts before they could spiral any further. 

They all walked into the living room with their weapons ready to attack if it wasn’t actually Eddie. 

“Guys, I’m a ghost. You can’t kill me any further and a nail bat or gun isn’t going to get rid of me,” Eddie laughed. 

“I brought an iron poker as well,” Robin declared, unhooking it from her belt. 

“A wise woman, Buckley, but please keep it away from me. We don’t actually want me to disappear,” Eddie said, moving further away from her.

“The weapons were for more fleshy creatures than yourself, no offence obviously,” Nancy pointed out. 

“I told you they're all harmless, nothing will hurt you. Venca is dead. I can’t feel him at all and the bats agree,” he sighed.

“Right so Eddie is officially a ghost, we don’t know where his body is, we don’t know what state that body is in, and we have no way of getting ghost Eddie back into human Eddie even if parts 1 and 2 weren’t an issue, which they are,” Robin spoke up. 

“I, erm, know where my body is. The physical one anyway but parts 2 and 3 are still an issue so,” Eddie said sadly.

“Let's go and see what we’re dealing with then,” Nancy said, turning to leave clearly having already made up her mind that they were heading to Eddie’s body next. 

“I think we should ask Eddie what he wants to do about his body. He should be given the choice as to who gets to see him like, well, that,” Steve shrugged. 

“Thank you Stevie. I just want you guys to know that bits of the flesh are missing. It’s clearly a very dead body ok. It’s not pretty. None of you need to see it if you don’t want to, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. I asked Steve to keep the kids away so they didn’t have to see it but I would really consider if you want to see that or not,” Eddie said before the group could move too far. 

“Thanks for the heads up Eddie but if we’re going to fix this at least one of us that can go right side up needs to see your body so we know exactly what needs to be done,” Nancy nodded at him.

“Lead the way then,” Robin said. 

The group all left the Harrington house and started their way through the woods towards Riffer Rick's place. Their surroundings stayed as quiet as it was when they entered the Upside Down a few minutes prior. The bats follow at a safe distance behind them. 

“I don’t like that they’re following us at all, it’s really creepy,” Robin pointed out. “Can they stop please?’

“They don’t like you guys being down in their territory either. Last time you were here you guys set fire to things and did a lot of harm. Plus killing their master,” Eddie shrugged. “They’re not going to hurt you though if you don’t do anything.”

“Does this pose a future issue of getting your body out of here? Is that maybe something we need to be careful of?” Jonathan questioned as they reached the house and walked inside.

“I don’t think so but maybe we need a game plan for that happening,” Eddie replied. “Right, I’m in the bedroom, I mean my body is in the bedroom. Please remember what I said earlier about what’s in there before you just walk in.”

“I’ll go and look, no one else needs to join me if they don't want to,” Nancy said, walking towards the bedroom. Steve followed behind her.

A few minutes later Nancy and Steve both walked back out. 

“The first issue would be the fact your body has no blood in it but it doesn’t actually look like it's started to decompose which is good,” Nancy declared. “We’d have to close up  the wounds. Get at least 5 pints of blood into you and restart your heart.”

“Not a lot then, we could get all of that done in an hour or so right?” Eddie deadpanned. “Let's face it guys, we can't do that. My spiritual being is outside of my body and we have no way of fixing that. I’m dead and I’m staying dead. Is there any chance someone could explain all this enough to Wayne so I can speak to him again though please?”

“Yeah of course, anything to help,'' Robin replied. “Should we have a look around? Make sure Vecna/ Henry / 001 is dead? May as well make sure the job is done.” 

“Sure, let's head over to the Creel house and check it out,” Jonathan shrugged.

The group walked back into Hawkins and through the town and passed the Memorial Hospital.

“We could burn it down?” Robin suggested, nudging Steve, as they walked past Family Video.

“We could always burn the school down instead?” Eddie countered as they went past Hawkins high.

Finally they were walking up the path towards the Creel house. 

“I know we’re all thinking it and I just want you all to know that even if we can’t get this situation fixed I appreciate you all trying. It means a lot that you all came down here to try and help, even though you had no idea what was waiting for you when you got here. So yeah, even if I’m still a ghost at the end of all this, Thank you,” Eddie said as the group made its way inside the creepy house. 

“This really is an awful place. I can still feel the vines around me,” Robin commented with a shudder. 

“There’s so much cool shit in this house that I want to explore but I can’t physically pick anything up which sucks,” Eddie said, looking around the hallway. “Buckley, can you help me explore?” 

“Don’t touch anything yet, we still need to make sure this place is safe,” Nancy spoke up.

“It’s safe,” came a voice from behind them. 

“Hey Chris, you know everyone right?” Eddie greeted Chrissy. 

“I know faces, but not everyone’s names. I know you, obviously. Steve from basketball and Robin from band, really wish I’d gotten to know you better Robin,” she spoke softly. “I’m really sorry but I don’t know either of your names,” she apologised, turning to Nancy and Jonathan. 

“I’m Jonathan Byers and this is Nancy Wheeler,” Jonathan smiled awkwardly.

“Right, now we’ve all been introduced, can we have a look around this place now. See what kind of things could be taken back to the right side up or just fun things down here,” Eddie declared. 

The group spent lots of time looking around each room in the house, after Chrissy had helped Eddie learn how to float up the stairs. The last room they looked in was an old library filled full of very old books and some handwritten texts. They spent time looking through each of them seeing if there was anything that could be useful to anything. 

“Erm guys, I think I may have found something,” Robin spoke up. “It certainly isn’t a normal book, looks super old and it’s giving me a really weird feeling.”

“Let’s have a look,” said Steve, walking up beside her and taking the book from her and looking through. 

“Open it!” Eddie insisted, a manic look on his face as he was on the other side of Robin.

“Alright, alright,” Robin sighed.

Instantly a ghostly green glow started to come from the book. 

“This is amazing,” Eddie cackled. 

“We need to close this book now and hope that it didn’t do any damage to either the Upside Down or the Right Side Up,” Robin said, trying to close the book.

“We should have a look through it to see if it can help any. If any book in here can, it's this one,” Steve pointed out.

“Have neither of you seen The Evil Dead? Nothing good can come from using this book for anything,” She sighed. 

“Can we at least look through it to see? This could be my only hope to fix all of this,” he asked, gesturing to himself. 

“Fine,” Robin sighed. “But I 100% reserve the right to say I told you so when this all goes wrong.” 

“Let’s take this back and get the party to look through it, see if those nerds can find something in it,” Steve suggested.

The group headed back out of the Creel house after finishing their look around and headed back towards the gate and the right side up. 

“We’ll keep in contact over the walkie as normal and we’ll come back and see you if we can’t get this sorted quickly,” Steve said, having to keep his hand still to stop himself from reaching out to touch Eddie. 

“Yeah ok Stevie, I’ll sit by the radio waiting for your call,” Eddie smiled shyly. “See you guys soon, yeah?”

“Bye Robin, good to see you,” Chrissy said, waving at the other girl. “Bye guys,” she finished and then floated away.

“Erm Buckley you got a sec?” Eddie spoke up as Robin just stood and looked at the space where Chrissy had been. 

“Sure, what’s up?” She asked, shaking herself and stepping towards him. 

“I’m not sure if you were being serious earlier about speaking to Uncle Wayne about all of this. But it really would mean the world to both me and him if we could talk again, even if it’s just one last time,” Eddie spoke nervously.

“I said I would and I will, ok. As soon as we know exactly what is going on with you I’ll talk to him. No need to upset him with you being dead if we can bring you back,” she smiled. 

“I owe you one, seriously. Once I’m all ok, whatever you want, just ask,” Eddie said

“Just take care of him ok, he’s not as strong as he makes out. That’s all I ask in return.” 

“What?” Eddie stammered. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“Yes you do. I’m not going to say a word though,” She nodded. 

