#how he sometimes only briefly loses that control before trying to regain it

[mirrorhouse]

every time i think about how armand as rashid is a kind of visual echo of how he looked as amadeo i want to explode

like... his big brown eyes... all his little expressions... his hair...

[glimmerglanger]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 9

Day 9 of Whumptober, part 9 of the oof!au. And now we come to the turning of the tides. This one is SUPER long (6k) and is also the only part of the series to have a split POV. 

General Info: Post Order 66 Vader-Captures-Obi-Wan AU. Eventual happy(ish) ending. Past/eventual Codywan. One-sided Vaderwan.

WARNINGS: Mentions of past torture and loss of a limb. Implications of non-con. Mistreatment of a prisoner. Fall-out of mind control. Mentions of/thoughts about suicide. Death (including a major character. For the sake of spoilers, I’m not going to say who dies, but if you need to know before you read shoot me a msg and I’ll tell you).

No 5. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING? 

On the Run | Failed Escape | Rescue 

Victory left Vader feeling warm inside, pleased. For a time. He got what he wanted, what he deserved, Obi-Wan begging for his forgiveness, using his proper title, obeying. He got all the apologies he was owed, and it only cost a few bodies, slumped against a wall.

Obi-Wan’s agony and horror filled the entirety of the Force, ratcheting higher with each clone that died. He was such a weak fool. They were nothing, just things, and broken things at that, for all that Obi-Wan carried on, his pain so large it felt like a living creature, sucking up all the air in the room, filling every possible piece of Vader’s mind, battering at him from across their bond.

He’d never, actually, felt pain like that from Obi-Wan before. Never once. It brought back memories of their time on Zygerria, where similar emotions had swirled out of Obi-Wan’s head, but… Obi-Wan had more control, back then.

Under Vader’s command, he cracked and broke, shattering like glass each time Vader so much as threatened one of the clones. It was ridiculous. Every single one of them would happily put a blaster bolt in Obi-Wan’s head, and yet he fell to his knees and he groveled and he said, obediently, whichever words Vader wanted.

He did whatever Vader wanted, without protest, without hesitation, for all that his expression was some blank and empty thing. Sometimes, Vader had one of the clones shot, anyway, just to make sure Obi-Wan didn’t lose track of the stakes.

He did everything Vader wanted, so agreeable, the great General Kenobi brought so low. Finally put into his place. Agreeing, with the rasp that remained of his voice, that Vader was right to take his arm, stretching it out, head bowed, fair was fair, after all. Agreeing that he’d been wrong. Agreeing while his agony curled through the Force, staining everything.

Vader worked to hold onto the initial pleasure of his victory, fought for it, temper growing worse as Obi-Wan spoiled things, once more. He could barely breathe, around Obi-Wan’s cursed emotions, by the time it became obvious that Obi-Wan needed to go to the medbay, no longer shaking, no longer doing much of anything but breathing shallowly, gone pale all over, staring at the troopers, intently.

“I’m sorry,” Obi-Wan was murmuring, barely audible, as a pair of troopers lifted him and carried him away - strange that they had not dragged him, Vader considered, but only briefly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he kept repeating, as they carried him through the door. He had been slurring the words for some hours.

Vader appreciated the apologies, but, truly, they were far too little too late.

He turned away as the door shut, moving to look out over the open viewport along the side of the room, staring out across the lava fields below. He curled his hands around the railing, breathing hard, and reassured himself that he had, in fact, gotten everything he wanted, finally.

He turned away from the view, eventually, and went to check the messages his Master had sent him, over the past days.

#

Cody warned Crys to watch his expression when they were out of the medbay. To control his emotions. Vader was one of the few Force sensitive people left in the galaxy, as far as Cody knew. That meant he could, technically, pick up emotions.

Cody worked to keep his feelings contained. To stay as blank as possible. But there was fury in him. Fury and rage and guilt and hurt and--

And Obi-Wan had taught him, back during the war, how to breathe slowly and deeply, how to settle himself when the noise in his head got to be too much. Cody remembered sitting beside him, quietly, meditating in a dimly lit room with the sweet smell of incense all around them, listening to Obi-Wan’s breath and falling into the same pattern, so they were breathing as one and, he had imagined, perhaps their heartbeats even changed to match--

Obi-Wan floated in a bacta tank as Cody walked back into the medbay, hours after he’d left, leaving Crys to continue on with their preparation. Obi-Wan’s remaining limbs curled close, like he was trying to make himself small, even while unconscious. 

Cody remembered everything his body had done. Remembered, so clearly, giving the order to shoot Obi-Wan down on Utapau, the cool slide of satisfaction in his mind as he’d watched his General plunge into the waste-water pit. He remembered moving out, remembered reassignment, remembered people begging, pleading with him--

He dug his nails up into his palms, when the memories got to be too much, and marched forward, back towards where he’d left Bones. Who was… bent over another trooper, when Cody entered the room, and who snapped, “Don’t say a word.”

And so Cody didn’t, because you listened to the medics when they gave you orders, even when you, technically, out-ranked them. He waited, patiently, moving a bit around the side of the bed to watch as Bones did… something to the side of their brother’s head.

It didn’t take very long before Bones shifted, pressed a bacta patch into place, and looked up at Cody, scowling, to snap, “Chips.”

“Excuse me?” Cody said, considering that the aneurysm may have caused more damage to Bones’ mind than they’d first assumed, adjusting his plan to work around that, and--

“There are chips in our brains,” Bones said. “Frontal lobe. I assume that’s what’s controlling us, because I’ve removed four of them so far, and the results have been favorable.”

Cody blinked at him, struck, abruptly, by how good it was to have his brothers back, to have help, to remember that Bones was every bit as competent as he was, if with the tools of the medical bay instead of combat planning. “Where are they?” he asked, “The ones you freed?”

“Waiting for you,” Bones said, mouth quirking, his eyes hard and flat as Cody’s felt. “I sent them to the barracks and told them not to draw attention to themselves. Guv is going to stay here, though. He’ll help me, we’ll move twice as quickly.”

Cody nodded, calculations streaming through his head. There wasn’t much of the 212th left. Their men had been thrown onto the front lines in the immediate aftermath of the war. He didn’t believe for a moment that hadn’t been intentional, another jab at Obi-Wan, even though everyone had thought him dead.

Palpatine and Skywalker had wanted them all dead, at first, just because they were Obi-Wan’s.

The survivors were mostly clustered on Mustafar, such as they were. “How long to free them all?” he asked, as Guv started to stir around. 

Bones shrugged. “A few days? Maybe less, if I can find another medic or two.”

Cody reached out and gripped his shoulder. He said, “Good work. Stay out of the way in here, you hear me? Just leave if Skywalker comes by.” To see Obi-wan, he did not add. He didn’t think he needed to. “But make sure I’m informed.”

“Will do,” Bones said, and Cody left him to his work, a piece of his plan that he’d dared only hope for slotting into place. He’d been prepared to bring this entire place down on his own, if necessary. It looked like he was going to have help. He could work with that.

He looked at Obi-Wan again, on his way out of the medbay, bile burning in the back of his throat, and then set his expression. He stared forward and worked to keep his expression cool and blank. Empty. Just like the faces of all of his brothers. 

Cody knew every face around him. His men, wiped clean. Emptied. Screaming inside their own heads, the way he’d been. Begging for someone to help, where no one could hear. Trying desperately to regain control of themselves long enough to - to make it stop.

Cody had spent three long years trapped inside the prison of his own mind, watching his body commit atrocities. All he’d wanted was the opportunity to put a blaster to the side of his head and pull the trigger. It had seemed, for so long, the only way to escape. 

He’d managed to fight his way to a different kind of freedom. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t been strong enough to do it weeks ago, before--

Before Vader had gotten his hands on Obi-Wan. Before he’d made Cody--

Cody fought to keep his breathing steady and lost, but none of his brothers looked his way as he reached out, bracing a hand against the wall, back curling over as his heart lurched, off-rhythm and agonizing. 

He’d beaten Obi-Wan. With his own hands, he’d-- he’d thought about the best ways to cause pain and then he’d done it, methodical. Effective. And he’d - he’d - Force - Obi-Wan had begged him not to and he hadn’t been strong enough to stop, he’d--

Never again, he thought, straightening and continuing towards the door to move through all the expected motions and to check on his brothers, such as they were. The bunk room. That was where Bones had sent those he’d freed.

They were all packed in, barely enough room to walk between the beds. The space felt claustrophobic and empty at the same time, because even when the bunks were all full it was silent. No one talked. No one laughed. They just… moved about. Silent. Ghosts made flesh.

Cody walked between them, memories of the past dogging his steps, drawing to a stop by Swoop, who was… sitting like all the rest of them. They were supposed to be cleaning their blasters. It looked like he’d started the process and abandoned it.

He was sitting, staring straight forward, blaster in hand and shaking, badly, as he slowly raised his arm, his finger on the trigger. Cody’s heart lurched in his chest and he reached out, without even thinking, grabbing Swoop’s wrist with one hand, stripping the blaster away with the other.

He said, quietly, hoping Bones would understand, “Report to the medbay.”

Swoop stared forward, breathing shakily, his ear shiny with red blood, and Cody swallowed, wishing he could do more. “I’ve got you,” he said. “Just go to the medbay. That’s an order.” He’d been able to hear things, while he was trapped.

Swoop must have been listening, because he let out a shuddery breath, and stood, moving without a word towards the door. Cody checked on the rest of his men - his brothers - and found those Bones had freed clustered together, looking over to watch him with haunted, shadowed eyes. 

“Come with me,” he said, as he reached them, tilting his head towards the door. He had so much to do and intended to waste no time accomplishing it. He gave them instructions and sent them on their way, smiling grimly as they moved off. He turned on his heel; there was so much to do, and had a moment where he thought everything might go wrong, when he stepped out of the barracks and found Vader walking down the hall, ridiculous cloak flapping behind him.

He resisted the urge to go for his blaster. It wouldn’t work, he reminded himself, and instead drew to attention, the way he’d been forced to do for so long. Cody stared forward, face carefully blank, focusing on being...empty, inside. 

He hoped Vader wouldn’t glance towards him and his heart lurched, unpleasantly, when Vader drew to a stop before him. Cody saw his own reflection in the side of Vader’s helmet, the lines on his face deeper, a distortion of himself.

“2224,” Vader said, something pleased and thick in his tone. Gloating. Smug. “Obi-Wan asked if you were alright. Did you know that? So worried you were hurt. The things he did, to make sure I allowed the droids to tend to you. Can you imagine them?”

There was no reason to tell him. No reason at all, except to revel in the hurt he was causing Obi-Wan. Vader, as far as Cody knew, thought they were all… dead inside. Cody fought with himself; he’d been doing that without respite for three years. He’d gotten very, very good at it, apparently. His expression did not twitch as he said, blank, “No, Lord Vader.”

He expected Vader to notice how very badly Cody wanted to kill him. Instead, Vader just said, “You’ll report to my quarters when he’s recovered. I think it’s time we ended his fascination with you.”

And he turned away, resuming his march. Cody exhaled, harshly, as Vader exited through the doors at the end of the hall, heat from the volcanos beyond sweeping in, temporarily, before the doors closed. His hands itched, not with the urge to reach for a blaster. He’d rather beat Vader to death, he realized, with a dark, twisting slant of his emotions, beat him the way Vader had forced him to beat Obi-Wan, until he wasn’t moving anymore and--

But that would have to wait. He was not ruled by his emotions or the flat, cold fury inside of him. He had one possible opportunity to get Obi-Wan out of here. To rescue his brothers. He wasn’t going to waste it.

No one cared where he went around the base. Vader had, after all, left him in charge of so much, ever so confident in the power of his control, in his ability to make Cody do whatever Vader liked. Well, Cody considered, heading for the munitions bay to check on Crys, keeping his expression studiously blank, he was in the mood to do what he liked. 

He’d always favored explosions.

#

Vader wanted nothing more than to enjoy his crowning moment of victory for a little while. He didn’t see why, after all he’d done for the galaxy and his Master, that could not be allowed. But, apparently, he had been silent for too long after his successes.

His Master had sent Tarkin to check on him, as though he were a wayward child. Vader recalled being quite impressed with Tarkin, once. He’d seemed sure of purpose, during the war. Willing to do what needed done.

Currently, Tarkin only irritated him. Lectures appealed not at all to him, but he had his orders and, besides, Obi-Wan would be in the medbay for some time yet. Vader had been forced to punish him, to remind him of his place, to take a pound of flesh; it was nothing Obi-Wan hadn’t taken from him.

And when he recovered enough to be stable, Vader would take the rest of what he was owed.

Tarkin asked after his current projects and sneered at the base and was, generally, an irritant. Vader resisted the urge to lift a hand and strangle the man. His Master would be displeased, if he did.

His irritation built up behind his bones, restrained and held back. This was Obi-Wan’s fault, anyway. If he hadn’t distracted Vader so much, he’d have completed the tasks set before him and wouldn’t have to deal with Tarkin’s overbearing presence, for however long the man decided to stay.

Vader scowled behind his mask, and resigned himself to playing the unwilling host for nearly three days, before Tarkin finally left, apparently satisfied that he’d thrown his weight around enough.

It left Vader’s temper surging through his veins, burning hot and stinging. He sent an order to the medbay that Obi-Wan be dragged from the bacta, ignoring the droid’s complaints that he was not fully healed; apparently, there was some kind of internal damage. “He’ll live,” Vader snapped, “I want him brought to me.”

He needed to settle the pressure in his head, the rage in his blood.

It was, after all, all Obi-Wan’s fault.

#

Cody worked unceasingly for three days, getting everything moved into place. Exhaustion beat at the insides of his head, forcing him to get his head down for a few hours at a time. He wouldn’t risk ruining the mission because he was kriffing tired, so he made himself wedge into a bunk and shut his eyes, determined.

The nightmares woke him after what felt like moments, leaving him gasping and jerking to sit, vomit rising in his throat. In the nightmares, he saw Obi-Wan, every single time. Begging, bloody, held down and hurt and--

And Cody was the one hurting him, every time.

He swallowed, hard, panting and feeling sweat break out across his skin. His stomach hurt, terribly and his head throbbed. But a few nightmares were less of a punishment than he deserved, for what he’d done. He was going to get Obi-Wan out of here. He was going to drop the entire base into a volcano. He was going to kill Skywalker, with his bare hands, if possible.

And then he’d think of a way to pay for what he’d done, and pay the cost, gladly.

Until then, he scrubbed a hand across his face and stood. He’d slept a few hours. More than long enough. It would have to be. He couldn’t bear the thought of putting his head on the pillow again, of shutting his eyes, of leaving his subconscious free to return to the monstrosities he’d committed.

He loved Obi-Wan. Had loved Obi-Wan for so kriffing long. And he’d still--

Cody pushed the thoughts away, rising from the bunk and meeting Reck’s eyes from the bunk across the aisle. Reck nodded, just a little, barely a sign of movement, but enough to show he was in there.

So many of them were free.

Soon everyone on the base would be themselves again. They’d gotten lucky in that regard, Cody knew. The visit of the Admiral had distracted Skywalker, something Cody hadn’t anticipated. Thus far, Obi-Wan had been the only thing that adequately kept Skywalker occupied and--

And Cody hadn’t been willing to use that distraction again. Skywalker was never going to raise a hand to Obi-Wan, ever. He was never going to get the chance.

Cody held onto that thought, moving out into the base, expression studiously blank, just in case. He threw himself into the last stages of his preparations; making sure the base was wired appropriately was important. Taking care of the ships in the hangar needed handled, as well. They needed one clean - free of any tracking devices - and the rest… well.

Cody wasn’t taking any chances. There’d be no way for Vader to get off of this rock, if somehow Cody failed to kill him directly. He didn’t plan to fail, but having contingencies never hurt anyone. 

He spent hours in the hangar, ensuring everything was just so, nodded grimly once finished, and moved back through the base, looking for something else to keep him busy. It was so vitally important that he stay busy. It kept the memories away, kept his thoughts from spiralling inward in a way that made him want to reach for his blaster. 

He didn’t think he could kill Skywalker with it. Yet. But lifting it, pressing it to the side of his own temple, was…

He swallowed, marching blank faced down the hall. Those were thoughts for another time. Save Obi-Wan. Kill Skywalker. Blow up the base. Get his brothers out of here. Those were the goals he needed to hold onto. And he gripped them, tight. Focused on nothing else and nothing more.

Cody went to the medbay. There was generally something to do there, and most of the rest of his preparations were complete. Bones almost always had a brother in recovery, someone who needed explanations and comfort, who needed to be told it was alright, now, that it was over, the long nightmare they’d all shared.

Cody went over all the completed preparations one more time, as he reached the medbay, making it two steps in before a jarring sense of wrongness swept over him. He froze, gaze jerked towards the bacta tank where Obi-Wan had been floating, last he checked, and--

“They took him,” Bones said, fast, coming forward and gripping Cody’s arms, his expression distraught, openly so. “Sir, they took him, the droids had orders and Crys and--”

“To Skywalker?” Cody asked, hoping that - maybe - the answer was no. That maybe they’d just dragged him to his cell. That would make everything so much easier. Cody planned to keep Obi-Wan away from Skywalker’s execution, if at all possible. 

Obi-Wan had loved the man Skywalker had been, once. He didn’t need to see what Cody was going to do to him.

“Yes,” Bones said, sounding gutted. “What are we going to--”

“How many of us are still chipped?” Cody asked, feeling something cold settle across him, ice itself moving through his veins. There was no more time to wait, then. He’d already failed his promise not to let Skywalker touch Obi-Wan again, but-- Running off immediately wasn’t going to serve any of them.

He needed to set everything into motion. Then he’d run off.

“Less than a dozen,” Bones said, “but it’ll take me hours--”

“Order them to board the ship,” Cody cut in. There wasn’t time to waste on explanations and fretting. “Tell them I’ve ordered general quarters. Lock them in. We’ll deal with them later. I want them out of here now, before anyone can start issuing orders. You’re to stay on the ship with them. Get the medbay made ready. We’re not getting out of this without injuries.”

“Yes, sir,” Bones said, nodding, and turned, just like that, motions suddenly calm and controlled. They’d all been waiting for this such a long time, Cody knew. He certainly had.

He turned on his heel, walking out of the room, ignoring the droids watching them curiously. A few droids were no longer a concern. They wouldn’t be able to get word to Skywalker, anyway. Not if he were - were distracting himself with Obi-Wan again.

Cold fire spread in Cody’s gut as he walked. He’d almost made it to the barracks when an order came over the comm in his ear. It seemed he was wanted, immediately, in Skywalker’s throne room.

He could guess at why, and grinned, small and tight. Skywalker would invite him in, would not even be startled when Cody showed up, because Skywalker had called him. Made it easy, over confident and sure he was in utter control. The throne room was more of a problem than his private chambers. There were automated defenses in there. But Cody had prepared for this eventuality. His knuckles itched.

Cody continued to the barracks and gestured, silently, when he stepped inside. The few of his brothers still under the control of the thing in their heads never even looked up, never saw the signs Cody sketched through the air.

The rest of them, those freed, those ready to fight, stood with grim, determined looks, checking their blasters and straightening their armor. Cody looked over all of them, heart beating steady and sure in his chest, and nodded. They were as ready as they were ever going to be. And he was so tired of waiting. He marched through the halls, men falling in at his back, without a word or hesitation.

He gestured again as they reached Skywalker’s throne room. His brothers nodded, spreading out, pressed to the walls, blasters drawn, ready and waiting, as he blanked his expression and waved the door open, stepping in to get a look at the exact situation they were dealing with before he called in all his back-up. 

The throne room smelled like blood and the poisoned, volcanic air from outside, in a way that dropped the bottom out of Cody’s stomach. The room was brightly lit, not even the brief mercy of shadows there to hide the sights that awaited.

Obi-Wan was there, and Cody’s heart ached to see him. He was kneeling on the floor, head down, beside Skywalker, who was sitting on that throne of his, the ugly, brutal shape of it looming through the smoke that had been allowed to billow into the room. Cody resisted looking towards the open window, an itching sense of anticipation in his bones.

Skywalker had his legs crossed, a chain wound around one hand, connected to the collar at Obi-Wan’s throat. Obi-Wan’s right arm hung limp by his side, unbond. Cody swallowed bile, the abbreviated end of Obi-Wan’s left arm a condemnation, another way he’d failed, and he’d--

“Come here,” Skywalker ordered, voice a boom, and Cody remembered when he’d sounded like a boy, those first few months of the war. That boy had grown into a monster. Cody wished, absently, that he’d killed Skywalker long ago. Years ago. If only he’d known.

He walked forward, assessing the situation. Some of his brothers were already in the room. But that wasn’t a surprise. Skywalker liked to keep guards around, and perhaps he intended to force Cody to kill them. Or, Cody considered, eyeing the blasters they already held, perhaps they were to be his executioners.

They were all but two of them awake.

He hoped Skywalker enjoyed the surprise he was about to get. It had been far too long in coming.

Cody came to a stop in front of the throne, staring forward, waiting for the perfect moment, and Obi-Wan hitched in a breath, rasping - his voice was still barely a whisper, strained and hoarse, “Please, please, don’t--”

“I didn’t give you permission to speak,” Vader snapped, jerking on the chain, and Cody’s hands tightened into fists. He fought to keep his emotions calm and still. “I told you,” Skywalker continued, after a moment, “that 2224 has been experiencing defects. I think it’s time we resolved that.”

Cody watched Obi-Wan go still, strangely and totally. Centering himself, Cody realized. Preparing for something. 

“I know how I’d prefer to handle the execution. We could see how long it would take, if you like,” Skywalker continued, voice thrumming with implications. “But you could, perhaps, convince me to make it painless.” He tugged on the chain, again, jerking Obi-Wan forward against his legs, even as he uncrossed them, and Cody was going to--

“Yes, Lord Vader,” Obi-Wan said, before Cody could signal the other troopers, sliding his hand up Vader’s leg, and there was no more time to wait because Cody wasn’t letting this happen again. Never again. Never--

He made a sign, sharp and short, by his hip, and everything went mad, all at once.

Vader made a harsh, furious sound, standing and throwing Obi-Wan back, viciously. Cody blinked, because there was a flash of red, and for a moment, Cody thought that Vader had drawn his lightsaber and killed Obi-Wan and--

The red went with Obi-Wan, who hit the ground, rolled, and came up on one knee, glowing lightsaber in hand and blood streaking down his chin as he rasped, “You’re not going to hurt them, ever again, Anakin.”

That was when the first explosions started going off, right on schedule.

It was when Vader roared an order to kill him. 

And it was when his two chipped brothers opened fire.

#

Vader told Obi-Wan, when he was dragged in and dumped across the ground, that he had a special treat planned. He enjoyed the way Obi-Wan shuddered at the words, the way his emotions tangled and warped, dread and even still some scraps of determination threading through him.

Obi-Wan still thought he had a chance, even after everything. Even after Anakin had taken his arm - and he thought, perhaps, after he handled 2224, he’d take a leg, make Obi-Wan see exactly what he’d done, make him live it. He was going to undo Obi-Wan, utterly. It simply might take longer than he’d first hoped.

In any case, wrapping Obi-Wan’s chain around his hand and dragging him closer had settled some of the anger left behind by Tarkin’s visit. Obi-Wan still moved like he was hurt inside, carefully, a soft sound punching out of him as Vader dragged him into place.

He considered, for a moment, that something should be done about Obi-Wan’s right arm. There was no easy way to restrain it, though, and anyway, what was he going to do? The collar around his neck prevented him from acting against Vader’s will. And, if that failed, well…

There were troopers in the room. They’d proven so effective at getting Obi-Wan to listen. Just the threat of their deaths was more than enough to have Obi-Wan begging for mercy he wasn’t going to receive. A few executions were a good way to remind Obi-Wan of who was in control.

Still, Vader planned only one such execution for the evening. He’d grown tired of seeing 2224’s face around the base. He had a sneaking suspicion that Obi-Wan was thinking about the defective damn thing, that, even when he was with Vader, his thoughts were elsewhere. Another betrayal.

Besides, 2224 deserved to die for everything it had done during the war, for taking Obi-Wan’s focus away, distracting him.

Vader called it in, sitting back on his throne and relaxing. Tarkin had gone. He had Obi-Wan. He’d soon be rid of 2224. He’d gotten what he wanted and shuddered, just for a moment, at the way the realization left him feeling strange and hollow. 

He focused on the twist and ache of Obi-Wan’s emotions as 2224 marched in to face its execution. Obi-Wan’s agony was so rich, so complex. He hadn’t hurt nearly so much when Vader took his arm. That had just been… pain. Physical. Fleeting. The way he split open as Vader told him exactly what was going to happen to 2224 was so much thicker. Choking. Spilling into the Force.

Vader’s mouth twitched behind his helmet - it was wrong that Obi-Wan cared so much about some thing, a clone, anything that wasn’t him - and he jerked on the chain, only slightly mollified when Obi-Wan slid a hand up his leg.

How many times had he thought about Obi-Wan touching him like this? Obi-Wan kneeling between his spread legs, head bent forward, focused on making him feel good? They should have had this before, Padmé would have understood, Vader could have made her understand.

His respiration quickened with anticipation. He knew exactly when he planned to order 2224 executed. He’d order it to kill itself, he decided, after making it watch. After he had Obi-Wan’s mouth on him, after--

His sweet musings were interrupted when Obi-Wan’s emotions shifted, all at once, agony and grief peeling away to reveal something cool and calm and flat. He jerked at the same instant he felt Obi-Wan’s fingers curl around his lightsaber, and--

Vader shoved him back, immediately, with the Force, the saber activating even as he tossed Obi-Wan across the room. A second later and it would have carved up through his gut. Obi-Wan had activated it while it was pressed close to his skin, had intended to kill him and--

Fury and betrayal swirled through Vader’s mind as he lurched to his feet, drawing the Force around him, watching Obi-Wan grip his lightsaber, the red blade glowing across his skin, his eyes fierce and blue, sharp all of a sudden, all the misery he’d worn just pulled away, like a mask, like they’d been put-on, which was impossible.

Vader snarled, reaching for the controls for the collar, and the ground shook under him. Around the room the troopers were moving, suddenly, opening fire on 2224, who jerked away, impossibly, he should have stayed where he was, unmoving, not fired back at them, grunting when a blaster shot caught him in his side before some of the other troopers opened fire, taking out each other, not--

Vader didn’t understand what was happening. It didn’t matter. He moved to activate the controls, to bring Obi-Wan to heel, and 2224 said, “Skywalker.”

Vader blinked, surprise making him look over, sure he’d misheard and--

“For Trip,” 2224 said, calm and flat, as he shot the controls on Vader’s arm, sparks jumping out of the suit even as the rest of the troopers not on the ground opened fire on him. Vader roared in fury, unsure how Obi-Wan had managed this, how he’d managed to corrupt the clones’ programming, but none of that mattered.

Vader could figure that out later. After they were all dead. He lashed out with the Force, throwing them back, lifting three of them into the air at once, grip choking around their throats. He would kill them, oh yes. All of them, one after another, the entire 212th, ending with Obi-Wan. He’d make Obi-Wan watch each of them die, make sure he couldn’t look away, make sure--

He tightened his grip in the Force and made a hoarse, surprised sound when the troopers fell, anyway, his power pulled apart. The Force shifted in the room, swelling up, sweet and sharp, and he looked over, confusion coursing through him, to find Obi-Wan on his feet, saber shaking, breathing hard, what remained of his left arm stretched out.

“I won’t let you hurt them. Ever again,” Obi-Wan panted, eyes blazing, power coursing out of him, holding Vader back, which was impossible. Obi-Wan had ever been able to match him, but Vader had taken care of that, restrained him-- 

And the collar lay on the floor, twisted, the edges still smoking faintly from the blade of his saber. Vader snarled, moving towards Obi-Wan, fury building in his bones, all his focus on his old master. Blaster bolts hit across his shoulders and back, his chest, deflected by all the shielding in his suit, and then there was another explosion, closer, rocking the room.

Sparks jumped inside his systems, when it hit, a few warnings going off and silencing at once. His respiratory system stopped responding; as did his cardiac. The next blaster bolt hit true, and he stumbled back a step, and then another, as more bolts hit him. 

He needed to get out, get away from this madness. Institute repairs. His chest split with agony as his heart struggled to keep beating without mechanical support. He wheezed, gasping for breath inside his helmet, driven back further, until he hit the wall, gripping at the edge of the window.

“No!” he panted, raising one hand, rage and sharp fear echoing through him, allowing him to pull hard on the Force. He lashed out at Obi-Wan, the source of all of this trouble, and heard him cry out, sharply, as half the room came down in the grip of Vader’s power.

Stone and rock spilled across the floor, choking dust swirling through the air, giving Vader a moment to sway, his access to the Force no longer so restrained. Everything hurt. He didn’t - it was impossible. There were alarms going off, everywhere, and no one had come to help him. He hurt. He’d--this was all wrong. Impossible and wrong. 

He looked around, as the air currents rising off of the lava moved through the room, clearing some of the smoke. He found cold, furious faces everywhere, and Obi-Wan, up on one knee, somehow, looking up at him with his shining blue eyes, saber dropped so he could extend his right hand, shaking with the effort of restraining Vader’s use of the Force. 

The troopers opened fire on him, all at once and it - his suit wasn’t working properly. He felt each impact, terrible.

“Master!” he wailed, unable to breathe, heart stuttering, tripping, because Obi-Wan had so many weak spots and he knew he was one of them. Obi-Wan wouldn’t let them actually kill him. It wasn’t the Jedi way, after all.

A blaster shot caught him dead center in his helmet, shoving him back, almost over-balancing him. “For Dart,” 2224 said, flat, as Vader gripped at the edge of the open window. 2224 stared at him, his eyes dark and terrible even as he bled from the blaster wound in his side, even as he made a sharp sign with his hand and the blaster fire stopped. “For all our brothers.”

Vader gasped, choking, planning to take advantage of their foolish mercy. He started, “Obi-Wan--”

And 2224 said, “Yes,” grimly. “For Obi-Wan.” And he pulled the trigger once more, stepped forward while Vader was reeling, and kicked him, impossible force behind the blow. Vader made a sound, heard it echo in his helmet, as he overbalanced, grabbing for the edge of the window and missing and--

#

Cody leaned out over the side of the window, listening to further explosions go off, exactly as they should have. The EMP had worked well, he thought. A nice touch. It would have been enough to take Skywalker out, even without Obi-Wan’s help.

But Obi-Wan’s help meant they hadn’t lost more men, and--and that split something open, inside Cody’s chest. Obi-Wan had still fought for them. After everything, he’d tried to put himself between them and Skywalker.

And so Cody stared down into the lava, so far below, watching as it closed over Vader’s head, his one outstretched hand. He ignored the pain in his side, hot and cold at the same time, and the feel of blood sliding across his skin. The shot had gone clean through and he knew he was losing blood, lots of it.

It didn’t feel terribly important, at the moment. “Sir?” Crys asked, stepping up beside him, blaster still in hand. “Did you get visual confirmation?”

Cody spat over the edge, turned away, and said, “Yes. He’s dead. Let’s go.”

They weren’t done.

Not yet.

He’d killed Skywalker. He’d freed most of his brothers and the rest were going to be sorted. All that was left, he considered, turning away from the fire, was getting Obi-Wan out of here. Making him safe and never letting anyone hurt him, ever again.

[annaraebananawriter]

Blinded By Love

Yellow there! I’m back with another oneshot. I worked on this one for the past week, ever since I got the first piece of inspiration for it. I will be honest and say that it didn’t come out exactly the way I imagined, but it got all of the key parts and that’s the most important part.

As for this inspiration, it comes from @zu-is-here and specifically these three posts here! Also, as promised, @qweezy0w0, here is the oneshot! I...uh...I’m not sure if I made it worse exactly, but I didn’t make it happier, I know that. Just...be prepared, I guess?

Hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Undertale, but specifically Dark Cream AU

Characters: Dream, Nightmare (Who belong to Joku), Cross (Who belongs to Jakei), and Killer (Who belongs to Rahafwabas)

Pairings: Implied Cream/Dark Cream

Warnings: Language and I think that’s it? Let me know!

Word Count: 4407

~oOo~

Love is, perhaps, one of, if not the strongest force in the entire multiverse. It is what drives humans and monsters to fight, to protect and care for, to cherish and take revenge. It is what people listen to most, when times are tough and they need to take drastic measures. Listen to their heart, to love, or listen to logic, common sense? Reason or fantasy? Imagination or fact? Both of these options can be right, be it at the same time or at different times, and other times they can both make an even bigger mess.

Sometimes, though, people can even love too much. That is when love becomes dangerous. It can become harmful and restless, untamed and wild. It can make people do things they deemed unethical or immoral before they fell into this love, became blinded by that love. Their mind becomes unhinged, wondering if this or if that will make the one they hold so dear return their love and love them the same way. Drastic measures can be taken in this state, either inwards on the person themselves, or outwards on others they care for and strangers they’ve never met before.

Despite all the possibilities of this force, nothing can change how powerful it is. This is a mystery no one has managed to solve, or ever will. It is not meant to be solved—that would just take the pleasure out of it. Everyone likes believing in love, even when they think it will never be for them. It’s just how they are. Love can help them forget all the flaws about themselves and the world around them.

This force is something that intrigues Nightmare. He knows he has felt it before, and is still capable of feeling it, even after everything he’s done, but he still does not understand it. What causes these feelings? Is it by chance or some predetermined thing? Does he have a say in who he falls in love with? The questions nag at him every now and then, through day and night like a virus he can’t get rid of. He sometimes finds himself unable to sleep because he has to force himself to let go of these thoughts, allow himself to fall asleep without an answer to them, no matter how much it makes his stomach turn.

There is one constant thing about this force of love that he knows without a doubt, however: he loves Dream, has never and will never stop.

The apple incident, as it has come to be known, is something that will always haunt his thoughts. Nightmare can’t remember his exact line of thinking now, but he knows that he ate the apples as a desperate act to protect Dream, mostly, and to protect himself. His brother was the most important thing in his life. The villagers tried to take that away from him, but he wouldn’t let them. He ate the apples, but something about his big plan to protect went wrong. The protect aspect got lost, which just left him and a ton of power he couldn’t control and people who were glaring at him and one person who was crying.

He couldn’t recognize his own brother. All he saw was someone defying him and stopping him from fulfilling his plan, even if he couldn’t remember it. And that someone stopped him from becoming unstoppable, so he got angry. How dare this little runt stand in his way? Doesn’t he know that he should be begging, grovelling on his knees, pleading for mercy? Doesn’t he know that he’s outmatched and out of hope? And then he did what any villain faced with a hero who wouldn’t give up did: he tried to kill him.

Luckily, he failed, but Dream ended up encased in stone for years, while Nightmare was left with a multiverse and a sick thought to conquer it. So, he set out to do just that. He didn’t look back. He didn’t stop for a minute to wonder if the person who stood against him still lived, if he was conscious in that prison. Instead, he turned with a smile, believing the stone to hold forever and leave no one to oppose him.

The years left alone were good for only one reason, and that was that it let him learn how to control his powers and regain the initial thought process he had. He grew calmer and more comfortable, barely able to remember a time when he felt so good. He remembered the villagers and their abuse and Dream, which put a whole spin on his way of thinking. Nightmare had realized, randomly while working away at a stack of paperwork, that Dream was the one who he had turned to stone and that thought, that little thought right there made his heart twist, something that he hated to feel. Whenever Dream came into his head, he would force himself to not love him, not worry about him, not give a fuck about him.

It never truly worked.

That’s the thing about love. It doesn’t go away, not if the person was nice and good for you, if they were your everything, your world. Losing that person would make all your negative emotions and worst thought rear their ugly heads, trying to tear into and cut you open, pour salt into wounds that may have just been freshly healed. It would make you regret everything that you think could’ve made them leave like that and why you deserved it, why you should feel so bad. Losing the one you loved tears out your heart and lets it rot while you stare blankly at it, unable to comprehend why this is happening.

No matter how much he forced himself to disregard his brother, he still cared and that hurt. The hurt only intensified when Dream came back, a mix of hardened and fragile look in his eyes and aura that made Nightmare’s worry expand deep down in the pit he buried it in. It made him think, all through their numerous battles, Did I do this? Did I create this hurt that surrounds him? How am I any different from those bullies when I can make my brother look so broken, so wrong, like how they made my bones look?

He did so many terrible things, said so many insults and what he thought were truths. Every fight they had, he saw Dream lose more and more hope, lose the will to fight but keep pushing anyways. He hated it. He hated himself. He felt disgust at every word he said. But he was too committed to stop now. Everything was woven too tightly to be undone now. He couldn’t go back, couldn’t give that thought a possibility of happening. Nightmare himself willed Dream to keep fighting, even when he looked the most tired, because he didn’t want to win anymore. He was tired. They both were. And he knew that him losing would be the best option for everything.

Then…one final act of cruelty pushed Dream too far and he ate an apple of his own.

Nothing hurt more than seeing the one person you care for above anyone else do the exact same mistake you did. Nothing. He could only watch, horror filling him, as Dream shouted in pain right in front of him, the corruption spilling over him like a wave. All his thoughts were jumbled and there was an ache in his chest that made it hard for him to breathe. Nightmare realized, at this moment, that he had played the villain for so long, he had no clue what words to say to play the hero, or even if he could. This process was impossible to stop once it started.

