#hitting the squid sisters with the she/they beam

[bombrushblushin]

new squidbeak splatoon... more like nonbinary squidbeak splatoon am i right

[amenomiko]

A/N: This is one of the old requests ❤. Thank you for the request, otome-land (∩´∀`∩)💕.

I Don't Know Myself, Idiot!

Pairing: IkeSen Masamune x MC

Type: One Shot

Rated: NSFW (Smut)

"I don't love you! Never!! Don't use war as an excuse to express your fake love to me, Date Masamune, you will NEVER get my heart that way!"

He watched as she stomped off angrily, grinning how adorable her puffy cheeks moved when she mutter her remaining curses.

This adorable wife of his...

Well, he wouldn't blame her. Not only she is forced to marry him out of the sake of alliance, he is from the enemy clan to her dismay.

"A contrary type. As expected of Sanada Yukimura's little sister."

Masamune turned to his fellow vassal. "So you are saying it runs in the family?"

Mitsuhide's grin matched his. "Maybe?"

Charm didn't work. Nor sweet talk. Except for his food.

Her eyes beamed to his food. Face flushed, eagerly waiting when Masamune served her. Seeing her mewl in delight is what capture his heart; beneath those stubbornness, this is her real color. A pure, innocent color.

-------

"MC..! Hang in there..!"

Her chest rose and rest, desperate to breathe and staying awake.

"Why-- why did you do that?? I know you can fight-- No, ..you could have just leave me..!"

For someone who is able to fight, she would always come along to the field of war together with Nobunaga and his vassals. But of all the days.. She was pulled by force from her horse, as the enemy wanted to kidnap her to be their hostage.

She managed to escape from them, and when she almost reached back to her group, she saw incoming arrow from his back. Then before she know it, she have shielded him from it and were pierced instead. Looks like the enemy has planned everything beforehand.

"...Shut up you idiot! You are being noisy!" She hissed. "I didn't know myself, idiot..! My body move by itself! B-before I knew it I have-- nnh..!"

Her legs squirm uncomfortably. It feels hot, hotter than ever; ironically when there's fire blaze everywhere and her body is burning than that. "M-masa--" Tugging his chest, he was taken aback by the look in her eyes. "It hurts.. Something is.. S-something is.. I'm feeling--"

"We are almost there..!" He grunted and toss away the arrow that pierced her shoulder. "Don't die..! Hang in there!"

"Mnn you are noisy.."

"I have to, kitten. I don't want you to sleep."

"Why..?"

"You ask me why? The arrow has pierced your body, and it was deep--"

"Why did you worry so much..?"

"You are my wife, isn't that obvious."

Yeah right. She wanted to retort but her face is flushing than ever, somehow reacting to the heat his body give off. "Masa..mu.." Masamune didn't waste any time as he immediately rush her into Ieyasu's camp. He have waited outside the camp, pacing back and forth until his name were summoned.

"Aphrodisiac? Why would an enemy--" He shakes his head. "No matter. How is she doing?"

"30 minutes. No, you might need an hour." Ieyasu scoffed, avoiding the one eyed dragon's gaze. "You are the only one that can help her, since you are husband and wife--" He feign a cough, walking pass Masamune in instant.

The latter blinked. He understood what his fellow vassal said, yes he does, but with the condition right now.. Touching, no, even kissing his wife is out of question.

CLANG!

He jumped. What is that sound?

"MC..??"

His only eye wheeled from the small basin on the ground and to her, who were slumping halfway down her bed. "Haa.. Haa.." Her eyes shut tight, her face red all over. "Masamu..ne.." He quickly hold her pulled out hand in his, pushing herself up to lie back on the bed. "I.. Am I g-going to die..?"

"No, lass, you will be alri-"

"I don't want to..! I refuse to die here.. I-" She gasped, looking him in the eye. "Not yet-- mm..!" Her body quievered, and Masamune watch as her legs squirm uncomfortably inside the blanket; making him swallow the lump in his throat.

"Enough with forced marriage..! And to be with you of all people..! I-.. I-..! It's your fault..!" She hit his chest weakly. "Idiot..! You egg! Octopus..!" She sobbed, still hitting his chest. "Save me you idiot..! Take responsib-- mmn..!"

He kissed her first. Making her froze completely from hitting him for the third time. "Mmn.." He pulled away, licking her bottom lip before resting her forehead on hers. "I might.. Won't be able to stop myself, you got me?"

Legs kicking the blanket, one of his knees rub against her entrance, earning a soft moan from her. "Mmn.. Masamune.. Ah..!" His lips latched on her neck the moment she tilted her head backwards. "It's too late to say that, don't you think..?"

"Heh."

They shared their second kiss, deeply and sloppily, desperately seeking one another's heat while undressing completely. "You can hate me all you want, but for me, having you as my wife is not a play."

"Eh-- aaah..!!"

Her eyes widened to her spreading entrance. "Wha-- y-you are too big..! I- aaah..!! Mmnn..!!" She bites her lip, feeling extremely stretched inside. "Unn.. You pervert..! Can't you just wait until I'm completely ready-- aah..! Aaah, aah!" Masamune chuckled to her delicious voice when he moved his hips. "You are so adorable." He licked the side of her face, hands playing with her breasts, pinching her nipples in between of his fingers. "Haaah so tight.. I don't think one round is enough."

"J-just make it quick..!"

"Says the one who clench around this big dick tightly." He smirked, "Can't you just be honest already?"

"There's-- aah..! There's nothing to be honest for..!"

Despite saying that, she lean forward to capture his lips into a kiss, sighing into it. "Mmn.. MC.. You didn't know how much I've been waiting for this day.." He confessed, grunting before burying his head on the crook of her neck. "You didn't know what I've been doing before I get to touch you like this."

Pinkish blush colored her face.

"Nngh.. Now, are you finally admitting that it is good? You are clenching me so tight."

It wasn't that.

She had recalled the day she caught him masturbating to her. His labored gasps, groan, his dirty words of how desperate he want to impregnate her until he came all over her undergarments, making her aroused more than ever. Still..

He didn't know what she's been doing herself.

"Hmmh. As if I didn't know who makes my undergarments sticky all over with his dirty cum."

He paused, and she gasped from it. Not from stopping halfway in the peak of pleasure, but.. "Wh-why-- hyaaa..! Why are you getting bigger inside..? Kya..!" Her legs is now pushed to the sides of her head, voice choked to his length that were buried deeper than ever. "Aa- aah-- M-masa.." He moved again, frantically. "AAAH!! AH- AHH..! S-Sto-.. Stop..! You are being too roug-..AAAH!"

She is in the verge of climax; his length urge her so. Her head is spinning, her eyes rolled back and her tongue sticks out as she chants "Aaa.. Ah, ah, ah, f-fuck.. Masamu-- aah.. C-cumming- I'm cumming..! Aaah it's coming..!!"

Masamune pulled out in time with a growl, watching how she twitched and quivered all over before lifting her hips to gush out her orgasm. It came out like a piss, and he plunged his tongue, licking her hungrily to drink the remaining cum. "Nnghh..!" He hissed, hand pumping his throbbing dick. "Come here, MC..!"

"AAAAH!!"

He rammed it inside, pulling it out again for her second wave of piss. "Aaaah..!! Oh god..!!" Hands circled her legs around his waist, he rammed it once more to catch with his own climax. "Fuck..! Fuck..! Cum outside..! Please cum outside..!!"

"You are lying again, my bad kitten."

Back arched from his endless thrusts, she can do nothing but spread her legs further, receiving his deep poundings in and out of her pussy. "N-no..! I will get preg-- aaah..!!"

His cum filled her walls all over, spurting and extracting everything out from his sex, grinding against her entrance as to not make any semen spill out from it. Lips smirking once again to her legs-- it has been flailing to escape from him not to cum inside of her, and yet, her hips moves to meet his thrusts, showing that her body wants more.

"Masamune.. Mmmnn.. Masamune.. The aphrodisiac is still.."

...Ah.. She is so adorable. How contrary of her, even when she wants more.

------

*Extra*

Few months later..

"Octopus! Egg! Cucumber! I hate you!!"

"Now, now, put that sword down, you will lose your only handsome husband if you kill me~"

He jumped from another swing of her blade before asking, "But seriously what did I do this time, my adorable wife?"

"Y-you..! How could you ask me that??"

"Whoops." He dodged another swing. "You are so contrary, my kitten, how can I know, as you are always salty every single day." He laughed.

"Date Masamune!! Come back here or you will die--" She froze, cupping her mouth as her sword dropped from her grip.

He blinked. "MC..?"

She is not acting, no, she's not the playful type. He watched her every movement, legs instantly stride to her side when she suddenly kneel down, still cupping her mouth.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"...Hmh."

Looking away from him is only making his worry gets bigger. "Now, now, I won't run anymore. Tell me what's wrong, really." He's about to pull her into a hug before she murmured with a pout, "Don't hug me too tight you will squeeze the baby."

"Alright, I won't- what."

"....."

"Lass..? Y-you-"

He look from her, down to her belly, and back to her face that anger has gone and replaced with a sulking ones. "It's your fault. You octopus squid sea slug." She mumbled. "..I'm a father?"

"What else would it be?? Hmf." Her expression softens. "Yes, you are. T-take responsibility. S-since you said- well, you can't.. st-stop yourself.."

Silence.

It's her turn to blink. "Masamune? Hey- Y-you okay?" She poked his cheek.

"Masa-"

"..Cute."

"Huh? What are you-- waah!!" He carried her, bridal style.

"You bad kitten. How dare you be this cute..!"

"Wait- where are we going-- hey! Let go of me!! Kyaaa!! Stop undressing me!!"

He kissed her all over, calling her cute again and again, until he is satisfied in loving her throughout the day.

[rons-hermiones]

Come Find Me

Come Find Me

by rons-hermiones

Summary: Unplanned, Hermione is forced to spend Christmas at the Burrow due to her grandmother falling very ill. After being ignored by Hermione for weeks, Ron is determined to show her how much she means to him. Just before he gets the chance to tell her, Bellatrix Lestrange shows up with other plans for Hermione. Can Ron get to her before it's too late? (Ron/Hermione Half-Blood Prince AU)

Rating: M for language & dark themes in later chapters.

Chapter Twenty Three

Ron scoured the train for a bit. Half looking for Malfoy, half avoiding going to sit back in the compartment. When he had nothing to do his thoughts became almost unbearable. 

However, he must’ve been moving at a very gradual pace, considering the train soon came to halt and he hadn’t even made it halfway through the cars. 

Sighing heavily, he began a descent against the crowd to gather his knapsack and trunk from where he had boarded. 

Thankfully, the car was empty when he reached it, saving him the task of explaining to Harry and his sister where he had been. 

Picking up his things he moved to place them in the ever growing pile of items for transport to the castle. 

As he placed his trunk down, he heard a noise. A sickeningly familiar one at that. One he had the pleasure of forgetting over break. 

Turning slightly, he saw Lavender giggling about something with Parvati. Panicking slightly, Ron stalked away to find a carriage. 

Harry’s mop of messy hair was visible in the crowd as he climbed into one. Moving quickly, Ron went to join him inside. 

“Oh there you are mate.” Harry said as his friend sat down. 

“Yeah, sorry, prefect business and all. Patrols.” He lied after seeing the look of concern on Ginny’s face. 

“All good.” His friend said with a nod, but eyeing Ron suspiciously. 

“What’s got you looking all flushed?” His sister piped up, unable to control herself. 

Weasley had half the heart to spill everything he was thinking about Malfoy, but knew he couldn’t for two reasons. One, Ginny didn’t know Harry suspected him as a Death Eater in the first place. Two, Ron wanted to take the Hermione approach of things. He needed solid evidence he had to do with this whole thing before jumping and only fueling Harry’s obsession further. 