Eddie nodded in response and turned to float away again. 

Back at the Harrington house the party, along with Steve, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan sat down with the book. Dustin had previously made sure that a walkie had been made so that the button didn’t have to be pushed in to talk to Eddie.

They spent the rest of the day and some of the following day having a read through the book to see if anything was useful. 

“There’s a whole section in this book dedicated to exorcisms. Eddie, you’d love that! You can shout Latin at people and they’ll think you’re cursing them but you’re really just telling demons to get away,” Dustin laughed.

“Oh dude that sounds amazing! You’ll have to show me when we get all of this fixed,” Eddie replied, clearly also very entertained by the prospect. 

“Hey, wait here a second!” Dustin exclaimed. “I actually think I’ve found something! There’s something in here called the Transmutational Resurrection Spell. The Latin incantation translates to ‘Restore the blood. Restore the flesh. Restore the bone. Bring the spirit and warm the body. After death, made whole again.’ This could be useful, it would need Eddie’s blood though which I don’t think we have.” 

“Is it a good job one of the 6 languages I speak is Latin?” Robin sighed, “Write it down for me please Steven then I can start learning it.” 

“I, erm, still have his battle vest and I was wearing it whilst I tried to do CPR, that should have some of his blood on it still,” Steve said sheeplishly. “I didn’t have time to put a wash on okay! Things happened very quickly once I got home,” he defended.

“We need to discuss what we do if this works and what we do if this doesn’t work. We can’t just go into this with no plan at all,” Nancy spoke up.  

“This is starting to sound like a DnD quest,” Eddie laughed. “If this doesn’t work then that’s okay. We tried, well you guys tried.” 

“Stop with that shit okay,” Steve huffed. “You were the only reason we know you’re down there. You did the S.O.S on the lights and got us to look around the Creel house. So stop with that self-deprecating bullshit, okay, it’s not cute.”

“Yeah, ok Stevie, just for you.” 

The group spent the rest of the afternoon talking through the best way to get Eddie’s soul back into his body and then to get his body, alive, out of the hell pit that is the Upside Down. Nancy and Jonathan took the party and Robin home and left Steve alone at the start of the evening. He made something to eat, changed the tape in the player and moved everything to be as close to the love seat so that he could curl up with some food and talk to Eddie. 

“Hey Eds you there?” he asked. 

“Yeah I’m here Stevie, everything ok?” came the reply. 

“Everythings fine. Just wanted to check in with you, seen as it's just us now,” Steve responded.

“Got me alone, have you sweetheart?” Eddie chuckled. “I’m not that kind of girl Stevie, need to wine and dine me first.” 

“It’s a date,” he responded, not really thinking and feeling his cheeks heat up as he realised what he’d said. 

“As soon as I’m fit enough we can work out the details of that date, yeah?” Eddie hummed.

“Once I’m finished with my food, do you want me to read something to you? I’m sure there’s something here I could read for you if you wanted me too?” Steve asked, trying to keep his cool when all he wanted to do was kick his legs and giggle. 

“That really would be great. Anything you have, takeaway menus included, I will happily listen too,” Eddie replied, a smile clear in his voice.

The rest of the evening consisted of talking through everything, from how they were actually dealing with everything to what Eddie's first meal would be when he could eat again. A conversation spurred on by Steve actually reading the takeaway menus to him through lots of laughter and silly voices. 

Lying in bed that night, for the first time in days, Steve felt hopeful for the future. There was no doubt that he liked Eddie as more than friends, the physical attraction to the other man had always been there. After spending time with him over the last few days though and talking to him for hours tonight there was no ignoring that the attraction ran deeper than how good Eddie looked.

A banging on his front door the following morning woke Steve up. 

“Is the world ending again?” He asked as soon as he opened the door, showing Robin to be on the other side. 

“Yes actually my world is ending ok Steven so a little sympathy would be great right now, thank you,” she replied, walking into his house and heading to the kitchen. 

“What’s happening?” He asked, following her into the kitchen and starting to make coffee. 

“I still like Chrissy but I spent the evening with J and I really like J too. It’s a mess,” she replied, helping him make coffee by getting their favourite mugs out and grabbing the sugar and creamer. 

“Ok,” he responded, clearly thinking his next words through. “Does J know about what happened? I’m assuming you weren’t silly enough to tell her everything but does she know what’s in the press?” 

“Yeah, she does. She’s mentioned it in passing a couple of times but never pressed for anything.” 

“So maybe being honest with her is the best way to go?” he shrugged. “It’s not like you’re looking to move in together next week, get married the week after and adopt 4 kids and a cat by Christmas. You could tell her that you really enjoy seeing her exactly as you are but that you really need to keep it at this pace for a little bit?”

“What if she’s not ok with it?” She whispered. 

“Then she’s no good for you anyway. You’re not telling J that you were in love with Chrissy or that you two were in a relationship. You’re telling her that you had the feelings for someone who is unfortunately now dead and that it’s caused a bit of emotional conflict within yourself and you wanted to make her aware of this,” he said, passing her a cup of coffee. 

The pair sat down at the breakfast bar and ate cereal chatting away, catching up on the gossip that Robin had heard from her mom last night. 

“I think I have feelings for Eddie,” Steve whispered as he was washing the dishes. 

“That’s ok. Thank you for telling me,” Robin replied, leaning her head into him as she was drying the dishes he was washing. “He’ll be back with us soon and you can woo him with romantic metal songs and pretty painted miniatures.”

“You really think so?” He asked.

“Yes, no doubt about it. Pull out all your best moves and he’ll be yours before you know it,” she smiled. “Anyway, I’ve spent most of the night awake learning that incantation and I think I have it nailed. Dustin said that he and the rest of the party were meeting early at the Wheeler’s house so that they can make sure they know what else is needed for this to work and Nancy said that she was going to look into ways of making sure we could bring Eddie home at least alive enough.” 

Steve got ready for the day and before 10am he had a living room filled with everyone again, all talking over each other about the plan they had concocted. 

“One at a time please,” Steve shouted loudly over them all.

Calmly Will explained the plan. They would move Eddie’s body close to the open gate, Robin would perform the incantation and then Nancy and Jonathan would perform any immediate medical intervention needed. Nancy having stocked up on supplies at the drugstore on their way over to Steves. 

Gathering everything together, weapons included, the group headed towards the gate again. 

“Good morning everyone, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Eddie asked cheerfully as the group headed into the Harrington home and found him in the living room. 

“Eddie!” Dustin shouted running towards the other man, catching himself short of trying to hug him.

“Hey Henderson, missed you too,” Eddie beamed.

“Shall we get this all started?” Nancy suggested “Not wishing to break up this reunion but we really should try and see if we can get Eddie back into his body as soon as possible.” 

“Yeah Nance is right, let’s head over to Rick’s and bring Eddie back to the gate entrance and sort this all out ok,” Robin agreed. 

Walking back over to Rick’s, Steve was trying to think of a way that they could move the body but still keep Eddie’s wish of the party not seeing him like that. 

“Erm, Nance, Jon, can I grab you both for a second? You guys carry on,” Steve shouted. “Eddie requested that I don't let the party see his body, he doesn’t want to be remembered like that. Do you have any wipes with you Nance and I can clean his face off? And Jon will you help me carry him? I thought we could cover all but his face with a sheet and carry him like that. Means that all anyone will be able to see is his face.”

“Yeah I’ve got some in the bag ready to clean any wounds but we can clean his face off first,” Nancy replied. “It’s a really good idea Steve”

“And sure, I’ll help you carry his body. Sounds like the best idea to have him wrapped in a cover anyway,” Jonathan agreed. 

“Thanks guys,” Steve smiled at the pair.

As they all reached the house Steve stopped them all.

“I want you all to stay out of the bedroom okay, no questions asked, just do as I say.” Steve said, hands on hips making eye contact with each as he spoke.