None of his actions would do anything worthwhile, and that scared him. Everything about this outcome of his actions scared him. There was a guilt building on his back that he was sure he would drown in in the aftermath, but for now, the guilt and the fear all culminated into the need to run. Just…get out. Get somewhere to sit down and think. He found himself following that need without realizing it, taking a slow step back, followed by another, and another, until something snapped and he turned and ran. He ran without looking back, taking no notice until later of Cross standing there, watching Dream also with tears streaming down his face.

He ran and ran until he was out of the AU and in his home, the castle he’d built for himself to keep the rest of the world out and him safe and sound inside. His team he had gathered, stupid followers of a mad king, noticed him and, upon realizing that their king had fallen so low into a weak monster, grew angry. They yelled and barked, growled in hate and left, saying that if Nightmare was willing to give everything up just because of one small consequence, then he was unfit to lead.

Nightmare never replied, only absorbing the words and letting them wash over his mind. He was unable to think of anything else besides Dream and corruption and how much of a monster he had become. It killed him inside and he fell to his knees, staring blankly at the floor, not seeing anything besides Dream eating the apple, corruption overspilling over him, everything he said that led to this moment.

Briefly, all of that went away and he caught a glimpse of his hand, the white bones burning into his vision. He held it up and stared, turning it over slowly.

Oh, he thought faintly, so the corruption was pushed back by my own fear and panic.

It’s rather ironic, in some ways.

He heard a step echo through the room and he let his hand fall, his eyes drawn to the only one of his subordinates that stayed. Killer. The other stared down at him with concern, and crouched in front of him, opening his mouth and—

“Nightmare?”

Something pressed down on his shoulders and Nightmare blinked, the images of the past fading away, stored back in his memory as they should be. He looked up to Killer, who had put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him with the same concern as before. For a minute, he was lost. What was happening again? Then he looked around and made eye contact with Cross, who gazed back with anger and desperation, tears tumbling slowly down his face, and his eyes were drawn down to the guard’s arms, to Dream—and he remembered.

Oh.

Killer had left, claiming that he was going to think for a while, but Nightmare knows that wasn’t the truth—they both knew Cross and Dream…Shattered would come eventually, for good or for worse—and had come back looking conflicted, if a bit panicked. Nightmare had been concerned, but before he could ask what was wrong, Cross entered behind him, his brother in his arms, unconscious and covered in apple blossoms, the white colouring looking so out of place it was all he could see for a minute.

His feet seemed rooted to the ground. The world seemed to disappear, leaving only him and his brother, the version of him formed out of Nightmare’s mistakes, and all he could see was what led to this version, led to all of this happening. He saw nothing but the past until Killer broke him out of it, reminding him about the current and important situation.

All at once, now he remembered, the emotions came flooding back: worry, fear, panic, confusion. They were all tangled together, so woven into a ball that held itself in his chest and made it difficult to breathe. He forced himself to work past it all. His feelings didn’t matter at this moment; all that did was Sh—Dream and what was wrong with him.

The apple blossoms were new, that was the only piece of thought he could hold onto amidst everything. That was where the confusion stemmed from. During his corruption, no apple blossoms had ever grown on him before. He couldn’t understand it. He had to try and understand it. From the looks of things, that was what caused him to go unconscious in the first place, and most likely the source of other problems that they could deal with later.

It was decided then; the first action would be to know about these flowers—where they came from, when they started appearing, what were they and, finally, why they were there.

Nightmare swallowed and stepped forward, calling upon his experience as a king to help him keep his emotions in check as he found out how to help. “Lay him down.” He cringed slightly at the way his voice shook, but pushed that aside as Cross obeyed silently, staying kneeled beside Dream, keeping his eyes on the one he followed.

Nightmare watched for a minute, knowing time most likely of the essence, but finding himself unable to bring himself to take away such a caring and loving gaze. It was obvious that Cross loved Dream, no matter his actions or how much he tried to push him away. That was how strong his love was. And Nightmare already knew, without having to see it himself, that Dream loved him back just as strongly, no matter how much he denied it. Their love was a love built on the understanding of each other's vulnerabilities and deepest, most ugly anger and hate and loving the other through it all. It was beautiful to see.

But that love, while nice as it may be, wasn’t the focus right now and Nightmare hesitantly kneeled down opposite of Cross, on the other side of Dream.

It pained him to see Dream in pain this close up. He could see it in the way his fingers twitched so slightly and there was a grimace in his sleep, seemingly permanent. The corruption was still strong, which caused another wave of guilt over Nightmare, which he stubbornly ignored for this moment, and contrasted greatly with the apple blossoms. There were more flowers than he thought. They covered his brother’s eye that hadn’t been covered by the corruption, rendering him blind. They peeked through the top of his shirt, continuing down until they poked out of the ends of the sleeves, meeting the ones coming out of his gloves, a thin gap where there wasn’t any between them. They were practically everywhere. Nightmare could even see a couple of stray ones on his feet, which were surprisingly bare.

It was much worse than he thought. That only increased the importance of fixing things.

“How…how did—when, when did this start?” Nightmare asked, eyes flicking over to Cross, who shifted, but only shook his head.

“I’m not sure.” Cross’s voice was quivering, on the verge of full-on sobs and it hurt Nightmare to hear. “He didn’t…he tried to keep them hidden, the idiot, so I wouldn’t know, until they started on his eye and he couldn’t hide them anymore.” He swallowed. “I know they hurt him. They itch and he has a habit of picking and scratching at them, which only makes them worse, and I try to tell him that but he does it anyway and—” He cut himself off, and Nightmare looked away as he wiped a hand across his eyes.

So…when did this start? Not sure of the exact date or time, but Nightmare’s going to go out on a limb and guess it would’ve started shortly after he corrupted, all that time back. It was a painful thing to think about, but it made sense, even if he hurt just thinking about all those days Dream was in pain and didn’t tell anyone, just like…just like he always did.

Shifting, Nightmare slowly reached out, giving enough time for Cross to object, but he stayed silent, and so Nightmare gently set his fingertips on one of the flowers by Dream’s eye. He flinched when he saw Dream flinch, but only lightened his touch as much as he could instead of pulling away, like he wanted to. He didn’t want to hurt his brother any further than he already was.

The flowers were, surprisingly, soft to the touch, as if they were innocent of their cause, meant to be there. As if they weren’t harmful and hurting his brother and causing so much pain. It didn’t help that, on any other thing, any tree like they were supposed to be on, they would look beautiful and people would smile and appreciate them.

Nightmare took a breath and focused. The little, lone flower he was touching shifted as if moving in a wind that no one else could feel and glowed a pale golden colour. They left Nightmare feel, in a small and slow stream, what they held and represented. They couldn’t say why they were there, but they could share whose magic they held and that information made Nightmare pull his hand back like it had been burnt.

He stared at Dream, switching his gaze between him and the flowers and his hand, his eyes wide. His vision turned the slightest bit blurry and he blinked before any tears could fully form. It shouldn’t be possible. No. He…did he make his brother sadder than he thought? Did he do something else? Or…or was this just…how Dream was? No. No. He refused to believe that. That would be even more hurtful than watching his brother make his mistakes.

But if there was even the smallest chance of that being the cause, then he had to check it. He had to. Not just for himself, but for Dream and Cross and, heck, even Killer. He had to make sure it was a possibility, a 100% possibility, before saying anything and doing anything.

“What?” Cross was saying when Nightmare caught up and realized he was talking. “What? What’s wrong?” He had risen to his feet and was towering above Nightmare, seconds away from taking out his sword and threatening him if he didn’t get an answer.

“I…I have to check something.” Nightmare muttered, ignoring Cross. He moved his hand to Dream’s chest, above where the soul would be if it were summoned. He laid his hand gently down and closed his eyes, focusing again.

At first, there was nothing. Just the sound of Cross’s question growing in volume and Killer trying to calm him down, but those sounds grew gradually muffled, like Nightmare had put his head underwater. He would’ve thought that he had passed out or something, but he could feel his breathing and knew he was still awake.

Just…somewhere else.

Not here.

Not there.

Somewhere else.

Nightmare let himself float back, let himself be open to anything. If he could connect with the flowers, let them guide him to the truth of why they existed, then that would help. As he lay there, just breathing, just floating, he felt it.

Wisps of positivity. Of light, hope, happiness, love. Of everything good in the world. He felt it like it was his own, but he knew it wasn’t. He knew it was Dream’s magic, everything his brother represented and just was. He felt what the emotions were connected to, as well. Happiness, with Nightmare, before the first apple incident, with Ink and Blue, the first real friends he ever had. Hope, for the Multiverse, with all it’s flaws and stories, for Nightmare, who he longed to be friends, be brothers, with again, and for Cross, who lost so much. Love, too, for Cross, only Cross. The one who loved him above everything. The one who stayed despite everything. The one who saw Dream and no one else, no immortal thing that should be happy all the time.

Nightmare felt the urge to smile. He loved this part of his brother. He loved the feeling of it, the way it made his soul soar and shine with happiness, the way it could make others smile, even on their roughest days.

This positivity was Dream, whole, no doubt about it.

But…something was wrong.

It felt…drained. Hurt. It felt like there was barely any left, that even as he felt it, it was going away. It felt twisted, like it was turning back on its host, its owner, making them hurt and pick away at the negativity that surrounded them so much, as if as a sort of punishment for not being good enough.

Because that was the purpose of the flowers, the apple blossoms—to punish Dream for giving in, punishing himself for allowing his feelings to get the best of him and punishment for treating the one he loved so badly.

The flowers were created by Dream to hurt Shattered, a cycle of self-destruction that can’t be stopped.

Nightmare opened his eyes. More tears gathered in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks as a sob escaped his throat. His hand reached up to stifle the sound, before it caught the attention of Cross and Killer, but it was too late. He shut his eyes tight in order to compose himself somewhat, as the argument behind him stopped and there were hurried footsteps towards him and he was spun around, face to face with Cross once he opened his eyes again.

“What?” Cross asked, desperation coating his voice. His eyes held a hope that killed Nightmare to see, for he knew he would be the one to smother it. “What?! What’s wrong with Dream?!” He shook Nightmare when he didn’t answer. “Answer me! What’s wrong with Dream, Nightmare?”

Nightmare inhaled shakily. “The flowers…” He started, unable to raise his voice more than a whisper. “The flowers are made of—of positive magic.” He inhaled again, smoother this time. “Dream’s positivity, to be exact.”

Cross blinked, unable to process this. “…I don’t understand.”

“When Dream corrupted,” Nightmare attempted to explain. “he did so out of sadness, and hurt, and…tiredness. He viewed himself as not good enough to continue, growing more desperate to listen to that foolish hope that if he ate the apple—” Nightmare’s voice cracked on this part. “—then I would accept him again, view him as an equal again. He was wrong.” He shook his head. “I never, ever wanted him to do that, I just…” He trailed off, because this wasn’t about him.

Cross had let go of his shoulder and drawn in on himself. He hugged himself tight, looking small. Even his voice was small, betraying no emotion he was feeling. “What does this have to do with the flowers.”

Nightmare swallowed and started again. “The flowers are made of positivity, as I said. Dream’s positivity. They embody all of his happiness, his love, his hope—everything. They’re meant to represent everything he gave up when he ate the apple.” He glanced behind him, looking over his brother, who still looked to be in so much pain. “The reason why the flowers are there…is because they’re to act as a punishment, made by Dream and given to Shattered. It’s a punishment for every time Shattered thinks or feels something positive, a flower grows on him, made up of that positive feeling or thought.” He fell silent.

Cross shifted. “But…they hurt him.” He raised his head a little, looking behind Nightmare to Dream. “Why do they hurt him?”

Nightmare blinked. “My guess is that it's part of the punishment. Shattered is meant to be Dream giving up on positivity, so whenever he does something to tie him back to that or something like that, and a flower is formed, it hurts because he was supposed to have given up on positivity.” Nightmare’s voice went sad. “He wasn’t supposed to want to feel it anymore.”

They were silent for a while, taking everything in.

Then, Cross’s head snapped up, a sort of manic hope in his eyes that was worse than the hope of before. “That punishment…you can stop it, right?” He rose to his feet, stumbling a bit. “You can still help Dream, right? Right?!”

Nightmare blinked. He stood up slowly as well. It twisted his heart to see Cross so desperate, so willing to believe anything. But he couldn’t say no, even if he didn’t want to feed into a lie of yes. “I…” He swallowed. “Our corruptions are different. Mine was formed through my hate and anger. My fear, as well. Dream’s was formed by his sadness and desperation. He was tired.” He wrung his hands. “I might have been able to take control of my corruption, but I have no clue how or if I could help Dream do the same.”

Cross shook his head, either ignoring his words or vaguely registering them. “That doesn’t answer my question.” His voice was unnervingly calm and he stepped forward, his sword forming in his hand. Killer stood nearby on the ready. “Can you help Dream, or can’t you? Yes or no.”

Nightmare swallowed, retreating a slight step, overly conscious of Dream lying behind him. “I…” He couldn’t answer. He wanted to. He really did. But because their corruptions were so different, it would take different circumstances for Dream to take control of his. And Nightmare didn’t know where to start with it. He didn’t know if the answer was yes or no, or even if there was a right answer.

Either way, his silence was answer enough for Cross. The guard stepped forward again, his sword twitching higher, but before he could do anything, he was manhandled away by Killer. They went a few feet away, where they started fighting, Killer never attacking back. He was letting Cross get all of his anger and heartbreak out. Nightmare was glad that he understood.

A small noise from Dream caught his attention. Nightmare turned and knelt beside him again, watching with another round of tears in his eyes as two more flowers appeared, the only two on his neck for now. They were small. He raised his hand and hovered over them, but never touched them, a feeling that they might be sensitive stopping him. Instead, he gently held one of Dream’s hands in his, taking care not to press or squeeze too hard.

A tear slipped out and onto the intertwined hands.

Love might be one of the strongest forces in the multiverse, but Nightmare would be damned if it wasn’t one of the cruellest ones too.

[ddarker-dreams]

The fool, strength, and the hanged man for Shigaraki and Giorno?

Shigaraki Tomura:

The Fool - How deluded is this yandere when it comes to their darling? Are they self aware on any level?

Unfortunately for you, Shigaraki already has an askew sense of morality. This along with his overwhelming love for you that he’s never felt before is a perfect disaster for a recipe. He doesn’t view himself as someone that’s extremely lovable, but he still wants your affection regardless of that. 

He wouldn’t have compassion on you if you’re upset at him. It would irritate him if anything, not being able to comprehend why you’re being so difficult after he worked so hard to get you! Why do you have to make it more difficult than it needs to be? The two of you could have so much fun together if you just behaved. That’s what he thinks at least.

Strength - How outwardly passionate is this yandere around their darling?

He’s not writing ballads about you or anything crazy like that, but you can tangibly feel his love for you. If you even want to describe it as that. It’s more like a malicious obsession mixed with a constant desire for attention. Shigaraki will tell you he loves you sometimes, but you get the feeling he doesn’t really know what love means. 

He doesn’t have any shame when it comes to you though. He would want to get physical with you given the opportunity, and you could feel the sheer intensity in his touches. Whatever he feels for you, it’s certainly uncontrollable. 

The Hanged Man - Is controlling their darling important? Or do they want their darling to love them willingly?

Shigaraki tells himself that he wants you to return his love willingly, but at the same time doesn’t give you much to work with. He doesn’t give you the necessary affirmation or space for you to process your feelings when you need it, instead wanting to hold your attention whenever possible. 

He doesn’t really need to threaten you, knowing who he is and what he’s capable of is typically enough. And while he might find it endearing to see you trembling because of him, he still would prefer you associate positive emotions with him. However if you ever pushed him enough (which doesn’t take much...) expect to be threatened verbally. Or for him to hold an object and watch as it crumbles before your eyes. 

Giorno Giovanna: 

The Fool - How deluded is this yandere when it comes to their darling? Are they self aware on any level?

He can give the impression of being self aware. Giorno will try to come off as sympathetic, saying he understands that you need time to get used to your new life with him. But it’s never enough to actually feel bad for what he’s doing, or enough to make him stop. He doesn’t even fully get why you’re upset in the first place, when he’s capable of giving you literally anything you want. He won’t tell you that at first though.

As time goes on you can tell you’re stretching his patience, especially if you’re always nasty when he’s around you. At this point Giorno will tell you that you do love him and you’re just making things needlessly difficult on yourself and him. Hearing that enough times is enough to make you wonder. 

Strength - How outwardly passionate is this yandere around their darling?

Giorno is a reserved lover. He’s more into small gestures and soft, meaningful words at intentional moments. Most of the time he spends with you he’ll engage you in pleasant conversation, sometimes calling you beloved amore, or cara mia. While he does feel love for you it would take him a while to finally come outright and say “I love you.” 

You would only see a wild array of emotions if you ever placed yourself in danger or if you were in danger from other circumstances. Giorno would briefly lose his familiar composure, but it flashes so fast you wonder if you imagined it. Giorno would be shaking, much to your surprise. He would regain himself swiftly. 

The Hanged Man - Is controlling their darling important? Or do they want their darling to love them willingly?

Giorno might give you some time, but he’s always attempting to “nudge” you in the right direction (his direction). His go to isn’t being cruel to you, but wooing you over with extravagant gifts and thoughtful words. He hopes that’ll allow you to organically develop some feelings for him, but he has worse methods if you make it necessary. 

If anything he knows you’re dependent on him. All it would take is a single order and you’d be deprived of any necessity to live. But because of his care for you he wouldn’t do that, but knowing the power he has brings him a sense of control. He also would remind you of this fact if he feels like you’ve forgotten it. 

[blossom-hwa]

Moonstruck - CHANGBIN

Uh hi yeah it’s been a hell of a long time and honestly? I wouldn’t blame any of you if you’d just stopped looking at my blog. But here’s the newest world my mind has conjured up. It’s been in the works for months, but I finished 90% of it yesterday. I hope this makes up a little for my extended absence, and I really hope you enjoy it :)

Thank you @1ove1ies​ for the title :) You are the GREATEST

(mayhaps this will become a series of nature spirit stories... I hope I can deliver)

Pairing: Changbin x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, angst, nature spirit!au

Triggers: mild violence (nothing too graphic), death

Word Count: 7k

In a village of moonlight, far, far away, they tell the story of a peasant beauty with a heart of gold and the moonlit boy who loved her. 

SKZ Masterlist | Whispers of Nature

Changbin has always known he was different from the rest of his siblings. He prefers night over day and his hair is dark, yes, but that is where the similarities end. He is not tall, not willowy, not gracefully beautiful. No, Changbin is not conventionally “pretty” and he prefers making a ruckus with his friends over whispering and swaying serenely in the breeze like the other moon children.

He also loses things far too easily.

Leaves rustle calmly in the evening cool, a sharp contrast to Changbin’s frantic movements as he searches for the moonflower that fell off of his earring. It was a gift from his mother, the moon goddess herself. The moon goddess loves all her children equally and thus Changbin still retains her favor, despite his faults, but that favor might fade away if he lost it.

(Later, his mother summons him and when he stands before her in confusion, she laughs and touches his cheek. “Bin, you know that having a penchant for losing things won’t make me love you less, right?”

Changbin blushes bright red as she grins.)

Then he notices the glow, the unmistakable bright white behind a bush. It’s his moonflower – there’s nothing else it could be.

But just as he’s about to dart forward, he notices the figure that’s holding the flower, tracing the pure white petals with silent fingers and entranced eyes. His mouth drops open and he honestly feels like that time Hyunjin punched him in the stomach.

You are beautiful.

Just as Changbin is trying to regain his breath, you look up, and Changbin loses it again.

He has never seen anyone as ethereal as you and that’s saying something, considering he grew up with the moon goddess herself and her children.

Slim fingers cup delicate white petals, smoothing each one with something akin to awe within your dark eyes. Your lips move like you’re mumbling something, but Changbin can’t hear you.

The awed look on your face turns to a frown and you look around as though searching for someone. Changbin shakes himself out of his daze and clenches his fingers.

What if you try to take his moonflower away?

The rustling wind masks Changbin’s movements as he positions himself to run towards you, to get the flower back at all costs. He’s lost so many things, but that is the one thing he refuses to let escape.

But it turns out he doesn’t need to do anything, for you simply place the flower down underneath the bush, far enough in that it isn’t easily seen, but visible enough for someone who was looking for it to glimpse. And then you leave.

Changbin waits with bated breath, wondering if you’ll come back again. But a minute passes, then two, then three, and you’re still not back. So he darts out of his hiding place and snatches it up before sprinting deep into the forest.

Finally, when he feels he’s far enough away, he stops, sinking down at the base of a tree as his mind spins with the memory of your face, lit by the moon and the glow of his flower. With trembling fingers, he affixes the flower back to the dangling earring it belongs to.

“What’s wrong, Changbin?” His brother’s face appears in front of him, smiling with the same subtle grace that all the moon children seem to have. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Once upon a time, Changbin might have yelled in surprise at Jaemin’s sudden appearances. By now, though, he’s used to his brother’s antics and instead, he just smiles. “Maybe I did. Maybe it’s coming to get me.”

“Shouldn’t you be scared, then?” Jaemin sits down with a plop, rustling the grass on the forest floor.

Changbin thinks back to your effortless beauty and simple grace and shakes his head, grinning like a fool. “No, not really.”

. . . . .

He hears them call you “moon girl.”

If his mother were any pettier, she might have rained bad luck upon your pretty head, sent curses on your family’s farm. But no – Changbin’s mother is a kind deity, far from the vengeful goddess of love, and she would never smite a human for something they cannot control.

They call you moon girl for your beauty, the way you resemble the light of the moon. As he hides behind a market stall to watch you pass, it’s as though your dress carries a train of moonlight even in the glare of the sun. No matter how plain your clothes are, they cannot obscure the glow of beauty emanating from your being.

Changbin briefly wonders if this is what it is like to be in love.

But no matter. A moon girl could never love a moon child like him. Short, with often scowling eyes and a sharp chin, Changbin sometimes wonders how his mother could have loved his father. He’s never met his father – he died before Changbin was born – but he does know his father was a mortal. A human. Unlike any other parent of the other moon children.

He’s different, he thinks sadly. Uglier than his siblings, with a penchant for trouble and mischief that few of them share. The reminder of this penchant brings Changbin to withdraw himself from the market and return to the forest where he belongs.

Night falls quickly in the winter, and from his vantage point atop a tree, Changbin watches the villagers return home. 

You pass by a little later than the rest. Changbin doesn’t know what you were doing to be so late, but it just makes you more noticeable. Alone, under the light of the stars and the moon, you are eye-catching to any of those in the vicinity. Changbin involuntarily gasps.

Then you look up. The leaves hide Changbin well, but he can see your questioning gaze from where he is. If he were to move, you would know for certain that someone is hiding up there.

He could have stayed still and let you move on. But instead, he shifts the leaves slightly, and for the first time, his eyes stare into yours.

Surprise flashes across your face and Changbin momentarily regrets his movement. He should’ve just remained still. But then a wondrous smile breaks across your lips and all the regret vanishes in an instant.

“Hello.” You wave, eyes bright. Changbin feels his heart stopping as he stutters back a “hi” and waves back. He thinks he should climb out of the tree. He does.

“I haven’t seen you around before.” Your questioning gaze sweeps over his face and Changbin feels a blotchy blush climb up his cheeks. “What’s your name?”

“Changbin,” is all he trusts himself to say without looking a fool. He collects himself. “I don’t live in the village, which is probably why we don’t know each other.”

You cock your head slightly. “I see. I’m Y/N. If you don’t live here, where do you live?” Then your gaze drifts to the moonflower dangling over his shoulder and your eyes widen. “Are you –”

Panicked, Changbin slaps a hand over your mouth without thinking. Then he realizes what he’s done and immediately drops it. “Don’t say it out loud,” he whispers guiltily, hoping his face conveys his apology.

“Sorry,” you whisper. “But are you really a child of the moon?”

Swallowing hard, he nods. “Don’t tell anyone,” he begs.

“I won’t, I won’t,” you promise. “But does that mean the flower on your earring is really a moonflower?”

He nods again. “Thank you for not taking it the other day,” he adds, smiling shyly. “It was a gift from my mother. I didn’t want to lose it.”

“Your mother…” you muse quietly. “The moon goddess?” Awe spreads across your face. “Is she as beautiful as the legends say?”

Changbin smiles proudly. “She is.” But the smile fades away when he realizes what the next question will be – then what happened to you?

But the question never comes. Instead, you only shake your head in amazement and smile widely. “I can’t believe I met a moon child today,” you murmur. “You’re just how I imagined you to be.”

That’s a first. Changbin frowns in confusion. How could he be what anyone imagined a moon child to be? “How did you imagine us, then?” he asks.

A faraway expression comes onto your face. “I don’t know, really. It’s not exactly a physical thing, I suppose. You just seem to have this goodness and quiet… this quiet beauty and calm that I feel when I look at the moon late at night.”

Changbin swears he melts right then and there. Just melts into a little puddle and seeps into the ground before you. “Oh,” is all he manages in response.

You cringe visibly out of embarrassment. “I’m sorry if that made you –”

“No!” Changbin shakes his head quickly. “No, that was just… surprising. See, I’m not, um, exactly like the other moon children? So to hear someone say that I seem to be what they imagined a moon child to be is…”

“Oh.” You smile widely. “I thought I made you feel uncomfortable. Truthfully, other people imagine the moon children to be graceful, willowy, heavenly beings. But truly, I meant what I said. I always thought the moon children’s beauty lay more in their kind hearts than their physical appearance.”

“Are you saying I’m ugly, then?” Changbin teases, trying to mask the fact that he wants to run into the forest and scream in joy.

You smile back. “Not at all. I actually think you quite handsome.”

That’s it. That’s it. Changbin really thinks he’s just going to dive headfirst into Hyunjin’s pond and never emerge from its depths. He tries to fight the ugly blush that’s surely reddening his skin but he can’t stop the foolish smile.

“And I think you quite beautiful,” he murmurs, unable to look you in the eye as he says it. But the giggle that comes from your lips forces him to look up, if only to see the expression of shy happiness upon your face. For a moment, you only stare at each other.

“Y/N!”

The shout startles you both, but you recover quickly. “I have to go now,” you say apologetically. A gust of wind blows and you shiver. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

“I’m always here,” he promises. “I live in the forest.”

“Wonderful.” You beam. “I’d love to meet you again.”

“Me too.” Changbin gives up on fighting the blush. “Just don’t tell anyone about me.”

You nod. “Of course. I promise.” And with that parting note, you smile one more time, and then you turn and walk away until Changbin can no longer see your disappearing figure.

He barely makes it to Hyunjin’s pond before he collapses to his knees, buries his head in his hands, and lets out a muffled scream.

“Changbin?” The concerned water nymph arises from the depths, splashing droplets onto Changbin’s warm face. “Is something wrong?”

Changbin gulps. “Hyunjin, I think I’m in love.”

. . . . .

It only takes a week of moonlit meetings for Changbin to realize that his statement to Hyunjin was indeed fact. With every moment Changbin spends with you, he feels himself falling for you a little more. True, it began with your face, the pure elegance that made him think you were a deity. But as time passes, he realizes he isn’t falling for you just for your physique.

He falls for your wishes, for your dreams, for your desire to travel and see the world. He falls for your bright laugh and soft smile, for your twinkling eyes and roughened hands. He falls for your goodness, for your kindness, for the way you make him feel as though he is at home.

His friends tease him. Jisung mocks him as he traipses around the forest with a dopey look on his face. Hyunjin swoons dramatically when Changbin passes his pond. Jaemin flutters his eyelashes and coos whenever Changbin visits the moon. Even Chan, the ages-old keeper of the forest, smirks at Changbin after he hears the news.

(Changbin always knew that when they said Chan was the mature one, they were lying.)

But Changbin doesn’t care. If they met you, he thinks, they might understand. But Hyunjin can’t leave the pond, Jisung can’t leave the faerie ring, and Chan won’t leave his forest. In this way, Changbin’s lineage helps. As the son of a mortal, he can roam the earth. As the son of the moon, he can also wander the heavens.

These days, he prefers to spend more of his time on earth.

“Where do you live in the forest?” you ask one night, sitting with Changbin on a field of grass. The sky above is full of stars that shed glowing light upon your silken hair and shining face. “You’ve never shown me.”

Changbin purses his lips. “The forest is dangerous at night,” he finally says. “I can’t show you without a proper warning to the guardian. Anyway, most of the time I wander around. I don’t really live in one set place or another.”

You nod slowly. “Tell me more about your life, then. If I can’t see it firsthand, I want to know it from your stories.”

And with that smile on your face, how could Changbin refuse? So he only smiles back and begins to spin another yarn.

From Changbin you learn of Jaemin the brother, Hyunjin the water nymph, Jisung the fae, Chan the guardian. You hear of Seungmin’s exploits, the loving exasperation of the older brother Minho. But the stories you tell him you like the most are about Changbin himself.

He worries at first that he will scare you away with his affinity for trouble, with his unconventionality as a moon child. But the first story slips out, a tale of adventure when he got lost in an unknown wood one day with Jaemin, and with your coaxing, the rest come out one by one. A close call with an angry mountain spirit where he met Chan for the first time. An encounter with the two humans, Seungmin and Minho, whose entourage was murdered and Changbin chanced upon them and helped them to their kingdom. Little by little, Changbin opens up to you.

He doesn’t know it, but you love these little touches of himself. You love these little snippets of his world, seeing him in a softer light as he unabashedly begins to share his weaknesses, his happiness, his rues and woes and cheers and joys. Changbin may be falling in love with you, but he fails to see that you are falling just as much in love with him.

And so in return, you give him stories of yourself. In the dark of night you take him to explore the village, the market stalls, the unknown fields and nooks and crannies that only a born villager would know. You take him to the hidden peach grove, to the small library, to the open plains of grass and bushes that brush coolly against your bare feet. You tell him of your own wishes and dreams and secrets, sharing your love for the village but expressing the desire for a little more freedom, a little more choice.

Changbin wants to help you find that freedom.

“One day, if my mother permits, I’ll take you to visit the moon,” he promises one dark night when the moon is but a sliver in the sky. Even then, your eyes shine as bright as the covered stars. “Really?” you whisper in excitement.

“I’ll ask her the next time I go,” he vows. “I promise.”

. . . . .

He gets permission. But he doesn’t really like the overjoyed grin on his mother’s elegant face. Nor does he get a very good feeling about the excited whispering that follows him out of her palace and back to earth.

“Next week,” he promises you that night. “Next week, on the full moon, when the rays are strongest, I’ll take you to the sky.”

It’s so routine for him at this point that Changbin’s almost forgotten the wonder that comes with traveling to the heavens for the first time. It’s natural for him to bend the rays of moonlight into a translucent, shimmering staircase, but for you, it’s the greatest thing you’ve ever seen. He watches you with so much quiet love in his eyes as you ascend the stairs side by side that he doesn’t see how you haven’t caught on to his growing love for you.

(But can he really talk when he hasn’t noticed your love for him?)

The shimmering white palace takes your breath away upon first sight, and Changbin has to guide you, roughened fingers intertwined, into the town. You have a whole night to spend together, but time passes too quickly as Changbin drags you around the small city.

You see the moon rabbits, bounding about without a care, that allow you to stoop and pet their silky-soft heads. You meet the other moon children who exude the same shining grace and kindness that Changbin does. You see the towering buildings made of rays of the moon that sparkle with the essence of stars, and by the end, you’re smiling so wide Changbin thinks your face might split in half.

“One last thing,” he says as he stops you in front of the moon palace. “You must meet my mother.”

He can see the nervousness settle upon your face and he knows why. Besides him and his father, you are the only mortal who was stepped upon the moon in millennia. But he knows his mother will love you, so he guides you step by step to the palace and then her quarters and knocks quietly.

“My son,” she greets him warmly, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. Then her gaze drifts to your starstruck face. Eyes wide, you scramble into a deep bow, but she only pulls you up with the elegant grace of a goddess. “It is a pleasure to meet you, moon girl,” she teases lightly. “My son’s tales of your beauty have not been exaggerated.”

Changbin blushes and he wants nothing more than to hide in a tiny corner of the palace, especially when you look at him with those sparkling eyes. He knew he should have paid more attention to his mother’s mischievous smile when he asked for permission to bring you here.

“Thank you, my lady,” you whisper, hardly daring to look her in the eye.

“I only speak the truth,” is the goddess’s warm reply. “Come in. We can have some tea.”

Changbin’s glad his mother doesn’t make many more comments on his affection for you, besides a wink or two his way and a very unsubtle “You know, I would love to have you as a daughter, or daughter-in-law,” which sends the two of you into coughing fits that leave you as bright red as the far-away dot of the sun outside the window. On the way out, his mother fusses over you, draping a gauzy shawl of woven moonlight over your shoulders, and you can hardly breathe to say your thanks before she sends you onto the staircase back to earth.

“Had fun?” Changbin asks halfway down the stairs.

Your shining eyes give him the only answer he needs. “A thousand times, yes,” you breathe.

As Changbin walks you to the edge of your family’s farm, he knows that he wants to see those shining eyes forever.

. . . . .

The two of you get caught one night. Your father, coming out for a late night stroll, catches you sneaking away at the border of the farm and calls to you. Changbin, not wanting you to face any wrath alone, refuses to leave you and walks back as well.

Your father has kind eyes, a strong build, and a warm seriousness around him that makes Changbin sure of where you get your gentle heart from. But in that first moment when his face looks like thunder and his eyes like lightning in the sky, Changbin feels his heart pound.

“Who are you?” are the first words that leave your father’s mouth. Changbin wants to wither into the ground but stands as tall as he can. “My name is Changbin, sir.”

A gust of wind blows, pushing Changbin’s hair back. The flash of white that is his moonflower earring catches your father’s attention. His eyes widen as Changbin, panicked, hides the flower again.

“My daughter,” he whispers in wonder, “what business do you have with a child of the moon?”

Too late.

“Father.” You step up. “Can we speak of this inside?”

So that’s how Changbin finds himself inside your house, father and mother sitting across from you two around a small table. The atmosphere is awkward as the two adults attempt and fail at not staring at his moonflower earring.

“We are friends,” the two of you say repeatedly as you explain your first meeting and your growing friendship. It hurts Changbin to say that you are only friends, but there is no other way around it lest he reveal his love for you.

(Little does he know it hurts you just as much as it hurts him.)

The meeting goes a little longer than Changbin would have liked, but to be honest, it could have gone much worse. The parents look at him with wary eyes but seem to believe that he has no ill intentions toward their daughter. They permit their continued contact, provided you exercise caution and do not stray beyond the village borders.

You wisely do not speak of your visit to the moon.

The next night, you joke that it’s as though you two are courting. “We’ve met each other’s parents,” you tease. “What could be next?”

As Changbin blushes, you suddenly frown slightly. “But what about your father?” you ask.

The blush fades. “I never met him,” Changbin murmurs. “He died before I was born.”

“Oh, gods above, I’m sorry,” you apologize, panicked. “I didn’t mean –”

“It’s okay.” Changbin smiles at you slightly. “My mother told me he was a good man and that if he were alive, he would be proud to have me as a son. That’s all I need to know, really.”

“He was a human?” you ask.

“Yes.” He nods. “That’s why I can walk the earth and the sky. My siblings can only stay on earth for very short periods of time, and only really when the moon is full.” He snorts a little self-deprecatingly. “I guess that makes me special.”

Slowly, you intertwine your fingers with his. “You’ve always been special to me, Changbin,” you murmur.

He blushes.

. . . . .

A year passes in this manner, with Changbin skirting around his feelings and praying that you don’t catch on. The village comes to know him since really, the secret can’t exactly stay put in one household, but everyone is kind and gentle and only treats him with respect when they see him walking by your side. They worship his mother kindly and promise to keep his secret from outsiders. Perhaps the promise is more motivated by fear of the moon, but he appreciates it regardless.

Changbin could have stayed like this forever in the bliss of this small village, with you at his side. But all good things must come to an end.

And the beginning of the end comes with a royal official’s visit to the village.

A tax collector, Changbin later learns. That’s who the official is. He’s been on earth long enough to know what a tax is.

No matter. The man is not very pleasant. But what makes Changbin loathe him even more is the wide-eyed, eager look on the tax collector’s face whenever he sees you passing by.

You do avoid him as much as you can, and Changbin stays by your side. But the damage is already done. The tax collector returns to the capital, spreading tales of your beauty, and the king himself comes to visit your village.

If Changbin hated the tax collector, there are no words to describe how he feels towards the king.

Handsome, perhaps. But monstrous. Cruel. Greedy. Changbin can only watch with a sick feeling in his stomach as his greedy eyes fixate on your beauty and devour you whole.

The king wastes no time in making his intentions clear. He shows up at your family farm on the second day of his visit. Changbin’s about to go inside, but he hides himself in the bushes near the living room window as soon as he sees who’s come to the door.

“I wish to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage,” is the first thing the king says to your dumbstruck father.

You are called into the room for a reply when your father refuses to answer on your behalf. By then, half the room already looks annoyed, Changbin notes with a smirk. Everyone expected a fast reply, a quick “yes” by the man of the household. But your father is a good man and puts his daughter before any offered wealth, no matter how tempting it is.