“Uh, well, I saw Lavender.” He settled for. It was half true anyway. 

The pair cringed. 

“She didn’t see me though.” Ron added. 

“So, how are you gonna, you know, deal with that?” Harry asked uncomfortably. 

Ron shrugged. Lavender was certainly the least of his worries. As far as he was concerned things were over between them, they had been for a while. And as terrible as it sounds, he just doesn’t have the heart to explain that to her again. He was too dead set on other things. 

“I reckon I’ll avoid her. I did it before holiday. I told her things were over. There’s not much else I can do, I just hope she gets the hint.” 

Ginny scoffed, “not likely. She’s kind of obsessed with you.” 

The ginger rolled his eyes, “well, I’m kind of obsessed with other things at the moment. Too much so to entertain her obsession with me.” He said a little fed up with the topic. Though, some part of it felt nice to talk about something less than life or death situations. 

Suddenly feeling a little bad, Ginny nodded, “we should come up with some kind of word.” She said leaning forward. 

“For?” Harry asked, confused. 

She rolled her eyes dramatically, “you know, whenever Lavender’s coming of course! Something to warn Ron. No offense, but I think if you’re stuck in the same room with her you may lose your temper. It’s been a bit short as of late.” Ginny mumbled the last sentence. 

Ignoring the last part, he spoke, “alright what word?” Ron questioned. 

“How about ‘droobles’?” Harry suggested. 

Ginny shook her head, “no, knowing Ron that word probably comes up like once a day.” She said with a small laugh. 

Surprisingly, the pair of boys chuckled too. The first time in weeks. 

The youngest Weasley beamed at the sound, “okay, what about ‘squid’?” 

“Squid?” Ron asked. 

“Yeah, she’s all tentacles, latching onto you. Plus, squid and giant squid are two different words. You can manage to work squid into conversation.” Ginny justified.

“Alright then, squid.” Ron agreed. 

“Squid.” Harry added with a small smile. 

After that, they lapsed into silence. It was nice, if even for a few minutes, to have a conversation that removed his thoughts from Hermione, even if said conversation was about how to avoid Lavender. 

All of him does long for Hermione to be there. To see how serious he really is about being through with the blonde. 

Before his thoughts could wander further, the carriage comes to a stop as the three climb out. 

Harry and Ginny go left, but Ron goes right. 

“Oi Ron, this way.” Harry reminds. 

He shakes his head, “nah, gotta take the second years to the feast, then I’m gonna go up to the dorms. I got late patrols. I’m knackered.” He says, which isn’t a complete lie. He is pretty tired, but he also doesn’t think he can deal with the Gryffindor’s inevitable line of questioning to him and Harry about Hermione’s whereabouts. 

“Alright mate, I’ll bring you up some food.” Harry promises. 

Ron nods. For the first time since he can remember. He’s not very hungry for Hogwarts food. 

...

Escorting the second years only took about twenty minutes. Thankfully, they were less timid than first years, so they moved quicker. Also, he imagines they could sense Ron was in a testy mood and decided not to challenge him. 

After, he climbed the empty Gryffindor tower to his dorm and laid down for a kip.

Ron walked thoughtlessly through Hogwarts corridors. Hermione’s absence at times like these was more present then usual. Rounds were something always reserved for the two of them. No matter how awful it sounded, he looked forward to these times. Harry free. Just the two of them. 

As he turned down the Transfiguration hallway he caught sight of a head of blonde hair walking forward. 

“Malfoy!” Ron called. 

Surprisingly, the blonde turned to face him. 

“You’re not on rounds. You shouldn’t be out this late. May just have to give you detention. Maybe take away some points, eh?” Ron sneered, though he knew he couldn’t. After all, Malfoy was also a prefect. 

However, the blonde didn’t come up with some nasty retort about how Ron was poor or how he was a blood traitor. No, instead, he looked scared. 

“I was out looking for you.” 

“Me?” The redhead asked befuddled. 

Draco nodded slowly, “I need to talk to you. But not here.” 

With that, the Slytherin silently led him onward. Still suspicious, Ron’s hand was in his pocket, having his wand at the ready. 

Soon, they reached the astronomy tower as he deafly followed the git up the steps. 

“Brought me up here to push me off, have you?” Ron said, half serious as the wind ruffled his robes. 

Malfoy shook his head. Again, not coming up with any sort of taunts. It was almost worrying. 

“It’s about,” he stopped, eyes finally meeting his, “it’s about Granger.” 

Suddenly, his hand slackens in his pocket as he advances toward. 

“He-Hermione?” He squeaks. 

The blonde nods, “I know where she is.” 

All pretenses of the civilness they’d been fooling themselves with were lost. Ron shoved Draco backward, hitting the brick wall. 

“Tell me.” He grunted, hands fisting at his collar roughly. 

Draco opened his mouth to do just that until something caught the pair's attention. 

A laugh. 

“Oh! Gonna rat, were you Draco?” Bellatrix Lestrange’s voice sounded. 

Ron turned around to see the mad witch with her wand drawn. 

“No auntie, I-“ he cowered. 

“Nonsense. Just like your mother, weak! Never cut out for all this.” She spat. 

Ron exchanged a look between the pair. He was right all along? Harry was right? 

Draco’s eyes were screwed shut. 

“I’m not going to punish you Draco. As disappointed as I may be, you are family. It’s not my job to discipline you.” Ron wanted to know where that thought was when she killed Sirius, “no matter. I’m sure the Dark Lord will thank you, since you’ve brought me a lovely gift.” She smiled. 

Suddenly, her piercing gaze was on Ron. 

“She cries for you. Did you know?” The witch asks, walking closer to circle him. “Every night.” Bellatrix adds, like a knife to his heart. 

Not caring, he draws his wand and points right at her. “Take me to her.” He demands. 

“Oh!” She hoots excitedly at his action, “or I could take her to you.” The smile is back. 

“Greyback!” Bellatrix calls. 

Descending from the steps is Fenrir Greyback. In his arms is Hermione. Her entire body is slack and pale. Blood coats the expanse of her skin as he makes out horrific bruises and bites. 

“Hermione.” He moans making a move for her. 

Greyback drops her to the floor, Ron reaches for her. Like always, he’s too late, she hits the stone before Ron gets there. 

He throws himself to the ground, clutching at her body. His hands smear with blood as he reaches for a pulse. 

There isn’t one. 

Bellatrix begins cackling as Ron realizes she’s dead. 

“Hermione.” He cries. 

“Come on Mione. Don’t do this.” 

“Hermione.” He’s surely wailing. 

“Ron.” The voice isn’t hers. 

He doesn’t care, “Hermione. Please.” 

“Ron!” It’s louder. 

Her body begins to fade. “No! You can’t take her from me!” 

“Hermione!” 

“Ron!” 

He jumps awake to find Dean standing over him, concern evident on his face. 

“Moaning about Granger again? Can’t say I missed that.” Seamus joked from the doorway. 

Ron wasn’t even in a state to berate him. Too busy slowing his breathing. 

Dean seemed to notice and shot the Irish boy a glare. 

“You alright there Ron?” Dean asked softly. 

Weasley opened his mouth to tell him it was just a dream, but soon stopped himself. Once able to scrub the image of Hermione’s limp body from his brain, he can’t help but wonder about Malfoy. 

He isn’t a seer, hell, he isn’t even all that great at divination, but could it mean something? Could Malfoy truly know where Hermione is? Is that why he acted weird on the train? Is that why he told Katie she was gone? Was Harry right?

He soon pushed his thoughts away. In the back of his mind an image of Harry waking up in the middle of the night telling them Sirius was in trouble flashes in his brain. 

Don’t be irrational. A voice, it sounds like Hermione’s scolds him. 

Facts. Remember the facts. 

“Ron?” Dean asks again. 

He shakes his head, “yeah, I’m fine. Department of Mysteries.” He lies easily, eyeing the scars down his arm. 

Sympathetically, Dean claps him on the shoulder and moves away. 

“We were just coming to grab exploding snap, Harry told us to wake you for your rounds.” His roommate explains. 

“Right, thanks mate.” Ron says sitting up and smoothing out his hair. 

Dean and Seamus soon left, leaving Ron to toss his cloak on and prepare for patrols. 

Slipping away, he soon found himself in the transfiguration hallway, half expecting to see Draco Malfoy. When that didn’t happen, he worked his way to the astronomy tower. Again, testing his theory. 

As his eyes landed on the place he saw Hermione’s lifeless body, he soon decided on a way to take his mind off of everything. 

Operation, what the fuck does Malfoy know.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

World of Light: With the Assist Trophies

Over at the Assist Trophy Apartment, most of the assist trophies are sitting around the table eating dinner. Everyone except Zero, who was looking out the window to gaze at the sunset.

“Everything okay, Zero?” Knuckles asked.

“Maybe…” Zero told him. “I saw all the Smashers leaving earlier. Something big is probably going on.”

“Fret not, Young Swordsman! They’ll be able to best whatever peril stands in their way!” Shovel Knight proclaimed.

Zero looked at Shovel Knight and sighed. “You’re right. I’m probably worrying about nothing.” He turned back to the window and noticed something weird. There were these stream of light beams raining down. “What the…?”

“Psh! It wouldn’t be a problem if Waluigi was there…” Waluigi stated, causing the others in the room to roll their eyes and groan.

Zero noticed some light streams were coming right for the apartment. He turned around at the other Assist Trophies. “Everybody, GET DOWN!!”

As soon as he said that, a light beam burst into the house and hit Waluigi. He wasn’t even able to get a “WAH!” in before he was seemingly disintegrated. The kitchen table was knocked over due to the attack. Knuckles, Shovel Knight, and Zero all peered from behind the table to see Waluigi was no longer there.

Lyn ran into the kitchen. “I heard a noise! What happ-” She saw a giant hole in the wall leading to the outside and the kitchen in a mess.

“Lady Lyn…The purple one with the unattractive moustache…a light came…he was obliterated…” Shovel Knight told her in shock.

“Waluigi? Well, at least it wasn’t anyone important, but…!” She stopped as soon as she saw more light streams heading towards them. “Guys, run!”

The four of them made a break for it as more light streams began pouring into the home. Furniture was knocked over in order to avoid the light beams. Knuckles looked back at the streams of light. “What the heck are those things?!”

“Don’t know! Just keep running!” Lyn replied. She saw another beam burst in from in front of them. “Look out!” She shouted. She leapt onto the ceiling and ran while Zero and Knuckles slid under it. Shovel Knight clung onto the wall, narrowly dodging the beam.

“Argh! I’m trying to call MegaMan, but all i hear is static!” Zero shouted. “Something must have happened!”

“What shall we do?!” Shovel Knight asked.

Knuckles looked around. “Okay, I’ll go find Shadow. He can use chaos control to teleport and control time. If we’re lucky, we might make it out in one piece. You guys go round up everyone else and meet me outside away from the apartment!!” Knuckles told them before running off.

——————

Shovel Knight had ran outside to a horrible sight. Other assist trophies were getting hit by the beams. Mother Brain and a Metroid were disintegrated, Dillion had dodged a few beams before getting hit by one, and Samurai Goroh didn’t even see it coming.

“My word…this is a travesty..” He muttered before looking over to the left. He saw Yuri Kozukata about to take a picture of Arcade Bunny, the Ghosts, and Chef Kawasaki. “Young ones, look out!”

Yuri only turned around before the people she was about to get a picture of were hit by the beams. She turned her head back around. “W-w-wha…” She looked up and saw a beam headed her way. 

She was then pushed out of the way by the Black Knight, who instead was hit by the beam. She remained on the floor, paralyzed with fear as she saw him slowly get disintergrated.