They all entered the house and Steve, Nancy and Jonathan went towards the bedroom ready to get Eddie’s body cleaned up and moved. 10 minutes later and the three walked back out into the main part of the shack with the body bundled up in a blanket and being carried between Steve and Jonathan. 

“I’ll go ahead and keep a lookout for anything trying to attack us if everyone else can kind of spread out around Jonathan, Steve and Eddie with Robin at the back?” Nancy suggested as the group filled back out of the shack. They all nodded their approval of her plan. 

All of a sudden there was an almighty screeching sound followed by the sound of the bats taking flight. Nancy raised her gun ready to shoot and the others stood around with their various weapons raised ready to fight. 

“Please don’t hurt them, can you all lower your weapons?” Eddie shouted quickly. “Hey guys, my friends are helping me okay, they’re not doing anything to hurt me.” he said more calmly, addressing the bats this time. 

The bats stopped screeching and settled back onto the fencing by Rick’s. 

They got Eddie’s body to the edge of the gate and placed it down on the sheets and blankets they had placed on the ground earlier. 

Eddie got as close as he could to his body, Robin knelt next to it and held the vest in her hands.

“Restituo sanguis. Restituo carnes. Restituo os. Afferte spiritus et calidum corpus. Post mortem, natus totum iterum.” She chanted over and over again.

At first it didn’t seem to be doing anything and then all of a sudden his soul was pulled back into his body and everything went black to him and his ghost vanished from sight for everyone else. 

Eddie lay on the ground still covered in the blanket for what felt like hours. Not moving or even awake, just laying there. 

“He’s got a pulse, it’s strong and his breathing is good too, I think he just needs some rest.” Nancy said, standing back up from checking Eddie over again. 

“Let’s get him out of here and into the house. He needs to be warm and comfortable and to be somewhere safe. Who knows what could still happen whilst we wait for him to be okay enough to move.” Steve suggested. 

Between Steve and Jonathan they picked Eddie up and carried him to the house. Getting him onto the sofa. 

“Should we bring a mattress downstairs so that when he wakes up he doesn’t need to move around so much to get everything he’ll need? You have a bathroom and everything down here plus the kitchen and access to the outside.” Robin suggested. 

“Yeah, yeah that’s a really good idea! My dad’s old office is empty, we can set a bed up in there. I’m sure my parents have an old bed frame they took apart and never got rid off and I know there’s a spare mattress as well. Some of you shitheads want to come and help me make a bedroom for Eddie?” Steve asked. 

They all agreed and everyone but Nancy, Robin and El,  went to help Steve. 

“Is Steve ok?” Nancy suddenly asked, turning to Robin. 

“Erm, yeah, I mean as well as any of us really are I guess” Robin replied. 

“Good, I worry about him is all. He seems to really like Eddie though. Not sure I’d ever say I'd describe someone looking at a ghost as longingly, but he does.” Nancy chuckled. 

“Damn, you think Harrington preferred me as a ghost?” Eddie suddenly rasped out from where the girls were sitting beside him. 

“Eddie!” Robin gasped, reaching over to touch him. “How are you feeling?” 

“Like I was a chew toy for a load of bats and my soul was thrown back into my body” he replied smiling weekly. 

“I'll grab you some pain relief and some water,” Nancy said, standing up and rushing from the room. 

“Hello Eddie, it's good to finally meet you in your physical form” El smiled, waving slightly. 

“Supergirl!” Eddie grinned as best he could. “Thank you for everything” 

“Ed’s” a whisper came from the doorway.

“Hey Stevie, “ Eddie replied sheepishly. 

“You’re okay” Steve breathed out, as though he had been holding his breath. 

“All thanks to you big boy.” the other boy smiled. 

“Erm El, shall we erm go and see if anyone is hungry or thirsty and sort some food and drink if needed” Robin said, gently taking El by the hand and leading her out the room. 

“We’re setting up a bedroom for you in the office, unless you have somewhere else you’d rather stay whilst you recover?” Steve said, stepping further into the room. 

“No, nowhere else I’d rather be” He smiled, attempting to sit up, only to fall back down again. 

“Lie back down and let's get some pain relief in you shall we.” Nancy ordered as she walked back into the room carrying a syringe. “IV morphine” she shrugged, nodding at it.

“Yeah, that sounds amazing to me. I’m not even going to question where you got it from or how much you have.” Eddie laughed before wincing in pain.

Eddie fell back asleep again within 5 minutes of having the morphine and spent the next 4 hours flat out, only waking up again because of the pain. 

Waking up with a wince and a groan he looked around the room the best he could. 

“Hey, I’m here, don't panic and don't try to move okay. Is the pain back again?” The voice of Steve came from behind him and seemed to be moving closer before it entered his vision. 

“Yeah the pain’s back again and this couch isn’t the most comfortable to have been lying on for hours.” 

“Okay, let's get you moved into your bedroom, sorry if it smells of cigar smoke and bourbon in there by the way. It was my dads office slash escape from the wife and kid room. Let me just go grab some more hands and we can get you moved okay.” Steve said as he left the room. 

He returned a couple of minutes later with Robin, Jonathan and Nancy following him. 

“We’re going to get you moved and then I’m going to give you more pain relief after we’ve got you settled. Let's start with getting you sat up shall we?” Nancy suggested.

With Steve taking the shoulders and Jonathan taking Eddie’s legs the two of them slowly and smoothly sat him up. 

“Jesus Christ that hurt so fucking much” Eddie said through gritted teeth, tears clear in his eyes. “Can we try the standing now” 

The two boys sat either side of him and placed his arms around their necks and their arms gently as they could around his waist. 

“On three, let's stand and then take a second.” Jonathan said, looking at Steve and Eddie, receiving nods from them both and then counting to three. 

With a lot of whimpering the four of them got Eddie moved and settled onto the bed and comfortable again.

“Here I’ve got some more pain relief for you.” Nancy informed as she entered the bedroom again. “We’ve been able to make you alive again and physically restore any flesh the bats took but you were still dead for over a week. Your body has not moved for almost all of that time. You’re going to be stiff and tired for a few days. Rest up and make sure you don’t push yourself. I believe Robin is on the phone to Wayne now. She’s not telling him you were dead and then alive again, she's just telling him that you’ve been found and are hurt but alive and here.”

“He’s on his way here now” Robin updated them both as she came into the room. “How you feeling now you’re in bed?” 

“Exhausted honestly. I’m so grateful to you for calling Wayne though and getting him to come over.” He replied. 

Once the morphine kicked in again Eddie fell back asleep.

Waking up again he was aware of someone sitting next to him with their hand on his arm. 

“Uncle Wayne?” Eddie rasped. 

“Yeah it’s me Ed’s. Need some water? We can help you sit up.” Wayne answered.

It was only then that Eddie noticed someone else was also sitting next to him, but on the other side of the bed. 

“Please,” Eddie smiled.

Some puffing and panting later Eddie was sitting up propped up by pillows and being helped to take a drink by Wayne. 

The rest of the evening was taken up by catching up with Wayne and the party who all filtered in inturn. Steve not leaving his side for more than 5 minutes at a time. 

The following day everyone went home to be back with their families and Eddie spent most of the day sleeping after being assisted to get into the shower and to wash and dry his hair. In the evening he was helped out into the living room. Sitting on the coffee table was Chinese takeout. Sweet and sour chicken, roast pork fried rice and prawn crackers all sat next to other containers. 

“You remembered '' Eddie whispered, sounding choked.

“What you wanted as your first meal back? Yeah of course I did. I didn’t think you would be up to it last night but figured you’d be ok with it tonight.” Steve shrugged, hoping his blush was hidden.

The boys sat and ate their take out, chatted and watched a couple episodes of The Golden Girls, naturally laughing and gossiping about their favourite characters all the way through. As the evening wore on and both boys became more and more tired they got closer and closer on the couch. 