Even with coal smudged on your face and clothes that are in tatters, even though you have made every attempt to disfigure your beauty, you look as radiant as the night sky. For once, Changbin wishes you were less beautiful as the king takes you in with his corrupt eyes. He doesn’t know how you keep your composure as you give your answer.

“Please give me some time to think, Your Majesty,” you speak lowly. “It is a very sudden proposal.”

The advisor by his side turns red. “What do you mean, time to think? There is no time to think! You give your answer right now or –”

The king puts a hand up. “I will give you one week to… ah, think.” The smirk on his face is revolting. “I will ask for your answer then. It does not matter.” He addresses his advisor. “She knows she has no choice anyway.”

With that, the door slams shut with a resounding bang.

Changbin knows you must be terrified. You must be shaking, trembling, perhaps even crying. But this time, he cannot comfort you.

For what can he do to go against a king?

. . . . .

He visits his mother that night, red-eyed, confused, crying. She takes him in without a word and though he can sense her disapproval at his lack of action (mothers know everything, after all, especially those who are goddesses), she makes him a cup of tea, coaxes him into drinking it, then forces him to tell her everything.

“How could she love someone like me, Mother?” Changbin finally whispers. His tears are gone and his throat is raw. The moon goddess strokes his head rhythmically, occasionally playing with the pure-white flower in his ear.

“Changbin, do you know why I fell in love with your father?” she asks. He shakes his head no against her chest.

“Your father was mortal,” she whispers. “I met him during a time when the sun himself was courting me. Yes, the sun was courting the moon.” Changbin can feel her wry smile. “But I fell in love with your father over the sun.”

“Why?” Changbin chokes.

“He was not a beautiful man,” the goddess muses. “He was not ugly. He was handsome in the way you are, but he was not beautiful the way the sun was. But he had a gentility and grace about him that made me fall. He attracted me with his heart.”

“You may not believe me,” she murmurs, “but your Y/N loves you as you love her. I can see it in her eyes. My son,” she continues before Changbin can have the chance to interject, “I have fallen in love many times, seen love in many forms. You love each other. But one of you must take the first step.”

“But –”

“She loves you for your heart and you love her for hers,” the goddess interrupts. “That is the purest form of love there is.”

His mother releases him with a parting forehead kiss and a gentle reminder to be brave. Still, though, he stands in front of the door to your home for what feels like hours, debating on whether or not to knock. Eventually, he does.

You open the door. Weak-eyed, pale-faced, you stare back at him with anxiety evident in your body.

“Can we speak in the forest?” he asks quickly. “I’ll make sure no one sees us there.”

. . . . .

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing that comes out of his mouth when you two sit on the forest floor. Hyunjin’s pond gurgles next to him, and he accepts the silent strength and courage his friend is lending him. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you yesterday.”

“It’s alright.” You smile sadly. “It was quite a shock to me too. And it would have been dangerous for you.”

“I should’ve gone anyway,” Changbin murmurs. “If anything, to comfort you.”

Silence stretches for a minute.

“I don’t want you to marry him,” Changbin finally says. He swallows hard. “I want you to marry me.”

There. The thunderous declaration of his love has finally manifested into six simple words. His heart pounds, but he continues. “I thought you didn’t love me back at first. That’s why I didn’t come back to comfort you after he came to your home. I went to the moon and my mother knocked some sense into me. I love you, Y/N, and I don’t want to see you with anyone else other than me. Call me selfish, but I don’t want to see you go – especially not with that king.”

More silence. Your eyes brim with tears. Changbin wants to flee but forces himself to stay still but with every passing second his heart drops a little further into his stomach –

And then you launch yourself at him, crying and laughing as you wrap your arms around his neck. The force of your hug nearly sends the two of you into the pond, but Changbin manages to keep his balance just in time. “I love you too, Changbin,” you gasp. “I love you so much. I could never marry the king of my own accord – not when I love you the way I do.”

This is the first declaration of true love Changbin has ever received. True, he has always known he was loved, by his friends, by his siblings, by his mother. The forest deities and moon children are an accepting lot, always sweet and always kind. But this isn’t the same kind of love.

Changbin has never known what it was like to be the center of someone else’s universe. He’s never known what it was like to have that someone else be the center of his. And now that he does, he knows that he never wants you to leave.

“Run away with me,” Changbin proposes once the two of you calm enough to break away. “Run away and I’ll keep you safe. I’ll never leave you, not as long as I’m alive.”

“Deal.” You set your jaw. “But how?”

. . . . .

The plan is simple. Your parents know of it and they approve. They too do not want you to marry a corrupt king and live a life of solitude in a cold palace.

(“I’d far rather have you marry my daughter,” your father says to Changbin. “I know you will treat her far better than our king. I give you my blessing.”)

You call the king to your home the day after the plan is made. “I will marry you,” you say. “But give me one year to travel on my own. I have never seen the world beyond this kingdom. I would like to do so before I am to stay here forever.”

The king doesn’t like it and he makes his displeasure known. Still, though, you hold your ground, and in the end, he agrees.

The night you are to leave, Changbin meets you at your house. You plan to sneak out through the forest, and from there, be on your way to wherever you go. Chan has promised to keep you safe once under the forest canopy.

“Ready?” Changbin whispers, taking your hand. His free hand goes to his pocket, where he makes sure the little box is still there.

“Ready,” you agree, squeezing his palm.

And so the two of you set out across the field under nothing but the cover of darkness. Changbin doesn’t like it, but there is no other way to the forest except across the plain field. The moon is but a sliver in the cloudy sky – the perfect night for you to run away.

Until the arrows begin raining down.

The first hits the ground at Changbin’s feet. The next sails by his ear. Another nearly takes out your eye.

“RUN!” Changbin yells, pulling you forward. The forest is close. You can run there.

Faster, faster, Changbin thinks. He prays to his mother for safety, prays to the spirit of his father and every other deity as you evade the arrows and run for the cover of the forest.

Then one catches his leg. Pain like nothing he’s ever felt before shoots up his leg and he stumbles, nearly pulling you down too. But he moves on, gritting his teeth. “Keep going,” he shouts. “We’re almost there!”

Against the odds, you two run faster. But the arrow whizzing through the air travels even faster.

Changbin hears the whistling and knows he will not survive. His leg feels like it’s on fire and he can’t keep up with you and there’s no way he’ll be able to dodge. He closes his eyes, resigns himself to fate.

At least you will live.

Then he’s on the ground. His leg still flares with pain but there’s nothing in his torso. He looks up, shocked, and sees you standing stock-still. The faint light of the moon shines on the arrow protruding from your chest.

And then you fall.

. . . . .

Changbin screams. He doesn’t notice that the arrows have stopped flying through the air. He doesn’t notice that the clopping of horse hooves is growing near. He doesn’t notice that the villagers have left their houses to see what’s going on. He only sees you, the blood pooling on your chest, and the ugly arrow embedded in your flesh.

“Why?” he sobs. “Why did you do it? You should’ve –”

“Do you think I ever could have left you to die?” you gasp weakly. “Do you really, Changbin?”

And Changbin knows the answer is no. He feels the same way – he never would have let you die if he could help it. But –

“Not like this,” he cries. “Not like this.”

“I’m sorry, Changbin.” One weak hand rises and Changbin grasps it, holding it tight against his own. “Let me touch your face,” you request. “Let me touch you one last time.”

Tears blurring his vision, he brings your hand to his cheek, the other hand propping you up slightly. You gaze at him with the fullest, purest love in your eyes, and Changbin hates himself for never realizing your love before.

Why did he have to be such a coward?

“Kiss me, Bin,” you murmur. “Once, before I go.”

Your lips meet in a slow, desperate kiss, full of the passion of a lifetime’s love and the sadness of a thousand heartbreaks. Changbin doesn’t care about the blood soaking into his shirt. He only cares about the last feeling of your warm lips on his, your weakening breath against his skin.

Time is cruel. It gives him but a few single minutes with his love, and Changbin uses them to clutch your hand like a lifeline. “I love you, Y/N,” he whispers. “I wish I’d told you before.”

“And I love you too, Changbin,” you murmur so softly he can barely hear it. “I wish I’d told you sooner as well. But please…”

“Please what?” he whispers.

“Don’t kill the king,” you breathe. “Don’t kill anyone. Have mercy.”

He doesn’t want to listen. “But –”

“No, Changbin.” You gasp slightly. “Have mercy.”

Your eyes stare into his with the intensity of the million stars in the sky and he cannot refuse. He nods once. “I will.”

“Good.” A smile, the same beautiful smile he first fell in love with, breaks across your lips. “I will love you forever, Changbin.”

He kisses you one last time. “I will always love you too,” he whispers.

Your smile grows brighter and for one beautiful second, Changbin really believes you will come alive again, that this will all turn out to be a terrible dream. Then your hand falls limp and your eyes turn glassy as your heart gives its final beat.

Changbin’s heart feels like it’s tearing itself out of his chest. He wants to scream, to let everything out in one, long, horrible howl, but he restrains himself and only gently rests your head on the grass.

He doesn’t care about the stares following his every movement. He doesn’t care about the arrow sticking out of his leg. He snaps the arrow at its shaft, then pulls the head out. He ignores the pain and stands.

It must be a comical sight, a short boy facing an archer, several soldiers, and the king himself, all on horses. But his anguished eyes and bloodstained shirt speak volumes for his desperation, and the moonlit flower in his ear tells of the power he holds.

His voice is strangled and choked and brimming with restrained fury and grief and hopelessness, but he speaks, and they listen. They listen to the shaking, broken boy who stands in front of them.

“Go.” He collects himself, steadies his voice. “Get out of this village.”

The king attempts some sort of bravado. “And who do you think you are to tell me what I should do in my own kingdom?” he snorts. But the slight shaking of his voice reveals the worry he holds for his own life in the face of the son of the moon.

“Would you like my mother to convince you?” Changbin replies, his voice low and hoarse and steady. He glances at the moon, the thin crescent winking down on him with the strength of all the heavenly beings in the sky. That glance is all it takes to confirm the truth that had been simmering in the king’s mind.

“I will not kill you if you leave.” His voice again begins to shake. “It was her wish that I would not, though I cannot fathom why she would have sympathy for a man as vile as you.” Changbin spits at the ground before the horses’ feet. “So leave. Your greed has caused enough destruction here. Go away and stay away. Never come back.”

For several seconds, the two sides only stare.

Then Changbin explodes.

“I said, LEAVE!” he screams, his voice finally cracking as he finally collapses to his trembling knees at the side of his love, tears streaking down his glowing face. “GO! BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL!”

He hears the clopping of hooves begin and knows that they recede, but all he has eyes for in the moment is the dead body of the girl he loved. With shaking fingers, he pulls out the arrow still lodged in your chest and adjusts your clothes so the ugly wound is no longer visible. Several villagers rush up to help him, but he waves them away. Instead, he picks you up with the gentleness of his mother’s fingers and bears you back to your home.

Telling your parents is the worst thing he’s ever done. They fall over your body with screams of grief, and Changbin can only stand quietly to the side, crying silent tears until someone – a neighbor, he thinks – coaxes him onto a chair to bandage his wound.

Even after the sun rises, after your parents have forgiven him and taken your body for burial, he feels like shit. He’s cried himself out so there are no tears left, but his head is pounding and his heart is hurting and Changbin wants nothing more than to fling himself into your arms and rest.

But you are no longer there to comfort him.

The burial is the next day. Changbin asks to see the body one more time before it is buried. Standing before the open casket, he marvels at how you look just like you’re sleeping.

He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the box he meant to give you the day you left.

From inside he pulls a thin necklace of simple metal. A pendant hangs from it, a flower of pure white petals.

A moonflower.

With gentle fingers, he fastens the chain around your neck. The moonflower rests at the base of your throat, glowing white against your cold skin.

He stares at you a moment longer. “Goodbye,” he whispers. “I love you.”

Then he turns and walks away, disappearing into the forest.

. . . . .

Every year, a moonflower appears on her grave. No one has dared to take them away, and today, a flowering bush spreads across the grass. The villagers only look at it with sorrow, for they loved the girl like a daughter and loved the moon child like a son.

No one has seen him since the last day he left. They say he lives in the forest, but few are brave enough – or foolish enough – to enter its dangerous depths. Sometimes they think they see him on her death anniversary, placing the next moonflower upon her grave, but no one ever knows for sure. And so they keep them alive in memory, telling the story, generation after generation, of the peasant beauty with a heart of gold, and the moonlit boy who loved her.

[henshengs]

Hunger Games AU Part 9

previous parts

or read the whole thing on ao3

They descend in the elevator. Nie Mingjue stands at Meng Yao’s shoulder, vibrating with arousal and undirected rage, and it’s uncomfortable and a little terrifying, but the way he’s standing between Meng Yao and the Wens is protective and Meng Yao is grateful for it, the sick anxious gratitude of a dog who knows he is about to bite the hand giving him a charitable pat. The elevator descends beneath the garage level, and when the doors open they’re hit with a draft of air that smells of damp and mildew, though the bare walls around them look recently whitewashed. Fluorescent light strips and the gestures of the guards direct them down a corridor to a platform where most of the other competitors already wait. It’s a train platform, Meng Yao realizes after a moment, and then he realizes the train is already there and the others are getting on.

There’s a panic that started building in his stomach when the elevator sunk underground, and it’s increased by the sight of the small train doors and the crush of people. He knows where it comes from, and he tries to breathe through it. The air tastes acrid and strange, and that ought to help- the basement under the club didn’t taste like this- but the alien nature of it all only makes it more unsettling. He wants Mingjue to notice his distress. He wants to be comforted. It’s juvenile nonsense. Why should Mingjue notice anything is wrong, when Meng Yao is only trying harder to project an air of confident serenity? He feels his fingers clench around the leather of his robes.

“Meng-gongzi?”

Briefly he thinks his spiralling mind has summoned up an illusion of Lan Xichen, appearing in front of him like a cool calming snowfall, but a hand touches the back of his arm, and then takes his elbow in what feels like an iron grip. Whoever is styling the Lans, they haven’t let the futility of the exercise prevent them from fully devoting themselves to their task. Lan Xichen is- Lan Xichen looks-

Ethereal, is the only possible word.

Lan Xichen is dressed for his interview, not in the blue tones of the morning’s robes but in the pale pale blue of very pure ice, draped in layers of gauze that sparkle like fresh fallen snow. His guan is a magnificent flowering of silver antlers and dark tree branches. His eyes are kind and concerned.

Meng Yao can’t stop himself from turning his head to look anxiously at Nie Mingjue. Chifeng-zun has taken a step back from Meng Yao, and he’s looking away from Lan Xichen. Meng Yao wishes very much to know what they said to each other, when he left them alone.

“Are you all right?” Lan Xichen asks.

He is, at least, distracting. Meng Yao smiles, eyes lowered, and the familiarity of the action is grounding. “This servant is fine, Lan-gongzi.”

The interior of the underground train is not as luxurious as the one which carried him from Qinghe. There is a loud background roar of machinery and air conditioning. Meng Yao sits on a hard seat between Nie Mingjue and Nie Zonghui, the three of them, for now at least, a united front separate from their Wen escort and stylists. Across the foot and a half of passing space, the Lan brothers sit together on another bench, with their escort and stylists, a small, round young man and two identical-looking women. There’s no sign of the Lan mentor.  Meng Yao remembers Su Minshan in the elevator, losing his nerve before reaching the dining hall, and wonders if he is even on the train.  

There are guards at the door to each carriage, blank-faced, eyes empty.

With a jolt, the train begins to move. Meng Yao lets the motion of it throw him against Nie Mingjue’s side. Nie Mingjue glances at him, and then quickly away. He puts a hand on Meng Yao’s back, to steady him. Meng Yao tries to estimate the speed of the train, tries to remember each shift in direction, tries to build a mental map. There are no maps of Nightless City in Qinghe. His mental map extends, and extends. Surely the city can’t be that large. Can it? Surely they’re being taken to somewhere on the outskirts. Are they? Is the capital of Wen power simply ten times as vast as any city in Qinghe or Yunmeng?

The train stops. The doors slide open. There’s another fluorescently-lit underground level outside, the same whitewashed concrete walls. But the air is cooler.

Outside, steps lead up, flights of stairs, switchbacking around until the concrete changes to painted paper, until the sounds of climate control fade and are replaced by a distant roar of some vast audience.

There is a waiting room. Comfortable couches, upholstered in red rather than white. The servants are wearing white, though. They stand ready to provide refreshments. They do not speak, or make eye contact.

Nie Mingjue chooses a couch and Zonghui and Meng Yao sit on either side of him. It is uncomfortable for Meng Yao, to be sitting next to Nie Mingjue, instead of standing behind him. He wonders how Zonghui feels about it. Here, Nie Miingjue is not their martial brother, not the head of their sect. He’s their mentor, and they’re the competitors.

The others settle, too. The Lans sit on a couch across from the Nies, their stylists kneeling in front of them to make last minute changes. Wei Wuxian, dressed flashily in black leather, floats across the room to lean over the back of the couch and hand something to Lan Wangji. HIs stylist, a boy who looks unusually young, with an unusually open and expressive face, pulls at his robes and says something pleading. Lan Wangji crumples whatever it is he’s been handed, and lets dust trickle out of his closed fist.

“Wei Wuxian,” a bored voice calls over a speaker, and guards step forward from the doors on the other side of the room.

Wei Wuxian makes a face, and then turns to smile sharply at the guards. Someone else gets up- Jiang Yanli, a delicate lotus in layers of pink and purple. “A-Xian,” she calls, anxious.

“Don’t worry, shijie, it’ll be your turn next,” he shouts back at her, as the guards push him towards the door.

“Wei-gongzi,” the young Jiang stylist calls, and Wei Wuxian calls back, “Don’t worry, I remember!”

The huge screen hanging over the east wall clicks on with a loud hum and crackle. There’s a familiar theme song playing. Meng Yao experiences a moment of violent disorientation. He’s in the Unclean Realm, in Nie Huaisang’s room, sitting on Nie Huaisang’s bed. The competitor interviews are playing through the tinny speaker on Nie Huaisang’s tablet, propped up against a pile of untidy art supplies. Nie Huaisang is lying on the bed, his head in Meng Yao’s lap. Meng Yao is stroking his hair, absently. It is not unlike petting a cat. There was a cat who would scavenge for food in the garbage bins outside the club. Meng Yao brought food for it, when he was sent to sit outside on the steps. Sometimes it allowed him to pet its patchy off-white fur. Sometimes it scratched him. He wasn’t angry about the scratches. Sometimes he hurt people for no good reason, too. And he already had plenty of practice hiding marks on his body from his mother.

He’s brought back to the present by a heavy hand on his arm. He turns his head, and looks into Nie Mingjue’s face.

“Don’t watch,” Nie Mingjue says. “That’s what they want you to do.”

Meng Yao makes himself smile slightly, and nod, eyes downcast. The hand on his arm squeezes a little. “Don’t,” Nie Mingjue says, and Meng Yao is surprised enough to look up again.

Nie Mingjue’s jaw is clenched, his brow wrinkled as he searches for the right words. On the screen, in the corner of Meng Yao’s vision, the host is introducing himself and warming up the audience. “That smile,” Nie Mingjue says at last, and like always, the other sounds of the world fade away when he speaks; Meng Yao couldn’t pay attention to the tv instead even if he wanted to. “You never gave me that smile, before I left. You gave it to other people. Not to me.”

That startles Meng Yao. “I-” he says, and then stops, not having any words with which to finish the sentence. He doesn’t want to have this conversation in public, with more than fifty bored sets of eyes watching them. They never have this kind of conversation in public. They rarely have it in private.

-you’re already very popular with the young ladies. Is there anything you’d like to say to them today?- the screen hisses.

“Everyone looks at you differently, afterward,” Nie Mingjue continues. “Even the people you hoped would think no less of you.”

“Nie-zongzhu,” Meng Yao whisper-shouts.

“Shut up,” someone says. Meng Yao has to turn to see that it’s the girl from Shudong. “Not everyone can read the subtitles. I want to hear.” Her partner, the boy, gives an apologetic shrug.

Nie Mingjue lets out a harsh breath, and then straightens, looking away from Meng Yao. Meng Yao tries to regain his composure. The screen wavers a little before resolving into an elaborate stage, false fire licking around its edges and up the support columns. A man in Wen white and red is interviewing a relaxed and grinning Wei Wuxian. The host seems very pleased with his subject; the crowd is certainly happy, judging by the roars of applause and laughter whenever Wei Wuxian makes a joke.

“So, Wei-gongzi, we all saw you volunteer for the Jiang Sect’s first young master,” the host says. “Can you tell us why you chose to volunteer?”

“I’m sure you know what the Jiang Clan motto is,” Wei Wuxian says.

“‘Attempt the impossible,’” the host quotes with a smile.

“Exactly,” Wei Wuxian says with a firm nod. “How could I, the head disciple of the Jiang Clan, pass up such an opportunity to fulfill our founder’s words?”

“So you stole the opportunity from your martial brother? Isn’t that rather shameless?”

Wei Wuxian grins. “Everyone in the cultivation world can tell you, when it comes to shamelessness I’m at least in the top five,” he says. He stands up, and steps almost into the flickering flames, to address the crowd. “Can any of you think of someone more shameless than me?” he asks, and they roar back, “No!”

“You’re number one, Wei Wuxian!” someone shouts, and Wei Wuxian does an elaborate bow. He looks smaller, on the screen, but older. They’ll probably all look older, Meng Yao realizes. That’s half the purpose of the makeup.

“Jiang Yanli,” the bored voice says over the speaker into their waiting room, and Jiang Yanli stands up quickly. She looks very small, as the guards walk towards her. Her stylist presses something into her hands, and then lingers for a long moment, their hands entwined. Then she steps back, and Jiang Yanli walks towards the door, head held high.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t reappear. There must be a second waiting room on the other side of the stage.

The interviewer is gentle with Jiang Yanli, apparently charmed by her softness and shy quiet. She’s not a pretty girl, but her makeup and styling has transformed her to a near magical degree, and she looks like a softly glowing lotus blossom under the studio lights. “A-Xian is like a brother to me,” she says. “I just want to help him and keep him safe.” The audience coos at this. No one’s going to sponsor Jiang Yanli in hopes of her winning, but they might sponsor her in hopes of keeping her around for a few episodes, making sure her image is emblazoned in the public consciousness so they can make her a brand to sell clothes and perfume and posters.

Meng Yao’s stylist scolds him for streaking his makeup. She dries his eyes and dusts his cheeks with a final layer of something just as the speaker calls out his name.

He stands up. He’s not entirely surprised when Nie Mingjue stands up, too, and draws him into the least-crowded corner of the room, moving close to him for the barest illusion of privacy.

“Meng Yao,” Nie Mingjue says. “I know you’re clever, that’s why I have always valued your advice. But you’ve never been a competitor. I have. I am your mentor. On this occasion, I ask you to take my advice.”

“Of course,” Meng Yao says. “I am honored to receive advice from-”

“Don’t play their games,” Nie Mingjue says. “It isn’t worth it. The more you give, the more they will take. Stay true to yourself, as much as you can. You are a good and honorable person. Hold on to that.”

“Don’t you dare ruin my work again,” Meng Yao’s stylist scolds Nie MIngjue. The guards are close now. Meng Yao pulls Nie Mingjue’s hands off of his arms, one finger at a time. His back aches. It doesn’t want a repeat of the previous night.

“Will Nie-zongzhu wish me luck?” Meng Yao hears himself ask.

“Good luck,” Nie Mingjue says, voice rough, blinking tears out of his eyes.

The guards each put a hand on one of Meng Yao’s shoulders, and he goes with them, walking fast to avoid being pushed. He doesn’t turn around; doesn’t look back. The door opens. Beyond is a corridor with mirrored walls. He avoids meeting the eyes of his reflections, as an infinite array of Meng Yaos walk down the corridor to the door on the other side.

That door opens, and beyond it is light and a roaring of sound.

[youidiotprince]

You want to draw me?

“Will you teach me how to draw?” Robbe blurted to Sander as they laid in Sander’s bed, facing each other. Robbe was looking over Sander’s shoulder at the wall behind him, which was a collage of photographs and sketches, some of Robbe alone, some with the two of them together. It was just like that studio at his college, but more intimate, somehow. These were the things he chose to look at every night as he fell asleep.

Sander snorted, teasing, “I can try, but after that heart you drew the other day . . .” As he trailed off, he pursed his lips and widened his eyes, looking off to the side in his usual judging face, and Robbe scoffed in mock offensive.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said with a laugh, covering as much of Sander’s face with his hand as he could. As Sander moved Robbe’s hand from his face to his chest, Robbe defended, “I wrote our initials too big and then didn’t have a choice. Plus, that metal was hard to write on and you know that.”

“I know,” Sander said softly, voice warm as he took in Robbe’s playful smile. He wanted to keep teasing him, but instead he asked, “What do you want to draw?”

Robbe looked from Sander’s face down to their hands now entwined against Sander’s chest. “You,” he mumbled, a little sheepish. Hesitantly, he skimmed his gaze back up to Sander’s face, which was flushed pink around his beaming grin.

“You want to draw me?”

Robbe shrugged one shoulder and nodded his head at the same time. “You have all these sketches of me and of us and I don’t have anything of you. I want to be able to draw you so I can keep you with me always.” As soon as the words left his lips, Robbe blushed at what he had just said and turned to hide his face in his pillow.

“Robbe,” Sander exhaled, reaching out to run his fingers through Robbe’s hair. He loved when Robbe expressed his feelings only to get shy about them afterwards. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, Sander got a fluttery feeling in his stomach, and he just wanted to engulf Robbe in his arms and kiss him silly. Slowly, Robbe turned his face back to Sander’s, and Sander let his hand rest on the side of Robbe’s neck, fingertips still laced in Robbe’s hair and thumb caressing his cheek. “Of course I’ll teach you.”

Robbe’s face split open with a smile, the deeps lines carved into his cheeks on either side of his smile coming out in full force. He sat up on his elbow and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Sander’s from slightly above him. He tried to deepen the kiss, shifting his weight so that he hovered over top of him, but Sander put a hand on his chest, pushing him away. With a smirk, he asked, “Do you want to learn or not?” Robbe rolled his eyes but nodded his head eagerly.

Sander gently pushed Robbe off of him and climbed off the bed. He walked over to his desk, where Robbe assumed he did most of his drawing, and grabbed two sketchpads and two pencils. When he came back to the bed, he sat across from Robbe, facing him, legs criss-crossed. “Here you go.” As he handed the materials to Robbe, he pressed a quick kiss to the tip of his nose. Robbe mirrored Sander’s position exactly, down to the smallest detail, like how Sander was holding his pencil. Sander couldn’t keep himself from smiling at how seriously Robbe was taking this. He quickly nudged him with his foot because he couldn’t resist; he just wanted to touch him. Robbe was rubbing off on him. At that, Robbe scooched closer on the bed so that they were knee-to-knee, physically connected in some way.

“Okay, before you start, you should get an understanding of your subject. What are the unique aspects of their face, the things that make their face different from any other?” Robbe looked back at Sander blankly, so he continued, “Like, for you, it’d be things like your doe eyes, your brow, your faint freckles across your nose, and if I was drawing you smiling, your adorable smile lines.” Robbe blushed and smiled because he couldn’t help it, with Sander paying such close attention to him. “Yeah, exactly, those ones,” Sander teased as Robbe smiled even bigger.

“Stop,” Robbe said softly, flustered, lifting his sketchpad to lightly bop Sander’s head with it. Sander laughed and looked down at his own sketchpad, ready to start sketching the outline of Robbe’s face.

“Okay, so for you, it’d be like, how one of your eyes is a little bit smaller than the other, and that mole on your cheek, and . . .” Robbe trailed off, studying Sander’s face, in deep thought. It was Sander’s turn to blush under such careful, loving scrutiny from Robbe.

“You don’t have to say it out loud,” Sander interjected, growing just as flustered as Robbe was. He wanted to regain his composure, be the smooth, confident guy in the leather jacket, in control, teasing Robbe, but Robbe had a way of making him go so soft and blushy and rattled sometimes.

“Okay,” Robbe replied with a self-conscious smile, but he sat up a little straighter, proud that he had thrown Sander off of his game for a second.

They worked in almost silence, aside from when Sander would briefly describe the next step of the process, outlining the face, placing guides, trying to match proportions. He tried to walk Robbe through the process as he would with any other beginner, but he kept getting lost in his own sketch of Robbe. He didn’t always describe all of the steps out loud, too far gone in his own peace.

When Sander finally finished his sketch, he asked Robbe to see his. “Oh no,” Robbe mumbled, looking at his own drawing in its entirety for the first time since they started, taking it all in for what it was. An unfortunate, disproportionate rendering of someone who looked vaguely like Sander if you squinted your eyes really tight and tilted your head a little bit.

“Let me see,” Sander demanded, leaning his weight forward to try to look at the sketchpad in Robbe’s lap. Robbe quickly pulled the pad to his chest and looked at Sander with big, embarrassed eyes. “Come on, Robbe, it’s your first attempt. It isn’t supposed to be good. Let me see.”

Slowly, sheepishly, Robbe flipped his sketchpad around. A laugh burst from Sander’s lips, as much as he told himself he wouldn’t laugh no matter what. “Robbe,” Sander said, half in shock, half in adoration.

Robbe dropped the sketchpad to the side and flopped back against the bed, covering his face in embarrassment as he giggled uncontrollably at his own attempt. Sander couldn’t stop laughing either, and he crawled up the bed to lay next to Robbe and let his giggles mix with Robbe’s. Robbe turned into Sander, burying his head in Sander’s chest as he continued to laugh.

Eventually, as his own laughter died out, Sander pulled away, and, peeling Robbe’s hands away from his face, said, “You might need a few more lessons.”

“Or I’m just hopeless.”

“Robbe, you are the least hopeless person I’ve ever met,” Sander replied, just to be cheesy, but once he said, he realized how much he meant it. Looking down at Robbe adoringly, he started to pepper his face in kisses until Robbe was giggling again and pushing at Sander’s chest weakly. “Also, I’m keeping this,” Sander said as he pulled away, reaching behind him to grab the sketchpad.

“Absolutely not,” Robbe said, actual worry filling his eyes.

“Yes.”

“No,” Robbe replied, exasperated.

As Sander answered with another “yes,” he closed the space between them and gave Robbe a kiss to shut him up. Robbe slowly deepened the kiss, running one hand through Sander’s hair and pulling his face even closer to his. He wrapped his other arm around Sander’s back, pressing their bodies together, inch for inch. Just as Sander started to lose himself in the kiss, slipping his free hand under Robbe’s shirt to feel his warm bare skin, Robbe snatched the drawing from Sander’s other hand, breaking from the kiss to roll off the bed and run to the other side of the room.

“You’re not keeping this, Sander,” Robbe insisted, already laughing, feeling triumphant but knowing his triumph wouldn’t last for long.

“Oh, yes I am,” Sander replied, a mischievous grin breaking out across his face as he climbed out of bed and started to stalk towards Robbe. Robbe knew he didn’t stand a chance.

[imtrynnawriteshit]

Jacob Frye x Female!Reader (2! Looks like I’m actually going through with this! Hooray!)

Oh wow it’s been uh a while

This is v conversation heavy? Is that how you describe things??

Well, it is now hehehe

Something I forgot to mention the last time: the slang that I’m using is not entirely period appropriate? I mean, it somewhat is, but I’m also mixing up years and classes of people who used them (because I cannot be arsed to sit and sort everything out class and period wise)

If it seems like I only stick to a couple of letters worth of slang, that’s because I’ve only just gotten to ones that start with D. It’s a whole process and I’m lazy

Also, I know absolutely nothing about business and I like to think I can be clever, so if the whole thing just sounds way too dramatic, I’m srry, I cannot business at all

But I tried and that’s what counts, right? :D

Hope u enjoy luv u

Words: 1608

Warnings: One (1) damn, not properly edited (maybe I’ll do it l8r though), might get v pretentious (I’m trying to channel my inner Victorian) :((

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed (Syndicate)

Characters: Jacob Frye, Reader

Relationships: Jacob Frye x Reader but like, still business-y (as if I know what that means)

Fortunately, you'd managed to avoid Mr. Starrick finding out about your unexpected little detour. Rather unfortunately, though, your driver seemed to have left town - you'd seen neither hide nor hair of him for the past week or so.

Not that you had the time to look for him, of course. You'd been entirely focused on building the company up again, regaining all the profits you'd lost after Pearl's death, so much so that you'd even forgotten Mr. Frye was due for a visit.

Until he showed up in a manner suited to one of his particular disposition.

You'd visited one of your friends that afternoon for a cup of tea, briefly putting aside the contracts and accounts you were constantly pouring over. Your departure soon after found you feeling lighter, the tension not weighing down your shoulders for once.

Though you did your best to counter it, of course. God forbid it ruin your posture.

Mind immediately wandering to the paperwork you had left, you approached your carriage (which, despite having been discreetly sent off to get fixed up, still bore a few scratches from your misadventure). The new driver already held the door open, arm extended to help you in. It was only when you glanced at him, nodding your gratitude, hand firmly in his grasp, that you realized it wasn’t, in fact, your recent employ.

It was Mr. Frye.

You let out a rather un-ladylike groan as you sat down.

"Please tell me you didn’t scare this one off too. I can't exactly afford the habit of interviewing for drivers."

His eyes widened in mock-innocence before he shut the door, getting on to the bench and taking the reins, all the while running his mouth about how he'd "never" and he was "appalled" you thought so little of him.

Good heavens.

"Yes, alright, but will he be back?"

"He'll meet you at Trafalgar Square in an hour," he sighed, urging the horse into a steady trot.

You frowned, "But that's only five minutes away."

"Which gives us fifty-five to talk, doesn't it?" he said, sounding rather exasperated. You chose to ignore that, instead peaking out the window, trying to figure out where you were headed.

"Mr. Frye, where exactly are we going?"

"Why, to the cosiest alley the district has to offer, of course!" he said, turning into one just within reach of the Square, hopping into the carriage almost as soon as he brought it to a halt.

"Well, this certainly won't rouse suspicion," you remark, peering through the window, eyebrows raised, before drawing the curtains and turning to look at him again. "Now, I presume you have something for me".

"Yes and no."

You narrowed your eyes, "That's not how it works, Mr. Frye. You either have an offer or you don't. Which is it?"

"There is something I can give you, but I'll need time to deliver on it."

"And that something is?"

Frankly, you didn’t expect much. There was barely anything he could offer that you couldn’t acquire (if you didn’t already have it) anyway.

"Complete ownership of Attaway Transport, without the added burden of Starrick's overbearing and ever-looming presence."

Or so you thought.

He managed to shock you into silent for a moment, before you shook yourself out of it and huffed out a small laugh.

"I have to say: I didn’t quite think you'd manage it, but you've captured my interest. Tell me, then; how exactly would you go about that? Mr. Starrick isn't one to just give up power."

"Luckily enough, we're looking to provide a more permanent solution to the problem of - well, him."

"Are you now?" your eyebrows shot up again, this time in intrigue, and you could feel the anticipation and excitement brewing within you at the thought of the possibilities his death could bring. If the way Mr. Frye's brow twitched in return was any indication, you weren't doing a very good job hiding it. "That certainly changes things. Though I suppose I should've known, you haven't been all that...subtle about your intentions, the way you've been running around London wreaking havoc."

"There you have it, then," he grinned, throwing an arm up over the back of the seat. "What do you say?"

You took a moment to deliberate, Mr. Frye letting you take the time you needed to come to a decision once you shot him a look when he started getting antsy, stopping him before he could get much further than "I don't mean to badger you but-". You could see the eagerness in the way he'd leaned ever so slightly towards you, in how his eyes remained trained on you, analyzing every shift in your features, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on in your head, of the decision you'd come to.

Well, there was certainly no doubt about what your answer was going to be. It was, however, quite endearing, the way he impatiently awaited your response.

Probably best you put him out of his misery, though, and so you offered him your hand.

"It appears," you smiled, "you have yourself a deal, Mr. Frye. I do hope you can hold up your end, and as shall I to the best of my abilities."

His face relaxed, and he took your hand, shaking it firmly. Though you expected it, the warmth of his grip, even through both his and your own glove, still left you pleasantly surprised.

"I must admit, however," you withdrew your hand, "I am curious: why trust me? After everything that's happened? Some might think you all the more barmy for it."

"Crotchetty as I may seem," he shot back, "I'll admit, I'm not exactly spoiled for choice when it comes to allies who can provide me better insight into Templar plans. You don't seem to care for the Order either, which is reassuring. To an extent. Naturally you'll have to earn my trust before I let Evie know about this little arrangement-"

"You haven't told your sister?"

"'Course not," he scoffed, "she'd never agree to it. Not after your mother. Besides, what my dear sister doesn't understand, is that sometimes you need to take a chance. Like I did, with the Rooks. And now with you."

You supposed that made sense.

"Besides," he continued, "it doesn't hurt to have powerful friends close to your nemesis-"

"As I've already mentioned," you injected, stifling a chuckle at how affronted he looked at being so unceremoniously interrupted, "I'm neither powerful nor am I close to Mr. Starrick. He doesn't trust me. Which means, more often than not, he'll ensure he bears witness to every move I make."

You shifted towards him.

"It's not just my business that's on the line here, Mr. Frye. It's my life. If he ever suspects me of consorting with you, I'd lose everything. My agreement is me trusting you to kill him and deliver on your end of the bargain."