Shovel Knight picked her up. “Come, young one! We must make haste!” He then saw Bomberman running around in a panic. “Young Exploder!” He ran to him.

—————

Zero and Lyn were running outside the apartments trying to avoid the beams. Isaac formed a giant magical hand to protect him, Jeff, and Akira from the blast, only for the light to completely pierce through the hand hitting all three of them. Guile tried to use Sonic Boom against the light, only to be hit by the beams.

When Zero and Lyn looked up, they saw Rathalos carrying Sukapon, Krystal, Dr. Wily, and Devil before they were all hit. While the beam only needed to graze Rathalos’ back to get those who were riding it, more beams had blasted through the Rathalos, making it disintegrate with each blow. The screams filled the skies as the Rathalos went crashing down before more lights bombarded it. 

“This is a nightmare…” Lyn muttered. “Who’s even left?”

“Bark!

Zero and Lyn looked over to the direction of the scream as they saw Nintendog on the ground next to where Jeff and Nikki presumably were, noted by the glasses and notebook filled with doodles being all that remained. She was shuddering. The two ran over to the dog. Nintendog began to whimper. Zero picked up the dog and hugged it. "I-It’s okay…everything’s gonna be okay…” Zero told it in a shaky voice.

The two turned around and saw Skull Kid, Alucard, and Phosphora deflecting the magic blasts alongside Alucard and Phosphora. ‘HAHAHAHAHA! You wanna take me out?! You’re gonna have to try harder than that!“ Skull Kid shouted, shooting a blast deflecting more light beams. Behind them were Spring Man, Knuckle Joe, Tiki, and Ashley.

"Everyone! Come quick!” Lyn shouted. While the four others ran to them, Skull Kid and Alucard remained. “What are you doing?! Get over here!”

“Go without us!” Alucard replied, reflecting another blast of light. “These lights won’t do us in that easily.” Phospora was then hit by the light beams. “…That was a lucky shot.”

Lyn looked at the two for a second. “But-”

“Hurry up and beat it already before I decide to let one hit you!” Skull Kid shouted.

“Lyn, we gotta get moving!” Zero called, already leading the one’s he saved away. Lyn looked back at the two, then ran off to meet with Zero.

Alucard looked up and saw twice as many lights than there were before. Anyone would be smart enough to know they couldn’t handle it. “Hm…This doesn’t seem we’re in a good position. How about you two follow along with them?" 

Skull Kid looked at him. "Pfft! If I’m going to go down, I’m going on my terms!” His hands started to overflow with magic.

Alucard laughed. “Well said! If we go, we go in a blaze of glory!!!”

——————

Soon, everyone that was left met up together a good distance away from the apartment. Everyone was talking in a panic.

“I see you two we’re able to save a fair amount of people.” Shovel Knight noted, put down Bomberman.

“Yeah…we couldn’t save everyone though.” Zero told him, petting Nintendog. “How many did you save?”

“I was only able to save the girl with the camera and Young Exploder. Sir Gray Fox, he…sacrificed himself for Exploder.” Shovel Knight sighed. “But has anyone seen Master Knuckles? He told us to rendezvous out here.”

“He better get here quick! Those lights could appear any second.” Lyn told them.

A few seconds after, the group saw Knuckles and Shadow running to them. Behind them were the Squid Sisters, Riki, and Rodin. “Guys!”

“Knuckles! Hurry up!” Zero shouted, seeing light beams descending toward them.

Knuckles’ group soon made it to where everyone else. “Sorry…pant pant…I’m late…”

“Knuckles, what’s the plan you talking about earlier?!” Lyn asked. 

As Knuckles was about to explain, a beam of light headed toward them from behind Zero. As if in slow motion, everyone looked back at it, completely petrified. Zero’ pupils shrank as he saw his life flash before his eyes as the light closed in….

…….

Zero had his eyes closed as he expected to be hit with the light, when he opened his eyes, he saw a black veil surround the group. He looked up. “Nightmare?!”

From the outside, Nightmare formed a shield using his body to protect them. The light beams were pressing down hard on him, slowly disintegrating him. “Nngh! If you runts are going to do something, do it now!!”

Knuckles nodded. “Shadow, you have the Chaos Emerald?"  Shadow held it up in response. "Okay. Shadow’s gonna try to use Chaos Control to warp us out of here.”

“But can’t Shadow only slow time down?’ Lyn asked.

"That’s why I brought Rodin. I think that we could use his abilities to-” Knuckles was saying.

“Is this plan going to work?!” Bomberman shouted.

“To be honest, I don’t entirely know, but this is the best chance we have!” Knuckles told them. 

Prior to him saying that, a light beam struck Nightmare once more, causing him to fall and fade away. There were lights coming toward them from all sides. “Everyone, grab on to Shadow and Rodin!”

As everyone grabbed on to the two, Shadow and Rodin both held the Chaos Emerald. “Chaos Control!” The Emerald began to slowly hum as it glowed with a faint red light and emit red lightning. The group then teleported away from the beams of light as the beams struck the ground.

In the background, the Moon began to fall from the sky, plummeting and destroying the Assist Trophy Apartment. Half of it’s face was one, and it wore an expression of pure anguish and pain. Beams of light slammed the moon until no trace was left.

There was only one question: Where had the Assist Trophy survivors gone?

[stancheslovez]

I Come Back To You Chapter 1 (Stanchez)

Chapter 1

A week had passed since the Pines twins had graduated high school, and Dipper had suggested to his Sister that they should move to Gravity Falls permanently. In all honestly Gravity Falls was a far better place than the town they lived in back in California, the air just seemed so much cleaner too. Not to mention, the area as far more interesting than living in a big city which was always so congested. Sure, summer trips to Gravity Falls were fun, but the idea of just being there permanently was a pleasant thought that he and his sister had been talking over with each other for a couple of years now. They both had some friends there, and Dipper just felt more at home there each summer they visited.

When the bus arrived, Dipper grabbed for his bags and looked to Mabel. “Ready?” He asked, getting excited about being back in Gravity Falls once again, it was always exciting to come back more so since they were moving here with their uncles. “You bet!” Mabel replied, happily grabbing her bags as she followed him onto the bus. They’d sold most of their stuff beforehand so they could buy their things once there, it would save on shipping, so they didn’t have to bring a whole bunch of boxes with them.

She was just as excited as her twin brother, especially to see her uncles again, maybe finally get a boyfriend this time around or something if that was even in the cards. Mabel wasn’t as boy crazy as she had been back then, but she still wanted someone to love her.

~~~~o~~~~

A minor tremble could be felt in Gravity Falls, the place waiting for the twins to return, the small quake causing the Bill statue to tremble just a little like the demon encased inside was slowly waking from his slumber.

~~~~o~~~~

Stan stood in the kitchen of the shack as his popcorn was currently finishing up in the microwave when it had finished, he took it out and opened it up. “Do you think the kids want rooms of their own?” He asked, looking to Ford as he headed back to the living room and sat beside him. The man’s twin hummed in thought as he looked at Stan.

“Maybe, but we’ll have to ask them once they get here.” He suggested; glad they had built onto the shack a few summers ago just so that there was room for when the twins wanted separate rooms of their own. He took some popcorn from the bag that Stan had popped, stopping a moment when he felt the slight tremor. “That felt like a tiny earthquake.” He hummed, wondering what had caused it, but then again it could have just been the tectonic plates or something.

“Did you leave the portal on?” Stan asked after a moment.

“Nope, I distinctly remember turning that thing off before leaving the room,” Ford said, thinking about it a bit before nodding in confirmation. “But it doesn’t hurt to double check.” He hummed as he got up, putting the code in the secret door before heading downstairs to take a quick look.

Stan gave a small snort as he left. “Nerd.” He said with a hint of fondness as he put some popcorn in his mouth and eating it before turning his attention to the TV, their relationship was better these days and Stan felt better than ever. Even if they didn’t reconnect romantically, he felt that was fine, at least his brother was here, and they got along again. Besides, he was far too old for love anyway, though sometimes his thoughts would turn to the blue-grey hair in his dreams which smelled like alcohol out of nowhere.

He pushed that thought away…that had been a long time ago.

Ford returned a couple of minutes later, closing the entrance before heading back to the couch and sitting down beside his brother. “It was off; I’m not sure what the tremor was.” He said, not too concerned with the cause, though he did wonder about it a bit before his thoughts turned elsewhere. “We should make dinner for the kids before they arrive.” He said as his eyes turned to the time on the clock.

“What do we want to make? It’ll be about four hours; I know this nice chili Verde recipe from when I was in prison back in Mexico which will take about that long.” Stan suggested.

The other hummed in thought and nodded. “Sure, sounds like it’ll be delicious.” He said before getting up and heading toward the kitchen; he got out the pan to cook with and the meat they would be using for the chili as Stan set the popcorn aside before joining him in the kitchen. “Do we have any tortillas?” He asked as he got to work on cutting up the veggies and other things for the sauce.

“Yup,” Ford replied as he went to grab the bag that he had put with the rest of the bread items.

“Great, wrap them in threes, then put them in some aluminum foil. We’ll back them toward the end enough to soften them up.” Stan said and spent the next few hours cooking with his brother which he had found fun.

~~~~o~~~~

Soon the sign for Gravity Falls came into view, and Mabel beamed when she saw it. “We’re here!” She said, grabbing her brother’s arm in excitement and Dipper smiled, getting up when the bus slowed at their stop. He grabbed his bags and put them over his shoulder. Let's head to the Mystery Shack.” He said as they got off and he started walking; his sister grinning as she took off after him happily.

Once they reached the shack Dipper headed inside and looked around the living room before venturing further inside the house. “Uncle Stan, Ford?” Dipper called before reaching the kitchen and smiling as the scent of food hit his nose. “Kids, you made it!” Stan beamed as he made his way over, wrapping his arms tightly around the two in a bear hug.

“Ah! Squishing me!” Mabel squeaked.

Dipper chuckled a little as he hugged Stan back, smiling. “Hey, Uncle Stan.” He said happily as Ford came over and took them both in a hug as well, though not as bone-crushing as his brother had done a moment earlier.

“We’re so glad to finally be here!” Mabel said excitedly.

“We’re glad to have you both back,” Ford said, smiling. “Now, I’m sure both of you are very hungry after your trip.” He said.

“Starved, whatever you guys made smells good,” Dipper said, feeling his stomach grumble as he took in the smell of the food that was being cooked.

“Some authentic Mexican food straight from prison.” Stan teased.

“I love Mexican!” Mabel said excitedly.

Dipper nodded and smiled. “Sounds good to me.” He said as Stan got the food and hotplates.

“We even made some Mabel juice, though not the super potent blend,” Stan told them as Dipper and Mabel sat down at the kitchen table with Ford. “Alright, sounds good,” Dipper replied as they were served their food.

Taking a bite of his food, Dipper looked to his uncles, wondering what all they had done on their adventures while they were away for the school year; he always enjoyed hearing what all they had done while he and his sister were away.

“We fought a giant squid and were still being attacked by baby ones. I haven’t had so much calamari in my life!” Stan said, and Ford chuckled softly as he went on about other things they had done during the year over dinner with Dipper and Mabel listening, captivated by all that had gone on.

Once their storytelling of their events from traveling was over Ford sat up and looked at them. “Will you two be sharing a room again or do you two want separate ones this time?” He asked after a moment, knowing they both were practically adults now, and sometimes siblings didn’t want to share rooms when they were older. “We can share if there’s no room, we don’t want you living in the basement again,” Mabel said.

“Nah, we built an extra room on just in case you two wanted to have your own rooms,” Stan assured her.

“Yeah, so, no harm is done there.” Ford smiled.

Dipper nodded at that and hummed in thought. “Then sure, we can do separate rooms. Coin flip to see who gets the new room, Mabel?” He asked, looking to his sister who just gave a smug look. “I already claimed it!” She stated.

“Do I sense another butt kissing contest?” Stan grinned.

“Maybe.” Dipper chuckled.

“This should be entertaining.” Ford sighed, smiling.

“Very.” Stan nodded as Mabel stood up suddenly, taking the dirty dishes from the table since everyone was practically done eating and everything. “I call dishes!” She said excitedly as she put them on the counter, taking her sweater off and around her waist before starting the water and waiting for it to heat up enough with the soap.

“I’ll clean the living room!” Dipper added before leaving the kitchen to go work on the living room, and Ford chuckled softly while his brother got up from the table. “I’ll go make a scoreboard.” He said, leaving the room, god he’d missed these kids and was so glad that adulthood hadn’t changed them all that much.