“We should get you back into bed” Steve suggested at the end of their 5th episode. 

“Yeah ok, let's get moving” Eddie sighed. 

They got Eddie back into bed much easier than they had the evening before. A couple days of rest and pain relief having worked wonders. 

“You have more pain relief on the nightstand as well as a couple of bottles of water and a couple snacks.” Steve pointed to everything in turn. “Right, I'll leave you to it.” 

“Stay?” Eddie whispered. “It was really lonely down there on my own.”

“Yeah, sure, if you want me too,” the other boy smiled.

Eddie shuffled out of his trousers and shirt before scooching further down into the bed. He was joined by Steve after he had taken his own trousers and shirt off. 

“Good night Ed’s” 

“Night Stevie.” 

The following morning both men woke up tangled together and feeling much more rested than they had in days. Steve turned slightly so he was laying on Eddie's chest and hoped that the other man was still asleep so that he could enjoy this a little longer. He froze when arms pulled him closer and he realised that the other man was clearly not asleep. 

“Morning” Eddie rasped, sleep still in his voice. 

“Morning” came the shy reply, Steve still hoping to not break the spell.

“I don’t mind you know” 

“That’s good, because I really like it here” Steve said, ever so glad Eddie wouldn’t be able to see how red his cheeks were. 

“Get up here and look at me?” Eddie asked. 

Reluctantly Steve leaned up and looked at Eddie.

“You really are so beautiful, I’ve always thought so” Eddie mumbled, almost to himself.

“I was so fucking upset when I thought you were gone, can’t believe you’re back” Steve choked out, over come with emotion towards the man in front of him.

“I’m here and I’m yours, if you want me that is” 

“Of course I do.” Steve said, moving up Eddie’s body and leaning over him slightly.

“Then kiss me,” Eddie whispered.

Their lips met in the most tender and love filled kiss that Steve had ever felt. This was home. This was forever. 

3 Months Later:

“Ed’s come on! We need to get going or we’re going to be late” Steve shouted from the living room as he was getting his shoes on.

“Down in a second, I want to look my best for our first public outing as a couple and our first double date with Robin and J.  

“Let’s go then sweetheart” Eddie said, walking down the stairs ready to go 5 minutes later. 

“Let’s go. The first of many dates” Steve smiled, pulling his boyfriend into a kiss.

[devisopod]

Levity Creek!

Chapter two

Have I gone over writing rules yet? No. Will I? Probably not right now.

I feel like short chapters are the way to go atm. Maybe if I get really into it I'll make longer posts. For now, this is what we get. Slow buildup, short additions, and objectively boring shit

I don't think anyone's gonna go back and read this but me lmao

______

The road out of Oklahoma and into the next few states was as long and uneventful as I planned for. Flat, long stretches of nothingness, and eventually piss-poor radio signal.

To no real surprise, but my ultimate dismay, it got colder the further north I got. Laughably, I became thankful that my engine acted as a space heater by the time I reached California. The weather back home was nothing like this and I was beginning to wonder if I was even built to withstand this kind of change. Maybe it's dramatic to think that way, but I certainly don't mesh well with temperatures below sixty degrees Fahrenheit. And neither does my van, which I found out very quickly.

Needless to say, I didn't stay in Palo Alto much longer than it took me to get the engine back up to snuff. Though, I left with more cargo than I intended, and boy, was I unprepared for it.

Fiddleford insisted that I pick up Tate on the drive up if I could. That way we could "bond". It was an awkward conversation, but even for a pushover, he has his way of being persistent. That, or I suppose that I'm just a pushover myself, which is a trait I gained and blame him for entirely. Of course, in the end I relented — albeit, reluctantly.

Now, I don't know much about Emma May given that she came along after Fiddleford and I grew apart. Still, she welcomed me like she knew me, and that made me a little less apprehensive about the whole thing. I'll admit, however, that the interaction was somewhat forced on my part, and on hers it seemed. She was distant and didn't appear entirely present in the conversation. Which, naturally, struck me as odd. Here I was, a practical stranger that was taking her son across two states. Yet, she didn't bat an eye. Regardless, I'm not one to pry.

Coming to terms with being an aunt and temporary guardian, my attention drifts back and forth from the road to the kid strapped into a carseat behind the passenger side. He's barely made a sound since I got him settled in. I'm not sure if that's more comforting or less, but I'm leaning toward the latter the further out I get. To give him credit, he's not misbehaving, but a quiet kid doesn't always make a good one.

His hair hangs over his eyes, squished into place by a hat that's arguably too big for his head. I can't even really tell if he's awake or not, and for a while I wonder if he's mute. In all honesty, I just keep looking back to make sure he's actually still there.

Dealing with kids has never been my strong suit — I'm not even adept at interacting with people my age. I was expected to be "bonding" on the way, but over what, exactly? Involuntarily being confined to the same space for the next six hours? The whole thing has me feeling like nothing short of a disappointment. Whether it's to myself, to Tate, or to Fiddleford, I have no idea.

As a result of my uncertainty and overall discomfort, I spend a lot of time in silence the next couple of hours, and so does Tate. In fact, he makes next to no indication of being there at all for the longest time. There were periods that I almost forgot he was with me and I would be lulled into a relaxed state. Those never lasted long. It wasn't until after we passed the state line into Oregon that he sneezed and I nearly sent the van off the road.

Meeting what I could only assume was his gaze in the rear view mirror, I could see that he was uncomfortable, and probably had been for a while. I always was a sucker for a pitiful look, my sympathy knew no bounds, but I never could help it. With a short exhale, I turn off at the next exit and into a gas station lot. The van rolls to a stop in one of the faded spots and grumbles down to a silence once I've pulled out the key. I unbuckle myself and turn in my seat to face Tate more head-on. On top of being snotty, he was holding tight to his thin jacket and crossing his legs. No doubt about it, he was holding it in, and here I was hoping he wasn't still in diapers.

"You gotta use the bathroom?" I prompt gently.

For the first time on the trip so far, he actually responds with a short "Mhm" and a nod.

"Alright," I grunt, pulling myself from the driver's seat and over the doghouse into the back.

I open the side doors and hop out onto the pavement before working to figure out how to unbuckle this poor kid from his seat. I can only imagine he's wondering why I'm having so much trouble as I struggle with each little belt. It's almost embarrassing, really, and it only makes me feel worse when I know he's probably been holding it for the past hour or two. Once I've finally gotten him out, I pluck him from his seat and set him on the ground next to me.

"You stay close, m'kay?" I say, looking down at him curiously while we make our way toward the station.

"'Kay," he answers quietly.

To my surprise, he grabs for my hand and holds onto it tight. Probably an instinctive reaction for him if I had to guess, but it warms my heart anyway.

Yeah, I could be an aunt.

PREV | NEXT

[danmeiconfession]

mxtx is better than a lot of authors at writing interesting main lead characters but the romantic leads (HC and LBH especially) are a little bit cookie cutter? They’re super powerful, rich, handsome, and talented, and their crazy obsessive devotion is the only thing that keeps either of them from moving in from their respective lead.

The “temporary selective amnesia” fanfics are a good way of highlighting this. Make SQQ or XL forget about their partners and both of them have social networks, hobbies, and goals to fall back on. But erase them from the memories of their partners and what’s left?

Hua Cheng had to have met people in the 800 years that passed, and yes he has his art to fall back into, but everything he did in the story is built on his devotion to his god. His city was built to be a home, his subjects were intended to be worshipers, and his muse has always been one person. Take that away and what of substance is even left?

It’s the same thing for Luo Binghe. Every single action he takes in the story traces its motivations back to his shizun. He’s the ruler of an entire realm, and he couldn’t care less about it. He has underlings and enemies instead of friends, and the story ends with him still almost completely alienated from the place he grew up in and hand the fondest memories of. The only constructive hobbies he has, like cooking and tending a home, come from his long dead adoptive mother, and how much joy has he been shown to get from either of those things without someone to focus on?