At that, his eyes softened, and when he spoke next, sincerity was carefully woven into every word. "You needn't worry, Miss Attaway, you have my word. I will do whatever it takes to rid you of Starrick and his control."

Nodding softly in lieu of thanks, you cleared your throat, embarrassment burning in your chest at having let yourself be so vulnerable (for lack of a better word) with someone.

And a man you barely knew, at that.

"I apologise, you must think me utterly mercurial, and-"

"On the contrary, I think you're rather bricky," he said, and his damned gaze was still so gentle as it rest upon you, his tone somewhat similar to the one often adopted by strangers when they learned of how you came to live with Pearl. The thought of being pitied by him for having gotten into this situation, even though it was mostly his fault, left you feeling angry and humiliated.

You didn't need nor ask for his commiseration.

Choosing not to dignify that with a response (you knew anything you'd say would be in bad form), you immediately carried on like nothing had happened. "Right, I'll need a few weeks or so to get everything up and running again. In the meantime, you encourage any competitors that are not affiliated to Mr. Starrick. With a rival around, I could try and-"

"-blame your lack of profits onto them?" at your affirmation, he let out a low whistle. "Clever. That might just work."

The admiration in his voice didn't go unnoticed. You shrugged, "I know, and I'm counting on it. Of course, if it doesn't alleviate suspicion, we might have to resort to drastic measures, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, this is all we need to focus on."

Your sentence was punctuated by the chiming of Big Ben, indicating that your hour was up. With a "by your leave, Miss Attaway", Mr. Frye leapt into action, getting back onto the bench and driving the carriage to where your actual employee was to meet you. In an attempt to look a bit more inconspicuous, you drew open the curtains. Nothing like the hidden interior of a carriage to get people gossiping.

Dismounting, Mr. Frye glanced around, making sure you hadn't attracted any unwarranted attention, before tipping his cap to you and stalking off. Thankfully, it was crowded enough that no one paid a briefly unattended carriage any mind, and it gave him the opportunity to blend in with the locals, seemingly vanishing from sight.

You watched him go, and thinking your decision over for the rest of your journey, could only hope you'd made the right choice.

Slang used:

Crotchetty - eccentric, unexpected

Bricky - brave, fearless, adroit after the manner of a brick

Other:

Glove etiquette - whenever a gentleman had to shake someone’s hand, he would take off his glove (that he always wore when outside) before doing so. If he had to leave it on, he’d apologise while shaking the other person’s hand. Women, however, had to keep their gloves on at all times when they were out and about, except when at the dinner table during a party, because it was considered bad form to wear gloves while eating (mainly because the gloves were delicate, especially those made of kid, and wearing dirty gloves was “tacky”). However, when giving his hand to a woman whose own hands were gloved, a man wasn’t supposed to take off his. It was necessary to do so if hers were off too, though.

(Tumblr's an ass, so I'll reblog this post in a bit to link the articles I used as a reference because they're much, much better at providing a comprehensive explanation to how glove etiquette worked)

[druddigoon]

prompt fill #1

@shame-cubed: bede and gloria in a raid together

this was supposed to be a simple one but then i decided to add 3 more people and a metric fuckton of tension and it kinda blew up. word count: don’t worry about it

————————-

“Where’s the dynamax pokemon?” 

He eyes you with a mask of disdain, attention briefly flitting to the vikavolt you have buzzing over your shoulder. “Not an issue, no thanks to you.” 

“There’s been reports of energy flares in almost every gym, so it took a bit of time to get here.” You pause to catch your breath, removing your beret to run a hand through your windblown hair after a harrowing flight over the Tangled Woods. Dangling under a vikavolt fifty metres off the ground doesn’t do well for vertigo. “I’m here to help. There’re other people coming, just show us where the pokemon’s at and we’ll calm it down.” 

There’s muffled banging at the main entrance, a drawn-out holler cut off with a sharp rebuttal. Hop and Piers. Bede’s voice ices over. “Then go play hero for the other towns. We don’t need you here.” 

The nerve of him. “I don’t know if you’ve stuck your head out of your little me-bubble yet, but people are trying to save the region from collapsing, and maybe if you stop babying your ego for just one second you’d accept help when help is offered—” 

“I believe Bede is suggesting he’s already dealt with the issue.” Opal cuts in, stepping out from under the shadow of the backroom. She looks the same since your gym challenge—angular face drowning amid her ample ruff, deceptively leaning on her umbrella-cane like she isn’t capable of throwing it away in a heartbeat—but it’s the way Bede stands straighter and draws closer to her presence that has you thrown. 

This is not the Bede in Galar Mines, not the Bede in Hammerlocke, tired and disgraced; this is not the Bede at Wyndon semifinals, desperate for redemption. This is the Bede who’s found his home, confident and grounded when you’ve had the rug swept from under your feet. 

The gym challenge changes people, they say. 

(You’ve never felt more alone.)

“Miss Opal! We’re here to help you with the dynma—” Hop skids to a stop once he notices Bede, and the way they size each other up reminds you of fights between wild pokemon. 

Coming here was a mistake. 

“Evenin’, ma’am.” Piers brings up the rear, eyes glued to his rotom-phone, unheeding toward the palpable tension in the room. “Dynamax readin’s gone, I reckon you’ve got it taken care of then.” 

“Why yes, my protégé handled the rogue shiinotic brilliantly a little while before you came.” 

Bede smirks at her praise; you lay a hand on Hop's shoulder to stop him from pulling anything, only to have him roughly shrug it off and stalk out of the building. 

“I wouldn’t bother with him,” Bede says as you stare at the still-swinging doors, something close to shame prickling deep in your throat. “Someone who thinks he's entitled special treatment because his brother’s the champion doesn’t deserve to take his spot.” 

Deep breaths. Opal watches you with hawk’s eyes, and for a second you feel more bone than flesh, surrounded. Think of secret summer grottos, ponds with water so clear the remoraid’s scales gleam as they swim through, think of how happy Crustle was when his crabapple tree bloomed, maybe wiping that smarmy expression off Bede’s face even though you can’t throw a punch to save your life. 

When you dare to speak again, your voice comes out lowed like a hiss from a boiling kettle. “If you’re so good at dealing with dynamax pokemon, I’d like to see you handle the rest of this problem.“ 

“I fail to see how the rest of the gyms fall under my jurisdiction. We’ve dawdled for long enough, it’s time—” 

“He’ll do it.” 

“—for you to...what?” 

You’d savour the look of disbelief on Bede’s face if the implication of Opal’s comment didn’t sink in. She regains control of the situation with a smile, too pleasant for the gravity of her words. “It must be difficult for the three of you to handle all of this on your own. These bones are too old to hitch a ride on unlicensed fliers, but Bede here can accompany you while I guard the gym.” 

Bede runs a hand through his hair, considering. 

“Fine,” he bites out, releasing his gardevoir before striding out the entrance. You quickly jog after him, hoping to reach Hop before he does. “Let’s go.” 

“—very keen on addin’ fuel to the fire.” Piers comments far behind you.

“They’ll sort it out,” Opal replies, “Sometimes all it takes is getting a little burnt.” 

————————-

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Hop gapes at the skulking figure of Bede from his perch atop his corviknight, an imposing bird outlined in scintillating angles against the dead of night. “Glor, please tell me you’re joking.” 

“He wanted to come. You...we need all the help we can get, and having him just means we can get this done faster and safer. Please. This is for the greater good.” 

“Are you siding with him now? Is this what it is? This is a bloody insult to injury, Glor. Do you remember what he’s done to you? Do you remember what he’s done to me?” 

“I’m not taking anyone’s side! You can choose to never see Bede again after this is over, Hop, it’s just that we have a bigger issue at hand and everyone’ll need to put aside their difference until we can stabilize the region.” 

“I know, but I'm a hundred percent sure that we. Don’t. Need. Him.” He punctuates every word with a jab of his finger in Bede’s direction. “We were fine in Turrfield. We were fine in Hulbury. We were fine in Motostoke, we were fine in Stow-On-Side. We’re almost done, we’d just finish everything with more peace of mind if he buggers off.” 

Bede crosses his arms. “Flattered you think so highly of me. Honestly, Hop, you’re desperation is showing. Worried that I’ll steal your thunder?” 

“Guys, please—” 

Hop’s corviknight lets out an ear-piercing screech, rearing up and flapping its wings in a way that forces the rest of you to back up. Bede’s gardevoir steps in front of him, her horn glowing with the beginnings of psychic energy. 

“ENOUGH!” A dark shape, too fast to make out, cleaves between the two boys, the acrid smell of something sour lingering behind. 

Piers steps out, followed closely by his obstagoon, the vestiges of a night slash still roiling off its foreclaws. “This isn’t what I was expectin’ from a finalist and a gym leader, and you two ought be ashamed of yourselves for this kind of behavior.” He sighs heavily, rubbing his temples. “I need a smoke break. Gloria, come with me.” 

————————-

“Marnie told me you lot were good kids.” Piers takes a slow drag of his cigarette. You fidget with the hem of your skirt, sneaking peeks at the clearing even though neither of the boys are in sight. “So imagine my surprise when I end up babysittin’ two kids who look one second away from tearin’ each other’s throat out, with you actin’ like you’re the reason they want to.” 

“I am.” The floodgates burst all too easily; you never expected to pour your heart out to a near-stranger, fraying dye job illuminated in the harsh glare of the street lamp and wreathed in a halo of cigarette smoke, but lately all your friends have been worse than strangers and Piers. Piers sits still and listens. “I-I never wanted to do...this. The championship is always Hop’s dream, and I promised to help him get it like a friend before pulling it out from under him. Could’ve supported him after Bede broke his spirit—he said he was a disgrace to Leon’s name, even though he isn’t even relevant—but instead I decided to hammer it in by battling him and winning.” 

You shut your eyes, grind the heel of your palms hard onto them until you’re seeing stars. “I saw Bede’s disqualification. I was there to see the hope go out of him when Rose told him he no longer worked for them, was there and did nothing. I’ve done nothing but shirk and shirk, and now i’m supposed to stabilize Galar’s dynamax outbreak when I can’t even lift a finger for the people closest to me.” Bitter smile. “Some champion I am.” 

Piers huffs. He drops the cigarette, crushing its embers under the heel of his boot, before looking up and speaking. “I don’t know enough to say it’s not your fault, but you’re takin’ your mistakes out of proportion.” 

“Spikemuth’s never been my dream; most people don’t end up doin’ the thing they want, believe it or not. This may not be yours and yet you’re tryin’, and you’ve got heart. I doubt a bad champion would be risking her life travelin’ from town to town confrontin’ rampagin’ pokemon like you are now.” 

“That...still doesn’t make me a good champion.” 

“No, it doesn’t.” He stands, brushing off lingering ash. “But Galar doesn’t have a ‘good champion’. It has you. And even if you can’t redeem yourself in the eyes of your friends, you can redefine yourself in everyone else. Come, let’s head back.” 

You return to the same silent standstill you left. Hop can’t meet your eyes, face buried in the feathers around his corviknight’s neck. Bede only stares back; a challenge. 

“Which cities do you have left?” he asks. 

Piers checks. “Only Circhester and Hammerlocke, it looks like.” 

“We’ll split up, then,” Hop interjects, not even looking up. “Piers and I’ll go to Circhester, while Gloria and Bede go to Hammerlocke.” 

“That’s fine,” you concede after a moment’s pause. He’s trying to distance himself from you, but can you blame him?

(You can’t, not really. This must be a nightmare situation for him—losing to the false heirs, failing to catch them, fighting alongside his former-friend-now-champion knowing he could’ve been the one in her place, watching her strike the final blow as his cinderace heals on the sidelines. Every reminder is driving a nail in the coffin, and Bede’s arrival is simply the stake that split it at the seams.)

“Best of luck to you, then.”

“Good luck to you too.”

————————-

“Everything you’ve said to Hop applies to you, y’know.” 

“Are we really going over this now?” The Hammerlocke gym halls are far too empty for comfort, deep rumbles echoing against your skull as you catch flashes of light past stadium doors. You stalk onward, eager to get the situation over with and return to Ballonlea. Damn Opal. “We have a bigger issue at hand.” 

Out of the corner of your eye you see Gloria puff out her cheeks. If someone were to back you into the corner of an alley with a knife pressed to your throat, you’d admit you do respect her; becoming the Champion is no easy feat, and nobody expected it from a quiet girl with a team full of bugs, the beginner’s route fodder others grind to train their battlers. It’s her altruism that irritates you, a relentless selflessness that will get her bitten, somewhere down the line. “Can’t you accept help without fighting it?” 

You fall silent. 

Oleana’s voice, ice against your ear. “Is this how you’ll treat the man who found you, back when you were all alone?” 

(More wishing stars. Always more wishing stars.)

A rattling roar resounds ahead. Sensing she’s needed, Hattie coalesces by your side with a chiming noise, and you continue on, pushing past reinforced double doors. “The last person who offered me help was Rose.” 

And look where it got me.

The dynamaxed haxorus is huge; its scythe-like tusks crest above the open roof of the arena, claws as large as longswords carving deep furrows into the turf, an excess of power and energy given a corporeal form while the haxorus’s original body is tucked away behind layers of shields. An entire section of bleachers had been razed to the ground, steel gouged with millions of tiny lacerations that fractal in draconid energy. Gloria finally shut her mouth, calling out her crustle as you start putting distance between you and her.  The flash of light catches the haxorus’s attention. 

Its eyes are impossibly wide—a deerling in headlights, more prey than predator—and when it roars, it's a pained cry pitched like a plea.

The raid begins. 

Gloria fights like battling is innate to her, instinct ingrained through bone in a way no amount of textbook memorization or controlled-environment training can hold a candle to. Bugs are notoriously more id than superego; rather than suppressing it, hers seem to have tailored their natural behavior towards battling, where her commands are less commands than they are suggestions, tips, and warnings, a coach to her players. She trusts her pokemon, and they make it worthwhile. It makes her incredibly hard to read, as most of the time she isn’t even giving instructions.

Helpful in a singles matchup, not so much in a tag-team battle.

You hear her call out from the other end of the stadium, and her crustle withdraws into its shell just fast enough to dodge the brunt of Hattie’s dazzling gleam. In the split second when the haxorus is sent reeling, it pulls off a shell smash, darting out of its shell in a blur of orange to land a stone edge that shatters the haxorus’s shields. 

It keeps up the distraction long enough for Hattie, slow as she is, to charge up another dazzling gleam. The stadium lights up in a brilliant light display as it explodes against the haxorus’s side, sending it reeling. Crustle is also sent flying a couple metres back before getting back on its feet, the exoskeleton of its claws warped from where it used to to block the worst of the attack. 

“Stop hitting me!” Gloria calls. 

“Then dodge out of the way! Hattie can’t avoid you without compromising her output!” 

Haxorus finally notices you, letting out a bellow as its tail warps into something steel-tipped, sharp with metallic ridges gleaming crimson in the dynamax light, before swinging the entire thing towards you. 

Of course. Bloody thing knows steelspike. 

Your back collides with the stadium walls before you realize there’s nowhere to run. Damn Opal. Couldn’t make do with just the shiinotic. Hattie matches the haxorus with her own war cry, energy streaming through her coat in a last-ditch attempt at damage. 

In the span of a split second, something orange collides with the tail, knocking it off track. 

Then the world flashes white. 

When you finally regain your vision, the haxorus is back to its regular size and barely conscious, keeling over onto the ground. Hattie twirls, unscathed save for shards of steel tangled in her hair. 

You could hardly recognize it without its boulder shell, but buried in the sand beside her was the fainted body of Gloria’s crustle, who’d taken the brunt of the steelspike. 

“What was that?” You ask Gloria, who had recalled the fallen haxorus into its gym-issued pokeball. 

She crouched next to her crustle, checking it for injuries before withdrawing it as well. “Crustle blocked its attack. Don’t worry about him; he’s tough, and I’ll reward him with extra fertiliser to his favorite tree after this.” 

“Hattie could’ve take—” You stop, because no, she wouldn’t, before amending “It’s unnecessary. Crustle could’ve utilized the chance to get its last hits in.” 

“He might’ve missed. This gave us the best chances of winning, and he wanted that. Wouldn’t have followed my order if he didn’t. Also...Hattie?” 

“Stop changing the topic. You’d let it throw itself into the path of danger for a chance?” 

“Yes.” 

She looks a little dejected, but doesn’t push like he expects her to. Nobody gives charity for free; he’s learned this through his multiple orphanage relocations, Rose’s too-large watch, Opal’s quest for an heir. His mind is quick to point fingers at pity, just like the others, but he can smell pity a mile off and Gloria’s never been the type for it, not to him. 

Why?

“Isn’t this a betrayal to Hop?” 

Her face steels over. “He doesn’t have to like anything I do. He’s not here, and this isn’t about him.” It’s a far cry from Stow-On-Side, her fury on Hop’s behalf. You’ve noticed the two seem more distant lately. The gym challenge changes people, they say. 

The outside air is cool on your face. Gloria’s vikavolt has its claws latched onto her backpack, carrying her in what you’d describe as the most dangerous method of flying and you still don’t understand, why why why why why? 

“Gloria?” 

She glances back at you, head tilted slightly to the side. Your question dies in your throat. 

“Stay safe.” 

She looks at you strangely. “T-thanks. Stay safe too.” 

You watch until her figure becomes a dark speck on the horizon before heading home, alone.

[imaginesandideas]

Warren Worthington x non-mutant reader headcannons pt.2

a continuation (where the apocalypse never happened oops 🤭)

you’re staff at the mutant fightclub

it’s not like you support what’s happening there, but you feel like looking after the mutants is least you can do to help them

you get to know Warren because you care for injured fighters overtime

slowly he started to trust you and opened up about his issues

you two became close, kind of bonding over the fact that both of you were forced into such living

one night the club is more packed than usually

there’s more guards and they’re well-armed, which only confirmed your worries that something’s off

owner of the place seems more than delighted, because that means more betting, and more inflows for him

you’re only worried about the amount of wounds you’ll have to treat afterwards

or god forbid the ones who won’t make it out that night

you’re out back, arranging something when you hear that there’s a new, blue mutant in the cage

you haven’t gotten a chance to see him yet, so you didn’t really know what to expect

your biggest concern was the fact that tonight Warren was supposed to fight a lot of rivals

you push your way through the gathered crowd

people yelling, beer being spilled on the floor making it sticky and gross just like the rest of the place

looking up you notice Warren and new mutant

he seems young and not experienced in fighting

no wonder he’s utterly terrified

you try to yell at Warren to don’t go too hard on the boy, but he can’t hear you

once he enters the battle mode, there’s not much you can do

it’s about his to be or not to be after all, and you understand that probably better than anyone else in the room

but something is wrong

the mutant, Nightcrawler as they call him, doesn’t even try to fake it

he’s bouncing erratically around the cage trying to escape, and you quickly spot that his mutation has something to do with relocating

you also notice the growing impatience on Warren’s face

for a short moment your eyes meet

and you know that he’s as worried as you are, because he knows what will happen if they won’t start fighting

his anxiety filled gaze lands back on his opponent

you realize that there’s nothing more that you can do

that now you can only watch and cross your fingers

hoping today is not the night you lose him

“Fight!” Warren shouts agitated. “Or they’ll kill us both!”

the other mutant appears to finally get it as he looks around and notices the guns pointing their way from behind the grid

what you did not expect was him being as incoherent to actually hurt Warren

when his back lands on the live wire, you can almost feel the pain yourself

you try to get to the side of the cage where he landed, but people are blocking your way

the mutant flinches back terrified because it seems like he didn’t mean to harm Angel

tears fill your eyes when you see that his wing is broken and charred

but you regain fair view when you see Warren’s expression, and his eyes were already throwing deadly daggers at his rival

your yells are completely muffled by all the people screaming in morbid ecstasy

Nightcrawler backs away and keeps apologising with thick, german accent but suddenly electrified grid is being shut down

the lights turn off and people around you start to panic

your eyes immediately wander to control panel on the other side of the room and you briefly notice a female figure before she disappears

guns go off and everyone runs at the exits

everything is out of control

you’re afraid that all of these moving masses will trample you to death, but at the same time you can’t help but look up in search of Warren

when you spot him, he’s already trying to fly up

and he’s visibly in pain while doing so

you make a mental note to prepare a lot of bandages and rubbing alcohol for later

the thought itself is so natural you don’t even think if it makes sense in current circumstances

and it obviously doesn’t

because as soon as he flies up high enough, he rips the grid and gets away with guns shooting at him from the ground

it’s now that you realise you’ve been holding your breath because you want to scream after him

but your throat is worn and he’s gone

without a single word or a glance

he’s gone and you’re standing frozen in place

“_____! We need to go!”

the voice from behind you startles you, but it’s not him

your coworker doesn’t wait for your response and drags you out and into some dark alleyway few blocks away

you catch your breath and speak up

“What about the mutants?”

“We opened all the cages before everything completely blew up. It’s over.”

you nod mindlessly

it’s over

no more cage fights, no more working against the law

you exchange few more words and hug each other goodbye one last time before heading your way

you don’t know if you’ll ever meet again

or if you’ll ever see Angel again

he’s on your mind all the way home

but so are the people from fight club, and you pull the jacket tighter around yourself at the thought

you can’t help but feel like someone’s out there, watching you

once you close the door to your apartment you let out a long, deep breath out

you’re safe

at least for now

your apartment is relatively small, it’s least you could afford with the shitty money and opportunities you had

you put on a kettle to make some tea to warm yourself up, and then you hear something knocking at the window

you brush it off at first but check it nevertheless

and you stop mid step before rushing to the window, because it’s him

opening the window you step aside to let him inside

though he still has to bend down to fit his wings

the one that’s broken gets caught on the frame and he hisses

“Sheiße!” he curses before collapsing on the floor and you help him to stand up

it’s only now that you notice how bruised he is

his left wing drags along the floor, some feathers are burnt, some just charred

“Warren, what are you doing here? How did you even find me? You’re free now. You don’t have to...” you ask him, voice full of worry as he sits on your kitchen stool.

He leans back groaning.

“I just wanted t-to see you.” He hisses again as he stretches his back. “M-make sure y-you’re okay.”

you can’t help the slight blush that crept on your face at his words

because he cares about you, he came here because he was concerned about your wellbeing

after all you two have been through he didn’t just leave like everyone else, but stayed behind to check up on you

„You’re hurt. Let me help you.”

you patch him up

and while you do, he can’t seem to focus on anything else but you

you try to avoid looking at him and focus your attention on his wounds

but from the corner of your eye you see how soft the look in his eyes is

how he’s more gentle and careful not to knock over anything in your small apartment

how his cocky self is still present yet gone in a way

so different from what you’ve gotten used to

and it makes your heart flutter

he’s also helping you with everything

from applying ointment and putting dressing on the cut, to cleaning up the floor after

you tell him to stay as long as he needs to heal up, and he’s hesitant because he knows you don’t owe him anything now that the underground fights were over

but you insist that you want him gotten well, for the sake of your own sanity and he obliges

he takes the couch

you give him some old shirts that are oversized for you, but definitely fitted him and his wings

he takes everything without a single complaint

the next day you wake up late

it’s probably the first time in months that you’ve slept so peacefully

you get out of your room, completely forgetting about the events of the previous day

hair is a mess, your shirt ridden up and all wrinkled

you’re still yawning when you come into the kitchen and what you witness is beyond your wildest expectations

he’s cooking

or at least trying to cook and not knock things over

or burn his wings

he’s also topless

and if you ever thought that he doesn’t look hot topless in the cage, you definitely do now

you stand there mouth agape until he clears his throat

“Sorry if I woke you up.”

“No, no it’s fine!”

“Thought you might want to eat something. It’s least I can do y’know.” He says nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “After all you’ve done for me.”

you smile at his words and the remaining protective layers around his heart break

and they do so quickly that his neck immediately turns red

you take note that he looks even hotter like this (and you kinda wish he would never stop blushing)

but back to the morning

you end up eating slightly burnt pancakes

he tells you how this was his favourite breakfast food growing up

how his nanny would always add all his favourite toppings

and how nice it is to finally be able to eat them with someone else, and not by himself like the old days

he shares a lot of his memories with you over over the next meals you two share

in a way it becomes your own, tiny tradition

you know how painful it is for him sometimes, but slowly he overcomes his fears

he let’s you in

and you let him in too

you talk about your family, enormous struggles you’ve faced before finally finding your purpose in life, about your trust issues and how it’s totally different with him

because despite different experiences and overall differences between you, you have so much in common

because he doesn’t just nod

he understands

and when you break down crying he’s there to rub your back and wipe your tears

he’s there when the sink is leaking or when you need help with repainting that spot on the ceiling that constantly chips away

or you just need help with carrying shopping bags home

or when you get frustrated with job hunting

or when you’ve had a nightmare and you need someone to hold you

soon it’s more often than not that you wake in your bed, snuggled up to Warren’s side, his arm protectively draped over your waist

you get used to having him

in your home, in your bed, in your life

your guardian angel

it’s been months and he’s fully recovered

he even points out how bright and healthy his wings look after your generous treatment

safe to say it’s been the best months of his adult life

in fact, yours too

but everything has to come to an end eventually, and you can’t keep him caged like this

so one day after coming back home after work - he was still asleep as you were leaving in the morning - you decide to face him to talk about the inevitable

He’s sprawled on the couch but immediately jumps up upon your arrival “_____! Let me heat up the dinner for you.”

You forget what you meant to say for a second, because after all this time it always felt so unreal to watch that caring side of his unfold in your presence. I mean, who would have thought that the most dangerous mutant you’ve ever encountered will be now living with you. And cooking you dinner.

He’s visibly tense as he’s mixing ingredients in the pan. He doesn’t even look up at you when you approach him. He knows

“Angel- Warren, um, there’s something I want to talk about with you.”

He sighs and drops the wooden spoon on the counter with a thud.

“I know, I’m sorry. I just- you know, I thought that maybe-“

“I don’t want you to feel like you owe me something. You’re free, you should be flying somewhere, living your life and...”

“Wait, what?” he stops you with a raised finger, brows furrowed. You’re even more confused.

“Well, I thought that you’re here because you feel like you’re in debt to me or something, but now you’re fine, right? You don’t need me, I’m only holding you back and you’ve already helped me enough, so I thought, you know, we’re even.”

You let it all out so quickly that you had to take a deep breath right after. And you can’t even look him in the face.

If you could, you’d see how pale his face’s gotten.

“We- we’re even? I thought... I thought you wanted me to go because we’re so... different.” you stare back at him not quite understanding what was it really about. “I know that me being a mutant only complicates everything, but I thought we could make it, you know? I know the wings might be a lot to swallow, but I could try and fold them, you know. For you. I don’t even drink now. And I thought, ugh, that you just want me around and not cause I owe you or anything like that.”

“I- oh Warren.” you stand there unable to form a relevant sentence. He’s clearly stressed with all this too.

“Either way I’ll go away if that’s what you want. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“No, no! I mean, if you want to stay...” You reach out to his arm and your eyes meet. You gently squeeze his arm in an attempt to regain your composure. You bite your lip before continuing, voice above a whisper. “I’d like you to stay.”

He’s holding a breath for a moment before his entire face lights up and he chuckles.

“Well, zum Glück!” he laughs heartedly.

you’re pretty sure it’s your favourite sound in the world

he makes a move first, bringing you closer with his arms wrapped around your waist

but not before he makes sure you’re fine with it

you nod and close the distance

he inhales sharply, his neck growing red yet again

“Fuck, I’ve been wanting this for so long. Can I-?”

“Thought you’d never ask.” You whisper back, eyeing him from underneath your lashes.

he grins and leans down to capture you in a slow, passionate kiss

and in the end, after everything you’ve faced together, you were really looking forward to a new chapter in your life