~~~~o~~~~

Taking a swig of the liquid in his flask, Rick tasked himself with a project he had been pointlessly working on while Morty was out with Summer doing something, what that something was he wasn’t quite sure, but he didn’t quite care. It was most likely that Morty was at school, and maybe Summer was picking him up? He couldn’t quite remember, but he knew she had graduated a couple years ago and didn’t go anymore.

His thoughts were interrupted when Morty came running into the open garage and trying to catch his breath, making Rick look up from his work. “Uh…R-Rick, I think we have a problem…” The boy said, twiddling his fingers a little as he bit his lip before speaking up once again. “A kid at my school summoned a demon today, and he was saying weird stuff...” He said causing Rick to set his project down.

Project forgot he stood up and rolled his eyes. “A demon? What the hell is it with kids these days? Summoning demons…” The old man couldn’t believe kids these days were so careless with things like the supernatural, it was ridiculous what people did, like summoning demons for whatever the hell reason they had. “Alright, what does this demon look like?” He asked, grumbling a little as he made his way over to a box and started sifting through it for stuff that might help in the situation, though he didn’t deal much in the supernatural. No, science was more his thing, and sure, he dealt with the supernatural every once in a while…but it just hadn’t been something he had worked to make sure he was prepared for thoroughly.

“Uh…you know the triangle thing on money? Just like that except, symmetrical…and suave?” Morty said, thinking. “He convinced half the kids to give him souls, and he didn’t even do anything.”

Rick scoffed at this and rolled his eyes. “Of all the…you don’t willingly give your soul to a demon no matter how smooth talking they are!” He groaned, making an ah-ha noise when he found a box of salt, handing it over to Morty before grabbing a few other things. “Alright, let's go and get rid of this thing.” He said before hopping into his space ship and took off when Morty got in the passenger seat.

“The demon said he finally made it to a universe that didn’t have a ‘Gravity Falls’ in it, do you know what that is?” Morty asked, looking to Rick who stopped a moment to think, god he hadn’t thought that place in years…thought about that fierce as nails brunette he spent a lot of the time making love to when they weren’t off doing some form of crime. The only person he felt anything for as much as he had Dian.

“Gravity falls? It’s a small town with a lot of supernatural activity…it’s in another dimension. This is going to take a lot more than just us two Morty. That demon is not going to be easy to get rid of.” He said as he drove his ship.

“Have you met him before?” Morty asked, looking a little afraid, if he and Rick couldn’t take this demon, then who could? His grandfather could practically take on anything and outsmart them or annoy the holy hell out of them till they wanted to just die or try revenge that just outright failed.

“Sounds like Bill Cipher…and if that’s the case, we’re in a shit tone of trouble,” Rick said as the ship approached the school, the place was on fire and looked far more different than he had last seen it, now reshaped into the form of a pyramid. “Oh fuck…” Rick said as he observed. “Yeah, that’s Bill, fucking Bill all over.” He may not have met the demon, but he had heard of him somewhere in his travels, the guy was known as a nightmare demon, and he had caused quite a lot of chaos.

His thoughts were interrupted when Morty spoke up. “So…what do we do?” He asked, wringing his hands nervously and Rick sighed as he sat back, watching the chaos unfold in front of them. “We’re taking a trip to Gravity Falls for one…where is your sister? She was here to pick you up right?” He asked.

“I think so, I ran to find you as soon as I sensed trouble…” Morty said, upset. “What if he eats Summer?” He asked, freaking out a little bit as Rick grabbed a blaster from behind his seat, handing it to Morty before grabbing another for himself. “Let's go.” He said, getting out of the ship and heading inside. The place was total chaos, weird eyeballs turning people to stone and carrying them away while random monsters partied. Bill was in the middle of the gymnasium looking around. “Man, this dimension is defenseless! I’m a genius!” He said happily.

“Okay, that’s not good…” Rick said and hit one of the creatures before it could get either him or Morty as they looked for Summer and his grandson was trying his best not to hyperventilate while he shot at the monsters with his grandfather. “Summer!” He called, hoping that his sister heard him.

As he called for her Summer poked her head out of one of the classrooms. “Morty!” She called, and Rick grabbed Morty’s arm, leading him over toward his granddaughter as he shot at a few of the creatures. “Let's get the hell out of here.” He said once he had her and started for the door.

“What about Bill? What’s he going to do?” Morty asked, afraid as another wall burst into flames, by the time they made it out they would see that the influence was spreading at a steady pace. “You two get in the car, I’ll see what I can do,” Rick said before leaving to head back inside.

Morty frowned and turned to Summer. “We can’t leave Rick alone; he said he couldn’t stop Bill on his own!” He said, and Summer bit her lip as she thought a moment before grabbing his arm. “Maybe he has some extra weapons in the car.” She said before dragging her brother out to the car so they could get some blasters so they could help.

~~~~o~~~~

Rick entered the room, blaster, in hand as he took in the sight of the gym turned throne room, glaring at the triangle as he spoke. “I don’t appreciate you trying to take over my dimension.” He said as he held his blaster up and shot it at him only for the demon to stop the blast with his hand. “And I don’t appreciate old people trying to stop me, either.” He said.

The triangle grabbed at Rick, bringing him closer before frowning as he caught a very faint scent on the elderly scientist before him. “you carry a faint smell…you’ve Been to Gravity Falls! Are you a dimension hopper?!” He asked in a demanding tone as he glared at the man before him.

“I am, and I haven’t been to Gravity Falls in years, but I’m aware of you. I don’t know why you’re here in this dimension, but I’m going to take you out of it.” He said as he started creating a circle and chanting; Rick wasn’t much on messing with demons or anything, and he probably wasn’t doing this right, but at least it could stop this guy from ruining everything.

Before much else could be done Bill roared and smashed Rick hard into the ground, preventing him from trying much else. “No you don’t, old man! I may have lost there, but I will not lose here!” He roared as Rick cursed, groaning as he got up shakily as he looked at the triangle with a slight smirk. “Ooh, I’m scared.” Rick taunted, rolling his eyes as he got back to chanting as he tried to stop the demon, but Morty and Summer had come back, trying to shoot at him once more causing the triangle to roar once more as he reached for Summer only to be shot in the eye by Morty which sent the demon spinning.

“You little fucker! Always the eye! That’s it, you’re dead, all dead!” He shot random bolts of energy at kids, missing mostly since he was unable to see but some grazed Morty’s shoulder, it burned more than anything he had felt before.

“Morty, Summer! Car, now!” Rick yelled, knowing they wouldn’t win this one; he was going to have to break down and head to Gravity Falls if they were going to take on this demon. He ran to the car, making sure Summer and Morty got in before getting in himself as his grandson held his shoulder, trying his best not to cry with how painful it felt.

As Rick drove off Summer looked at the burn on Morty’s shoulder to see how bad it was while their grandfather pulled up a portal for the car to go through. His injury was significant and discolored, but it wasn’t bleeding much thankfully, but it took the same of Cipher’s seal as the ship landed in front of a shack that was in the middle of the woods. “Grandpa, where are we?” She asked as her eyes fell on the building in front of them, it looked like one of those dumb tourist traps, though it didn’t seem like it had visitors these days.

“Gravity Falls, Oregon…and this is the Mystery Shack,” Rick said.

“The place Bill Mentioned?” Morty asked, shoulder throbbing a bit, though it felt better since it was doctored, getting out of the ship with Rick and Summer. “Yeah, this is it.” Rick sighed as he looked around.

~~~~o~~~~

Stan turned off the TV when he heard something and narrowed his eyes. “Ford, did you hear that?” He asked, and Ford frowned, getting up from his chair. “Sounded like a ship landing or something…” He said as he went to the door, looking to investigate as he checked outside the window. “We have visitors…and hey came in a space ship.” He said, a little confused since they looked human. He turned to see his brother slipping on his brass knuckles before heading out the door. It was then that Stan stopped in his tracks as he looked at the man before him, going slack-jawed as he looked at the man with the grey-blue hair as well as the scent of booze that followed the man like it always did. “R-Rick?!”

Rick looked to him and scratched his head, feeling a slight bit nervous at seeing the other man before him. “Stan, hey.” He said before noticing the other man coming out the door. “Looks like you got that portal working...”

[squiddybeifong]

Heya squiddy! I got two Qs for ya bud! 1) how’s Retrieval coming along? 👀👀👀 And B) WonderMagic request? With the prompt “Hey, have you seen the...? /Oh/.” Love ya squids!!! 😘💙💙💙💙💙💙

46. “Hey, have you seen the..? Oh.”

From this list of drabble prompts:

–

“Hey, Babe?”

Zee didn’t bother getting up, her muscles tired. She let out a whine and turned onto her back, squinting up at the ceiling as Diana’s voice got closer. “Have you seen the–”

She closed her eyes and raised a brow as her girlfriend stepped into the room, not bothering to hide her smirk at the Amazon’s stunned, “Oh.”

“You, uh,” Diana cleared her throat as she tried to keep focus on her task. But still her eyes roamed over the damp robe that was splayed wide open, her magician on full display, “You took a shower already?”

“Mmhmm,” Zatanna raised herself up on her elbows and smirked at her girlfriend, the move turning to a pout when the warrior didn’t come closer. Diana looked conflicted but had to sigh, her gaze wandering to the side lest she get too distracted, “I really need to find this thing first.”

She rubbed the back of her neck, “I might’ve left it at my place. Let me fly over there real quick, then I’ll join you?”

Diana beamed as Zee let out a tiny laugh at her hopeful look and ran a hand through her hair. The Amazon strode over and kissed her love’s temple, her hand covering Zee’s as they untangled a clump of hair. Biting her lip, she angled down to steal a quick peck and offered, “I’ll help take out these knots when I get back?”

Her magician traced her lips, a grin on her face as Diana kissed her fingertips, “Don’t take too long, Darling.”

–

The skies were clear as Diana landed on her balcony. A hand went to her chin as she wondered where she had misplaced the–

Her thoughts were interrupted as she recognized the fuzzy worm that hung on the end of Donna’s keys. A brow raised at the sight of Raven’s signature cloak hanging over the couch’s back, but she paid it no mind.

Navy eyes bright (since her sister had a knack for finding things she lost and, if anything, Raven’s powers would be helpful in a pinch) she jogged to Donna’s room. Knocking as she strolled in, the Amazon casually asked, “Hey, Donna, Rae? Have you guys seen the… oh!”

Wonder Woman covered her eyes and did a picture perfect Abe Simpson turn, calling out over her shoulder, “I didn’t see anything!”

Holy Hera, she had to stop taking after Bruce and just ask before she entered a room.

Diana ignored the horrified gasp that her (still a baby no matter her age, thank you very much) sister let out and sped walked out of her own apartment the way she came, just barely remembering to shut the balcony’s door behind her.  

Donna called out to her back, the door’s handle engulfing in black magic to open for her as she hastily wrapped her girlfriend’s cloak around her shoulders, “Di, wait!”