I know this is a longass crusade to go on and I can’t even say that I don’t get the appeal. Who wouldn’t want someone like HC or LBH hanging of their every word? Besides, god knows there’s enough going on in both of those stories that adding an additional free agent would be a complete mess.

Not sure where to take this. It’s just something I noticed.

.

[melpomenelamusa]

Speak, I´ll listen to you - Chimeras

~Original story~

Previous

CW: Mention of wound and stitches, mention of past kidnapping, headache, magical hallucination (?), fainting.

Warrick gritted his teeth as he wiped the saline solution-soaked rag across his abdomen, cleaning the wound made by Cazador’s knife. It wasn’t a deep cut, thankfully, but he would need at least three stitches. The needle and thread were already in a pot of boiling water, and a bottle of alcohol was on the table to disinfect.

Elafi helped him as much as he could, placing the gauze and tape. They repeated the process with the cut on his temple. Warrick knew that this was only a temporary measure, and that if he wanted to avoid infection, it was best for him to go to a clinic or hospital, but he didn’t want to leave Elafi alone at that moment.

The teenager was silent the whole time, almost as if he was gone. Warrick was glad that the boy hadn't ended up hurt after the "situation" with Cazador, considering the events; however, the blood covering Elafi's knees, hands and arms, mysteriously without any trace of wounds, didn't go unnoticed either.

When they finished, they both sat in the dining room in silence. The tension was such that it seemed to thicken the air around them, preventing them from moving.

"Hey..." Warrick began.

"I'm so sorry."

Elafi looked at the floor, his fists clenching the fabric of his fisherman-style trousers.

"I'm sorry that because of me, because of being so careless, you had to go through all this..."

"No, it's not your fault, and please don't want you to say it again," Warrick said. His voice sounded a little harsher than he intended, so he cleared his throat and continued: "It's the fault of all those people who see chimera children as something less than human beings. All that hatred and prejudice are what have made people like Cazador or Roach exist."

And I don't know if I can protect you from all of them, he thought to himself.

"So, how's your antler?" he asked, somewhat nervously. The way Elafi's head tilted slightly to the left could not go unnoticed.

"I'm fine," the boy replied in a melancholic tone, running his fingers to the stump that protruded from his brown locks. "It will grow back, I just have to get used to being like this in the meantime."

They fell silent again.

"Well, uh, and about the trees..." Warrick said, changing the subject. "How... did that happen?"

If he hadn't been there, Warrick would have never believed that the trees would bend and attack Cazador as if moved by invisible strings. In fact, even recalling the scene in his memory, with the clarity of watching a movie in the cinema, he found it hard to believe that something like that had actually happened.

"I... I don't know how I did it," Elafi admitted, somewhat embarrassed. "I just know that I felt so angry and so desperate at that moment, believing that Cazador had hurt you because of me, that... I think the trees responded to me."

Warrick raised both eyebrows.

"Has something like that happened to you before?"

The teen shook his head.

“Also… there is one more thing I must tell you,” the deer boy added. “The reason I am free of wounds. It's not because I haven't been hurt…”

Elafi described to Warrick everything that happened when he woke up after Cazador pulled him unconscious from his cabin; how he had fallen into that ravine, breaking his arm and wounding his body multiple times in the process. He described the hypnotizing perfume that soon after intoxicated him, and how he crawled until he found the source and discovered that it was the sap of a tree. Warrick couldn´t hide his face of disgust when Elafi told him how he had licked that substance from the trunk and that shortly after his wounds disappeared, as if they had never existed.

“It was like magic,” the boy finished.

“Well, it sounds like that,” Warrick seconded. “This has made me think quite a bit. To be honest, I don't even know how to finish processing all this stuff; But... I think I know who we can ask.

Elafi's ears perked up and his huge eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Really? Who?"

Warrick chuckled softly. He reached over and grabbed his cell phone that had been resting on the table, before beginning to scroll through his contact list.

"A friend," he replied. "Now go take a shower, you're all covered in blood and dirt and you stink."

Elafi laughed, his good mood returning, and almost skipped off to the bathroom. The man let out a sigh. At least he was glad to see that the boy looked happy now. He dialed the phone and brought it to his ear. The waiting tone rang three times and then someone answered.

"Hey," Warrick said. "I know you told me to only call you in emergencies, but I think this calls for it." He paused for a moment, thinking carefully about his words. "Remember that chimera child I told you about? I think it's time for you two to meet."

Before the day was over, Warrick asked Elafi if he could take him to the golden sap tree; however, although the boy tried to follow the peculiar scent in the forest, he was unable to find it.

"Don't worry, nothing's wrong," the adult reassured him.

The next morning, Warrick left in his car.

"Where are you going?" Elafi asked.

"To the town clinic. I need someone more specialized to take a look at these stitches, and then I will go to Cazador's cabin."

Elafi's expression became tense, so Warrick soon added:

"Cazador´s dead; but in his cabin there´ll be many tools and objects that could be useful to us and I won´t let´em go to waste. That´s how you survive in this world, son."

After starting the engine, Warrick leaned out the driver's side window.

"I´ll take you somewhere tomorrow. I'll introduce you to someone."

And with those words, he drove off.

~

During the time Elafi stayed in that cabin, his mind wouldn't leave him alone. He too was eager to answer the hundreds of questions that were swirling around in his head. The memories of the previous day played through his brain like a fast-forward movie, nothing more than an explosion of incoherent sounds, images, and desperate emotions churning inside him.

He didn't have the slightest idea what had happened either. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it all seemed like something out of a fantasy book or a dream. There had to be an explanation for it all, he was sure, but he couldn't think of one. Maybe it had been magic after all.

Magic. Well, if there are chimera children, why not magic too?, he thought.

He left the cabin and headed for the edge of the forest. The branches of the trees swayed pleasantly in the breeze.

"Thank you very much!" he shouted, bringing both hands to the sides of his mouth. He wasn't sure if he was addressing the trees or the forest itself, but something inside him told him that thanking was the right thing to do. "Thank you for helping us! I... I couldn't have done it without your help."

A cool, pleasant breeze blew through the trunks, and Elafi could feel as if the low branch of one of the trees was caressing his left antler. Elafi couldn't help but draw a smile on his face, finding the gesture touching.

Warrick returned for lunch. The pickup truck's stretcher was filled with many things, including tools of various kinds, cloth, wood, rope, wire, a fan, clothes, water, and food. Elafi couldn't help but feel a little guilty (they were basically robbing a dead man's house), but remembering the fear he had felt as Cazador's prisoner, even knowing it was only a few hours, he decided not to think about it and just be thankful for the extra stuff.

The next day they set out together again in the vehicle.

"Where are we going?" Elafi asked. From what he remembered, that didn't seem to be the road that led to the city.

"There's a town up here," Warrick explained. "It's closer than the city and much quieter, but I never dared move there, although I admit that I get along well with almost all of its inhabitants. My friend lives there."

Elafi couldn't stop his curiosity.

"What kind of person is your friend?"

A mischievous smile appeared on Warrick's lips, who never took his eyes off the road.

"A witch."

They arrived at the town in about half an hour. Colorful houses and buildings stretched out on both sides of the road. More than one person, seeing them pass by, waved to Warrick, smiling. It seemed like a cheerful and welcoming place.

They finally stopped in front of a house with pink walls. At the front there was a large garden, full of roses, carnations, bougainvilleas and a bunch of other flowers whose names Elafi didn't know. Lined up next to the door were a series of small statues shaped like wolves.

Warrick knocked three times with his knuckle. After a while, hurried footsteps were heard and the door opened, accompanied by the sound of a little bell. A woman appeared before them, wearing a long, colorful skirt and several beaded necklaces that fell over her chest.

“Warrick, how nice to see you! And you must be Elafi. Please, come in.”