together

~~~~~

Comments, ideas and words of notice are always appreciated 💜

(I decided to tag everyone who expressed their interest in part 2 🙈 so sorry for the delay)

@youthbitch @sloppybitchardtozier @not-12-swans-in-a-trenchcoat @asphyxiating-thoughts @softsmileexol @loirabrasileirabr @anita-e-taylor @anaitasunrise @totallynerdstuff

LMK if you want to be on/off the taglist!

Warren taglist: @thesecondlastjedi @fourmisfitz @shae-is-not-ok @simplyvictoria-93 @rockyroadthepastryarchy @hisatumb @samantha-is-fandom-trash @ziamhathrisen @silvver-rose @mcrmarvelloki @whatthefluffrichard

[adrrianraines]

choose me.

—chapter i. | chapter ii. | chapter iii.

genre: romance

fandom: playchoices: the royal romance

pairing: LiamxMC (Riley Brooks)

disclaimer:

characters used are owned rightfully by pixelberry. all rights reserved. this is a trr UA (universe alteration) original idea storyline. unlike an AU or Alternate Universe, Universe Alterations or UAs are set in the canon universe, but with "alterations" to accommodate the plot.

grammatical errors, misspellings & typographical errors that i might have overlooked are to be expected. **also, my apologies for the long delay! thank u for doing the proofreading with me, @bi-cookie 😘

taglist:

–of course, hmu if u wanna be tagged for an update! for these lovely people who wanna be tagged in this mess, thank you! ✨

@miss-raleigh-carrera @sunandlemons @wolfychoices @juminssi @onomatorina @ao719 @vaticanwaltz @texaskitten30 @princess-geek @janezillow @cordoniaqueensworld @thecordoniandiaries @omgjasminesimone

Sometimes, the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take. — Angela N. Blount, Once Upon an Ever After

Four rowdy guys stood outside the breezy New York City night, ready to take on whatever it’s willing to offer. One of them, however, was not as patient as the others.

“Who are we exactly waiting fo—” But when Drake turned with an expression that equates bafflement, he was caught in an loop of awestruck surprise instead. “—woah... You look… different. Wow.” Drake’s tone alerted the others, their gazes then focusing towards the figure coming out of the bar. Maxwell gaped before swallowing several times. He was able to regain his temporary immobility by nodding in eager appreciation.

“You look hot!” The Beaumont Lord blurted, totally unaware of his surroundings. One gentleman was not very pleased with this. Liam’s eyes narrowed, mouth preparing to reprimand Maxwell’s choice of words and behavior.

Riley, on the other hand, had a different thing going on inside her mind. Her prompt reply immediately silenced Liam’s attempt for words.

“Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.” Her tone was saccharine, face producing a smooth wink which caused Maxwell’s cheeks to flush. Liam stared in shock at how, in an instant, the empty and almost translucent bars on top of Drake and Maxwell’s heads appeared then began to be filled with a shade of red.

Much like his own.

Now, how does a gentleman deny such an obvious display of attraction?

He felt a tug of pain inside his chest and the yearning that was caused by her absence grew. This was a reality in which Riley never met him yet but the longing he felt negates the rational thoughts he was trying to settle himself in. Liam watched how her hair swayed against the wind, how her lips curled into a smile as she conversed with the others, how she smoothed the pleats of her green dress as she straightened herself. Then, he immediately stopped.

You wouldn’t want to scare the lady now, would you? He scolds himself.

Riley’s gaze caught him. It was as if, all in slow motion, the wind got knocked out of his pipes, rendering him incapable of coherency. Liam carefully kept his mouth shut and pressed a smile on his face as he watched her approach him. His heart thundered while a million thoughts ran rampant inside his head. Yet, time seemed to slow down for them.

“Liam.” She called, her eyes twinkling against the dimly lit city lights. He was quiet, unbearably so, that Riley looked worried. “Are you okay?”

“My apologies, I…” Liam, who always was a master of his own emotions, did his very best to push the lingering tinge of jealousy at the back of his consciousness. He slowly reached out to take her hand in his to brush his lips against the softness of her skin. “It’s just that... You look breathtaking, Riley.”

“Oh…” Her cheeks flushed, and he almost did a somersault. Riley quickly recovered by teasing him. “Thank you, kind sir.”

“But the night demands us journey and you will be our navigator.” He grinned, letting his fingers brush against her own for a bit longer before pulling away. It wasn’t hard to ignore that Riley’s cheeks flushed red before clearing her throat.

He was pleased.

“I have the perfect place for all of us tonight. I promise you guys won’t regret it!” She says, and Liam, as the one who already lived through this moment, smiled to himself. He knew where exactly they would go.

“The beach?” Drake put an emphasis on the word as they all found themselves sinking mildly against the fine sand of the shore in a beach somewhere in the city. The moon was shining high in the sky and the waves were calm. There were not much people in sight.

“Oookay. Not what I had in mind, exactly.” Maxwell commented then stunned everyone by removing his shoes and folding the edges of his pants up. “Hah! I’m not gonna say no to this!”

Drake only shook his head and followed with Tariq in tow who’d been grumbling about how expensive his shoes were. Moments later, all three of them were splashing each other and laughing. Maxwell and Tariq were focused on attacking Drake which deliberately almost pissed him, if only he weren’t attacking them himself.

Liam removed his coat and slowly laid it down against the sand. He turned and urged Riley to sit with him, in which she followed without question.

Silence passed and Liam grew antsy. He wasn’t sure of how to tackle the changes that were beyond his control nor grasp.

“So pray tell, what exactly brought all of you here?” She broke the silence first, her gaze searching. He looked at her while biting his lip, as if unsure how to respond.

“I should thank you first... that was rude of me to forget. Forgive my rashness.” Liam smiled. “This was a great idea.” Being this close with her only drove him at wit’s end. His mind travelled to how he wanted to kiss her that moment. How he missed her touch. It took a good amount of self restraint as he focused on the more important topic at hand. “The guys are having fun because of you.”

“You’re welcome…” Riley trailed, smiling softly as she leaned in a bit.

Too close. His mind did a little scream.

Focus. He commanded. This is not the time. He knew better. Yet, his body move of its own accord, ignoring the warnings his thoughts deliberately showed. Easily, his hand found itself caressing the side of her face. At first, her eyes widened... then she bit her lip, and slowly... she closed her eyes.

The tiny string of sanity that was keeping him together snapped.

Liam leaned to close the distance between them, lips just lingering a few inches away from hers.

It’s not too late to back out. A voice inside his psyche reprimanded. And for once in his life he didn’t listen.

He kissed her and the flame in him, slow and deep, flickered alive. Their lips stirred in sync, mouths doing a little dance together. His hand now held the back of her neck, while the other firmly held her waist. Her hands gently curled against his chest, as if pulling him close. He couldn’t stop himself, not if he’s obviously aching to be with her again. Everything around them seemed to vanish like thin smoke in a clouded veil.

It felt forever. She tasted angelic.

And once upon a time, she married him.

When the kiss ended, they were both gasping for air. Liam briefly closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers as Riley let out a small giggle.

“That’s a first.” She commented which made him chuckle. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

Oh dear. He let out a soft sigh. Riley noticed the change in his expression and almost began to take back her question. Liam straightened himself, gaze never leaving her. She deserved the truth, much like how he disclosed the information the very first night that they met each other.

“It’s my Bachelor Party...” He breathed. Riley’s eyes widened.

“What?” Her voice faltered yet it was loud enough that he could hear the surprise in her tone. “You’re going to be married?”

“Yes. However... whom I’m yet to marry remains unknown.” He smiled sadly and she looked more confused than ever.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“The truth is… I’m the Crown Prince of a Kingdom.” Liam began and he carefully studied the different emotions that presented themselves in her visage. Surprise? Confusion? Disbelief? Amazement? It was all present.

He leaned back when she didn’t answer. “I have to carefully choose a bride for my country before the end of the year.”

“Wow… that’s… a lot to take in.” Riley’s voice trembled the slightest. “So, you mean to say that you’re a real prince…?”

“I believe so, if you’d like to humor me.” He laughed at how that almost sounded like a joke. But the weight of the crown always kept his sanity rooted to the ground. Riley was the only one who could shake him to the core.

A Prince must never let his emotions dictate his decisions. Much less a future king should let his internal turmoils affect his governance. But right that moment, with her features being illuminated in the moonlight, the sound of his friends’ laughter and the crashing waves against the shore rendered him vulnerable.

Liam thought long and hard at how empty he felt since he woke up without his wife by his side. The idea of losing his family churned his stomach into knots and the possibility of him losing her this time, albeit permanently, left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Liam?” She said as a tremulous smile graced her lips. The wind carries her voice to him. He gazed that it hurts to even look at her, knowing for a fact that right now, she isn’t his to hold. But he can’t not look at her, not when the breeze that came from the sea swayed her hair, fingers beginning to itch to hold her.

It would be so easy to close the distance between them once more, just to kiss her, and declare his love then. The heat of jealousy whenever he thinks of how mesmerized both Drake and Maxwell were with her earlier produced a writhing sensation in the pit of his belly. It was unbearable.

Then, Liam reached out to take Riley’s hands against his own as he whispered the words he never thought and couldn’t keep himself from declaring, “Come back with me to Cordonia.”

Liam woke up with a start.

There was a reverent knock on his door as he tried to rub off the remnants of sleep from his eyes. He swung his legs down the carpeted floor accompanied by a soft groan then moved towards the door. With a soft click and a twist of the knob, his eyes widened upon the visitor who made themself known in front of him.

“Bastien?” He asked, a bit confused.

“Your highness.” With a curt bow, Bastien greeted Liam. “May I come in?”

Still bewildered, he stepped aside and was immediately drawn towards the familiar decorations of his surroundings. His eyes immediately narrowed, thoughts slowly forming a riot inside his head. He turned sharply towards Bastien who looked as equally alarmed as he is.

“Where am I?” Liam blurted, almost as if he didn’t know where he was. The King’s Guard only looked at him, certainly caught off-guard with the question.

“...You’re in Cordonia, of course.” Bastien answered, voice firm with certainty. Liam almost toppled over his feet but he caught himself immediately. In a swift motion, Bastien was immediately by his side.

Cordonia? He rubbed his forehead, as if he was trying to recall the past events that transpired. He recalled being in New York—his Bachelor Party. Right! His Bachelor Party!

“Liam.” There was a mixture of worry within the depths of Bastien’s eyes and Liam couldn’t afford to provide an explanation of such bizarre events that jarred his mind. “Drake told me about this. What’s happening?”

“I…” Liam began, doubt lacing his thoughts. He bit his lip then shook his head after. “I’m quite alright. Thank you, Bastien.”

“Tonight’s the Masquerade Ball. The King asked me to check on you.” Bastien gave him a do-over before stepping back. “Then, I will leave you to prepare.” The knight nodded, though unsure, but proceeded to walk out. When Liam was sure that he’s finally alone, he slumped back to his bed, head hanging low, mind trying to remember the events from the night before.

Masquerade Ball… So, it hasn’t been a full day yet since he last saw Riley.

But why was his memory extremely clouded? It was as if he couldn’t remember ever going out with her. From his previous night’s memory, he knew they went together to the beach and had a magical night that was unbearably hard to forget. Yet, he wasn’t sure if they ever went to the Statue of Liberty. He wasn’t sure how their short trip to the beach rolled out after he told her he is a prince.

Something was amiss.

“Tonight will be the start of the Social Season.” His father’s voice - King Constantine of Cordonia - gently reminded him. The orchestra inside already began playing and they were only waiting to be announced. Liam squared his shoulders and nodded as an answer.

So far, so good. Just like how the previous events happened.

“I have an announcement to make, son. Be sure to be there.” His father said as they all walked towards the large ballroom doors. Not a minute later, the trumpets sounded and he could hear his father’s name together with his step-mother being announced.

“His majesties, King Constantine and Queen Regina!” The herald’s voice echoed and the grand doors opened. The lights basked the royal couple in shimmering glitters. There was a round of applause as he watched his parents walk together towards the center stage, surrounded by all other nobility present inside.

The herald stepped outside and looked at Liam as a signal before he nodded for confirmation. “His Highness, Prince Liam!”

He squinted at the blinding luminscence of the ballroom—ears tingling at the unanimous chorus of claps from what seemed like a hundred pair of hands. He walked and smiled to each noble who greeted him. Liam’s eyes caught several noble women giggling while coyly smiling at him, masks hiding their countenance.

He never expected to undergo the pain of choosing a marriage partner once more. Never in his lifetime had he dreamed of going through similar situations again. His heart constricted at how ridiculous and pitiable he was before he met Riley, nestled in all these fake visages. Pleasing and making sure to never commit a single mistake while being forced to marry for the Kingdom he was expected to take care with as much as what his hands could handle.

One by one, the ladies that were present to win his hand in marriage were announced. He heard a couple of names he knew but none of them mattered when he didn’t hear Riley’s name being called nor the house she was supposed to represent being declared.

His vision caught a few familiar faces in the crowd—Olivia, Hana, Penelope and Kiara. They were huddled together on one part of the room, then several noblewomen he couldn’t even remember and some other figures of Cordonia’s circle of nobles. He carefully scanned the crowd, trying to find the face he wanted to see the most. Yet, all were futile as most of the ladies wore masks for the ball. As what he could remember, she wore an ensemble of clothing so stunning it knocked his breath away. But to his surprise, no matter how much he scanned the crowd, he couldn’t find her. Nor Drake and Maxwell for the case.

Wouldn’t she have arrived already? He asked himself. Or has he missed the announcement? Truth to be told, he couldn’t actually recall hearing her being announced. He was that preoccupied. Yet, even seeing her in Cordonia back then was what surprised him the most.

The herald blew his trumpet again, the sound gathering the attention of everyone inside the crystalline ensemble. “The King would like to say a few words!”

A flood of shush echoed throughout the men and women alike as they halted their business to listen towards the esteemed King of Cordonia. His father beckoned him to step closer. Liam’s feet gingerly walked towards his father, unsure of why he was suddenly being called in the middle.

“My dear citizens of Cordonia, I welcome you all! I hope from the bottom of my heart that all of you are enjoying the festivities our Kingdom offers tonight. Truly, all of you are shining brighter than the stars in the sky.” His father, through practiced pleasantries to diplomatic talks, announced. The nobles slowly clapped one by one until it became a chorus of deafening noise.

“However, as much as my family would love to extend our personal greetings to each lady who graciously presented themselves for this year’s social season, the Royal family has come to a decision that would benefit the entirety and all the while, securing the Kingdom and its future. I, as the current King of Cordonia, do announce that we have already chosen the most suitable candidate for the throne.” There was a hush amidst the crowd. King Constantine took this opportunity to continue. “Hence, the Social Season for this year is going to be postponed.”

The sudden announcement not only shocked Liam but also collectively earned gasps from the people itself. Murmurs then began to break out as furious ladies expressed their grievances of the sudden change of plans. However, Liam stayed rooted, eyes wide and unbelieving towards his father.

“Ah, we would like to extend our deepest and most sincerest apologies. This is selfish, I’m perfectly aware. But for the circumstances that presented itself, we would also ask for the gracious support from the people of this Kingdom as we announce the chosen Lady.” Liam’s ears rang badly, breath turning ragged, gaze in a daze as he tried to process everything. “I would like to formally make it official that I will be stepping off the throne and... therefore, paving the way for the Crown Prince to be crowned as the new King of Cordonia!”

Everything happened impeccably fast, almost like a haze or a gust of wind. Liam couldn’t even process the information himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Queen Regina with a lady wearing a mask from behind the stage. Then, the two of them made their way towards the center as the crowd collectively gushed and murmured among themselves.

He couldn’t think straight.

He heard Olivia’s voice from the crowd, fiercely stating her defiance against the sudden decision.

“I’m insulted, dear Prince. It wouldn’t be a good image for the people to see their future leader caught in a binge.” The masked Lady strutted to his side, voice familiarly eerie and calculating. The smile on her face impossibly cold yet determined.

Liam’s eyes shifted in a frenzied manner as he tentatively took a step back in perturbation. The familiar blonde hair and piercing gaze cut through his facade despite the mask she wore.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way… it wasn’t supposed to go this way. His mind ranted.

And then louder. This wasn’t supposed to happen...!

“Here we present, the new Queen-in-Waiting together with Crown Prince Liam!” He breathed several times as he tried to relax himself. Then, Liam squared his shoulders and plastered the fakest of all smiles he could ever managed and focused his gaze ahead. He could feel Madeleine smirking by his side as she gently wrapped her hand on his arm, pulling him a bit closer to her. The herald continued to announce. “Please, help us welcome Countess Madeleine of Fydelia!” The herald’s voice boomed in an excited cheer as he presented the two of them, standing side by side.

King Constantine clapped his shoulder before breaking into an applause himself. The herald then stepped closer and bowed down before offering the microphone back to the King himself.

“Beautiful, indeed. The future of the Crown are in good hands.” The mirth reflecting on his father’s face was no match against the blinding chandelier lights. “I’d be more than delighted to share with you all that preparations are in tow and the wedding will be happening in a month’s time!”

A month?!

Liam heard the large double doors creaking, and when he tilted his head to take a look, his world came crashing down in an instant. She heard. Dear god, she heard everything. His eyes softened at the sight of beauty that was beyond his reach, dressed like an angel and the most captivating pair of eyes he had ever seen hiding beneath a masquerade. Riley was there, rooted to the spot together with Maxwell and the Duke of Ramsford, frozen and completely stunned in silence as much as he was.

Then, as the trumpets collectively played a congratulatory tune and the crowd of nobles slowly loosened up from the surprising news then started cheering. His emotions only screamed in pain as his thoughts wildly raced towards the lady that just made her grand exit from the ball just after a few moments.

Within the chaos of his own mind, the enclosed space inside the dance floor, the fast beating of his heart and the utterly problematic situation he caught himself into, Liam couldn’t breathe.

His hands curled into fists. His ears started ringing in silent frustration. He froze in place.

And when the love of his life exited the grand doors, he couldn’t even move to run after her.

[lady-charinette]

Feral - Marichat Smut

Chapter 40 of my fic “A Smitten Kitten & A Lovestruck Princess” on FFnet (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12746973/40/A-Smitten-Kitten-A-Lovestruck-Princess )

"Good night Tikki," Marinette smiled softly at her kwami, watching as the little goddess settled in for the night.

"Good night Marinette," she chirped happily before her chosen turned away to head for the bathroom to change.

Marinette didn't remember turning the lights off before she went inside the bathroom, she also didn't remember Tikki leaving the room either.

But she remembered she left the window open.

Rubbing at her bare arms, Marinette quickly strode towards her window and closed it shut, skin raised in goosebumps at sudden rush of cool night air, "T-Tikki, I'm so sorry I forgot to close the window!"

No response.

"Tikki?" Marinette's eyes narrowed, trying to make out the shape of her kwami from somewhere in the void of darkness that was her room. She blinked furiously, trying to make her eyesight adjust to the sudden change of light, "Tikki?" she called out again, worry seeping into her tone.

Marinette wasn't sure what she had expected, but the sudden creak from somewhere behind her made her jump and whirl around.

Nothing.

"Alright, Tikki, I thought we're going to sleep," her kwami was known to be a tad playful and mischievous, like a certain black cat, but she didn't think Tikki was up for a game of hide and seek this late into the night.

Her gaze narrowed when she heard muffled movement from behind her but again when she turned, Marinette saw nothing. Carefully navigating her way through the darkness, Marinette tried to search for the light switch until a sudden, bone-chilling realization hit her.

Tikki could fly.

So why did she hear muffled noises on the floor?

A low growl sounded from behind her, far closer than Marinette expected and she mentally cursed her uncharacteristically bad luck tonight.

How had she not heard him before?

She had felt the change in atmosphere the minute she had stepped into her darkened room.

It was charged, like a tightly coiled rope about to snap and she felt the buzzing of energy in the air.

She felt electrified, knowing she was trapped.

In his game.

A game of hide and seek, of cat and mouse.

Marinette closed her eyes, instead focusing on her other senses to try and detect his location. She knew he was in her room, she felt his eyes on her, all over here and it caused tremors to wreak her body and her mind was in a haze she didn't know how to get out of.

"Cold?" clawed fingertips gently touched her bare arms and her breath hitched sharply in her throat.

"Y-yes," she replied without thinking and he gave a low chuckle.

The sound made her shiver.

"You shouldn't leave the windows opened purrincess," the endearment was a low husky purr, filled with intent, with dark promises and hidden agendas, "Who knows who or what may come into your room,"

He was deliberately teasing her, running just the tips of his claws lightly against her arms, the outbreak of goosebumps on her skin growing even worse and she felt herself suddenly burning up, despite only wearing the thin nightgown she wore.

She snorted softly, trying to will her voice to remain calm, "You're right, I forgot about the nosy cat sometimes visiting me. I should lock the windows next time," she smiled, "But…I think I'm purrfectly safe," a low groan escaped him and she giggled, but her giggle was abruptly cut off as her breath sharply caught in her throat from the warm gust of hot air upon her bare neck.

She shivered, "Hm, here and I thought my princess would be so responsible to dress more warmly,"

Oh, her sudden eruption into goosebumps and trembling flesh had nothing to do with the sudden drop in temperature in her room and the damn cat knew that very well.

Marinette tried to regain some of her control, tried to not let him get the upper hand, but in a dark environment with close to no source of light, the clever cat definitely had that small advantage.

Except, she knew her own room and he didn't.

The minute she felt just the tips of his claws barely touch her arms, she moved.

With Ladybug speed, Marinette expertly evaded her desk chair, which her partner promptly ran into, she heard the short scuffle of the wheels of her chair sliding across the floor, she also heard his lowly muttered curse as he fussed over his toe and she couldn't help but feel smug.

That, however, had only lasted a second before she felt his presence again, right at her back.

He was like a tall, looming shadow, following her every movement, calculating and anticipating her next step- just like a lion ready to pounce on his prey.

Ladybug never allowed herself to not have the upper hand in battle, but the dynamic was slightly different with Marinette, if only slightly.

Especially that stupid cat that just seemed so smug at the entertaining thought of catching her off guard and having the upper hand.

Despite knowing who her partner was, him being in his superhero outfit had a slightly different…aura to it. Not that she didn't equally appreciate and love him as his civilian self, but there was just something positively…exciting about the thought of her tall, smart and handsome boyfriend in his leather, superhero suit starting a interesting twist of cat and mouse.

And she knew he had similar thoughts to this, if the way his speed increased and his movements grew slightly more desperate to finally catch her were any indication at all.

She moved only when he was very short of catching her, slipping away from the tips of his fingers a hair's breath away and she could feel the slowly mounting frustration at failing to catch her with every attempt she managed to dodge.

She enjoyed seeing her usually composed, gentle boyfriend unravel like this, even if she couldn't see him well, she could tell what he must be feeling, because she was feeling the same, but she would be damned if she gave up without a fight.

He had made it harder for her to continue the game, increasing his speed, using his flexibility and agility to preform acrobatic movements in the air which made her briefly lose his location and in those precious seconds he had managed to slip continuously closer in her range and nearly catch her off guard. The wildly beating rhythm of her heart made her feel more alive than ever, the thin sheen of sweat of anticipation on her skin made this so much more real and stimulating.

It was the thrill of the hunt that made them both tether on the edge, him more so than her, he resembled his feline companion in more ways than even she had realized.

She was promptly caught off guard, slightly lost in her thoughts and the suffocating atmosphere, that she failed to dodge his next attack.

Strong arms encased her against an equally strong chest and she inhaled sharply, instinctively struggling to get free, causing his arms to tighten around her midsection and his warm breath to hit her ear, his voice uncharacteristically low, "Caught you," his words made a pleasant shiver cascade down her entire body in small waves and a dark smirk curled his lips as he felt it.

"Breathe kitten, you're panting already," a dark chuckle made her flush and she struggled to shoot a snarky remark back but a sudden movement on his part made her freeze pleasantly.

One hand that had been curled around her stomach, slowly moved from its original place, sliding slowly over her arm and up to her neck, fingers gently but firmly grabbing her jaw and tilting it to the side.

The room was dark, nearly devoid of light except from the moon outside, but she could clearly see the nearly glowing green, silted eyes watching her.

Pupils dilated, there was a hungry, dangerous gleam in them that made a shiver rush from the top of her head all the way to the ends of her toes and it made her feel hot underneath the thin fabric she wore.

She was sure Chat Noir had felt it too, if the insistent way he had her pressed against himself was any pointer.

She smiled, "Heh, t-took you long enough to catch me, kitty," she was glad her voice was relatively normal, except for the mild breathlessness from their little chase earlier.

His however, while usually comforting and sweet, was now making her positively melt into a puddle of goo, "What can I say, I was distracted by the purrfect view,"

Oh. Marinette had forgotten about her scantily dressed state. In her defense, she hadn't prepared for an impromptu chase in her room, "Y-you caught me off guard,"

Another chuckle and her toes curled, just how did he have that effect on her? "Mhmm…" a sensual purr that made her knees wobbly, "You're trembling, m'lady, could it be because of meow?" she could practically hear the smirk in his voice and it made her acutely aware of how her body was trembling in the smallest of shivers.

Damn him.

The hand still gently, carefully curled around her neck moved, a single claw gently tracing the side of her jaw and for the life of her Marinette never knew how hard it was not to move!

Just where was Tikki?!

"As i-if, don't go getting any ideas now k-kitty," mildly peeved at her stuttering, she gasped aloud when she felt her boyfriend's body giving a slightly different reaction than just increased body heat and it made her jolt in surprise and squeak.

Chat inhaled, as if a physical blow made him lose his breath, but he quickly regained his composure to whisper naughtily into her ear, "Heh, too late for that princess," she didn't expect the hot, wet tongue to trace her earlobe, nor did she expect the surprisingly pleasant sensation of his claws barely pricking the shivering skin of her stomach, taut with tense muscles, tense in anticipation.

This cat would be the death of her, "Aren't we getting a little too ahead of ourselves chaton?" two could play at this game as Marinette purposely lowered her voice into a sensual purr, turning her head so the tip of her nose reached his defined jaw and traced it with the barest of contact.

A low, guttural growl vibrated within his chest and she felt it the sensation against her back, as his grip around her tightened and his hot breath came in short, quick pants, "Princess…" his messy hair tickled the side of her face as he leaned forward to rest his forehead on her bare shoulder, "You'll be the death of me," came the low moan against her overheated skin.

Her? The death of him?

Ha.

A sharp hiss escaped him when his minx of a girlfriend shifted, and his grip moved quickly to her hips, "Don't move," came the guttural command and Marinette felt a small smile creep onto her flushed face.

"Getting a little flustered now, chaton?" her voice was full of teasing and he would have to remedy that.

Within seconds, she was in his arms and her small squeak of surprise made his broad shoulders shake with restraint laughter when he gently laid her down on her bed, "And you call me the tease, cherrie,"

From her admittedly pleasant view of him towering over her, the small source of moonlight from outside made her see just enough to recognize his handsome features and she wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse.

His roguish grin stretched over his lips when he noticed her heated examination, "Checking meowt?" she swore black cats were little devils incarnate.

She huffed, "In your dreams Chat," she stuck her tongue out at him but promptly closed her mouth when he leaned down, the same heated, hungry look in his eyes.

When he spoke, it was all sharp teeth, "Purrcisely princess," her face flushed uncomfortably hot and he chuckled at her cute reaction, tracing a claw down the side of her burning cheek, "For having the powers of bad luck and destruction, I sure got lucky to have you," the look changed in his eyes and she realized it hadn't changed, but intensified, because her chaton always looked at her like she was the center of his whole world.

Now wasn't different and it made her heart swell with her strong feelings for him, "Oh chaton, you sly cat," he smiled and nuzzled his nose affectionately against hers.

"Only furr you," the sweet words made her giggle.

Marinette smirked, "How about you show me purrcisely what you mean?" she quickly realized how her plan of gaining the upper hand backfired on her when she found her hands suddenly pinned above her head.

The same dark look was in his eyes as his messy blond hair slightly fell into his gaze, trained intently on her as he licked his lips with a grin, "Don't bite off more than you can chew princess," the devil said as he traced his teeth along her neck.

When Marinette opened her misty eyes to look up at Chat, she swore she saw something positively feral.

[laurenreviewsmovies]

MCU Guide for Dummies

MCU Chronological Timeline

Captain America: The First Avenger (up until Steve crashed the plane in the ocean) (1940s)

Captain Marvel (1995)

Iron Man (2010)

“Nick Fury’s Big Week” (all within the same week in 2011)

Iron Man 2

Thor

The Incredible Hulk

Captain America: The First Avenger (Steve wakes up in modern times)

 The Avengers (2012ish)

(this is where the years start to not add up that much, but this is the order everything happens, and some events still take place at the same time. So I included the years that I accept as canon, but sometimes the MCU contradicts that. Even Marvel has admitted they’ve fucked up their own timeline multiple times)

Iron Man 3 (Late 2012/2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy (the saga)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2014) (takes place just months after GOTG1)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

‘2016’ Movies (happening at the same time, more or less)

Captain America: Civil War (this happens first)

Doctor Strange (is starting at the same time the airport fight in Civil War goes down. When Strange crashes his car, he’s listening to potential surgery cases to take. One of them is “a 35 year old Marine Colonel, crushed his lower spine in some kind of experimental armor”. At his youngest, Rhodey is in his mid to late 40s, but this is supposed to be about him)

Black Panther (at the very beginning of the movie, the news is talking about how T’Chaka has been killed in the UN bombing in Vienna the week prior and how T’Challa has to be crowned as the next king)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (the movie starts with Peter’s POV of the airport fight in Civil War, and then follows him in the weeks afterwards. The movies says this movie takes place in 2020? This is the movie that got everyone hella confused and got Marvel to finally admit that they themselves can’t even keep their timelines straight)

‘2017/2018’ Movies (happening at the same time, more or less)

Thor: Ragnarok (you can look at this two ways. Either both Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War happened in 2017, or they both happened in 2018. They absolutely have to take place at the same time, because Thor: Ragnarok occurs mere days before Infinity War, and the movie ends only minutes before the beginning of Infinity War. This movie takes place roughly two years after Ultron and Civil War, just keep that in mind)

Infinity War (see above)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (this takes place a substantial amount of time after Civil War (about 2 years). Scott agreed to house arrest after breaking the law in Civil War, and his sentence is days from being finished in this movie. It’s pretty much accepted that it takes place a couple of weeks before Civil War. The after credit scene takes place during Infinity War, more specifically, during the exact moment everyone started disappearing because of the Snap)

WHERE WERE ALL THE INFINITY STONES?

(Thanos has now collected all of them, but where did he get them from?)

REALITY STONE (red) – within the Aether which was in The Collector’s collection on Knowhere

MIND STONE (yellow) – used to be in Loki’s scepter, then was in Vision’s head

TIME STONE (green) – eye of Agamotto, property of the Sorcerer Supreme

POWER STONE (purple) – given to Nova Corps by the Guardians of the Galaxy for safekeeping

SPACE STONE (blue) – inside the Tesseract

SOUL STONE (orange) – Vormir, guarded by the Red Skull

MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO TAKE AWAY

(the most important things to remember about each movie, but more in depth summaries of the plot of each movie is explained later on)

Iron Man: Tony becomes Iron Man to escape being held captive in a cave, creates the arc reactor to keep him alive and power the Iron Man suit, shuts down weapons manufacturing branch at his company, comes in contact with SHIELD, is approached by Nick Fury about the Avengers Initiative.

The Incredible Hulk: General Ross is after Bruce because he wants to use him as a weapon for the army. Bruce becomes a fugitive. He essentially learns how to control his transformations into the Hulk.

Iron Man 2: Natasha is introduced. Tony is not recommended for the Avengers Initiative, but Iron Man is. Tony become a consultant for SHIELD. Tony and Pepper finally get together. Rhodey is given an Iron Man suit (War Machine)

Thor: Odin is a bad father. Loki is adopted and has been lied to his entire life and Thor was always favored over him. Thor used to be an arrogant jerk but now he’s worthy. Loki falls of the Bifrost to his supposed death in the void of space after feeling betrayed by his entire family.

Captain America: The First Avenger: Steve was given the super solider serum because he was seen as a good guy who wouldn’t abuse its power. HYDRA is introduced and so is the Tesseract. Bucky is experimented on by HYDRA and falls off a train to his supposed death. Steve crashes a plane into the ocean, is frozen, and is then thawed out in 2011.

The Avengers: Loki isn’t dead, surprise, surprise. He’s sent by Thanos to Earth to retrieve the Tesseract, and he’s gifted with a scepter capable of mind control to help him. The team is formed, Coulson is supposedly killed, and they team up to fight Loki in New York. Tony takes a missile through a wormhole into space and sees the alien threat on the other side. The Avengers win. Loki is taken back to Asgard.

Iron Man 3: Tony has PTSD because of what he saw on the other side of the wormhole during the Battle of New York. He meets Harley (who is one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters so you seriously need to at least watch THIS movie). Tony takes down bad guys and shows that he’s a badass even without his suit. He gets the arc reactor and shrapnel removed from his chest at the end of the movie.

Thor: The Dark World: The Aether is introduced. Loki and Thor team up to defeat the bad guys and Loki supposedly dies protecting Thor. The Aether is revealed to be an Infinity Stone, as is the Tesseract. Jane Foster is reduced from a smart and relatable heroine to a damsel in distress and that’s a bummer.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Bucky isn’t dead, he’s the Winter Soldier. He’s been brainwashed by HYDRA and is an accomplished super soldier assassin. Sam/The Falcon are introduced. HYDRA infiltrated SHIELD after WWII and is exposed in this movie. Steve finds out that the Winter Solider killed Tony’s parents. Bucky starts to regain a few tiny memories.

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Guardians of the Galaxy are introduced as are the Ravagers. Nebula and Gamora are revealed to be Thanos’s adopted daughters, and they don’t like him at all. The stone inside the orb is revealed to be an Infinity Stone, and there is a whole scene giving background on the Infinity Stones and why they’re important. Peter Quill is revealed to only be half-human.

Avengers: Age of Ultron: Thor goes to a magic pond in a cave and has a vision about the Infinity Stones – it’s the first time we see all six. Vision is created as a result of Ultron and Loki’s scepter. The glowing things in the middle of the scepter is shown to be holding an infinity stone, which ultimately gets imbedded in Vision’s head. Tony retires from the Avengers, Clint also retires from the Avengers, Pietro dies, Wanda joins the team, Rhodey, Vision, and Sam officially join the Avengers, Clint has a secret family and a farm, and the Hulk disappears and no one knows where he went.

Ant-Man: Hank Pym and his daughter Hope don’t have the best relationship but they seem to repair it by the end of the movie. Scott is just trying to be a good dad and stay on the straight and narrow after his release from prison, but he gets back into stealing. He masters the Ant-Man suit created by Hank and Janet van Dyne might not be dead. Scott and Sam have a fight. Hope gets the Wasp suit.

Captain America: Civil War: Steve and his friends don’t support the Accords, Tony and his friends do. This results in a fight. Steve lied to Tony about his parents for two years to protect Bucky and there’s a huge fight when Tony finds out Steve lied. The Avengers are ripped apart, right down the middle. T’Challa offers to let Bucky stay in Wakanda. Steve and the others are all considered global fugitives. Steve gives Tony a cell phone to contact him with if he ever needs help. Spider-Man is introduced.

Doctor Strange: Stephen Strange becomes a practitioner of the mystic arts after losing his ability to be a surgeon. Another Infinity Stone, inside the Eye of Agamotto, is revealed. We learn that the sorcerers are in charge of protecting the Earth from otherworldly magical threats. Strange becomes the Sorcerer Supreme.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.: Peter is half-celestial. His father, Ego, is a living planet and is evil and wants to take over the universe. Yondu is the father Peter never knew he really had. Peter briefly realizes he has Celestial powers but then he loses them. Mantis joins the gang. Gamora and Nebula make up and Nebula leaves to go hunt down Thanos.

Spider-Man: Homecoming: Peter really wants to be a full blown Avenger and to have any sort of relationship with Tony, who is his idol, but Tony pretty much ignores him and tells him to stick to small crime stuff. Peter gets involved with Toomes and Tony gets upset with him and takes back the suit he made him. Peter still goes after Toomes and defeats him in his homemade suit. Tony realizes he needs to be a part of Peter’s life more and offers him a position as a full Avenger but Peter turns it down in favor of staying a neighborhood Spider-Man. Pepper and Tony get engaged.

Thor: Ragnarok: Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, is destroyed. Loki is alive and has been pretending to be Odin for, like, four years. Odin dies, releasing Thor’s bloodthirsty sister Hela, who tries to take over Asgard. Thor and the others destroy Asgard to defeat her. Loki and Thor get stranded on the planet Sakaar. The Hulk has been the Hulk for two straight years, transforms back into Bruce, and then back into the Hulk by the end of the movie. Valkyrie joins the gang. Thor become king and realizes he has lightning powers. The Asgardians are heading to Earth when they’re stopped by Thanos’s ship.

Black Panther: T’Challa is now king of Wakanda in addition to being the Black Panther. Shuri is extremely smart. Erik is revealed to be T’Challa’s cousin and he challenges and defeats T’Challa for the throne. M’Baku and the Jabari tribe team up with T’Challa and help him win back the throne. T’Challa decides that Wakanda is going to come out of hiding and share its knowledge and resources with the world.

Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos collects all six infinity stones and the following heroes are either killed or are dusted during the Snap and trapped in the Soul Stone: Sam, Bucky, Mantis, Drax, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, T’Challa, Shuri, Groot, Wanda, Hope, Janet, Hank, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Dr. Strange, Loki, Vision, Gamora. Nebula and Tony Stark are stranded on Titan. Nick Fury pages Captain Marvel for help before he dies.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Janet is rescued from the Quantum Realm. Hope has her own suit and is now The Wasp and she’s kind of better at the job than Scott is. Scott makes up with Hope and Hank. During the Snap, Hank, Hope, and Janet all disappear and leave Scott stranded in the quantum realm.

Captain Marvel: Carol was an Air Force pilot who absorbed the power of the Tesseract and has Kree blood in her veins which makes her insanely powerful. She’s badass, and she’s currently in space trying to help the Skrulls find a place to live (as far as we know). Goose is a super special cat who ate the Tesseract, and Carol gave Fury a specialized pager to contact her in the case of an emergency.

Summary Of Each Movie

(not in chronological order, this is in order of release)

Iron Man

Most important things to take away: Tony becomes Iron Man to escape being held captive in a cave, creates the arc reactor to keep him alive and power the Iron Man suit, shuts down weapons manufacturing branch at his company, comes in contact with SHIELD, is approached by Nick Fury about the Avengers Initiative.

Tony Stark is the son of Howard Stark. His parents died when he was 17, and he inherited Stark Industries. He didn’t take the role of CEO until he was 21, so his godfather Obadiah Stane (one of Howard’s best friends and also the CFO of Stark Industries) was in charge until he came of age. Stark Industries, since it was founded in the 1940s, has been a military contractor and it still is. Tony Stark is kidnapped in Afghanistan while demonstrating one of his new weapons to some military big wigs when he and his escorts are ambushed by terrorists and a bomb blows up in his face. He wakes up in a cave with a car battery hooked up to a hole in his chest to keep the bomb fragments stuck in his chest from slicing through his heart.