The older Amazon reluctantly turned to her, relaxing when there was less nudity this time. She held up her palms, trying to curb the shock and hilarity of the moment, “It’s fine! Just… just let me know when I can come back.”

A thought came and she hastily added, “And wash the sheets please!”

Donna’s cheeks resembled tomatoes as she tried to find an excuse. Especially for not being in her own apartment, “We– we weren’t–”

“It’s fine! I’ll–” Wonder Woman jerked a thumb over her shoulder as she started flying backward, “I’ll spend the night at Zee’s. See you tomorrow!”

Raven poked her head out, remarkably stoic despite the sheer awkwardness that was hitting her empathy. She cleared her throat and Donna spun to look at her, but the demoness merely raised a brow the princess’ way. Wonder Girl’s gaze flicked between her sister and her lover and her mouth decided to vomit out, “Okay. Um, I can introduce you two?”

The ex-Titan mouthed out an ‘I’m so sorry’ to Diana, who forced a smile and started flying away, “Make it a raincheck. Bye!”

She made it back to Zee’s place in record time. The Amazon took a moment to lean against the door and pinch the skin between her eyes, silently mouthing an aghast groan at the state of her apartment.

Shaking her head, she strolled back in and made her way to the bedroom, snickering when she saw that Zee had yet to move. Diana leaned over her girlfriend and pressed a quick peck to her lips, glad to be back to familiar waters, “Hi.”

Her magician smiled up at her, sleepily reaching up to wrap her arms around her love’s broad shoulders. Zee pulled her down for another kiss, smiling into the embrace, “Hi.”

She lightly tugged her love down until Diana was on top of her, pressing kisses along the length of her neck. A bite made her gasp and lean her head back, giving Diana more space.

“Did you find the…” Zee trailed off, her brows furrowing as she realized she didn’t know what her girlfriend needed so badly. The mystic casually waved a hand in the air, “Whatever it is that you were looking for?”

Another set of kisses, marching up to Zatanna’s chin. The superhero shrugged and pecked her chin, “I honestly can’t even remember what it is.”

“But,” Diana lazily sat up to properly straddle Zee’s hips, beaming down at the magician, “I found something better.”

Hands reached up to tangle in her hair. The princess let out a happy sigh as Zee tugged her down again and kissed her jaw, murmuring against her skin, “You’re a dork.”

[splattershotsundae]

Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 2: A minor Cake-tastrophe.

Two days ago:

INKLINGS IN OCTARIAN 'DOMES'?

Ophelia Lunulata has awoken and has remained conscious. She refused to give any quotes until her 'public voice' was with her. The voice she was referring to is Oshea Thornell, who serves Ophelia to send her orders to the people. He arrived in the company of armed police officers, spending an hour in Ophelia's company before being available for comment. "She (Ophelia) demands that they (the government) take action in the rescue of the octarian citizens trapped in the domes." These underground 'domes' are where the octarians have lived since the great turf war claimed their land a hundred years ago. Oshea makes claims that inklings ('Squidlings') should have enough incentive to help if only for the fact that there are inklings in the domes, and have been since they were captured during splatfest. We have yet to hear a reply from city hall or the capital although the president claims to be readying to make a public appearance.

OCTARIAN PLAGUE SWEEPS INKOPOLIS

It seems that the Octomaton isn't the only thing Octarians have brought up to the surface, they have brought up a potent strain of rhinopharyngitis. This contagious disease is spreading across the city and infecting various citizens of Inkopolis, particularly inklings. Experts say the pathogen will only last a few days,  they recommend resting for a few days, and drink plenty of water. Symptoms include stuffy nose, sore throat, and coughing.

Yesterday:

1,000 INKLINGS RETURN HOME

After 16 hours of heroic digging and cooperation from octarian forces, workers have unearthed a path for many inklings to super jump to freedom. Along with these inklings, approximately 5,000 octolings also made an escape. Unexpectedly, many of the rescued inklings protected these octolings and refused to allow them to be taken into custody. As a result a compromise arose, allowing octolings to have access to a homeless shelter.

SQUID SISTERS LEAVE URGENT CARE

Callie and Marie, Inkopolis' favorite idols were able to return home today after being greatly injured after a suspected kidnapping. They both refuse to discuss the cause of their injuries, only that they do not plan to press charges on the culprit.

Today, Toda’s birthday:

OPHELIA ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION?

At 5:24 AM this morning; doctors were alerted to a commotion in the room of Ophelia Lunulata, known as the queen of the Octarians. A nurse had walked in, only to be attacked by an octarian with a knife. The Octarian is now in custody, but claims that they were protecting the queen on her orders. Also found was a tube of ice which was the right size to be inserted into the machine's equipment and contained a fatal dose of poison, likely intended for Ophelia. The nurse remained unharmed, and was safely able to return home. Ophelia has requested five armed octarian guards be posted to her quarters. The request was denied, however she was allowed inkling guards.

Toda sat, leg bouncing as he looked over the headlines. He couldn’t help it, Bato was trying to get him into the habit. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse, or were they just… happening? He sighed and lay back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

… At least everyone he knew was alright…

He sat bolt upright as there was a knock on his front door. “Coming!!!” He called, then stood with a grunt before heading to the front door.

On the other side, Bato smiled warmly at him, holding out a box of store-brand Mochi. “Happy Birthday bud.” He said, then leaned against the door frame.

“I told you guys that you didn’t have to get me anything!” He said, then stepped forward to give him a hug. “You know me too well for your own good...”

He laughed and hugged him back. “Right back at you.”

“Let’s sit you down, your leg’s still hurt.” He said, wrapping his arm around Bato’s shoulder and helping him to the living room.

“Toda, I’m fine.” He replied, even as he stumbled. “… not perfect, but fine… Thanks.”

He rolled his eyes, flashing him a grin as they both sat down. “Anytime.”

“Oh, you should probably get these into the freezer.” Bato said, holding up the mochi box.

“I got this.” He said, then lifted his head and called. “Hey daaaad!”

After a moment, Scott peered around the corner. “Hey soooooon?”

He snorted, then took the box from Bato and held it out. “Still sort of hurts to move, can you put this in the freezer?”

His father nodded and turned to head back to the kitchen. “Have fun you two.”

“We will.” Bato said, then turned to Toda. “… So, uh… How’s Necrodancer going?”

He snorted. “Getting back into practice. There’s not much else to do lately… I miss battles much, we barely got to do any of them before this all happened...”

Bato nodded solemnly. “Agreed. I’m… not getting my hopes up that battles will come back anytime soon though.” He nodded, ears drooping. “I mean, the plaza’s a wreck, so… there’s that.”

“There’s that.” He agreed, frowning.

Just then another knock on the door caused Toda’s ears to perk right up. “Coming!!” He called, standing and making his way to the front door.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAAAAA!” Jill exclaimed, holding out a big bowl of what appeared to be M&Ms.

“H… Happy birthday.” Simon said as well, awkwardly clutching a wrapped box with an adhesive bow stuck meticulously on top.

“You guys too!?” Toda laughed. “I said you didn’t have to give gifts, I just want to hang out!”

“But we love you!” Jill said, proudly striding through the door. “And we want you to be happy!”

He snorted and closed the door, casting a small worried glance at Simon, who wasn’t making eye contact. They looked super nervous… and he wasn’t sure why.

“Hey Bato, want some candy!?” Jill’s exclamation shook him from his thoughts, and he made his way back to the couch, leaving a large enough space next to him for Simon to sit.

I’d love some.” He said, grabbing a small handful.

“What about you Toda?” She asked, holding the bowl out to him.

“Yes please!” He said, though something felt a bit suspicious... He scooped up a handful and popped a few into his mouth, cringing as the flavor of chocolate, fake fruit, and a blast of cinnamon all hit him at once. He spluttered, then swallowed, shooting Jill a short glare. “Judd damn it, Jill! Did you mix skittles, M&Ms and red hots??”

She started laughing, setting the bowl down on the table and picking out a few candies. “What? I didn’t do anything~!”

"Sure you didn't." He replied, grinning.

"If you want m&m's, you just need to get the blue ones." Bato told him with a grin of his own. "There aren't blue skittles."

He snorted. "Yeah, thanks, that's real helpful man.” He told him, lightly elbowing him in the side.

"We can turn it into a candy sorting party instead if you want!" Jill teased.

Scott leaned around the corner, smiling as he saw the four of them. “Hey Kiddo, your mom’s making the cake, but it’s going to be a while, so we’re going to order you kids some pizza, Do you have a topping preference?”

"I like pepperoni!" Jill said, enthusiastically waving her hand into the air.

"I'm ok with pretty much any usual kind of pizza." Simon said, still seeming… off.

"Got it." Scott said, then looked at Bato and Toda, "And I know what you two like... So I guess I'll get a cheese and a pep? Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Toda nodded.

"Alright then." Scott beamed… then leaned down and gabbed a handful of candy and popped it all into his mouth. His grin slowly faded as the flavors began to sink in.

“Do you like it?” Jill teased.

Toda snorted. “Yeah dad, isn’t it great?”

Scott slowly looked more amused, then grabbed a paper napkin off the dining table and spit out the candy into it. “Yeah, you got me kids.” He chuckled as he turned into the kitchen. “I’ll go order you those pizzas.”

“Thanks!” Jill said, then rocked on her heels for a moment before sitting down in the room’s armchair. ".... You guys heard what happened today, right?"

"The attempted assassination." Bato frowned. "It's troubling, that's for sure."

"That 'nurse' was going to poison her, I know it." Jill scowled.

"Jill why now, why today... " Simon pleaded "I thought this was going to just be a hanging out sort of day."

“Yeah, I… I would sort of prefer it.” Toda agreed.

Jill paused, then made herself smile. "You're right, I'm sorry. Hey Simon! Why don't you give Toda his present?”

Simon blushed brightly, holding the gift behind their back. “A-Ah! Um… I...” They gave a huge sigh, and then held it out toward him, avoiding eye contact. “It’s a… a joke gift.”

“My favorite!” He flashed them a quick smile, trying to be reassuring as he pealed the paper off. Inside was an in-box Rubix cube, with colors he knew well, gray, gray, gray, gray, gray and white. He started laughing, showing it to Bato.

“Simon you’re a genius.” Bato said, grinning broadly.

They looked up, still blushing. "What? You never thought of that before?" They asked, a slight smile crossing their face.

Bato shook his head. "No, that never occurred to me!"

“Thanks Simon.” Toda said, setting the cube down on the table and pulling them into a hug.

Simon hugged him back, giving a little happy sigh. "No problem."

"I told you he'd like it." Jill hissed, grinning.

“Shush!” They hissed back.

"So! Is there anything in particular we're going to do?" Jill asked.

Toda shrugged, pulling back from the hug. "I didn't really have anything in mind." He said. "We could watch a movie, or.. We have board games and stuff."

"Oooo, I'm up for a movie!" Jill said. “Dim the lights, have some popcorn...”

“I think having popcorn will get in the way of pizza and cake later.” Simon said. “I think just a movie’s a good idea.”

“Same.” He agreed, reaching forward and grabbing the remote. “We’ve got all kinds of movies in the cupboard over there, the animated ones should be up right right now, from when Hachi stayed over. There’s Monsters Ink, How to train your dragon, Up...”

"Ok, can I just rule Up out?" Jill asked. "Like, I really don’t want to cry about that today?”

"Yeah that’s reasonable." Bato agreed.

Toda nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Monsters Ink then?”

“Sounds good to me.” Simon nodded.

“Alright, let me get the DVD player on...” Toda said, turning on the TV.

“WE INTERRUPT THIS SCHEDULED PROGRAM TO BRING YOU THIS BREAKING NEWS REPORT.”