The house was large, with brick walls. The sun shone through the hallways from the opening in the roof over a small central patio, where several flowers grew. It was a very different environment from Warrick's cabin, which had dark wood walls and was much more compact, but both houses still had a homely feel.

They went into the dining room. A hot teapot, three empty cups, and a plate full of cookies were already waiting for them on the table. After serving the tea, they sat down.

"My name´s Lupita," the woman introduced herself. Her long, straight hair was a mix of black, gray, and white strands, and when she smiled, two curls appeared on the sides of her mouth.

Elafi had never seen a witch, and he didn't really know what to expect from one either; but since he entered that building he could feel a very strong aura of energy surrounding the woman. He didn't know how to explain it, but it was something similar to what he felt when he saw Roach for the first time, with the difference that this woman's aura didn't feel hostile or evil, although it was powerful. He had no doubt that she had power. She knew things.

"Nice to meet you," Elafi replied, shaking her hand. He tried to sound as friendly and natural as possible.

"He's a sweetheart," said the woman, Lupita, now addressing Warrick. "Just like you told me. It's like you've met an angel."

Warrick didn't say anything, just sipping from his cup of tea; however, the slight shadow of a smile seemed to form at the corner of his lips.

For the rest of the afternoon they kept up a fairly normal and lively conversation. Lupita asked Elafi about his favorite foods, what activities he liked to do as a child, or if he had any expectations for the future. Her questions didn't feel harassing or uncomfortable, and she also spent some of the time talking about her own tastes, which made the atmosphere feel pleasant and not at all like an interrogation.

The witch didn't ask him anything about his parents or about the bad and strange things that had happened to him; but Elafi attributed that to the fact that she already knew that information. Surely Warrick would have already told her everything.

The deer boy didn't know how to feel about this new woman.

“Elafi,” she said after a while. She stood up and picked up the empty cups and the plate of cookies that had already been finished. “If you allow me, I would like to do a little meditation exercise with you. It’s nothing out of this world, just an activity I do to relax. I think it helps a lot when the mind feels confused.”

Elafi suddenly felt anxious. Maybe now he would discover the reason why Warrick had decided to take him to this place, to meet this woman.

"You're not coming with us?" Elafi asked, a little nervous, watching as the man stood motionless in the dining room.

"No, I'll stay here," Warrick replied, without much emotion. "I don't like the smell of incense."

Elafi followed Lupita to the patio.

"Take off your shoes," she said, before looking down and running into the boy's cloven hooves. "Well, you don't need it. Better for you, because you need to be in contact with the earth."

They sat cross-legged on the grass, facing each other. The woman had placed a bowl with a lit incense in between them, and soon that aroma was the only thing Elafi could perceive.

"Try to relax and just follow my voice," the woman said. She took a deep breath and Elafi imitated her. “Close your eyes.”

Elafi obeyed.

“Now imagine you are in a forest.”

Elafi imagined that he was in a forest, not unlike the one that surrounded the cabin he lived in. He imagined that he was walking along its paths, observing the beauty of the flowers, of the tall trees forming landscapes above his head, allowing the sky to look like a thin river trickling through the branches.

"Feel the earth, feel each plant that surrounds you.

The smell of the wet earth reached his nose pleasantly. It smelled green, fresh and alive. The breeze stirred his locks, bringing with it an invigorating sensation.

"Go deeper.

He continued to advance through the forest. The deeper he went, the less sunlight reached his eyes, and the darkness began to close in. The trees grew closer together and more oppressive. There was no sky in sight anymore. The wind now carried a strange sound, like a distant cry. The branches swayed and creaked, as if the trees themselves were afraid.

"I'm scared." Elafi still had his eyelids closed, focused on the mental landscape he was in; but he couldn't stop the words from taking shape and coming out of his mouth.

"Listen to what they want to tell you."

Elafi walked up to a big tree. Its roots were so large that they stuck out of the ground like pale tentacles. The boy reached out with both hands and gently took two ends of the roots.

"Speak," Elafi said, addressing the tree. "I'll listen to you."

And suddenly his mind was assaulted by hundreds of images. His head spun, drowned by so much information. He saw the sun, the moon, the stars circling the firmament above the treetops. He heard the shrieks and fluttering of bats, the bleating of deer running in terror, the roar of a tiger, the pitiful howl of a wolf, the hiss of a snake, the barking of a fox... His body was filled with fear and an alien pain that made him let out a scream, as if his heart or his brain were the center of that maelstrom of suffering: he felt the pain of the metal teeth of the hunting traps closing around his limbs, he felt the claustrophobia of being locked inside a cage, he felt tied up, mistreated, discriminated, kidnapped, murdered...

Elafi opened his eyes. Warrick's face was just a few centimeters from his, watching him with concern. The boy heard him shout his name as if he were hearing it from underwater.

“Elafi! Elafi, answer! Lupita, what did you do to him?!”

Elafi couldn't move or speak. His head felt like it was going to explode at any moment. Luckily for him, the pain didn't last long, as in just a few more seconds he passed out.

Next

Taglist: @scoundrelwithboba@morning-star-whump@lancedoncrimsonwings

This chapter and the next one will give us a little more context to this fantasy aspect of the story. I'm a big fan of fantasy and magic, so I couldn't miss the opportunity to add something like this to my story ;)

Thanks for reading! ⭐

[astarab1aze]

"You look like you're ready to have kittens, kitten." A deep, insinuating chuckle resounded in his chest, but how much of what he'd said did he intend as a joke? With the way he caressed Dex's flat belly, so innocent in keeping away from thighs that guarded against him, there wasn't a lot he left to imagination. And Dex was a smart boy: the cruel side to Sylus' character hoped he guessed it the first time. There was, sadly, nothing anyone could do about changing an incubus.

A long and - he wondered if it would be apt to say - earth-shattering evening had left him in shuddering, still-trembling shambles; He could scarcely breathe, his heartrate impossible to keep up with, lungs burning, hips twitching, teeth perhaps biting a little too hard into his lower lip, and he was exhausted, utterly spent. Half-tempted to succumb to the vague notions of pain settling into his lower back, nerves afrayed by the devil's fingertips then slowly, in some barely conscionable way, threading together loose ends with gentler hands this time. But he knew better than to trust Sylus' intentions were pure, as he'd proven time and time again for hours, searing himself into Dex's body as if...it would kill him not to.

Maybe a misreading, but, Dex thought it strange just how unreasonably insufferable Sylus had been. Not that he didn't enjoy it, rather the opposite was true. He wanted this - he wanted the devil all to himself, in some ways taking advantage of his insatiability, his nature as a devil. He was a lifeline, to him, in one sense or another, wh Sylus fed on. He wanted it to stay that way, for those hands, those eyes, that hungry mouth, and every bit of his attention on him, just like this. In the quiet of a private place, nestled together into silk sheets and down, unable to even pretend to fight the slow drag of Sylus' fingers across his belly - vividly recalling its temporary distension earlier in the mirror, arms too weak to push the devil away, voice all but whithering in his throat.

At the very least, Sylus had afforded him an opportunity to rest, besides - he kept his thighs pressed firmly together anyway, ignoring how feebly they shook.

"S-Sylus, give me- a-a moment," he managed, stammering softly. Arms crossing over his face, he heaved a handful of breaths, shielding himself from the devil's gaze in an attempt to make it easier on himself. This sort of thing, to be touched and attended to, seen as special despite being so unbearably human, special enough to single out and ravish so often and so thoroughly, as if there was no one else and could never be-- Maybe it went to his head, on occasion, but he didn't care if one such time had been then. Sylus' attention was his and his alone to take, bathe in, drink up, and suffer through. Hips jerked slightly, and, slowly, thighs carefully, achefully spread apart, allowing the devil some room to nestle into what some small, awful part of Dex was happy to call his rightful place. Nonsense, nonsense, how scrambled his brain, perhaps he had energy enough to entertain the notion of being split apart a second, third, or fourth time. So long as Sylus was focused on him, he may yet adapt to his storm.