While in captivity, he finds out that the terrorists have a LOT of his weapons. It’s more than just a stolen shipment. Somehow, terrorists have been regularly receiving Stark weapons for years and Tony didn’t know about it. The terrorists want him to build his new missile for them. He says okay, but in reality he’s creating the Iron Man armor to escape. He also creates a miniaturized arc reactor (based off the giant one his dad built at Stark Industries) to keep the shrapnel out of his chest and to power the suit. He escapes and makes it back to the United States, where he immediately shuts down the weapons manufacturing branch of Stark Industries indefinitely until he can figure out what the fuck is going on.

He starts working on the Iron Man armor and testing it. It’s an amusing montage. SHIELD enters the picture and wants to talk to Tony.

He finds out that even though he shut down the weapons branch, that the terrorists were still receiving shipments of weapons (specifically in Gulmira). He also found out that his Board of Directors have filed an injunction to stop him from shutting down the weapons branch because they think he’s making crazy decisions because of PTSD from Afghanistan. When he asks Obadiah if he knows anything about these shipments to the terrorists, Obadiah admits that he is the one who filed the injunction against him. Tony flies to Gulmira and destroys the weapons. The US Air Force notices him on the way back and try to take him down, which is how Tony’s BFF Rhodey figures out he’s Iron Man. He is caught by Pepper, his assistant, removing the armor, so she knows about Iron Man too.

With Pepper’s help, they find out that Obadiah was actually behind Tony’s kidnapping. Obadiah paid the terrorists to kill Tony, but once the terrorists realized they realized the target was Tony freaking Stark, they kidnapped him instead. Obadiah has started building his own armor, but he can’t figure out a power source. He takes the arc reactor from Tony’s chest, essentially leaving him for dead. SHIELD and Pepper rush to stop Obadiah while Tony gets a spare reactor and suits up. There’s a fight. Tony wins. SHIELD helps deal with clean up and cover up.

SHIELD writes him a cover story (Iron Man isn’t him, it’s a bodyguard) for the press conference the next day, since the fight happened at Stark Industries and people noticed it. Tony disregards the notecards and announces that he himself is Iron Man.

Post credit scene: Nick Fury approaches Tony Stark to talk about the Avengers Initiative.

The Incredible Hulk

Most important things to take away: General Ross is after Bruce because he wants to use him as a weapon for the army. Bruce becomes a fugitive. He essentially learns how to control his transformations into the Hulk.

Remember in The Avengers when Bruce Banner is like “last time I was in New York, I kind of...broke Harlem”? This is that movie.

Bruce Banner works with and is dating Betty Ross. Her dad, General Ross, comes to talk to Bruce about an experiment with gamma radiation, an experiment that is trying to recreate the super soldier serum used on Captain America. Spoiler alert: it fails. Bruce turns into the Hulk when his heartrate goes about 200 beats per minute. The Hulk goes crazy and wreaks havoc. He becomes a fugitive of the US military, and particularly of Ross (who wants to weaponize the Hulk).

He’s still on the run five years later, hiding out in Brazil. He’s been talking to this guy on the internet (Mr. Blue) about finding a cure. He’s trying to keep the Hulk stuff under control using yoga techniques, and he hasn’t had an incident in five months. An accident at works leads the military to him. A Special Forces team, led by Emil Blonsky, try and take him down but Bruce Hulks out and escapes. Blonsky talks to Ross and agrees to be injected with a similar serum to the one used on Bruce to make him faster, stronger, overall better. It starts to make him go crazy and look crazy.

Bruce reconnects with Betty who is dating someone else (Phil, from Modern Family). Blonsky and the soldiers attack him again and he turns into the Hulk. Blonsky is supposedly killed, and the Hulk runs off with Betty. Bruce and Betty are on the run and meet up with Dr. Blue. Dr. Blue has found an antidote, but it will only reverse each individual transformation, not get rid of the Hulk all together.

Surprise! Blonsky survived. The military attacks while Bruce is with Dr. Blue and they take Bruce into custody. Blonsky stays behind and orders Dr. Blue to inject him with Bruce’s blood (Blue has vials of it from testing). It backfires and turns him into a complete monster (The Abomination). It makes him go completely crazy and he starts attacking Harlem. Ross realizes that the only thing that can stop him is the Hulk so he lets Bruce go. Bruce defeats Blonsky and runs off, on the run again.

Post credit scene: Tony Stark approaches Ross at a bar and tells him that ‘a team’ is being put together.

Iron Man 2

Most important things to take away: Natasha is introduced. Tony is not recommended for the Avengers Initiative, but Iron Man is. Tony become a consultant for SHIELD. Tony and Pepper finally get together. Rhodey is given an Iron Man suit (War Machine).

Approximately six months after Iron Man.

Ivan Vanko is watching Tony’s press conference where he reveals that he’s Iron Man. His dad, Anton Vanko, has just died but not before telling Ivan that that should’ve been him. He has blue prints that Howard Stark and Anton Vanko both worked on, together, for the arc reactor. Ivan starts working on his own arc reactor.

Tony is living it up. He’s been using Iron Man to keep the peace. The government wants to take his suits but he maintains that they’re not weapons and are his private property. He restarts the Stark Expo (the last one his Father did was in the 70s). The palladium core of the arc reactor is killing him. It’s quickly poisoning his blood. He needs the arc reactor to stay alive and power the suit, and he can’t find a substitute for the palladium.

Tony’s starting to act reckless when he realizes he’s going to die soon. He hasn’t told anyone. He makes Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries. She needs an assistant now, so Natalie Rushman (aka Natasha Romanov) is sent in. She’s really been sent there by SHIELD to evaluate Tony and assess whether he is a good fit for the Avengers Initiative. In Monaco, Tony decides to drive the Stark car in the Grand Prix. During the race, he’s attacked by Vanko. Vanko is defeated, but Tony’s arch nemesis Justin Hammer takes an interest in him and breaks him out of jail. He wants Vanko to help him fix his own prototypes of the Iron Man armor so that they are superior to Tony’s. Since Tony is no longer the main weapons contractor of the US Military, Hammer has taken his place, and since Tony won’t give his weapons to the military, Hammer wants to be able to deliver. He wants to demonstrate his superior suits at the Stark Expo to rub it in Tony’s face.

At Tony’s birthday party, he gets super drunk and reckless and is wearing the Iron Man armor. Rhodey says he’s being irresponsible and puts on a suit to try and restrain him. There’s a fight and Rhodey flies off with the suit and delivers it to the Air Force. Hammer is called in to make it even more weaponized.

A hungover Tony is approached by Nick Fury. Natalie is revealed to be Natasha at this time, and they give him a temporary antidote for the palladium poisoning. Nick reveals that Howard Stark was a founder of SHIELD and that he knew him personally. He explains how Howard and Anton worked on the arc reactor together and that Howard had him deported when Anton tried to sell it for profit. Fury delivers some of Howard’s old stuff to Tony (because Tony is supposed to figure something out from it) and leaves Coulson to watch over him. Coulson is called away to go oversee an incident in New Mexico (aka Thor). Tony finds a hidden message in a Stark Expo 1974 diorama, and uses it to make a new element. The new element serves as a replacement for the palladium.

Hammer’s suits are revealed at the Expo but Vanko has sabotaged them to become his own personal drones. Even Rhodey’s suit is taken control of. Vanko uses the drones to attack the Expo. Fun fact: one almost kills a small boy wearing an Iron Man mask...this boy is young Peter Parker. Natasha and Tony’s bodyguard Happy infiltrate Hammer Industries and gives control back to Rhodey’s suit. Stark and Rhodey defeats the drones and Vanko self-destructs his own suit. Pepper and Tony finally kiss after two movies of awkward flirting.

Fury is going over Natasha’s report of Tony with him. She concluded that while Iron Man is a good candidate for the Avengers Initiative, Tony Stark himself, as a person, is not recommended. SHIELD only wants to use him as a consultant, and Tony eventually agrees.

Post credit scene: Coulson shows up in New Mexico, where there is large hammer in the middle of a large crater.

Thor

Most important things to take away: Odin is a bad father. Loki is adopted and has been lied to his entire life and Thor was always favored over him. Thor used to be an arrogant jerk but now he’s worthy. Loki falls of the Bifrost to his supposed death in the void of space after feeling betrayed by his entire family.

In 965 AD, Odin defeats the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. King Laufey and the frost giants were trying to conquer the nine realms. The Asgardians take away their source of power, the Casket of Ancient Winters. Odin also finds a Jotun baby abandoned to die, supposedly, at a temple in Jotunheim. He picks up the baby and his magic changes the baby’s skin color from blue to normal human skin color. He takes the baby back to Asgard with him and raises it as his own, without letting the child know that he was adopted. This child is Loki.

In present day, Thor is about to be crowned king of Asgard. Some Jotuns break into the vault in Asgard trying to steal the Casket of Ancient Winters. A big giant metal guard with a furnace for a face that guards all the stuff on the fault destroys them. This robot thing is called The Destroyer. Thor sees this attack as a violation of the peace treaty between Jotunheim and Asgard and wants to attack Jotunheim in retaliation. Odin forbids him from doing anything but Thor disobeys him and goes to Jotunheim with his friends and Loki. It goes terribly. A frost giant grabs one of Thor’s friend’s arms and it starts to get instant frostbite. He warns everyone else about it – don’t let them touch your skin! A frost giant grabs Loki’s arm but instead of his arm freezing off, it starts to turn blue which shocks the Jotun and Loki. Odin comes and rescues the gang and convinces Laufey to forgive Thor’s arrogant and foolish actions. Odin strips Thor of his powers and banishes him to Earth. He throws Mjolnir through the wormhole as well, but only after enchanting it so that Thor (and anyone else) can only lift it if he’s worthy.

Thor lands in New Mexico where he is hit by Jane Foster (and Dr. Selvig and Darcy) with a van while they’re out in the desert doing science things at night. They drop him at the hospital, and the townspeople find Mjolnir in the desert. Coulson and SHIELD come out and confiscate all of Jane’s scientific data and equipment. Realizing Thor is the only piece of data she has left, Jane goes to find him. Thor breaks into the SHIELD containment area around Mjolnir to try and get it back, but he can’t lift it. SHIELD takes him into custody.

Loki confronts Odin about what happened on Jotunheim with his skin turning blue. Odin admits that Loki was adopted, and that he’s actually the son of the Jotun king Laufey. Before they can talk about that any more, Odin falls into, essentially, a magical coma. Loki is now the acting kind of Asgard, since Thor is banished. He visits Thor on Earth and lies to Thor and tells him Odin is dead. Loki refuses to lift Thor’s banishment. Jane and Dr. Selvig break Thor out of SHIELD.

Loki visits Laufey and offers him the Casket and the opportunity to kill Odin while he’s in his magic coma. Thor’s friends ask Loki to lift Thor’s banishment but Loki says no. Thor’s friends go against Loki and go to Earth to rescue Thor. Loki sends the Destroyer after them and the Destroyers defeats them. Thor realizes that the Destroyer is really just there to kill him and he sacrifices himself so that the Destroyer will stop destroying the town. This proves him to be worthy and Mjolnir flies to him and his powers are restored. He defeats the Destroyer and returns to Asgard.

Loki ends up betraying Laufey once he gets to Asgard. He was really just wanting to use Laufey attacking Odin as an excuse to destroy Jotunheim. He opens the Bifrost (the magic rainbow bridge that can transport you to any on the nine realms) on Jotunheim. If the Bifrost stays open for too long, it will destroy whatever it’s opened on. Thor shows up to stop him. Odin wakes up just in time to catch Thor and Loki from falling of the Bifrost. The Bifrost is destroyed. Loki just wants approval from Odin but Odin refuses to give it so Loki supposedly commits suicide by letting go and falling off the Bifrost into the abyss of space. Thor admits he’s not ready to be king.

Post credit scene: Fury brings Selvig into SHIELD to work on the Tesseract, an object that Fury says might hold untold power. An invisible Loki is revealed to the audience and prompts Selvig to agree.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Most important things to take away: Steve was given the super solider serum because he was seen as a good guy who wouldn’t abuse its power. HYDRA is introduced and so is the Tesseract. Bucky is experimented on by HYDRA and falls off a train to his supposed death. Steve crashes a plane into the ocean, is frozen, and is then thawed out in 2011.

World War II is currently going on. I’m not about to give you background on that.

A Nazi officer named Johan Schmidt steals a relic called the Tesseract from a church in Norway. Via a lapel pin, it’s revealed he’s part of HYDRA. In New York City, shrimpy little Steve Rogers tries to join the army (again) but is rejected for health reasons. He gets into a fight with a bully in an alley and is found by his BFF Bucky, who has been drafted into the Army and ships out tomorrow. They spend their last night together at a futuristic exhibition, where Steve tries to enlist again. He argues with Bucky about it, about why he wants to help. Dr. Erskine overhears him and offers him the change to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) as a potential member of the super-soldier project Erskine is working on. He goes to boot camp for this where he meets Peggy Carter and Colonel Phillips. Phillips isn’t impressed by him but agrees to go with Steve after he is shown to be brave and selfless. The night before the experiment, Erskine reveals the Schmidt had tried an imperfect version of the serum and it didn’t work and had bad side effects on him.

Schmidt and Dr. Zola are using the energy of the Tesseract to power Zola’s inventions that would change the outcome of the war. Schmidt finds out that Erskine is testing the serum again so he sends a HYDRA agent to kill him. Erskine and Howard Stark are running the experiment on Steve which works and he’s big and buff now. After it’s revealed it works, the HYDRA agent kills Erskine and runs away. Steve chases after him and catches him but the agent kills himself to avoid interrogation. Since the formula for the serum is lost with Erskine’s death, the Senator backing the project uses Steve as a performer to promote buying war bonds. While entertaining the troops in Europe, he finds out that Bucky’s unit has been captured and that the Army refuses to risk more men to rescue them. Steve, Peggy, and Howard steal a plane and go to rescue them. Steve rescues all of the POWs and finds Bucky isolated in a lab, where he had been experimented on by Dr. Zola. Steve sees a map in the lab of HYDRA strongholds. It’s destroyed when the lab is blown up so Steve is the only one who knows where they are. He forms a team with Bucky (The Howling Commandos) and they go around destroying the bases. While trying to capture Zola on a moving train in the mountains, Bucky falls off the train, supposedly to his death. Zola is captured.

Using the info they got from Zola, Steve goes to finally stop Schmidt. Schmidt’s plan was to send a bunch of weapons of mass destructions to US cities. He has them loaded on an aircraft and he flies off with the Tesseract. Steve sneaks onto the plane and they fight. The Tesseract opens a wormhole in space which sucks Schmidt in. It falls to the floor of the plane and melts the floor, and then falls into the ocean. Steve can’t land the plane without setting off the weapons, so he crashes the plane into ocean. Supposedly killing himself as well.

Howard Stark starts going on missions in the Arctic to find the Tesseract and Steve’s plane. He finds the Tesseract and founds SHIELD with Peggy and Colonel Phillips. In 2011, SHIELD finds a wrecked plane in the Arctic containing Steve. They thaw him out. When he wakes up, he runs off and finds himself in modern Times Square. Nick Fury finds him and tells him it’s 2011.

Post credit scene: Fury finds Steve and tells him that they have an assignment regarding the Tesseract, which Steve is kind of annoyed to find out is still a problem.

The Avengers

Most important things to take away: Loki isn’t dead. He’s sent by Thanos to Earth to retrieve the Tesseract, gifted with a scepter capable of mind control to help him. The team is formed, Coulson is supposedly killed, they team up to fight Loki in New York. Tony takes a missile through a wormhole into space and sees the alien threat on the other side. The Avengers win. Loki’s taken back to Asgard.

This weird alien creature called The Other, the leader of the Chitauri, is telling an unknown third party (Thanos) about how Loki is ready to lead an offensive on Earth and retrieve the Tesseract for them. Loki arrives on Earth with a magic scepter, using the Tesseract to open a portal across space. He mind controls Hawkeye and Selvig and escapes with the Tesseract. Nick Fury declares that they’re at war and need to get the Avengers together.

The Avengers are put together. Captain America and Natasha go to stop Loki in Germany, where he is because he and Hawkeye were trying to find Iridium which they needed to stabilize the Tesseract. Loki and Steve fight, and the fight ends when Iron Man shows up on the scene. On the flight back to SHIELD, Thor lands on the plane and steals Loki away. On the ground, he tries reasoning with Loki, saying that this isn’t like him and that his family wants him to come home. Their conversation is interrupted by Tony, and Tony, Thor, and later Steve all fight in the forest. They come to a truce and bring Loki into SHIELD.

Loki is imprisoned on the Helicarrier while Bruce and Tony try and find the Tesseract. The group of Avengers start to argue, especially after finding out that SHIELD was using the Tesseract to build weapons. It’s because SHIELD is scared of an extraterrestrial threat, and Thor reveals that the only reason that extraterrestrials are taking notice of Earth is BECAUSE they’re messing with the Tesseract and essentially signaling that they’re ready for higher forms of warfare. Hawkeye and goons attack the Helicarrier and free Loki. Hawkeye is then freed from his mind control. The Avengers are scattered after the ensuing fight and Coulson is supposedly killed by Loki (why can no one stay dead in the MCU?!). Fury uses Coulson’s death to rally the Avengers into coming together.

Loki and Selvig have created a device to use the Tesseract to open a portal on top of Stark Tower. Tony and Steve realize that Loki needs a big show of him winning to publically validate himself as the leader of Earth and the Avengers rush to New York City to stop him. The Chitauri come through the portal and there’s a huge battle. They release they can use Loki’s scepter to close the portal but Fury alerts them to the fact that the World Security Council has sent a nuke to NYC to take out the enemy. Tony catches the missile and leads it through the portal, seeing all of the threats waiting behind the portal in space. It destroys all of the Chitauri forces and the mothership. The Avengers corner Loki and Thor takes him and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Fury says that the Avengers will return if the world needs them again.

Post credit scene: The Other reveals to his master that Loki failed, and that they had seriously underestimated the people of Earth. He says that to challenge the Avengers would be to court death. His master turns and smiles at this prospect. It’s revealed by face, but not by name, that his master is Thanos (and that line is clever because in the comics, Thanos isn’t trying to balance out the universe. He’s killing everyone because he’s in love with Death and is killing people to offer her to win her affection).

Post credit scene: The Avengers are eating Shwarma after the Battle of New York.

Iron Man 3

Most important things to take away: Tony has PTSD because of what he saw on the other side of the wormhole during the Battle of New York. He meets Harley (who is one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters so you seriously need to at least watch THIS movie). Tony takes down bad guys and shows that he’s a badass even without his suit. He gets the arc reactor and shrapnel removed from his chest at the end of the movie.

In 1999, Tony is hanging out with Maya Hansen, who is working on a treatment called Extremis that it an experimental regenerative treatment that would allow from recovery of crippling injuries, essentially by regrowing limbs and stuff. He’s approached by Aldrich Killian, the head of AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics), but Stark promises to meet with him and then blows him off. So he’s created an enemy out of Killian, and even though Maya was a one night stand, he left her with a solution to one part of the Extremis formula she had been struggling with.

In modern times, Tony is struggling with anxiety and PTSD. His outlet for dealing with it is to build A TON of Iron Man suits. He’s together with Pepper now, but she doesn’t approve of his coping mechanisms. She meets with Aldrich who is working with Maya and Extremis and is trying to get Stark Industries to invest. She declines, and Happy (the bodyguard) doesn’t trust Aldrich and his henchman, so he follows them.

There’s a terrorist known as the Mandarin who keeps televising attacks and he can’t be caught because there’s a lack of forensic evidence. When Happy follows Aldrich’s henchman, he is injured in a Mandarin attack. When questioned about the Mandarin on TV, Tony threatens that Mandarin and gives out his home address, saying he’s not scared of him. The Mandarin bombs Tony’s house while Maya is over trying to talk to Tony about how she thinks Aldrich might be evil. Tony is assumed to be dead, and Maya and Pepper flee together. Tony was actually rescued by JARVIS and one of his Iron Man suits. It crash lands in Tennessee, and is out of power/not functional, so he has to lug it into a small town. He breaks into the garage of a ten-year old named Harley Keener, who informs him that the whole world thinks he’s dead.

The two team up and he finds out about Aldrich and his testing of Extremis. It actually causes people to explode if the virus is not accepted by the body. The Mandarin attacks leave no evidence because the people were the actual bombs. Tony traces the Mandarin to a mansion in Miami, and Harley stays behind in Tennessee to charge the suit. Meanwhile, Killian comes and kidnaps Pepper and maybe Maya (she doesn’t trust him at all but she still seems to be working with him, for his money). He also lured Rhodey into a trap to steal the War Machine armor. So everyone is chilling at the mansion.

Tony breaks into the mansion with homemade weapons and it’s badass as hell. He discovers that the Mandarin is actually an English actor. He’s taken captive by Killian, who is revealed to be the real mastermind of the Mandarin. Maya had mentioned to Killian that Tony might be able to help them solve the whole people-keep-exploding problem so that they can sell Extremis, and Killian injected Pepper with it to blackmail Tony into finding a cure. The armor charges and flies to meet Tony in Florida. He and Rhodey escape and have to go save the President, who Killian and friends had kidnapped to make a huge Mandarin spectacle. Tony calls in all of his many suits in to remotely kick ass. Pepper falls to her apparent death, but it’s revealed that she survived the Extremis virus and she reemerges to kill Killian when he’s about to kill Tony. Tony self-destructs his army of suits and fixes the Extremis virus. He then uses this virus to help him undergo surgery to remove the shrapnel from his chest and remove the arc reactor.

Post credit scene: Throughout the movie, Tony has been basically narrating everything...at least at the beginning and end. It’s revealed during this scene that he had been telling this all to Bruce to get it off his chest, but that Bruce had nodded off at the very beginning.

Thor: The Dark World

Most important things to take away: Loki and Thor team up to defeat the bad guys and Loki supposedly dies protecting Thor. The Aether is revealed to be an Infinity Stone, as is the Tesseract. Jane Foster is reduced from a smart and relatable heroine to a damsel in distress that’s a bummer.

In the past, Odin’s father fought the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves wanted to unleash a weapon known as the Aether on the nine realms which could only be done during the convergence, when all the realms lined up. In present day, Loki is taken back to Asgard. He would’ve been killed but his mother argued against it, so he’s sentenced to eternal imprisonment by Odin for his crimes against Jotunheim and Earth. Thor and his friends are going around trying to keep peace in the nine realms. When he returns, he discovers that another convergence is about to occur.

In London, Jane and Darcy show up at an abandoned factory where the laws of physics pretty much don’t apply. Jane gets transported to another world while exploring, and encounters the Aether, which infects her by flowing into her body. Heimdall sees this (Heimdall can see everything in the nine realms), and Thor comes to bring her to Asgard to get help. Odin recognizes the Aether and says that it will kill her and that this means something bad is coming. The Dark Elves attack Asgard and Frigga, the Queen, is killed. The Elves wanted to take Jane (aka the Aether) with them, but they had to leave before they could. Thor helps Loki escape and they use Jane to lure the leader of the Dark Elves to Svartalfheim. The leader of the Elves draws the Aether out of Jane but Loki and Thor are unable to destroy it while it’s exposed. The Elves takes the Aether and leave, and Loki ends up taking a sword that was meant for Thor. He supposedly dies, what a surprise. Thor and Jane team up with Selvig and they find out that the center of the convergence will be in Greenwich. Thor fights with the elves when they come to Greenwood and he ultimately defeats them and destroys their ship.

Thor returns to Asgard and yet again refuses the throne when Odin offers it to him. He tells Odin about Loki’s sacrifice and he turns to leave. As he leaves, Odin transforms, and it’s revealed that he was actually Loki in disguise.

Post credit scene: The Warriors Three (Thor’s friends) take the Aether to the Collector on Knowhere for him to protect and keep safe. They say that with the Tesseract already stored on Asgard, it would be dangerous for two Infinity Stones to be so close together. This reveals that the Tesseract and the Aether are both Infinity Stones.

Post credit scene: Thor arrives back on Earth to make out with Jane, essentially.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Most important things to take away: Bucky isn’t dead, he’s the Winter Soldier. He’s been brainwashed by HYDRA and is an accomplished super soldier assassin. Sam/The Falcon are introduced. HYDRA infiltrated SHIELD after WWII and is exposed in this movie. Steve finds out that the Winter Solider killed Tony’s parents. Bucky starts to regain a few tiny memories.

Steve Rogers has no credentials for any sort of job in the modern era, so he works for Fury and SHIELD. He and Natasha regularly work with a Strike Team led by Brock Rumlow. He’s trying to adjust to modern society. Him, Natasha, and the team are saving hostages from a SHIELD ship when Steve realizes that Natasha has another agenda, a secret mission of her own – to get data from the ship computers for Fury. Steve confronts him and Fury talks to him about Project Insight, which is supposed to be a preemptive protection program. It would eliminate threats before they were threats. Fury can’t decrypt the data though and he becomes suspicious of the leader of the Project, Secretary of Internal Security and SHIELD official, Alexander Pierce, and he asks him to delay the project. On his way to meet with Maria Hill, Fury is attacked by the Winter Solider.

Fury hides out in Steve’s apartment, but he is shot down by the Winter Soldier. He gives Steve the flash drive of information and warns him that SHIELD is compromised. Steve chases after the Winter Soldier but he disappears. Fury supposedly dies. Steve hides the flash drive at the hospital when he is summoned by Pierce. Pierce wants the information that Fury gave him, but Steve refuses and then fights off everyone and becomes a fugitive of SHIELD. Natasha retrieves the flash drive and they are both on the run now. They go to a bunker of SHIELD’s and finds a supercomputer that is preserving the consciousness of Dr. Zola. Zola reveals that HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD and has been a part of SHIELD since the end of World War II. HYDRA, acting as SHIELD, has caused global chaos to further their own agenda. When people became a problem or a threat, they were eliminated. It’s revealed that the Winter Solider and HYDRA killed Howard and Maria Stark in 1991. We find out that Pierce is basically the head of HYDRA at this point, and that Rumlow is also HYDRA. Natasha and Steve are attacked by HYDRA and escape, and they hide out at Steve’s new friend Sam’s house.

The three of them team up and find out via a HYDRA mole in SHIELD that Zola wrote an algorithm that would identify people that would pose future threats to HYDRA. HYDRA then used this algorithm with Project Insight...so essentially, Project Insight’s purpose wasn’t to protect the world from potential threats, but was to kill anyone who might pose a threat to HYDRA now or in the future. They’d do this with the three Helicarriers that were to be launched. The three heroes then get into a fight with HYDRA and the Winter Soldier, and it’s revealed that the Winter Soldier is actually Bucky. Bucky had been experimented on with a super solider serum when he was captured by Zola during the war, and this serum allowed him to survive his fall from the train. He’s been brainwashed by HYDRA and doesn’t remember who he is, and he has a metal arm. Before the launch of the Project Insight Helicarriers, Natasha and Fury show up and overpower Pierce. Natasha releases all of the information about HYDRA/SHIELD online, exposing HYDRA. Steve and Sam are working to shut down the three Helicarriers. They shut down two but Steve is confronted by Bucky on the third. He stops the Helicarrier but refuses to hurt Bucky. He and Bucky are both thrown into the Potomac as the Helicarriers crash into each other and fall out of the sky. Bucky pulls Steve out of the river and leaves him on the bank before disappearing. Now, Steve’s new mission is to take out the remaining HYDRA cells and also search for the Winter Soldier.

Post credit scene: Foreshadows Age of Ultron. It shows HYDRA scientist Wolfgang von Strucker using Loki’s scepter to experiment on people – and it shows two of the subjects, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, in cells.

Post credit scene: Bucky, in disguise, visits the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian and comes across a memorial for Bucky Barnes.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Most important things to take away: The Guardians of the Galaxy are introduced as are the Ravagers. Nebula and Gamora are revealed to be Thanos’s adopted daughters, and they don’t like him at all. The stone inside the orb is revealed to be an Infinity Stone, and there is a whole scene giving background on the Infinity Stones and why they’re important. Peter Quill is revealed to only be half-human.

Peter Quill was abducted by space pirate aliens (The Ravagers) in 1988 after his mother dies of cancer. Fast forward to 2014, Peter is still with the Ravagers. He goes to a planet to retrieve an orb. Quill gets the orb and Yondu (leader of the space pirate aliens crew) finds out that he stole it and puts a bounty out for him. Ronan is a Kree working for Thanos. Thanos has lent him his adopted daughters Gamora and Nebula. Ronan sends Gamora to retrieve the orb. On Xandar, Peter tries to sell the orb but has no success. He fights with Gamora, who wants the Orb, and Rocket and Groot join in because they want the bounty on Quill’s head. They’re all arrested and sent to space jail, where they meet Drax. Gamora reveals that she is betraying Ronan, she doesn’t want to give him the orb and its power. She was actually going to sell it to a buyer she already had lined up, so that gang breaks out of prison and goes to meet with the buyer.

The buyer ends up being the Collector on Knowhere. The Collector reveals that inside the orb is an Infinity Stone. There are six infinity stones scattered across the universe. They’re items of immeasurable power and only the most powerful of beings can wield them. There’s an explosion and the Guardians escape with the orb. The Guardians flee but are tracked down by Ronan’s followers as well as Nebula. Ronan takes the orb, and the Ravagers save the stranded Guardians. The Guardians decide to trade the orb if the Ravagers help them get it back and then to let them go. Ronan puts the Infinity Stone in his hammer and takes the power for himself instead of giving it to Thanos. Nebula hates Thanos, so she sides with Ronan. Groot sacrifices himself to save the Guardians. Ronan goes to destroy Xandar but he is met by the Guardians. Peter frees the stone from the hammer, and the Guardians use it to destroy Ronan. They give the empty orb to Yondu and give the Stone to the Nova Corps on Xandar for protection. The Nova Corp expunges their criminal records and reveals to Quill that he’s only half-human.

Post credit scene: Baby Groot is dancing in a pot to The Jackson 5.

Post-credit scene: The Collector is sitting in his archive with Howard the Duck and Cosmo the space dog.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Most important things to take away: Thor goes to a magic pond in a cave and has a vision about the Infinity Stones – it’s the first time we see all six. Vision is created as a result of Ultron and Loki’s scepter. The glowing things in the middle of the scepter is shown to be holding an infinity stone, which ultimately gets imbedded in Vision’s head. Tony retires from the Avengers, Clint also retires from the Avengers, Pietro dies, Wanda joins the team, Rhodey, Vision, and Sam officially join the Avengers, Clint has a secret family and a farm, and the Hulk disappears and no one knows where he went.

The Avengers have been taking down HYDRA cells and searching for Loki’s scepter, which was stolen by HYDRA. HYDRA used the Scepter’s powers to make two enhanced individuals: Wanda, who has freaky mind powers, and Pietro, who has super speed (“He’s got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation.” “Huh?” “He’s fast, and she’s weird”). They find it and before Tony can grab it, Wanda uses her mind powers to trigger his PTSD from the wormhole. This prompts him and Bruce to restart their idea for Ultron, a global peace-keeping initiative. They fail - they can’t get it to work over the three days they spent trying. They leave the scepter in the lab and go to the party. Ultron comes online by himself, takes control of some Iron Man drones, kills JARVIS, and escapes.

The Avengers track Ultron down in South Africa, where he’s trying to get some Vibranium from Ulysses Klaue. Wanda and Pietro have teamed up with Ultron because Ultron has determined that the greatest threat to global peace are in fact the Avengers, and Pietro and Wanda blame Tony for their parents’ death. Wanda gets in almost everyone’s head and triggers the Hulk into attacked Johannesburg. The Avengers have to hide out at a safe house, which turns out to be Clint’s farmhouse with his secret family. Nick Fury shows up and rallies them to fight. Ultron is trying to build himself a better body, and Wanda finds out that he doesn’t just want to kill the Avengers – he wants to exterminate all humans. Steve, Clint, and Natasha steal Ultron’s new body, but Ultron gets away and kidnaps Natasha.

Tony and Bruce uploads JARVIS’s code to the new body and Thor shows up after returning after having a vision about the Infinity Stones. Thor uses the stone from inside the scepter and Mjolnir to bring the body to life. Vision is created and Natasha sends a signal that shows she’s in Sokovia. The Avengers rush to fight Ultron in Sokovia, where he is planning to lift the city upwards and drop it like an asteroid to cause a mass extinction. Wanda and Pietro switch sides and they all fight Ultron’s army of robots. SHIELD shows up and they evacuate all the citizens and then blow up the city while it’s in the air so it doesn’t fall. Pietro saves Clint’s life by sacrificing his own. The Hulk flies off in a Quinjet after the battle and refuses to get in contact with the Avengers.

Post credit scene: Thanos states that he’s getting tired of waiting for his minions to get the Infinity Stones for him. He puts on the Infinity Gauntlet and says that he’s going to go get them himself.

 Ant-Man

Most important things to take away: Hank Pym and his daughter Hope don’t have the best relationship but they seem to repair it by the end of the movie. Scott is just trying to be a good dad and to not go back to prison after his release, but he gets back into stealing. He masters the Ant-Man suit created by Hank and Janet van Dyne might not be dead. Scott and Sam have a fight. Hope gets the Wasp suit.

In 1989, Hank Pym resigns from SHIELD because he discovers that Howard Stark and SHIELD are trying to replicate his Ant-Man shrinking technology. In present day, his daughter (who’s not his biggest fan) Hope van Dyne and his mentee Darren Cross (sadly, NOT Darren Criss) have essentially taken over Pym Technologies and shut him out of it. Cross is working on his own shrinking suit and Hank doesn’t trust that, so he hires recently-released-from-prison former thief Scott Lang to break in and steal the suit. Scott has had trouble holding down a job since his release and he wants to be able to pay child support and do well by his daughter Cassie, so he agrees.

Hope has begun to distrust Cross too and she and Hank team up to train Scott on how to use the Ant-Man suit. It’s revealed that Hope is estranged from her father because she blames him for her mother’s death. He mother, Janet, had supposedly died (shocker) when she tried to stop a Soviet missile and disappeared into the Quantum Realm, because no one can return from the Quantum Realm...right? Scott tries to break into the Avengers compound to steal a part needed for the heist, and he briefly fights Sam Wilson. Cross finishes his suit and unveils it, and plans to sell it to HYDRA. When the they attempt to steal the suit, Scott, Hope, and Hank are captured. Scott breaks free and he and Hope kick ass and take down the HYDRA goons. Cross escapes and Scott runs after him. Cross puts on his suit and he and Scott fight while shrinking. Scott messes with Cross’s suit so that it keeps shrinking uncontrollably, and Cross pretty much shrinks to death. Scott accidentally gets sucked into the Quantum Realm, but he survives and makes it back out which leads Hank to wonder if his wife might still be alive.

Post credit scene: After being upset the whole movie that her dad was giving a random criminal a suit and not her, Hank gives Hope an unfinished ‘Wasp’ suit and she says “it’s about damn time”

Post credit scene: It’s part of a scene from Civil War. Bucky, Sam, and Steve are talking. They say they need help but can’t ask Tony, and Sam says he know “a guy” (Scott, who he found in Ant-Man) who can help them

Captain America: Civil War

Most important things to take away: Steve and his friends don’t support the Accords, Tony and his friends do. This results in a fight. Steve lied to Tony about his parents for two years to protect Bucky and there’s a huge fight when Tony finds out Steve lied. The Avengers are ripped apart, right down the middle. T’Challa lets Bucky stay in Wakanda. Steve and the others are all considered global fugitives. Steve gives Tony a cell phone to contact him with if he ever needs help. Spider-Man is introduced.

Steve and the Avengers are supposedly going on all these mission to take down HYDRA cells that still exist, but Steve is also secretly trying to find Bucky. Steve takes a not-combat-ready Wanda along on a mission and she ends up killing a bunch of civilians and the world is scared and pissed. It’s been in the works since NYC and DC and Sokovia, but General Ross (now Secretary of Defense Ross) shows up to bring up the Sokovia Accords. The Sokovia Accords are the result of the UN wanting to hold the Avengers accountable – they’ve been running around the world wreaking havoc and then disappearing and not dealing with the aftermath. 117 countries have signed the Accords and the UN is going to enact them the next day. If the Avengers don’t sign, they’ll either have to retire or be branded illegal vigilantes. The Avengers debate it. Tony is in favor of it, he wants accountability and has already signed, and Steve is against is because he’s an idiot and he thinks that governments have agendas (he apparently doesn’t know that the UN isn’t a government) and that the Avengers know best. It’s later kind of inferred that he was also worried that the Accords wouldn’t let him find and rehabilitate Bucky.

Peggy dies and Steve goes to Europe for her funeral. The Accords are being signed in Vienna and are spearheaded by T’Chaka, the king of Wakanda. The UN building is bombed and T’Chaka is killed. According to surveillance, Bucky is the one who bombed the UN, and T’Challa (prince of Wakanda) wants revenge. Steve and Sam tracks down Bucky before the Security Council can bring him in and believe him when he says he’s innocent. Bucky has been living on his own and regaining his memories. Bucky, Sam, and Steve run from the Security Council, and later fight with T’Challa before being taken into custody. Tony shows up and offers to wipe everyone’s slate clean, legitimize everything that just happened, and get Bucky psychiatric help if Steve and Sam just sign the Accords. He agrees with Steve that amendments are needed and that that can be achieved if everyone signs, and Steve almost signs but he gets angry when Tony mentions he’s having Vision keep Wanda inside the Compound because the world is wanting her head because they think he’s dangerous. A UN psychiatrist is revealed to be a bad guy and he triggers Bucky into becoming the Winter Soldier. Everyone fights with the Winter Soldier and Steve and Sam eventually run off with him.

Bucky talks about how he’s not been doing any of this bad stuff and how the guy who was pretending to be a psychiatrist is out to get them. He talks about how there are actually five other winter soldiers that are being kept in stasis in a HYDRA bunker in Siberia. They rationalize that this bad guy (whose name is Zemo) is wanting to trigger these soldiers. Rather than going to the UN or asking Tony for help, Steve, Sam and Bucky don’t think that they’ll have the time to deal with all the bureaucracy and go to stop the soldiers and Zemo themselves.

Sam, Bucky, and Steve have broken the law by fleeing UN custody, and Tony is sent to stop them before they can go to Siberia. Both sides have recruited backup. On Tony’s side are T’Challa, Rhodey, Spider-Man, Vision, and Natasha. On Steve’s side are Bucky, Sam, Hawkeye, Wanda (who was broken out of the compound by Hawkeye), and Ant-Man. There’s an epic airport fight. Bucky and Steve escape after Natasha flips sides and lets them escape. Rhodey is paralyzed during the fight. Wanda, Sam, Clint, and Scott are arrested and sent to the Raft, an underwater prison for superheroes.

Tony finds out that Zemo is the one who is behind all of this and realizes that he was wrong in thinking that it was Barnes. He goes to the Raft and talks Sam into revealing where Barnes and Steve went. He shows up in Siberia to help them defeat the soliders and they are briefly all on the same side. BUT HEY! Remember how Steve found out that Bucky killed Tony’s parents two years ago? Yeah, Steve never told Tony any of that, and Steve has been using Tony’s money to fund missions to search for Bucky. Zemo is found to have already killed all the soldiers – the soldiers was never his plan. He wants to make the Avengers rip themselves apart, and he does so by showing Tony the video of the Winter Soldier killing his parents. Tony is initially mad at Bucky but then, once he discovers that Steve knew for two years and never told him, he’s mad at both of them. The three of them fight, and Bucky and Steve disable Tony’s suit and leave him injured in Siberia. T’Challa had followed them and realized Bucky wasn’t responsible for his father’s death. He offers to take them to Wakanda. Steve breaks the others out of the Raft, Natasha joins them. Steve send a letter and a cell phone to Tony in case Tony ever needs to contact him for help.

Post credit scene: Bucky decides to go back into cryostasis until a cure can be found to undo HYDRA’s mental programming. T’Challa grants Steve and the rogue avengers asylum in Wakanda.

Post credit scene: Aunt May asks about why Peter has a black eye and he lies to her about it. Peter Parker is sent a new set of web-shooters by Tony, and they shine a spider-man symbol on the ceiling.

Doctor Strange

Most important things to take away: Stephen Strange becomes a practitioner of the mystic arts after losing his ability to be a surgeon. Another Infinity Stone, inside the Eye of Agamotto, is revealed. We learn that the sorcerers are in charge of protecting the Earth from otherworldly magical threats. Strange becomes the Sorcerer Supreme.

Kaecilius and his followers break into the compound at Kamar-Taj and steal a page from a book that belongs to the Ancient One. In NYC, Stephen Strange is shown to be an arrogant and cocky neurosurgeon. He gets in a car accident that severely injures his hands, ending his career as a surgeon. He exhausts all of his money trying to find a cure. As a last hope, he approaches a guy names Pangborn who was apparently paralyzed below the waist but regained use of his legs. Pangborn tells him he found healing at Kamar-Taj and Strange goes to Kamar-Taj and begs for be taken in. Mordo, a sorcerer who studies under the Ancient One (the Sorcerer Supreme), finally takes him in.

The Ancient One demonstrates her power to Strange and he begs to be taught. The Ancient One, Mordo, and Wong (the Master in charge of the library) teach him. Strange also himself teaches himself by reading almost all the books in the library. Strange learns how Kamar-Taj is connected to and is accessible to three sanctums across the world, which together form a protective shield against ‘magical’ threats against the world. The Sanctums are in New York, Hong Kong, and London, and Kaecilius wants to destroy them so that the world would be open to attack from the Master he serves, Dormammu (who lives in the Dark Dimension). Strange also learns about the Eye of Agamotto which can control time (it’s actually an Infinity Stone). Wong and Mordo warn him not to mess with the laws of nature, like Kaecilius.