Toda jumped so sharply he dropped the remote onto Bato’s lap, staring as the screen flashed the headline; ‘Ophelia Lunulata Kidnapped’

“Mere moments ago, Ophelia Lunulata, Queen of the octarians, was kidnapped from Mustard Hill hospital, even with the presence of armed guards.” The screen changed to an image from a security camera, where two figures were climbing out a window, forms indistinct thanks to some bright reflective strips along their clothing, and shining lights on their weapons. “The two suspects smashed through the window of the hospital, forced Lunulata to transform and put her into an inktank before stealing an entire rack of medicine and jumping out the window. They then jumped into a white van and are currently resisting capture. We now go live to Brian on the weather chopper. Brian?”

“THANK YOU JULIE.” The Reporter on the helicopter replied, having to shout over the deafening sounds of the helicopter’s whirring propellers."WE'RE HERE GETTING A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF A HIGH SPEED CHASE, AS THE POLICE ATTEMPT TO APPREHEND THE KIDNAPPERS OF OPHELIA LUNULATA."

The camera panned down to show the police attempting to catch up to and trap the white van, which took a sickeningly sharp turn onto the highway. Toda swallowed anxiously as he watched, grabbing at both Simon and Bato’s hands. The van twisted and turned, a little too quickly, crashing into a guardrail and tumbling down a steep slope. “NO!” Jill shouted, standing up as the tension got to her.

“C’mon, c’mon be okay...” Bato murmued.

Toda watched with baited breath as the van finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, slowly rocking onto it’s wheels. It was still for a long moment, then shuddered and began to drive again, although this time much much slower, and dripping some sort of fluid. Despite how rough it was, it had bought them a little time, as the police backtracked to the nearest exit instead of driving straight down after them.

The helicopter had to pull up a bit as they neared a bridge, and as soon as the van went under, the helicopter went to the other side, waiting for the dramatic shot of the van exiting the underpass.

... but it never happened.

“WHERE’D THEY GO!?” The reporter was shouting, begging the pilot to go back around to the other side of the underpass to make sure they hadn’t backtracked.

“Clever...” Bato murmured, a smile touching his lips.

“… Yeah.” Jill said. “They cloaked under the bridge, right?”

“I’m surprised it worked.” Simon said. “That van looked like it was barely moving...”

“… Same.” Toda agreed.

"... I hope they're alright..." Jill whispered.

“… We’ll find some way to check up on them.” Bato said. “After we eat.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Toda agreed, though he noticed Simon looking warily at Bato… Were they still mad? “… Let’s start up that movie.”

---

“To youuuu~!”

Toda blew out the candles on his birthday cake, heaving a sigh as the tendrils of smoke curled upward. His friends and family applauded, and he smiled warmly at them.

“Welcome to the 16 year old club.” Bato said, chuckling softly.

“Less talk more cake!” Jill said, making grabby hands.

“Toda first.” Anita said firmly, stepping forward to slice the cake.

He noticed how hard his mother and Simon were trying to avoid looking at each other, not that he could blame Simon in the least. “Thanks mom.” He said softly as she passed him a piece of cake.

“You're welcome.” She said, then passed a slice to Jill.

Jill licked her lips and took a deep breath to smell the cake before speaking dramatically. "Oh Cake, my all too platonic love~. I must murder you."

“That is about the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard someone say about food.” Scott said, slightly worriedly.

“I get that a lot.” She beamed, then took a bite of cake.

"So, how have the two of you been doing?" Scott asked, looking between Jill and Simon as he got himself a piece of cake. "Been healing up okay?"

"Yeah." Simon said, not looking up as Anita put a piece of cake in front of them.

"Better all the time!” Jill said. “I still have to remember to take it easy though. Helps that turf wars are canceled... "

"That's good." Scott said with a nod, then paused. "I mean, not glad that turf wars are canceled, but glad that you two are recovering. I do hope they get this all sorted out soon so they can start turf wars again, though."

"Yeah..." Jill said quietly. "It's really worrying with mom unable to work…"

“Wait, what?” Bato asked. “Did they stop profreshional battling as well?”

Simon nodded a little. "The Octomaton put everyone in a real scare... Not that I blame them…"

“… I’m sorry to hear that.” Anita said.

Scott sighed, setting his plate down for a moment. "... Well, I'm sure they'll be able to work things out with the Octolings soon enough, and then things can go back to normal."

"Or as normal as they can be." Bato muttered under his breath, as he accepted a slice of cake.

Toda couldn’t bring himself to say anything. How hadn’t he realized? Or asked? Or… why didn’t they say anything? Maybe it just wasn’t his business...

“… So, Bato, how’s Hachi doing?” Jill asked.

"She's healing up alright." He replied. "Though I think she's getting a little restless, sitting around the house all day."

"Oh man, I would be too…" She frowned. "At least I can sit out on the porch, but she can't do stuff like that right now, can she? Not to mention you guys don't exactly have a porch."

"No, no porch." He said with a small smile, "But... Yeah, it really isn't safe for her to leave the apartment right now, even if they have supposedly stopped detaining Octolings."

"Yeah...Have you left a window open so she can have fresh air at least?" She asked.

"You know, that kind of depends on if they replaced that window in the dining room yet." Simon said. "They might not have a choice."

He shook his head, "No, not yet; we can't really do much with three Octolings under our roof." He sighed a bit. "We're lucky the ink didn't sink through the floor to the ceiling of the apartment downstairs, or we might not have a choice; the landlord would have to come and inspect the damage. We'll have to call and report it ourselves eventually, but..."

Toda’s ears drooped. “That’s a lot of money in damages.”

“No kidding.” Bato agreed.

They fell silent for a while after that, enjoying the cake to the best of their abilities. Eventually Toda cleared his throat. “Hey um, I have something in my room I’d like to show you guys.” He said, standing up and helping Bato get to his feet.

“Okay!” Jill chirped. “Thank you Toda’s parents for the cake!”

“That was all Anita’s doing.” Scott smiled.

“Your welcome. You kids have fun.” She said, putting her hand on Scott’s shoulder.

“Okay!” Jill said, then nodded to Toda.

He nodded back, and then led the way down the hall, opening the door and flicking on the light. His room was messier than usual, a fact he tried not to get embarrassed about as he stepped over three days worth of clothes on the floor.

“Whoa, this is your room?” Simon asked.

He felt his cheeks flush brightly. Embarrassed it was. “Yeah… I um… haven’t been cleaning. It hurts a bit to bend over, you know?”

“I do know.” Simon agreed, slumping against the wall. “My room’s been a bit of a pit lately too...”

“Your room’s still cleaner than mine on a good day!” Jill huffed, then gasped and ran over to the wall. “Look at all these posters! You went to see Leslie Stringfish!?”

“Yep! I went with my dad.” He beamed, clearing off a space on his bed for Bato to sit. “It was really fun, I hope she comes back to Inkopolis soon.” He was pretty sure she wouldn’t, not for a while. Everything was chaos here.

Jill nodded, then sat down on the floor. “So what did you want to show us?”

“Jill...” Simon sighed. “We’re here to talk about Ophelia.”

“Oh. Right.” She said a bit guiltily. "... Where do you think they'll take her?"

“I’m sure they've got it under control." They said, huffing.

“… What if they don’t?” Toda asked, sitting down on the floor and leaning against his bed with a frown.

"We can't do anything anyway." They said, a little bit of pressure in their tone. “We have no way to contact them anymore, we lost their numbers with our phones.”

"Simon's right, there's nothing we can do. We're still recovering anyway." Bato said regretfully.

“So are they!” Jill pointed out. “They had it even worse than we did!”

"It's either recover later or watch the Octarian leader be assassinated." Simon said.

"... This is good, though." Toda said slowly, "The Octarians needed Ophelia to survive if they wanted to have any chance up here, she's their only political power; if they took her to protect her, that means they want to at least give them a shot, right?"

Bato nodded slowly. "We just have to hope that's why they took her."

“Why else would they take her?” Jill asked. “Why save her from assassins if they want her dead?”

Simon opened their mouth, then closed it again.

“That’s what I thought.” Jill huffed.

“… Well, We saw two in the picture, maybe only two of them went?” Toda said.

"Yeah, I'd say… Just Callie and Marie went." Simon said, resting a hand on their chin thoughtfully.

"Wait, no, whoever was driving that van was driving like her, right? Callie would drive worse, and Marie would drive more carefully." Jill said.

"It certainly seemed like Stacey to me," Bato said, nodding a bit.

Simon paused, then nodded a little bit. "She does seem to be their getaway driver..."

There was a long pause, and then Bato spoke again. "... We know how to find Stacey if there's an emergency, and 1&2 are likely to be back at work before long, if they can pull a stunt like that. But we did say we were going to leave well enough alone for the time being."

"You mean Simon did." Jill corrected.

"… Well Simon's right." Toda murmured, breaking off eye contact.

"And it's not like we really can do much anyway," Bato pointed out, "I'm pretty sure none of us can even walk pain-free right now."

“… You got me...” She sighed. “I still wish we could do something though... Because I want to make sure Hachi and all the Octolings can well... be safe. Plus, come on, we'd get to hang out with 1&2~~~"

"I'm not sure 'hang out' would be the right term." Simon muttered.

"I want Hachi to be safe just as much as you do, Jill," Bato said with a little sigh. "But for right now, the best we can do is hope the agents know what they're doing."

“I’m sure they do.” Simon said.

“… Yeah.” Toda agreed. “Stacey’s got a bunch of plans… We might not have made it without her help.”

Just then a loud bling rang out, and Bato hurriedly… pulled a phone out of his pocket?

“I thought we all lost our phones in the domes.” Simon said, eyes narrowing.

“This is Stepmom’s.” Bato explained, then frowned. “… Mom asked me to come back downstairs but… it’s misspelled. I should go..."

Toda felt a bit of panic creep up his spine, Leah was rather direct when she texted. "No, yeah, that's fine." He said quickly, turning to look at him. “It’s bound to be important.”

"I hope everything's ok..." Jill said.

Bato just nodded and stood, groaning as he put weight onto his leg. "I'll talk to you guys later." He said, limping out the door.

"See ya." Toda called after him, unable to keep the worry out of his tone.

"... Later we should get on Skope... in case he needs to talk about whatever's going on..." Jill said quietly.

"Yeah." He agreed quietly. He had a bad feeling about this...

Bato, Toda, Leah and Tanya are Knitter’s characters

Hachi, Oswald, Oana, Simon, Jill, and Orion are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

Please consider liking or reblogging if you enjoyed, it’s nice to know we’re doing things right.

Shuckle has a patreon if you would like to provide additional support!

[<PREV] [INDEX] [NEXT>]

[theofficialimaginariumblog]

Chapter 7

“That’s Miss Riddle?” Franklin said in disbelief.

“It can’t be her!” Tanner rubbed her eyes. “Can it?”

“But that’s the same person we just saw!” Summer looked the doll over.

“No, it’s not,” Blake realized. “That ghost thing had to be an illusion, like in a magic show.”

“So, wait,” Elly said. “You mean this is the real Miss Riddle?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Karina added. “‘Cause then, that would mean that-”

“That she turned out like Julia, too.” Liam finished in shock. “And everybody else.”

“What’s she got there?” Morgan noticed. Megan saw it too. “Look,” she pointed. And the others looked.

Blake crept over and picked up the stuffed doll from the real Miss Riddle’s arms, turning it around in his hands.

“Why’s it look so... familiar?” Karina said almost exactly what he was thinking.

Indeed, he couldn’t help but think that he had seen something similar before. Then it hit him.

“A harlequin doll...” he breathed, connecting the dots in his mind. “Just like...”

“How dare you.”

The familiar voice, filled with a tranquil rage none of them had heard from its owner before, was enough to make them jump up in alarm and look around the room, trying to spot where it had come from.