Still, he winced as he moved, hips lifting off the bed some to twitch and readjust, a hand coming down to loop around Sylus' wrist, almost limply. "Y-You're awful," he groaned airily, "T-touch me here." And he dragged that large, forceful hand to his chest, his throat, and pulled, in some worthless attempt at urging him down, down, and into a kiss. Insistent, really, despite himself. If the devil wanted more, then he could grant him this, laced fingers, and some spare semblence of tenderness; He'd already gotten Dex to relent, give in- "K-Kiss me first, b-before anything." A wheeze, a whimper, but no less a command of his own.

"Or y-you get nothing."

[transingthoseformers]

Tarn didn't have much of a plan once he saw Rodimus, he kind of just blanked out. He took Rodimus since he wasn't firing full cylinders at the time. But the plan was always to "convince" Rodimus that the Decepticons were "right" and for Rodimus to help lead them. Hot Rod was always the more active "leader" in Tarn's point of view, and as Damus/Glitch he admired how he took an active role in Nyon and as proto-Tarn how he took charge of Nyon's resistance bringing him to Megatron's attention. Hot Rod was supposed to be a symbol like Soundwave and Starscream and Megatron and given a special place within the Decepticons.

Tarn knew he wouldn't be suited for the same kind of work as him but put Hot Rodimus on a pedestal as the kind of leader they needed.

If only he could get him away from Optimus's "bad influence" and make him see the "truth" like Megatron showed him. He fully intended to lock him up and slowly reveal the "lies" Optimus told him to convince Rodimus to join him. So repeating what Megatron did only in a creepier context because Tarn is genuinely interested and "loves" Rodimus while Megatron was purely using Tarn. Tarn is fully convinced Rodimus can be convinced.

In the series, though, Tarn doesn't have the long leisurely time he planned and is aware he will need to rush things. He has to make Rodimus see from his perspective and force him to be unable to leave and then show him over time.

So he intends to force a Full Spark Bond, which in the version I am playing with is incredibly rare and slightly dangerous. Lighter, less shallow bonds allow a connection and sharing spark light of interfacing makes temporary ones but a Full Bond of Sparks forces them together permenant like exchanging pieces of each other and generally one doesn't survive the others death but they can help each other survive.

Drift and Rodimus in this have a particularly strong Amica bond because Rodimus's Spark is prone to bonds and creates shallow ones with most people if he is around them long enough. The two of them only had to share their Sparks once to make it, and it is much deeper and longer lasting than most. Which is very rare.

Rodimus is going to be changed by it because Tarn is going to become part of him. It'll get pretty dark, and I have the end pretty solid. Tarn intends to use a Spark bond to keep Rodimus in check and see his side of things, refuse to physically hurt him, and fet him to bond with his team to convert. Part of that includes revealing every lie and dark thing he knows the Autobots had a hand in. He knows Rodimus cares more about people and intends to use that to his advantage.

Ohhhoh Tarn you are going to cause so much trouble

I can exactly see that's his thought process about Hot Rod / Rodimus, and that's intriguing. Why does this thought process for Tarn sound vaguely familiar?

oh Tarn that's trying to Stockholm syndrome him (let me use a noun as a verb okay)

So he's gonna try to replicate what Megatron did in a fraction of the time, which already is NOT gonna go well because I'm sure Megatron's process was slow on purpose like the whole metaphor with the frog and the boiling water— except Tarn isn't turning up the heat bit by bit, he's flipping that dial all the way up immediately.

ohh not the spark bond, I've played around with the idea of. Well. Forced spark bonds being dangerous in various internal plotlines of my own and they never go well. Never.

ohh Tarn. damn.

Even though Tarn "means well", this is an incredibly fucked up thing of him to do, and it's gonna have some rather serious consequences.

[synergysilhouette]

Naruto (Comic AU)

My DBZ/DBS comic AU got a couple of likes, so I wanted to see what you guys thought of a Naruto AU where it's an American comic that began in 1974, created by Masashi Kishimoto. Unlike DB, which I couldn't figure out if I wanted it to be set in America or westernized Japan (to coincide with it's 1950s creation), I imagine "Naruto" taking place in a fictional country colonized by Japan and then westernized (but the Japanese culture is much more apparent from the get-go):

1970s--Even though people say the Prologue-Land of Waves Arc is iconic, I feel like it was super underrated. I heard Haku was originally planned to be a beautiful boy, but the androgyny hit the censors and they made him a young woman (though this was retconned later). Honestly this period was really good for getting the franchise on it's feet. It's generally believed that it's darker subject matter allowed it to sell only because it was the Bronze Age of comic books, and had it occured earlier, it may not have happened.

1980s--I swear, this is where everyone remembers "Naruto" beginning. The series received critical acclaim for expanding the cast of characters and the mythology of the series, especially in the Chunin Exam arc and Naruto using the alter ego "Kurama." Though according to my research, the Konoha Crush arc received a LOT of pushback due to the death of the Third Hokage, and there was this really weird thing in the Search for Tsunade where Tsunade was receiving sexist feedback from fans as well as frequent fetishization. I think they were trying to imply she was bi and in a relationship with Shizune, but again, time period prevented full exploration of that--though they were perfectly fine with the villain being androgynous…Then there was an implication Kabuto had feelings for Orochimaru. There was a LOT of baiting going on.

1990s--This era wasn't bad by any means, but it was mainly focused on ninja missions, and while it may have felt slower-paced than the larger arcs, it allowed for more development on Team 7 and their contemporaries; my own favorite part was the transition of making Sakura less rude to Naruto (and I will admit the writing for a romance between her and Lee was interesting) and having a more mature bond with Sasuke, who often put his positive feelings on the back burner for his revenge against Itachi. This made the final major arc of the decade--and the century--the Sasuke Recovery Mission, all the more emotional and powerful. Though I call BS that Sakura and Naruto weren't strong enough to defeat Sasuke together (but I'm not going to Comic-Con saying that). Honestly Sakura was a trouper; she battled Sasuke, got defeated, joined Naruto's retrieval squad, and went full ham on Sasuke. The sound 4 are SO underrated, though!

2000s--The turn of the century brought about big changes to the series, similar to the Ultimate Marvel universe and DC's New 52 relaunch--only "Naruto" didn't end up being maligned. Certain relationships were jostled around slightly and the characters were aged up to young adults in order to appeal to a larger crowd, as well as more suggestive situations. Though the boost in sales was unprecedented; the Kazekage Rescue Mission attracted a lot of attention due to the involvement of Gaara and the Akatsuki, though some people attribute this to the Kakashi Gaiden miniseries getting significant attention. I remember Sai and Yamato's introduction was a RADICAL change that was intended to be permanent because writer Hayden Watson found Kakashi boring and didn't see Sasuke as redeemable, but fan backlash and demand for Kakashi's return eventually made this change temporary. She also tried to put Sakura and Naruto together, but this was eventually unravelled as well, as later authors were big Hinata fans. The subsequent arcs seemed to only cause sales to increase, though the death of Jiraya gained a LOT of ire. Honestly I was also hooked when Sasuke formed Hebe, though I wasn't a fan of how this period was super fanservice-y with Sasuke and Hinata in particular.

2010s-This era was WILD. No one could really top "Naruto" in this period's prime. Itachi's past was hard to swallow for some fans, though some sympathy for Sasuke was showered down for it's political undertones, and the Pain arc was SO satisfactory for Hinata's confession to Naruto; if I recall correctly, it inspired fans to make a petition for the publisher to make an AU where she was a part of Team 7. I heard rumors that this comic was actually gonna be made, but I have yet to see it (and if it existed, I kinda wanted Sasuke and Hinata to be together, but that's ANOTHER story). There were rumors she was going to die, but I'm grateful she didn't. I remember the Fourth Shinobi World War arc was selling like CRAZY. The titles that focused on this went hard, and it had me on the edge of my seat. I won't lie, though; the last two arcs were pretty confusing to me, concerning Kaguya and Madara and Obito. Honestly I'm just glad they gave Sakura a bigger role; even though she didn't have the lineage Naruto and Sasuke had, she wasn't discounted like I expected her to be.