Kaecilius uses the stolen page from the book to contact Dormammu. He destroys the London sanctum which weakens Earth’s defensive shield. He attacks the New York sanctum where he kills the guardian but fights Stephen. Stephen receives help from the Cloak of Levitation, and Mordo and the Ancient One show up. It’s revealed that the Ancient One was using magic from the Dark Dimension to prolong her life, which causes Mordo to become disillusioned in everything he’s been taught. Kaecilius kills the Ancient One and heads to Hong Kong. By the time Mordo and Strange get to Hong Kong, Wong is dead and the Sanctum has fallen and Dormammu is descending. Strange uses the Eye of Agamatto to reset everything and then he enters the Dark Dimension to fight Dormammu. He traps both himself and Dormammu in a time loops and lets Dormammu kill him over and over and over until Dormammu agrees to give up if Strange breaks the time loop, and leave Earth with Kaecilius and his followers. Mordo, still disillusioned by everything and now by Strange, leaves. Strange takes the place of the guardian at the New York Sanctum and since the Ancient One is dead, he’s essentially now the Sorcerer Supreme as well.

Post credit scene: A scene from Doctor Strange. Dr. Strange asks Thor why he brought Loki to Earth and Thor states that they’re looking for Odin and once he finds them that they will all return to Asgard. Hearing this, Dr. Strange agrees to help them find Odin.

Post credit scene: Karl Mordo confronts Pangborn and takes away the magic that was healing him, leaving him paralyzed. He’s undoing this kind of stuff because he says there are “too many sorcerers”.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Most important things to take away: Peter is half-celestial. His father, Ego, is a living planet and is evil and wants to take over the universe. Yondu is the father Peter never knew he really had. Peter briefly realizes he has Celestial powers but then he loses them. Mantis joins the gang. Gamora and Nebula make up and Nebula leaves to go hunt down Thanos.

This takes place a few months after the first Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians are essentially heroes for hire and are going around the galaxy getting paid to do certain jobs. They get hired by the Sovereign race and their leader Ayesha to protect some batteries, but Rocket ends up stealing them. They receive Nebula as payment and try and escape before the Sovereigns realize Rocket stole the batteries. The Sovereigns pursue them and attack, and a mystery figure on a nearby ship helps them get away. Their ship crashes and the mystery figure lands near the crash. The mystery figure reveals himself to be Ego, Peter’s father. He had paid Yondu to pick Peter up on Earth after his mother died and deliver him to Ego’s planet, but Yondu stole Peter instead. Ego invites Peter, Gamora, and Drax to go back to his home planet with him and his ‘pet’/servant Mantis, an empath.

Yondu and his crew have been exiled from the Ravager society by the Ravager leader Stakar Ogord for child trafficking, which goes against the Ravager Code. Ayesha tries to hire Yondu to recapture the Guardians, but Yondu practically raised Peter and is hesitant to turn him in. The crew mutinies against him and only Yondu and Kraglin, his right hand man, survive. The crew kidnaps Groot and Rocket, who stayed behind to work on the ship repairs. Groot steals back Yondu’s fin which controls his arrow, and the four of them escape.

Ego reveals to Peter that Yondu hadn’t actually been trafficking children. He tells Peter that he paid Yondu to deliver him only. In reality, Ego had been paid to collect and deliver tons of Ego’s kids to him but Yondu then realized that Ego wasn’t wanting his kids because he was a caring father – he was killing them. Ego doesn’t tell Peter any of this. Yondu had discovered that Ego was trying to find out if any of his kids carried the Celestial gene, since all his kids were potentially half-celestial. When the kids couldn’t access the Celestial power, they were killed and Ego stored their bones in a cave. He doesn’t tell Peter any of that, he doesn’t tell him that Yondu found out. When Yondu discovered this, he refused to deliver the next to him – and the next kid just happened to be Peter. Ego just told Peter that Yondu stole him and that Ego has been looking for Peter ever since.

Ego wants to take over the universe. He has planted parts of himself on all these different planets he has visited (where he met women to have kids with), but he needs the power of two Celestials to activate those parts of himself. Ego is essentially the planet he lives on (his brain is the planet’s core), and if he can activate the other parts of himself on other planets, he can take them over. Peter ends up being able to control Celestial power, and Ego invites him to join in his universal domination. Peter refuses and Ego forcibly drains the celestial power from Peter anyway. Nebula and Gamora discover the cave of bones and realize Ego is evil and rush to help Peter, as do Rocket, Yondu, Kraglin and Groot. Rocket makes a bomb out of his stolen batteries, and while Peter fights Ego the Guardians blow up the brain and the planet disintegrates. Peter loses his Celestial powers when Ego dies and Yondu sacrifices himself to save Peter. Peter realizes Yondu has been like his real father this entire time: he didn’t kidnap him, he protected him from Ego. Nebula and Gamora make up and Nebula leaves the gang to go hunt down Thanos herself.

Post credit scene: Kraglin is playing with Yondu’s arrow and accidentally hits Drax.

Post credit scene: Stakar decides to get the ‘band’ back together.

Post credit scene: Ayesha is creating a creature in a weird golden cacoon that will be capable of destroying the Guardians. She decides to call her creation “Adam” (most important one).

Post credit scene: Peter walks into teenage Groot’s room and acts like a total dad.

Post credit scene: the Watchers walk away from their informant (Stan Lee).

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Most important things to take away: Peter really wants to be a full blown Avenger and to have any sort of relationship with Tony, who is his idol, but Tony pretty much ignores him and tells him to stick to small crime stuff. Peter gets involved with Toomes and Tony gets upset with him and takes back the suit he made him. Peter still goes after Toomes and defeats him in his homemade suit. Tony realizes he needs to be a part of Peter’s life more and offers him a position as a full Avenger but Peter turns it down in favor of staying a neighborhood Spider-Man. Pepper and Tony get engaged.

This takes place right after Civil War. Ignore when it says that it’s 2020. It’s not. They’re wrong.

Right after the Battle of New York, Adrian Toomes runs a salvage company and his crew is working on cleaning up the city. The cleanup is taken over by the Department of Damage Control (DODC), which Tony Stark helped found with the government. Toomes is angry that they’re out of business now and he steals of truck of alien tech. He and his men use that tech to make weapons that they sell on the black market. They do that for years. That takes us to 2016. We see Peter’s point of view of the events in Civil War. After they get back from Germany, Tony drops him back off at his apartment and says that Peter isn’t ready to be a full blown Avenger yet, so Peter has to go back to school like nothing has changed. He keeps giving Tony and Happy updates on his adventures around Queens but is pretty much ignored by the both of them. His best friend Ned discovers his identity.

Peter discovers that some guys in Queens are using alien tech to make illegal weapons. Peter chases after one of Toomes’s guys making a sale but Toomes swoops in with his Vulture wings and drops Peter in a lake. Tony remote-pilots a suit and tells him to not get involved with these criminal. Toomes’s guy left behind a small piece of alien tech which Peter pockets, and he and Ned try and figure out what the power core can do. Peter is tracking the guy, and he’s headed to Maryland – close to where Peter is headed with his decathlon team. He abandons the team, disables the tracker Tony put in his suit, and stops Toomes from hijacking a DODC truck. Peter gets trapped inside the truck and is consequently trapped in a DODC warehouse until he can escape, which causes him to miss the decathlon tournament. The alien tech core is still in Ned’s backpack and it goes off while the team is inside the Washington Monument. Peter rescues the team, including his crush Liz, as Spider-Man. When he returns to New York, he follows Toomes onto the Staten Island Ferry where he’s meeting with Mac Gargan to make a sale. Toomes escapes, Gargan is captured, and Iron Man has to come in and save the day. Mad that Peter disobeyed him, Tony takes away the suit he made Peter and says that they’re done.

Peter tried to return to being a regular high schooler and asks Liz to homecoming. When he goes to pick her up for a date, he realizes that Toomes is her dad. On the ride to the school, Toomes is able to deduce that Peter is Spider-Man. He threatens him and says that if he interferes with his plans, he’ll retaliate. Peter tries to get himself to go into the dance but he realizes that Toomes is going to try and hijack Tony’s plane that is moving all of his stuff out of Avengers tower, which he just sold. He puts on his old homemade suit and follows Toomes to a warehouse. Toomes drops the warehouse on him but Peter is able to lift the building off himself and get onto the plane, causing it to crash on the beach by Coney Island. He defeats Toomes and leaves him tied up near the recovered cargo for the authorities and Happy to find. Liz moves away after her dad is arrested, and Tony admits he was wrong and that he should’ve been more involved in Peter’s life. He promises to be more involved and offers Peter a full time position as an Avenger but Peter declines, thinking it’s a test. It wasn’t a test, and Tony proposes to Pepper in place of the “big announcement” that they told the room full of reporters they had. Tony gives Peter his high tech suit back and Aunt May walks in on Peter in it, figuring out his secret identity.

Post credit scene: Toomes encounters Gargan, the Scorpion, in prison who asks Toomes to confirm the rumor that he knows who Spider-Man is. Toomes refuses to reveal his identity.

Post credit scene: Captain America films another PSA about how patience isn’t always worth it, effectively breaking the fourth wall.

Thor: Ragnarok

Most important things to take away: Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, is destroyed. Loki is alive and has been pretending to be Odin for, like, four years. Odin dies, releasing Thor’s bloodthirsty sister Hela, who tries to take over Asgard. Thor and the others destroy Asgard to defeat her. Loki and Thor get stranded on the planet Sakaar. The Hulk has been the Hulk for two straight years, transforms back into Bruce, and then back into the Hulk by the end of the movie. Valkyrie joins the gang. Thor become king and realizes he has lightning powers. The Asgardians are heading to Earth when they’re stopped by Thanos’s ship.

Thor has been spending the past two years (after Ultron) searching the universe for the Infinity Stones. He hasn’t found any and is currently captured by Surtur, who wants to unleash Ragnarok (aka Armageddon) on Asgard like the prophecy foretold. To start Ragnarok, Surtur has to drop his crown into the eternal flame that is in Asgard’s vaults. He reveals to Thor that Odin is no longer on Asgard. Thor escapes and returns to Asgard to find Loki masquerading as Odin. He forces Loki to take him to where he sent Odin, which was a retirement home on Earth that is now demolished. Dr. Strange helps them find Odin in Norway. Odin reveals that he is dying and that his powers have been the only thing keeping his bloodthirsty, war-hungry firstborn daughter Hela trapped in prison. When he dies, she will be released. Then he dies, and she is released. She declares herself Queen now that Odin is dead, catches and destroys Mjolnir when Thor throws it at her, and when Loki tried to get the Bifrost to transport them back to Asgard, she clings to them and kicks them out into space on the ride back. Hela arrives in Asgard, kills everyone who opposes her and refuses to submit to her, and resurrects her giant pet wolf and raises a zombie army. When she tries to open the Bifrost to go conquer some more realms, she finds that the sword that opens the Bifrost has been stolen (by Heimdall, who is hiding out in the mountains with Asgardian refugees).

Thor and Loki have both crash landed on Sakaar, which is basically a trash planet since it’s surrounded by wormholes. Because time and space are wonky, Loki arrives weeks before Thor even though he was kicked off the Bifrost only seconds before Thor. In that time, Loki has gained the Grandmaster’s (the leader of Sakaar) favor. Thor on the other hand is found by Scrapper 142 (who is later revealed to be a Valkyrie, a member of the all-woman group of warriors on Asgard who are supposedly all dead) and is brought to the Grandmaster to fight in his Tournament of Champions. If Thor can defeat the Grandmaster’s champion, he will get his freedom. While waiting to fight, Thor makes friends with fellow prisoners Korg and Miek. Inside the collusieum, Thor waits to find out who his opponent is and it turns out to be the Hulk. Thor doesn’t want to fight him but he can’t make contact with Bruce inside of the Hulk so they battle. Thor discovers he has lightning powers and the Grandmaster ends the fight prematurely to prevent him from winning. Thor wakes up in a room with the Hulk and triedsto convince him and Valkyrie to help him escape to no avail. He manages to escape and tries to make it to the Quinjet which brought the Hulk to Sakaar, but the Hulk chases after him and destroys the Quinjet’s engines. Inside the Quinjet, Hulk sees a video of Natasha which prompts him to transform back into Bruce Banner for the first time in 2 years. Bruce mentions that this is the first time the Hulk has been in control for that long and he’s scared that if he turns into the Hulk again, he may not be able to turn back.

The Grandmaster thinks that Thor kidnapped the Hulk since no one can find the Hulk and he sends Loki and Valkyrie to find him. Loki and Valkyrie end up fighting, and Valkyrie wins and takes Loki captive. She finds Thor and Bruce and says that she’s tired of running from her past and wants to join the team and save Asgard. She offers Loki up as a peace offering, and Loki doesn’t want to be left behind now that he’s fallen out of favor with the Grandmaster so he helps them steal one of the Grandmaster’s ships. Loki tries to betray Thor but Thor saw that coming and was ready for it. Thor frees Korg and Miek and leaves Loki behind. Eventually, Korg and Miek and the revolution they started arrive at the hangar and Loki convinces them to team up with him. Both groups head to Asgard.

Hela’s forces are attacking Heimdall and the refugees but Thor and the gang draw her attention away from them. Thor fights her in the palace while Heimdall and the others try and help the refugees to the Bifrost. The zombie army and the giant wolf try and stop them. Hulk comes back and fights the wolf while Loki and the Sakaarian revolutionaries show up in a giant ship. The refugees start to get on the ship and Thor loses an eye in his fight with Hela. He uses his new lighting powers and gets away from Hela to join the fight on the bridge. Realizing that Hela is only getting stronger the longer she stays on Asgard, Thor and the gang realize they’ll have to destroy Asgard to destroy her. Thor gives Surtur’s crown to Loki to drop in the eternal flame to summon Surtur to start Ragnarok. While running through the vault to get to the flame, Loki can’t help but get distracted by the Tesseract. Surtur comes in and destroys Asgard and Hela, and the Asgardians get away. Thor is the new king of Asgard and proclaims that they’re going to head to Earth for refuge.

Post credit scene: Thanos’s ship shows up in front of the Asgardian ship before the Asgardians can make it to Earth. This happens mere minutes before the beginning of Infinity War.

Post credit scene: The Grandmaster, when cornered by Sakaarian citizens, congratulates them on the revolution and calls it a draw.

Black Panther

Most important things to take away: T’Challa is now king of Wakanda in addition to being the Black Panther. Shuri is extremely smart. Erik is revealed to be T’Challa’s cousin and he challenges and defeats T’Challa for the throne. M’Baku and the Jabari tribe team up with T’Challa and help him win back the throne. T’Challa decides that Wakanda is going to come out of hiding and share its knowledge and resources with the world.

A meteorite containing vibranium crashes into Wakanda and the five tribes battle over it. One warrior ingests an herb which turns him into the first Black Panther. All the tribes but the Jabari tribe join together to form the nation of Wakanda. The Jabari live in isolation in the mountains. Wakanda isolates itself to protect the Vibranium and to prevent more fighting, they pretend to be a third world country. In 1992, T’Chaka (the current king) visits his brother N’Jobu is Oakland, California. His spy, Zuri, has been undercover as N’Jobu’s friend and discovered that N’Jobu was working with Ulysses Klaue to steal vibranium. N’Jobu tries to attack Zuri and T’Chaka kills N’Jobu to protect him. The Wakandans leave, leaving N’Jobu’s son behind.  In modern times, T’Challa arrives home for his coronation. Part of the coronation is ritual combat, where T’Challa is stripped of his Black Panther powers and anyone can challenge him for the crown. The challenge ends when one of the fighters either yields or dies. M’Baku of the Jabari challenge him but T’Challa wins.

Klaue is working with Erik Stevens to steal a Wakandan artifact from a museum in London. Klaue is going to sell that Vibranium to a seller in South Korea. T’Challa, Nakia (his maybe girlfriend) and Okoye (the general of his kingsguard) go to capture him. W’Kabi, Okoye’s lover and T’Challa’s friend tells them to bring Klaue back alive because he has to pay for all the pain he’s caused them. Klaue was going to sell the Vibranium to the Everett Ross and the CIA, but a fight breaks out and Klaue is captured by T’Challa who agrees to let the CIA take him in. Erik and the rest of Klaue’s gang break him out of CIA custody and Ross is gravely injured protecting Nakia. When trying to pursue them, T’Challa notices that Erik is wearing a Wakandan ring on a chain around his neck. Only two of those rings existed – his father owned one and his uncle owned the other. The gang retreats to Wakanda with Ross, where Shuri heals him. W’Kabi is extremely upset T’Challa let Klaue get away. They talk with Ross once he wakes up and he explains that Stevens was a US black ops solider. T’Challa confronts Zuri about why Erik had the other ring and Zuri reveals that Erik is actually T’Challa’s cousin and that T’Chaka and Zuri had covered up (from the Wakandans) what happened with N’Jobu, and they had left Erik behind to maintain the lie.

Erik shows up at the Wakandan border with Klaue’s body as a peace offering. He is taken before T’Challa, the royal family, and the council of elders and reveals that he is N’Jadaka, son of N’Jobu. He uses the ring to prove his identity. As a member of the royal family, he has the right to challenge T’Challa for the throne. Since it is past the coronation, T’Challa doesn’t have to accept the challenge but he does anyways. Erik kills Zuri when he tries to intervene during the ritual combat, and he defeats T’Challa and throws him off the waterfall, supposedly killing him (that’s new). Erik is given a heart shaped herb to become the next Black Panther and orders the rest of the herbs to be burned. Nakia steals one and she, the royal family, and Ross escape and run to the Jabari tribe for help. They offer the herb to M’Baku who then reveals that his tribe found T’Challa’s body and that he was barely alive. They give T’Challa the herb and he wakes up and is healed. He goes to challenge Erik is who is sending out planes with vibranium weapons to start revolutions all over the world. Shuri and Ross remote pilot a plane to shoot down the planes and T’Challa, Nakia, the Dora Milaje, and Shuri fight against Erik, W’Kabi, and their army. The Jabari join the fight and help defeat W’Kabi and the army while T’Challa fights Erik. T’Challa stabs Erik and offers to help heal him but Erik refuses to be incarcerated and would rather die a free man so he refuses and dies. T’Challa and Shuri establish outreach centers and decide to start sharing Wakanda’s secret with the rest of the world.

Post credit scene: T’Challa goes before the UN to bring Wakanda into the world’s eye and share its knowledge and resources.

Post credit scene: Shuri visits a supposedly healed Bucky Barnes in Wakanda, saying he has much to learn.

Avengers: Infinity War

Most important things to take away: Thanos collects all six infinity stones and the following heroes are either killed or are dusted during the Snap and trapped in the Soul Stone: Sam, Bucky, Mantis, Drax, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, T’Challa, Shuri, Groot, Wanda, Hope, Janet, Hank, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Dr. Strange, Loki, Vision, Gamora. Nebula and Tony Stark are stranded on Titan. Nick Fury pages Captain Marvel for help before he dies.

Thanos has already gotten the Power Stone from Xandar when he shows up on the ship of the Asgardian refugees. He slays half of the Asgardians and the other half are nowhere to be seen. He threatens Thor to prompt Loki to give him the Tesseract, which Loki had stolen from the vault before they destroyed Asgard. Thanos crushes the tesseract to get the Space Stone out of it. Loki tries to attack him, as does the Hulk, but Thanos overpowers the Hulk and kills Loki. Heimdall send the Hulk to Earth and Thanos and his adopted children (Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive) disappear using the Space Stone as the Power Stone causes the space ship to explode. Hulk crashes into the New York Sanctum, transforming back into Bruce, and Wong and Strange go collect Tony. Bruce explains Thanos’s plan to collect all of the stones and Strange and Tony figure out that they have two stones on Earth (Vision has the Mind Stone, Strange has the Time Stone). Before they can figure out a plan of action or use the cell phone Steve sent Tony, Maw and Obsidian arrive to get the Time Stone. Obsidian is banished through a portal by Wong and Maw captures Strange. In trying to save Strange, Peter and Tony sneak aboard Maw’s space ship as it flies off. Bruce uses the cell phone to contact Steve and warn him to look out for Vision.

Vision and Wanda are spending time in Edinburgh when they’re attacked by Midnight and Glaive, but Steve and the rogue Avengers come to their rescue. They return to the Compound where they meet up with Rhodey and Bruce. Vision offers to sacrifice himself so that Wanda can just destroy the Mind Stone, thus preventing Thanos from being able to get all six, but Steve refuses to let him do so. Bruce rationalizes that they might be able to remove the stone without killing Vision. They go to Wakanda to reunite with Bucky and to get Shuri’s help removing the stone. While they’re trying to remove the stone, Midnight, Glaive, and Obsidian show up with an army. The Avengers fight alongside T’Challa and the Wakandan warriors while Shuri tries to remove the stone.

The Guardians of the Galaxy find Thor floating in space. They rescue him and he warns them about Thanos’s plan. He, Rocket, and Groot go to Nidavellir to get a new weapon. There, Thor gets a battle-axe called Stormbreaker that can kill Thanos and also summon the Bifrost. Peter, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis go to Knowhere to get the Reality Stone but Thanos has beaten them to it and kidnaps Gamora since Gamora is the only person who knows where the Soul Stone is. He has captured Nebula and tortures her in front of Gamora until she tells him where the stone is. He takes her to Vormir with him and sacrifices her to obtain the Soul Stone. The other Guardians show up on Titan, where Tony, Peter, and Strange have crashed Maw’s ship after killing him, and although there’s initial confusion, they realize they’re on the same team in wanting to defeat Thanos. Strange uses the Time Stone to look into the future and out of the millions of possible futures, he only sees them winning in one. Thanos was supposed to rendezvous with Maw on Titan, so they come up with a plan to remove the gauntlet from him when he arrives. Thanos shows up and they almost get the gauntlet off, but he breaks free and there’s an all-out fight. Thanos is about to kill Tony but Strange sacrifices the Time Stone in exchange for his life (he tells Tony it was “the only way”). Thanos now has five stones and disappears to go to Earth for the last stone.

Thor shows up with his new weapon and badass lightning powers to help with the battle in Wakanda. Wanda is drawn away from protecting Vision and Vision is stolen out of Shuri’s lab. Thanos’s children are all killed and Thanos shows up and tries to get the stone from Vision. As the Avengers try and fail to subdue Thanos, Wanda and Vision realizes that there is no other option and Wanda destroys the Mind Stone, effectively killing Vision. Thanos uses the Time Stone to undo all that, and he then plucks the stone from Vision’s head and kills him again. Thor comes out of nowhere and buries the axe in Thanos’s chest but Thanos is still able to Snap and kill off half the universe. Half of the heroes are turned to dust and sent to the Soul Stone: Sam, Bucky, Mantis, Drax, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, T’Challa, Shuri, Groot, Wanda, Hope, Janet, Hank, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Dr. Strange. Nebula and Tony Stark are stranded on Titan.

Post credit scene: Hill and Fury disappear as a result of the Snap, but not before Fury can use his pager to send an alert to Captain Marvel.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Most important things to take away: Janet is rescued from the Quantum Realm. Hope has her own suit and is now The Wasp and she’s kind of better at the job than Scott is. Scott makes up with Hope and Hank. During the Snap, Hank, Hope, and Janet all disappear and leave Scott stranded in the quantum realm.

After Civil War, instead of going on the run as fugitives, Scott and Clint accepted deals of house arrest to be able to be with their families. Scott begins to realize he has become quantumly entangled with Janet when he went into the Quantum Realm. Hank and Hope are still mad at him for stealing the Ant-Man suit and running off to Germany, thus making them accessories and making them fugitives of the law. Scott calls Hank to apologize and he also mentions the quantum entanglement. Scott is within days of being finished with his house arrest when he is kidnapped by Hank and Hope. They’re trying to make a quantum tunnel and now that Scott has had contact with Janet, they need him. When trying to get a part for their machine (with Hope acting as the Wasp in her own suit), they’re attacked by Ghost (Ava Starr) whose physical form is in an unstable molecular state. Foster, one of Hank’s former partners, has been helping her try and find a cure using Janet’s quantum energy. They kidnap Scott, Hank, and Hope to ask for help. Believing this will kill Janet, Hank refuses and the three escape. The three of them open the tunnel and make contact with Janet who gives them her exact coordinates. Hope and Hank are arrested as Scott rushes home to avoid being caught out of the house, and Ava is able to come in and steal the shrunken lab (they’ve been shrinking the lab to transport it).

Scott helps Scott and Hope escape FBI custody and they find the lab. Scott and Hope distract Ava while Hank enters the Quantum realm to find Janet. Hank is able to find her and bring her back, and Janet is able to help temporarily stabilize Ava. She has an idea on how to permanently cure her by harvesting quantum particles. Scott goes home and is let off of house arrest and Ava and Foster go into hiding.

Post credit scene: Hank, Hope, and Janet are watching as a shrunken down Scott collects particles in the Quantum Realm when the Snap happens. The three of them are victims of the Snap and Scott is stuck in the Quantum Realm.

Post credit scene: One of the giant ants is playing with the drum set in Scott’s house while an Emergency Alert can be heard on the TV.

Captain Marvel

Most important things to take away: Carol was an Air Force pilot who absorbed the power of the Tesseract and has Kree blood in her veins which makes her insanely powerful. She’s badass, and she’s currently in space trying to help the Skrulls find a place to live (as far as we know). Goose is a super special cat who ate the Tesseract, and Carol gave Fury a specialized pager to contact her in the case of an emergency.

Since this movie only came out three weeks ago, I’m not going to give a summary. Go see it if you want to know what happens. I’m only including what the most important things are and what the post credit scenes were.

Post credit scene: A scene from Avengers: Endgame. Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey and watching the information come in about the aftermath of the Snap around the world at the Compound when they notice that Fury’s pager that had been sending a message to Captain Marvel has shut off. While they’re gathered around it, Carol sneaks up behind them and upon them turning around she demands to know where Fury is.

Post credit scene: In Fury’s office, Goose barfs up the Tesseract on Fury’s desk.

[aweebwrites]

A Different Take

The Overlord only knew the errors of his decision to try and overthrow the First Spinjitzu Master when he rose the scythe of quakes high, intent in his eyes. He slammed the scythe into the ground and the land began to split, putting space between him and his children, watching helplessly as he was reduced to spirit while they were reduced to statues. He watched his eldest from afar, the one he appointed leader hardened, turnt to stone while reaching for him, his mouth still open in a yell.

He tried to get to him, to them but he couldn’t leave the island. The space between them only kept growing. Soon, he couldn’t see them anymore. He was wrong. He would have never attacked if it had meant his children would be collateral. But he hadn’t known that. Hadn't considered. He had created them all as soldiers at first, meant to be disposed if it meant he could reach his goal of conquering Ninjago. But he had watched them learn and interact and grew to treasure them. Now, none of that matters. His sons were at the mercy of the First Spinjitzu Master. He could find a way to shatter them. He feared for them.

But that fear gave way to anger, to the promise of retribution if even one of them ended up broken. And with the passing of thousands of years, watching the island sink into the Endless Sea, he plotted his return, his revenge…

And lost himself along the way.

Once Kozu was summoned to the Dark Island after what he was sure was at least a thousand years later with his brothers, he was eager like the rest of them to see their father again. Their spirits fell once they were met with the half mortal Garmadon and an off entity. When the entity spoke however, they realised that it was their father. This was what the First Spinjitzu Master had done to their father.

He told them to obey the mortal and they did, not having much of a choice with the mortal wearing the Helm of Darkness. Kozu never understood why he created that wretched helmet to begin with. They would do as he wished without it still. But this was their father's decision and they would respect it. It didn't take very long for them to notice the difference in their father.

He was like he had been when they were first created, perhaps even worse. He was distant, focused on nothing but revenge as well as conquering Ninjago. Kozu had learned by then that their father had spent his thousands of years as punishment on the island, by himself and reduced to this spirit form. They didn't know what had happened to him during that time but they could guess. It was why they worked harder for the mortal, each of them willingly walking into the Mouth of Darkness to get the dark matter their father needed, built tirelessly, scouted endlessly.

The Overlord had been pleased at their work, unphased once he received news of his soldiers falling prey to the Mouth of Darkness' depths, knowing very well they will be able to get themselves out. With time but it was very possible. (He had checked to reassure the nagging feeling in the back of his mind, speaking to Garmadon once he reached the surface again.) Everything was going perfectly, even though those ninja had tried to stop him. He successful possessed Garmadon's body, had regained his full form- but the boy, the Green Ninja had swept it all from under his feet.

All his plans, all his effort to secure them a safe place in this realm was about to be wiped away by a golden brat. That one thought had brought him up briefly from the demands of his mind to exact revenge and conquer. That's right. He wanted to secure a place for them. Wanted to ensure his children were safe. He looked at the boy who was glowing brightly before diving out of his own sphere of darkness, the light following him. There were so few left! He would not let them perish because of his mistakes!

Kozu and his brother's, still under the control of the brown idiot watched wide eyed as their father swooped down towards them, weapons raised against their will to hurt as the Brown Ninja ordered. They watched as he landed before them, wings gathering them all before him and covering them, ignoring the wounds they inflicted on him. There was blinding light and their father's pained roar. Kozu looked up at him, horrified as he faded before his eyes, leaving nothing but the mortal he had once possessed.

Father.

Kozu wanted to grieve, rampage even, but he couldn't let himself do so just yet. The Brown Ninja had fell over from the blast and the helmet had rolled off. He ran over, taking the helmet as the man looked up at him in fear. He yearned for nothing more than to destroy the ignorant mortal who controlled them and prevented them from preventing their father's demise but even woth their numbers, as significantly smaller as it was, the ninja had the golden one whom was capable of destroying them. They had to make their escape.

He lead them into hiding, moving quickly on their feet until they were sure that there was no-one following them. What was left of his father's vast army looked to him, the very same question in their eyes.

What now?

Their father was gone and they would most likely be attacked on sight by quite literally anyone. They couldn't be found by the Golden Ninja or they would be destroyed. They had to keep moving and stay low. And so they had. It was hard for Kozu to hide as many of them as there were but he couldn't bare to lose anyone else. The sewers were foul smelling and snake infested but they were extensive. They always held a way to make their escape if they were being pursued. He made it work. He had to. They used the chaos of the mortals rebuilding their precious city to make their escape, attacking the transport taking away their largest brother on the way. Now that they were mostly together again, now that they were free from the city…

Now that their father was gone…

They remained adrift.

Unknowing to them, the Overlord had lived.

He woke up in a digital realm, everything there new and confusing. It took the Overlord some time to understand this new world he was apart of but once he did, the first thing he did was look into the whereabouts of his Stone children. Do they live? Had he succeeded in saving them? Or had he… Yet again… Failed?

Relief washed over him once the internet provided information of the liberation of their largest brother. Their whereabouts are unknown but he knew his sons, knew Kozu. They were fine. His heart longed to be with them, to make sure no-one would ever even attempt to hurt them again… And so, he began scheming. Taking the Golden Ninja's power would finally give him his own body again while eliminating the threat he posed to his sons. It was the perfect plan. But he needed help. He simply couldn't do this on his own. And so, he had bullied the one Cyrus Borg to aid him.

Except, Cyrus had betrayed him and handed the ninja the technoblades, the only devices able to erase him from the Digiverse, and possibly… Erase his existence as he knew it. He couldn't have that. His sons were waiting for him. Did they even know he lived? Would they even want to see him again after everything he had done to them? He tried not to think of that. Borg couldn't be trusted anymore and the Ninja had the Technoblades. He needed more. He needed an army bit je didn't want to draw his Stone sons inyo another war. So he created a new one. The Nindroids were meant to be tools to reach the Ninja, an extension of himself. And yet…

Each Nindroid that went offline sent a stab of pain through his blackened, digitized heart. He created them, just like he had his Stone sons, to be tools. Yet again, he felt for them. Each one was created unique, their own personalities, their own souls. Cryptor was his most dedicated, his general. He willingly sacrifices his brothers just for the purpose of his plans. It ached his heart how much like him he was. But he had to harden it. He had to become whole once more. Once he was, once he had the golden power, then he would claim Ninjago as their home. His Stone and Metallic sons alike will live in peace once his work was done. They will no longer know fear. The moment soon came. He finally had the Golden Ninja in his grasp, feeling his power drain into him. He was so close, so, so close. But the Ninja- of course the Ninja- interfered, wiping him from the Digiverse, forcing him to take refuge in his half formed body. Pythor, the equally loyal serpentine had stood by his side, had saved him and the drowned mech. He had to plan a new. He sensed the moment the Golden Ninja had given up his powers after all. That only left one other source of golden power.

Unknowing to the Overlord, far away, towards the very southern tip of Ninjago lay a camp. Within that camp were a little over a hundred Stone Soldiers. Kozu stood on the sand, staring out at the ocean. All he could see was his own arms stretching forward, their vanishing father getting farther and farther away. Watching that, seeing him fading into vapor while desperately trying to reach him… He squeezed his eyes shut. It felt as if his world had come to an end. He knew it was very much the same for his brothers. They hadn't wanted to ever come anywhere cliffs nor beaches after that. Now… They would take any memory of their father and hold on tight. Kozu sometimes questioned himself. Could he have done something, anything to save their father's life? He knew he would if he could have. Standing here, the wind pushing his flowing black hair back. He…

He felt lost.

He stood unphased by the heavy footsteps that approached. A large foot landed next to him then another.

'Beautiful, is it not?' Kozu focused on the view ahead and noticed the sun beginning to set.

Funny. When he first stood here, the sun had just ripped below the sea.

'You did everything you could.' He looked up at their largest brother.

'How do you know that? You were not there.' Kozu couldn't keep the irritation out of his voice.

'I do not need to be there to know you had. And even so, our brothers do not lie.' He spoke low, his deep voice rumbling like thunder.

Kozu remained quiet. He knew it too. He knew he did everything he could. Yet he couldn't help but feel like there was more he could have done.

'Brother!' Both looked towards the Scout, all but tripping over his short legs to get to them.

'Slow brother, do not fall.' Kozu warned him but the scout fell just then.

He walked over, picking him up off the sand and setting him on his feet.

'What is the-'

'It is father!' He blurts and Kozu froze.

'He lives!'

_________________

The mission was a success. Cryptor had brought back the Golden weapons but with very few others. Yes, there was still a little over a hundred Nindroids remaining but his heart went out to every single one of them lost. He would not fail, would not allow their passing to be for naught. The ninja were stuck on the comet without a way back. All that was left now was for him to conquer Ninjago. But of course, the Ninja somehow return. They were the bane of his existence, the very legacy of the First Spinjitzu Master himself. How he despised him and in turn, them. They would come but he will not let them win. He had his Golden Armor and an army. He would win this, no matter what.

He sneered at the Ninja as he held all but one in the golden tendrils he created from the armor. This will be the last time any of them get in-between him and his goal for his family! He watched as their Nindroid hoped his way across to face him, tendrils raised and ready. What he hadn't expected was for the Nindroid to grab onto the Golden Armor directly like a fool.

"Let my friends go!" He grunted out, metallic body encased in a blue glow from the stress of the Golden Power.

"Go where, doomed Ninja?" He asked, watching almost amused as his face plate fell off. "The Golden Weapons are too powerful for you to behold. Your survival chance is low." He taunted.

"This isn't about numbers! It's about family!" Zane yelled and his words struck the Overlord so deep, he flinched with the force of it.

Only when the golden tendrils lose their powers did he realise that yet again, he was on the brink of destruction.

"I am a Nindroid and Ninja never quit! Go Ninja, go!" Zane yelled, blasting his ice at the Overlord, forcing him to take a step back.

No. He can't die! Not again!

He had even more to live for! His sons! His sons! He hadn't even had the chance to let his Stone sons know of his existence! He couldn't die!

"What are you doing?! Let me go you fool!" He all but roared at the Nindroid, trying to push him away but his body was locked up and unmoving.

He felt the Nindroid's core becoming more and more unstable. No! No!

"My… Sons!" He gritted out as the Nindroid glowed brighter.

He squeezed his eyes shut. This was the end. Again.

"No!"

His eyes shot open, just in time to see a blur of red knock the overloading Nindroid away from him, both figures hitting the ground hard. He blinked in surprise then gasped as the red helmet fell away as his son stood, glaring the Nindroid down as his glow decreased.

"... Ko… Zu…" He got out, recovering from almost being wiped out again.

He turned around and looked up at his father, at this new form he held.

"Father." He says quietly but the Overlord heard.

A collective yell sounded and he looked up, down and all around.

His sons.

All of them made a tight perimeter around them, armed and on the defense, mingling with the Nindroids that joined them. Warmth filled his cold heart- then he realised: he now had the upper hand. He laughed as he broke the ice away from his chest.

"You have failed! Ninjago will be-"

"No-one's." Kozu cut him off, surprising him and the ninja who had rushed over to their mechanical friend.

"Kozu. I do not understand." He managed to say after the surprise passed.

"Open your eyes father. You are doing it again!" He yelled, startling the Overlord anew. "Your obsession with Ninjago does us no good! Each and every time you try, you are defeated and we suffer! Did you save us, just so we can watch you fall yet again?!" He snapped at his father who appeared timid even.

"My son. All that I have done has been to secure a home for us. The ninja, the people would never leave us be!" The Overlord defended.

"Of course they will not! Not if we stay here! Not if we invaded their home when we have our own!" He yelled back. "The Dark Island is ours. It has been the moment since it was torn from Ninjago itself! I tire of running! Of fighting! I tire of these mortals and their annoying Ninja! We all tire!" He yelled, gesturing to his brothers and the Nindroids who then began to murmur their agreements.

The Overlord looked around at them all. He hadn't even considered the Dark Island. All he saw it as, was a prison. But his sons see it as otherwise. They see it as a refuge. He paused to consider. Yes, the island held many bad memories but… If his sons were there with him…

"Is this what you all think? What you all desire?" He questioned them.

There wasn't even the slightest bit of hesitation from any of them, their agreements rung clear.

"Do not do this thing again father. Revenge is not everything. It is not worth it. Not anymore." Kozu says quietly and the Overlord looked at him.

They all startled once he was overwhelmed in purple, gold and magenta smoke that faded to reveal the smaller form of the Overlord, Golden Armor on his person still, contorting with him to fit his smaller form. He walked forward to his sons, uncaring of the ninja watching from not very far away.

"... I too, tire." He spoke quietly once he was standing before Kozu, said Stone General almost a whole head taller than he was. "Tire of fearing, of fighting, of losing… I would desire nothing more than to be left alone with my sons." He tried for a smile, revealing sharp, serrated teeth.

Kozu breathed out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and risked an embrace his father gladly returned. Celebrating yells echoed as the massive army convulged around the two.

"Well. What do we do now?" Jay asked, still clinging to the unconscious but alive Zane like a koala, much like the others were.

"I find this all very hard to believe." Garmadon admitted, staring on with eyes as wide as his brother's but he smiled. "But I understand what it means to risk it all for your son." He says, looking to Lloyd who smiled back.

"That's it?!" The tiny yell cut through the celebration and the army parted around the tiny serpentine glaring up at the Overlord and his son. "After all that, you're just going to give up?! Where's the destruction? The revenge?! This was not a part of out deal! You were supposed to take down the ninja once and for all!" He all but screamed at the Overlord, just to make sure he was heard.

Kozu and the Overlord glanced at each other. The Overlord then looked back to the tiny Serpentine.

"A wise Warrior once told me… That revenge is not everything. So yes, I have given up on trying to conquer Ninjago, on trying to defeat the Ninja. I have found… Better things to do with my time." He shared a smile with his son as Pythor seethed. "Perhaps you too will soon realise the same, Pythor. Perhaps you will even realise the cost of revenge… Is greater than you could think. Perhaps... You will realise that it is best... To let go." He says to the angry serpentine.

"No." The crowds of Nindroid and Stone Soldiers alike parted again, revealing Cryptor standing there.

He flicked his hood back, sneering at the one he is to consider as his 'father'.