A thick stream of white mist suddenly shot out of the doll into the air. When it cleared, there he was, floating above the children, glaring down at them.

“Bonko,” Blake gasped.

“Wait, Bonko was behind all this?” Elly asked, shocked at this turn of events. “But why?”

“It’s…” Bonko seethed, glaring at the doll that was once Miss Riddle. “It’s not like I want to stay here, too! Being betrayed by my own best friend, trapped in that junkyard for decades, with no one playing with me, waiting for myself to rot!”

“So...” Summer glanced at the harlequin doll. “This doll used to be...”

“Miss Riddle’s toy,” Karina realized. “From when she was a kid.”

Bonko continued. “The despair I felt after she threw me away like I was literal garbage... how would you understand any of it?!” He gestured to their surroundings. “This place was meant to help me collect happiness, and that’s just what it’s gonna do! Soon, I’ll have more happiness than anyone in your world!” 

“So you’re just gonna...” Karina clutched Julia close to herself. “...steal it from kids?”

“That’s just messed up!” Elly protested. 

“What about the kids you lured here?” Tanner asked. “They’ll never get the chance for life!”

“What you’re doing will seriously hurt people!” Liam explained.

“Please, Bonko!” Summer pleaded.

But Bonko wasn’t having any of it. “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!”

It was as if the harlequin appearance had been a costume or a mask that Bonko had removed. The harmless-looking exterior was completely gone, replaced by the large, ghostly being that was now barreling towards them.

The children scattered at once, causing the thing that was the real Bonko to slam into the floor. He rose up, covered in dust, orange eyes glowing with fury.

Franklin, Tanner and the twins fired laser after laser from their pistols at the monster. Liam launched projectiles from his slingshot. Whenever Bonko swooped down at them, Summer and Karina would slash at him with their swords. But their attacks had no effect.

Then Elly had blasted him with her bubble gun. “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size, huh?!”

Bonko turned on her, and lunged, like a squid jettisoning itself towards its prey.

“Elly!” Blake, who had been standing in the sidelines, trying to think up a plan, darted towards his sister. At the last second, he made a running jump, shoving her out of the way of danger.

But he couldn’t save himself.

Bonko skidded on the floor, crashing to a halt against the wall. For a moment, he didn’t move. But then he slowly rose up into the dim light. There was no sign of Blake. The other children were stunned.

“He ate him!” Elly wailed. “Blake!” Tears began to form in her eyes.

The massive phantom turned his sights on the remaining children. They knew that, without Blake, their efforts would be all for nothing. They huddled together, expecting the worst to come...

Bonko started twitching. He looked down at his hands. The look on his face was absolute confusion.

Then he jerked to the side with a yell, smashing into another wall. He fell to the ground, clawing at his chest. “W-What are you doing?!” he cried. “Stop it! Get out of me!”

It was then that the children knew what was happening.

“Blake!” Summer gasped.

Inside Bonko’s body, Blake held on as tightly as he could, resisting the current that threatened to drag him out.

“Not a chance!” he called over the wind whistling in his ears. “If you’re not gonna end this, then I’ll do it for you!”

“NO!” Bonko was screaming now.

A golden glow surrounded the writhing Bonko. All at once, what seemed like a million beams of light shot out. They emerged from Marchen Palace, spreading throughout the Imaginarium. Only one remained, flying instead for the children. It struck Julia square in the wooden chest.

In another instant, a wooden puppet was replaced with a girl around Karina’s age.

“Julia!” Karina breathed.

There was a sudden rumbling. By now, their surroundings had changed completely. The Imaginarium no longer looked like the perfect carnival - more like a crude, childish crayon drawing of what the perfect carnival should be.

“Run,” Summer cried. “Run!”

And that’s what the children did, Julia now included.

The exit, once located in the Haunted Academy, was now in plain sight. Other children - Bonko’s previous victims, now free - were scrambling into the tunnel.

“The whole place’s coming apart!” Franklin shouted. “We gotta go!”

“What about Blake?!” Elly cried.

Summer looked back at what used to be Marchen Palace. “It’s all up to him, now,” she whispered.

CRACK!

The wind stopped, allowing Blake to release his hold. Floating weightlessly, he looked up to see a large, glowing crack forming a hole big enough for him to enter.

“No!” he heard Bonko cry out. “Please!”

Blake ignored him. He swam towards the hole.

“DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!”

The rain that poured down was relentless.

When Blake first saw the child, he was standing amongst the ruins, staring up emotionlessly at the stormy skies above; a pitiful sight.

“Are you... the real Bonko?”

The child just looked back at him before turning his gaze to the ground. “It’s always been like this...” he whispered.

Blake looked up at the grey sky, then back at Bonko. “You’ve been feeling this way this whole time,” he said. “but you still wanted to make a change. Is that it?”

“But nothing changed,” Bonko replied. “No matter how hard I tried...”

Blake stepped forward. “It’s not too late to start over,” he spoke in the same gentle tone he used in the past to console his sister whenever she cried, crouching down to meet the spirit’s gaze. “You can’t be satisfied by flat-out stealing happiness from others. You gotta earn it by doing whatever else makes you happy.”

“But how?” Bonko asked. “I was made to make others happy. Not myself...”

Blake smiled. “You’re alive now, are you? That means you can find real happiness. Favorite foods and games, friends, family, lovers... If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the simple things in life brings that kind of pleasure.”

Bonko looked up at Blake, then lowered his head. Tears began to well in his eyes. He sobbed. “What have I done? ...I’m such a monster...”

Blake hugged the weeping child. “I don’t think so. I know you can change. You just need to take a step in the right direction. And you can begin by letting everybody know you’re really sorry.”

CRACK.

They both looked up. The rain had stopped. Cracks were forming in the sky.

Then the world around them shattered.

[koohiss]

30 years since the last critically acclaimed movie, but only like, 50 or 10 since the last one, depending on how time works, skywalkers are fucking shit up in the galaxy once more...

Luke’s gone, Leia’s still a badass, the heavy metal empire has been replaced with the emo-lite first order, just as much nazi garbage and none of the impressive capes. Instead they have a giant toddler who stomps around and eats shit on a regular basis and jerks off to his grandpa’s dead face, probably. Fucking weeb. This pilot, Poe, who I honestly don’t feel much of a connection to, sorry, is trying to get this old man to give him a map to Luke so he can come kick ass. But the douchelord Kellog’s Frosted Fuckup shows up and shoots everyone, bc uncle issues or something. poe gets captured, but shoves the map into his magic 8 ball, which escapes and finds a random superhuman jedi lady of amazingly ironic ancestry in the middle of, you guessed it, a desert. She’s Rey, and to quote some ghost guy who once got gutted inside a palace’s weird power dungeon murder hole, she’s probably maybe might be the chosen one for real this time, I swear to the force it’s for real this time yoda. Then, this amazeballs stormtrooper, Finn, has morals and courage and heart and all the things they wanted in wizard of oz, and is like, fuck this nazi shit, I’m out, and helps poe escape. Sadly, they crash, and poe apparently dies but really leaves finn to die in a plothole of a scene that someone in the writers room should be really embarassed over. Finn meets rey, and it’s love at first “oh shit”. It’s all meet cute/meet thief for a second, and then shit starts blowing up sideways, there was hand holding and running and “follow me”s and then the girl in white and the guy with the leather jacket get on the falcon and leave the desert planet. Classic. Speaking of classic, being the collector’s machinery that she is, the falcon breaks down and they get caught in a tractor beam of a larger ship, which conveniently Han and Chewie are on. Two gangs show up, the giant squid-tribbles escape, scooby doo mayhem ensues. They get away in the falcon and nope the fuck out. Spooky the gollum wannabe teases Kyle about Han and he acts like a pissbaby, says it’s nothing. Oh, and I guess he surprises everyone because somehow this giant moronic imbecile incompetent failure came from the pure glorious happy love of han and leia. Fuck you jar jar abrams. Fuck you in the eye. With a lensflare. This bullshit. The gang checks the map and realize it’s borked, Han gives the lowdown on “it’s real” and also that some sick asswipe death-murdered the jedi like some moron trilby with anger management issues because his mom cancelled his xbox live account because he wasn’t getting good enough grades at jedi academy due to playing the sith campaign of some shitty remade SW game with a pretty decent plot that every teen boy over analyzes and gets the wrong take away from. Anyways, they go to Takodana and Maz’s epic castle that was never fully explained. For some reason they need her to find the resistance for them, which I’m like, just have Han wave at a holocam for like, 2 seconds and you will find literally almost everyone except luke because he’s pouting over history repeating itself. So naturally while they are all chilling at the castle, the party splits bc Finn is scared and Rey is gonna go home and Han is just like, eyes roll emoji. Who knows where chewie went, they act like he isn’t a character or something. But twist, the big ol space nazis find them. Rey finds a lightsaber (prolly just a family heirloom or smth, nbd) and bolts after having visions of all these epics ass movies and shit. My beloved young padawan super duper force sensitive jedi in training Finn is given the lightsaber, bc even Maz can tell that those two are always gonna watch out for each other and are obvs soulmates and he’s the best bet to get it to Rey, the inheriting granddaughter. (also, didn’t a bunch of little kids get murdered with that at least once, possibly twice???) As they leave, death star 3 and with a much lamer name but really cool lore blows the everloving shit out of coruscant 2.0, killing a few more characters that I was probably more interested in than Kyle’s boring weepy “my parents dont’ accept me for being an edgelord” lame ass backstory. Then the TIE fighters try to wreck my fave dudes with some weak sauce army, but then that same ace pilot who apparently left finn to fucking die, nbd, true love amirite? brings the party to them in an epic callback with improved graphics. Meanwhile, that boring infant Ronald mcdumbass over here shows up and after a let down of a fight (c’mon rey, shoot him!) kidnaps his cousin. Gets all creepy and makes teenagers with poor romance comprehension (not their fault, imo) think it’s love and come up with all this bullshit as to why they aren’t cousins. Sigh. But Rey, light of my life, is stronger than this woobie weeb, and she makes him have to run back to the safety of his darth vader body pillow, while she up and obi wans her way out of this bitch. The theme-swapped leto-joker looking vastly subpar offbrand trashcan may have padme’s hair, but rey has her climb up random shit abilities, which go a lot farther honestly. (they both have her hit and miss fashion taste so at least there’s that in common you goddamned r/los that’s all i will give you) Mr. Hotshot takes everyone back to Resistance HQ and conveniently brings the drama too, since he followed teeny!leias footsteps and lead a superweapon to the not-so-secret-anymore base. Everyone scrambles, finn kinda sorta maybe lies through his teeth a little so he can rescue rey, leia guilts han because apparently no (coughdudecough) director can write a conflicted and damaged woman who also happens to be strong without making her completely subsume to whichever half of the dichotomy is needed for the current scene… They go to death star 3 and prepare to fuck shit up. Specifically by doing things that have never been done before with no guarantee they will survive and sassing each other mercilessly. My babies. They find rey off being her badass self, and then right at the point where everything has to go to shit to make the third act interesting, some motherfucking emo up and kills my geriatric fave. Fuck you, marilyn manson. Fuck you. Chewie takes the logical next step and blows his fucking guts out with a laser crossbow bolt, AND blows the fucking guts out of his fanboy cosplay of the death star, because fuck you that’s why. So that’s how the dramatic “ur up past curfew” conversation goes, because I can never have nice things, no the precious goth boy has to live, apparently my needs aren’t important to multi-trillion dollar entertainment corporations, whatever. The absolute wrench fucker chases my beautiful darlings around the currently imploding fucking doom orb of stupid, and they waste his ass with amazing shows of jedi prowess. Finn fights him first and the bastard cheats with his fucking laser butterfly knife like an ass, and precious finn who has never trained a day in his life for this bullshit can only hold on so long before the cheating bastard takes him down. Then rey, pillar of light and all that is good, curbstomps his ass with the prowling predator walk of her father and grandfather before her. Suck it, ron. She’s the chosen one, bitch. Anyways, so I guess the bombs let fly boy (only) get inside and pew pew up the place enough that it rejoined it’s godforsaken stop-building-death-moons-they-don-t-work ancestors. Old ghastly jazzhands on the demon projector asks the weasley kid to go pick up kyle’s raggedy strung out ass, like I fucking care at this point. Everybody goes home (AKA chewie saves all of your asses because even if you ignore him he’s still a cool dude like that) and they totally gloss over the deaths of characters I care about to give us this arbitrary fucking scene of the golden cock block and ir3cutesty5u the soccerball annoying r2, who magically wakes up and magically doesn’t nuke their inferior asses and instead gives them the stupid fucking map, why do you even need a fucking map, all you need is coordinates, jesus christ it’s space, you can just plug the fucking three axis code into the computer and float ur ass over why is there a goddamn treasure map to safeway just use the damn gps good god. It’s space. With infinite wifi. Rey and chewie go to this bird shit covered island and find luke sulking, probably about getting bird shit on his suede jedi boots or losing his best friend and failing his nephew and sister and and the entire galaxy or something like that and then the movie ends