[safereturndoubtful]

Muckle Flugga - a walk on the wild side

Wednesday 19th July

Just over 600 people live on Unst though as many tourists will be around in the summer months. Few of those tourists stay on the island though. Now, in Unst Fest week, most visitors are here for the day from Brae or Lerwick.

Hermaness is the destination of most visitors to Unst, and the 2 miles of boarded trail from the Nature Reserve car park are the most popular trek on the island. The weather has been wild all week, but today was particularly so, with 40 mile per hour winds, and squally showers that merged into what might better be termed, as simply, rain. Though in it, one didn’t get wet for long, as that 40 mph wind had a drying effect. It was a maximum on 10C, feeling much less than that in the wind. As is evident, not a great day for clear photos..

At the end of the 2 miles of boardwalk are the cliffs at Toolie, 150 metres down to the ocean waves, crashing into the rocks below. At this point today, it was difficult to stand up. From here there is a path both to the north and south along the cliffs. I didn’t fancy it, I’m not great on cliff edges at the best of times, but today conditions required even more nerve. Roja is fine, but there are a lot of rabbits here, and the mix of the three things, rabbits, labradors and cliff edges, doesn’t go well. The photo above is about 3 metres from the edge.. I didn’t want to go any closer.

Instead we hiked up to the summit of Hermaness Hill, at 206 metres, from where I hoped we would get some views out to Muckle Flugga, and we were rewarded.

Photo of the day was Roja getting skua’d again.. bomber by a Great Skua, to whom one can attach little blame, her chicks were close.

Muckle Flugga Lighthouse is Britain’s most northerly lighthouse. The jagged towering rock of Muckle Flugga lies a mile off the northwestern tip of the island.  Its name derives from “mikla flugey”, which means large steep-sided island in old Norse.

This is a Stevenson lighthouse, although when it was commissioned in 1851 David Stevenson visited in atrocious weather and recommended other sites, as this was too wild. However, the Admiralty overruled Stevenson and decided the light would be built. The first, intended only to be temporary, light, was damaged beyond repair in a storm in 1854. Replacing it was a 64 foot tower, embedded 15 feet into the rock below, and standing 220 feet above sea level. The Stevenson’s supervised, but it was difficult and expensive (they were paid more than double the standard rate) to find workmen. All the materials had to be transported by boat, landed at an exposed rock, and carried up to the 200ft summit.  Sometimes provisions could not be landed due to the weather conditions. It was first lit on January 1st 1858.

Robert Louis Stevenson visited Muckle Flugga on 18th June 1869 with his father Thomas. It is reputed that Unst may have been one of the locations to inspire Robert Louis to write his novel Treasure Island.

Four families of keepers lived at Burrafirth Shore Station, just below where I was parked in a relatively sheltered position. A relief boat, which often had difficulty landing, ferried keepers to Muckle Flugga on rota. The boatman’s house was Shoreline Cottage, now a holiday cottage. Both the Shore Station and the Cottage in the photo below..

In the 1950s one of the skippers rescued a Swiss woman who had fallen from the cliffs at Toolie. When she was recovered and at home, she sent him a cuckoo clock. When I read this I found it difficult to believe that anyone could survive such a fall, let alone get rescued afterwards as well.

In 1939 the lighthouse was enabled with radio contact which made staying in touch with the Shore Station much easier. Muckle Flugga was one of the last British lighthouses to get automated, in 1995. The Burrafirth Shore Station was sold off as two private houses. They are incredible places to live.

Despite the wild weather we were out for about three and a half hours, for just more than 6 miles, and then decided to get out the worst of the wind, and head across the the eastern side of the far north of Unst.

We are parked up at Norwick Beach, in a spectacular situation practically on the beach itself. This is just a few hundred metres from Saxa Vord, the UK’s new space port. More on this tomorrow..

[feldspar-thethief]

Craig stared down at Tweek. One hand was preoccupied with a half-empty, restaurant-style carafe of coffee. He set it down on the table, in front of but just off to the side of Tweek’s cup. A bit of a peace offering, but also– He was tired of coming over to the booth to check on him. His boss had already politely asked Craig to escort the man off the premises, if he wasn’t going to purchase an actual meal. ‘We have enough coffee drinkers takin’ up tables, as it is.’ He knew whether or not the blonde had the money to choose something from the menu, he wasn't going to make the decision. Seemingly content to sip mediocre brew and remain a thorn in Craig's paw. Devoid of the hope that he would be able to convince the seated man to order something, Craig set down the plate he had carried over in his other hand. The small, hard, white plastic dish clattered against the varnished wood of the tabletop. 

He fucking hated that he had to pick up a second job in the first place, even if it was just temporary. This encounter was proverbial salt in the wound. His eyes raised and he stared vacantly out of the frosted window to the other's left. The clouds rolling were more gray than in the morning when he had arrived. Despite the matching pallidness, the sky was bright enough to hurt Craig's eyes the longer he remained wistfully fixed on the outside world. He blinked, ending the dissociative state that nearly consumed him. How was Tweek still his problem?

“No, I don’t think I ever did," he muttered. He regretted even making the initial comment. It had been meant to soften the blow of ejecting the rail-thin man from the restaurant. Well, that wasn't exactly true either– Craig had selfishly grumbled the remark to himself, but clearly loud enough for Tweek to pick up the sound of the words. To what end? Maybe making himself appear to be less of the asshole that he knew he inherently was? He certainly missed the mark, and now was trapped by the rambling lunatic at Table 3. 

The conversation had gone on longer than he had ever intended and he could feel his manager's eyes like nails driving into the back of his skull. "Sorry if this isn't as good as your mom's banana bread, but pretend to pick at it or get the hell out of here. And stop talking about guns where everyone else can hear, okay?" 

The plate was nothing special; two pieces of raisin toast and a tiny, individually-packed tab of butter for each. Craig reached into one of the three pockets on the front of black, server's apron tied around his hips and produced a fresh roll of flatware. And the carafe remained, as well.

▸   @feldspar-thethief   ⟶   ❛  ❛  you can miss something but not want it back.  ❜ ((craig to tweek :3 ))  ❜   ╱   (  various , accepting .  )

“Yeah,” Tweek said, smiling somewhat dreamily at the steam coming off his coffee.  “She made some really great banana bread, my mom—I mean, really great.  And her scones, too; I wish I could make them like she does.”  It had been ages since he properly baked something, and he wished he could get back into it, but he would probably be so rusty that the results would be middling at best.

He chuckled and turned soft olive eyes on Craig.  “I’ve thought about going back just to get a decent meal.”  Sometimes, when he was really hungry, he thought about that banana bread hard enough that he could almost trick himself into thinking he was really eating it, but he had long learned not to voice that kind of delusional shit around Craig if he could help it.

“I would never actually, obviously, but sometimes I wish I’d stolen some of her recipe cards instead of Dad’s gun.  Fat load of good they would’ve done me, though,” he noted, shaking his head, “considering I don’t even have a stove.  I’ve gotten a lot more accomplished with the gun.”  Very little good had been accomplished with Richard’s revolver, but Tweek was alive at any rate.

“Did you ever have some of my mom’s bread?  I don’t remember if I ever saw you eat it.”  His smile became more sheepish, bordering on apologetic.  “But my memory’s pretty imperfect.”  He had crawled into bed at fifteen and then found himself standing in the back room of Tweek Bros. Coffeehouse three years later with only the haziest recollection of how he got there.  As soon as knowledge of his age set in, he resolved to leave.