"This is pathetic of you!" He spat and the Overlord held back his eldest son as he heard his second general out. "Giving up, after everything we've done, after all this time spent for what? For something as useless as 'family'?!" He yelled at the Overlord who remained cool in the face of his rage.

"Yes." He says simply, making Cryptor even angrier.

"What kind of worthless idealism is that?!" He all but roared, stalking towards his creator, intent in his eyes. "All of our hard work for nothing! Everything was a waste?! No! I won't accept that! I refuse!" He was now face to face with the Overlord as Kozu growled low, all four hands gripping his katanas tightly.

"You can't!" He snarled.

"I can and I have." The Overlord spoke again and the calm, confidently spoken words had Cryptor taking a step back.

"No!" He whispered, shaking his head, a metallic hand coming up to grip the hair he was given. "You can't! If you give up then- Then-!" Concern crossed the Overlord's expression.

"They died for nothing!" Cryptor blurted and they finally understood.

All the Nindroids he lead to their demise while following his word…

"It was not all for nothing. We would have not gotten here without their help." Kozu told him and Cryptor shot him a glare as he took more steps back.

"No! That isn't-" He turned and ran. "That isn't enough!"

Grief filled their father's heart as he watched him go, knowing confrontation was something he did not need right now.

"Let him go." He says, preventing anyone from going after him. "When he is ready… He will come to us." One Nindroid still followed him but that was expected.

Cryptor and Mindroid may not get along but their bond was unique.

"We have overstayed our welcome." The Overlord spoke to his sons then reached a hand out, creating a portal to the Dark Island. "It's time we take our leave." He says then watched as they all filtered in.

Both he and Kozu waited until the last Stone Soldier and Nindroid who chose to go with them went through before approaching the portal as well.

"Wait! We can't just let him go! At least, not with the Golden Armor!" Lloyd yelled, gaining their attention.

"Lloyd has a point." Their Sensei says as both brothers approached.

"I will not hand over the Golden Armor to either of you." The Overlord spoke up, glaring at them. "You half mortals and your gaggle of mortals do not have the means of power to protect it." He told them pointedly.

"You expect us to trust you with it? How do we know you won't just go back to the Dark Island and form another plan to take over Ninjago?" Wu countered.

"You let me worry about that." Kozu says, crossing his upper arms as his lower held onto his katanas still.

"Frankly, I've had enough of this place. For as long as no-one steps on the Dark Island uninvited, consider us at peace." The Overlord says, turning away, urging his glaring son along.

"You can't just-"

"Watch us." Kozu snarked, cutting off his father's previous host.

"Forgive us. We simply do not like either of you." The Overlord says lightly before walking through the portal, leaving it to disappear immediately after.

Both brothers stared where the portal once was.

"Well. The future promises to be interesting." Garmadon says drily and Wu couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ugh." They looked over at Zane who was slowly coming to. "What did I miss?" He asked as Cole and Kai helped him to sit.

"Zane. If I wasn't so shaken up and glad you're alive, I would strangle you to death." Kai says seriously and Zane blinked at him.

"But I do not need oxygen to live." He says, confused.

"Shut up and let us hug you, you big nerd." Lloyd mumbled as he squeezed him into a hug, the others hugging him as well.

_______________

The Dark Island got a lot more lively after that. The Overlord used his new golden power to create a massive stone castle to house all his sons. He also had to create a new power source for all the Nindroids with them but that was the least of his concern. The moment they got back, however, the first thing they did was liberate the Stone Soldiers trapped in the Mouth of Darkness. They were… Reasonably angry. They created their own city around the massive castle and they certainly didn't miss Ninjago at all. Cryptor and Mindroid eventually made an appearance and instead of feeling outcasts, they were welcomed as if they had always been there. The Overlord sealed the Golden Armor away once it began having a negative effect on his Stone sons (they began to crack dangerously) but it was impossible to get to for anyone aside from him and even he would have difficulty getting to it. He had to wield it once more however.

While he had no intentions in returning to Ninjago, the threat of Oni made it necessary. They threatened to destroy this realm which included the Dark Island and his sons. They weren't pleased that he left them behind for their safety but they were pleased to hear he didn't even have to fight. All he had to do was take his massive form with the equally massive sized golden armor and the Oni could not have fled faster. They held a strong hatred for the Golden Armor it appeared. The Dark Island was safe and so were his children. That was all that mattered.

Perhaps he should make more...

_____________________

(I mc fricking told you I'd finish it! *Me @ myself*. We all know Garmadad is the best dad in existence but Overdad is my dad and I love him so much you wouldn't believe. Not more than my boi Kozu tho but pretty hecking close. I absolutely love this evil boi okie.)

[theeternalspace]

In Memoriam 6

Summary: The metal tree had always fascinated the Prince.

Only, it wasn’t a tree.

And, as it turned out, he wasn’t really a Prince. Instead he was… a side of someone’s personality? He doesn’t remember Thomas, or the other sides, those who call themselves his friends. He doesn’t really remember anything, not even his own name, no matter the efforts of Patton, Logan or Virgil. He must venture back into the Wardrobe door, back to the metal tree in an attempt to recover his missing memories and regain everything he has lost.

But perhaps some doors are best left closed for a reason. And perhaps some personas should remain in the ground where they have been buried.

Story Warnings: Sympathetic/Grey Deceit Sanders. He is trying his best you guys. Anxiety. Self doubt and self loathing. Fantasy fighting. Verbal fighting. Threatening behaviour. Blood and injury. Memory loss. Drowning. Near death.

Previous || Next

Roman had always been a morning person, obnoxiously so. 

When Virgil first started spending real time around the Light Sides, he took one look at Roman with his ridiculously perfect hair and perfectly pressed tunic and thought that if nothing else, at least Creativity wouldn’t bother him in the early mornings. There was no way he would be the sort to be up early because it had to take him a long time to get ready and put his ‘face’ on for the world. It meant that he wouldn’t be bothered by him because mornings were not Virgil’s favourite time of day. 

Mornings were hideous beasts designed by an uncaring universe to make you pay for your own insomnia and anxiety attacks of the night before. He was not a morning person, not a fan of them and would rarely shuffle begrudgingly out of his room before the time had turned into double digits. With Roman, he had thought he had found one less enemy for that particular battle and that it was Patton or Logan he would have to reserve his morning hate for.

Patton because he assumed he got up early to cook - he certainly got up to cook, and some part of Virgil knew that it wasn't super early but it was still too early for him. It would always be too early for him. Logan, he had worried would be someone who stuck to a perfect sleep schedule, early to bed, early to rise. After all he lectured Thomas on it often enough, using any excuse to remind him that he should be sleeping.

It seemed as though Thomas’ logic rarely liked to practice what he preached however and Virgil had lost count of the number of times he came across Logan late at night, awake when he should have been asleep. There was always some new fascinating book to read, some thrilling documentary to watch or some project to work on and never enough time in the day to do it all. Logan was nearly as bad as Virgil was for keeping unsociable hours but he never seemed to suffer the effects of sleep deprivation in the say way he did. Perhaps it was only to be expected, perhaps it was right that only Anxiety take on those negative traits but it still made it hard to handle, crawling out of bed and knowing that Logan received as little sleep as he and yet was able to keep functioning, apparently perfectly. 

Either way, he hadn't suspected that Roman would be the culprit of his disturbed mornings. 

Virgil had been very wrong. Roman delighted in the beauty of a sunrise, in the wonder of dew on the grass, on the crisp bite to an early morning. He spun and danced his way through birdsong, snapping his way through countless outfit changes and generally made the early hours of the day a delight for himself and all sun loving people, and a horror for all the nightmare people. All the dark gremlins like himself that hissed and spat upon the daylight. In the worst moments, Virgil was convinced Roman would be doubly annoying, just to mess with him. 

Virgil had never had the same control that Roman had, could never make himself look perfect and hide any traces of a less than perfect night behind a single snap. It made sense of course, that Creativity would be the best at summoning and changing things on a whim, that he would be able to skip a lot of the morning routine with nothing more than a snap of his fingers and a single thought. Whereas Virgil had to really struggle to make anything new - once he had made it, it was easy to call it up, but the original creation had always been a struggle.

Creativity was not his department. At least, not good creativity. Roman had been helping him with that as best he could, had been surprisingly patient with teaching him how to harness his skills, to the extent that Virgil could almost forgive him his endless bright behaviour at seven in the morning, almost every morning.

Almost.  

Mornings were the closest Virgil had ever gotten to honestly hating Roman and wishing a violent death upon him. At least for an hour or so until he himself, was ready to face the world once more. Then it settled into low level annoyance, another little silent grumble and wish that he could tone it down a little, that he could stop rubbing his perfect existence into Virgil’s face. 

That had - and hadn’t - changed after he had been accepted. Roman still embraced the mornings with all his usual enthusiasm, still noisy sang and danced around. But he was more aware as well, more in tune with the rest of the mind. Virgil was half convinced that he had to one of his morning birds to tell him whenever Virgil suffered a particularly bad night because Roman was always a little more subdued on those mornings. He would sing but softer, later. On the worst mornings of all, he would sometimes knock on Virgil's door before opening it a crack and sliding a mug of hot chocolate into his room. 

He never said a word on those days, never sang a note - at least not anywhere that Virgil could hear and it was always easier to snatch a few hours of morning sleep after he had sipped a mug of hot chocolate. 

Virgil never worked up the courage to ask how he knew the bad from the good, because in all honesty, Virgil didn’t want to hear the answer. Either he was lucky or he was spying on him and although the calmer, rational part of him could see what a kind and thoughtful gesture that was, Virgil knew his own brain goblins. He knew how they would react to the certainty that Roman had been looking out for him and it wouldn’t be a positive reaction. It would be anger, hurt, paranoia. Disbelief that his privacy had been violated and Virgil didn’t want to feed into any of those feelings, so he simply accepted the gifts when they were given and did his best not to brood on how they had arrived. 

If there was one good thing about Roman losing his memories, it surely had to be the fact that he wouldn't embrace the mornings with such reckless enthusiasm.

Yet again, it turned out that Virgil was very wrong.  

Because, as it turned out, Roman was still a morning person, even without his memories. He was also still a loud, obnoxious morning person that had no regard for anyone else that might still be sleeping, almost bouncing around the area as if he had already consumed a large amount of sugar. 

Virgil curled up further under his hoodie and briefly considered the merits of murder. 

Then he remembered he was meant to be keeping watch and sat bolt upright, hoodie sliding off and pooling in his lap. The fire had died down during the night, embers burning softly among the ash and charcoal, the faintest heat still pulsing gently from it. 

Everything still looked okay, Virgil glancing this way and that. Bree and Hwin were still settled a little way off, having lain together for warmth. Neither looked in any hurry to have to get up again and perhaps Virgil was just projecting a little but it certainly looked as though Hwin was glaring at Roman for waking them up. As for the Prince in question, he was currently humming a song as he stretched, trying to ease out stiff muscles. 

It was Disney, Virgil feeling a swell of hope rise up in him at the familiar tones of A Whole New World filling the little camp site, Roman bending to collect the blanket and rolling it up. For a moment at least, he simply felt hopeful, before the annoying reality of the moment started to poke its way into his head. 

For a start, it was only humming, not singing. If his memory was back, surely he would be singing. Not to mention, if his memory was back, Virgil would have hoped that he would have risked waking him up to share the news because no matter how grumpy Virgil would have been at being woken up before he was ready, it would have vanished at the knowledge that Roman was back to his old self again. He probably didn’t have any idea of what he was humming and Virgil didn’t want to draw attention to it in case Roman stopped.

“Good morning sleeping beauty!” Roman greeted, a bright smile on his face. He carried on humming as he bent over to poke at the fire, unknowingly proving that he had no idea what he was actually humming. Roman wouldn’t be so cruel as to remember and not say anything, no matter what his doubts instantly started to whisper. Virgil knew Roman wasn’t like that, which meant he was still without them, simply making a tune up as he went.

That was good though right? That proved that there had to be something still inside of his mind from his past. The memories were there because the tune was able to slip out despite the block on them. He might not be able to find them when he tried to reach for them but at least they were there. They hadn’t been destroyed by the jelly, they hadn’t been completely removed. Virgil felt a little more optimistic this morning than he had the night before. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the song or the simple fact that he had gotten a decent night sleep and everything felt better after a couple of hours of good sleep. 

He looked down at his hoodie, still in his lap, a faint frown on his face.  

Strange, he didn’t remember taking it off and using it as a blanket. He didn’t remember being close enough to falling asleep at all. The last thing he really remembered was staring deep into the very heart of the fire, watching the colours without blinking until his eyes were watering and the world was spinning a little, colours blending together at the very edge of his vision. 

Then he was waking up and silently cursing Roman’s morning tendencies while finding himself in a makeshift bed, the blanket under him, hoodie on top of him. Virgil had thought he had been crouched a little closer to Roman as well. He was sure of it in fact, sure that those last clear memories he had been nowhere near the blanket was he was curled up on now. 

It was amazing what a lack of sleep could do to the memory, Virgil hovering between relieved his slip up hadn’t had any negative effects and worried that he had fallen asleep at all. Not to mention it had been a good sleep, one of the best he had had in a long time. That in itself was suspicious. Virgil didn’t sleep well, it was one of his defining traits. He was too anxious to ever properly unwind, to be able to convince his brain to switch off long enough to let him rest. 

Being in an unfamiliar place and wanting to watch over Roman to make sure he was safe should have only added to that inability to relax and he stayed awake for longer than a single night before. There was no reason why he should have fallen asleep at all.

Yet somehow, he had slept like a baby. 

Virgil didn’t trust it an inch but nothing was wrong about this morning, which in itself set him a little on edge. Well nothing wrong aside from the fact he had slept in the Imagination and Roman still didn’t know who he was, but that was how he ended the previous day. Nothing had gotten worse, and if there had been some other force at work, if he had somehow been knocked out then Virgil would have expected something to be off. 

A missing horse or god forbid, something new and terrible happening to Roman. Maybe waking up somewhere new and frightening but no, he was still here, Roman was still here and everything was as it had been. It didn’t settle his nerves in the slightest. Virgil really hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it but aside from remaining on high alert - which he had planned to do anyway - there wasn’t anything he could do. Virgil could hardly insist they all stop simply because he had slept for a little while. And they couldn’t turn back, not when there was no real reason, not when they were still searching for answers.

“You could have lied you know,” Roman told him curiously, words coming out of nowhere. Virgil looked up from his hoodie to stare at him blankly, mind whirling uselessly as he tried to work out just what Roman meant. This was part of what he hated about social interactions at times. The way some people were able to seamlessly pick up the threads of previous conversations without any warning or context and expect the other person to do the same. It wasn’t that easy for Virgil, even if he did often obsessively go over conversations again and again in his mind, replaying them and imagining other outcomes. 

Sometimes, he had whole conversations and even fights with people in his mind, whipping himself up into a righteous fury to the extent that he had to remind himself that the fight had been all in his head and he wasn’t actually angry at that person at all. Despite all of that, it had never been a social skill he had been any good at and Virgil still didn’t have any idea what Roman was talking about and it must have shown because Roman sighed softly, a wistful smile on his face. He patted Bree’s flank almost absently, a thoughtful expression on his face as he seemed to try to gather his thoughts. 

“I mean I’ve worked out you’re not the most optimistic person around sure, but you could have lied about the chances of me getting my memory back or you could have lied about your role or even about your past. You could have made up any story about our childhood and I wouldn’t have known any difference.”

Virgil shrugged uncomfortably, feeling his cheeks start to burn. He could have lied and it would, in many ways, have been easier to lie. Even if Roman then found out the truth, he would have surely understood the motive behind the lie. It was important to keep Roman happy, to encourage him to try and remain optimistic, to keep fighting the good fight. All of that rubbish, all of those thoughts that should have surely said he would just lie and yet - and yet Virgil hadn’t been able to sugar coat the truth like that. It makes him feel wrong, as though he has messed up by not lying. 

Was the socially acceptable thing to do in that situation, lie? Virgil didn’t know and he hated not knowing, hated the way his palms started to feel hot, sweaty, the way his breath picked up in his chest, the doubts that raced through his mind as he second guessed himself. Virgil couldn’t stop the small scowl that graced his features, nervously jamming his hands into his pocket in a bid to try and hide the fact they were trembling ever so subtly now. 

“Yeah? So?” 

“So why didn’t you lie?” Roman asked. Just like that, putting the question out there, forcing Virgil to face something he really didn’t want to think about too deeply. There was so much he could say to that, so many answers he could give, some more detailed than others. It was a question that deserved a real answer, Virgil chewing on his bottom lip for a moment as he warred with all the possibilities before the only real response came to mind.

“I don't like lying,” Virgil said simply.

All his years of torment, of confusion, all the doubts and uncertainties that had tormented him over the years boiled down to one simple sentence that both said everything and explained nothing at all. He wasn’t the most truthful of sides sure, but that was because most of the time he allowed his cognitive distortions to get the better of him. He panicked far too easily, saw the worst in every moment and a lot of the time that led to him being convinced that something terrible had happened. A lot of the time he was wrong and although Virgil was trying to be better, he knew that he would never be good. Never be right more often than he was wrong. 

It was the price he paid for being Anxiety, for being the embodiment of all that was negative and fearful. Of course he was going to be wrong a lot of the time and really, Virgil would rather be wrong than live in a world where he was right and that was the way things worked. He would much rather be over exaggerating his fears instead of not dealing with the danger correctly. That doesn’t change the fact that he couldn’t help but believe his own worries a lot of the time. 

He wasn’t sure what sort of lie it was, if you believed it yourself. Or at least, didn’t want to question it too deeply because then you would know it was almost certainly a lie and have to react accordingly.

Logan would know of course. Logan always did.

“Honesty!” Roman exclaimed, snapping his fingers, the sudden noise making Virgil jump a little, a tiny, barely there motion. 

“They do say its the best policy,” he agreed after a short pause. Roman shook his head impatiently, one hand still resting against Bree’s side. 

“No, I mean you have to be Honesty right? That is your role within Thomas?”

Virgil flinched, those words stinging against him and he was sure that Roman hadn't meant them like that. He was sure they weren’t supposed to hurt, to lace his heart with tiny cuts that stung all the more despite their size. Virgil was many things within Thomas and many more things that he wished he could be. Honesty, was never going to be one of those aspects he could embody. No matter how hard he tried to reach that lofty goal, he was never going to be as good as he would like to be. 

He still didn't like lying.

Except he had done nothing but lie to Roman since this whole mess started. It might be nothing more than a lie of omission but that was still a lie and a particularly fiendish one at that. So much could be twisted out of a lie of omission and the right thing to do would have been honest from the get go, as Roman seemed to think he was. Virgil should have told him exactly who - what - he was. 

Roman should have been allowed to know what he was trusting to keep him safe. Roman should have been allowed to make an informed decision about the side he was relaxing about, the person he went to sleep and trusted to keep guard - not that Virgil had been able to even do that. He had set himself a simple job of staying awake for one measly little night and he hadn’t been able to do that. If he couldn’t do something as easy as that, how was he supposed to help Roman in the way he needed to be helped? Especially when he was going around lying about what he really did for Thomas. 

“Virgil? Buddy? Tall, dark and stormy? You in there?” 

Somewhere along the way, Roman had gotten really close to Virgil, a worried expression on his face and Virgil hadn’t even noticed him move. Another black mark against him and what he had wanted to do here, another piece of evidence - as if he needed another piece to prove how unworthy he was, how useless he was. 

He was going to have to be honest now. Better late than never right? 

“Roman...” Virgil trailed off, feeling his throat tighten a little as he struggles to say what he wants to say, to put into words everything he is feeling right now. Guilt perhaps most of all, guilt and shame for betraying Roman so, for being that weak that he was too afraid to repeat the past. Virgil had survived being shunned by the other side once before, why couldn’t he survive it again? 

He reached out, cold hands blindly clasping Roman's own, letting the warmth of Roman sooth him slightly, letting him grant him comfort when Virgil knew it should be the other way around. 

Selfish again. Bad again. Dark again. 

“I... I'm not Honesty. Or Protection, or Concern or anything nice you might think but I swear I'm not... I'm not trying to hurt you or Thomas. I would never do anything to hurt any of you... well... not on purpose. I think. I worry. I mean. I’m scared I might hurt you even when I don’t mean to. I’m really good - or bad I should say - at doing things that could have bad outcomes. I panic easily. I just, I just want to help but I don’t really know what I’m doing. I'm not... I'm not evil.” 

Says who? His mind unhelpfully whispered mockingly, taking on the exact tone he had used to say those very words to Roman when he had claimed the same thing in the Hogwarts House video. At least Roman wasn’t actually evil though.

Virgil just had to hope the same could be said of himself.

He was rambling now, switching from being unable to talk to being unable to stop, all the words coming out jumbled as he tried to explain himself, tried to justify himself and his mere existence. He wanted to do good and that had to count for something, surely. He was trying to do good, if only he could stop doing so much bad all the time.

“Virgil, it's okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Roman promised him, and he was still holding his hands, clasping them tight with a worried and slightly puzzled expression on his face. Virgil managed a small, watery smile at those words and how truthful they were. At how kind they were when he really didn’t deserve it. Kind, clueless Roman. Putting Virgil’s needs first as always, as though he was worth any of that.

Virgil shook his head roughly, feeling hints of tears gather in the corner of his eyes. If this is the last moment of friendship he was going to get from Roman then it wasn’t such a bad moment to end things on all things considered. He took a shallow breath, before he forced the dreaded words out. 

“I'm Thomas’ Anxiety!”

There was silence. 

A silence that his mind instantly spun to be deafening. 

Roman hated him. Roman had to hate him, there was no other explanation for it, no other reason. He had lied all this time and now it was going to be just like before, when Roman stared at him with naked dislike, when he had positioned them so clearly at opposite ends of the chessboard. Roman had never doubted that Anxiety was evil, he never once second guessed that. Not until he had been forced to see what Thomas would be like without him, not until Roman had grown to know Virgil properly and even then it had taken a lot of time and effort on both their parts. 

Why would this Roman be any different? He hadn’t even met Thomas in this state, so how could Virgil prove he was good, that he brought something useful to the mind? Virgil could feel all sorts of words tumbling around his mind, the urge to beg, to apologise - apologise for what exactly? For being created? For being who he was? Virgil didn’t pick to be Anxiety, he didn’t want up one morning and decide that there was nothing he wanted better than to spend his life making Thomas worry about every little thing that he could think of. 

Roman hated him, he had to, he hated him and everything Virgil had grown to lo-like about his life, about his relationship with the other sides, being included with their meals, their conversations, their movie nights, that was all gone because Roman wouldn’t want him there and they would pick Roman over him in a heartbeat. They had to, because Roman needed their support now more than ever and Creativity was way more important than Anxiety anyway. Virgil would need to find someway to survive the cold that was coming, the chill laying over his heart and slowly starting to freeze it.

“You’re brave, is what you are.”

What?

Whatever it was that Virgil had expected and feared Roman to say, it wasn’t that, Virgil squinting a little as he stared at Roman. The other side hadn’t pulled his hand away, hadn’t started ranting and raving about how Virgil betrayed him, tricked him by acting as though he was good when really he was just Anxiety. He was... he was smiling still. 

“What?” Confusion made him feel stupid, his brain struggling to understand the words and the meaning behind them.

Brave? Virgil? He wanted to scoff at the words, to make some sarcastic comment and push away any emotion, any fluttering of his heart that wants to cling to those positive words, wants to make castles in the sky about them and fantasise about all the ways in which things could actually work for a change. He wanted to ruin the moment for the sake of his unstable emotions, to keep himself from falling apart completely if and when it all went wrong. 

It was always easier to handle something bad if he told himself it was coming anyway, if he could see the  crash coming. If he could somehow work on a way to bandage up his heart before the wound even hit then maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t actually hurt so much. That was the theory anyway, but it was rarely as straightforward as that. 

He wanted to protect himself even if that meant perhaps hurting Roman. 

This Roman was far more open with his feelings though, far more expressive, far more easy to hurt, and while Virgil was confident of his ability to pick a fight and by doing so completely derail the conversation to the point that Roman forgot what they were originally talking about, Virgil didn't really want to.

Not least because it felt beyond wrong to mess with Roman in that manner, to trick him into losing a train of thought. Roman had already lost so much and even if it was relatively harmless to make him temporarily forget about a subject, it still felt like a gross violation of his trust after everything he had been through recently.

It wasn’t the only reason. It was a good reason of course, a very good reason. 

But there was also because it would hurt Roman. And no matter how much his first reaction was a selfish one that thought only of his own needs, it wasn't what he was going to do. Maybe it made him a bad person for thinking such things, but Virgil could cling to the small hope that he wasn't a completely terrible one because he might think such dark thoughts but he didn’t actually act on them.

“What...what do you mean?” Virgil asked cautiously, fighting to keep his voice as calm as he could manage, and he could do this for Roman. For a little while at least. Roman’s smile somehow grew, becoming even more blinding. He really was like a prince out of a fairy tale Virgil thought sourly. It was a wonder that they had only attracted two talking animals with Prince Charming around. His annoyance didn't last - it never could with Roman - the small little flare up fading away rapidly as he waited for Roman to reply.

“I’ve seen how you act out here. Since we travelled through the Wardrobe, have you or have you not been yourself?”

“Well...yeah...” Virgil said slowly, still not understanding where Roman was going with this. He had been acting like himself of course - his nervous, panicking, awkward, grumpy emo self. He fought with Roman and insulted him when he should have supported him. He moaned about the cold, about walking, about riding, about the lack of a plan. About nearly dying or seeing Roman killed at the claws, fangs, teeth, stinger or anything else from the manticore-chimera.

He had griped about Roman creating a giant mythical impossible beast, when all terror aside, he should have been relieved that at least he was still able to reach inside of himself to access such a basic, important part of himself. Roman might not have realised he had done it at the time or even know how he had done it, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he was still the same powerful creative urge he had always been. Not that Virgil had once told him anything like that.

“I've been a jerk since we got here, what is your point?”

“Hardly! You have protected me, looked out for me. You worked out the meaning behind the sledge. Heck, you offered to come with me in the first place, into the great unknown and knowing you are Anxiety, that must have been terrifying for you.”

“Nah, it was easy,” Virgil replied and insults would almost have been better to deal with. Virgil understood where he stood with insults, he knew how to defend himself, how to fight and hide himself away. It was easier to be strong against mean words - he had no idea how he was supposed to handle something positive. How did people deal with compliments? They felt like strange little pebbles flicked against tender areas of his body. Sharp little stings which took his breath away for a moment but left no lasting marks or even knowledge of where they had truly come from. 

“How so?” Roman asked. There was a glint in his eyes that made Virgil wary, although he couldn't quite put his finger on why it unsettled him slightly. Or even what Roman was getting at with his words. Why was he pushing the question? Why couldn’t he just drop it? Instead he poked at an open sore and demanded Virgil think about his own mental health and state of mind. 

A dangerous task at the best of times. More so right now, when Roman was as lost as the rest of them and Virgil feels so much more overprotective of him and on edge as a result. 

“Because... because you're my friend,” Virgil mumbled reluctantly. He would have rather admitted to almost anything than something... mushy. Why couldn’t it just be an understood thing, as it had been for so long between them all? First an understood thing that Anxiety was bad - when he wasn’t just that. Then an understood thing that he... cared for them. 

He had implied that he loved them, he had never actually said it and Virgil was more than happy for that to remain the status quo. 

Not that Roman knew any of that. 

Memory loss was so confusing to keep track of.

For Roman he was prepared to swallow his pride and admit what they really were to each other. It helped that it was just the two of them too and there was nobody else around to see his emotional weakness. They all had to be sick of seeing his emotional weakness, it came out on an almost daily - if not hourly - basis. 

“Exactly! You are willing to sacrifice your own self comfort, you are willing to put my needs above your own fears. That is the mark of friendship and of a true, brave hero. You are Anxiety, you clearly think the worst too much but so what? You also do what you think is best and right. You’re my friend and I am honoured to have you by my side.” Roman looked so earnest as he said those words, so intent and it made him almost want to cry. A good type of crying, because it was making all sorts of emotions bubble up in his chest.

Crying was still bad. Crying made him look like a loser. 

“Okay, when did you get so wise?” Virgil asked, regretting the words as soon as he said them, watching the light dim a little in Roman’s eyes, the way the shutters seemed to almost visible drop on his face, sorrow lingering there.

“Maybe I always was. Maybe I’m feeling more brave myself now, in your company, without my memories or pride to hinder me. I’m just sorry I’ve clearly never said anything like this before, I let you down Virgil. I won’t again.” Roman was still holding his hand, the other lifting to press against his heart and Virgil was struck by the bizarre feeling that the other side was making some kind of dramatic vow. 

That... wasn’t what Virgil meant, not really. It was wonderful to actually hear Roman say all those things, to know that he believed them. It made him feel almost worthy of the praise, of the hope that Roman was instilling in him. Maybe he did belong here, maybe he did help. But Virgil hadn’t meant to imply that Roman with memories was worse, or wrong for not saying things out loud. Virgil hadn’t said things out loud back, had never outright called him a friend before this moment. 

It had all been understood things and that was the way he was used to.

Virgil had no clue how he was going to fix this but he knew he couldn’t let Roman go on thinking there was anything wrong with the person he had been. Somehow. 

[queenofcats17]

Two Sides, Same Coin

I recently discovered this game and I wanted to write something for it.

I based the original Hel’s appearance off this concept art. 

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She had returned to the throne room. The room where her body lay, slumped in its massive throne. It felt so strange to think of it as her body. She felt disconnected from the gigantic corpse, as though she was looking at a stranger. But that was her. Or...No. That body was Hel. The original Hel. She may have been made with Hel’s genetic material, but she was not truly Loki’s daughter. She had no memories of who he had been before. She had no memories of him at all, save the horrors he had inflicted upon her.

Hel was the only identity she had, though. She had woken up with no memories, no idea who in the world she was. She still had no memories of being her. Of being Hel. But Hel was all she had. And so she would cling to that identity. She sat down on the stone in front of the throne, running her fingers over the scythe. It was still sharp, even after all this time. It did not cut her, though. She had a feeling it was unable to harm her.

“Do you hate him?” A voice came from beside her. She turned quickly, her heart in her throat. A ghost sat beside her, hands folded in her lap. She had not seen her reflection, not in all her brief existence. She had no idea what she looked like. But staring at the ghost beside her, she felt as though she were looking in a mirror. 

The ghost was more substantial than the other shades the new Hel had beheld in her domain and much more distinct. Half her hair was white and half was black. The right side of her body was black, the division marked by white runes that shifted and pulsed. Her right eye glowed with an unearthly light, piercing into one’s very soul with its gaze. Black antlers crept out from under the snow-white hair on her right side. She was dressed similarly to the new Hel, with the addition of a thick fur cape and some added armor and ornamentation that made her look more like the sovereign she was. 

“Do I hate who?” The new Hel asked. 

“Our father,” the ghost replied. “Loki.”

“Of course,” the new Hel answered without a second thought, stumbling to her feet. “I despise him! He’s done horrible things! He doomed the world! He-” Her breath caught in her throat and her left hand went to her right arm. The arm their father had ripped off during her first battle with him.

“That is true,” the ghost conceded. Her gaze swept around the hall. The new Hel knew that this shade was the old Hel. The true ruler of Helheim. Loki’s true daughter. The ghost stood tall, holding herself with purpose and intent. Even in her weary state, she still exuded an aura of regality and confidence. She was the sort who gave orders, not took them.

The new Hel allowed herself a small smile at the thought of Henrik Andersson trying to order around this Hel. She imagined her predecessor would not have been nearly as willing to follow his directions without question. 

“Do you hate him?” The new Hel asked. “It was his fault you were killed, wasn’t it?” 

It had been Loki’s actions that had led to the death of Baldur, which in turn had led to the death of Loki’s children at the hands of the vengeful gods. The new Hel would assume the old would be furious with her father. The ghost hardly seemed the sort who would suffer fools lightly. But the ghost was silent, casting her gaze around the hall once more. 

“Foolish though it may be, I cannot find it in myself to hate him,” the ghost admitted, getting to her feet as well to look the new Hel in the eye. 

“You weren’t angry?”

“I did not say that.” A hint of testiness entered the ghost’s voice as irritation passed across her features. “I was angry. Furious, in fact. He never considered the consequences of his actions. Never thought about whether what he did would affect others around him!” Briefly, her voice rose, years of frustration spilling over. The new Hel took an instinctive step back, fear lancing through her at the building anger. 

“He was so distraught to lose me, but did he not consider that murdering Baldur would cause Odin to retaliate?” The ghost’s voice boomed throughout the hall, the flames on the torches flaring as her anger rose. The foundations shook with her voice. Even as a shade, she was every inch the goddess she was meant to be. The new Hel couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. She lacked the presence of her predecessor. Was she truly worthy to rule this place?

“And to think he was lauded as a strategic genius!” Tears were welling up in the ghost’s eyes as she continued to scream. “Him! That short-sighted fool who couldn’t see beyond his own machinations! What good did any of it do?! What did it bring any of us save for pain and suffering?!” 

Then, all at once, the fire left the ghost. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily. The fearsome goddess was gone, leaving a weary young woman in her place. One hand went up to finger the antlers in her hair.

“I’m sorry,” the ghost whispered. “I didn’t mean to shout.”

“It’s alright,” the new Hel assured her. “I don’t mind.” It made her feel better to know the old Hel was angry as well. It made her feel as though she was less of an imposter.

“But, to answer your earlier question, no.” The ghost cleared her throat, attempting to regain some manner of control. “No, I do not hate him. I cannot hate him.”

The new Hel frowned slightly. After all she’d heard, all the anger the ghost had expressed, she still didn’t hate Loki. The new Hel couldn’t understand why. Why did the ghost still harbor love for the man who had gotten her killed?

“How can you still love him?” She asked, no, demanded. “After all he’s done, how can you still love him?”

“He was not always like that, you know.” The ghost smiled, a resigned expression. “Once, he was kind. Or, as kind as he could be. I am not so delusional as to say he was a good man. None of the gods were truly good people. But he did not set out to destroy the worlds in the beginning.”

“Does that matter?” The new Hel’s voice came out a bit too sharp, perhaps. She held no love for Loki. He had made her life a nightmare from the moment she had awakened on that slab. 

“No. I suppose it does not.” The ghost’s smile fell. “I simply wanted you to know.” She remained standing there, surveying the kingdom that had once been hers. 

“Was he...a good father?” The new Hel asked tentatively, her curiosity getting the better of her. Despite herself, she found herself curious about the person Loki had been before all this. Before the death of Baldur. Before the mask.

“He tried to be,” the ghost said. “He failed at times, but he tried. He wanted us to be happy.” She rested a hand on her fur mantle, a wistful smile crossing her features. “Since I could not leave this place, he did his best to bring the outside world to me. He would often visit to tell me how Jormungandr or Fenrir were doing.”

“Who are they?” The new Hel asked. 

“Our brothers,” the ghost replied mournfully, her smile falling once more. “You encountered a recreation of Fenrir in that facility. The wolf with the two faces.”

The new Hel’s lips twisted at the conflicting emotions the memory of that wolf brought up. It had stalked her, struck fear into her heart. And yet...it had saved her. Time and time again it had come to her aid and kept her from danger. It had stood up against Loki and lost its life for its bravery.

“In his original form, he was quite eloquent,” the ghost continued. “He lacked the silver tongue of our father, but his words held weight. When he spoke, people listened. They had no other choice in the matter.” She smiled sadly again. “I do think he resented me a bit when we were young, though.”

“Resented you?” The new Hel frowned. “Why?”

“I was Father’s favorite. Blatantly. He made no attempt to hide it.” The ghost laughed weakly. “When we were very young, I believe Fenrir hated me for taking all of Father’s attention.”

“But he didn’t hate you forever, did he?” The new Hel asked. “Or he wouldn’t have saved me.” One didn’t sacrifice themselves for someone they hated. Not the way Fenrir had for her.

“His feelings toward me warmed when he realized I was one of the few sensible people in our family,” the ghost laughed again, stronger this time. “I questioned Father’s decisions. I held him accountable. But...” She trailed off, looking back at her own skeleton, slumped in the throne. “That didn’t stop him. It never did.” 

The new Hel wasn’t sure whether to apologize or not. So she stayed silent, waiting to see what else her predecessor would say. 

“I could see through your eyes sometimes,” the ghost said, not looking back at the new Hel. “I must admit, it pained me to see the father I so adored transform into a monster I scarcely recognized.” Her face twisted, whether with pain or regret the new Hel knew not. “To think that he would kill Fenrir...His own son.”

The new Hel lowered her gaze. The memory of the wolf’s death was so much sadder now that she knew of his identity. He had been her brother. Loki’s son. And yet Loki had killed him without a second thought. She was too weary to question how the ghost had seen through her eyes. 

“I suppose the father I knew died a long time ago,” the ghost murmured. She ran a finger over the blade of the scythe. The new Hel would have expected the ghost’s incorporeal flesh to pass right through the scythe. But it did not. 

“My apologies.” The ghost looked back at the new Hel. Her face was devoid of all expression except for weariness. “I believe I’ve taken up enough of your time.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” the new Hel answered. She was glad to have gotten some insight into the person she was made from. And a new feeling for Loki was rising in her chest. 

Pity. 

Pity for the man who had been driven so mad with grief by the loss of his daughter that he had destroyed himself and the world to get her back. It certainly didn’t excuse what he’d done, but part of her understood now. 

The ghost smiled at her successor, then walked into her. Hel gasped at the bone-deep cold that suddenly enveloped her. But as soon as it had come, it was gone. In its place, she felt a power she had not before. An awareness of Helheim and the creatures in it. And, in her heart, warmth and...completion.

It appeared she was worthy to rule after all.