[jeichanhaka]

If Any Would Avenge: 16

Chapters 01-10|| Chapter 11|| Chapter 12|| Chapter 13||

Chapter 14||Chapter 15|| Chapter 16|| Chapter 17||Chapter 18|| Chapter 19|| Chapter 20|| Chapters 21+||

"Shh. Shh. It's okay, Sadie. Your mom's going to come back soon." Snow White crooned, rocking her granddaughter in her arms. Only minutes after Emma had left the five-day-old with Snow in order to safely help Regina fight some new threat to the town, Sadie had started bawling. Snow smiled down at her granddaughter as the newborn quieted down a bit. "Grandma is going to warm you up some delicious milk and then sing you a lullaby."

Quieted by her grandma's soothing voice, Sadie's wide blue eyes gazed at Snow and her tiny arms reached out to Snow's ebony hair. Snow beamed down at Sadie as the latter's tiny hands touched her hair, and she opened her mouth to say something but froze. Her eyes widened as she felt her hair growing rapidly to the length it was at before Storybrooke.

'What the…?' Gaped Snow as she hurried to the closest reflective surface to see her newly grown out hair. Sadie burbled and put her hand in her mouth while Snow stared flabbergasted at her reflection in the kitchen sink. Tentatively she touched her hair, proving it real, and then shifted her gaze to Sadie. "Did you…?"

Sadie simply giggled and burbled, her brilliant blue eyes smiling at her grandmother. Reaching out again, her tiny hand grabbed a bit of Snow's hair; seconds later the ebony locks where shrinking back to their previous length.

"Magic...you have magic." Snow stammered, surprise, delight, and trepidation rushing through her. Before she could say or do anything else, her four year old son came running into the kitchen, freshly woken from a nap.

"Mommy, can I hold the baby?" Neal mumbled, still a bit groggy from just waking. He beamed and held out his arms, delighted by his baby niece. "I wanna hold."

Snow smiled warmly at her son, shaking her head. "Sadie is too little, she can't be held too roughly or tightly or dropped." She paused at little Neal's pouting. "But you can help mommy watch her. Could you go get the diaper bag Emma brought over? It's on the couch."

"Uh-um." Neal nodded and hurried off to get the bag, eager to help watch his niece. He paused when he reached the couch and a stranger was standing there, dressed in a donkey skin cloak.

Rocking a fussy Sadie in her arms, Snow glanced up towards the couch to check on Neal, and tensed at sight of the cloaked stranger. "Who are you?!" She demanded, holding her granddaughter protectively while gesturing towards her son to come to her.

The cloaked figure just turned its head towards Snow, a mask obscuring its face. It stared at Snow and then at the baby in her arms, its own body seemed to tense up upon seeing Sadie.

"Neal, come towards me." Snow called her son, grateful that the stranger was ignoring him, but uneasy at the intensity with which the stranger stared at Sadie. Recognizing the worried tone in his mother's voice, Neal hurried back to the kitchen without the diaper bag. He paused midway, remembering he was sent to get the bag, and returned to the couch. "Neal, just leave…."

Hurrying to get the bag, oblivious to the possible danger the stranger posed, Neal tripped and fell onto the stranger's feet. The stranger glanced down at the four-year-old, still silent, even as Neal apologized on reflex and climbed to his feet. There were a few awkward seconds as the stranger gazed down at the four year old and the boy returned the stare. It ended when the stranger grabbed the diaper bag and knelt down to hand it to Neal.

"Thank you." Neal mumbled and then hurried back to his mother, missing the wary and discerning expression on her face in his exuberance to help. Grinning and holding out the bag for Snow to take, Neal gazed up at his mother and niece. His happy smile faltered a little when Snow failed to take the diaper bag for a few moments. "Mommy?"

"Yes. Thank you." Snow mumbled and took the bag from her son, glancing briefly away from the stranger. When her gaze turned back to the couch, the stranger was gone.

Centuries Ago:

"The Hand of Nemesis?" Fortunato leered at Kidd, curious about the man more than his words. "Sounds like something out of a legend or myth. Or fairy tale." He scowled when the man holding the saber gave a short, muffled laugh. It sounded more like a cough to an untrained ear, but Fortunato detected the difference in tone easily. His sense of hearing as keen as his sense of smell. He growled. "Did I say something funny?"

"Nn-no." The man mumbled, the saber in his hand shaking even more as Fortunato's fiery crimson eyes bore into him.

"Actually, yeah." Kidd replied, shrugging when his partner tensed in terror of Fortunato. "If you knew what land I picked my friend up in, you'd find your words hilarious." He nodded towards the other man, his own gaze studying Fortunato sans fear. "Brennan here is from a land of fairytales and magic. And this land we're in now is one of several story realms closest to the realm of Nemesis."

Fortunato opened his mouth to refute Kidd's words, but faltered as he considered himself. He had survived behind that wall for too long, and the ease with which he escaped once he heard Montresor was beyond abnormal. Then there was his suddenly keen senses and monstrous craving for blood, and though he was still dressed in a fool's motley, he wasn't an idiot.

"I….it sounds ludicrous, but I believe you. Here's the rub, I don't care a speck about this Hand of Nemesis or these other realms. I just want you to give me that girl so I can rip her apart before finding her sisters and tearing them to shreds." Fortunato hissed, grabbing Kidd's wrist and squeezing tightly. His sharp nails pierced the top layer of Kidd's leather bracer and suddenly he couldn't move.

"Ah. So squid ink is still effective in this realm." Kidd shrugged, glancing at his bracer and Fortunato's hand clenching it. "Good to know. And good to know whatever you are counts as dark magic. Now…." He paused, attempting to pry his arm from Fortunato's steely grip, only to fail due to how tightly the bloodthirsty man had squeezed before hitting the squid ink imbued layer. Kidd swore. "….shit."

Brennan pursed his lips, holding in a laugh tickling his throat. "...You really didn't think your squid ink bracers idea through." He shook his head and sheathed his saber, lips twitching.

"Yeah, yeah. Just use a bean to open a portal at our feet. We'll deal with this back on the ship." Kidd grumbled after thinking a moment and dismissing two other possible escapes from Fortunato's frozen grip, both which entailed amputation. Glancing away in embarrassment and thought, Kidd missed Brennan's peculiar expression as the latter took out one of the magic beans from his satchel.

Storybrooke, Present:

Groaning as he opened his eyes, his head feeling heavy though the pain was now just a dull ache, Killian took a second to recall what happened before he'd passed out. Remembering not just that but also his dream, he quickly sat up on his jail cell bed and glanced around for his wife. "Emma? I…."

Killian bristled and climbed to his feet the moment he noticed the gray eyed man glaring at him.

"Finally awake?" Kidd smirked coldly at Killian, watching the caged pirate closely. "I was beginning to grow concerned you…."

"Kidd." Killian growled, interrupting the other man. "You bloody fucking bastard." He grabbed for the cell bars, determined to open his cell and lunge at the gray eyed man. Regina's protection spell stopped him though, preventing him from leaving same as it stopped Kidd from approaching closer. "I remember now. You bloody rammed into my bloody car! You're the bloody reason Gideon…." Killian faltered thinking about the unfortunate toddler.

Kidd simply shrugged, a smugness to him that riled up the caged pirate.

"Why the bloody hell did you do it?!" Killian demanded, his fist itching from the desire to punch the other pirate's face. To strangle him. His blue eyes narrowed and jaw clenched as Kidd appeared to ponder the question. Seeing the expression on Kidd's face, identical to another one many years back when he'd first encountered the gray-eyed pirate, Killian scowled. "You're not going to answer, are you? Just like before. You…."

"No, I'll answer. But first I'm curious, why hasn't the Dark One killed you yet? I'd have wagered that he'd have blamed you for his young son's death and killed you in retaliation. Why hasn't he?"

"What? You…?" Killian glowered, thrown by Kidd's question though it took seconds to glean an answer to his own question from it. "You set me up and fucked with my memory so that the bloody Crocodile would do your work for you?! What the fucking hell?! You….what is your bloody problem with me?!" Snarled Killian as memories of when he first met the other pirate - Captain Kidd - flashed to the forefront of his thoughts.

From the moment of his and Kidd's first encounter centuries ago, the latter had attempted to kill him. Not that odd of an occurrence after Killian became a notorious pirate, but he'd first encountered Kidd only a week after Liam's death. He'd barely done anything as a pirate worthy of a stranger trying to kill him on sight.

"Can't you guess?" Kidd sneered, stepping as close as he could without triggering Regina's protection spell.

"...it's because of my father, isn't it?" Answered Killian after a moment or two, his memory of the crash much more clearer since his dream. His scowl deepened, recalling his father and all the animosity he felt towards the man. He further further recalled seeing his father just before the crash, though whether it was an hallucination or not he wasn't sure. "The bastard did something and…." Killian grumbled, his brain awash with a mix of emotion. "...thus, you want to kill me in retaliation. Bloody hell." He shook his head and clenched his jaw. "If you bloody wanted to kill me, then why didn't you just come at me directly? Why the fuck murder Gideon? He…."

"The child was the target - you taking the fall for it was just an added bonus." Kidd drawled, taking off his gilded skull pendant and holding it in his palm. It started glowing, first its ruby eyes and then the gold itself.

"Wh...argh!" Killian keeled over in pain as the mark on the back of his neck glowed in tandem with the pendant. It was excruciating, like every inch of his skin was engulfed in flames. He swore and tore into his lips, a coppery taste alighting on his tongue. "Fuck! Fucking stop!"

"Why would I do that?" Kidd grinned, bringing the pendant to his lips and started muttering an incantation. The mark on Killian's neck glowed brighter and the pirate's throes of agony worsened, as did his yowls. Both ceased seconds later when the amulet dropped from Kidd's hand and hit the floor with a loud thud.

Killian coughed and drew in a few deep breaths, thankful for the reprieve but confused. He glanced towards Kidd, his body tensing at the sight of the gray eyed man clawing at his neck and struggling. It was the actions of someone being magically choked, and Killian bristled but wasn't shocked to see Gold in the doorway.

"Crocodile…." Killian swallowed and attempted to push himself back to his feet, but was too weak. Instead he sat and caught his breath, reclining against the jail cot. A chill spread down his spine at the livid glare on Gold's face, and he tensed instinctively. It took a few moments for him to realize that the Dark One was glaring murderously at Kidd and not him.